photo by: Journal-World Photo Illustration

The four finalists for the Pinckney Neighborhood's new name: Cameron's Woods, Pinkney, Riverbend and Woody Park.

Residents of the city’s historic Pinckney Neighborhood have begun voting on a new name for the neighborhood.

The Pinckney Neighborhood Association, which oversees the central Lawrence neighborhood sitting just north of Sixth Street, began the election this week, and residents have until the end of the month to return their ballots.

The neighborhood was named after a street of the same name, which was later renamed Sixth Street, and the neighborhood association began considering a name change last year because of some evidence that the street was named after Revolutionary War general and pro-slavery plantation owner Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, as the Journal-World previously reported.

Neighborhood residents will select from four finalists for the neighborhood’s new name: Woody Park, Riverbend, Cameron’s Woods, and Pinkney. The spelling of the neighborhood’s name without the “C” would be in honor of the statesman and diplomat William Pinkney, who lived from 1764 to 1822, according to the ballot sent to neighborhood residents. Pinkney was the seventh U.S. attorney general and gave an anti-slavery speech in 1789 that was later turned into a widely circulated abolitionist pamphlet.

The name option of Woody Park would honor Elgin Woody, a Lawrence resident committed to improving the lives of young African Americans, according to the ballot. Woody, who lived from 1888 to 1978, organized and coached baseball and softball leagues for African Americans in the park at Second and Maine streets that now bears his name.

The name Riverbend would be a reference to the bend in the Kansas River that creates a portion of the neighborhood’s boundary. The ballot notes that River Bend Court and River Bend Circle are two existing road names in another neighborhood north of Interstate 70.

The name Cameron’s Woods would reference abolitionist and “Kansas hermit” Hugh Cameron, who lived from 1826 to 1908. Cameron moved to Lawrence as a member of the Emigrant Aid Society that founded the city and lived for a year in a treehouse he built in a wooded area of the Pinckney neighborhood.

Neighborhood residents voted earlier this year to narrow a list of 12 potential names to the four finalists. The neighborhood association’s website lists all the original name options, which included names such as Burcham Park, Langston Hughes and Parkview, and also links to three essays written by neighborhood name committee member David Unekis about his research on the history of the neighborhood’s name and some evidence that the street was actually named for William Pinkney. The ballot states the original map of Lawrence uses the spelling without the “C” for what is now Sixth Street.

The ballot notes that the election is only for the neighborhood’s name and not for the name of Pinckney Elementary School, 810 W. Sixth St. Lawrence school district spokesperson Julie Boyle told the Journal-World in January that the district was paying attention to the neighborhood association’s renaming process and would wait to see its outcome.

Ballots were mailed to neighborhood residents this week. Residents of the neighborhood ages 16 and older can fill out the ballot, which has space for two people to vote, and drop it off at one of three collection boxes listed on the ballot. The ballot also includes a QR code and a link to vote online, surveyhero.com/c/pinckneyfinal. Voting is open until June 30 and ballots must be placed in the collection boxes by midnight that day.