Customer Reviews

Mermaids, Monasteries, Cherokees and Custer: The Stories Behind Philadelphia Street Names

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the best books that I have received in years. I have lived in Philadelphia my entire life and have often wondered where the names of the streets came from, finally an answer. I have spent hours paging through this book and it is a real hit with friends and family, mostly with the older crowd.

This book is a great resource! Guests look up at least their street name, if not more. The author provides short explanations, so you can spend as much or as little time flipping through it as you want to. It provides a quick peek into the amazing history of Philadelphia, linking that information with specific streets. This would be a great tool for teachers to use, especially since seeing a street sign immediately brings back information from the book. The book has no map, and primarily sticks to the larger, most well known streets, but it is an informative and entertaining read!

If you have ever wondered how a street got its name, this is the book you! Robert I. Alotta did an impressive amount of research and has compiled a fascinating little resource on Philadelphia street names. While most Philadelphians can easily figure out who Ben Franklin Parkway or John F. Kennedy Boulevard is named after, how about some of the more obscure names? Even the streets that aren't named after people have interesting historical facts. Presented in alphabetical encyclopedic style order, this book makes a better reference than an interesting read. However, I found it to be good fun to look up familiar street names and discover the meanings behind them. For the interested, this book is well worth the investment.

This is a reference book. It is not amusing or entertaining. I was looking forward to learning more about my new home, and I did learn a few things. However, the consumer should be warned: this is a dry, factual scholarly work, not a piece of light reading.

If you grew up in Philly or are familiar with the city, this is a fun book to read. I really enjoyed the histories of the various street names.

This is a wonderful collection of ancedotes and historical tidbits about Philadelphia's streets. The street names are listed alphabetically, with a few paragraphs about how each street got its name. Some listings have more content than others. There's also an interesting section on house-numbering, which didn't start until the late 1700s. Another section lists when specific roads operated as toll roads between 1711 and 1918.

In the book's introduction, which I also found interesting, the author explains some of the obstacles in doing this project--particularly the 'lack of cohesive record-keeping by the city' and the misinformation and erroneous data in the 'seemingly authoritative newspaper clippings.'

I would've liked to have seen longer descriptions and some street maps included for reference. Overall though, it's an excellent book for anyone interested in Philadelphia. In addition to teachers, I think it would also benefit anyone putting together local tours or a 'historical neighborhood' association.