{"id":2407,"date":"2026-08-14T00:58:56","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T00:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chrislezotte.net\/wordpress\/?p=2407"},"modified":"2026-09-14T01:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T01:00:13","slug":"female-street-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chrislezotte.net\/wordpress\/carculture\/female-street-names\/","title":{"rendered":"A Street by Any Other Name."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Jalopnik<\/a><\/em>, a news and opinion website about cars, the automotive industry, racing, transportation, technology, motorcycles, and much more, recently published an article which delved into the woman whose name graces the 10 and 405 interchange in Los Angeles, California. Marilyn Jorgenson Reece was a woman of firsts. She was the first woman in California to hold a full civil engineering license, the first female resident engineer of the California Division of Highways, and the first woman assigned to design an interchange in the state. The interchange design, notes Jalopnik<\/em>, was far from straightforward; \u201cit required handling one of the most congested junctions in a city already defined by its freeways, while accommodating vehicles moving at sustained high speeds.\u201d Female civil engineers were a rarity when Reece earned her degree from the University of Minnesota in 1948. My late aunt, who entered Southern Methodist University in 1942, was the only female in the school’s civil engineering program. Reece was rewarded for her breakthrough achievement, first by receiving the Governor\u2019s Design Excellence Award in 1962, being recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a lifetime member, and four years following her death in 2004, becoming memorialized in the dedication of the interchange in her name \u2013 the Marilyn Jorgensen Reece Memorial Interchange.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Detroit -1976: the renaming of 12th Street to Rosa Parks Boulevard [Ms. Parks second from left]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This news story was not only interesting for its attention to the significant but little-know accomplishments of a remarkable engineering pioneer, but it also got me to wondering how many other US interchanges, highways, and city streets were named after women. The answer, which was not unexpected, is very few. Nearly three quarters of US streets honor men. Thousands of streets across the country are named after George Washington, yet the person-title streets in major cities that recognize women is less than 10%. There are a number of reasons for this roadway gender gap. For most of American history, men held public office, real estate development roles, and leadership positions. When streets, subdivisions, and towns were platted, developers and male leaders typically honored male politicians, landowners, war heroes, or family members. Secondly, society has historically recorded and celebrated the public achievements, military service, and business success primarily of men. Women\u2019s contributions \u2013 often rooted in domestic, community, or uncredited labor \u2013 were rarely deemed \u201cmonumental\u201d by city planners and therefore not considered as street-naming possibilities. When women did get streets named after them, it was usually as the daughters, wives, or relatives of wealthy landowners or mayors rather than for independent public achievements. My current city of residence, Ann Arbor, Michigan, was named after the founder\u2019s wife Ann, as was the street two blocks from my house. Interestingly, it is rumored that the high number of streets seemingly named for women in San Francisco \u2013 Clementina, Ramona, Mary, and Harriet \u2013 were named after hookers. Finally, most American street networks were laid out and named permanently by the mid-twentieth century \u2013 prior to the women\u2019s movement\u2019s efforts to recognize female contributions – locking in the patriarchal naming conventions of those decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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The objective of the Feminist Street Initiative<\/a>, launched by the Women\u2019s March Foundation on the fifth anniversary of the 2017 Women\u2019s March, is to \u201creclaim our streets\u201d and \u201crename streets across the United States to reflect the names of those women who have earned their place in history.\u201d The individuals considered for recognition include feminist and historical icons Dolores Huerta, Gloria Steinem, Maya Angelou, Wilma Mankiller, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sojourner Truth. In my own hometown of Detroit, Rosa Parks Boulevard is one of the only roads in the city [re]named for an influential woman. Los Angeles leads the way when it comes to streets that honor those who weren\u2019t the wives or daughters of powerful men. No less than 30 LA thoroughfares recognize independent women who forged their own paths. Other cities \u2013 including New York and St. Louis – have named streets after historical female figures who fought for civil rights, science, or labor, as well as local pioneers or landowners who shaped their city\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n

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While it would appear difficult to name new streets or rename existing avenues to reflect the contributions of women after decades of male leadership, the Feminist Street Initiative website provides step-by-step guidance in the street naming process for those who seek to correct the gender imbalance on our nation\u2019s roadways. The group also invites the public to contribute suggestions of noteworthy women for future street-naming initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Sojourner Truth mural in Battle Creek, Michigan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The next time you drive one of the thousands of Washington boulevards, think of how much more interesting \u2013 and memorable \u2013 it would be to turn right on a street named Truth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jalopnik, a news and opinion website about cars, the automotive industry, racing, transportation, technology, motorcycles, and much more, recently published an article which delved into the woman whose name graces the 10 and 405 interchange in Los Angeles, California. Marilyn Jorgenson Reece was a woman of firsts. She was the first woman in California to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[43,68],"class_list":["post-2407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-carculture","tag-automotive-history","tag-womens-history"],"yoast_head":"\nA Street by Any Other Name. - Women & Cars<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A look at why so few US streets are named for women and suggestions to address the gender road gap.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chrislezotte.net\/wordpress\/carculture\/female-street-names\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Street by Any Other Name. - 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