Named in 1906 on the Ramona Acres tract, owned by an investment group of no consequence but sold by realtor Willis George Emerson (1856-1918). A writer as well as a huckster (see Emerson Avenue/Place for the dirt), Emerson named most if not all the streets on the tract. McPherrin Ave. honors his friend Paul H. McPherrin and Huntington Ave. is a nod to local legend Henry E. Huntington, while Hampton, Hilliard, and Avondale avenues most likely take their names from Emerson’s own novels. Buell Hampton, his Kansas-set love story, was published in 1902; aside from the titular character, the villain of the book was a Dr. Lenox Avondale. Emerson then wrote The Builders (1906), which introduced the father-daughter duo of Ben and Ruth Hilliard. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to source the namesakes – literary or otherwise – for the tract’s Hunt (now Lincoln), Nicholson, Garcelon, or Baltimore avenues.
Find it on the map:
