MINNEAPOLIS - How did Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis get its name? That’s what a viewer named Angela Hutchinson asked KARE 11.
Local historians pointed KARE 11 to the Hennepin County Minneapolis Central Library, where the fourth floor houses the James K. Hosmer Special Collections, which houses all aspects of Minneapolis and Hennepin County history.
Librarian Ted Hathaway, Special Collections, Preservation & Digitization Manager, oversees the special collection, first referenced one of the earliest known maps of the Minneapolis area, a plat map from 1855, before the city of Minneapolis received its charter. He points out that Chicago Avenue used to be known as Ames Street.
Hathaway then helped KARE 11 hunt for when and why Ames Street was changed to Chicago Avenue.
He references a host of city maps from the 1800s, which he points out are all available to the public online.
Next, he searches local newspapers online, which are archived back to 1867. He also recommends searching through city council minutes.
“This is the sort of thing we pay pick away at for a couple days, we might consult with colleagues elsewhere,” said Hathaway. “We don’t say I don’t know, we give people options, because there are so many resources out there, it would be arrogant of us to say there is no answer to this.”
When city council minutes back to 1875 don’t reveal the answer, Hathaway tells KARE 11 the remaining option would be searching through handwritten city council minutes from the 1850s, an endeavor that could take days or weeks.
While we didn’t find the exact answer to how Chicago Avenue got its name, we came closer to its history and how to dig through old city records ourselves.
“Chicago could be because the city planner was from Chicago, things are named for the most casual reasons,” said Hathaway. “But, we are in public service here to help people, sometimes things take time.”
Do you have any insight to how Chicago Avenue was named? Write in to askKARE.