"What's in a name? that which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet." writes William Shakespeare. Would it? Would Fremont still be Fremont-esque if we called it the Lake District?

At our local museum, History House, I stumbled across a wonderful article written by Millie Klassert. In it, she details many of the origins of the street names of Fremont.

From The Beginnings

Our streets once had Greek names like Remus, Nestor, Nero, Jupiter, Juno, and Hector, until 1888, when the area was replatted and the names changed to reflect local identities. Draco became Linden, Pandora became Palatine, Pallas switched to Greenwood, Creon to Dayton and Dion to Whitman.

Those changes took place when M. Edward Blewett, L.H. Griffith, and Edward Corliss Kilbourne founded the area. Blewett, from Fremont, Nebraska, held a strong fondness for his home. In its honor, he called the 240 acres he purchased for $55,000 from John Hoyt 'Fremont'. (Contrary to popular opinion, we are NOT named after General Fremont unlike the town in Nebraska.) Kilbourne hailed from Aurora, Illinois thus giving us Aurora Avenue. Bowdoin Place may also reflect someone's fondness for home although no information is available to say if that be the town of Bowdoin or Bowdoin College, both in Maine.

Kilbourne's uncle, Corliss P. Stone, owned land east of Fremont, possibly the sites of either our major arterial, Stone Way, or Corliss Avenue, or both. John Leary, who owned land just north of Fremont, has the distinction of Leary Way, another major arterial.

I've always found it telling that Blewett, our 'Founder', quickly lost interest in the town he began, and chose to return to Nebraska. The area he left behind easily filled in with an odd assortment of characters drawn here by what we now describe as the "pull" of the Center of the Universe. In the beginning, they often arrived by the streetcar, a franchise begun by Kilbourne and Griffith. It eventually connected with Guy C. Phinney's Woodland Park line. Besides giving the City the Woodland Park Estate, where they built a zoo, he gave us Woodland Park and Phinney Avenues.

Come The Changes

In the early 1900's, the Seattle Engineering Department attempted to simplify things. Streets that flowed between neighborhoods, many of which once existed as separate towns like Fremont, Ballard and Ross, received standardized names that remained no matter what area of town the road crossed. Also, many street names, like Blewett and Kilbourne, changed to numbers - in this case, 35th & 36th, respectively. The original Fremont Avenue changed to 38th Street so the main thoroughfare, Lake Street, switched to Fremont Avenue.

One of the streetcar lines ran along Motor Place, and the repair shop for the cars stood nearby. Canal Street, lying parallel to the water, might have been named for the Lake Washington Ship Canal, but that is only a guess.

Unfortunately, most of this information must be laboriously dug up or blindly guessed at. According to Scott Cline, City of Seattle Historian, all a street naming, or name change, requires is a date and ordinance number. No ordinance requires records written to explain the change, reference as to the original name or whom we mean to immortalize.

Leading To Confusion

The Burke-Gilman bike trail, of which a small portion runs through Fremont, honors Judge Thomas Burke and Daniel Gilman. These two men led the way to establish a Seattle railroad - parts of which still continue as the bike trail. A major force in early Seattle history, Judge Burke has Burke Avenue and the Burke Museum named after him as well. One of the Fremont Chamber's founding members also carries the name of Burke although no relationship exists between the two families. However, nowadays, people may, by accident or laziness, re-write history from a current perspective and give credit to the newer arrivals.

Leading To Changes

The Fremont Neighborhood Plan, drafted in the late 1990's, contained a request to change a street name. That time no one wished to eradicate a vital piece of history. Where the Aurora Bridge meets the land, before it arches over Fremont, the Fremont Arts Council built the Fremont Troll. Three blocks of street still lie beneath the bridge although they carry the name of "Aurora". Often referred to as the Hall of Giants, many also suggest renaming it 'Troll Way', in an attempt to distinguish it from the street soaring above. It would make it easier to find, but may give mapmakers a major headache.

It might also cause a puzzle. In the far off future, when the Troll remains nothing but an unrecognizable pile of rubble, either from an apocalyptic earthquake or some puritanical political movement determined to extinguish all symbols of whimsy, a columnist like me might be forced to suggest the name 'Troll Way' came from a town in Texas, or out of our maritime past. It could happen.

The Fremont Chamber welcomes visitors and information seekers to stop by the office, located near the intersection of Kilbourne and Creon. If you have information on how to get a hold of Millie Klassert, please contact Kirby Lindsay directly at fremont@oz.net.