PRINCETON HEIGHTS’ NEIGHBORHOOD

STREET NAMES

 

NORTH to SOUTH STREETS in PRINCETON HEIGHTS

From East to West

 

GRAVOIS AVENUE

(Begins 6100 North at Christy to 7300 South at Hampton and Germania ends)

Originated as a natural diagonal trail from old St. Louis central downtown southwestward to the Gravois Creek in what is now Fenton as early as 1804.  It was named Gravois Road until 1881.  It is the most heavily traveled street in all of south St. Louis.  Gravois derives its name from the French word for rubble or gravel.  Gravois was derived from the French meaning Menus décombres de démolition (anc de gravats).  The English translation means rubble that is worthless material that is rejected or thrown out; refuse, trash, garbage, or waste.  Gravois Avenue began as a road to a salt spring and ferry, near present day Fenton, about 1804.  It was declared to be the public "Road to Fenton" by order of the County Court in 1832.  In 1839, an act of the State legislature made Gravois a state road and during the 1840's it was paved with a macadam surface.  In 1914, Gravois Road became the first concrete highway in Missouri, when six miles were laid from the City limits to Grant's Farm.  Gravois then became known as Missouri State Highway 30.  Route 30 begins as it crosses over Interstate 55 at I-55's interchange with I-44 and ends five miles later inside the city limits of St. Clair at Interstate 44.

 

CHRISTY AVENUE

(Begins 5000 North at Kingshighway to 5400 South at Gravois ends)

Named for William Tandy Christy, who founded the firm which became the Laclede-Christy Fire Brick Company?  The brick company is now the old Venture Store and in the rear is the Bevo Community Center, which was the company office.  It was platted in the Humboldt Heights Subdivision of 1906.  Between Gravois and Eichelberger and between Delor Street and Wilcox Avenue, in the Kingshighway Terrace Subdivision of 1922, it also was named Elenore until 1932 when it became Christy.   Elenore, a section of this street from Gravois Avenue to Eichelberger Street in the 1906 Humboldt Heights Subdivision was named Elenore Avenue until 1932 when the name was changed to Christy Avenue.  The original name Christy probably honored a female relative of the developer.  The Christy Madison is located in the 4400 block of Taft, now a nursing home in the year 2007.

 

KINGSHIGHWAY BOULEVARD

(4900 West, begins at  5200 North on west side at Christy and 5400 North on east side

 at Eichelberger to 6339 South at Gravois ends)

The former Rue de Roi or Kingshighway runs along the western boundary of the Prairie des Noyers Common Field.  Along Kingshighway stretched the prairie that became the cultivating farm fields for the town's inhabitants, the common ground.   It became the main stem of the Kingshighway Boulevard system that was adopted by the city in 1903.

 

WINDSOR PARKWAY

(4800 West, begins 5200 North at Eichelberger to South 5235 walkway or parkway

from Eichelberger facing Christy Park)

Opened in the 1911, it recognizes the Borough of Windsor in Berkshire, England, from which the royal family, the House of Windsor, takes its family name.

WINDSOR PARK SUBDIVISION or addition

 

BRANNON AVENUE

(5600 West, begins 5400 North at 5100 Eichelberger to South ending at Rosa)

Originally platted in 1871 and named for John B. Brannon, a city deputy sheriff in the 1850s.

 

MACKLIND AVENUE

(5200 West, begins 5400 North at Eichelberger to 6634 South ending at Loughborough)

Macklind began as St. Louis Avenue in 1868.  Macklind was renamed in 1881 in honor of Thomas H. Macklind, district engineer of the city street department.  Macklind was also known as Brunswick Street between Gresham and Upton (Sunshine) streets until 1928.

 

JANUARY AVENUE

(5600 West, begins 5400 North at Eichelberger to 7000 South ending at Sunshine)

January first appeared in the 1853 honoring Derrick A. January, an early landowner.

 

HAMPTON AVENUE

(5800 West, begins 5400 North at 5800 Eichelberger to 7450 South ending at Gravois)

Hampton 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.

 

HUMMEL AVENUE

(begins 4700 North at Christy and Eichelberger to 4745 South dead ends at Dahlia)

The avenue was probably named for the Hummelsheim Family.  One of them owned property at Gravois and Tesson Ferry Road and probably held property nearby in the city as well.  Later Charles Hummelsheim lived in Afton.  The street name first appeared in 1909.

Hayden's subdivision or addition

 

TERRACE AVENUE

(begins 4700 North at Christy to 4831 South dead ends at Sigel).

A promotional name that did originated in 1906.

Rosa Park and goethe heights Subdivision or addition

 

GARDENVILLE AVENUE

(begins 4800 North at Sigel to 6400 South dead ends at Holly Hills)

The Gardenville community was an early rural settlement in the vicinity of Gravois and Kingshighway.  The street was first named in 1905.

goethe heights and Hermann Heights Subdivision or addition

 

HENRY AVENUE

(begins 6300 North at Milentz to 6400 South dead ends at Holly Hills)

The avenue was named for Frank R. Henry, auditor of the United Railways Transit Company and a relative of Rolla Wells, mayor St Louis 1901 to 1909.  The street was first named in 1905.

