State Street to keep its name

A proposal to change the name of State Street reached a dead end on Wednesday when the Aberdeen City Council unanimously voted no.

Outgoing Planning Commission Chairman Brian Little, who had championed the idea to bring a resolution to the council changing the name of the street to its original moniker, “Hume Street,” switched gears and asked the council to vote the matter down.

“The basic reason is the present value of money versus the present value of hope,” Little said as he recommended a rejection to his own movement. “Renaming it to Hume Street is a present value of hope issue, but the present value of money is incredibly valuable.”

On Oct. 8, a petition was brought to the council asking for the name change. The petition led to a resolution which, after its first reading, was discussed during a public meeting on Dec. 4.

Nine community members attended the meeting, with six opposing the idea. Two “pieces of correspondence” and a phone message representing eight other community members opposing the resolution also were received.

While costs to the city would have been minimal, business owners could have suffered significant financial impacts having to reprint business cards and letterhead, and those with “State Street” in their business name could have lost customers.

Councilman Denny Lawrence attended the meeting and said the opposition was well stated.

“I was one of the original supporters of this and it was pretty clear by listening to the testimony from the business owners and the public how they felt about this,” Lawrence said during the Wednesday council meeting. “I respect that. It is a lot of money.”

On Wednesday, the resolution was up for a public hearing and a second reading.

Michael Dickerson of Aberdeen asked the council to postpone the name change for three years (timing it to the 80th anniversary of the 1937 ordinance that changed the name) to give business owners time to change.

Dickerson didn’t outright oppose the idea but did acknowledge the tone of those attending on Dec. 4.

“People on State Street are not wild about the change,” he said.

Named after one of the first businessmen in Aberdeen, Hume Street was renamed to State Street through a 1937 ordinance to distance the city from a scandalous past of brothels, saloons and gambling. The stigma of the name “Hume Street” has since worn away, but now State Street has a firm grip and the name Hume Street seems destined to follow the fate of its reputation — a forgotten relic of the past.

While Little was willing to admit the defeat of the resolution, he was not willing to allow the defeat of Hume Street. He asked the council to bring forward a resolution to formalize the historical markers currently over the State Street signs at most of its intersections.

“So, for the record, we understand the history,” Little said. “There’s a moral purpose to it. There isn’t a market purpose at this point, but maybe at some point we’ll get to the revitalization of the downtown waterfront and we’ll actually find that market purpose.”

Councilwoman Kathi Hoder supported the idea to formalize the historical signs.

“The resolution should come forward to incorporate the historical signs with maybe our historical logo on those signs,” Hoder said. “Maybe we have other streets we could do this with — it’s a neat idea.”

Though disappointed, Little said community members would continue working to connect Aberdeen to its historical roots.

“We’re going to keep on trying because that’s the nature of the people of Aberdeen,” he said.

A resolution is expected to be on the agenda for the next council meeting on Dec. 29.