By 1812Blockhouse
In 1895, a possible conversation between two Mansfielders could have gone like this:
Frannie: “Where should we meet to go to the party?”
Edwin: We can walk. Let’s meet at the corner of Sugar and Bloom at 7:30 Friday night.”
That corner very much exists in 2022 – but do you know where it is? (See link below)
Sugar Street is the original name for what later became known as Franklin Street, then Franklin Avenue in downtown Mansfield.
There is no indication of how the name “Sugar” came to be, although there are other nearby communities of comparable age that have streets by that name, such as Mount Vernon. Through the middle of town, it is part of the original platted area of Mansfield. To the north, part of the original street has been lost to development, such as the current post office facility.
On June 29, 1900, City Council passed an ordinance changing the name of Sugar Street from East Market Street (Park Avenue East) based on a submitted petition by 31 local residents. No reason was given for the switch, although the change from Market to Park Avenue had taken place just four years previously.
Chances are that Frannie and Edwin’s meeting would have been relatively safe. The northern blocks of Sugar Street were lined with modest one and one and a half story residences. That said, a “neighborhood riot” (no details given) reportedly took place in 1891 in the “north part” of Sugar Street.
Closer to town, the street went between the Union and Eagle Breweries, and a cistern sat in the middle of the street at the south side of the intersection of Sugar and East Third.
Sugar Street was, of course, the east boundary of the Richland County Courthouse parcel. In 1900, it became part of Mansfield history.
Click here for a Google Maps view of that intersection today.
Photo: From the 1887 Sanborn Map of Mansfield
