Windgap Avenue
| Windgap Avenue | |
|---|---|
| Neighborhoods | Chartiers City, Esplen, Fairywood, Windgap |
| Origin of name | Probably from the Windgap School, named for the wind that blows through the surrounding topography |
The northern part of modern Windgap Avenue appears as a road in an 1851 map of Allegheny County.[1] The full road is shown in the 1876 Hopkins atlas.[2]
The label Windgap Road appears in the 1896 Hopkins atlas, although it is applied to what is now Summerdale Street;[3] this may have been an error. In the 1905 edition, the name Wind Gap Avenue is given to the northern part of the modern avenue.[4]
The name Windgap seems to have been first given to a school at the intersection of Windgap Avenue and what is now Summerdale Street. The first map to label the school with this name seems to have been the 1905 Hopkins atlas,[4] but the first schoolhouse was built at this location in 1862,[5][2] and it was called the Windgap School House no later than 1876.[6] The name came from "the wind that sweeps this point from the surrounding valleys"[5] and from its location in a gap between two hills.[7]
References
- ↑ Sidney & Neff and S. McRea. Map of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, with the Names of Property-Holders. Philadelphia, 1851. LCCN 2012592150. [view source] sidney-neff
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Atlas of the Cities of Pittsburgh, Allegheny, and the Adjoining Boroughs, p. 45. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1876. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1876-atlas-pittsburgh-allegheny; included in the 1872 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source] hopkins-1876
- ↑ Real Estate Plat-Book of the Southern Vicinity of Pittsburgh, Penna., plate 16. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1896. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1896%E2%80%93plat-book-southern-pittsburgh; included in the 1890 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source] hopkins-1896
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Real Estate Plat-Book of the Southern Vicinity of Pittsburgh, plate 24. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1905. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1905-plat-book-southern-pittsburgh; included in the 1903–1906 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source] hopkins-1905
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Windgap School social center of Civil War days: 'Just a nice drive from McKees Rocks with horse and buggy, it was popular with young folks,' historian recalls." Pittsburgh Press, Aug. 21, 1933, p. 2. Newspapers.com 146698003. [view source] windgap-school
- ↑ "Election notice: Proclamation." Pittsburgh Commercial, Nov. 4, 1876, [p. 3]. Newspapers.com 85537930. [view source] election-notice
- ↑ "Windgap School." Historic Pittsburgh, May 26, 1921. https://historicpittsburgh.org/islandora/object/pitt:MSP117.B004.F04.I15. [view source] histpgh-windgap-school
