Source
r/SpringfieldIL•
Springfield_Mapper

Douglas Avenue

I've been on a bit of a Springfield/Sangamon County history binge lately and noticed something strange when researching the origins of the names of many of our streets. A lot of them are obvious, like Jefferson or Madison. Others are entirely locally resonant like Enos, Matheny, or Iles. But then I came across Douglas Avenue and thought... wait, didn't we get rid of this dude?

In 2020, as the nation saw a wave of Confederate statues removed from government grounds in the south and schools named after slave-owners adopting more progressive namesakes, Springfield had its own "cancelation" of Stephen A. Douglas, famous for his rivalry with Abraham Lincoln, but now justly deemed unworthy of esteem as a slave-owner and for reprehensible quotes like "I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and Black races." His statue on the capitol grounds was removed and Douglas Park was renamed Duncan Park in honor of Otis Duncan, a black soldier in the first world war.

And yet, Douglas Avenue remains. I've gone through every article I can find on the removal of the statue and the park's name change and not a single one has pointed this out. Changing the name of that street - spanning from Jefferson to a half mile south of Wabash - wasn't something that anyone considered. Maybe they just didn't think of it - the fact that it didn't even occur to me until now certainly bolsters that theory. But is there more to it?

Removing a statue or renaming a park won't affect anyone's day-to-day lives. But renaming a street can. At the very least your DoorDash or Amazon deliveries could be mucked up for awhile. It would also most likely require some input from those with addresses on said street. The fact that a good stretch of Douglas goes through Leland Grove could further complicate things. What if Springfield changes it but they don't, or vice versa? Murky waters, for sure.

Also worth pointing out is... who actually cares? If we're going to be sticklers about racist shit, I would rate a neighborhood off of Sangamon Avenue with streets named after indigenous tribes being named INDIAN HILLS as way more offensive than this, and certainly less politically complicated to rename. But I don't recall ever seeing that on the chopping block.

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say with this post. Maybe that sometimes what we think of as justice is really just some half-assed performative kayfabe, and we should be cognizant of that, and maybe not settle for it. Or maybe that none of this renaming shit really matters. I dunno. Interested to see others weigh in on this.

Posted Oct 10, 2022, 12:01 AM UTC

129
Imdaman316•

Renaming a street takes literally just a vote of the city council. This would be a very easy way to recitify and account for a small part of our racist past. The only obstacle is simply knowing the origin of the street, which I did not. Until now. This is great stuff. Thank you.

3
Bronloneus•

If the community felt it necessary to rename the park it would probably be the same with the street name. I’m wondering what would happen with the name of the Methodist church however.

2
AlbinoSnowman•

justice is really just some half-assed performative kayfabe

I mean honestly, any socially grown value is going to be intense for some, and performative for the the rest of the people that support the value.

I believe we have people with rigid values and people with flexible values. Let’s say 25% rigid support for the cause, 25% rigid opposition of the cause, and 50% can be swayed towards the grander path of least resistance.

I think it’s commendable to have conviction, but if you think that it’s already a lukewarm environment for your cause, you might want to try stoking the fire or starting up a grass roots campaign. Otherwise that middle 50% won’t be bothered. The 50%ers need to weigh how important the cause is to sacrifice (even if insignificant) their limited time, mental energy, and/or resources when life is overwhelming enough. Good luck to you, in any case.

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Springfield_MapperOP•

This.... isn't a cause. I just remember it being a big deal and I'm curious why it only went as far as it did. It basically stopped at the point where people would be materially affected by the change, and I thought that was interesting, and that someone might have more insight. Like, maybe it was considered by a few on the city council but shelved for political reasons.

1
Outworldentity•

What....did I just read.

1†
Springfield_MapperOP•

I thought I made it fairly accessible and easy to understand. Anything in particular that's melting your brain?

5
RayErwin•

Sometimes it's best not to hit send. This was one of those times.

1
Cognitive_Publik•

I wonder why the pasfield famyis not talked about more

1
-x-_-x-•

Ah, a fellow hodonymy appreciator!

I think there's an interesting point here, that parks (and possibly schools and other point-names) will probably tend to have less political friction against renaming than streets do. Nobody's address or route directions will change because we added an "s" to "Douglas[s] Park", so even those who might not especially care for the change won't likely feel any personal reason to speak out against it.

Or, maybe, we could say that the political rewards of renaming a park will be higher than those of renaming a low-profile residential street, so that the renaming is more likely to happen even if political friction is held constant.

I suppose Springfield itself probably can't provide a large enough dataset to test either of these hypotheses. But they should be testable in some way.

(Incidentally, if you make it this far south, I have a theory that the actual origin of "Toronto" as the name for the long-vanished IC station that gives its name to the road is both weirder and more banal than the usual "uh, I guess settlers must have named it after the place in Canada" story. Would be interested in any theories you or others might have.)

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