[p. 10]
History told by names of streets.
In Volume VII the Register noted the significance of the names of
Medford streets.
In the thirteen years that have elapsed population has largely increased, vacant land been developed and estates divided.
The new streets are so numerous as to require a directory and specific instruction for even an old resident to readily find them.
The nomenclature of these is a matter of some interest, as a glance at the list shows.
A little book, the result of recent private enterprise, is a handy
City Guide to over five hundred streets, avenues, courts, places, roads, squares and terraces.
By duplication of the latter the actual number of names is reduced just one hundred.
Not all are public or accepted by the city, and thus a few names are duplicated.
To a few a former name clings, while the newer or established name is also given.
It would be interesting to know just why we have a “Sayso road” while the more pretentious name of Bowen avenue has official sanction.
The title examiner finds difficulties in the many recorded plans and deeds where appear names that of necessity were changed on a street's acceptance.
This
City Guide, for convenience, refers to
Glenwood, Hillside, South Medford,
Wellington and West Medford, which lay around the border and partially encircle the old
Medford.
In 1829 the selectmen named the ways radiating from the town pump (which seems to have been the
hub of
Medford), but prior to that time they were the “roads to” various places.
The Register has told “how
Medford began to grow.”
She has continued to, and has not yet “got her growth.”
Some enterprising speculator develops vacant land or divides an ancestral estate, gives it a name, lays out streets and assigns names of his own fancy to them.
For instance, at South Medford the old road to
Cambridge 
