SLOJX Street Names ION THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE
Joseph A. Carotenuti
History is where you find it…and not always confined to the pages of a
book. Anyone living in San Luis Obispo…indeed the entire County…who
drives, walks, jogs or even just sits shares in our local history. With a little
curiosity, patience, and perseverance, searching the past becomes something
much more than an academic exercise. Have you ever met a more
enthusiastic group than genealogists as they comb about for clues about their
ancestors? From one name a panorama of time opens before those who
inquire.
History is best learned from its closeness to the heart. In other words, start
exploring the past closest to you. For instance…what’s the history behind
the name of your street? Certainly, Foothill, Hollyhock, and Tulip are self-
explanatory while Marsh, Court, Garden, and Palm present no particular
historical challenge.
Every community has small kernels of its past in street names. Of the 633
streets in the City’s official list, many remember those who made
contributions to the evolving community. Explore a map of San Luis Obispo
(or any community), read down the list of streets and you will bump into
history.
For example, find Hawthorne Elementary School. Lo and behold! The
school is literally surrounded by names from the pioneer past. (The school
was named after Nathaniel Hawthorne, a great writer but with not the
remotest connection to the city. However, the evolution of schools – and
their names – is worth some study time.)
Did you drive or walk there on Sandercock Street? Founded by William
Sandercock in 1872, the oldest business in San Luis Obispo still bears his
name. Delivering and hauling goods and merchandise throughout the area,
the company ledgers are an informal census over years of business as the
company served (and still serves) a wide range of individuals and
businesses.
A few of you may have even driven or walked along a much shorter Hutton
Street.
William Rich Hutton came to California in 1847 with his uncle who was
appointed paymaster for the Union troops at the time. Traveling through the
state, he eventually surveyed the Wilson, Branch, and Dana rancheros in
South County as well as provided a survey and map for the settlement of San
Luis Obispo. It was a challenge and he was paid well: $627. He was
appointed, then elected County Surveyor, but left in 1851 to become a noted
engineer on the east coast. It is an appropriate street name for someone who
provided the first map of the settlement.
Equally important, as an amateur artist, he left the earliest known sketches of
both the Mission as well as the settlement. Fortunately, a record of his
drawings and letters from California are available in our library.
On the east side of the school is Story Street. George Story was an early City
Engineer for the City appointed in the mid-1880s. He continued his service
well into the 1900s. His name on a street is another appropriate
remembrance for a man who worked to bring some order to public
thoroughfares.
In those day, the owners along any particular “street” petitioned the City
fathers to have the street “opened” - usually extended in front of the owner’s
property, graded and/or graveled, or…the sign of progress…request a
sidewalk. Of course, most costs were the responsibility of the petitioners.
The City Engineer’s many duties included plotting the street’s course and
determining costs as well as individual shares in the expenses. Intersections,
however, became the responsibility of the municipality and the challenge
was attempting to connect a street when both ends started at a distance from
each other. Today, we still experience remnants of the solutions.
The final street surrounding the school bears the name of a family
remembered mostly for their ties with Arroyo Grande – Branch Street.
Francisco Branch was born in New York in 1802 and received a 17,000-acre
grant from Mexican Governor Alvarado. The Santa Manuela rancho was
surveyed by Hutton and included today’s Arroyo Grande. Branch was well
respected and became a member of the first Board of Supervisors in 1852.
It is appropriate that the family name adjoins a school as in 1874 Branch
donated an acre of land for the first school in Arroyo Grande, built the
school, hired a teacher, and paid all the expenses for the first year!
Not a street surrounding the school…but clearly visible from the
playground…is tiny Ward Street. Horatio Ward was one of the earliest
surveyors in the County. Many of the earliest maps bear his name along
with Robert R. Harris whose street is not too far away.
Clearly, here is an elementary school surrounded by local history. What an
exciting lesson as the students learn a bit of the past by walking around the
playing field!
LEARN MORE ABOUT IT! Myron Angel’s History of San Luis Obispo
County is a must for local history. Annie Morrison’s Pioneers of San Luis
Obispo County (1917) profiles hundreds of personalities.
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