Adelpha Avenue — Adelpha Avenue is named after the Adelphia (Ferguson) Phillips, wife of Silas H. Phillips and mother of Dr. John Burton Phillips. Dr. John Burton Phillips’ widow Honora platted the land and gave the names of Phillips, Adelpha, and Burton Avenues for key members of the family. Note the missing “i” in the name Adelpha, which should be Adelphia.

Aurelius Road — Aurelius Road is named for where it leads: not just Aurelius Township, but Aurelius Center, a settlement near present day Aurelius and Barnes Roads. John Barnes named Aurelius Township. He was the earliest settler and came from New York. His hometown of Cato, NY was just 20 miles from Aurelius, NY, and is likely where the name comes from. Aurelius Center was also called Howe’s Corners. The road spans from Kinneville in Onondaga Township at the south to I-496 in Lansing at the north. The name hearkens back to Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor.

Bertha Street — Bertha Street was named for Bertha Jackson, wife of Chris J. Jackson, the real estate developer who platted and developed Bertha Street beginning in 1923.

Bond Avenue - Bond Avenue is named for Horatio J. Bond, who owned the 30+ acres of land on which the street is located. This was later the Green family land was named as part of the Arlington Park subdivision by Dr. Seth Jones.

Burton Avenue — Burton Avenue is named after Dr. John Burton Phillips, on whose land the street and neighborhood were developed. Dr. John Burton Phillips’ widow Honora platted the land and gave the names of Phillips, Adelpha, and Burton Avenues for key members of the family. Dr. Phillips was a noted historian, librarian, economist, and well-known Holt boy who made a name for himself nationwide. He generally went by his middle name Burton, thus the name of the street.

Cedar Street — The road was once called the Mason-Lansing Road, M-14, or US-127. Cedar Street likely gets its name from the Red Cedar River, which was once just called the Cedar River. Cedar Street was an original name in the Biddle City plat of Lansing, which never came to be and is the only modern road name from that plat which came to fruition or survived. Cedar Street is labeled on nineteenth century plats of Lansing, but outside of the city it became a variety of other names until the mid-twentieth century when the name extended the full length from Lansing to Mason.

Clever Street — Clever Street was originally called “Cross Street” in the Thorburn plat. It is likely named for builder and Holt lumber owner, Ernest Clever, who built several homes in the neighborhood.

College Road — College Road is named for Michigan Agricultural College (now MSU), leading to the agricultural college along the border of Lansing and Meridian Townships. Though the State Agricultural College was founded in 1855, East Lansing was not incorporated until 1907. “Agricultural College” had its own post office. Colloquially, the road likely would have been referred to as “the college road,” or the road leading to the college. The road is a township boundary between Lansing/Meridian, Delhi/Alaiedon, and Aurelius/Vevay, and spans from Forest Road at the north to Barnes Road at the south.

Dallas Street — Dallas Street was named for Dallas Cole, son of Arthur W. Cole. R.B. Hill and Cole developed the neighborhood after purchasing the remainder of the Keller farm. (See also Michael Street).

Dean Avenue — Dean Avenue is named for Dean Webert. Lewis G. Webert purchased the Vern Helmker farm in 1923 to develop a new subdivision. Webert’s two sons Donald and Dean are the namesake of Don Street and Dean Ave.

DeCamp Street — DeCamp Street is named for Dennis DeCamp, who owned the much of the land inside the Holt “triangle.” The area now occupied by Veterans Memorial Gardens was once called DeCamp’s Woods and was the site of many picnics and activities and the trees were used to build many local barns. DeCamp platted the north portion of his land and the road connecting Cedar Street and Aurelius Road was named for him.

Delhi N.E. Street — Delhi Street Northeast was originally Holt Street on a 1920s plat map. When the depot was a more integral part of Holt, this was considered a main road connecting the depot with downtown. This was considered part of Delhi Avenue (see Holt Road), with Holt Road picking up where Delhi N.E. merged off. When Delhi Ave. in town became Holt Road in the 1970s, Delhi N.E. remained.

