The City of Bloomington Plan Commission approved renaming Jordan Avenue to Eagleson Avenue Monday.
Jordan Avenue is currently named after former IU president David Starr Jordan, an influential member of the eugenics movement throughout the late 19th century, according to the report. The renaming is the latest in a series of efforts to remove Jordan’s name from IU dorms, parking garages and rivers.
The street will be called Eagleson Avenue beginning Feb. 1, 2022, named after the distinguished African American Eagleson family. Many Eagleson family members are prominent Bloomington historical figures, including Halson Vashon Eagleson Sr., who was born into slavery and came to Bloomington in the 1880s and his son Preston Emmanuel Eagleson, the first African American to receive a master’s degree from IU and play for its football team.
The section of Jordan Avenue owned by IU is planned to be renamed Fuller Lane pending approval by the IU Renaming Committee and the IU Board of Trustees, according to city documents. The name is in honor of Mattie Jacobs Fuller, a successful Bloomington businesswoman and suffragist who was born into slavery in 1854 and moved to Bloomington upon her freedom, according to the report.
