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Dear Editor:

For several days now, we have been seeing references to the possibility of changing the name of one of Carbondale's streets to honor the memory of Dr. and Mrs. Martin Luther King, Jr.

While this is an appropriate gesture, it seems that it is incumbent upon the name changers to take into account the thoughts and desires of a wide range of concerned citizenry.

The street we saw nominated for this honor in the Feb. 26 edition of the Daily Egyptian was Mill Street. One of the gentlemen involved in this apparent movement was identified as being from Peoria. We sincerely doubt that the other two gentlemen in the photo were local.

What it amounts to, gentlemen, is that we the long-time citizens of Carbondale and its immediate environs, are not particularly pleased about having a few short-term residents (i.e., students who by definition are short-term residents) deciding what we shall name our streets and which ones we shall name, or rename.

Mill Street may seem to the non-historian to be a rather mundane or essentially meaningless name, but we refer you to Susan Maycock's book "An Architectural History of Carbondale, Illinois":

"Timber was plentiful and Carbondale's first buildings were of log construction, but Brush (Daniel H. Brush, the primary founder of Carbondale) early recognized the importance of providing sawn lumber for construction.

Thus, in 1853, he dismantled a steam-powered sawmill and gristmill that he had been operating in nearby Alexander County and moved it up to a site near Carbondale, south of what is now Mill Street. This mill, which gave Mill Street its name, provided lumber for most of Carbondale's early buildings, including the first public school, Brush's house, his grain warehouse and the freight and wood house that he erected for the railroad."

Millstones from the gristmill can still be seen on the corner of Mill Street and Normal Avenue.

Carbondale has, historically, not been particularly effective in preserving its historic landmarks. The city should be commended for renaming a portion of University Avenue as Normal Avenue a few years ago, but we should not be over-eager to change the name of one of our streets that has its own claim to historic significance.

To honor Dr. and Mrs. King is a laudable and appropriate action, but let us not deprive Carbondale of yet another of its few remaining historic entities to do so. Rather, why not find a street that is more historically contemporary to the Kings with which to honor them.

Antique Study Group, Carbondale,

Cecelia Norris Phyllis Patterson Rebecca Piermann Jane Renfro

Joan Hagan Betty Crawshaw

Alice Limpus Helen Ottesen Brenda Mitsdarfer Polly Mitchell

Dorothy Ittner Imogene M. Reed Jane Spackman Catherine McHugh

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