MiddletownJournal.com

I was recently asked to comment on the names that have been applied to the streets of Middletown. I suspect people are interested in the more important street names, although it is interesting to note that some developers, in laying out a subdivision, used a theme in naming their streets. Note the use of presidents’ names in Park Place, or local business/industry names in Wildwood, while Manchester Manor is made up of Irish names, and Harry Finkelman used family names in Barbara Park.

I would have thought that Main Street would have been the most common street name in the United States. I found that is not true. Neither is Central Avenue. In fact, Central is far down the list at number 76. Main Street is number seven on the list, while First does much better at number three. Middletown does have the most common street name — Second.

Many of the streets in Middletown have had different names. Take downtown Middletown, for example. When originally laid out, the streets running east and west were numbered First through Fourth. With the building of the Manchester Hotel in 1923, the city renamed these and other streets. First became Columbia; Second became Manchester; Third became Central; and Fourth became First. That started the numbering of streets that continued to the south.

Reinartz Boulevard was named for Leo F. Reinartz. He was a leading industrialist and civic leader and, when he retired from Armco in 1956, he was vice president in charge of special projects. As a civic leader, he was a co-founder of the Middletown Industrial Council and a founder of the Middletown Area Safety Council. He served on the board of the YMCA and Middletown Hospital. He headed the Better Schools Committee in 1957 and was a founder of the Senior Citizens Club. In 1971, City Commission honored Leo F. Reinartz by having a major thoroughfare named for him.

George M. Verity’s name is remembered on Verity Parkway. He came to Middletown to build and operate a steel mill along the old Miami-Erie Canal. Verity became nationally known for his humanitarianism and as a pioneer in progressive industrial relations. He provided leadership to the many social and economic developments that made this city a great city to live in.

The road along the river that connects Germantown Road to Central Avenue, thus bypassing downtown, is known as Carmody Boulevard. It was named for Francis Carmody, who was dedicated to service to the city. He was a longtime member and chairman of the City Commission and the road was named for him because he was very much involved in the city’s burgeoning development after World War II, including the development of the thoroughfares and the establishment of a department of planning.

Many streets retain the name of the prominent family that farmed or lived along it. One of these is Tytus Avenue, which was extended as the road to Franklin. Francis J. Tytus came to Middletown at the age of 21 in 1830. He went into business selling dry goods. Continuing to sell dry goods, he also started packing pork and curing hams. In 1854, along with other people, he purchased the Ervin and Brothers paper mill. This led to a very successful career in paper manufacturing and in other business interests. His home still stands along Germantown Road in Avalon.

Sutphin led to the farm of John Sutphin. One of Sutphin’s sons, Joseph, operated Joseph Sutphin and Sons, flour manufacturers, and Sutphin and Wrenn, paper manufacturers, as well as being the president of the First National Bank. He was born in 1817 on the family farm.

Abner Enoch had a thriving village along the river a few miles north of Middletown, which he called Manchester. It threatened to outgrow Middletown. A disastrous fire struck Manchester and it all burned to the ground. Enoch Drive is named for him.

Manchester Road was the road Enoch built from the turnpike east of town (Cincinnati-Dayton Road) to his village of Manchester.

The Barnitz family has two streets named in their honor. Barnitz is named for George C. Barnitz, who along with William Oglesby formed the Oglesby-Barnitz Bank in 1862. He was involved with other people in the many paper mills in the city. Nellie Barnitz gave her name to Nelbar, which is located on some of the land that the family owned.

Clinton Street was not named for a Middletonian. It was named for New York’s governor and Erie Canal builder Dewitt Clinton, who was in Middletown on July 21, 1825, to turn over the first dirt in the building of what became the Miami-Erie Canal.

Reynolds is named for John P. Reynolds. Vail is named for Stephen Vail, the man credited with founding the village of Middletown. Wilson Breiel, Sr., has his name remembered in Breiel Boulevard. He spent 25 years as a member of the city’s planning commission of which he was a founder.

There are many other names that could be mentioned but, strangely, there is not a street named for Middletown’s first settler, Daniel Doty.

Roger L. Miller is a Middletown resident and historian.