Musings: How east side streets got named

(If you’ve often walked down your street before and the pavement didn’t state for whom its named for, for a few have I, several answers why, that name is on the street where you live.) – Apologies to Lerner and Lowe

If you’re on the east side of Broadway inside the city limits, your street was probably named long before you were born. City of Sonoma streets evolved from a grid pattern initiated by Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo sometime after 1835, when he was sent here by the Mexican government to strengthen the northern frontier from incursion by the Russians at Fort Ross.

Vallejo created our 8-acre Plaza and put it at the center of his plan. Actual streets came later. Nevertheless, a pattern was set, and the city would eventually grow into it.

The street names of our Mexican era (except for “Calle Napa”) were not those we see today. Broadway was “La Calle Grande.” Spain Street was “Calle Vallejo,” because Vallejo’s home was on it. Calle Napa was named because it was part of the wagon trail to Napa.

After California became part of the United States and, with the establishment of city government later in the 19th Century, street names became part of an overall city plan. Even then, the grid pattern that Vallejo had drawn was retained (sort of).

The early city fathers named streets running east/west after countries. For example, the most northern street in the City of Sonoma is named “Brazil” and runs from the end of Fourth Street East to Gehricke Road. The next street south (formerly Calle Vallejo) is Spain Street. Running parallel to Spain Street on the south side of the Plaza, Calle Napa, was renamed “United States Street,” but later changed back to Napa Street.

Further south are France and Denmark Streets. MacArthur Street was originally Germany Street, but Germany was our enemy in two wars, so in the early 1940s, it was renamed in honor of one of our famous generals, Douglas MacArthur. It also marks the original southern boundary of Sonoma’s city limits, as established in 1883.

Other streets that were named in the 19th century often connected to a family that lived at the end of wherever it led.

The Nash-Patton adobe, near the corner of Patten and First Street East, was the home of John Patton and his family in 1848. Since then, both spellings, Patten and Patton, have appeared in documents describing the street. Patten prevailed, even though there was no family or person with that last name in the neighborhood.

The other odd thing about Patten Street is that First Street East ends there, breaking Vallejo’s grid pattern. On the other side of Broadway, First Street West runs all the way to MacArthur Street.

Nathanson Creek, which meanders through east side of town, could have blocked the southern extension of First Street East.

Also, the original Congregational Church was located on land immediately south of the intersection, which could have been why First Street East was never extended.

To go further south, you need to make a left turn on Patten, cross over the creek, and take the first right onto Austin, which runs all the way to MacArthur.

So, who was the Austin for whom that street was named more than a century ago? I haven’t found the answer.

Third Street East, which starts at Napa Street and ends at Patten, is only one block long. It stopped there because there was a large parcel on the south side of Patton that belonged to the John T. MacQuiddy family. MacQuiddy, who was a local contractor and the original low bidder on the construction of Sonoma City Hall in 1905. The MacQuiddy’s elegant two-story home was completely destroyed by a fire in April of 1922. MacQuiddy’s heirs sold off portions of the property in the following decades. The driveway into their home could have been an extension of Third Street East, but instead was named Oak Lane.

Chase Street, which crosses Austin, should have been named for a country, like the others that run east off of Broadway. Instead, it appears to have been named for J.B.Chase, who raised race horses on a ranch in that part of old Sonoma.

Donner Avenue, which crosses Chase, was most likely named for Eliza and Georgia Ann Donner, whose parents died in the Donner Party Sierra tragedy in 1846. They became the foster children of Christian and Marie Brunner, who had a small dairy in Sonoma near the Chase horse ranch.

Outside the city limits, many roads and streets were named after the family who had the largest farm nearest them.

I already mentioned in two previous columns how some streets on the west side of Sonoma near Sonoma Valley Hospital were named after Sonoma men who died during World War II.

As the Valley grew and more developments and streets were added. As time goes by, I will try to find the derivation of their names