Lafayette Streets Named for Businesses and Buildings

(Lafayette, Louisiana) - Lafayette has some interesting street names, and sometimes confusing, depending on where you're going. We have streets that change names when they cross a major road, like Guilbeau changing to Camellia as it crosses Johnston, along with Vital to Doucet, once again as it crosses Johnston.

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At one point I was so confused as to why the Northeast and Northwest Evangeline Thruways were parallel, when my mind pictured a compass and basic geometry. It wasn't until years later that I discovered the rationale behind the names. The sections of roads were quadrants with the north and south directions on the Y-axis and east and west directions on the X-axis. the zero point was at 3rd Street as it crossed the Thruway, at least the East side. The West side changes at Jefferson Street. Like I said, confusing.

Along with a list of presidential street names from Washington to Kennedy Dr., to multiple saints to the point we have a Saints Streets area, themes of street names abound. Streets have also been named after influential people from the area including Kaliste Saloom to Ambassador Jefferson Caffery, among others.

Read More – Check Out the History Behind Lafayette's Street Names

Read More – The Scandalous History Behind the Name of Pinhook Rd

Along with these themes, we also have streets that are named after buildings and businesses on that road. Without digging too much into the history of the roads themselves, here's a (admittedly not fully complete) list of roads that (most likely) were named because of the buildings and businesses that were already there. If you know of any more, feel free to let us know here.