The streets of Sawtelle went through a major identity crisis between 1918 and 1925, going from ordinal numbers (First Street, etc.) to Civil War battlefields (see Corinth Avenue for the list) to a new set of ordinals (101st Avenue, etc.). Finally, on July 29th, 1925, Sawtelle’s current street names were set in stone. Although this is just an educated guess, I believe five of these 1925 names – Beloit, Butler, Colby, Cotner, and Purdue – are for universities, in keeping with the theme that had been established a few blocks west (Harvard Street, et al). Beloit College is in Beloit, WI; Butler University is in Indianapolis, IN; Colby College is in Waterville, ME; Cotner College was in Lincoln, NE (it closed in 1933); Purdue University is in West Lafayette, IN. Why these specific schools? Maybe they were the alma maters of L.A. civil engineers, or maybe it was just because no other streets had taken their names yet.
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