One of the older neighborhoods in Riverside is the well-known Wood Streets area of the city. Situated between Magnolia Center and downtown, the Wood Streets represent a time of burgeoning suburbanization – when people began moving out of downtown yet still had streetcars to take them downtown for business or shopping. The Wood Streets owe their beginning to the city’s desire to connect Magnolia Avenue to downtown. Until 1913, Magnolia Avenue started at Arlington Avenue and headed southwest. In that year, Magnolia was pushed north and the Magnolia Fill across the arroyo was constructed so that traffic could move more smoothly between downtown and points south. This new road construction opened a large swath of land for subdividing, which began almost immediately. However, long before there were any Wood Streets, there was Olivewood Avenue, which, starting around 1890, led from downtown to Olivewood Cemetery, hence the name. Olivewood skirted Pachappa Hill, creating the eastern boundary of what would be the Wood Streets. Related Articles 1922 saw a surge of Christmastime weddings in Riverside How Weirick Road off 15 Freeway in Riverside County got its name Western Riverside County schools were very different in 1886 Railroad construction 150 years ago was big news for the San Gorgonio Pass A 1935 shipwreck in the Philippines had a Riverside connection Starting about 1910, tract maps bearing the names of Linwood, Oakwood, Beechwood, Larchwood, and many other streets, began being recorded that subdivided the area between the arroyo and Jurupa Avenue. Why the “Wood” suffix? It probably had to do with the proximity to Olivewood Avenue, and the naming of streets for trees in Southern California. During a time when we were trying to lure easterners to Southern California, many towns named streets for trees that could be grown here. Downtown Riverside is a perfect example, and the Wood Streets probably carried on that tradition, adding the “Wood” suffix to existing tree names. Earlier speculation centered around a Dr. Edward Wood, whose Homewood Court off of Brockton Avenue may have been the genesis for the Wood Streets. However, Homewood is not a tree and Dr. Wood’s name appears on none of the later “Wood Streets.” Related Articles 1922 saw a surge of Christmastime weddings in Riverside How Weirick Road off 15 Freeway in Riverside County got its name Western Riverside County schools were very different in 1886 Railroad construction 150 years ago was big news for the San Gorgonio Pass A 1935 shipwreck in the Philippines had a Riverside connection From around 1910 to the early 1960s, dozens of small tract maps extended the Wood Streets east to Olivewood and west to Grand Avenue. Hundreds of small lots were eventually created, all during the era of individual home building (as opposed to today when subdivisions also build the homes en masse). Although the majority of streets within the neighborhood do end in “wood,” there are a few exceptions. Briscoe Street was named for realtor Rufus Briscoe, Chapman Place was named for longtime citrus grower DeLoraine Chapman, Castle Reagh was chosen by the developer after a street-naming competition and Ramona Court is named, like so many things, for the heroine of Helen Hunt Jackson’s 1884 novel of the same name. Today, the Wood Streets neighborhood continues to be a popular place to live in Riverside. If you have an idea for a future Back in the Day column about a local historic person, place or event, contact Steve Lech and Kim Jarrell Johnson at [email protected]. ...read more read less