Source:Cloud
Joseph J. Cloud. "Curious minded trace city's history through oft' changing street names." Pittsburgh Press, Sept. 1, 1931, p. 6. Newspapers.com 146897284.
IN the days generally labeled good and old, there were some saloons, it is said, on Fifth Avenue in the Triangle. Most of them were on the right side of the street (that is the right-hand side) going toward Liberty Avenue.
It was the wrong side of the street for the feminine shoppers of the period. Therefore, say the sages, there are to this day fewer people at any time on that side of the street than on the other.
Strange things have happened to Pittsburgh's streets, especially to their names. At first glance it seems they are the same today as on the original plan of the city, surveyed for John Penn, Jr., and John Penn by George Woods, as long ago as May of 1784.
But closer inspection reveals that the names of nearly all of them have been changed—some two or three times.
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TWENTY years ago there was an angry fight, led by patriotic and historically-minded against the merchant gentry to change tthe [sic] name of Fifth Avenue to Washington Avenue. The merchants won.
More subtle reasoning, perhaps, prompted the efforts at the same time to give Liberty Avenue the longer and more ambitious title Independence Avenue. But too many Pittsburghers were vigilant—the scheme failed, along with the proposal to change Penn Avenue to Pitt Street.
There were plenty of changes, however, before and after that time. All of the avenues south of Liberty were originally called streets—there was, of course, no Boulevard of the Allies, nor was there any First Avenue or even First Street—it was Front Street, instead. In those days Blockhouse Way was Redoubt Alley, and Oliver Street was Virgin Alley.
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BUT THE names were altered with far greater frequency on the other side of Liberty Avenue. For many years they preserved the memories of Revolutionary heroes—then came modern efficiency, and the recognition of historic deeds was supplanted by mere numbers. It was in 1867, when Pittsburgh and old Allegheny were consolidated and all moved across Lberty [sic], leavng [sic] avenues in their stead.
Point Street became First Street, Duquesne (not the present Duquesne Way) became Second; Marbury became Third, and so on. The other streets in the Triangle that lost their names and became numbers, in order listed, mere [sic] Hay, Pitt, St. Clair, Irwin, Hancock, Hand, Wayne and Canal. The last already had been changed once before—originally it was Watt Street.
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BACK in the Triangle time moved forward. The Exposition came along, and First and Second Streets went the way of the world.
Another score of years passed, and City Council renamed Third, Fourth and Fifth Streets—Barbeau, Fancourt and Stanwix. The names stuck, but these selected at the same time for Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Streets didn't have the same power of endurance. The plan was to call these Federal, Sandusky, Ellsmere and Anderson, making them conform with the North Side streets on the same. line.
The scheme long since has been forgotten. It loiters only in the misty memories of those who remember that "Mr. Bigelow's Boulevard" once was Highland.