When Overhill Drive was laid out in 1926, its name simply referred to the street’s course over the Baldwin Hills. However, in 1939, another street was laid out one block east and christened Overdale Drive. No doubt this cheeky pairing was intentional: the U.S. Field Artillery March, John Philip Sousa’s World War I anthem, opens with the famous lyrics “Over hill, over dale, we will hit the dusty trail, as those caissons go rolling along.” Overdale might have been named by a nostalgic WWI veteran (Fred Marlow and Fritz Burns, the tract’s developers, both served – see Marburn Avenue for more on them) and/or a Shakespeare enthusiast: “Over hill, over dale” is also a line in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
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