Let’s give place names … well, names

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with Pat Hugley Green’s recommendation for the new arts academy — Midtown Columbus School of the Arts — a name the school board debated Monday at the Muscogee County Public Education Center.

Nothing, that is, except that it sounds so much like just about every other public building in Columbus. Like, for instance, the Muscogee County Public Education Center.

Or the Columbus Government Center. Or the Columbus Public Library. Or the Columbus Convention & Trade Center. Or the Columbus Civic Center. Or the Columbus Citizens Service Center.

You get the point.

The “Midtown” part at least gives Hugley’s suggestion a little more sense of place, of distinctive identity, than any of the above. But the long-standing pattern of giving facelessly institutional names to important public buildings represents, in our view, a series of missed chances to showcase local history and culture in ways that could intrigue and inform future generations, residents and visitors alike.

Board member Mark Cantrell’s proposal is a good one: He suggests naming the new school after two legendary Columbus figures in the arts — author Carson McCullers and musician Gertrude “Ma” Rainey. Specifically, Cantrell proposes the Rainey-McCullers Arts Academy.

That might or might not be the right name for this particular facility. The school board can and will decide that. But it’s definitely a welcome move toward giving human dimensions — faces, names, biographies, stories — to places that exist to serve human beings. Maybe, in this case, to nurture another Rainey or McCullers.

It’s not unprecedented: In fact, it was Cantrell who proposed the name for Aaron Cohn Middle School, in honor of the longtime juvenile court judge, one of this community’s most distinguished and historic leaders.

The issue here isn’t really the arts academy; this is not even about schools or the school system. It’s about the identity of a community that for years has (rightly) searched for effective “branding,” but too often in the form of slogans and symbols instead of looking to this city’s rich history and the extraordinary people who have made it.

We’re not oblivious to the political downside of public officials dedicating public things in the names of prominent people. No sooner will something be named for somebody than those responsible will be besieged with complaints that it should have been named for somebody else.

But playing it safe comes at a cost, too. Think about all the people who, since 1828, have played their roles in everything good Columbus has been. There would be far more names than this editorial has words. Think of all the things and places that could have commemorated those lives and their contributions to the community, the culture, the country. Columbus has seized on many such opportunities, and has missed at least as many more.

There are already lots of buildings in Columbus whose names tell us what they are. That’s not enough.

This story was originally published January 10, 2017 at 3:11 PM with the headline "Let’s give place names … well, names."