The Changing Names of Old Worthington Streets
Few Worthington traditions are stronger than the old Worthington boundaries of Morning and Evening, North and South Streets. They bound the 164 lots partitioned by the Scioto Company pioneers in 1804.
But as many people have discovered from studying real estate abstracts for property in this area, all four of these streets and those within their boundaries have had different names during the past one hundred and eighty-six years. In fact, only south Hartford Street, between Granville Road and South Street has borne its present name continuously.
When the Scioto Company partition deed was re-filed with the Franklin County Recorder after the original was destroyed by fire in 1879, the Worthington village plat map which had accompanied the deed in 1804 was not re-filed.
Street map of pioneer Worthington Current maps of the village were drawn years later, including the "Original Plat of Worthington" which hangs in city hall. This is the survey map drawn by B. F. Bowen in 1874 when village council was preparing to "clean up" property lines and re-name streets so that one street ran all the way from the east-west and north-south boundaries.
Fortunately, the 1856 atlas of Franklin County contained an enlarged view of Worthington. The 1804 partition deed and early village council minutes suggest only one significant street change took place between 1804 and 1856. This was the creation of Temple Street (now Short Street) in l8l8 on a strip donated from the adjoining lots of Philander Chase and James Kilbourne.
It is very clear that in the beginning streets within each of the four village quadrants had different names. The west side of North Street was Greenwich, and east side of North was Village Street. The 1804 partition deed described the road to "Trumble County" (now Worthington-Galena Road) beginning "fourteen rods north of Greenwich and Village Street corner." This same deed referred to Morning and Evening Streets as the eastern and western boundaries.
For a number of years, however, internal streets were little more than lines on a map. Worthington was identified in the 1818 Ohio Gazetteer as being "on the great road leading from Kentucky by way of Chillicothe, Columbus, etc, to Lake Erie." It was noted that this was crossed by the "post road leading from Zanesville to Urbana and Greenville."
Within the village these roads were Main Street and State Street. An 1806 deed from Nathaniel Little to Ebin Vining for the lot where city hall now stands described it as "fronting Main Street," but most lots were identified by plat number rather than by street name. For years Worthington residents walked, rode horseback, or traveled in a farm wagon. As late as 1832 only ten residents of Sharon Township owned carriages.
The first reference to street names after the incorporation of the village in 1835 was an 1837 survey "to determine the central intersection" of Windsor (west South Street), State (Dublin-Granville Road), and Greenwich (west North Street) with Main (High Street) and "cause to be planted permanent stones showing the points of intersection."
An l841 ordinance required proprietors of lots on Main Street and the public square to make a good walk five feet wide of gravel, brick, or plank. The town paid for extending these walks over Main and State Streets at the public square, New (Short), Granby (west New England) and Marble (west Stafford) at their eastern ends, Berlin (east New England), and Blanford (east Stafford) at their western ends. The fact that only Main Street had sidewalks by 1841 emphasizes how little development occurred on Worthington's side streets during it first half century.
It was February 16, 1875 that the village council for the first tine changed some street names. It decreed that "the street on the north line of the corporation be hereafter called North Street, and that on the south line of the corporation be hereafter called South Street. The street running east and west called Marble and Blanford became Marble, Granby and Berlin became Berlin, the street west from the Methodist Church became Short Street, Hartford and Vernon became Hartford, and Pearl and Union became Pearl Street.
But official action did not necessarily change what local residents called their streets. Late in the 19th and early in the 20th century local correspondence and newspapers commonly referred to Dunlap (South), Edgewood (North), Granby (Morning), and Pioneer (Evening) as the village boundaries.
It was July 1928 before a petition to village council legally changed the streets of old Worthington to the names in use today. North/Edgewood/Edgemont became North Street, Dunlap/South became South, Morning/Granby became Morning, Evening/Pioneer became Evening, Main/High became High, State/Granville became Granville, Marble became Stafford, Berlin became New England, Pearl became Oxford and Hartford remained Hartford.
Residents of later subdivision will recognize that some of the early street names such as Granby and Pioneer are now used in areas outside the original plat. Worthington street names have undergone much more change than most residents suspect.
SOURCES:
The 11 August 1804 Scioto Company partition deed was re-recorded in Franklin County Deed Record, Vol. A, pp. 14-23. Bishop Chase's deed to the city of Worthington for Temple Street is re-recorded in Franklin County Deed Record, Vol. 1, p. 32.
The 1832 Franklin County tax record for Sharon Township itemized Marcus Cole, Buckley Comstock, Rodney Comstock, Job Case, G. H. Griswold, Orange Johnson, John Johnston, Edward Mallory, Daniel Upson, and M. L. Wilkinson with carriages.
Worthington Village Council Minutes contain the 15 April 1837 survey of Main Street intersections, the 6 September 1841 ordinance relating to sidewalks, the 16 February 1875 ordinance regarding street names, and the July 1928 ordinance changing street names. B. F. Bowen's Survey and Plat, 8 October 1874 is recorded in Franklin County Engineer's Book 3, p. 330.
Early 20th century confusion regarding official and unofficial village names is illustrated in a 30 September 1926 Worthington News article regarding a street lighting system for the village and the First Directory of Worthington, Ohio compiled and published by Leonard Insley, 30 July 1928. Many streets are cited both by current and former names.
This article is one of a series of 31 articles originally published in the Worthington News and then in the book "Probing Worthington's Heritage" copyright by Robert and Jennie McCormick. The 1990 book is out of print, but copies are available at the libraries of the Worthington Historical Society and the Old Worthington Library. Much of this content was later included in the book "New Englanders on the Ohio Frontier" which can be purchased at our Gift Shop.
 |
Making Worthington a Special Place! |
|
