Warrington Avenue

From Pittsburgh Streets
See also Reflectorville Road, which was originally part of Warrington Avenue.
Warrington Avenue
Neighborhoods Allentown, Beltzhoover, Mount Washington, South Side Slopes
Origin of name Probably a modification of Washington, its former name
Washington Road (until 1881)
Origin of name Washington, Pennsylvania
First Street (until 1881)
Origin of name Sequential numbering, north to south, in McLain & Maple's plan
Washington Avenue (until 1881)
Washington Avenue South (1881–1910)
Kaiser Avenue (1907–1909)
Origin of name William Kaiser

A road in the location of modern Warrington Avenue appears in the 1851 map of Sidney & Neff and S. McRea[1] and in the 1862 map of S. N. and F. W. Beers.[2] This was known as Washington Road[3][4] because it was a key route to Washington, Pennsylvania.[3][5]

The 1872 Hopkins atlas shows that the road west of the Pittsburgh and Brownsville Turnpike or Brownsville Road (today Arlington Avenue) was called Washington Road, while the part to the east was First Street.[4] In the original plan of Allentown laid out by Benjamin McLain and Thomas Maple, the east–west streets were numbered from north to south.[3][5] The 1876 Hopkins atlas gives the name Washington Avenue to the portion along the northern edge of the borough of Beltzhoover, between Beltzhoover Avenue and West Street (today Montooth Street).[6]

The name was changed to Washington Avenue South in 1881 by an ordinance that established the names of all streets in the city of Pittsburgh. This ordinance said that the avenue was formerly named Washington Avenue, Plane Street, and Alma Street.[7]

In 1910, over 900 streets were renamed in order to fix duplicates, and Washington Avenue South was renamed Warrington Avenue.[8]

The name Warrington is so similar to Washington that it seems obvious that it was derived by simply modifying two letters; this hypothesis is strengthened by the fact that nobody with the name Warrington played an important part in Pittsburgh history.[9] However, the name Warrington Avenue had been first applied the year before, when an ordinance renamed Kaiser Avenue to Warrington Avenue.[10] This avenue lay beyond the western end of today's Warrington Avenue along the course of modern Saw Mill Run Boulevard;[11] it was a renamed segment of the former Saw Mill Run Road.[12] Kaiser Avenue was laid out as part of Kaiser Place, a development named for William Kaiser, who had owned the surrounding land.[12][11] The name Kaiser Avenue had been established in 1907.[13] Perhaps Kaiser Avenue was renamed Warrington in 1909 with the expectation that Washington Avenue South would be given the same name the next year. (The name Kaiser Avenue seems to have been difficult to extinguish: it was also renamed Warrington by ordinances in 1910 and 1927.)[8][14]

