Streets in some areas of Davis fall under different naming schemes. Read on to discover some of these themes and information about the history of neighborhood development in the city. You may also be interested in what happens when these streets run into each other at intersections.
Please contribute what you can! We hope to eventually have information about each area, not just a list of street names.
photo request: pictures of Davis and campus street signs
Famous Davisites
Location: Various
Description: These streets are named after historically notable Davis residents.
History: Varies by individual
In Davis
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Anderson Road — named for JB Anderson, first mayor of Davis.
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Chiles Road — named for Joseph B. Chiles, the patriarch of the Chiles family; his son, Isaac Skinner Chiles, settled in the Davis area.
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Clara Lane — named for Clara (Calloway) Chiles, wife of William Dee Chiles. Their home was the Chiles Mansion, east of the Davis Cemetery.
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Covell Boulevard — named for CA Covell
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Cowell Boulevard — named for Henry Cowell?
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Dresbach Way — named for William Fredrich Dresbach the first postmaster?
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Drummond Avenue — named after the Drummond family; specifically, John and Lewis Drummond.
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Glide Drive — named after the Glide family.
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Hamel Street — named after the Hamel family, or more specifically H[artman] Henry Hamel. See also Henry Jacob Hamel.
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Haussler Drive — named after John Haussler, who once owned most of the Bowers Addition and portions of what are now Central and East Davis, including the Albertson's Shopping Center. One of the family homes is surrounded by the Green Meadows development.
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Hoag Place — named after the Hoag family.
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Lillard Drive — named after the Lillard family; specifically, John and James Lillard.
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Marden Street — named after William Harrison Marden, a native of Coos Co., NH who settled in Davisville.
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Montgomery Avenue — named after the Montgomery family, specifically William Montgomery, whose property holdings included present-day Willowbank and parts of El Macero.
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Oeste Drive — named after Jacob William Oeste, who farmed in the West Plainfield area.
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Pena Drive — named for the Peña family, one of the original families in the Davis area.
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Rowe Place — named after Jesse Gray Rowe; the family home was nearby, in the vicinity of Sixth and K.
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Schmeiser Avenue — named after the Schmeiser family; specifically, Theodore Schmeiser.
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Simmons Way — named after the Simmons Family (see Sunrise Farm).
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Tufts Street — named after the Tufts family; see Joshua B. Tufts.
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Kendall Way — probably named after 1960s-era director of Davis Public Works Fred Kendall.
On Campus
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Bainer Hall Drive — See Bainer Hall
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Beckett Hall Circle — Named for the no-longer-standing Beckett Hall
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La Rue Road — named for Jacob LaRue who pushed for the formation of the farm school that became UC Davis
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Peter J. Shields Avenue — Named for Peter J. Shields
California Counties
Location: East-West streets in Westwood
English Alphabet
Location: North-South streets emanating from the center of Davis.
Description: These streets make up the downtown and surrounding area. They are named after letters in the English alphabet, and go in English alphabetical order, as so:
Artists
Location: North of Covell and east of Pole Line
Description:These streets are in the "Green Meadows" development which is a residential development built in the late 70's. (mostly)
History:
Note that, with streets named after Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo, Davis is one turtle short of a quartet of ![[wikipedia]](http://wikispot.org/wiki/eggheadbeta/img/inter.png){kind=small}
heroes in a half shell. This may have happened when Eastman and Laird killed off Donatello for a couple issues. Splinter ended up rejuvenating him later with a slice of pizza.
Bird Species
Location: North Davis
Description:
History: These streets are part of the Northstar development.
Circular
Location: South of Davis Cemetery off of Pole Line Road
Description: These are streets in Rancho Yolo Senior Citizen Community mobile home park.
(Some of the circular streets, if not all, were replaced by other names though at the end of 2005)
History:
Bidwell Street and Fremont Court are also circular streets, but they don't have the circular name feature. (As featured in the 1976 Yearbook of Agriculture (left) and a recent photo from Bing Map's "birds eye view" (right))
J.R.R. Tolkien
Location: Village Homes in West Davis
Description: See information on the wiki's Hobbit page.
History:
Maritime Names and Places
Location: West Davis
Description: Apparently, this theme is related to Stonegate Lake, with all of the Nautical words enhancing the "street" cred of the Stonegate Country Club.
History:
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Whaler Avenue (see Whaleback Park)
Numbers
Location: Downtown & Old North Davis
Description:
History:First through Fifth bounded by A and H are part of the original Core Area; Fifth through Eighth is the "Bowers Addition," or Old North Davis, while Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh were constructed just after World War II. Twelfth and Fourteenth came along not too long after. As Davis grew eastward, the streets were extended first into what some people call "Old East Davis," and then northward as the city grew. East of the tracks, the numbered streets only go from Second to Eighth.
Prestigious Universities & Colleges
Western Group
Location: Mostly around Cesar Chavez Elementary School
Description:
History:
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Hey! Why isn't UC Davis listed? Oh wait... I know why.
Eastern Group
Description: These are the famous schools not already used in the above area.
Location: Near Valley Oak Elementary School
History:
Rivers
Location: West of Highway 113; bordered by Village Homes, Russell Blvd., and Lake Blvd.
Description: These streets mark the West Manor subdivision of homes built by Stanley Davis Co. in the late 1970s. The streets are named for well-known and not-so-well-known rivers around the globe.
Spanish Names and Places
Location: North of Covell and east of Anderson.
Description: Well Spanish names and places are used on streets all around Davis, but there is an especially dense cluster here.
History:
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Ipanema Place (Portuguese?) It's a beach in Brazil... —StevenDaubert
Trees
Western Group
Location: Near Davis Senior High School and East
Description:
History:
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I think Douglas Fir is spelled with one S, but the sign definitely has two. - arlen
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This street name could refer to
Douglass Residential College or Sojourner-Douglass College but whenever I see it it reminds me of the Dooglasse in the book ![[WWW]](http://wikispot.org/wiki/eggheadbeta/img/sycamore-www.png)
Dyson Sphere. This book was available in the Holmes Junior High School library when I read it. -NickSchmalenberger
Eastern Group
Location: East of F Street
Description:
History:
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Pecan Place (Or pie as the sign says)
Southern Group
Location: to the south and east of Willowcreek Park, north of the Tank House
History: These are on the land that once was the Ricci Farm
and in (or east of) Willowbank:
Other Tree Streets
Both of these have a number of olive trees lining the streets, adding natural beauty to Davis.
U.S. Presidents
Location: Just west of 113, north of Russell.
Description:
History:
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Burr Street (Vice President)
