Walnut Street was no doubt named for the abundance of trees of all types that covered this area. The earliest survey mentioned upwards of a dozen varieties. The July 22, 1858 Appleton Post-Crescent had praise for the street:
While S. Walnut St. spans seven blocks from W. College Ave. to W. Prospect, there now are relatively few homes on this street. The east (even numbered) side of the 200 block of S. Walnut is taken up with the City of Appleton Police Station. The same side of the 300-400 block contains Outagamie County surface parking and the Outagamie County Courthouse grounds. The west (odd numbered) side of the 500 block contains Outagamie County's Youth and Family Services facility. The east side of the 600 block is primarily green space that covers a now empty water reservoir.
From Morrow and Gillett's Appleton city directory, for 1889-90:
WALNUT, 956 Prospect, north to College av, first east of State, numbers from 390 to 600
In 1925 a new system of numbering structures in the city of Appleton was adopted. In this directory both the new and old street numbers are given. In addition, College Ave. was designated the dividing line between north and south, and Oneida St. was the east-west divider.
From Wright's Appleton city directory 1925:
Walnut S - From 501 W College av s to W Prospect av, 4 w S Oneida
