Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 266, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 November 1913 — STREETS OF NOTE [ARTICLE]

STREETS OF NOTE

Writer Names 12 of World’s Greatest Thoroughfares. London’s Center of Book and Newspaper Publishing Has Been Awarded the Head—New York Is Given Fourth Place. London.—Which are the Twelve most famous streets in the world? The question is extremely difficult to determine, for there are two or three factors to be taken into account, fa©tors which the average man Is apt to overlook when trying to solve the problem. Fon-one-thingiiT street, to come within this category, must be well knofrn to folk of every civilized nation, and not merely to those of the country It belongs to. For another, there must be a consensus of expert opinion at least that this street is worthy of being reckoned among the world’s leading thoroughfares in any case; and thirdly, the name of such a street, ‘wherever the road may be, must be one which men and women recognize as soon as they hear it, or at any rate it must be thus recognized by a very large percentage of travelers, readers and educated people. Taking those .characteristics as our guide, says a writer In the London Weekly Telegraph, It is probable? that the following list of twenty includes all the best known streets in the world, and from these the dozen most famous streets would doubtless have to be chosen. The twenty celebrities of this sort Include: Regent street, London. Okford street, London. Strand, London. Fleet street, London. Cheapside, London. Whitehall, London. Princes street, Edinburgh. ) O’Connell street, Oxford. High street, Oxford. Champs Elysees, Paris. Rue de Rivoll, Paris. Unter den Linden, Berlin. Avenida, Lisbon. Foochow road, Shanghai. The Bund, Shanghai. Nevski Prospect, St. Petersburg. Collins street, Melbourne. Burke Btreet, Melbourne. The Broadway, New York. Fifth avenue, New York. These include, as will be seen, nine British streets, two French streets, two American streets and one each in Russia, Portugal and Germany. It may be taken as certain that no traveler or person whose opinion was based on real knowledge would deny the claim of these twenty to be reckoned among the most famous streets of the world, however much It might want, or suggest, the Inclusion in that category of one or two others be favored. Hence, from this list I think we should be able to pick out the chief dozen after some trouble. We are not

now looking at this matter from the point of view of beauty, or trade, or size, or antiquity ; we are simply considering the point with regard to fame and renown, whatever be its cause, as operating to give the street the widest degree of popularity. And, taking that view of it, I think we must at the start rule out Whitehall and Oxford street from the London half - tf&zen, while similarly the Nevski Prospect' and the Rue de may be left out of the European section. This decision would reduce our number by four, thus leaving us with sixteen, from which we have yet to choose. Now, though O’Connell street (late Sackville street), Dublin, is one of the most beautiful in our islands, and has every characteristic of a grand thoroughf&re, I do not think it is nearly so well known outside this kingdom as are several others In our list here. So we may, however reluctantly, put It aside, too. Probably, as the Bund of Shanghai would have to give way to to the Fooschow road in popularity, we can omit that also from further consideration here, famous as it is all over the extreme east. Which brings down our still existing list to fourteen. But the elimination of the next two streets from these is a matter of most difficult decision. Burke street, Melbourne, may perhaps be left out In nreference to Col-

lins street, if we are only to include one Australian road, as seems most likely now. And, since a London street is almost sure to be the unlucky “thirteenth” which has to go, I certainly think we must give the preference to the Strand over Cheapside. There can be no two opinions as to which street is best known and most recognized by name and fame among the millions of our colonial cousins and foreign friends who have never visited any part of these Islands. The immense number of books, papers ’ and magazines emananating from Fleet street have won it popularity abroad in a wonderful way. In spots which never heard of Cheapside, grand, hoary and historic as that dear old street is with us in this land. So I think our dozen most famous streets of the world would be tbe following, probably In the order here given: Fleet street, London. Regent street, London. Champs Elysees, Paris. Broadway, New York. Strand, London. Fifth avenue, New York. Avenida, Lisbon. Princes Btreet, Edinburgh. High street, Oxford. Unter den Linden, Berlin. Collins street, Melbourne. Foochow road, Shanghai