Facts and conjectures about Nebraska City, Nebraska
Ninth and a Half Street
The picture shows a signs saying Ninth and a Half Street and 5th Corso.
Nebraska City started out as not one but three cities. Three townships were incorporated by settlers: Nebraska City and Kearney City were incorporated in 1855, and South Nebraska City was incorporated in 1856. Each city plated out it own lots and streets. In 1857 all three cities merged to form the Nebraska City we know today. Ninth and a Half Street is along the north-south boundary between the Old Nebraska City and South Nebraska City. Once the property had been plaited and sold it was impractical to redraw the property lines and relocate the streets. At that time the streets running east to west did not have the numbered and avenues and corsos we use today. Instead they were named streets. For many years the South Nebraska City streets keep there original names. Based on these maps the change of street names happened between 1885 and 1920.
Click here to see the Nebraska State Atlas 1885 showing Nebraska City.
Click here to see a 1920 road map of Nebraska City
This leads to another mystery of Nebraska city.
When and why were the streets all renamed?
Why are streets called “corso” ?
Thanks.
Max
Thanks for a new mystery. We will start research at once!
Corso means “a social promenade” so I guess it would go on to reason with the streets, avenues and rues (french for street) that are in Nebr. City.
Thank you Nicole, You are correct.
it is the Italian word for avenue and is from Latin world cursus.
Here are ways the word is used in Italian today
* course (of a river), (of a university etc)
* stream, waterway
* avenue (especially in the names of streets)
* strip (a street with multiple shopping or entertainment possibilities)
* circulation (of money)
* subject
Does anyone know when the Avenue and Corso names that run for east to west became numbered and lost their cool names of Indian Tribes. Before 1920 is all I can tell so far.
[…] Nine and Three-Quarters platform. What it has to do with is the fact that the city was formed from three preexisting cities, and when they went to rename the streets of the newly formed city, the numbers didn’t quite line […]