Dight Avenue? It seemed like a good idea at the time

What does it take to get Minneapolis to name a street after you? Serving on the City Council might put you in the running, especially if you work tirelessly to pass an ordinance to improve food safety. But you probably aren't going to win wide acclaim if you push for laws to prevent "mentally subnormal" adults from reproducing.

So how did a nine-block stretch of road just east of Hiawatha come to be named Dight Avenue? Dr. Charles Fremont Dight, a pasteurization advocate, was granted the honor by the Minneapolis City Council in 1918, at the end of his four-year stint as an alderman. But don't be too harsh on the council: Dight didn't begin lobbying for laws to allow sterilization of the "feeble-minded" until the 1920s.