What's in a Name?
This architecturally significant Craftsman style home has deep shaded porches and brick still colored as it was when fired from Arkansas clay. The home was constructed when Country Club Boulevard was “T” Street.
How many times in a year are you required to provide your home address? Those forms on physician’s clipboards are always waiting for that information...hotel reservations? tax returns? Amazon, UPS,…it goes on and on.
Have you ever wondered who thought up your street name, when it came to be, and why? Usually, the landowner who arranged for the street and lots to be originally "platted" decided on the street names. Since the owners were, in most cases, interested in selling lots, they would often consider street names associated with "pleasant thoughts" such as…say… “trees” like Spruce or Palm. Other streets were named for prominent community leaders or even Presidents. Some streets have been renamed at the request of the fire department to avoid names that could confuse and delay first responders.
After studying old maps at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, I found that almost all of the street names in the Heights have been changed at least once and some up to four times. Take Hawthorne Road, for example. When the street was platted in 1908, the earliest maps show it was named "Diamond Avenue", which was likely prompted by the recent discovery of Arkansas diamonds at Murfreesboro. In 1915 and 1916, when the current Heights area was in the process of being annexed to the City of Little Rock, Diamond Avenue was changed to Twenty-third Avenue; however, this proved confusing as there already was a Twenty-third "Street" south of Markham. By 1917, the street became "U," extending a new series of alphabetic streets beginning with “A” just north of Markham. “U” Street remained until 1947 when the city directory finally showed it named Hawthorne. Speculation has occurred about whether the final name represented the ornamental deciduous tree or the author of the “Scarlet Letter.”
Likewise, the parallel streets, Country Club Boulevard and Stonewall Road, followed a similar chronology - Country Club was first platted as "Circle" Avenue, then designated Twenty-second Avenue, then “T” Street and finally Country Club Boulevard by the late 1940s. This was a logical name since it led to the gates of the Country Club of Little Rock at its east termination. Stonewall Road was initially "Star" Avenue in 1908. It became Twenty-first Avenue in 1915, "S" Street by 1917, and then Stonewall by 1947. This street's final name is likely not associated with the leader of the Confederacy but rather is considered named for the historic rock wall lining the Heights Promenade along Kavanaugh. The wall, built of sandstone, was likely constructed from the excavated material resulting from the construction of the road up Cantrell Hill.
Kavanaugh and Cantrell seem to have been sensibly named to honor leaders of the city whose lives and accomplishments make us proud.
Cantrell began as Newman Avenue in 1908, then 19th Avenue and “Q” Street before being renamed in 1931 for Little Rock lawyer and civic leader Deadrick Cantrell. His vision and skills resulted in completion of the complicated Cantrell Road project linking The Heights with downtown. The construction required bridging a bayou and several sets of railroad tracks, and removal of several thousand tons of rock to finally climb up the hill.
Kavanaugh Boulevard, originally Prospect Avenue, also fittingly honored a respected community leader, William Marmaduke Kavanaugh. In his relatively short 49-year life, he served as managing editor of the Arkansas Gazette, Pulaski County Judge, U.S. Senator, an executive with the streetcar company, gas company and coal company, organized a bank and built a modern skyscraper in downtown Little Rock, the Southern Trust Building. 5,000 people attended his untimely funeral.
Appreciation is due to the desk staff at Roberts Library, Encyclopedia of Arkansas and the research of Mike Hood.
Have you ever wondered who thought up your street name, when it came to be, and why? Usually, the landowner who arranged for the street and lots to be originally "platted" decided on the street names. Since the owners were, in most cases, interested in selling lots, they would often consider street names associated with "pleasant thoughts" such as…say… “trees” like Spruce or Palm. Other streets were named for prominent community leaders or even Presidents. Some streets have been renamed at the request of the fire department to avoid names that could confuse and delay first responders.
After studying old maps at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, I found that almost all of the street names in the Heights have been changed at least once and some up to four times. Take Hawthorne Road, for example. When the street was platted in 1908, the earliest maps show it was named "Diamond Avenue", which was likely prompted by the recent discovery of Arkansas diamonds at Murfreesboro. In 1915 and 1916, when the current Heights area was in the process of being annexed to the City of Little Rock, Diamond Avenue was changed to Twenty-third Avenue; however, this proved confusing as there already was a Twenty-third "Street" south of Markham. By 1917, the street became "U," extending a new series of alphabetic streets beginning with “A” just north of Markham. “U” Street remained until 1947 when the city directory finally showed it named Hawthorne. Speculation has occurred about whether the final name represented the ornamental deciduous tree or the author of the “Scarlet Letter.”
Likewise, the parallel streets, Country Club Boulevard and Stonewall Road, followed a similar chronology - Country Club was first platted as "Circle" Avenue, then designated Twenty-second Avenue, then “T” Street and finally Country Club Boulevard by the late 1940s. This was a logical name since it led to the gates of the Country Club of Little Rock at its east termination. Stonewall Road was initially "Star" Avenue in 1908. It became Twenty-first Avenue in 1915, "S" Street by 1917, and then Stonewall by 1947. This street's final name is likely not associated with the leader of the Confederacy but rather is considered named for the historic rock wall lining the Heights Promenade along Kavanaugh. The wall, built of sandstone, was likely constructed from the excavated material resulting from the construction of the road up Cantrell Hill.
Kavanaugh and Cantrell seem to have been sensibly named to honor leaders of the city whose lives and accomplishments make us proud.
Cantrell began as Newman Avenue in 1908, then 19th Avenue and “Q” Street before being renamed in 1931 for Little Rock lawyer and civic leader Deadrick Cantrell. His vision and skills resulted in completion of the complicated Cantrell Road project linking The Heights with downtown. The construction required bridging a bayou and several sets of railroad tracks, and removal of several thousand tons of rock to finally climb up the hill.
Kavanaugh Boulevard, originally Prospect Avenue, also fittingly honored a respected community leader, William Marmaduke Kavanaugh. In his relatively short 49-year life, he served as managing editor of the Arkansas Gazette, Pulaski County Judge, U.S. Senator, an executive with the streetcar company, gas company and coal company, organized a bank and built a modern skyscraper in downtown Little Rock, the Southern Trust Building. 5,000 people attended his untimely funeral.
Appreciation is due to the desk staff at Roberts Library, Encyclopedia of Arkansas and the research of Mike Hood.