History of Clifton Heights Area Streets

ADELINE STREET (E-W). Appeared in the Thomas Campbell subdivision of 1889, it is, like Adelia, an adaptation of Adelaide, who was the wife of England's William IV. The name's greatest fame came with the publication in 1903 of the barbershop-quartet song, "Sweet Adeline." (Clifton)

AMANDA STREET (E-W). Appearing in the Thomas Campbell subdivision of 1889, Amanda is a feminine form of a Latin word meaning "fit to be loved," or "worthy of love." It is the name of several saints and has been used frequently in poems, plays and literary works, including Tristam Shandy. (Clifton)

ARGUS PLACE (E-W) Ward 24, Precinct 12. (Clifton Heights)

ARSENAL STREET (E-W). Beginning as Arsenal Road, running westward from the St. Louis Arsenal on the riverfront, this street received its present name in 1881. That same year, the section of the street from Michigan to Grand was also named Arsenal to replace Susquehanna Street, named after a river in Pennsylvania. From the 1850s onward, Arsenal has been a major east west route through south St. Louis. (Benton Park) (Clifton) (Compton Hill) (The Hill) (Marquette-Cherokee) (Oak Hill) (Oakland) (Shaw)

BENNETT COURT (N-S). Named for its subdivision, Bennett Court, in 1907. The name Bennett is derived from "Benedict" and like it means "blessed." (Clifton)

BISCHOFF PLACE (E-W). In the 1885 subdivision of Clifton Heights, it is a western extension of Bischoff Avenue. (Clifton)

BOWMAN AVENUE (N-S). Located in the Clifton Heights subdivision of 1885, it was named for a prominent land owner in the area. The English origin is literally the man who fought with or made a bow. (Clifton)

BRADLEY AVENUE (E-W). First appeared in the adjacent Bradley and Dillon's subdivisions of 1884 on either side of Jamieson Avenue. Named for Charles E. Bradley, a real estate man who developed the property to the east of Jamieson. (Clifton)

CHILDRESS AVENUE (N-S). Originally appeared on St. Louis maps in the Carlisle Subdivision of 1890, honoring John C. Childress, a civil engineer of that period. It was extended into the Clifton neighborhood in 1925 where it appeared in the Arsenal-Watson Park subdivision of that year. (Clifton) (Oakland) (Southwest)

CLIFTON AVENUE (N-S). Originally appeared in the Clifton Heights Subdivision of 1885. The name Clifton Heights appeared earlier as a town in Delaware County southeastern Pennsylvania. Like most places named Clifton, this one had some cliffs in the area. Clifton is a popular American place name applied to more than a dozen towns in as many states, including Clifton City in Cooper County, Missouri. (Clifton) (Southwest)

CLIFTON HILLS DRIVE (E-W). Named after the subdivision in the 1953 subdivision of Clifton Hills. (Clifton)

CLIFTON PARK TERRACE (E-W). Also named for the Clifton Hills subdivision. (Clifton)

COLLETTA DRIVE (E-W). A frequent alternative spelling of Colette, the French pet form of "Nicolette. It came into existence in the Clifton Hills Subdivision of 1953. The name gained popularity because of the work of the French novelist Sidonie Gabrielle Colette (1873-1954). (Clifton)

COLUMBIA AVENUE (E-W). As one name of the United States of America, Columbia is a popular American place name. Its use originated the poem, "American Liberty," written in 1775 by Philip Freneau inspired when he heard of the Battle of Lexington when Boston still lay under siege. Freneau's lines ran,

What madness, Heaven, has made Britannia frown?
Who plans or schemes to pull Columbia down?

Then, lest his allusion not be understood, Freneau added a footnote which read, "Columbia, America sometimes so called from Columbus, the first discoverer." In Missouri Columbia became the county seat of Boone County in 1819. Columbia Avenue was originally platted in the 1871 subdivision of St. Louis Heights. Sections of this street were known as Magnolia and Manchester avenues until 1881. (Clifton) (The Hill)

CUBA COURT, NORTH AND SOUTH (E and W). Platted in the 1924 subdivision of Cuba's addition. The country of Cuba experienced enormous popularity during the 1920s, part of the general tourist discovery associated with land booms in Florida, Cuba and Central America generally. (Clifton)

EITMAN AVENUE (E-W). The German "Eit" is descended from "Eid", meaning fire, burn or hearth.
ELIZABETH AVENUE (E-W). Originally appeared on St. Louis street maps in 1878 in the subdivisions of property of Gabriel Jones and others. Elizabeth traces its origin to the Hebrew Elisheba, "possibly `oath of God' or `God is satisfaction/perfection'." In the Biblical Old Testament, the Book of Exodus, Elizabeth was the wife of Aaron. (Clifton)

