Wapello Street – that is, the portion west of Marengo – was named in 1911 on a tract co-owned by jeweler Calvin Oscar Arnold (1873-1958). Arnold was born in Illinois but lived in Ottumwa, IA from the 1890s until 1910, when he and his family came to Pasadena. Ottumwa is located in Iowa’s Wapello County, so there you have it. (The county itself takes its name from Fox/Meskwaki tribal chief Wapello (1787-1842).) East of Marengo, Wapello Street was born in 1904 with a different name: Attica Street. It was paired with Athens Street as part of the Marathon Heights tract’s Greek theme but was changed to Wapello in 1943. My guess is that residents no longer wanted to be associated with New York’s infamous Attica State Prison, which had opened in 1931.
Find it on the map:
