by Wisconsin has its fair share of oddities, and as we’ve found traveling our state’s highways some of these oddities extend to quirky street names. Hey, it’d be boring if every street was named Main or Elm or First Street… but Reek Road? Chicken in the Woods Drive? Assman Road?? Imalone?? These are just some of the strange, odd, eyebrow-raising, or just plain quirky street names we’ve found in the Badger State.
Chicken In The Woods Road, Three Lakes
Off Highway 32 in Three Lakes. Is it the land response to Chicken of the Sea? How long did that chicken last in the woods? Okay, we know it refers to a type of mushroom (or maybe ‘shroom?) but it’s still eye-catching. And now we want some ‘shrooms. But it’s definitely a quirky Wisconsin street name up in Oneida County.
Imalone Road, Bruce
In the midst of Rusk County along Highway 40, it might feel lonely sometimes. But at an intersection where you’ll also find the Wagon Wheel bar, you’ll see that “Imalone Road” becomes an interesting companion. Gotta admit, that’s quirky Wisconsin road name.
Burnt Bridge Road, St. Germain
Along Highway 70 between Arbor Vitae and St. Germain, you’ll find Burnt Bridge Road. Is it named after a bridge that caught fire, or a warning about how not to sabotage business and personal relationships?
There must be a story, we’d be glad to hear it!
Assman Road, Mishicot
On the north side of Mishicot in Manitowoc County, Assman Road rips one east-west for about four miles. We searched the entire road for a street sign to show you a picture – but apparently the signs keep getting stolen! Guess that’s not a huge surprise, “Assman Road” signs are probably in high demand in dorm rooms across the state. We had to use Google Maps to prove it below (click for a larger look):
How did the name come to be? Perhaps they were inspired by Seinfeld…
29 3/4 Avenue, Washburn County
Counties like Barron, Washburn, Polk, and some others use the Mile Road System and number many of their streets and roads. That’s common across the Midwest. What isn’t common is to use fractions down as far as 1/16ths to name roads within all those square miles – leading to a lot of quirky street names. Even 29 3/4 Avenue, which intersects with U.S. 53 just inside Washburn County near Sarona, was enough to catch our eye. We know on some roads around there the fractions can get down to 1/16ths… are there any 1/32nds out there?? We haven’t seen any, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist…
Fur Food Road, Stratford
Along Highway 97 north of Marshfield near Stratford, you’ll find Fur Food Road. What the…?
Darn Republican Street, Chetek
According to the Eau Claire Star-Telegram, Darn Republican Street dates back to 1955, when the already-named street was on private property and deeded to the city of Chetek only on the condition the name be retained. And retained it has been; we’re surprised political candidates don’t show up along quirky street names like this more often!
Reek Road, Weyauwega
What reeks? Why did this road get that name? Is it near a gassy swamp or a sewage treatment plant? Not that we could tell; it seemed to be a pretty nice area not far from the beautiful Wolf River. Off U.S. 10 and Highway 49 near Weyauwega, just follow your nose…
Crass Road, Tomahawk
We spotted it originally because it has an overpass with the U.S. 51 freeway outside Tomahawk. It’s southern end is where Highway 107 begins at the old U.S. 51 – now County S – just south of Tomahawk. We’re not sure of the origin, people in the area watching us taking pictures of a street sign seemed perfectly polite.
Hooker meets Pleasure, Madison
Hooker Avenue meets Pleasure Drive at Mac Pherson Street in a neighborhood right near Madison’s airport, just blocks northwest of where Highway 30 ends at Highway 113. Hooker and Pleasure coming together? It made us start looking for a “Me So Horny Blvd” nearby, but none was found. The Ale Asylum and Karben4 breweries were nearby though, so we found good places to go and ponder these street names. Note the stickers on each warning of criminal penalties for stealing the signs… something that may or may not have prevented thefts along Assman Road further up.
Pigtail Alley, off Highway 33 near Portage
Pigtail Alley isn’t really an alley; and while it winds around a bit, it’s not quite like a pigtail (then again, it meets a Wall Street that isn’t like the Wall Street we hear about.) It starts at Highway 33 just west of the I-90/94 junction near Cascade Mountain and winds through beautiful countryside in view of the Baraboo Range… we just don’t know the history behind the name. We’d like to find out, it definitely one of those quirky Wisconsin street names! Well, alleys in this case…
Green Haze Avenue, off Highway 38 in Mt. Pleasant
Green Haze, man. How did a residential street off Highway 38 just outside Racine one of these quirky street names? We’re not sure, although it “green haze” is well known as a strain of a plant, mostly legally available in states like Colorado and Washington. It’s also a song title from comedian Elvis Hitler, who mashed the “Green Acres” TV show lyrics with Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” music to prove they had the same meter. But Green Haze Avenue is a nice, quiet residential street; one would think if that’s what it was named for, at least one late night pizza joint would have opened up along the way.
Did we miss a few? Of course we did! There must be plenty more – help us find them and post your comments and pictures in the “Leave A Reply” box. We’ll pay those roads and streets a visit too and we do our State Trunk Tours around Wisconsin.
Back to StateTrunkTour.com
In Waukesha city… There is A street named The Strand!
Real Short Road, Back Forty Road – both in the Town of Lodi in the Okee area.
Just off Hwy. 54 east of Black River Falls is Lumberjack Guy Road. There is Bacon Road between Millston and Shamrock, also in Jackson County. The sugn for Bacon Road frequently vanishes. The last time I went by it was marked by a homemade cardboard sign.
Just a couple of my favorites from my neck of the woods. 🙂