It started with a purpose of finding the origins of street names. What I discovered was more than names but some powerful stories.
Including stories of strong women.
I found a story on the Arizona Daily Star site after searching “Tucson street names.” I started with the ones nearby: Swan, Craycroft and Campbell.
Alexander (A.R.) Swan was a farmer and businessman who lost his orchards over water rights. The road is named for he and his wife, Nellie.
Robert Craycroft was an engineer who built his dream home on a dirt road that now bears his name.
Judge Campbell was a State Supreme Court justice and on the Board of Regents.
Then it gets interesting.
Larcena Pennington, the daughter of a lumberman and Tucson businessman, survived an Indian attack and starvation in 1860. Apaches ambushed their camp near the border and left her for dead. She survived for 14 days only to have her husband, John Page, ambushed and killed the next year. She was later remarried to another prominent Tucsonan, William Scott.
Ina Gittings was a pioneer in women’s physical education at U of A. She apparently pronounced her name “Eena” so maybe we should re-think how we say the name of the road? Kind of like Houghton Road–is it “How-ton,” Hoe-ton,” or “Huff-ton?”
Perle Anklam was a civic leader from Michigan. The road was built by and named by and for her family.
Helen Wetmore envisioned a huge shopping mall (Tucson Mall) decades before its time.
Harriet Kolb wanted to ensure her husband Richard’s place in Tucson history.
Catherine (and her husband John) Magee were authors. Magee Road is named for both of them.
And speaking of books, Limberlost Drive is named for a children’s book (by a woman, Gene Stratton-Porter) so there wouldn’t be two Wetmore Roads. A U of A professor and author of children’s books, Harry Behn, petitioned the city to rename the road (he lived there) in 1941.
Street names are deeper and richer than you might know.
Relentless
(*Arizona Daily Star, Wikipedia)
