What's in a Name? Zanthus Street

Some of my favorite Brookline research projects originate when someone asks me a question that I don't know the answer to. One recent example was a question about the origin of the name Zanthus Road for a small South Brookline street.

Zanthus Road is one of the shortest streets in town. It runs from Wallis Road to Beverly Road and the back of the ball field at the Baker School Playground.

Aerial view of Zanthus Road (outlined in red) via Google Maps (Click for larger view)

 The person who asked had studied ancient Greek language in college and knew that Zanthus -- usually written in English as Xanthus -- was the gods' name for a river at Troy and also the name of one of Achilles' horses in Homer's Iliad. 

(Wikipedia says it was also the name of other horses and places, various species of snails and moths, and several actual and mythologic people.)

So how did this classical name end up applied to a street in Brookline? The surprising answer can be traced to a much more modern Xanthus, one who lived in Brookline in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The map below is part of a 1927 street atlas of Brookline. The location of Zanthus Road -- which would not be laid out until eight years later -- is marked with a blue circle. Beverly Road comes in from the upper left and stops at the large Whipple property. Wallis Road comes up from the lower right and stops  southeast of the Whipple land. (The dashed lines are planned or proposed new roads.)

Click map for larger view

On the right side are largely undeveloped properties owned by three brothers: Benjamin Franklin Goodnough (known as Frank); Randall Goodnough; and X.H. Goodnough.

X.H., it turns out, is Xanthus Henry Goodnough Jr, named after the father of the three brothers. 

The earlier map shown below, from 1874, shows the land of Xanthus Sr. and his brother George. (A third brother was named Xenephon, so the parents clearly liked ancient Greek names.) Xanthus died in 1905 and his land passed to his three sons. George died in 1907; he had no children, and his land was sold to Sherman Whipple.

Click map for larger view

Zanthus Road was laid out in 1935. That is also the year the second Xanthus Goodnough died. (He had moved to Boston well before that.) The first mention of the road was in February 1935, and Xanthus died in August, so it is not clear if the road, with the spelling variant, was named after him or after his father, or both. (It was on the Whipple land, but so close to Frank Goodnough's property.) 

And that, apparently, is how an ancient Greek name came to be applied to a 20th century Brookline street.

Contemporary street view (Click for larger view)

Contemporary aerial view (Click for larger view)

Street signs for Zanthus Road and Beverly Road with the Baker School Playground on the right

Street signs for Zanthus Road and Wallis Road