ENRIGHT AVENUE (E-W). Previously known along some of its sections as Morgan Street, Hogan Avenue and Von Versen Avenue, this street was named in honor of Alice Von Verson, a daughter of Mrs. Eliza Clemens, in her 1885 subdivision of Clemens Place. From Grand Boulevard west to the city limits, the street name was changed during the anti-German hysteria of 1918, to honor Jack Enright, one of the first Americans killed in World War I. (Cabanne) (Clifton) (Grand Prairie)

ESTHER AVENUE (N-S). Originates in the Persian word for star, meaning the planet Venus. It also is a Biblical Old Testament name. Showed up in Campbell's Subdivision of 1889. (Clifton)

EVELINE STREET (E-W. Appeared in Thomas Campbell's Subdivision of 1889. The name originated in the Old German Avelina and had grown popular in Norman times in England. (Clifton)

FAMOUS AVENUE (E-W). Platted in the Ritter Place Subdivision of 1887 and named after the Famous Shoe and Clothing Company. (Clifton)

FRANKE COURT (N-S). Named for the developer, the C. H. Franke Realty Company, in the Franke Court Subdivision of 1926. Franke is German for "one who came from Franconia, in central Germany; the free man." (Clifton) (Southwest)

FYLER AVENUE (E-W). Commemorates James D. Fyler, an early landowner, in the subdivision of his estate in 1866. (Clifton) (The Hill) (Oakland) (Southwest)

GREGG PLACE (N-S). Named for a landowner in the vicinity in the Clifton Heights Subdivision of 1885, William H. Gregg, President of the Southern White Lead Co. (Clifton)

GROVE STREET (N-S). Acknowledges a nearby grove of trees in George Bailey's First Addition of 1863. (Fairground)

HAMPTON AVENUE (N-S). Recognizes an urban district in Middlesex County, England. The name first appeared on St. Louis maps in 1913 when the thoroughfare known as Sulphur Avenue between Bancroft and Loughborough was renamed Hampton. The section between Oakland and Manchester avenues was named Billon Avenue until 1921. (Clifton) (The Hill) (Oakland) (Southwest)

HARTFORD STREET (E-W). Appeared in the 1881 Tower Grove Park and Grand Avenue Addition, it was named after the home office city of a Connecticut Insurance Company that was involved in the development. (Clifton) (The Hill) (Marquette-Cherokee) (Oak Hill)

HOFFMAN AVENUE (E-W). Appearing in the 1910 subdivision of Ivanhoe Place and named for Samuel E. Hoffman, vice-president of the Mississippi Valley Trust Company. (Clifton)

HUDLER STREET (N-S). Named for contractor Charles L. Hudler. The street was the only one in the Davis private subdivision of 1910. (Clifton)

INTERSTATE HIGHWAY 44 (E-W). A limited access expressway opened in the 1970s as part of the national system of interstate highways authorized in 1956. (Clifton) (The Hill) (Compton Hill) (Lafayette Square)

IVANHOE AVENUE (N-S). Originally Lake Avenue in the 1871 Christy Subdivision in Gratiot League Square. It retained that name until 1881 when it was renamed to honor Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe. (Clifton) (Southwest)

JAMIESON AVENUE (N-S). Originated in Dillon's Subdivision of 1884. Named in honor of William and James Jamieson, brothers who were early residents of the area. (Clifton) (Southwest)

JUNIATA STREET (E-W). Named after a river in central Pennsylvania. The name was bestowed following a policy of naming east-west streets in the 1850s platting of the St. Louis Commons subdivision after rivers or Indian tribes. (Clifton) (The Hill) (Marquette-Cherokee) (Oak Hill)

KINGSHIGHWAY BOULEVARD (N-S). Follows the former Rue de Roi or Kingshighway along the western boundary of the Prairie des Noyers Common Field. It became the main stem of the Kingshighway Boulevard system that was adopted by the city in 1903. (Cabanne) (Central West End) (Clifton) (Grand Prairie) (The Hill) (Oak Hill) (Shaw) (Southwest)

KNOX AVENUE and COURT (N-S). Honored Samuel Knox, a prominent St. Louis lawyer of the period, when it was opened in the Ritter Place Subdivision of 1887. (Clifton)

KNOX INDUSTRIAL COURT (E-W). Named for its entrance off Knox Avenue in the 1963 Knox Industrial Subdivision. (Clifton)

LEOLA AVENUE (N-S). Feminine name derived from "Leo", for "lion". First appeared in the 1892 Kirschbaum's Subdivision. (Clifton) (Southwest)

MAGNOLIA AVENUE (E-W). West of Grand Boulevard, Magnolia Avenue was one of several streets named by Henry Shaw as an indication of his interest in botanical subjects. The section of this street that runs between Gravois Avenue and Grand was called Rappahannock until 1893. (Clifton) (Compton Hill) (The Hill) (Oakland) (Shaw)

