Why are there no apostrophes in America?

01 Dec 2009

I was watching Stephen Fry’s QI show on TV last night. And the subject of possessive apostrophes in place names, such as King’s Cross Road or Marshall’s Place, came up.

Of course, it was only last year that Birmingham City Council did away with apostrophes in their place names. So out goes St Paul’s Square and St Mary’s Road and in comes St Pauls Square and St Marys Road. Hmmmph.

But apparently this kind of thing has gone on in the US for years.

And, as was revealed on last night’s show, there are now only five place names in the whole of the US that use the possessive apostrophe. And they are:

• Martha’s Vineyard, MA
• Ike’s Point, NJ
• John E’s Pond, RI
• Clark’s Mountain, OR
• Carlos Elmer’s Joshua View, AZ

Which begs the question: who was Carlos Elmer? And why was his view so important?