Everyone gets a good laugh at Dork Street – except for some of its residents, of course – but its etymology is unknown. The roadway was born in 1936, long before the slang term “dork” was coined in the 1960s. The tract on which Dork Street was laid out was owned and subdivided by the Banta brothers: Earl Lott Banta (1886-1973) and George Henry Banta (1895-1980). Unsurprisingly, I found no Dorks in their family tree (although one ancestor was surnamed Nutts), so what did the word mean to them? Was it someone’s nickname? A family pet? An acronym? A private joke? I have looked and looked, dear reader, but have found no answer.
Find it on the map:
