43rd ½ Street

43rd ½ Street
Neighborhood	Central Lawrenceville
Origin of name	Location between 43rd Street and 44th Street
➤ Snowden Alley (until 1871)
Origin of name	H. Snowden
➤ Snowden Alley (1881–1896)
Origin of name	H. Snowden

This unusually numbered street was originally called Snowden Alley, named for H. Snowden, who owned the property on both sides of the alley on the north side of Butler Street in 1852. It was changed to 43rd ½ Street (or rather "Forty-third-and-a-half street") by a city ordinance in 1871. This ordinance seems to have been forgotten, for another ordinance ten years later, establishing the names of all streets in the city, listed Snowden Alley. In 1896, the name was changed again to "Forty-third and One-Half street."

George T. Fleming joked about 43rd ½ Street in a 1915 column in the Pittsburgh Gazette Times. He said the street "surely [ . . . ] has a name and a half" and continued:

The possibilities that are presented on this fractional plan are really appalling. Imagine the terrifying look of an innocent inquirer when informed that you lived at Forty-second and Three-sixteenth street!

It is well that the street framers did not go farther than halves and omitted decimal forms. They were really wise in this.

See also

• Humphrey Street, once named 5½ Street
• Mutual Street, once named 6½ Street
• Eazor Square, originally named 29th ½ Street
• 55th ½ Street