Named in 1875 on a tract owned by Mathias Charles Desnoyers (1835-1910), a Montreal judge who presumably came to L.A. on the invitation of Prudent Beaudry, a Quebecois expat who was mayor at the time. The tract was laid out that May; a news item published at the end of the month read: “M.C. Desnoyers leaves this morning for Montreal. He has invested largely in Los Angeles and will shortly return.” There’s no evidence that he did return – or that he was even here for more than three months. At any rate, ten years before Elmyra Street was christened, Desnoyers married Marie Elmire Leblanc (1845-1908), who like Desnoyers and Beaudry was French Canadian. All I know about her is that had around thirteen children and died in Montreal after a three-day illness. She also went by “Elmire”, so in spite of the spelling discrepancy I believe this street honors her. That said, Judge Desnoyers bought the land from Almira M. Dunsmoor (1817-1903), a widow originally from Maine, so this street name might be a (misspelled) twofer.
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