How I-17 cross streets got their names

Back in June, we posted this video on social media that shared how US 60 Superstition Freeway cross streets - Mill, Rural, McClintock, Dobson, etc. - were named and many users asked us to look at other highways and streets.

Most of them wanted us to dig into Interstate 17. So, we did.

While I-17 travels more than 140 miles between Phoenix and Flagstaff, we focused on the nearly 30-mile stretch from between the Durango Curve and State Route 74. Here's how many of those cross streets got their name.

Buckeye Road: Buckeye Road is named after the city of Buckeye. The Buckeye Canal was established in 1885 and M.M. Jackson, one of its founders, named it after his home state of Ohio.

Grant Street: Grant Street is named after our 18th president, Ulysses S. Grant.

Jefferson Street: Jefferson Street is named after our third president, Thomas Jefferson.

Adams Street: Adams Street is named after our second president, John Adams.

Van Buren Street: Van Buren Street is named after our eighth president, Martin Van Buren.

The Stack: The Stack is a four-level interchange connecting Interstate 10 and I-17, west of downtown Phoenix.

McDowell Road: McDowell Road is named after Civil War General Irvin McDowell. Camp McDowell and Fort McDowell are also named after him.

Thomas Road: Thomas Road is named after William E. Thomas, Arizona's Territorial Deputy County Recorder in the early 1900s.

Indian School Road: Indian School Road was named after the Phoenix Indian School, which opened in the 1890s.

Camelback Road: Camelback Road is named after Camelback Mountain.

Bethany Home Road: The road is named after the Bethany Home, which was a tuberculosis sanatorium in the early 1900s.

Glendale Avenue: Glendale Avenue is named after the city of Glendale, Ariz. The city of Glendale started as a temperance colony in the 1800s.

Northern Avenue: Our research could not find a definitive origin for Northern.

Dunlap Avenue: Dunlap Avenue is named after former Phoenix Mayor John T. Dunlap, who was the city's mayor from 1904-05.

Peoria Avenue: Peoria Avenue is named after the city of Peoria, Ariz., which was settled by families from Peoria, Ill.

Cactus Road: Cactus Road is named after the town of Cactus, which was northeast of Sunnyslope.

Thunderbird Road: Thunderbird Road is named after a nearby U.S. Army Corps training field for Allied pilots during World War II.

Greenway Road: John Greenway was an Arizona pioneer who fought in the Spanish-American War and World War I.

Bell Road: Harvey Bell was a farmer who helped organize the Paradise Verde Irrigation District in 1916. The district was responsible for the Horseshoe Reservoir on the Verde River.

Union Hills Drive: Union Hills Drive is named after the Union Mine, a gold mine in Yavapai County.

Deer Valley Road: According to media reports, Deer Valley Road is named after a contest the city of Phoenix held in the 1940s or 1950s where residents could pick names for different regions in the city.

Pinnacle Peak Road: Named after nearby Pinnacle Peak.

Happy Valley Road: Our research could not find a definitive origin of Happy Valley.

Jomax Road: Jomax Road is named after sisters Josephine and Maxine Durham. The road led to a nine-hole golf course that Maxine owned with her husband, Fritz.

Sonoran Desert Drive/Loop 303: We couldn't find a definitive reason for why this street was named Sonoran Desert Drive, but the Sonoran Desert spans parts of Arizona, California and Mexico.

Carefree Highway: Carefree Highway is named for the Town of Carefree, which is named after the "Carefree Development Corporation," which founded the town.

Note: We want to thank the City of Phoenix Streets Department and City of Phoenix historian Steve Schumacher for helping confirm some of the harder-to-find information.

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