John McNamara (4) (–2004)

An atlas of historical origin stories about every single street name in the Bronx, past and present. FOR INSTANCE! DID YOU KNOW!"Jerome Avenue. It was laid out as a plank road at a cost of $375,000 in 1874, just before annexation by New York City...Legend has it that when Central Avenue became an important road, it was to be renamed in honor of an Alderman whose name is not given; but Kate Hall Jerome, wife of the gentleman horseman, was enraged when she learned of it. At her own expense, show more she had bronze street signs cast, hired workmen to put them up on poles, and personally supervised the work. The Board of Aldermen discreetly dropped the matter, and Jerome Avenue it remains to this day."The casually curious will probably be served best by just searching within the google scan. show less