Here at Zanola Company, I track new home subdivisions from the day the plat is filed in the courthouse to the day the last lot is built on. Over the years, I have seen subdivisions evolve from vacant land to paved streets to the homes of families. I have learned that every subdivision has its own story. And sometimes that story is that the developer really loves J.R.R. Tolkein.
The Shires is a 219-lot subdivision in Wright City, MO that is right off Highway 70. The first phase was developed in 2006, and at the moment it has 69 occupied homes and 2 finished-but-unoccupied homes. There was a small surge of construction in the spring of 2010 as Mitchell Home Builders started building on lots in the Shires. But what sets it apart from every other subdivision in the region is that the streets are all named after characters from The Lord of the Rings.
I have come across subdivisions with thematic street naming conventions before. There is one in Madison County that uses the names of Allied Generals in World War II. There is a subdivision in St. Charles that has streets named after horses that won the Triple Crown. But as a child who grew up reading the books and then loving the movies, I have to love a subdivision that includes Aragorn Lane, Samwise Street, and Meriodoc Lane (although I do think naming a street after Tom Bombadil is a bit much.) This is a subdivision I always want to see homes built on, mostly so it can develop the second phase and we can finally get a street named for Gimli (son of Gloin) to go with Legolas Lane.
By Angelo Zanola