Manchaca Rd Ridiculous Name Change to Menchaca

[CarnivalGal]

I agree with Austin-Steve on this one.

I am all for numbered streets. though. I think they are wonderfully helpful. If I need to go to 928 Brazos Street, for example, I automatically know it's between 9th and 10th.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

This topic arose in another thread about city growth and I think it deserves it's own thread.

I want the City Council to stop changing existing street names, period. The latest example of this stupidity is the vote to change Manchaca Rd to Menchaca Rd. I own commercial property on Manchaca Rd and I want the city to focus on making streets work better, and leave the names alone.

What I wrote in the other thread, when asked why I'm against the name change is:

"I'm opposed to the name change because I literally don't care about any descendants of a supposed somebody who spelled it different. Not my problem. I don't care if that sounds insensitive. I literally just don't care about the issue.

And I think it is selfish and narcissistic for anyone to want to change the street name and inconvenience all these business owners. The community of Manchaca and it's post office will still be Manchaca. The street "Old Manchaca Rd" will still be spelled that way.

The argument for the name change is actually weak at best. The entire thing is really, really stupid, in my personal opinion, and I'm offended that I have to even deal with it. (I'm helping with a lawsuit that has been filed to stop the change)

And, finally, to top it all off, the utter hypocrisy of the City Council, there are a sh*tload of misspelled names at the Austin Airport and nobody is clamoring to do anything about it. There was a story about it.
Why Is The Map On The Floor Of The Austin Airport Full Of Misspellings? | KUT

So, sorry that I have zero interest or concern about any purported misspelling of Manchaca. I want it to remain as-is.

Steve"

When additionally challenged by someone saying the city should correct it's mistakes if it was misspelled, I wrote:

"Well, the "City" never named this street. The first "Manchac" post office, as it was spelled then, was established in 1851. The second "Manchac" post office in a new location in 1874, then a 3rd new one called "Manchaca" (though still pronounce 'ManShack' even with the trailing "a"), came when the railroad came through in 1881.

Since Manchaca Rd itself runs roughly parallel to that railroad from 1626 all the way until it hits Lamar, we know the street name would have followed long after the post office and "community" name. So it was named after the Post Office and its community, not any person.

If the freaking name was supposed to be spelled with an "e", then there were 3 chances in the 1800s when each new post office was opened to correct it.

The commercial property I own, south of Slaughter, I was told by an older lady who owned property next door, used to be a "beer joint" in the 1940s and Manchaca Rd was then just a rough dirt road way out "in the Country" nowhere near "Austin".

The southern boundary of the City of Austin didn't include any part of Manchaca Rd. until at least after 1940, because a 1939 Travis County Road map shows Austin ending before the intersection Manchaca/Lamar.

It was no doubt probably named Manchaca Rd because it went to Manchaca. It still goes to Manchaca and the post office and zipcode still are "Manchaca".

I know this somewhat hijacked the thread, but this idiotic City Council has absolutely no business reaching back into 1851 to say the first Manchac post office, and each one thereafter, should have been spelled with an "e" because supposedly some guy who spelled his name with an "e" "once camped there". What the he*l does that even mean, "once camped there"? Who gives a sh*t?

I'm really starting to hate the idiots that run this city and the people who they take guidance from. What a bunch of complete morons."

So, if anyone wants to discuss this further, it's in its own proper thread.

Wild applause. There IS a history behind the name Manchaca, it has nothing to do with the person Menchaca, and the road name should be left alone. I'd go so far as to say that any council member who brings up the idea of voting to change a road name needs to be bumped off the council automatically because clearly they have nothing better to do with their time.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Or maybe he is against bad/revisionist history?

To each their own.

This right here. Some just LOVE bad/revisionist history. Those of us who really care about history would like THEM to be revised.

[DCtoTejas]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Wild applause. There IS a history behind the name Manchaca, it has nothing to do with the person Menchaca, and the road name should be left alone. I'd go so far as to say that any council member who brings up the idea of voting to change a road name needs to be bumped off the council automatically because clearly they have nothing better to do with their time.

There is a quote, not sure the source that says "History is the projection of ideology into the past", I think that about sums up this issue.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by DCtoTejas

There is a quote, not sure the source that says "History is the projection of ideology into the past", I think that about sums up this issue.

Or as I like to put it, "Hindsight is NEVER 20/20"

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by DCtoTejas

There is a quote, not sure the source that says "History is the projection of ideology into the past", I think that about sums up this issue.

The thing is there was no apparent ideology tied to the name "Manchaca" but some have decided to conjure some to support "Menchaca" in order to appease (pander) to a particular group.

[Longhorn Al]

Originally Posted by earthisle

It's not revisionist history, it's supposed to be named after someone named Menchaca and it was misspelled.

Wrong.

[Longhorn Al]

The PC garbage pandering is exactly why renaming Parmer to Palmer would be a non-starter. It's an Anglo name. Who cares if it's misspelled? They only care about names that some dumb redneck supposedly screwed up. That really gets the PC crowd excited.