Cremo Street

Cremo Street
Neighborhood	North Shore
➤ Craig Street (until 1910)
Origin of name	Isaac Craig

Cremo Street formerly ran from the Allegheny River north to the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway, slightly east of the current line of Mazeroski Way. It was originally named Craig Street for Major Isaac Craig (1742–1826), for whom Craig Street in Oakland is also named. Craig Street appears in the 1830 map of Jean Barbeau and Lewis Keyon.

In 1910, over 900 streets were renamed to fix duplicates. Because of the name conflict with the street in Oakland, Craig Street was renamed Cremo Street. The origin of the apparently meaningless new name was puzzling even at the time. A 1909 article in the Pittsburgh Post, listing the proposed new names, remarked, ". . . no reason is known for the changing of Craig street, Northside, to Cremo street." The historian George T. Fleming was not fond of the new name. In 1914, he wrote, "There was also Craig street on the North Side, now Cremo street, . . . . It is not known who put the cream in Cremo, but whoever did forgot to remove the flavor of a cheap cigar." The next year he commented, "There was once Craig street in old Allegheny, now the North Side, Pittsburgh, now called Cremo street, and it may be as well to state in passing that the cream is altogether a matter of euphony."

See also

• Craig Street (disambiguation), for other streets that have had that name