New Santa Rosa streets will remain nameless

Santa Rosa is rebuilding two downtown streets but kicking their former names to the curb.

Many had assumed that when Santa Rosa reinstalled side streets along Old Courthouse Square, they would again be named Hinton and Exchange streets, as they were for nearly a century before their removal in 1966.

But in recent weeks, downtown businesses balked at changing their addresses, concerned about ordering new business cards, letterheads and changing maps.

A recent Press Democrat column by Gaye LeBaron also questioned whether Gen. Otho Hinton deserved to have a street named after him, given his “checkered career” that included robbing the mail in Ohio and committing bigamy in Oregon.

Facing such opposition present and past, the City Council decided Tuesday to leave the two streets nameless.

The one-way streets on the east and west sides of the newly unified plaza and the properties that face them will remain simply Old Courthouse Square.

“It’s the easiest and simplest way to do this,” Councilman Chris Coursey said.

Initially, the city thought the U.S. Post Office would require the two streets to have separate names to ensure the addresses were easily distinguishable, explained Colleen Ferguson, deputy director of the Transportation and Public Works Department, which is managing the $12 million project.

That resulted in the idea of naming the streets Old Courthouse Square East and Old Courthouse Square West. Giving the two streets separate names just makes sense, Councilman Gary Wysocky said, especially to help first responders.

When the fire department gets a call for Old Courthouse Square, “they’re not going to know what side of the square to go to,” Wysokcy said.

But police and fire officials had no problem with keeping the addresses as they are, Ferguson said.

Some downtown businesses also opposed the idea of naming the east and west sides of the square, and came together to present a unified front in favor of leaving things as they are, Ferguson said.

Kristin Kiefer, planning and development coordinator at the Hugh Futrell Corp., urged the council not to revert to the Hinton and Exchange names or the east/west variants.

The original names were historically significant, “or maybe not so much,” Kiefer said, pointing to LeBaron’s column.

Kiefer, whose company is trying to develop a boutique hotel in the historic Empire Buildings and a neighboring property, said the focus should be on “reinforcing the branding of Old Courthouse Square as the heart of downtown Santa Rosa.”

Further research by the city concluded that as long as the City Council confirmed it wanted both streets to continue to be Old Courthouse Square, the U.S. Post Office would have no a problem with it, Ferguson said.

“It’s unusual, but it will be OK,” she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 707-521-5207. On Twitter @srcitybeat.