Hermann Heights Subdivision or addition

 

EAST COURT

(begins 6400 North at Holly Hills to 6443 South and dead ends)

East Court is a short street appearing in 1928.

Kingshighway Forest Subdivision or addition

 

CENTER COURT

(begins 6400 North at Holly Hills to 6440 South and dead ends)

Center Court is a short street appearing in 1928, part of St. Paul's Cemetary

Kingshighway Forest Subdivision or addition

 

WEST COURT

(begins 6400 North at Holly Hills to 6419 South and dead ends)

West Court is a short street appearing in 1928, part of St. Paul's Cemetary

Kingshighway Forest Subdivision or addition

 

WOODBINE COURT

(begins 6435 South beginning and dead ending into Gresham)

Began as Woodland Court in a subdivision of that name in 1928. It received its present name in 1929.  Woodbine is a ground cover plant which also is called the Virginia creeper.

WOODLAND PRIVITE SUBDIVISION or addition

 

ELMER AVENUE

(begins 6800 North at Schollmeyer to 6808 to 6631 South dead ends at Tyrolean)

A very popular male name at the end of the 19th century, Elmer originated in the Old English Aethelmaer meaning "noble" or "famous".  The name appeared in 1910.

Hadley Park Subdivision or addition

 

MOELLENHOFF STREET

(begins 6900 North at Loughborough to 7200 South dead ends at Sunshine)

The street was named for Rudolph Moellenhoff, a primary landowner in the City Saint Louis in 1856.  The street name originated in the 1906.

PRINCETON PLACE SUBDIVISION or addition

 

EAST to WEST STREETS in PRINCETON HEIGHTS

From North to South

 

EICHELBERGER STREET

(5400 South, begins 4700 East at Christy to 5720 West at Hampton)

The street was originally named in an early platting of the Carondelet Commons in honor of Doctor George F. Eichelberger, a member of Carondelet's first city council.  It was originally Clark Road until 1881.

 

ROSA AVENUE

(5424 South, 4614 East at Gravois to 5729 West at Hampton)

The name, the Latin form of "Rose" appeared in the Rosa Park subdivision of 1906.

MANTER PARK SUBDIVISION or addition

And

JANUARY PARK SUBDIVISION or addition

 

GOETHE AVENUE

(5600 South, begins 4700 East at Gravois to 5749 West at Hampton)

The avenue was christened in honor of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832).  He was a German poet, dramatist and novelist in 1909.

Goethe Heights Subdivision or addition

 

MILENTZ AVENUE

(5800 South, begins at 4700 East at Gravois to 5755 West at Hampton)

First appeared in 1905 in the on either side of Gravois Avenue.  Milentz is the name of an old south side family of German descent. The year the developments appeared, there were seven Milentz family listings in the St. Louis city directories.

Hermann Heights or addition

and

Dixie Place subdivisions or addition

 

RHODES AVENUE

(5828 South, begins 4800 East at Gardenville to 5750 West at Hampton)

Located in 1913 between Gardenville Avenue and Kingshighway and west to Hampton, it was renamed in honor of Cecil John Rhodes (1853-1902).  British statesman and capitalist who made his fortune in diamond mines in South Africa and founded the Rhodes Scholarship program.

Hermann Heights First subdivision or addition

and

KINGSHIGHWAY PARK SUBDIVISION or addition

 

FINKMAN STREET

(6000 South, begins 4900 East at Kingshighway to 5751 West at Hampton)

Finkman originally appeared in the 1860, but unnamed until 1892.  The street was named after

H. Louis Finkman.

VON DREHLES SUBDIVISION or addition

And

WOODLAND PARK SUBDIVISION or addition

 

DAHLIA AVENUE

(6000 South, begins 4600 East at Gravois to 4774  West at Eichelberger ends)

Dahlia was named in 1906 for the dahlia flower plant.  The dahlia plant was developed by 18th-century Swedish Botanist Andres Dahl.

Rosa Park Subdivision or addition

 

LISETTE AVENUE

(6200 South, begins 4900 East at Kingshighway to 5758 West at Hampton)

Lisette was named after "A French diminutive of Elisabeth" which appeared as a street name in 1913.  An unusual given name, it is an even more unusual place name.

Van Drehle's Subdivision or addition

 

SIGEL AVENUE

(6200 South at Gravois, begins 4700 East at Gravois to 5532 West at Kingshighway where the avenue ends)  Sigel Avenue honors Franz Sigel (1824-1902), a Union Army general in the Civil War, who fought in Missouri and at the Battle of Bull Run.  He was born in Germany and was an idol of the German population of St. Louis. The street name first appeared in 1909.

Goethe Heights Subdivision or addition

 

HOLLY HILLS AVENUE

(6400 South, begins at 4700 East at Gravois to 5751 West at Hampton)

Originally being called Kingshighway Southwest until 1931, when it was titled Holly Hills after the 1923 subdivision of that name north of Carondelet Park in the Carondelet neighborhood.

In the Carondelet neighborhood originally called Kansas Street.

 

KINGS DRIVE

(6400 South, begins at 4700 East at Gravois to 4774 West at Kingshighway ends)

Kings Drive is a short street appearing in 1928, part of St. Paul's Cemetary

Kingshighway Forest Subdivision or addition