O Street

Oak Bluff Circle Once There Were Castles: Lost Mansions and Estates of the Twin Cities is a 2011 book by Larry Millet. He presents a fascinating history of the Twin Cities. The street in question here may not have had any castles, there were plenty elsewhere, including Oak Lake and Dayton's Bluff , enough of a connection to slip in this wonderful book.

Oak Grove Pl. Crow Story: A Tale From The Oak Grove is a 2012 children's book by Kathy Kaplan. It tells the story in poetic form of the Chumash Indians who lived in the Los Angeles, California, area before European settlement.

Oak View Ct. Writing from life: Collecting and Connecting is a 1997 book on writing by Phyllis Ballata and published by Mayfield Publishing in Mountain View, California. There are  oaks  and plenty of views to get started on writing.

Oakdale Ave. Four Blue Stars in the Window: One Family's Story of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and the Duty of a Generation  by Barbara Eymann Mohrman is the author's story of her family's history living in Oakdale, Nebraska, in the 1930's. Published in 2012.

Oakland Ave. Gertrude Stein (1874 – 1946) was an American writer of novels, poetry and plays. She was raised in Oakland, California. One of her more famous quotations is,  "there is no there there.” It appears in Gertrude Stein, Everybody's Autobiography (Random House 1937, p. 289). She is referring to her hometown of Oakland. The quote has often been interpreted as meaning that Oakland is a town in which there is nothing to do. Stein has said that she was simply trying to say that a person can not return home and find it the same as when that person left.

Oakley Ave. Graham Oakley (born 1929) is an English writer and illustrator best known for children's books. He is known for his series of books. The Church Mice.

Oakridge St. Mason Williams (born 1938) is an American guitarist and composer. He has also published several books of poems and plays. He spent part of his youth in Oakridge, Oregon.

Ocean St. “Crossing the Bar” is an 1889 poem by  Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)    It evokes the sense of finality as one heads out to the ocean.                           Sunset and evening star,      And one clear call for me!   And may there be no moaning of the bar,      When I put out to sea,   But such a tide as moving seems asleep,      Too full for sound and foam,   When that which drew from out the boundless deep      Turns again home.   Twilight and evening bell,      And after that the dark!   And may there be no sadness of farewell,      When I embark;   For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place      The flood may bear me far,    I hope to see my Pilot face to face      When I have crost the bar. Moby Dick by Herman Melville (1819-1891) has Ichabod speaking this sentence in the first chapter: “If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.” It’s not as famous a line as the first one in the book but it resonates with this author as he spent twelve years as a merchant seaman. Anything to remind him of those serene sunsets after a hurricane. Those were the days.

Ogden Ave. Ogden Nash (1902 – 1971) was an American poet well known for his light verse. Here is his poem “Flea:” Adam Had'em

Ohio St. Poet and translator, Marilyn Nelson (born 1946 ), was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She wrote a long poem entitled “A Wreath for the Memory of Emmett Till” in the form of a heroic crown of sonnets. This form calls for fourteen sonnets where the first line of the next sonnet is similar to the last line of the previous sonnet. Then a fifteenth sonnet is added at the end which is composed of the first lines of each preceding sonnet. Emmett Till was the fourteen-year old African-American boy who was murdered in 1955 by three white men. His mother’s decision to have an open casket became the catalyst for the modern civil rights movement as his face was so disfigured from the beating that newspaper pictures of it horrified the nation.

Old Cayuga Street Audubon Guide to the National Wildlife Refuges. Northern Midwest : Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, was published in 200 and written by John Grassy and Tom Powers. It contains a forward by Theodore Roosevelt IV and includes an entry on Tewaukon National Wildlife Refuge is located in Cayuga, North Dakota.

Old Hudson Rd. The Old Way North: Following the Oberholtzer-Magee Expedition is a 2008 publication of an expedition into the Hudson Bay area in 1912. It was written by David Pelly and published by Borealis Books of Saint Paul.

Old Kellogg Blvd. Stephen Kellogg is a children's author and illustrator. He has written and/or illustrated over 90 books.

Old Maryland Ave. The Old Man and the Road: Reflections While Completing a Crossing of All 50 States on Foot at Age 80 by Paul Reese  (1917 – 2004) is the author's memoir of running through each of the 50 states, including, of course, Maryland. Reese was a famous ultra-marathoner well into his 80th year.

Old Sixth St. President of the Whole Sixth Grade is a 2016 children's book by Sherrie Winston.

Olive St. Olive Norris is the central character in the novel The Children's Book,  a 2009 novel by British writer A.S. Byatt (born 1936). It follows the adventures of several inter-related families, adults and children, from 1895 through World War I. Olive: The Other Reindeer is a children's picture book by Vivian Walsh and J. Otto Seibold and published in 1997.

Olympia Ave. Olympia Vernon (born 1973) is an African-American author who has published three novels: Eden (2002), Logic (2004), and A Killing In This Town (2006). Eden won the 2004 Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award from The American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Omaban St.

Oneida St. The Oneida (Onyota'a:ka or Onayotekaonotyu, meaning the People of the Upright Stone, or standing stone, in Tuscarora) are a Native American tribe and First Nations band. They are one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy in the area of upstate New York, particularly near the Great Lakes. Roberta Hill Whiteman (born 1947) is an Oneida poet from Wisconsin. She is known for the collections Star Quilt (1984) and Philadelphia Flowers (1996). She received the 1991 Wisconsin Idea Foundation's Excellence Award.

