Philly has Spring, Summer, and Winter Streets. What happened to Fall or Autumn?
Inquirer archives from the late 1800s mention an Autumn Street, but it's unclear what happened to it.
Philadelphia has no Autumn.
The fallen orange-yellowish leaves and naked tree branches might say otherwise. But, for a reader interested in Philadelphia’s streets named after seasons, there is a clear missing player.
Spring, Summer, and Winter Streets are tightly knitted near the edge of North Philadelphia. But Autumn is all the way in Bustleton, and it’s a road instead of a street.
Puzzled by the absence, a reader asked Curious Philly, The Inquirer’s forum for questions about the city and region: Why isn’t there a Fall or Autumn Street?
“I assume no mayor or past City Council member in Philly’s history introduced a bill to want to have a Fall or Autumn Street created in Philadelphia,” said City Hall spokesperson Vincent Thompson. The city did not offer more information about how Spring, Summer, and Winter Streets came about or why an Autumn or Fall Street might have been left out.
While Philadelphia today has no Autumn Street, apparently there was one in the 1800s.
Based on a handful of article clippings in The Inquirer’s archives, Autumn Street was a north-south street near 19th Street. But it stopped being mentioned in 1899.
There is a chance it was renamed.
Columbia Avenue was renamed Cecil B. Moore Avenue in 1987. And Taney Street is undergoing the same process. So the chance of Autumn Street living under a new name is not zero.
Street renaming could be used to create a modern-day Autumn Street. But the process can be complex, lengthy, and bureaucratic.
For example, the work behind changing the Taney Street name started in 2020, took about 3,000 signatures citywide, and required all the City Council members representing the districts the street runs in to agree to the change.
Thompson said another option could be the creation of a new street and naming it Autumn.
Streets can be built by developers and then turned over to the city for maintenance, but they have to follow specific regulations — including zoning permits, contracts, and private paving.
Until then, Philadelphia will remain a three-season street city.