Somehow as Marietta grew, duplicate street names became an issue. The city council set out to fix things in 1941 when they went on a name-changing binge across the city.

The confusion likely started as the city grew. What may have started as a single road may have gotten chopped up as the streets were realigned. Some of the suggestions outlined in a Jan. 5, 1941, front page article in The Marietta Times would go into effect, while others seem to have been cast aside. The council of the time wanted to honor presidents and military personnel of the city.

They proposed changes to honor Lt. Gen. Walton Walker, who had been killed in an accident in Korea; Major Gen. William F. Dean, who was listed as MIA; Ohio presidents William McKinley and William Howard Taft; Admiral Thomas Dewey and Gen. John Pershing were all names that were floated by council.

There were three streets in Marietta that had “Park” in their name. Park Road on Harmar Hill was changed to Pershing Road. The short residential street remains named after the general who commanded American forces in World War I. Park Avenue off of Front Street was renamed Fair Avenue. Park Street, which is a very short street that connects Fourth Street to Matthews near Marietta Memorial remains the same.

Marietta is a city of hills, so it makes perfect sense that it had two High Streets. The one on Harmar Hill got to keep its name, the one off of Quarry Street was renamed Walker Street. The street connects Quarry Street with Marietta Elementary School. There were also two Highland streets, one on the hill near the hospital and one near Jackson Park. The one near the park was renamed Dean Street.

There were also multiple Greene Streets and multiple Putnam Streets. Early streets in Marietta were named for Revolutionary War heroes. The fact that there were multiple Greenes and Putnams who fought may have led to the problem. Regardless, we now have just one Greene Street. Putnam Avenue and Putnam Street connect on the Putnam Bridge, but the Putnam Street in Rathbone is no more.

The Norwood neighborhood has streets largely named after trees. In 1941 they saw a need to change some of the streets to different plant species. An alley named Chestnut for instance got changed to Beech.

There were once multiple Poplar Streets. In 1941 the one on Norwood was allowed to keep its name only to be renamed decades later by becoming Colegate Drive, which it connected to a few blocks away from the Greene Street intersection.

The section of Cisler Drive at the top of Washington Street was Eleventh Street until they renamed it to join with the road that connects that part of the city with Glendale Road.

Finally, the council suggested changing Third Street beyond Front Street to Muskingum Drive, a name that remains today.

There are still confusing street names in Marietta. There is for instance a Sunset Drive in Rathbone. Miles away there is Sunset Lane off Colegate on which I once lived.

A shocking number of 1980s pizza drivers would repeatedly mix them up and leave a starving young journalist without his dinner.

Art Smith is online manager of The Times, he can be reached at asmith@mariettatimes.com