The street was named with the intention of there being a market place at what is now the railway station site, however markets were never established.[1]
John K. Ewers, a Western Australian poet and writer, wrote a poem about the street in 1932 that included the following lines, no doubt reflecting on the people leaving or arriving at the railway station and the port:
The folk you meet in Market-street are humble folk and grand:
[...]
The sights you see in Market-street are stranger than a dream:[2]
^Ewers, John K. (1971). The Western Gateway: A History of Fremantle (2nd ed.). Nedlands, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press for the Fremantle City Council. p. 225. ISBN085564 050 2.