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The names of our streets
are historic records. Like
all American cities,
Independence has a Main
street, but unlike Main
streets generally, our Main
street is not a misnomer; it
is a popular business and
residential thoroughfare.
The first of our streets
were public roads leading to
neighboring towns.
Liberty street was named in
honor of the town of
Liberty, county seat of Clay
County, a compliment of one
county seat to another.
Lexington street was so
named because it was the
road leading out to
Lexington, Missouri, another
county seat courtesy.
Lexington had some claim on
our regard. Jackson county,
while in its swaddling
clothes, was attached to
Lafayette County; Lexington
then was our county seat.
In this one sense
Independence was the
successor to Lexington. And
of course we have a
Lexington street.
A street named Kansas is an
anomaly in Independence
unless one knows all the
facts. Our Kansas street
was named in 1849, before
there was any territory of
Kansas, and therefore was
not named in honor of
Missouri's neighbor, Kansas,
but for a road leading from
Independence to a straggling
little village ten miles to
the west of the county
seat. Kansas City has had
three names. The first name
was Kansas. The second name
was City of Kansas. In 1889
the city received its third
name and became Kansas
City. The territory of
Kansas was not created until
fourteen years after the
village of Kansas was
founded. And when the new
territory was erected, it
took the name of the
promising little village in
Missouri. Our Kansas street
in Independence was named
for the first name borne by
Kansas City. Hence and
therefore the earliest
recognition of the potential
greatness of Kansas City is
revealed here in
Independence. We are very
pleased with our handsome
street named Kansas. The
first mention made of this
street in the proceedings of
the first city council
spells it "Kanzas." There
have been employed 120
different spellings of this
name according to Kansas
historians.
We have Mill street that
crosses Mill Creek. Both
the street and creek were
doubtless named for a
pioneer grist mill, located
at the corner of Mill street
and Spring street. The mill
was not on the creek, as it
was not run by water power.
It was operated by a tread
wheel, on which horses or
oxen were used. It is
almost certain that only
corn was ground at this
mill. We regret that the
name of the owner has been
lost.
We have Osage street, named
for the Osage Indians, to
whom the site of
Independence once belonged.
Dodgion street commemorates
the name of a pioneer
hat-maker here in
Independence. The late
Reverend Alexander Proctor,
whom we all loved, used to
relate this instance. A
Western man, who was a
stranger, applied for a hat
at the Dodgion place of
business and left an order
for a very fine hat, which
was accordingly made for
him. He asked that the
price of the hat be charged
to his account. One morning
a friend who knew of the
transaction rushed into Mr.
Dodgion's office and
reported that the man with
the new hat was decamping on
a steamboat bound for St.
Louis. Mr. Dodgion hastened
to the river and went aboard
the boat. Recognizing the
new hat, he made up to the
man and said, "I'm Dodgion,
the hatter." The man
replied, "I'm also dodging
the hatter." It is
understood that the man
satisfied Mr. Dodgion with a
promise of payment, a
promise that he kept.
Maple avenue was originally
Rock street, probably from
the rock quarry on the east
side. The name was changed
to Maple avenue probably
from the belief that the
latter was more
aristocratic. Independence
has always been proud, and
Maple avenue still has its
pride -- so has the whole
town.
Sea avenue was named in
honor of the late L. M. Sea,
a very early settler here
and the father of Judge John
A. Sea.
There seems to be neither
tradition nor recognition as
to why Delaware was so
named.
Frontier settlers always had
an eye single to wood and
water. Both of these were
rich gifts of nature on the
site of Independence. There
were many springs gurgling
from the hillsides and the
whole region was covered
with heavy timber. These
essentials appear in the
nomenclature of our
streets. Spring street has
two noble springs, one
toward the north side and
one on the south.
The city has retained the
names of many of its trees
in the names of streets. We
have Maple, Walnut, and
White Oak. |
