How our streets got named

Amelia Street* was named for the wife of Charles Henry Munger, who was mayor of Orlando in 1878. He was also one of the owners of the Reporter, which was one of Orlando's first newspapers and eventually became one of the papers that grew into the Orlando Sentinel.

Cathcart Avenue was originally known as Norman Street, for Norman Robinson, State Chemist and Rollins College professor. Read his listing in the General Catalogue of the University of Rochester, 1850-1911, here. The name was changed in 1912. (But who was Cathcart? Anyone know?)

Eola Drive was originally known as East Street because it was the eastern boundary of Jacob Summerlin's land. In 1923, the name was changed to Eola Drive because it formed the eastern border of Lake Eola Park.

Hyer Avenue was named for the pioneer Hyer family.

Livingston Street was named for J.H. Livingston, who in 1880 was one of the group who bought 26 acres for the purpose of creating Greenwood Cemetery. Prior to 1900, the street was commonly spelled 'Livingstone' on maps.

Mills Avenue was named for pioneer real estate agent N.L. Mills.

Robinson Street was named for Samuel Robinson, who engaged in civil engineering and surveying in Florida for 30 years and served as county surveyor for 16 years. He gathered a large collection of gold and silver ornaments from Indian mounds and elsewhere in his travels through Central Florida; that collection now belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Read more about Samuel Robinson here.

Summerlin Avenue was named after Jacob Summerlin, one of Orlando's founders.

A few more street names still need some explanation. Hillcrest might be obvious; it runs along the highest point in the city. But what about Harwood, Concord, Mt. Vernon and Ruth?
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* In 1962, the city decided that all north-south roads would be called avenues, and all east-west roads would be called streets. The only official exception was Central (which was known as Central Avenue), which was called a boulevard. The new rule went into effect on November 1, 1962, to coincide with the new telephone books.