Tales of our Beginnings
Cadott • Cornell • Lake Holcombe areas
On The Street Where You Live
According to the Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, the most popular street name in the United States, is Second Street, with Main Street coming in a distant sixth. The theory is, that over the years, the main street in a town got a new, fancier name like Broadway, Commercial, Wall Street or the like.
Cadott has kept its Main Street, but has no numbered street names. There are the obligatory tree names with Maple, Elm, Poplar, Pine and Oak, but no presidents’ names. Yellow Street, of course, follows the path of the Yellow River that runs through town.
South Ridge Court is located on what was simply the south ridge of the village, in the years before the area was developed. Cadott, as a practical town, has a Front Street, which was in front of the railroad tracks and depot in the years when the railroad was vital to survival.
There’s an East Street, which ironically runs north and south, and Seminary Street, which leads to St. John’s Lutheran Church, dating back to the 1850s, one of the earliest places of worship in town.
Stanley and Chippewa streets honor two nearby neighboring towns, and Park Street leads to Riverview Park on, again, the Yellow River. The shortest street name is MD Street, toward the south end of town, and the longest is South Ridge Court.
Two of the street names that are puzzlers, are McRae and Ginty, which run east and west on each side of the business district on Main Street.
One theory, is that Ginty is named after George Clay Ginty, who was born in Canada, but became a newspaper man in the United States, in the mid-19th century. Cadott’s first newspaper, founded in 1881, was the Cadott Record, which was published in what is now part of the Cadott Hardware Store, on the corner of Main and Ginty Streets.
It certainly is within the realm of possibility that Ginty Street was named after the popular Chippewa publisher. If anyone knows a better or different story, contact the Cadott Area Historical Society now. There is not even a theory on why McRae is called McRae. (Courtesy of the Cadott Area Historical Society)
