The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

There is an online poll now to change the name of Lee school.  I went to Lee school, and I always thought it was odd to go to a school named after a military leader from the side that lost the war, but I thought "what the heck".  It didn't inform my politics, and I doubt it does for others.   

Is there an online repository anywhere that provides a background of the people for whom city streets are named?  I think Denver was named after an old general.  What about other streets?  Do any of those namesakes have shady pasts that would cause a re-evaluation of whether the names should remain the same?  I'm fearful this is a slippery slope. 

I guess I’ve never understood the mindset of people who look for things to be outraged or upset about especially team names, street names, or school names.

I mentioned this when Tate Brady’s memory was dragged through the gravel a few years back in the re-naming of Brady Street that there were other members of the Klan who were prominent Tulsans at the time and they still have buildings or streets named after them around the city.

We can waste a lot of time and energy re-naming things which remind us of our ignorant or hurtful past or we can see the names and let them remind us of how far we have come as humankind.

Most avenues are named for cites. West of main are named for cites to our west and east of main, well you get the idea. Not named for people at all.

Tecumseh conspired with the British against the American government, Sheridan massacred non-combatant civilians and is synonymous with the "scorched earth" warfare tactic, having a "King" and "Queen" street is just absolutely treasonous, and "Virgin" flat out pornographic.

Offended yet?   ;D

Pretty sure all the original North/South streets are named after cities. Tulsa is a rather young city so... Cities west of the Mississippi west of Main, east of the river east of Main. And alphabetically (with Main being A I suppose).

Now the streets running East/West North of the tracks or 1st Street I believe are named after people, or at least some of them are/were.

I just ain't got time to be offended by street signs.

And the online repository you seek can be found by clicking on the link below.

https://www.google.com/

N/S west of Sheridan that aren't main throughfares (Peoria, Utica, Lewis, Harvard, Yale, Sheridan) are mainly named for cities.  The mainlines are a mix of school names (Harvard, Yale) and from what I can remember the others were named based on the family names of the property owners the land ran through at the time they were named.

I found this a fascinating read.  Not sure how accurate it is.

http://www.tulsagal.net/2010/10/tulsas-street-names.html

And I wonder if the aforementioned Pattons in the above linked article are in any way related to our own Recycler??

It's difficult to be a victim if you cannot find something about which to be offended.

Nope, keep trying.
 
 ;D

In some cases, cities are named after people. 

In some cases people are named after things.

Denver Ave is named after Denver Co.   It's irrelevant that Denver CO is named after James W. Denver



Long story....   Denver means "to throw"

Denver CO -> James Denver -> D'Anvers surname -> Anvers Belgium -> Antwerp -> Antwerpen:  "to throw"

Hence, the reason I asked my original question.

Cute, but not helpful.

popular history credits Sheridan with saying "The only good Indian is a dead Indian."

Not hard to find old famous people who are bad by today's standards.

Hard to make it through a Dire Straits song and that wasn't that long ago.

How ironic that today, someone in OKC wants to scrub "Stand Watie" from their public names.

  Yes I can imagine that most people, famous or not, in the past had beliefs and actions that we would find repugnant today.  

I suppose one way to "sort them out" might be to ask "Where were they on the spectrum of beliefs and actions compared to other people in their time and place?"  as in Were their beliefs or actions "acceptable" or not atypical, for the time and place they lived in?

 Then the next questions might be "In the totality of their beliefs and actions, did they further or advance goodness in the world, or, did they rise above their time and place in an exceptional way that made a positive contribution to their society and humanity?"  

The questions could I am sure use some finesse but you get the gist.
Still not going to be an easy thing to answer in some cases, but perhaps its a start.

Fixed it for you.

Mostly I agree with you - as distressing as you may find that.  We absolutely MUST keep our knowledge and sense of history - and keep it honestly! - as I ranted about for years.  We haven't done that in a classroom or church environment, so is the public space the only place we will pay attention??  It's a real cluster...

You owe me an apology...!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5BdBfhliwM