Is it Zimple, or is it Zimpel?
BLAKE PONTCHARTRAIN
Hey Blake,
I've noticed an inconsistency in the spelling of the Uptown street Zimple, or is it Zimpel? I've seen both spellings on the metal street signs and the blue tiles laid into the sidewalks. Which is the correct spelling and where does the street name come from?
Anne
Dear Anne,
The street signs and sidewalk tiles should read Zimpel, because the Uptown street is named after Charles F. Zimpel, a man who deserves to have a street named after him since his was, quite literally, a street life.
Zimpel was a surveyor, engineer, cartographer and architect. He came to the Crescent City in the early 19th century as the surveyor and engineer for the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad, which, over the years, evolved into the St. Charles Avenue streetcar line. Around 1831-32, Zimpel compiled surveys for the production of the "Topical Map of New Orleans and Its Vicinity." The map Zimpel helped produce was the first survey of the town of Carrollton, which today is the extreme southwestern corner of Orleans Parish and includes the Riverbend area. He also designed four local buildings constructed in the 1830s: the Bank of New Orleans, Banks Arcade, Bishop's City Hotel and the Orleans Cotton Press. By the end of that decade, however, Zimpel moved away from New Orleans but left behind an indelible mark. To be sure, his mark occasionally is misspelled, but even so, having a street named after you is better than, say, having a vanity license plate bearing your name.
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