Street Names
[Name of Banker Street changed to Market Street between 1829 and 1832.]
AN ORDINANCE to change the names of certain Streets in the Village of Lansingburgh.
Passed April 15, 1833.
1. Name of King-street changed to State-street, and name of Queen-street to Congress-street.
The Trustees of the Village of Lansingburgh do enact and ordain as follows:
SEC. I. All that certain street in the Village of Lansingburgh, heretofore known by the name and designation of “King-street,” shall, from and after the passage of this ordinance, be known and called by the name of “State-street”—and all that certain street in said village, heretofore known by the name and designation of ‘Queen-street,’ shall, from and after the passing of this ordinance, be known and called by the name of “Congress-street.”
Lansingburgh Gazette. July 22, 1851: 1 cols 5-6.
☞ WHIPPLE AVENUE.—A petition is in circulation, asking the trustees to change the name of Pitt Street to Whipple Avenue. It has been thus far unanimously signed by the owners of property along the street. It will be granted.
Lansingburgh Weekly Chronicle. January 9, 1866: 3 col 3.
☞ WHIPPLE AVENUE.—At the last meeting of the Board of Trustees, as we previously anticipated, the petition of citizens asking a change of the name of Pitt street to “Whipple Avenue,” was granted, and it was changed accordingly. Hon. George Vail claims that on his early maps laying out the Avenue, it was named “Vail Avenue” and that the trustees have dealt unjustly by him in changing the name of that thoroughfare.
Lansingburgh Weekly Chronicle. January 30, 1866: 3 col 2.
☞ THE NEW AVENUE.—We understand that a movement is on foot to name the new avenue leading to Lansingburgh in honor of our esteemed fellow citizen Hon. Geo. Vail. In the ‘Burgh the avenue is now called Whipple Avenue, but D. H. Humphrey is circulating a petition around the village, to be presented to the Board of Trustees, requesting them to call it Vail Avenue.
Troy Daily Whig. May 8, 1866: 3 col 3.
☞ LANSINGBURGH.—[…] The Board of Trustees, at a recent meeting, made some sweeping changes in the names of the village streets. What was formerly known as Whipple Avenue, from Diamond street [109th Street] to the Troy line, was named Vail Avenue, in honor of George Vail through whose lands it passes; State street, from the Waterford bridge to the Northern terminus, was changed to Wilson Avenue, in honor of J. A. Wilson; the street running east and west north of Mercer was named Platt street, and the one on the North of Dickson street, in honor of ex-President [Robert H.] Dickson.
Troy Daily Whig. June 15, 1867: 4 col 3.
On the north side of the new grounds a street has been laid out, which was yesterday christened Grace court, in honor of the daughter of a resident on that thoroughfare. A similar street at the south line of the grounds has been named Garden court.
Troy Daily Times. June 2, 1885: 3 col 5.
The action taken by the board of trustees in relation to changing the names of streets meets with general approval, and it will prove of great benefit to the public. Those who desire to become familiar with the changes made, are referred to the published proceedings of the trustees in another part of the paper.
Lansingburgh Courier. January 30, 1886: 2 col 1.
By Trustee Demers—
Resolved, that the names of the following streets be changed and known hereafter as follows:
Cemetery avenue as……….First street
Van Schaick street as……….Second ”
Gould ” ……….Third ”
Thomas ” ……….Fourth ”
Vail ” ……….Fifth ”
George ” ……….Sixth ”
Mill ” ……….Seventh ”
Middle ” ……….Eighth ”
Diamond ” ……….Ninth ”
Catherine ” ……….Tenth ”
South ” ……….Eleventh ”
Lansing ” ……….Twelfth ”
Hoosick ” ……Thirteenth ”
North ” ……Fourteenth ”
Market ” ……Fifteenth ”
Elizabeth ” ……Sixteenth ”
Richard ” ……Seventeenth ”
Grove ” ……Eighteenth ”
Jay ” ……Nineteenth ”
Canal ” ……Twentieth ”
Clinton ” ……Twenty-first ”
Mohawk ” ……Twenty-second ”
Washington ” ……Twenty-third ”
Mercer ” ……Twenty-fourth ”
Adams ” ……Twenty-fifth ”
Waterford ” ……Twenty-sixth ”
River street as First avenue.
