Greenwood Cemetery is one of the most recognizable cemeteries in the city and is located at the intersection of City Park Avenue and Canal Street, which is home to several cemeteries, including Cypress Grove, Oddfellows, St. Patrick I and II and one owned by Charity Hospital.

While trying to pay a traffic ticket at the Algiers courthouse on the West Bank, I came across an annoying little reality that many face in this city: getting lost because a street name is not the name it's supposed to be until you get to a certain intersection. Is there any rhyme or reason why street names change all over this city?

Patricia Quinn

Dear Patricia,

You must be new to the city. The fact that street names change constantly does not surprise any of the locals. It may confuse us, but it does not surprise us. Street names change for several reasons. One is to honor an important person who has died; the other is to prevent confusion. However, both reasons do cause confusion. Just yesterday, I was driving in Kenner and spotted a new street sign. Underneath the new sign, however, there was another sign that provided the old name of the street as well.

When New Orleans was first planned, most of the first streets were named to honor the French aristocracy. When subdivisions developed, the developers got to name their own streets. Streets in the first faubourg -- Ville Gravier -- were named by Bernard Gravier. He named streets after his friends and landmarks in the district. When his wife died, he changed the name of his subdivision to honor her: Faubourg Ste. Marie.

Every time another subdivision was developed, streets were named, and many were duplicated. So as subdivisions were annexed, name changes were made to prevent confusion. Dozens of streets had their names changed in 1852 and 1894 and hundreds more in 1924. Almost every year, we see a new street or an old street with a new name.

It is very common to change only a section of a street, perhaps only a few blocks, to honor an important person in our city. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Oretha Castle Haley have parts of streets named for them. So does John Chase, the talented New Orleans cartoonist and writer, and Margaret Haughery, the Irish woman who dedicated her life to helping orphans.

Some of the saddest changes came in Faubourg Marigny. To make the street names correspond to those in the French Quarter, we lost wonderful street names like Good Children, Craps, Bagatelle, Great Men, Casa Calvo, Victory, Love, History and Peace. Change is not always good.

Hey Blake,

My maternal grandfather arrived in New Orleans in 1901 to get married. He died in 1905 of yellow fever. It is my thinking that having few funds at the age of 25, he was buried in a potter's field. My friend says the burial site is on or near City Park Avenue. I say it is on Canal Street proper, about 500 feet from the end of Canal Street. Can you provide any information on the exact location?

Lea Crouch
Texas

Dear Lea,

If you've ever been to New Orleans, you may have learned that at the intersection of Canal Street and City Park Avenue there are many cemeteries. The largest cemetery you face as you drive or ride a streetcar -- we used to have a bus line called "Cemeteries" -- from the river is Greenwood Cemetery. Behind and to the right of this cemetery, there was another one called Cypress Grove II. The property was purchased by Charity Hospital in 1849, and many of the city's very poor were buried in the cemetery that was created. The need for a cemetery of this type was caused by the frequent outbreaks of cholera and yellow fever during the 19th century. In 1853, there was a terrible outbreak of yellow fever that took the lives of 8,000 residents between May and December. There were many other epidemics that followed, and people without financial means were buried in cemeteries like Cypress Grove II. The cemetery was in use until 1923, so it's possible that your grandfather was buried there.

This cemetery is gone, however, as a result of a major road reconstruction project in 1985. Some of the remains were moved to a modern cemetery.