A fact from Waller Plan appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 28 January 2021 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
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@Piledhigheranddeeper: Hey, thanks for taking an interest in the article! I think it's important to keep the fact that the streets were named for characteristic trees of Texas (not just for any old trees that someone thought were nice). Also, do you have a source for the assertion that the Philadelphia plan also originally had east–west streets named for local trees? I'm not saying they weren't, it's just that I don't see any names on the map that's included in this article. Thanks for being bold! -Bryan Rutherford (talk) 00:05, 29 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, @Bryanrutherford0: After I made the edit, I thought to come back and restore the note that the trees were local. As to Philadelphia, it was the archetype for the "Pennsylvania town", its streets laid out in a grid pattern with a central square, many of the streets named for trees (not necessarily local trees, I might add). I know this is mentioned in the Atlas of Pennsylvania, but will look for a better cite. Central Philadelphia's streets include Chestnut, Walnut, Locust, Spruce, and Pine (south of Market, timber trees in the order of the hardness of their wood), as well as Filbert and Cherry (north side, fruit/nut trees); I must admit that I don't know when they were named. Here's a list with some: List of Philadelphia placename etymologies (the first entry mentions "one of William Penn's streets named for trees"), and here's another not-very-scholarly cite: [1]. Maybe the text could say something like "Following the Philadelphia pattern, many streets were named for trees, but Waller gave his plan a local flavor by naming his streets for Texas trees." --Piledhigheranddeeper (talk) 14:39, 29 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Interesting! Yeah, if we can find a solid source to show that the Philadelphia plan also included east–west tree names, then that would definitely be a helpful point to make here (and probably also in some article about the history of Philadelphia?). I like your proposed wording! -Bryan Rutherford (talk) 17:54, 29 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
See the 4th paragraph, which says that "[William] Penn named the east-west streets of Philadelphia after local varieties [of trees]": [2] --Piledhigheranddeeper (talk) 19:45, 29 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
David J. Cuff, William J. Young, Edward K. Muller, Wilbur Zelinsky, and Ronald F. Abler, eds., The Atlas of Pennsylvania, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1989; p. 149: “the Pennsylvania town is characterized by a rectilinear street pattern [with a central square] . . . and the Philadelphia street-name system in which tree names are used for one series of parallel streets, while numbers are used for the intersecting streets.” Waller didn't go for the numbered streets, of course, but the rest of it is there. --Piledhigheranddeeper (talk) 22:58, 31 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Great, I've added that additional parallel, with the citation you've provided here. Thanks! -Bryan Rutherford (talk) 22:47, 1 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
