Named for surveyor/banker Frank Lecouvreur (1829-1901). Born Theodor Maximilian Ferdinand Franz Lecouvreur in Ortelsburg, East Prussia (present-day Szczytno, Poland), Lecouvreur arrived in San Francisco in January 1852 and made his way down to Los Angeles three years later. He took a job in a saloon but disliked being shot at by drunken patrons, so he became a painter for noted carriage maker John Goller. Gradually entering the surveying trade, one of Lecouvreur’s first employers was Wilmington founder Phineas Banning, who became a good friend. Lecouvreur was elected county surveyor in 1869 and was later named a director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank alongside the most powerful men in town (Downey, Hellman, Childs, et al). In 1906, his devoted widow Josephine (1843-1916) published his letters and diaries from his journey to California under the title From East Prussia to the Golden Gate. Lecouvreur Avenue was named in 1915 in remembrance of our subject’s connection to Banning. It was formerly Wilmington Avenue. P.S. Don’t ask me how to pronounce “Lecouvreur”. Or “Szczytno”, for that matter.
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