Existing comment:
"A Dead End with a Million-Dollar View": Elvans Avenue:
Elvans Avenue (later Elvans Road) is located on the east side of the Barry Farm development. It started on Stanton Avenue and did not quite reach Sheridan Avenue on the other side. It dead-ended a few yards away, perhaps because the terrain was so steep. Of the 34 plots that fronted Elvans, 23 were sold soon after they became available, possibly because two springs, one on each side of the street, provided water. It was decades before the neighborhood would enjoy piped water. Soon a church and a cemetery were built, and a school was located a few blocks away. The new residents had "a million-dollar view," as a modern student of the history of Elvans Road dubbed it. While the area has fallen on hard times, in 1867 it was a hopeful place for people who had just obtained their freedom. |