See also

References

  1. Sidney & Neff and S. McRea. Map of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, with the Names of Property-Holders. Philadelphia, 1851. LCCN 2012592150. [view source]sidney-neff
  2. S. N. & F. W. Beers. Map of Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Smith, Gallup & Hewitt, Philadelphia, 1862. LCCN 2012592151; https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agdm/id/31783; 1862 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source]beers
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 C. A. Weslager. "Reminiscences of Beltzhoover and Allentown: Two old-time Western Pennsylvania boroughs." Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, vol. 49, no. 3, July 1966, pp. 251–262. https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/view/2808. [view source]weslager
  4. 4.0 4.1 Atlas of the Cities of Pittsburgh, Allegheny, and the Adjoining Boroughs, p. 100. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1872. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1872-atlas-pittsburgh-allegheny; 1872 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source]hopkins-1872
  5. 5.0 5.1 Allentown Civic Association. Robert N. Kress, ed. Allentown: The Story of a Pittsburgh Neighborhood, pp. 7, 27. Allentown Civic Association, Pittsburgh, 1990, ISBN 978-1-105-70647-9. LCCN 2012460322. [view source]allentown
  6. Atlas of the Cities of Pittsburgh, Allegheny, and the Adjoining Boroughs, p. 45. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1876. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1876-atlas-pittsburgh-allegheny; included in the 1872 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source]hopkins-1876
  7. "An ordinance establishing the names of avenues, streets, lanes and alleys of the City of Pittsburgh." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1881, no. 33. Passed Feb. 28, 1881; approved Mar. 4, 1881. Ordinance Book 5, p. 212. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the Proceedings of the Select and Common Councils of the City of Pittsburgh, for the Year 1880, pp. 213–234 (Internet Archive pghmunicipalrecord1880). [view source]ordinance-1881-33
  8. 8.0 8.1 "An ordinance changing the names of certain avenues, streets, lanes and alleys in the City of Pittsburgh." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1910, no. 715. Passed Mar. 31, 1910; approved Apr. 5, 1910. Ordinance Book 21, p. 342. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the Proceedings of the [Select and Common Councils] of the City of Pittsburgh for the Years 1909–1910, appendix, pp. 312–328, Devine & Co., Pittsburgh, 1910 (Google Books doQzAQAAMAAJ; HathiTrust uiug.30112108223832; Internet Archive Pghmunicipalrecord1909). Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Post, Apr. 19, 1910, pp. 10–11 (Newspapers.com 86611990, 86612022), Apr. 20, pp. 10–11 (Newspapers.com 86612278, 86612297), and Apr. 21, pp. 10–11 (Newspapers.com 86612601, 86612625). [view source]ordinance-1910-715
  9. George T. Fleming. "Colonial history recalled by street names: Doughty, Dinwiddie, McKean and Miffline are some of the interesting historical figures." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Jan. 10, 1915, sec. 3, p. 6. Newspapers.com 85750887. [view source]fleming-colonial
  10. "An ordinance changing and establishing the names of certain avenues, streets, lanes and alleys in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth wards of the City of Pittsburgh (formerly known as the Boroughs of West Liberty and Beechview)." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1909, no. 375. Passed Oct. 14, 1909; approved Oct. 20, 1909. Ordinance Book 20, p. 614. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the Proceedings of the [Select and Common Councils] of the City of Pittsburgh for the Years 1909–1910, appendix, pp. 146–150, Devine & Co., Pittsburgh, 1910 (Google Books doQzAQAAMAAJ; HathiTrust uiug.30112108223832; Internet Archive Pghmunicipalrecord1909). Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Post, Nov. 11, 1909, p. 8 (Newspapers.com 86421216), and Nov. 12, p. 11 (Newspapers.com 86421491). [view source]ordinance-1909-375
  11. 11.0 11.1 Real Estate Plat-Book of the Southern Vicinity of Pittsburgh, plate 12. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1905. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1905-plat-book-southern-pittsburgh; included in the 1903–1906 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source]hopkins-1905
  12. 12.0 12.1 Real Estate Plat-Book of the Southern Vicinity of Pittsburgh, Penna., plate 9. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1896. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1896%E2%80%93plat-book-southern-pittsburgh; included in the 1890 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source]hopkins-1896
  13. "An ordinance changing and establishing the names of avenues, streets and alleys in the Forty-second ward of the city of Pittsburgh." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1907, no. 174. Passed July 22, 1907; approved Aug. 1, 1907. Ordinance Book 18, p. 510. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the Proceedings of the [Select and Common Councils] of the City of Pittsburgh for the Year 1907, appendix, p. 80, Devine & Co., Pittsburgh, 1908 (HathiTrust chi.096598952). Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Aug. 8, 1907, p. 7 (Newspapers.com 85923150), and Aug. 10, p. 3 (Newspapers.com 85923350). [view source]ordinance-1907-174
  14. "An ordinance changing the names of certain avenues, streets, lanes, alleys and ways in the Twenty-ninth Ward (formerly Carrick Borough)." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1927, no. 207. Passed Mar. 21, 1927; approved Mar. 26, 1927. Ordinance Book 38, p. 410. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the Proceedings of the Council of the City of Pittsburgh: For the Year 1927, appendix, pp. 187–190, Smith Bros. Co. Inc., Pittsburgh (Google Books cZfgUddPQR0C; HathiTrust uiug.30112109819802; Internet Archive Pghmunicipalrecord1927). [view source]ordinance-1927-207