Brunswick Street, Melbourne

Brunswick Street is a street in inner northern Melbourne, known for cafés, live music venues and alternative fashion shops.GeographyBrunswick Street runs north-south through the inner northern Melbourne suburbs of Fitzroy and Fitzroy North, from Victoria Parade at its southernmost end, crossing Alexandra Parade, and continuing until it reaches St Georges Road in Fitzroy North, near the Edinburgh Gardens; there, its former northward course is continued by a much smaller residential street named Brunswick Street North.Tram route 11 runs along the entire length of Brunswick Street for part of its journey.HistoryBrunswick Street, believed to be named after Captain Brunswick Smythe, owes its origins to Benjamin Baxter, who owned a lot of land along Victoria Parade, in the recently proclaimed township of Newtown . Baxter's lot was Lot 49, which was adjacent to Lot 48 on the north-west corner of Victoria Parade and Nicholson Street. In 1839 Baxter subdivided his lot into quarters, creating roads between the subdivisions. These became Brunswick Street and Gertrude Street. Initially, Brunswick Street only ran as far as what is now Hanover Street. In 1840, Mr R. S. Webb subdivided Lot 70, which was to the north of Baxter's lot. This extended Brunswick Street further north to Bell Street . The street was officially proclaimed in 1851.Shops had appeared on Brunswick Street as early as the 1840s. By 1854 the strip rivalled Bourke Street as a shopping district.