The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Street names tell of the city’s past
There are a good number of street names in Amherst that honor important figures in the city’s history and reveal information of its past.
“The main theme you will see is the street names, for the most part, are named after earlier settlers of Amherst or those who owned a lot of land,” said Matt Nahorn, a city councilman and local historian.
Nahorn said one of those, Harris Street, was named after early settler, Josiah Harris.
“Harris was the first to settle in the modern day downtown area when he settled in 1814,” he said.
“He moved from Massachusetts and started to lay out downtown Amherst in a similar fashion to how the towns were organized there. He owned a lot of land and was very influential in the early days of the city. He donated the land, in the area of 206 S. Main St., where the modern day town hall is.
“Harris also served as Lorain County’s first sheriff (in 1832) and was a postmaster for 40 years.”
Nahorn said Shupe Avenue, near the southern part of town, is named after the city’s first settler.
“Jacob Shupe settled in 1810,” he said.
“He owned land about 1.5 miles north of downtown Amherst. He owned and operated both a grist mill and saw mill. Someone, back in those days, had to travel a good ways in order to have access to grist and saw mills, so Shupe created opportunities for the people here and made the land more appealing for settlers.”
Nahorn said Shupe’s son, Isaac, also had an influence in the city’s early days.
“He owned a tract of land in the southern part of Amherst,” Nahorn said.
“That land turned into a housing area. To honor Isaac and his wife Minerva’s contributions, there is a Minerva Street adjacent to Shupe Avenue.”
Nahorn said there is also a good story behind Cooper Foster Park Road.
“Parks Foster, who is buried in Elyria, started a bank in the area,” he said.
“He was a working man who was denied being able to open a savings account by the nearby banks. He then decided that he would start his own bank in response. He ended up becoming a very successful man. The Cooper Family was also a group that owned a lot of land. I don’t know, however why all the names are combined into one street name.”
Nahorn said there are also street names named after the direction they take travelers.
“We have a Cleveland Avenue that leads to the east,” he said. “We also have a Milan Avenue that leads people west.”
Nahorn said there are also some unofficial street corners that researchers might find if they look at the city’s history.
“Pulling up some old layouts and articles reveal how areas used to be known by street corners,” he said. “These corners were, for the most part, named after the land owner who owned that particular spot. One of these corners, Quigley Corner, was at Joseph Quigley’s house at the intersection of Lake Street and Milan Avenue. The street corners are unofficial but were used by people in the earlier days of Amherst.”
Nahorn said there was also a street change in the heart of downtown.
“The modern day Park Avenue used to be Elyria Street,” he said.
“The name change is most likely due to when the city acquired the current land the town hall is on from Josiah Harris. That area was originally designated as a park, so I think the name was changed accordingly. An Elyria Avenue was later placed south of downtown.”
Nahorn said there is also an explanation for the ridge roads in the area.
“The reasoning for the North and Middle Ridge roads is the prior existence of beach ridges,” he said. “When the glaciers melted, beach ridges formed in the area the roads are today.
“Native Americans, and later white settlers, took advantage of this and traveled along the waterways. These beach ridges continued to move until they now make up part of Lake Erie. We still travel along some of these ridges today but by another form of transportation.”
“The reasoning for the North and Middle Ridge roads is the prior existence of beach ridges. When the glaciers melted, beach ridges formed in the area the roads are today.”
Matt Nahorn, a city councilman and local historian