Streets of Philadelphia

In Philadelphia, in the old city, the streets which are perpendicular to the Delaware river were named after trees which were planted along side each street. Sassafras, Chestnut, Locust, Spruce, each planted with trees according to its name. A few were named by their nature, such as Race (where the horsemen raced), Market (where all the Market stalls were located) and South (at the South end of the docks). The streets running parallel to the river were numbered sequentially. This was the plan of William Penn who settled on the scheme because much of the population could not read and write and this naming convention did not require such learning, though it did require a knowlege of trees.