In 1891, when the Newlands neighborhood was platted north of downtown and west of 12th Street (now Broadway), the city of Boulder added east-west numbered avenues. Today’s Alpine Avenue was First Avenue, and Balsam was Second Avenue, with the numbered avenues increasing to the city limits.

Residents found the numbering confusing. But it took them until December 1952 to take their frustrations to the Boulder Planning Board, asking that the board begin the process of renaming the avenues.

Suggestions poured in. After a lot of discussion, the board settled on avenues with alphabetically arranged nature names. These names have stood the test of time.

To begin the process, board members first laid out standards for renaming the avenues. They had to be “easy to spell and pronounce, have the same meaning to all people now and in the future, be appealing to most homeowners or buyers and be characteristic of a beautiful Boulder.”

Some residents spoke in favor of the names of fur traders and military men, including Bridger, Berthoud, Carson and Coronado. Others pushed for mineral names such as Crystal, Emerald or Garnet. The Boulder Historical Society voted unanimously in its suggestion for pioneer names to include Brookfield, Housel and Tyler.

Others who came before the board suggested the names of famous persons, as well as ghost towns, mining camps, birds. Mountain peaks, including Antero, Blanca and Crestone, and names of colleges and universities also were considered.

One resident who was quickly voted down simply lobbied for the letters of the alphabet, i.e. “A Avenue,” followed by “B Avenue,” all the way to “Z.” The names of trees and flowers, however, sparked the biggest discussions of all.

In a discussion on trees, residents noted that central Boulder already had Mapleton Avenue, as well as Walnut, Spruce and Pine streets. In addition, neighborhoods south of Baseline (and east of Chautauqua) gave flower names to Columbine, Mariposa and Bluebell avenues.

Finally a consensus among planning board members combined tree and flower names into the larger category defined as “trees or shrubs or, in some cases, euphonious words which have a nature connotation.” That decision brought even more discussion.

When “Dellwood” was proposed, three faculty members in the University of Colorado’s biology department objected. They called it an “artificial” name, as it combined the words “wood” and “dell” —— a small, secluded, wooded valley.

The biologists argued for either Delphinium, Dogbane or Dogwood, while animal, bird and mineral enthusiasts still pushed for Deer, Dove or Diamond. All of their requests were debated and overruled.

The city limits, at the time, ended at 6th Avenue (now Forest Avenue), but the City Council involved the Boulder County commissioners so that the naming could continue to the end of the alphabet and outside of the city of Boulder. Residents were asked if they preferred Geranium to Grape or Ivy to Iris. Names were suggested all the way north to Zinnia.

By January 1953, when the planning board turned its list over to the council and the commissioners for their approval, the newly named avenues in the Newlands neighborhood included those we know today —— Alpine, Balsam, Cedar, Dellwood, Evergreen, Forest, Grape, Hawthorn, Iris, Juniper, Kalmia and Linden. Meadow through Violet avenues were designated for future use.

Zinnia, however, is still available.

Silvia Pettem’s In Retrospect column appears once a month. She can be reached at silviapettem@gmail.com.