HISTORY LANE: CITY STREETS; CAPE GIRARDEAU'S STREETS AND THEIR COLORFUL HISTORY (LAST IN A TWO-DAY SERIES)

~Correction: Sprigg was a civil engineer.

Street names in Cape Girardeau, like most towns across the nation, provide an insight into the city's history. And when it comes to Cape Girardeau streets, there is plenty in a name.

In 1806, the village of Cape Girardeau was surveyed and laid out into streets and lots under the direction of the city's founder, Don Louis Lorimier.

Early city limits were defined by Botany Street, Fortune Street, Honor Street and Front Street. Although these streets are still around, the names have long since been changed. Botany Street eventually became North Street; Fortune Street became William, named for one of Lorimier's sons; Honor Street became Middle; and Front Street became Water.

Other streets included in the city's original plat were German and French, which became Main and Lorimier.

Cape Girardeau has streets named for its founder, his relatives and friends, businessmen, trees, flowers, rocks, states, women, cars, Revolutionary War battles, Southeast Missouri counties and breeds of chickens.

The list goes on. Some of the city's older streets such as Independence and Good Hope are named for ideals. Themis Street, named for a Greek war god, also means divine justice. Fittingly, it leads to the Common Pleas Courthouse.

But some names are a little more complex. A review of old city maps, issues of the Southeast Missourian and interviews with local historians reveal complicated tales.

Sprigg Street was named after a businessman and city council member but was originally called Orleans Street until about 1849. Fountain Street was called Indian Street on an 1808 map.

Other Cape Girardeau street names can be found in a list of most common street names in the United States, put out by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

They include Main and Broadway. Main Street ranks seventh and can be found in more than 7,500 U.S. cities. Broadway, originally named Harmony here, got its current name in October 1891. Broadway now can be found in 2,500 cities but is still only 72nd on the list.

Name inspiration

Cape Girardeau's latest city map contains more than 600 names.

No one really knows the first time Front Street was inundated by the flooded Mississippi River. Reports of the river overflowing its banks in downtown Cape Girardeau date to 1809, three years after Louis Lorimier directed the naming of village streets.

By 1927, when flood protection along the riverfront was a popular topic among Cape Girardeau officials, railroad engineers and citizens of downtown, Front Street had become Water Street, a name it lived up to numerous times before a floodwall was completed in 1964, ending a seven-year project that since has kept downtown dry.

At one time, developers who laid out streets gave them names important to them: those of relatives, friends and neighbors.

But Cape Girardeau is not without its unusual offerings, like Shinbone Alley, a three-block-long street named during the turn of the century.

"Shinbone Alley is still there," said Kent Bratton, a Cape Girardeau city planner. "It just doesn't have a sign."

The alley is between Good Hope and Morgan Oak streets.

Thomas M. Meyer, who lives downtown and is a historian of the area, tells how Shinbone got its name:

Edward F. Blomeyer, a founder of a brewery in Cape Girardeau and a former city official, was walking along the alley and hit his shinbone on a big rock. Blomeyer rolled the rock to the edge of a cliff on William Street near Happy Hollow and pushed it over to a place where a spring once flowed. With the rock removed, Blomeyer declared the alley safe for shinbones, and it became known as Shinbone Alley.

In later years, the city approved plans for paving Shinbone Alley.

The city almost became the home of Cool Guy Way. A developer debated naming a street after his son, who played Cool Guy in home movies. Some city staff members were cool to the idea of Cool Guy Way and convinced the developer to abandon the idea.

Avoiding duplication

One of the most important rules in naming a street is avoiding the same name twice.

"We urge developers to avoid duplication of street names," said Bratton.

But over the years some duplications have emerged. The city has two Highland, Hillcrest, Second and Third streets. And there are plenty of Park streets here: Park Avenue, Park Drive, Park West Heights Drive, Parkmore, Parksite, Parkview and Parkway.

Identical or similar-sounding street names pose problems to emergency services.

Streets reflecting the names of Southeast Missouri counties include New Madrid, Pemiscot, Dunklin, Stoddard, Mississippi and Scott. Others are automotive names: Auto Park Drive, Ford, Ranchito, Plymouth and Fairlane.

At one time Cape Girardeau street names were painted on curbs or posts at intersections.

In 1923, the Lions Club painted a total of 564 names -- four at each intersection -- at every intersection in the city.

Once a street name is approved it usually sticks, said Bratton.

"We rarely have a request for a street name change nowadays," he said.