Let’s say that in certain respects streets are like people.
They have names and character. They network and communicate throughout
the city. They have life and longevity. In short, they have a
history. There is, however, no narrative or chronological flow
of history for these creaturely paths that have carried so much
Beloit history for so long.
This article was motivated by wanting to discover what is the
oldest street on the west side of town. In this regard there
seems to be a tie among a few. All of them were named in 1850
and they are: Bluff Street, Second Street, Third Street, Fourth
Street and Cross Street. Maybe unearthing more resources here
at the Society would prove there are others just as old, or perhaps
even older, that can claim the distinction of the oldest street
on the west side of Beloit. But where this motivation led was
to resources that highlight a spotty history of Beloit’s
streets.
Beloit’s oldest streets are on the east side of town and
despite a single name change from Turtle street to State street,
State street holds the distinction of being the oldest street
in town. There are streets that never did get a name change and
have been known by the same name for almost 140 years, streets
like Prospect, Broad, Pleasant, Church and College.
Long ago in the decade of 1838 to 1848 Beloit had numbered streets
on the east and 
west
side of town. On the East side Bushnell was First Street, Chapin
was Second, Emerson Third, and Clary Fourth. On the west side
there were numbered streets in existence from First Street to
Seventh Street (now Bluff). Delivery of mail became a real problem
with this numbering system, so sometime after mail service began
in Beloit - around 1839 - the town fathers did away with numbering
streets on the east side and changed the numbered streets to
street names. The west side became the only part of town with
numbered streets. Maps at the Beloit Historical Society do not
seem to note this change until the 1880s. Mail service in Beloit
motivated these changes in naming and mapping streets. Paving
the streets, which began in 1896, in turn aided in a more efficient
mail service.
The numbering system for streets has existed for all but the
first year or so of Beloit’s history. Today, odd house numbers
run on the north and east side of streets, and even numbers run
on the south and west side. The whole system had one last major
shift in 1926 when the city made Rock River the dividing line
between east and west, replacing the old dividing line of the
C. & N.W. R.R. tracks. Researching in the city directories
can get confusing if unaware of how address numbers changed.
Over the years the streets in Beloit have undergone numerous
changes which make for interesting history. Like people there
have been changes in name, changes in direction, and some have
died. A more thorough study to produce a unified account of this
history should be attempted by some hearty soul.
