General Adelbert Ames (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)
Edgewater’s roads fall into one of two categories. We have our avenues, the numbered roads that run east to west. And we have our named streets, the north to south roads. You may even be able to rattle them off by memory, a task certainly made easier by their alphabetical organization.
With the exception of a Calhoun Street, Edgewater’s roads originally all carried the names of American Presidents. That changed in 1902, when Edgewater elected to rename their streets after prominent Americans, names that remain to this day.
In 1903, Edgewater renamed all of its streets after Supreme Court Justices or Senators. Originally Adams Street, the first street west of Sheridan was named after US Senator Adelbert Ames.
The son of a sea captain, Ames was born in Maine in 1835. Graduating from West Point in 1861, Ames went on to serve in the Union Army during the American Civil War. During the war he rose to the rank of brevet major general. A so called “carpet bagger”, he served as military governor in the 4th military district, which included Arkansas and Mississippi during Reconstruction. Ames would go on to be named Provisional Governor of Mississippi, a position he held until civil authority was restored in 1870.
In 1870 Ames was elected to represent Mississippi in the US Senate. He served in the Senate for four years. In 1873 he was elected governor by popular vote. His time as governor saw racial unrest leading to riots and political turmoil. Because of this, the Democratic legislature brought impeachment charges against several prominent Mississippi Republicans, including Ames. His Lt. Governor was removed from office, and in order to not face the same fate, Ames retired in 1876 and all charges were dropped.
Ames passed in 1933 at the age of 97. He was the last living Union General at the time of his passing.
are we to get histories of the other named streets?
how about (eventually) putting them all in one, up-to-date, file??