My brother lives at 35 Parson Lane, yet the next-door neighbor is at number 25. My last house was number 10, the next-door neighbor was at number 12. Why all the number skipping? Why not just go in numerical order starting with 1, then 2, etc.
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I think this practice started in Philadelphia, the first planned city in the west. Each block got assigned 100 numbers, like 800-899. Even numbers on one side, odd numbers on the other. So you always know which side of the street you’re looking for. And it was systematized so if something is on a block between 7th and 8th streets, then its number will be between 700 and 799. So you always know approximately where a building will be just from hearing the numbers. Like 1500 Walnut street? Ok, south side of street, on the corner of 15th and Walnut, on the side between 15th and 16th. This scheme allowed for a lot more numbers (100) than there is space in one block to fit—50 numbers per side. But super convenient when not
Everyone has an infinite GPS map in their pocket. It also allows for more numbers if there’s expansion. Like change your building into 2 apartments and you can now have another street number. This led to people adopting a similar practice all over the country.
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