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The weird Main Street of Fresno

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Downtown Fresno until the 20th century never had a street signed as a "Main Street."  Traditionally the downtown grid was signed with lettered north/south streets and east/west streets named after the California counties.  This changed in 2002 when Civic Center Square was completed between the blocks of Tulare Street, O Street, Inyo Street and N Street.  The 220-foot-long street branching west of O Street to the N Street Parking Pavillion was approved by the city council as Fresno's first and current "Main Street."  This blog serves not only examine how Main Street came to be but also how the original downtown Fresno street grid was plotted by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1872. 




Part 1; the history of Main Street in Fresno

Traditionally there has been no Main Street in the city Fresno.  When the city plot was laid out by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1872 it did not include a Main Street.  The main north/south roadways through downtown have traditionally been located on Broadway (originally, I Street and US Route 99), Fulton Street (originally J Street) and Van Ness Avenue (originally K Street).  The east/west streets of downtown were named after the other counties in California. 

The downtown Fresno street grid can be seen with an intact originally naming convention on the 1891 Thompson Atlas of Fresno County.  


During the early years of the 2000s the Civic Center Square complex was constructed.  The complex was complete by 2002 and included what is now Main Street.  Main Street was a short road which connected from O Street west to the N Street Parking Pavillion.  On the opposite side of O Street, the Robert E. Coyle United States Courthouse was dedicated during October 2005. 

Main Street first appears on the 2012 United States Geological Survey map of Fresno South (marked via blue pin).  Oddly this map edition displays Main Street as being traversable fully between O Street and N Street through the N Street Parking Pavillion.  It is not fully clear why the city council elected to designate a connector street to a parking garage as the city's so-called "Main Street."




Part 2; a visit to Main Street in downtown Fresno

This view is facing southward on O Street in downtown Fresno towards Main Street.


The street blades at the O Street/Main Street intersection.  


Main Street is approximately 220 feet in length and terminates at the entrance of the N Street Parking Pavillion in the middle of Civic Center Square. 


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