Skip to main content

The weird Main Street of Fresno

By

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. 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The case to move Interstate 73 in Southern Ohio onto US 33

By
Every decade or so, Ohio pushes to revisit the proposed Interstate 73 that would connect Michigan to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  It's been happening since Congress legislated the route in 1991.  Within Ohio, Interstate 73 generally follows the US 23 corridor from Portsmouth through Columbus to Toledo, and into Michigan. Since High Priority Corridor Five was created , Ohio has really done nothing to move forward with Interstate 73.  Sure, there have been feasibility studies here and there.  But actual dollars and construction just haven't occurred. The US 33 Nelsonville Bypass appears to have been built to Interstate standards. However, Ohio has been slowly upgrading US 33 to a full freeway through Southeastern Ohio.  Bypasses of Lancaster and Nelsonville opened in 2004 and 2013, respectively.  Other sections of two-lane road are being twinned, some to freeway or, at a minimum, to expressway standards.  Currently, a $274 million widening project in...
Post a Comment
Read more

Local Sign Find - The last remnant of Business Interstate 95 between Kenly and Rocky Mount , NC

By
As you head north on Interstate 95 at Exit 107 for Kenly and US 301, you'll notice something odd about the overhead sign for the exit.  Peeling off the sign for all that can see is the word 'NORTH' off-center from the US 301.  This old sign (probably close to original from when this section of I-95 opened - more on that in a little bit) gives a hint to a short-lived Business Interstate Route that ran from here to Rocky Mount. The last hint of the Kenly-Wilson-Rocky Mount Business I-95 (Shaun White - August 2020) Interstate 95 in North Carolina has a unique history.  But one of the overlooked and forgotten pieces of Interstate 95 in North Carolina is the 38 mile section between Kenly and Rocky Mount.  When opened to traffic in late 1978, it was the next to last piece of Interstate 95 in North Carolina to open replacing a four lane US 301 from Battleboro through Rocky Mount and Wilson to eventually tying back into the Interstate in Kenly. Though it was not delayed in l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nostalgia fast food with style - Returning to Rax

By
Nostalgia. It sells. It evokes, and more accurately, warps memories of days gone by.  Things were better, simpler, and we eat it up. Nostalgia can make you drive three hours and over a hundred miles out of your way just to reconnect with a dying fast-food restaurant you last enjoyed in the early to mid-90s.  That person was me - that restaurant was Rax. I could go on about Rax's history, but in short, Rax was briefly a very popular roast beef fast-food chain.  Growing up in the 80s and early 90s in Western PA, Rax was the good fast-food spot.  The milkshakes.  (Personally, the chocolate chip milkshake was heaven.)  Uncle Alligator Kids Meal with the chocolate chip cookie. Take that McDonald's Happy Meal!  The fancy salad and hot foods bar.  Going to Rax was special.  Like so many similar restaurants, various investments, management decisions, etc., led Rax to almost disappear overnight.  By the time I graduated college in late 1999, abou...
Post a Comment
Read more