Brennan acted as chair of the Subcommittee on Street Numbers and Signs at the City Club, which actively campaigned for the elimination of duplicate street names and posting of clear signage. Among the items saved in Brennan's scrapbooks are a number of letters from companies ranging from Western Union and Marshall Field's department store to Riddiford Brothers Janitors' Supplies, supporting the plan to eliminate duplicate street names. After the second major renaming initiative in 1936, the proceedings of the Chicago City Council for April 21, 1937, proudly noted, "[T]here are now only 1363 street names in Chicago for 3624 miles of streets. . . . There are now fewer street names in Chicago than in any other city in the country of even one-half the area of Chicago."

Creator: Herbert Brown
Source: Chicago Historical Society (ICHi-37498)