Going by the map, it looks like Randie and Ryan live just off Burnside Avenue. As a pretty cool ko-inky-dink, we live three houses off a Burnside Avenue out here in Pennsylvania.
Historical names can be tricky to track down. In my hometown, we have a “Hooker Avenue,” purportedly named after Fighting Joe Hooker, another Civil War general. But in my day, there were plenty of the other kind around.
As for Hooker vs. hooker: Prostitutes were first called hookers because of Joseph Hooker during the time he was in charge of the defense of Washington DC during the Civil War.
Not that Hooker Avenue couldn’t have been named by someone other than the (in)famous general. Here in Jeffersonville, we have a lot of streets named for Revolutionary War and Civil War heroes. Hancock Ave is named for Winfield Scott Hancock, and there’s no doubt about it: The General is buried here in our little town. (Mostly because we’re right next to Norristown, the county seat.)
Robert,
I had just assumed that, too. Since I love history and enjoy genealogy, I looked it up a year ago. While I don’t know about the Burnside avenue in Portland, the Burnside Avenue in Jeffersonville, PA – where we live – is NOT named for Ambrose. It’s named for a non-related Burnside family who were residents of this area. Burnside Avenue ends where their home was located on Germantown Pike as early as 1848 and probably longer.
My wife’s family dates back to the mid-1700s in the Jeffersonville area, which is how I came upon this information.
The nice thing about living in a “managed property” is that you don’t have to rake up anything… the yard service does this … but the minute they move into a house or buy property, they are toast!
If the cemetery didn’t have the leaf removalers you’d be hard pressed to find the graves! There’s a lot of trees in that cemetery!
Actually, Robert Nowall, our Burnside Street was named after local businessman David Burnside, who, in the late 1800s,
advocated for the dredging of the Willamette River to improve shipping and allow for more growth.
I have fallen under the spell of local history, as you can see.
Sounds like a nice area, although I know the hazards of living TOO close to a pizza joint! There used to be a little mom and pop pizza place not two doors from my college apartment. It ate as much of my money as I ate of their pizza. Also: Squirrel. Unimpressed.
Related to the above discussion, Originally a ‘Hooker’ in criminal terms was someone who reached through your windows with a long hook or ‘Gaff’ to steal items. Many families got the name through fishing, where such gaffs were common, or butchery, where meat-hooks were also common. Just some trivia.
Whew, been a while since I caught up on my comics, gotta do better on that. Quite a change for Randie and Ryan, going to be fun to see where this goes. And your winter theme for the page caught me off guard, didn’t realize the animated snowflakes were part of it, at first thought I was having either a graphics glitch on my PC or a problem with my eye, when I saw a single flake drifting down, heh. Nice touch.
Going by the map, it looks like Randie and Ryan live just off Burnside Avenue. As a pretty cool ko-inky-dink, we live three houses off a Burnside Avenue out here in Pennsylvania.
No doubt both were named after General Ambrose Burnside, of Civil War fame, also of whom it’s said the word “sideburns” come from.
That’s what I thought, but the Portland Bureau of Transportation says it’s named after David W. Burnside, an early Portland merchant.
Burnside Street – PBOT
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/article/295412
Perhaps a relative, but I can’t trace him.
Historical names can be tricky to track down. In my hometown, we have a “Hooker Avenue,” purportedly named after Fighting Joe Hooker, another Civil War general. But in my day, there were plenty of the other kind around.
Robert,
As for Hooker vs. hooker: Prostitutes were first called hookers because of Joseph Hooker during the time he was in charge of the defense of Washington DC during the Civil War.
Not that Hooker Avenue couldn’t have been named by someone other than the (in)famous general. Here in Jeffersonville, we have a lot of streets named for Revolutionary War and Civil War heroes. Hancock Ave is named for Winfield Scott Hancock, and there’s no doubt about it: The General is buried here in our little town. (Mostly because we’re right next to Norristown, the county seat.)
Robert,
I had just assumed that, too. Since I love history and enjoy genealogy, I looked it up a year ago. While I don’t know about the Burnside avenue in Portland, the Burnside Avenue in Jeffersonville, PA – where we live – is NOT named for Ambrose. It’s named for a non-related Burnside family who were residents of this area. Burnside Avenue ends where their home was located on Germantown Pike as early as 1848 and probably longer.
My wife’s family dates back to the mid-1700s in the Jeffersonville area, which is how I came upon this information.
There will be a quiz next Tuesday. 😉
The similarities are ridiculous, aren’t they, Pete… You’d almost think that there were spooky similarities like the Lincoln-Kennedy list! weird.
RN… this has spurred much conversation by Yat & Judy. Isn’t History COOL?!!!
I’m taking from this that neither of them has yet had to rake up those leaves.
The nice thing about living in a “managed property” is that you don’t have to rake up anything… the yard service does this … but the minute they move into a house or buy property, they are toast!
If the cemetery didn’t have the leaf removalers you’d be hard pressed to find the graves! There’s a lot of trees in that cemetery!
Actually, Robert Nowall, our Burnside Street was named after local businessman David Burnside, who, in the late 1800s,
advocated for the dredging of the Willamette River to improve shipping and allow for more growth.
I have fallen under the spell of local history, as you can see.
And we have a fancy schmancy barber shop called “ Sideburns”….on Burnside!
Sounds like a nice area, although I know the hazards of living TOO close to a pizza joint! There used to be a little mom and pop pizza place not two doors from my college apartment. It ate as much of my money as I ate of their pizza. Also: Squirrel. Unimpressed.
Related to the above discussion, Originally a ‘Hooker’ in criminal terms was someone who reached through your windows with a long hook or ‘Gaff’ to steal items. Many families got the name through fishing, where such gaffs were common, or butchery, where meat-hooks were also common. Just some trivia.
Whew, been a while since I caught up on my comics, gotta do better on that. Quite a change for Randie and Ryan, going to be fun to see where this goes. And your winter theme for the page caught me off guard, didn’t realize the animated snowflakes were part of it, at first thought I was having either a graphics glitch on my PC or a problem with my eye, when I saw a single flake drifting down, heh. Nice touch.