This street was born Smith Drive in 1912, located on Carlin Geer Smith’s Du Ray Place tract. Realtor/developer Smith (1884-1946) was certainly not averse to a little self-love, so he named Carlin Street, Geer Avenue, and Smith Drive after himself. Eventually, however, the City decided there were too many Smiths on the map, so in 1918 they changed Silver Lake’s Smith Avenue to Smilax Street and this street to Smiley Drive. The names were probably chosen for continuity’s sake, since “Smiley” and “Smilax” start with the same three letters as “Smith”.
Find it on the map:
