Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


An old alley in downtown Howell was recently paved and is being officially named “Elephant Alley” - a reference to folklore of the past.

City Council met Monday night and approved a request to install signage for the private alley located between Center and Walnut Streets.

The request came from Aberrant Ales Owner Clark Gill. He said it’s kind-of the last remaining private alley in the downtown and they were finally able to get businesses along the block to support paving it – which was completed a couple of weeks ago. Gill said it was previously a pretty treacherous drive or walk but it looks great now and is much smoother and they thought it would be nice to name it “Elephant Alley” – which has been the tongue-in-cheek name for a while.

Gill said they purchased signage - standard-type green, reflective street signs - and were looking for City assistance to get it put up and proclaim the area “Elephant Alley”.

The name and lore dates back to the early 1920’s or 1930’s.

Gill told WHMI they wanted to officially deem it “Elephant Alley” which is kind-of the old folklore in town. He said rumor from back in the day is that the circus was in town via train and an elephant passed away while they were there. Since they couldn’t transport it back via train, legend is the elephant was buried in the alley or under the building he occupies.

During the meeting, Gill told Council that he’s done some digging and hasn’t found any proof of anything but they do tours for school kids and it’s always a fun story to tell so they felt the name was appropriate.

The alley encompasses the 100 block between Walnut and Center Streets – the block of businesses that include Aberrant Ales, Cobb Hall Insurance, Gross Electric, Heart of Michigan, and the Howell Winery.

While it is technically private, Gill said the alley is open for thru-way. He noted it gets a lot of foot and passenger traffic from end to end as there’s municipal parking and churches on either side but especially when Sibley Street and Grand River are busy.

Mayor Bob Ellis commented that the name fits nicely with the City’s history. DPW crews will be installing the signage at the ingress and egress at both ends of the alley.