Why is it that one parks on a driveway, but drives on a parkway?
Answer (my theory anyway
):
"Driveway"
Back in the 'horse & buggy' days most houses were built a good ways from the road because almost everyone lived on a farm.
The big steel wheels of the carriage/wagon made 2 deep dirt paths from the road up to the house.
When automobiles took over, the small tires of cars got stuck in mud-holes in the paths.
The strips of ground had to be upgraded to a small one-lane dirt road.
Since you 'rode' in a carriage or wagon but 'drove' a car, the upgraded strip of dirt-road to the house became a
"drive-way".
As people moved to the city, with houses closer to the street, the 'driveway' became shorter like it is today and the only place to park your car at home.
"Parkway"
In the old days, towns sprang up in the US on main roads. Roads were small with no shoulder to park on. There was usually only one main road in and out of town.
With the advent of automobiles that could go in reverse (unlike a horse & buggy), businesses built parking spaces in front of their stores for customers to park.
(Most side streets were nothing more than alleyways with nowhere to park.)
As the towns grew and they were naming streets and avenues, the main section thru town with parking was named
something "Parkway".
Of course later, that 2-lane stretch would be four-laned so traffic wouldn't have to stop whenever someone backed out of a parking place.
You know the rest. That stretch of 4-lane became the
'main-drag' thru town
.
"The Parkway" became synonymous with
'great road thru town'.