WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

How the City of Chicago spent a half-century trying to get people to accept an unpopular street name.

Listen to John Schmidt talk about street names on Eight Forty-Eight Every so often, you'll hear a visitor to our city ask for directions to Madison Avenue. This will make a true Chicagoan's blood boil.

Last year 127th Street in Calumet Park was renamed Obama Drive. As anyone familiar with downtown Chicago knows, "president streets" are an old city tradition.Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore.