How some Loop 101 Agua Fria cross streets got their names
How some Loop 101 Agua Fria cross streets got their names
For another installment of “how highway cross streets got their names,” we move on to the Loop 101 Agua Fria Freeway.
We’ve completed past installments for these freeways:
- US 60 Superstition Freeway
- Interstate 17 through Phoenix
- Loop 101 Price Freeway
- Loop 101 Pima Freeway
Here’s the history behind the major cross streets of the Loop 101 Agua Fria Freeway.
McDowell Road: McDowell Road is named after Civil War General Irvin McDowell. Camp McDowell and Fort McDowell are also named after him.
Thomas Road: Thomas Road is named after William E. Thomas, Arizona’s Territorial Deputy County Recorder in the early 1900s.
Indian School Road: Indian School Road is named after the Phoenix Indian School, which opened in the 1890s.
Camelback Road: Camelback Road is named after Camelback Mountain.
Cardinals Way: Cardinals Way is named for the Arizona Cardinals, who play nearby. Cardinals Way replaced Bethany Home Road, which was named after a Central Phoenix sanatorium.
Glendale Avenue: Glendale Avenue is named after the city of Glendale, Ariz. The city of Glendale started as a temperance colony in the 1800s.
Northern Avenue: Northern Avenue draws its name from being at the northern edge of the Salt River Valley.
Olive Avenue: Our research could not find a definitive origin for Olive.
Peoria Avenue: Peoria Avenue is named after the city of Peoria, Ariz., which was settled by families from Peoria, Ill.
US 60/Grand Ave: Grand Ave was named by developers who created a route from downtown to west Phoenix in the late 1800s.
Thunderbird Road: Thunderbird Road is named after a nearby U.S. Army Corps training field for Allied pilots during World War II.
Bell Road: Bell Road is named after Harvey Bell, who was a farmer who helped organize the Paradise Verde Irrigation District in 1916. The district was responsible for the Horseshoe Reservoir on the Verde River.
Union Hills Drive: Union Hills Drive is named after the Union Mine, a gold mine in Yavapai County.
From here, major cross streets are numbered, like 75th Avenue, 67th Avenue and so on.