Old Hyde Park

"It's a giant of a human thing."
--Mary Rafferty (The Valley of Decision)

Using this trove of old local maps, the author of this missive discusses the basis for many street names in Hyde Park.

In 1869, what was destined to be Hyde Park was then portions of two townships: Columbia Township to the north and Spencer Township to the south. By stitching together pieces of the two township maps, the author provides an interesting view of land ownership beneath the future Hyde Park.

The dividing line between the Columbia (gray) and Spencer (orange/pink) portions was Observatory Avenue (then called City Road). Several familiar street runs are evident, including Madison, Paxton (north of Observatory only), Edwards, Linwood, and, to my surprise, Grace. Conspicuously absent in 1869: Erie (not built, I believe, until the formal Hyde Park development commenced in the 1890s) and Delta down to Mt Lookout Square.

The author highlights many land parcels with familiar names: Grandin, Stetinius, Edwards, Shaw, Morten, Cryer, Kilgour. Several other names stick out as well: Longworth, Erckenbrecher, Ferris, Nash.

My house sits on land from the Cryer parcel outlined by the yellow box above.