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Was There Ever a Main Street? Seeing the many activities being sponsored by O’Fallon’s Main Street program, you might ask if our city ever really had a downtown Main Street called by that name. The answer is yes. In O’Fallon’s early days as a village, the center of town was literally the middle of present day State St. and Lincoln Ave. The city limits were set by ordinance as one square mile around the center. Main St. was the road that ran north of the center point and Depot St. ran south. 1999 marks the 75th anniversary of the renaming of both streets—-Main St. to N. Lincoln Ave. and Depot St. to S. Lincoln Ave. in honor of our 16th President. Ordinance No. 113 (passed May 12, 1924) also changed Bond St. to N. Vine St., Mace St. to First North St. and Smiley Ave. to Fourth North St. to better correspond to the existing pattern of street names. Names like the last two would end up causing a problem. East—west streets in O’Fallon at the time were numbered as follows: the streets north of State St. were First North St., Second North St., etc. through Sixth North St., while the streets south were Front St., Second South St., Third South St., etc. through Seventh South St. Think of the confusion that resulted in trying to find a house at, for example, 106 E. Third South St. especially if the East and South were left off the address.
The City Council put an end to the confusion on June 4, 1928 when it passed Ordinance No. 138 renaming all east-west streets except State St. Front St. was renamed First St., Second South St. became Second St., Third South St. became Third St., etc. First North St. was changed to Washington St., Second North to Adams, Third North to Jefferson, Fourth North to Madison, Fifth North to Monroe and Sixth North to Jackson in honor of the presidents. The street names in old downtown have remained virtually the same ever since.
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