Dell Road — Dell Road is named for George and Bertha (Helmker) Dell, who owned the farm at the corner of Dell and Aurelius Roads beginning in September 1880. It remained in the same family for more than 100 years was was designated a Michigan Centennial Farm.

Depot Street — Depot Street gets its name from the old Holt railroad depot that once stood at the present-day northwest corner of Depot and Delhi NE Streets.

Don Street — Don Street is named for Donald Webert. Lewis G. Webert purchased the Vern Helmker farm in 1923 to develop a new subdivision. Webert’s two sons Donald and Dean are the namesake of Don Street and Dean Ave.

Eifert Road — Eifert Road is named for the Eifert family, who owned several farms along the road. Brothers Max and Mortiz Eifert came to the United States from Germany in 1888. Max E. Eifert owned the northernmost farm from 1893 through 1906. He purchased the land from Dexter Phillips in 1893 (the land had previously been settled by Frederick Luther, 1837-1856, one of Delhi’s first residents). Max sold the farm in 1906 to Henry Kahres. Max’s brother Moritz F. Eifert owned an 80-acre farm adjoining to the south until 1927, near present day I-96. Mortiz sold his farm to the Kahres family in 1927, and moved to Aurelius with his son. Mortiz’s son Edwin E. Eifert owned a farm in Aurelius Township along the road at the corner of Nichols Road from about 1928 to his death in 1972. Eifert Road extends from Plains Road in Aurelius Township at the south to Willoughby Road in Delhi Township at the north. Historically it continued further north and turned to Cedar Street, where American Road now intersects with Cedar street.

Fay Avenue — Fay Avenue is named for longtime Delhi Township Supervisor John B. Fay.

Furney Street — Furney Street was originally called North Street in the Sterling Farms Addition. It was later renamed Furney Street, likely after William Furney, who lived near the corner of West Blvd. and Furney St. He was a Holt resident for 28 years.

Gilbert Road — Gilbert Road is named for Pratt Z. Gilbert and his son Homer Gilbert, who farmed the land adjacent to the road from 1870 through the 1940s. This would have been the typical situation where a farm provided land for a road to pass alongside his property, thereby having the road named for them.

Greenwood Avenue — Greenwood Avenue is named for the Green family, whose farm was platted and makes up the Arlington Park neighborhood. The Green farm was inherited by Mattie (Green) Jones and platted by her husband Dr. Seth Jones. Dr. Jones purchased a lot from Homer McDowell for an outlet on Cedar Street for Greenwood Street. Mr. and Mrs. McDowell planned to build a home there, sadly Mr. McDowell died of a stroke the very night after the lot sale. The Green farmhouse was moved brick-by-brick to Keller Road in the 1930s, becoming the longtime Ribby farm, and is now the headquarters of Moore-Trosper Construction.

Grovenburg Road — Grovenburg Road is named for Henry Grovenburgh and sons Harry, Jerome, and Frank, and the Grovenburg settlement in West Delhi. Henry W. Grovenburg travel by ox team to Delhi Township with three sons, Harry, Jerome, and Frank, in 1842. They settled quite a distance from any nearby settlement in the southwest area of Delhi and their initially family-based settlement took the family name of Grovenburg, after which a church, school, cemetery, and road took its name. Both the church and school are now gone.

Gunn Road — Gunn Road is named for the large Gunn family in Delhi. Walter A. Gunn started a farm at the southern end of Gunn Road around 1900. This became a centennial farm. The Gunns were the only threshers in Holt. Walter’s brother Herbert E. Gunn was the prominent Holt postmaster, bank president, and Delhi Township supervisor. Their father Charles A. Gunn gave the original lease of land for the Gunn School in 1867.

Hancock Street — Hancock Street is named for Myron P. Hancock, postmaster of Holt from 1940 to 1953.

