Place Names in Delaware Associated with Delaware Jews
Berkman Street – Residential street in Middletown south of the center of town and extending two blocks east from SR 71. Obviously named for a member of the Berkman family who have lived in the town for over 100 years.
Goldinger Road – Formerly Road 151, located south of Garrisons Lake between Smyrna and Dover. Adjacent to the former Goldinger family farm.
Norma B. Handloff Park – A small community park in west Newark on Barksdale Road. Handloff was a founder of the Newark League of Women Voters, president of the statewide LWV and Mayor of Newark.
Mesibov Road – A 3-mile-long road (formerly Route 437) in southern Kent County from near Six Forks to the Sussex County line. Named for the farm of Freda and Marvin Mesibov who lived there from about 1948 through the 70s. Freda is the daughter of Jacob and Dora Markowitz and still lives in the Milford area.
Simon Circle – In the west side of Dover in the Lincoln Park section. The street is part of a public housing complex owned by the Dover Housing Authority. It is named for Morris Simon, a Dover businessman and legislator prominent in the mid-20th century.
Stein Highway – This is the name of State Route 20 from the Maryland line east through Seaford to Route 13. It is named for Samuel Stein, a Seaford businessman in the first half of the 20th century. He lobbied the General Assembly in the 1920s for the construction of the road to promote local business. I believe that he may have later been elected to the Legislature; if so, he may have predated Mo Simon as Delaware’s first state elected official.
Old Rudnick Lane – A short street in Dover off South State Street just south of Route 13. It is occupied by professional offices and is named for the Rudnick family that had a farm and auction on the site in the mid-20th century. Dover’s first formal Jewish organization, the Jewish Women’s Social Club, met here regularly beginning in the late 1930s. (Gail: This is the site of the house whose mezuzah I donated to the JHSD.)
The following public streets have names that may be associated with Jewish Delawareans but more research would be need to confirm one way or the other:[edit]
Abrams Road – A very short street in a residential development in Sussex County just west of Route 24 and south of Route 5.
Klein Drive – This very short, uninhabited street is located at the far east end of the Collins Park development near New Castle.
Pack Lane – A several-block-long residential street in the Woods of Herring Creek development near Rehoboth Bay. It is very possible that it is named for one of the Pack family who were prominent in the early poultry industry during and after WWII and who owned a number of farms in Sussex County.
Tobin Drive – A residential street in the Town of Milton.