If you use an apostrophe to spell “Woodfords Corner,” you’re not alone. Both spellings appear throughout the Internet, including the city’s own website.

But the apostrophe version is wrong.

The city of Portland uses “Woodford’s Corner” on a Web page dedicated to the area, but not in a 2012 study titled “Transforming Forest Avenue.”

The apostrophe shows up again in a study commissioned by Greater Portland Landmarks and in the name of a fledgling neighborhood organization, calling itself “Friends of Woodford’s Corner.”

However, Cindy Dykes, an assistant librarian at the Portland Public Library, said the intersection of Forest Avenue and Woodford Street is officially called “Woodfords Corner” by the U.S. Library of Congress, which establishes guidelines for institutions organizing information based on subject matter.

“That is the official subject heading,” Dykes said.

– Randy Billings


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