Source:Beltzhoover-name
"Beltzhoover name debated by residents: Proponents and protestants of change cite 75-year life of designation: Planners' report favors retention: Expense to city cited as woman denies re-naming is her plan alone." Pittsburgh Press, Mar. 20, 1930, p. 25. Newspapers.com 141339610.
The name of Beltzhoover Ave. was both attacked and upheld at a City Council hearing yesterday.
Tulane Ave. has been proposed as a new name for the street.
For 75 years the street has been known as Beltzhoover Ave., defendants of the name claimed. It was called after Maj. Daniel Beltzhoover, a veteran of the Civil War and a benefactor of his community, they said.
But it was the age to which the friends of "Tulane Ave." took exception. Not even people who have lived in the community 50 years remember who Beltzhoover was, they claimed.
Defendants Are Heard
A. S. Jessop, 300 block Beltzhoover Ave., said: "It's a historic name. I don't find it hard to pronounce, I can spell it without trouble and I don't think a 'z' is so hard to make."
E. J. Letson, 200 block Beltzhoover, declared, "I am opposed to the change. It would be a big expense to me to change my stationery. I have hundreds of dollars' worth of stationery with Beltzhoover on it."
George F. Bright, Beltzhoover, a captain in the Bureau of Fire, presented a petition to Council containing, he said, 133 names of Beltzhoover residents who objected to a change.
The Eighteenth Ward Board of Trade is also opposed to the change, Rev. Alexander Gibson, 208 Chalfant St., said.
Other protestants were Mrs. Eugene R. Root, Mrs. Catherine E. Solomon, Mrs. Iva Frobe, and Louis Abel.
Avenue a Key Street
A report of the City Planning Commission was ready expressing unalterable opposition to a change.
The report declared that Beltzhoover Ave. is a key street in the vicinity, that the name is time-honored and of historic value, that the expense of correcting maps, deeds and property titles and replacing street signs could not be justified, and that the change was opposed by postal authorities.
It was charged by the friends of Beltzhoover that the re-naming was the scheme of a single woman, but this was denied by Mrs. F. J. McKnight, 500 block Beltzhoover, who produced eight women favoring a change, and declared she could show even greater numerical support.
"We are not particular about the name, Tulane," Mrs. McKnight, leader of the anti-Beltzhoover movement, declared. "We will accept any name suitable to Council, just so it is short and euphonious."