Harper Road — Harper Road is named for James Harper, who owned the land at the corner of Cedar and Harper Roads. The area was once called “Harper’s Crossing,” with the road passing through the land. James Harper immigrated from England in the nineteenth century and owned the farm as early as the 1850s until his death in 1887. His son Asher Harper took over the farm in 1887. Asher died in 1908, but his daughter Jennie Harper-Bell and her husband Orrin E. Bell owned the farm beginning in 1898. The Bells called it the Hardscrabble Farm. The family sold the farm in 1942 to Frank Japps. The farmhouse still stands on Hogsback Road just north of Harper Road.

Heather Haven Drive — Heather Haven Drive and the Heather Haven Subdivision is named for Heather Sturt, daughter of developer and professor Dr. Daniel W. Sturt. Dr. Sturt sold a portion of the land to Holt Public Schools for the development of Wilcox Elementary, which opened in 1968. The land was originally the Ohlinger-Wilcox-Tooker farm (see Wilcox Road).

Holloway Drive — Holloway Drive is named for Dan Holloway and Holloway Construction, who owned the land for several decades. Holloway owned 700+ acres in east Delhi Township. It is now partially an industrial park and undeveloped land.

Hogsback Road — Hogsback Road is named for the “Hogsback,” the local name given to the glacial esker which extended from Mason to St. Johns. The name comes from its large hill appearance which resembled a hog’s back. While just a portion of the road survives parallel to Cedar Street between Holt and Mason, it used to extend further north along the top of the esker. It has origins as a gravel road used by early Native American peoples traveling the area. The Hogsback in Holt has almost entirely been mined away through the years for sand and gravel, much of which was used in Michigan road construction. The water-filled gravel pits south of Holt are the remnants of the esker.

Holt Road — Holt Road has had several names locally, but elsewhere has historically been named for where it leads – Holt! Today, Holt Road extends from Dimondale to Webberville across Ingham County. Heading east and west out of Holt, local residents would call the road the Dimondale or Webberville Road. Locally, from Aurelius Road on the west and around Depot Street on the east, the road was called Delhi Avenue from the early 20th century through the mid-1970s, when the entire road became Holt Road.
Briefly in the 1920s, a map labeled the road as Morton Street, the history of which is unknown and is the only instance in which the road has that name.

Horstmeyer Road — Horstmeyer Road is named for Herman and Alvina Horstmyer, who immigrated from Germany in 1910. They arrived and began farming in Delhi Township around 1916. The family farm, located near Horstmeyer and Gilbert Roads, was owned by the family through about 1977.

Jeanne Street — Ernest Hunt, owner of Holt Products Co., platted and sold his land south of Sycamore Street, where he once had an airstrip, in the 1950s. He also donated the land for the adjoining Kiwanis Park. Jeanne, Lynn, and Lee Streets are named for each of Ernest and Virgilene Hunt’s three children.

Jones Road — Jones Road is named for the Dr. Seth Jones, the owner and developer of the Arlington Park neighborhood from the Green family farm. The Green farm was inherited by Mattie (Green) Jones, wife of Dr. Jones.

Kahres Road — Kahres Road was named in 1968 for the Kahres family who by that time had purchased most of the surrounding land. It had previously been Krantz Road both east-west and north-south. The east-west road remains Krantz, while north-south was changed to Kahres at the petition of the family.

Kathy Court — Kathy Court is believed to be named after Kathlynn Kessler, daughter of the subdivision developer Carlton L. Kessler. 

Keller Road — Keller Road is named for Martin J. Keller, who owned the land near the five corners from the turn of the 20th century through his death in 1946. His daughter Carrie Aldrich kept the home into the 1960s.

Krantz Road — Krantz Road is named for the Krantz/Kranz family. Carl and Elizabeth Krantz came to the U.S. in 1873 from Germany. They lived in the Delhi area beginning in 1875. They and their son Gustav and family lived in West Holt, followed by son Edward Krantz. Most of the Krantz land was purchased by the Kahres family by the 1940s. Krantz Road historically spanned east-west and north-south from Grovenburg Road to Holt Road, but the north-south section was renamed in 1968 (see Kahres Road).

Krentel Avenue — Krentel Avenue got its name from the development of the Sterling Farms subdivision. Christian and Alex Krentel were Lansing real estate developers. They purchased the Wemple farm in 1920 and platted it for the neighborhood. They brought in Charles J. Tolland, a real estate dealer, to aid in the sale of lots. They each had a lot along Cedar Street at the northeast section.

