Why Is There No J Street In Washington Dc
Camila Farah
The gossip s answer to this question is that military engineer pierre charles l enfant left out the letter in his plans for the capital due to his dislike toward chief justice john jay.
There s no j street because back then typography had yet to be standardized and i and j were often used interchangeably. After j was adopted. It says for much of the colonial period there was no letter j in the printed version of the alphabet. We contacted the washington historical society for your answer.
J street is missing from the grid the street naming jumps from i street to k street since i and j were not yet considered to be distinct letters at the time the washington street plan was created. The answer that we are familiar with is that because the letters i and j are so similar in appearance the j was omitted to avoid confusion. The mundane explanation is that j street was likely omitted simply because the letters i and j were often indistinguishable from each other especially when handwritten and in 18th century. One rumor is that l enfant who designed washington dc disliked john jay so much that he refused to allow a street to bear his name.
J street as an american lobby organization aimed at washington leaders and policymakers derived its name from the alphabetically named street plan of washington d c. The real story as to why there is no j street is much more practical. Washington d c has no j street because city designer pierre l enfant bore a grudge against chief justice john jay. Why is there no j street in washington dc.
Source : pinterest.com