Why Is The Main Street Of Norfolk Named Granby Street?

The most important street in Norfolk was most assuredly Granby Street (well it was when I was a kid), but I never knew why Granby Street was named Granby Street. Growing up, most of us probably learned the street names in our respective neighborhoods without thinking too much about why streets were named the way that were. We probably never realized that street names are more-often-than-not chosen to honor people who were productive, or creative, forces in our communities. In other cases, street names honor persons of greater historic import, such as Lafayette Blvd. honors the Revolutionary war figure Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, who, born in 1757, served as a volunteer aide to General George Washington. We never really understood that street names, prudently chosen, can serve as a permanent reminder of the history of our city, region, state, or even our nation, and can be a part of the social fabric of our lives, although painted in very subtle colors. For instance, the street names in Fairmount Park, in central Norfolk, seem to have been rename twice, with the second renaming to remind us of World War I http://www.norfolk.gov/communityenrichment/PDF/Neighborhood_Plans/Fairmount_Par k_Plan.pdf In 1903, the street names of Fairmount Park were renamed from tree names, such as Ash and Birch, to numbered streets. In 1920, the streets in this area were renamed again, this time in commemoration of the people, places and battles of World War I. Marne Avenue was named after the French river Marne, while Verdun Avenue recalls the longest, and bloodiest, battle of the war. Pershing Avenue honors General John J. Pershing, the Commander of the US Army Expeditionary Forces in Europe. Thinking about street names in Norfolk, it dawned on me that I could not remember any Virginia/United States historical figures by the name of Granby, and got to wondering how the main street in Norfolk was named Granby Street and not Main Street? Email to the Norfolk Historical Society, asking that very question, elicited a prompt response from Norfolk City Historian, Peggy Haile McPhillips. The following is her explanation about how some Norfolk streets (including Granby Street) got their names--

-----Some Norfolk Street Names

memorials for the infant DUKE of YORK, second son of George III and Queen Charlotte, born in 1763. Wolfe was named for James WOLFE, Hero of Quebec (1759) and was later renamed Market. Yarmouth Street honors Sir William Gooch, who served as Governor of Virginia 1727-49 and was a native of YARMOUTH, Suffolk, England. The City of Suffolk is also named for him. Norbonne Berkeley, Baron of BOTETOURT was the most popular of the English governors (1768-70) and we have a short street commemorating his short term. Freemason Street was the site of Norfolks first Masonic Lodge and for many years was said to be the only street bearing that name in the nation. Magazine Lane was the site of the Powder Magazine, constructed by the British in 1774 ostensibly for the purpose of placing all of the boroughs gunpowder supply in a central location, but perhaps also to make it less accessible to citizens already on the verge of rebellion. John Murray, Earl of DUNMORE was our least popular royal governor. The street that bears his name, Dunmore Street, had been so designated before relations with England cooled and it is a testament to out loyalty to tradition that we did not eradicate the name along with our allegiance to England. A popular, though undocumented, local tradition holds that Dunmore Street celebrates the point from which the Governor left Norfolk for the last time. Source: W.H.T. Squires. THROUGH THE YEARS IN NORFOLK (1936)

Boush Street
The Boush family name was well known in 18th century Norfolk. Colonel Samuel Boush was Norfolks first Mayor when the town was incorporated as a Borough in 1736, and he also owned large tracts of land north of Town Back Creek (now City Hall Avenue). A second Colonel Samuel Boush served as town clerk, and as a school trustee and vestryman for the Borough Church. Charles Sayer Boush, son of the second Samuel, was a lieutenant in Virginias Continental Navy during the American Revolution. Norfolk experienced a building boom in the late 1760s, and many new streets were laid out and developed for the expanding population. The present Boush Street was created at that time on the west side of the Borough. Property belonging to Charles Boush southeast of the present Princess Anne Road and Church Street was developed around 1775, and Boush saw to it that three streets in the new subdivision bore his name Charles Street,

Sayer Street and another Boush Street. These streets were among several renamed by the Common Council in 1911 at the time of the Huntersville annexation, for consistency and also to avoid duplication of other streets within the city limits. Thus, Charles Street became Chicazola, possibly after J.B. Chicazola, whose name appeared on an 1878 plat of the area. Sayer Street became an extension of Chapel Street, named to recognize the site of the first Roman Catholic chapel in Norfolk (built before 1800 on the site where St. Marys Basilica now stands). Boush Street was renamed Henry Street, to avoid confusion with the original street bearing the Boush name.

Granby Street
Granby Street was named to honor Englishman John Manners (1721-1770), Marquis of Granby, who commanded the Leicester Blues against Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, in the Scottish rebellion against the English in 1745. Manners was a bluff, brave soldier greatly loved by his men. At one time, there were more than 20 public houses in London alone named for him. He was a very bald man and this feature was exaggerated on many of the pub signs. According to a 1937 ARMY QUARTERLY, after Granbys wig fell off in a cavalry charge in 1760, it became a tradition for men wearing wigs to throw them aside before entering into any energetic action, hence the phrase to go for someone baldheaded, i.e., without restraint. Granbys death in 1770 inspired the verse: What conquest now will Britain boast Or where display her banners? Alas! In Granby she has lost True courage and good Manners. Source: BREWERS DICTIONARY OF PHRASE AND FABLE. Centenary Edition. New York, Harper & Row, 1970.

18th century Granby Street was a narrow lane less than two blocks long, beginning at Main Street and stopping at Town Back Creek, a stretch of marshy mud flats running the length of what is now City Hall Avenue. In 1818 a stone bridge was built to span the creek at Granby Street, which was then extended north as far as Bute, and stately homes surrounded by ornate fences and high brick walls were built along the way. Through annexations, Norfolk grew from a city of little more than one square mile in 1845 to nearly eight square miles in 1911, and residents began to leave Granby Street for the suburbs. Retail establishments and other businesses moved to Granby and by 1910, it was Norfolks busiest street the value of its real estate rose from $250 a front foot in the 1880s to $2,975 in 1910. The Downtown Norfolk Association formed in 1957 to promote the downtown business district in the face of competition from new suburban shopping areas such as Wards Corner and 21st Street. Traffic congestion and a shortage of parking were cited as downtowns main obstacles in attracting shoppers. In 1976, downtown Granby Street was closed to vehicular traffic and the pedestrian thoroughfare was renamed Granby Mall. The Mall was reopened to traffic in November 1986. Peggy Haile McPhillips Norfolk City Historian 21 June 2010 ---A Little More On John Manners, the Marquess of Granby A Wikipedia page on John Manners provides more detail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Manners,_Marquess_of_Granby He is probably best known today for being popularly supposed to have more pubs named after him than any other person - due, it is said, to his practice of setting up old soldiers of his regiment as publicans when they were too old to serve any longer.

So .. as is so often the case in life, timing is everything. If the building boom in Norfolk in the 1760s had instead occurred after the Revolution, then it is likely that none of the old, downtown, Norfolk streets would have been named after Englishmen, and Granby Street would have been named something else. It is a real shame that this sort of local history is not taught in the Norfolk Schools, but at least the Internet now provides us with tools to connect with our distant past as adults. Wayne Martin June, 2011 Thanks again to Peggy Haile McPhillips and the Norfolk (VA) Historical Society for their help keeping Norfolk history alive. Norfolk Historical Society: http://www.norfolkhistorical.org/