FULL-COURT PRESS: Who knew? The names surrounding Wrigley Field

I thought I'd start my column this week with a trivia question.

What are the names of the four streets that surround Wrigley Field?

Now, I'm sure all of you Cubs fans out there know the answer like the back of your hand, and I'm guessing those who don't follow them maybe still know one or two.

The correct answer would be: Addison Street (south), Clark Street (west), Sheffield Avenue (east) and Waveland Avenue (north).

OK, now the bonus question: Who are these streets named after?

I know, me neither, and to be totally honest, I frankly hadn't even thought about that question until earlier this week. I did a little research — on Wikipedia and archives on the Chicago Tribune website — to find that three are named after people, and while none is a household name, each had very interesting and a pretty productive life.

ADDISON STREET

The major east-west street that runs almost 11 miles from Lake Shore Drive to Cumberland Avenue was named for English physician and scientist Thomas Addison (1793-1860).

Addison is traditionally regarded as one of the "great men" of Guy's Hospital in central London and was was one of the most respected doctors and lecturers. He is known today as describing a wide range of diseases, with Addison's disease (sometimes know as bronze skin disease) topping the list, although he received little or no acclaim within the medical field during his lifetime. Addison's disease is a rare disorder defined by destruction of the outer layer of the adrenal glands, the hormone-producing organs located just above the kidneys. He was the first to correlate a set of disease symptoms with pathological changes in one of the endocrine glands.

In 1860, Addison retired from Guy’s Hospital after over 40 years of caring for patients. But a few months later, Addison, who was believed to have struggled with depression throughout his life, committed suicide by throwing himself over a wall, landing on his head after a nine-foot fall.

In his memory, a statue of a bust was placed in the pathology museum at Guy’s Hospital, and later a hall was named after Addison in the new portion of the hospital.

CLARK STREET

This north-south street is 98 blocks long, running from Cermak Road to the Chicago/Evanston border. It is named for George Rogers Clark (1752-1818), older brother of William Clark, of Lewis and Clark fame. Hailed as the "Conqueror of the Old Northwest", George Rogers Clark spent his early 20s as a surveyor in western Virginia before becoming an American Revolutionary soldier who captured much of the Northwest Territory from the British. He became the highest ranking American military officer and is best known for his captures of Kaskaskia (1778) and Vincennes (1779) during the Illinois Campaign, which both were keys in weakening the British influence in the area and eventually led to the British ceding the entire Northwest Territory to the United States in the 1783 Treaty of Paris.

He led militia in the beginnings of the Northwest Indian War, but was accused of being drunk on duty and was forced to resign. He spent the final years of his life dodging creditors and living in poverty after not being able to pay back debts he incurred after many of his military campaigns were financed with borrowed funds. He died of a stroke in Louisville, Ky., at the age of 65.

SHEFFIELD AVENUE

This north-south street is three miles long and runs between Kingsbury Street and Sheridan Road. Formerly 10th Avenue, it is named for American railroad magnate and philanthropist Joseph Earl Sheffield (1793-1882).

Sheffield was born in Connecticut and was a son of a shipowner, and after his schooling moved south to enter the cotton trade and became a very successful shipper of cotton in Alabama. He married and moved back home to become the president of the New York and New Haven Railroad Company.

He was also known for buying land, most for expanding his railroad business. In fact the village of Sheffield, located in west-central Bureau County, was founded by Sheffield and Henry Farnam in 1852. Sheffield and Farnam constructed the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad, and the village was intended as a coaling station for trains. According to Farnam, he and Sheffield flipped a coin to see for whom the town would be named. A monument to Sheffield and the Rock Island Railroad stands today in village square.

Sheffield, who lived to a ripe old age of 88, gave Yale University a building for its scientific department, and a $130,000 endowment for the school, which was renamed the Sheffield Scientific School in his honor.

WAVELAND AVENUE

​This east-west street runs just over three miles from Lake Shore Drive to the WGN television studios in the North Central community. It was named by the aforementioned Joseph Sheffield, who owned the land surrounding the street and at one time the land on which Wrigley Field sits, simply because water would submerge the area during storms on Lake Michigan.

Also, did you know Wrigley Field is built on property that was once home to the Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary?

Yeah, me neither, but that's research for another day.