After more than a century as a town, Pea Ridge had named its streets. And in doing so, had developed a unique system for naming the streets ... to call all north-south streets after Union participants of the Battle of Pea Ridge, and all east-west ones for their Confederate counterparts.
In 1995, Ordinance No. 215 was passed by the Pea Ridge City Council. The street naming segment of the detailed ordinance made it mandatory to use the north-south for Union and east-west for Confederate names of combatants of the Battle of Pea Ridge.
Confederate names:
• Kelly Lane -- Turn east off of South Curtis Avenue onto Carden Road. Cross Coler Drive, veer north and proceed eastward on Kelly Lane. This street honors Capt. Joseph Kelly of Kelly's Confederate Brigade. Kelly Lane leads to two residences.
• King Lane -- East off Weston Street by apartments north of the Little League Field. Was named for Col. George W. King of Arkansas' 22nd Infantry.
• Lane Drive -- Going west on McCulloch Street, pass the alley leading back to Pickens Road and then take either of the next two turnoffs to the right. These are both parts of Lane Drive, which makes a circle. Lane honors the name of Joseph R. Lane, Co. H, 4th Arkansas Infantry. He was reported to have been the son of J.F. and Catherine Ballenger Lane.
• Lee Town Road and Lee Town Drive -- Both of these streets, no doubt, keep alive the memory of a village virtually destroyed by the first day's fighting at the Battle of Pea Ridge. Lee Town Road goes east from the intersection of Arkansas Highways 72 and 94 (Curtis Avenue and Slack Street). Slack Street comes into Curtis Avenue from the west and upon reaching Curtis, joins it to head northward. Across Curtis at that intersection, Slack becomes Lee Town Road. Traveling east, to the left are Smith and Davis streets, then reach the two parts of Lee Town Drive that forms a circle. Lee Town Road heads on toward the Pea Ridge National Military Park. It passes out of the city limits before it reaches the park, and it is stopped by another road or it would go to the old Lee Town site ahead.
Editor's Note: This article is from Billie Jines' 1996 booklet, "The Streets of Pea Ridge."
Editorial on 03/13/2019