Cheyenne is an old town and has many street names. Many of the streets we see now, were changed. Street names have meaning and typically were named after someone.

If you drive downtown, you'll see names of major streets that were once named after prominent men, but for whatever reason were changed.

Here are 5 major downtown streets and their original names, the men who they were named after and what they are called now.

  1. Warren Ave - This street was originally named Dodge, after Grenville Dodge, who was a surveyor and engineer for the Transcontinental Railroad. He is a veteran who had served with the Union Army during the Civil War.
  2. Central Ave - This street was originally named Ransom, after civil engineer and Civil War General Thomas E Ransom, who assisted his friend Grenville Dodge on the Transcontinental Railroad.
  3. Capitol Ave - The original name of Capitol Ave was Hill Street until the Cheyenne City Council changed the name on May 3, 1887. This was about two weeks prior to the laying of the corner stone at the Capitol Building. His Street is believed to have been named after James J. Hill, who was a railroad builder and manager. He also had much to do about railroad transfer station designs, which made it easier for many rail cars to go to one place. The rail company Deluth, Watertown and Pacific built to go from Deluth to Cheyenne, Wyoming and later came together as the Manitoba and the Great Northern.
  4. Carey Ave - This street was originally named Ferguson, named after Arthur N. Ferguson, who was a member of the Union Pacific survey party, who also worked with Grenville Dodge. Between writing about the hardships of building the railroad and the Indians who took the lives of some of the men, he also read law and later became a lawyer in Nebraska.
  5. Pioneer Ave - Was named Eddy, after Charles Eddy, founder of the El Paso and North Eastern Railroad. Eddy was very optimistic that ranching, mining and farming could all be linked to the railroad.

 

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