Lamoreaux Lane — Lamoreaux Lane was named for Arthur and Mary Lamoreaux in the 1950s when their farmland was sold and platted for the Lamoreaux Subdivision. Arthur is the grandson of Harvey Lamoreaux, a Delhi pioneer and one time oldest citizen of Ingham County at 100 years old.

Lee Street - Ernest Hunt, owner of Holt Products Co., platted and sold his land south of Sycamore Street, where he once had an airstrip, in the 1950s. He also donated the land for the adjoining Kiwanis Park. Jeanne, Lynn, and Lee Streets are named for each of Ernest and Virgilene Hunt’s three children.

Lott Avenue — Lott Avenue in the College Heights Subdivision is named for Rina A. Lott, lifelong Delhi resident, Delhi Township treasurer (1915), and member of the large Lott family. Lotts owned this land for more than 100 years.

Lynn Street — Ernest Hunt, owner of Holt Products Co., platted and sold his land south of Sycamore Street, where he once had an airstrip, in the 1950s. He also donated the land for the adjoining Kiwanis Park. Jeanne, Lynn, and Lee Streets are named for each of Ernest and Virgilene Hunt’s three children.

McCue Road — McCue Road is named for the McKeough or McCue family. John and Melissa (Grovenburg) McKeough were pioneers of Delhi in the 1840s. Their son Royal J. McKeough, and his son Guy McCue, owned land through the generations at the corner of Grovenburg and McCue Roads into the 1940s. The Guy McCue farm is the present site of the Delhi Township POTW.

Michael Street — Michael Street was named for Michael Cole, son of Arthur W. Cole. R.B. Hill and Cole developed the neighborhood after purchasing the remainder of the Keller farm. (See also Dallas Street).

Miller Road — Miller Road is named for the Miller family, who owned the land south of Miller Road between Cedar and Pennsylvania Avenue from the 1860s to 1960s. The farm is the present site of Meijer.

Nichols Road — Nichols Road is named for Jacob C. Nichols, who owned 80 acres at the corner of Nichols and Onondaga Roads along the southern border of Delhi Township.

Onondaga Road — Onondaga Road is named for where it leads: the Village of Onondaga in Onondaga Township, at Onondaga and Bellevue Roads. Onondaga Township was established in 1838 and named for the Onondaga Nation of the Iroquois in New York, a location from where many settlers moved. The road spans south into Jackson County and ends at Holt Road in Holt to the north.

Pageant Way — Pageant Way is named for Pageant Homes. The street was developed by the owners of Pageant Homes: Kenneth Hope, Louis Legg, and Robert Pierce. The lots on the street were sold with the stipulation that materials to build were purchased from Pageant Homes or Lansing Lumber.

Park Lane — Park Lane is named for Minor E. Park, who sold his garden adjacent to his Holt Road home to Dr. Seth Jones for the connection of the Arlington Park neighborhood to Holt Road through his property.

Phillips Avenue — Phillips Avenue is named after the Phillips family, on whose land the streets and neighborhood were developed. Dr. John Burton Phillips’ widow Honora platted the land and gave the names of Phillips, Adelpha, and Burton Avenues for key members of the family.

Pine Tree Road — Pine Tree Road is named for the lone pine, a descendant tree of which still stands at the northeast corner of Pine Tree and Keller Roads. The original tree was planted by Eliza (Clark) Owen in the 1850s after being carried as a seedling from the William Cook farm south of Holt. Her father Benjamin Clark helped her plant it. The tree, at about 70 years old, was struck by lightening in 1921. The Forestry Department at MAC attempted to save the tree. Unable, they were able to replace it with a seedling from the original tree. The Holt Sportsman Club made a baseball bat out of wood from the old tree when it came down.