Ontario St. Emily Pauline Johnson (also known in Mohawk as Tekahionwake –pronounced: dageh-eeon-wageh, literally: 'double-life') (1861 – 1913), was a Canadian writer and performer popular in the late 19th century. Johnson was notable for her poems and performances that celebrated her First Nations heritage. She was born in Six Nations of the Grand River, First Nation, Ontario.

Orange Ave. James Edward Orange (1942 –2008) was a pastor and a leading civil rights activist in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement in America. As part of his civil rights work for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in Alabama, he was arrested and jailed prior to conviction in 1965 for contributing to the delinquency of minors by enlisting them to work in voter registration drives.  His detention in Perry County, Alabama, sparked fears that he would be lynched, and a protest march was organized to support him. During that march on February 18, 1965, an Alabama state trooper fatally shot a young man, Jimmie Lee Jackson, in the stomach. In 2007, a former trooper named James B. Fowler, 74, was indicted for the death of Jackson. Living witnesses and tapes of the day of the killing were expected to be used at his trial. The 1965 uproar over Jackson's shooting during Orange's incarceration soon led to the famed Selma to Montgomery marches, including the infamous police brutality on "Bloody Sunday", and the passage of the Voting Rights Act later that year. (from wikipedia) James Orange is played by actor Omar Dorsey in the 2015 movie, Selma. Because They Marched: The People's Campaign For Voting Rights That Changed America by Russell Freedman was published in 2014 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Selma.

Orchard Ave. The Cherry Orchard is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov (1860-1904).

Orleans St. Charles of Orléans (1394-1465) was Duke of Orléans (France), following the murder of his father, Louis I, Duke of Orléans. He is now remembered as a poet who wrote  more than five hundred poems, most written during his twenty-four years spent as a prisoner of war. Here is his poem, “Rondel,” Strengthen, my Love, this castle of my heart, And with some store of pleasure give me aid, For Jealousy, with all them of his part, Strong siege about the weary tower has laid. Nay, if to break his bands thou art afraid, Too weak to make his cruel force depart, Strengthen at least this castle of my heart, And with some store of pleasure give me aid. Nay, let not Jealousy, for all his art Be master, and the tower in ruin laid, That still, ah Love! thy gracious rule obeyed. Advance, and give me succour of thy part; Strengthen, my Love, this castle of my heart.

Orme Ct. Eliza Orme (1816-1892) joined the National Society for Women's Suffrage in 1867. She was friends with Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809 – 1892) , the British Poet Laureate from 1850-1892.

Orrin St. Orrin Sackett, is a character featured in a number of western novels, short stories and historical novels by American writer Louis L'Amour (1908-1988). L’Amour once said that he could write a novel while sitting in the middle of Wilshire Boulevard in Hollywood, California. This author thinks that sounds like what the author, Truman Capote, said about On the Road by Jack Kerouac: “That’s not writing, that’s typing” in response to Kerouac having had taped paper together so he wouldn’t have to stop typing to change the paper. This author has read both Kerouac and L’Amour. He prefers Joyce and Max Brand.

Osage St. August: Osage County is a darkly comedic play by Tracy Letts (born 1965). It won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Osceola Ave. Osceola (1804-1838) is the name of a nineteenth-century Seminole leader. His great-great-great grandson is Chief Joe Dan Osceola who is the current Ambassador of the Seminole Tribe. Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke (1885 –1962), was a Danish author also known by her pen name Isak Dinesen. She also wrote under the pen name, Osceola. She is the author of Out of Africa and  Babette’s Feast.

Otis Ave. Otis Spofford is a children’s book by Beverly Cleary (born 1916) and illustrated by Louis Darling (1916-1970).

Otsego St. The street is named for Otsego Hall in Cooperstown, New York. It was the home of James Fenimore Cooper (1789 – 1851), author of the Leatherstocking novels which feature Natty Bumppo. The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, Otsego County, New York.

Ottawa Ave. Writers Margaret Atwood (born 1939) and Alice Munro (born 1931) are from Ottawa, Canada.

Otto Ave. How to Make an American Quilt is a novel by Whitney Otto (born 1955).

Otto Hummer Dr. Otto Hummer is a character in the young adult adventure series, The 39 Clues, first published in 2008. The series are written by a collaboration of authors, including Rick Riordan, Gordon Korman, Peter Lerangis, Jude Watson, Patrick Carman, Linda Sue Park, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Roland Smith, David Baldacci, Jeff Hirsch, and Natalie Standiford. The books chronicle the adventures of two siblings, Amy and Dan Cahill, who discover that their family, the Cahills, has been the most influential family in history. (from wikipedia)

Overlook Dr. Leonidas Overlook in  St. Louis County, Minnesota, is one of many places described in Minnesota Underground & the Best of the Black Hills: A Guide To Mines, Sinks, Caves, and Disappearing Streams by Doris Green and published in 2003.

Oxford St. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED), published by the Oxford University Press, is a descriptive dictionary of the English language. As well as describing English usage in its many variations throughout the world, it traces the historical development of the language.  Work began on the dictionary in 1857. The second edition, published in 1989, amounted to 21,728 pages in 20 volumes. The British poet, Geoffrey Hill, (1932-2016), was described in his lifetime as the "greatest living poet in the English language." His poetry can be very challenging but worthwhile. He loved dictionaries and was sent a new edition of the OED for review. Here is one of his poems: September Song                                                  born 19.6.32—deported 24.9.42 Undesirable you may have been, untouchable you were not. Not forgotten or passed over at the proper time. As estimated, you died. Things marched, sufficient, to that end. Just so much Zyklon and leather, patented terror, so many routine cries. (I have made an elegy for myself it is true) September fattens on vines. Roses flake from the wall. The smoke of harmless fires drifts to my eyes. This is plenty. This is more than enough.