State street as Second avenue.
Congress street as Third avenue.
John street as Fourth avenue.
Carried, 7 yeas.
Lansingburgh Courier. January 30, 1886: 3 col 3.
A ripple of amusement was raised among the passengers of a horse car, by a prominent village official failing to remember the change in the names of the streets. The conductor had called out the new name, “F-i-f-t-e-e-n-t-h street!” several times before the party in question took in the situation, when he remarked: “Oh, I had forgotten; we changed the name of the streets last night!”
Some of the village fathers are said to have pasted a diagram of the streets renamed inside their hats, and are thus enabled to jog their memory by taking a bird’s eye view of the new scheme. However, it is a good idea, and long may they wave.
Lansingburgh Courier. January 30, 1886: 3 col 2.
SPECIAL MEETING, JAN. 29, 1886.
[…]
Trustee Demers moved that the names of the streets running north and south in the village be changed and hereafter designated as follows: River street to 1st avenue, State street to 2d avenue, Congress street to 3d avenue, John street to 4th avenue, Whipple avenue to 5th avenue, Lincoln avenue, to 8th avenue, Park avenue to 7th avenue.
Carried as follows:
Yeas—McQuide, Brooks, McCabe, Demers.
Nays—Simmons, VanKleeck.
Lansingburgh Courier. February 6, 1886: 3 col 2.
After the annexation of Lansingburgh by the City of Troy:
—
Common Council Committee to Hear Discussion of Plan to Avoid Confusion—Adds Hundred to Designation of Lansingburgh Cross-town Streets.
The Streets and Sewers Committee of the Common Council will give a hearing to-night on the ordinance renaming the public streets in lansingburgh which run east and west. The ordinance adds 100 to the present name of the street, so that First Street will become One Hundred and First Street and so on to Twenty-sixth Street, which will become One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Street. The purpose of the plan is to avoid the confuision that prevails on account of the similarity in names of streets in old Troy and Lansingburgh. The plan has the endorsement of the Chamber of Commerce and Troy Rotary Club.
Troy Times. March 31, 1920: 17 col 3.
By Alderman Liney—
AN ORDINANCE altering the names of certain public streets in the City of Troy.
The City of Troy, in Common Council convened, ordains as follows:
Section 1. […]
The public street in said city known as “Leversee Road,” extending from 124th Street and Fourth Avenue easterly, thence northerly to the city line, shall hereafter be known as the “Northern Turnpike” and that the continuation of the said highway from the road fork what is now “Leversee Road” to Center Brunswick, shall hereafter be known as the “Center Brunswick Road,” and that the dirt road extending northeasterly from said highway to what is known as “Bald Mountain” shall hereafter be known as “Bald Mountain Road.”
[…]
The public street in said city known as the “Brunswick Road,” extending from Gurley Avenue to Oakwood Avenue, and beyond, shall hereafter be known as “Emerson Road.” […]
Sec. 2. This ordinance shall take effect immediately.
Approved as to form, June 18, 1931.
T. STEWART HUBBARD,
Corporation Counsel
Troy Times. July 16, 1931: 11 cols 1-2.
AN ORDINANCE providing for and changing the name of “Oil Mill Hill Road” extending from One Hundred Twenty-fifth Street and Fifth Avenue, easterly to Leversee Road, is now named, and from the enactment of this ordinance shall thenceforth be known as “Northern Drive.”
Sec. 2. This ordinance shall take effect immediately.
Approved as to form, April 18, 1935.
FARNK S. PARMENTER,
Corporation Counsel.
Approved.
Times Record. June 18, 1935: 15 col 1.
Street name changes of as yet uncertain date:
Boutwell Street changed to Alma Court (ca. 1930?)
Emerson Road changed to Farrell Road (bef. 1963)
Wilson Avenue changed to Second Avenue (bef. 1954)
River Lane changed to McLoughlin Place (aft. 1977?)
Street name designations of as yet uncertain date:
Gurley Avenue (bef. 1889)
Florence Place (ca. 1898?)
Diack Place (ca. 1911?)
Ives Court (ca. 1934?)
See also Old Maps, Paper streets in “the Garden” (1872) regarding a number of streets that were projected but never developed.