Cleveland Heights street names are off balance! There is just one name with “West” attached to it, while we have no fewer than six “East” streets (plus Eastwick Road). Most “Easts” are separated from their namesakes by Lee Road. East Overlook is separated from Overlook by a grand boulevard; East Antisdale is separated from Antisdale by a brief block, with both segments developed by the Rapid Transit Land Co. East Fairfax and East Scarborough are not only in a different tract than their counterparts West of Lee, but were originally within short-lived Idlewood Village.

New, as well as old street directories, maps, plat books, and phone book listings show no consistency. In 1912, we had ‘East’ segments of Berkshire, Fairfax, Monmouth, Overlook and Scarborough. Overlook was called ‘East’ only east of Coventry Road, while Derbyshire Road ended at Coventry. A one-block street connecting Cottage Grove and Lee, now part of Derbyshire, was labeled ‘Rockwood Boulevard’, Yorkshire Road, west of Lee, was Hollywood Boulevard, and Washington Boulevard, southeast of Hollywood, was Haycox Boulevard.

The 1920 plat book shows East Derbyshire (the segment later eliminated for Heights High), East Berkshire Road, East Yorkshire Road and Haycox Road as what is now Washington Boulevard east of Lee. A 1926 map shows Antisdale, Derbyshire (east of Cottage Grove), Monmouth, Overlook, Scarborough (only east of Taylor) and Yorkshire Roads with “East” counterparts, while the 1927 plat book has added “East” to Fairfax and Scarborough Roads east of Lee. This book and the 1941 Plat Book have East Derbyshire starting at Coventry, where there is no East Yorkshire or East Berkshire. Current signs separate Derbyshire from its “East” segment at Lamberton Road, and both Yorkshire and Berkshire Roads continue east of Lee with no “Easts.” “East” is used only when a street is interrupted.

Developers most likely added “East” to existing streets because the existing names sounded dignified and the developers didn’t have to conjure up anything new.