Fuer Way
| Fuer Way | |
|---|---|
| Neighborhood | Spring Garden |
| Origin of name | German, 'for'; probably a pun on original Fourth Alley |
| Fourth Alley (until 1924) | |
| Origin of name | Sequential numbering in plan of lots |
The 1906 Hopkins atlas shows an alley labeled Fourth Alley, part of a plan of lots called Havekotte Place, that just crosses into Spring Garden Borough. The alleys in Havekotte Place were numbered First through Seventh, though only Fourth Alley and Seventh Alley (later Sieben Way) crossed the borough line into Spring Garden.[1]
Spring Garden Borough was annexed to the City of Pittsburgh in 1920.[2][3] In 1924, a city ordinance renamed several streets in the former Spring Garden Borough; Fourth Alley was renamed Fuer Way.[4] The word fuer, or für, is the German word meaning 'for,' which is a homophone of four, so this appears to be a cross-language pun. Many of the early settlers of Spring Garden were German speakers.[5] (The direct German translation of 'four,' vier, may have been rejected because it would have changed the first letter of the name; it was common to preserve the first letter when renaming streets.)
Fuer Way was about 60 feet south of Mauch Street; it does not exist today.
See also
- Fourth Street, for other streets that have been numbered Fourth
References
- ↑ Real Estate Plat-Book of the Northern Vicinity of Pittsburgh, plate 18. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1906. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1906-plat-book-northern-pittsburgh. [view source] hopkins-1906
- ↑ "Spring Garden borough votes for annexation." Pittsburg Press, Dec. 10, 1919, p. 19. Newspapers.com 141328224. [view source] spring-garden-borough-votes
- ↑ "Spring Garden votes in favor of annexation." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Dec. 10, 1919, p. 1. Newspapers.com 86454144. [view source] spring-garden-votes
- ↑ "An ordinance changing the names of certain streets and alleys in the Twenty-sixth Ward (formerly Spring Garden Borough)." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1924, no. 274. Passed June 9, 1924; approved June 14, 1924. Ordinance Book 35, p. 463. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the Proceedings of the Council of the City of Pittsburgh for the Year 1924, appendix, p. 192, Kaufman Printing Company, Pittsburgh (Internet Archive Pghmunicipalrecord1924). Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Post, June 20, 1924, p. 19 (Newspapers.com 88486598). [view source] ordinance-1924-274
