Although Vermont and New Hampshire avenues lie side by side, they weren’t born at the same time: Vermont Ave. was named by 1882, whereas New Hampshire Ave. didn’t come along until 1887. The former street was almost certainly named by, or in honor of, someone from the Green Mountain State: Ozro W. Childs (1824-1890). As banker, developer, horticulturalist, and benefactor, Childs was one of the most famous Angelenos of the 1880s, and certainly the most famous Vermonter. In 1876, he and his partners John G. Downey and Isaias W. Hellman, arguably the most powerful guys in L.A. at the time, laid out the West Los Angeles tract – west of what were then city limits, that is – just north of Exposition Park (then called Agricultural Park). The westernmost roadway on the tract: Childs Street. Its name today: Vermont Avenue. That can’t be a coincidence. Anyway, in 1879, Childs, Downey, and Hellman donated this tract for the foundation of the University of Southern California. All three men have namesake streets/walkways on the USC campus.
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