Cleveland's STREET NAMES historically denoted famous persons, Native American words or names, or regional geographic entities to mark routes, thoroughfares, and residential avenues. Examples include St. Clair Ave., named for Northwest Territory governor Arthur St. Clair (1734-1818), and the many downtown streets representing the Great Lakes, such as Erie St. (E. 9th), Superior Ave., Ontario Ave., and Huron Rd. Michigan Ave. was vacated for the TERMINAL TOWER COMPLEX.
On 6 March 1906, the CLEVELAND CITY COUNCIL adopted a numerical system for street names, separating the east and west enumerated streets following a line of demarcation through downtown and PUBLIC SQUARE, outward to the (1906) city limits. Effective 1 Dec. 1906, the new grid system for Cleveland's fan-shaped street layout went into effect. Although many roads retained their original names outside of the city limits, some Cuyahoga County municipalities carried over the numeric designations as their own. All numeric address listings for the entire county follow the Cleveland grid schedule.
Select sources exist to translate old to new street names, including plat books and Sanborn fire insurance maps for the era, most of which detail graphically the old street names in parentheses below the new numbered name. The Cleveland City Directory for 1906-07 (as well as for following years) also provides a comprehensive alphabetical listing of new street names which more precisely details the former names and boundaries, as many of the new street designations incorporated more than one former street. Below is a select alphabetical listing of pre-1906 street names, with their modern-day equivalents in parentheses: