What’s in a name? Millbrook street name origins

MILLBROOK —  The Millbrook Historical Society (MHS) presented a program on how Millbrook streets got their names on Saturday, July 15, led by Ashley Lempka on the porch of the Millbrook Library.

Much of the research was discovered through the archives of the Millbrook Round Table, a former local newspaper, and some discussion came from the 20-member audience and MHS members.

There was shade but, with the thermometer reaching close to 90 degrees, not much respite from the heat. Lempka had pictures mounted on a posterboard of signs, houses, churches and other memorabilia. Robert McHugh, president of MHS, had a notebook filled with pictures and copies of correspondence, deeds and other mementos from the past.

Many street names are self-explanatory; Main Street is usually the main thoroughfare in a village or town. There are many reasons to bestow names on places, including naming them after presidents. Washington Avenue “we assume this was named because we are in the Town of Washington,” said Lempka, and Washington passed through it once, so that is how the town got its name.

Millbrook has the distinction of having been laid out by Franklin Merritt between the years of 1865 and 1869. At the time, it was state of the art, so he may have felt perfectly justified in naming the two main streets after himself: Franklin Avenue and Merritt Avenue.

The Millbrook Library now stands on what was originally the Isaac Haight Farm. Merritt bought the farm in 1869, a smart move because he knew that the railroad would be coming through the area. It was spearheaded by George Hunter Brown, a New York banker who moved here for health reasons, to a farm called Millbrook Farms. There you have the origin of the name Millbrook, although it wasn’t incorporated as a village until 1895. Farmer Haight has a street named after him as well, right off Maple Avenue: Haight Avenue.

Millbrook Library is located on Friendly Lane. Why “Friendly”? Because, at one time, the lane was home to the Friends Quaker Meeting House. It was later razed and the spot it stood on is now the library parking lot.

“Pilgrim Lane,” said Lempka, “we don’t have a lot of information on this alley. However, we can assume that the name either came from being next to the Friends Meeting House, as a pilgrim is a traveler who is on a journey to a holy place, or perhaps some of the developers or residents were descendants of the original Pilgrim settlers, and named it as a tribute to them.” She added that this is conjecture, and there is no historical data to support it. It is known that it was where the barns that housed the horses and carriages from Maple and Franklin avenues stood.

Some streets are named after the trees that are prevalent along them, thus Maple Avenue is named after the maples that grow there. Elm Drive was named around 1898 for similar reasons, but Dutch Elm Disease took many of those trees down in the 1930s.

Weatherford Lane was suggested by Peter Devers when George Whalen asked local realtors for suggestions for a new street off Haight Avenue. Col. John Weatherford was the master of foxhounds of the “Millbeck Hounds.”

There are no churches on Church Street. but once upon a time there were two churches on the street: a Methodist church, which is now a residence, and an Episcopal church that stood where the parking lot is across from Nooche’s Pub. It was torn down.

The railroad came to Millbrook and many businesses and warehouses were located on the street in front of the tracks, therefore, North Front Street and South Front Street, but later just Front Street.

Front Street becomes Hart’s Village Road as you pass Merritt Bookstore. Philip Hart was an industrialist, the most prosperous mill owner, and that area was named for him. Many of the mills are still standing, as is Hart’s house, built in 1800. The home is now owned by town historian David Greenwood and his wife, Nan. Hart also built the large house across the street for his family. Now the Blythewood Bed and Breakfast, it is also home to McHugh and his family.

As towns built up around the budding railroads, destinations often became names, such as Sharon Turnpike and Stanford Road,

There is no reservoir on Reservoir Drive, which began life as Reservoir Avenue, but there is a small pond in the woods behind it.

Immigrants made their contribution to naming the streets. Stated Lempka, “As many of you probably know, Alden Place was originally the home to many Irish and then Italian immigrants. In 1890 two lots of land were sold to a Marie Weed Alden, hence the name Alden Place. Alden Place was also referred to as Hogan’s Alley. A widow by the name of Mary Hogan and her family lived on the Street as well, owning three lots. However, the name most likely came from what was a new cartoon in the papers, ‘Hogan’s Alley,’ which was one of many ethnic cartoons that appeared at that time.”

The other large immigrant population that came to Millbrook and became much of its heart and soul were the Italians, and many streets are named after those early families, such as Ciferri Drive, Manzi Drive and Velletri Way.

North Avenue was actually Shaws Street, named for Henry Shaw who offered livery and boarding stable services on the street. In 1892 it was renamed on a Sanborn map. The street runs north, so it became North Avenue.