Spahr Avenue — Spahr Avenue is named for Richard F. Spahr, local developer and owner of Spahr Electric Co. Spahr was active in Holt in the mid-20th century. In 1947, he had the contract to built and install the lights for the new Holt football field (Memorial Field). In the 1950s, he served on the committee for the development of sewer and water facilities. He went on to be building and electrical inspector for the City of East Lansing. Spahr also owned a portion of the land on which the neighborhood and adjacent developments were developed.

Thorburn Street — Thorburn Street is named after John D. Thorburn, who platted his land around 1920 creating one of the first subdivisions in Holt. John D. Thorburn (1858-1948) married Marcia King in 1881. The couple inherited the land which was platted through Marcia’s father Matthew King, a Scottish immigrant who was one of Delhi’s first residents and had owned the land since 1842. When King arrived he dug and lived in a cave in the Hogsback before clearing land for a log home.

Tolland Avenue — Tolland Avenue got its name from the development of the Sterling Farms subdivision. Christian and Alex Krentel were Lansing real estate developers. They purchased the Wemple farm in 1920 and platted it for the neighborhood. They brought in Charles J. Tolland, a real estate dealer, to aid in the sale of lots. They each had a lot along Cedar Street at the northeast section.

Veltema Drive — Veltema Drive is named for Corneal and Esther Veltema, who purchased and developed the Lester Stevens land. By 1971, the Willoughby Heights Subdivision was platted, and Veltema Drive became the first and main road, named for the landowners and developers.

Washington Road — Washington Road is named for George Washington, as is typical of innumerable communities across the country. It gets the name in modern times from the road of the same name in Lansing, which, as the city expanded southward, aligned with this road in Delhi. Locals called it “the north road” in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century as it was the road that headed north.

Watson Street — Watson Street is named for William B. Watson (1827-1910), early pioneer and owner of the land on which the street and neighborhood were developed. His “city home” was on Holt Road just north of the land. 

Waverly Road — Waverly Road was once called Countyline Road, as is common among roads along county lines. Waverly is believed to get its name from Waverly Park, which operated just north of the Grand River. It was a popular recreation site in the area, which started as Leadley Park in 1892-1904, then operated as Waverly Park in 1904-1918. It is referred to early on as “the Waverly Park Road,” or the road leading to the park and was likely shortened to just Waverly Road.

Wemple Avenue — Wemple Avenue is named for Arthur Garfield Wemple (1881-1938). He came to Holt in 1899 and purchased the John Ferguson farm in North Holt. The Wemple family owned the farm from 1899 to 1920. After selling the farm to developers Christian and Alex Krentel in 1920, Wemple moved to the former Dan H. Rice farm east of Holt, located at the corner of Holt Road and College Road. Wemple was an active community member, serving on the Holt Board of Education, the Holt United Methodist Church Board of Trustees, Superintendent of the Methodist Church's Sunday School, and on the Delhi Township Board of Review. The Krentel brothers named Wemple Avenue after Arthur Wemple when the platted his farm for Sterling Farms in the 1920s.

Wigman Road — Wigman Road, now part of the Aspen Lakes complex, was once the site of the Weigman farm. The road once connected Holt Road and Keller Road, but the Keller connection is no longer.

Wilcox Road — Wilcox Road is named after the Wilcox family and farm, especially George and Anna Bertha (Ohlinger) Wilcox. George Wilcox was an influential member of the community and served on the Holt School Board. The farm started as Anna’s father Benjamin Ohlinger’s farm just after the Civil War. It was subsequently owned by Glenn and Helen (Wilcox) Tooker until Helen’s death. The farm house still stands at the corner of Wilcox Road and Heather Haven Drive. The farmland was sold off to Dr. Daniel Sturt around 1966. He developed the Heather Haven subdivision, named for his daughter Heather, and sold Holt Public Schools the land for Wilcox Elementary, which opened in 1968.

Willoughby Road — Willoughby Road is named for the Willoughby family. Elisha Willoughby owned 80 acres near the current corner of Cedar and Willoughby Roads, with the house standing around the present site of Dart Bank. The road passed through his property and would likely have been referred to as “Willoughby’s crossing.” Elisha’s brother Samuel and their father also lived down the west end of Willoughby Road.