CCA: We Need a New “New Main Street” Name

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“Welcome to Crozet” signs, designed by Peter Welch, to be installed in three locations.
“Welcome to Crozet” signs, designed by Peter Welch, to be installed in three locations.

The subject of the name of the new “main street” now being built in downtown came up at the Crozet Community Association meeting Sept. 9. What is now known as Crozet Avenue was called Main Street for as long as living memory goes back, probably since it was first paved in 1921. The name was changed when the countywide 911 system went into effect about 20 years ago.

That’s over; Crozet Avenue will be Crozet Avenue.

But none of the 45 people at the meeting felt like accepting the “Main Street” name for the stub being created. Something else is needed.

[Do readers agree? The Gazette invites readers to propose alternative names for “main street” and email their suggestions to news [at] crozetgazette.com, or leave a comment on this post. Let’s settle this before they make the sign.]

Meanwhile, road work is building 380 feet of pavement that will be three lanes wide. It will connect to the future library’s parking lot at the top of the hill. The lot will have 66 spaces.

White Hall Supervisor Ann Mallek told the crowd that since the J-MRL facility report came out shrieking over conditions at Crozet Library, “Supervisors are more open to doing something.” That may mean they might be willing to borrow, she speculated.

In other news from the CCA: citizens strongly favored a plan to place “Welcome to Crozet” signs at the edges of town. The sign under consideration uses the steam locomotive image on Crozet Library’s sign. One will be placed on Rt. 240 at the water treatment plant. Permission has been granted. Another, everyone agreed, should go near Clover Lawn, facing east. The crowd split over the third location, some favoring a spot along Rt. 240 such as the bottomland near Eaglehurst, others saying it should be at the Western Albemarle High School intersection or further west toward Interstate 64. On a show of hands, the Rt. 250 option was preferred about 2 to 1. The signs will cost about $410 each and a fundraising campaign, maybe donation jars, is being planned.

The CCA treasury has $919.19 in it, Treasurer Emory Taylor reported.

8 COMMENTS

  1. I don’t have a name idea, I’ll ponder that.
    I just want to suggest that if it’s going to be a person, it ought to
    reflect the diversity of those who helped make Crozet the place we all love.
    So it ought not to be a dead white guy. A local woman or black.
    May Phil James can give us some guidance from his vast knowledge
    of local history and lore.

    • Since this place is named after a dead white guy what is the problem? Are you saying a name should be chosen based on race and gender? If so, I’ll vote for a white male to highlight how stupid this all sounds.

      Is this the great Crozet land grab? Might as well stick your signs in Ivy. Brownsville is Brownsville not Crozet.

  2. History is always a great contributor to the naming of anything new to this wonderful village, particularly if it’s the name of a street at the very center of it.

    “Croi” Street. Pronounced “cree”. It’s the Gaelic (Irish) word for heart, and it would honor the Irish immigrant workers who settled from Ivy Depot all the way to Staunton while building the four tunnels that Colonel Claudius Crozet designed.

    Or how about “Wayland” Street after Abraham Wayland? After all, it was his initiative to petition the C&O Railroad to establish a new ‘whistle stop’ (to serve the Miller School). His 15 year old son Charles rode on horseback to area farms collecting signatures for the petition. After reading the petition and a list of possible names for the new station, the Vice President of the C&O RR (Colonel Williams Carter Wickham) chose “Crozet”.

    Whatever the name, I believe it should reflect the history of this village. Ms. Lyons and Mr. James are certainly great sources of knowledge, but they aren’t the only ‘historians’ out there. I hope this issue receives more visibility, so that people with that knowledge have the opportunity to chime in.

    Sources:

    the Crozet gazette, Cholera Comes to The Blue Ridge Tunnel, Mary Lyons
    https://www.crozetgazette.com/2010/09/cholera-comes-to-the-blue-ridge-tunnel/
    Posted by Editor on 9/07/10

    the Crozet gazette, Williams Carter Wickham and Crozet, Virginia, Phil James
    https://www.crozetgazette.com/2009/04/williams-carter-wickham-and-crozet-virginia/
    Posted by Editor on 4/14/09

  3. Instead of naming it for a person, why not name it Apple Road or Street? It would celebrate local produce that plays both a significant role in the history of Crozet and is a current attractor to our area. We have streets named for specific varieties of apples, and there is an Apple Grove Lane, but Apple Street would be distinctive and not likely to be confused with existing streets.

  4. New Main St, so we know the difference with the Ol’ Main. Please no naming after a certain still-alive person. I think that is so tacky or at least awkward. Charlottesville has a number of them. “Leonard Sandridge” “Jeanette Lancaster”. In other parts of the world, names usually refer to important people who are dead.

  5. In reference to naming the “New Main Street”, I have talked to some long time residences. The property the street runs through, was once owned by the Owen family. Their son, Dan Owen, was one of the first casualties of World War II. He was shot down over the Pacific and his body was never recovered. Maybe we could honor him and his family by naming the road Owen Ave. or Owen St.

    The area where the lumberyard is, was known as Ellison’s Grove, which would be a Crozet historical reference to the location of the new street. This would also be an appropriate name for the new main st. Please give my suggestions serious consideration. I feel these names would help maintain the spirit of history for Crozet.

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