Cake Way
| Cake Way | |
|---|---|
| Neighborhood | Marshall-Shadeland |
| Clay Alley (until 1910) | |
| Cake Alley (1910–1914) | |
This alley was laid out in 1871 in a plan of lots for Charles Hartman, but that plan did not give it a name.[1] It appears, unlabeled, in the 1876 Hopkins atlas.[2]
By 1882 it had been named Clay Alley.[3]
In 1910, three years after Allegheny was annexed into the city of Pittsburgh, an ordinance renamed many streets to fix duplicates, and Clay Alley was changed to Cake Alley.[4]
It became Cake Way in 1914 when another ordinance changed all alleys in Pittsburgh to ways.[5]
In a 1937 column in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Charles F. Danver humorously paired Cake Way with Fudge Way in Sheraden.[6]
In a 1998 Post-Gazette article, Torsten Ove used Cake Way as an example of a Pittsburgh alley with a bizarre name. Former city historical preservation planner Michael Eversmeyer said, "It just strikes me that a committee got together, grabbed a dictionary and chose a name."[7] This hypothesis is probably about correct in this case—over 900 streets had to be renamed in 1910, and the two men who compiled the list of new names used many sources.[8] In 1944, Samuel M. Lippincott, an assistant engineer for the City Planning Commission, said that when he had needed to name a large number of streets he had used "seed and mail order catalogs, current magazines, and other collections of words."[9]
References
- ↑ "Plan of lots laid out for Charles Hartman: Situate in McClure Township." Laid out Oct. 16, 1871; recorded Dec. 7, 1871, Plan Book 4, p. 143. Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds 3778926. [view source] charles-hartman-plan
- ↑ Atlas of the Cities of Pittsburgh, Allegheny, and the Adjoining Boroughs, pp. 52–53. 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
- ↑ Atlas of the Cities Pittsburgh and Allegheny, plate 35. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1882. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1882-atlas-pittsburgh-allegheny; 1882 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source] hopkins-1882
- ↑ "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
- ↑ "An ordinance changing the name 'alley' on every thoroughfare in the City of Pittsburgh to 'way.'" Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1914, no. 402. Passed Nov. 10, 1914; approved Nov. 16, 1914. Ordinance Book 26, p. 360. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the Proceedings of the Council of the City of Pittsburgh for the Year 1914, appendix, p. 226, McClung Printing Co., Pittsburgh (HathiTrust uiug.30112108223899; Internet Archive Pghmunicipalrecord1914). Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Post, Nov. 23, 1914, p. 11 (Newspapers.com 86505785), and Nov. 24, p. 12 (Newspapers.com 86505809). [view source] ordinance-1914-402
- ↑ Charles F. Danver. Pittsburghesque. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Aug. 12, 1937, p. 8. Newspapers.com 90316941. [view source] danver-1937
- ↑ Torsten Ove. "Site names here are out of sight: From Swamp Poodle Road to Grant Street, locales in the region bear names that are little understood or largely forgotten." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 8, 1998, pp. A-1, A-6. Newspapers.com 94754709, 94754864. [view source] ove
- ↑ "Making a joke of street names: Clerks assigned to wipe out duplications choose any old titles: Hippo, Tumbo, Fortitude!: Also Divinity, Sunday, Starch, Parkhurst, Chianti, Wry and Prudence." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, July 28, 1909, p. 2. Newspapers.com 85879633. [view source] making-a-joke
- ↑ Gilbert Love. "What's in a name? A lot!: Christening streets is big chore for Pittsburgh has 5888 of them: Official Thinker Up of Street Names even goes to seed and mail order catalogs to find appropriate titles: Complications rise when residents complain." Pittsburgh Press, Feb. 11, 1944, p. 25. Newspapers.com 147943383. [view source] love-christening
