Baker Avenue - Norwood Historical Society Streets Page
NORWOOD HISTORICAL SOCIETY

BAKER AVENUE


LOCATION
At old Sharpsburg, it ran west from Montgomery Road, north of the Montgomery Road Bridge and south of Carthage Avenue. It was located within the William C. Baker Addition to Sharpsburg, which was north of the railroad tracks and south of what is today's Linden Pointe at the Lateral.

ORIGIN OF NAME
As part of the William C. Baker Addition to Sharpsburg, which was owned by William C. and Ellen R. Baker and John W. and Eva A. Baker, it was probably named for the family or the subdivision carrying their name.

DESCRIPTION
It was probably a dirt road built to provide access for the W. C. Baker Addition to Sharpsburg, a subdivision platted around 1868.

HISTORICAL FACTS
The Baker subdivision, where this street was located, was platted about a year before the Norwood Heights Subdivision was created. At the time the area was commonly known as Sharpsburg. Another subdivision by J. G. Langdon was platted on the other side of Montgomery Road around the same time. That subdivision's street to Montgomery Road was called Cross Street. The construction of the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad immediately south of these two subdivisions may have been the initial reason for the creation of these developments and others for the next two decades.

Baker Avenue was on the map presented in the plat book at the incorporation of the Village of Norwood in 1888. There have been other Norwood streets with similar names — the current Baker Court and Baker Street, Baker Circle and Baker's Lane (the former name of that part of today's Williams Avenue west of Montgomery Road).

Since having the name Baker Avenue, other streets have been constructed at or very near this location. They are Foraker Terrace, West Norwood Avenue and today's Joseph E. Sanker Boulevard.

NOTED FORMER RESIDENTS
Joseph B. Foraker was an early Sharpsburg school trustee (probably sometime between 1869-1879). He may have lived at the western end of this street. After he left Sharpsburg, he later became Governor of Ohio and U.S. Senator. Two streets on either side of the M. & C. R.R. tracks, Baker Avenue (on the north) and Linden Avenue (on the south), may have been renamed for him as Foraker Terrace and Foraker Avenue, respectively.

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