Call it signpost sexism or, more reasonably, a sign of the eras when Detroit and other cities matured from pioneer settlements.
The lasting impact of early street-naming decisions is on lampposts throughout downtown, where 34 of 55 streets in the city's core have male names, Carolyn Gearig reports for Michigan Radio.
Streets in Detroit have many origins. They’re named after civil rights leaders, forts from the 1820s, cities in other states and early leaders in Detroit’s history.
But what are Detroit streets rarely named after? Women. . .
We traced the history behind the 55 streets that make up downtown Detroit, bordered by East Jefferson Avenue, Chrysler Freeway, John C. Lodge Freeway and Fisher Freeway. . . .
Only one is named for a woman -- Elizabeth Street. It was named by the first elected mayor of Detroit, John R. Williams, in honor of his daughter.
This mapping firm post inspires Michigan Radio's analysis.
Gearig's exercise is inspired by a November blog post by a mapping platform developer who plots “male” and “female” streets on maps of London, Paris, San Francisco and three cities in her native India. "Places and streets named after personalities are indicators of social hierarchy in a city," writes Aruna Sankaranarayanan of Mapbox.
"The results are fascinating, and maybe not surprising: streets named after men are more numerous and more centrally located than streets named after women in the metro areas we analyzed."
Here in Detroit, as elsewhere, the reason is obvious: "Most street names in the city were assigned by men,” Detroit Historical Society senior curator Joel Stone tells Michigan Radio.
Stone said that most streets in Detroit were named by 1960, when city government was still controlled by men.
“Prior to 1960, men held all the positions in the mayor's office, and on the various boards, councils, and developers that made these decisions,” he said. . . .
In areas that developed later outside of downtown, streets named for women become easier to find, but still are few. Most are named after the wives and daughters of influential men.
Alexandrine Street, on the east side near Midtown, is named after Bernard Campau’s wife, and Piquette Street in the New Center neighborhood is named for his daughter.
Adelaide Street in Eastern Market is named for Elijah Brush’s wife, and on the east side, Spencer Street is named after Lewis Cass’ wife’s maiden name.
Rosa Parks Boulevard is one of the only roads in the city named for an influential woman. In 1976, mayor Coleman Young and the Detroit City Council -- of which two members of nine were women -- renamed 12th Street in honor of the civil rights leader.
-- Alan Stamm
