LC officials renamed city streets in early 1950s

Published 6:47 am Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Back in the teens or the ’20s there was a street called Incline Street that was in the east neighborhood around St. Pat’s. Could you tell me what that street is called today?

Incline Street — renamed in the 1950s, along with many other city streets — was part of what is today Alvin and Ernest streets.

The Informer addressed a similar question in November 2008, around the time Christus St. Patrick Hospital’s street, South Ryan, became Dr. Michael DeBakey Drive.

That column:

When I was a child my grandparents lived on Tulane Street in Lake Charles. Early records from the house list it as Kentucky Street. All of the other streets in the neighborhood are state names. When was this street name changed? Why was it changed?

The name — like those of scores of other Lake Charles streets — was changed more than a half-century ago as part of a city-parish effort to standardize street designations; eliminate duplicate appellations; give names to streets that had none; and, later, to streamline the house- and block-numbering system.

In the first half of 1950, the City Council, building on work done by the local commerce association, appointed a seven-member commission to — as an unnamed commission spokesman told the American Press that year — “arrive at a workable system of street naming and numbering with as few changes as possible.”

Multiple names

The commission, comprising city, parish and business leaders, spent a year or so working on a plan to “christen” unnamed streets and revise the monikers of dozens of other streets, many of which went by three or four names.

For example, Hodges Street at the time was variously known as Broussard, Blaske, Canal, Laura and South Hodges.

Took two years

“We want people to realize that this is a long-range planning job — and that we are just that much behind other cities because we haven’t done it before,” the Aug. 16, 1950, edition of the newspaper quoted the commission spokesman as saying.

“We want people to forget the fanciful idea that they must retain the name of a street or the number of a house because they’ve lived there 15 years.”

200-plus changes

To make the plan more palatable for residents — many of whom opposed the renaming scheme for sentimental reasons — commission members pledged to retain, if possible, names that had historical significance or referred to area pioneer families.

The commission did away with all but two “boulevards” — Enterprise and Oak Park; reserved “avenue” for one series of numbered streets; and eliminated use of the words “lane,” “alley” and “drive.”

The group eventually changed the names of more than 200 city streets, though some of the new appellations — like Sale Street for Sale Road — failed to stick or underwent additional alteration — i.e., Boulevard Alley officially became Boston Street, but most people today call it Boston Alley.

Old name, new name

Some of the commission’s other changes, which the City Council approved in early 1952:

A Street became Moeling Street.

Azalea Drive became Azalea Street.

Barbe Avenue became Woodvale Street.

Block Avenue became Blake Street.

Bonaparte Street became Moss Street.

C Street became See Street.

Cole Street became Bilbo Street.

Davis Avenue became Medora Street.

East Drive became McNabb Street.

Evans Street became Pine Street.

Faxon Lane became Center Street.

Fiske Street became Hale Street.

Gabbert Street became LaGrange Street.

Gray Street became Enterprise Boulevard.

Guam Avenue became Legion Street.

Helen Street became 10th Street.

Highland Parkway became Dolby Street.

Jane Avenue became Fourth Street.

Jefferson Street became Jake Street.

Lee Street became Sixth Street.

Midway Street became Eighth Street.

Mount Hope Street became Opelousas Street.

Avenue N became Fitzenreiter Road.

Oak Avenue became Gieffers Street.

Rock Street became Bank Street.

Ruth Street became Gertrude Street.

St. Joseph Street became Ford Street.

Wards Alley became Pithon Street.

Wilson Avenue became Wilson Street.

Wilson Street became Knapp Street.

Some names that were to be changed were instead left alone, including West Common, which was to be renamed Champagne, and South Ryan, which was to be called West Seventh.

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The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com.

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LC officials renamed city streets in early 1950s

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