MARMADUKE AVENUE (E-W). Appearing in the Breezy Heights Subdivision of 1885, the street commemorates John S. Marmaduke, then governor of Missouri. (Clifton)

McCUNE AVENUE (E-W). When he laid out the Octavius C. McCune Subdivision of 1886, the developer named this street for himself. (Clifton)

ODELL STREET (E-W). Honors Henry R. Odell, superintendent of the St. Louis Bagging and Rope Factory at Fourteenth and Papin streets. It was laid out in the 1871 subdivision of St. Louis Heights. (Clifton) (The Hill) (Oakland)

REBER PLACE (E-W). A veneration of Samuel Reber, a lawyer who was a judge in the Court of Common Pleas, in the 1871 subdivision of St. Louis Heights. (Clifton) (The Hill)

SCANLAN AVENUE (E-W). First appeared on St. Louis maps in Christy's Subdivision of the Gratiot League Square in 1871 and was named in honor of Mrs. Mary F. Scanlan, a descendant of the Christy family and an heiress of the Wiggins Ferry Company estate. (Clifton) (The Hill)

SIMPSON AVENUE (E-W). In the Clifton Heights Subdivision of 1885, it honored Dr. Robert Simpson, an early St. Louis postmaster and army officer. (Clifton)

SIMPSON TERRACE (E-W). Ward 24, Precinct 12, Census Tract 1036. (Clifton Heights)

SMILEY AVENUE (E-W). Platted in the 1892 Smiley's Subdivision and was named for Charles D. Smiley, the assistant treasurer of the Simmons Hardware Company. (Clifton)

SOUTHWEST AVENUE (E-W). From Kingshighway to the city limits was known as Old Manchester Road until 1917, when it was renamed as Southwest Avenue. (Clifton) (The Hill) (Oakland)

SULPHUR AVENUE (N-S). Developed from a road leading to a  Sulphur Sprin in David W. Graham's Sulphur Spring tract. Until 1882, from Wilson to Manchester avenues, it was known as Cheltenham Avenue. (Clifton) (The Hill) (Oakland) (Southwest

TAMM AVENUE (N-S). Honors Jacob Tamm, an early farmer and land owner in the Glades Tract, where the name of Tamm Road appeared on the 1856 map. It was changed to Tamm Avenue in 1893. (Clifton) (Oakland) (Southwest)

WATSON ROAD (N-S). Named for Wesley Watson, a prominent early land owner in the area southwest of St. Louis in the 19th century and signer of an 1845 petition to lay out the road. (Southwest)

WILSON AVENUE (E-W). Venerated George W. Wilson, an importer and dealer in hardware and cutlery, when it appeared in the 1868 subdivision of Fairmont Heights. (Clifton) (The Hill)

WYOMING PLACE and STREET (E W). Another east west street in the platting of the St. Louis Commons in 1854. The name Wyoming is derived from the Indian word "Mecheweami ing," meaning "land largely the big plains." and applied to the territory of Wyoming organized in 1868. (Benton Park) (Clifton) (Oak Hill) (Marquette-Cherokee) (Soulard)

More Street Name History

In the 1830's, the Sublette brothers, William and Solomon, each purchased a large tract of land with profits from their successful fur trade ventures. These tracts were in the eastern part of Gratiot League Square along Kingshighway, south of Manchester. William, the elder, married Frances Hereford and upon his death in 1845 he willed his fortune to his wife providing she did not change her name. So as to protect her interest, she subsequently married her brother in-law, Solomon. After her death in 1857, the tracts were subdivided and one was platted as Fairmont in 1868. Streets hearing their family names now run through the area. A name which formerly applied to West Park Avenue and to portions of Sublette and Sulphur Avenues, was Cheltenham. This name was once given to an area also known as the Sulphur Spring Tract and to a local station on the Pacific Railroad. It originated as the title of the country estate of William Wible and was taken from a well-known spa in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham later survived in the name of a clay products company along Manchester Avenue, but is not presently used in that vicinity.

Sulphur Avenue takes its name from a Sulphur Spring near the River des Peres, located on David W. Graham's large tract of the same name. Manchester Avenue was originally called Fox Creek Road, but was later given its present name because it was the route to the town of Manchester. Clayton Road, was so-named because it ran out to the country estate of Ralph Clayton, later to become the county seat. Oakland: Avenue received its name from the many oak trees in adjacent Forest Park. Macklind Avenue is named for a surveyor and engineer who laid out subdivisions in the area, as was a street named Cozens, which is now a portion of January Avenue. Hampton Avenue was originally the western most street in the Southampton Subdivision and when the street was extended in the 1920's, that same name was continued on portions of Billon and Sulphur Avenues to create a continuous street.

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