52nd Street

From Pittsburgh Streets
52nd Street
Neighborhood Upper Lawrenceville
Origin of name Sequential numbering up the Allegheny River
53rd Street (1871 – ca. 1873)
Origin of name Sequential numbering up the Allegheny River, leaving a gap for a street never built

The numbering of Pittsburgh's streets up the Allegheny River was done in 1868; these numbers extended as far as 50th Street.[1] Today's 51st Street also existed at the time, as Cochran Street,[2] but was apparently not given a number in 1868.

As additional streets were laid out in Upper Lawrenceville, there seems to have been some uncertainty about how they should be fit into the numbering scheme. A city ordinance in 1871 opened 53rd Street "from Butler street to the Allegheny River."[3] But a plan of the street, which had been presented at the meeting of the Common Council on January 30 of that year, placed it "between the property of C. Sewert and Mrs. Mowrey."[4] This is the location of modern 52nd Street, which the 1872 Hopkins atlas shows (unlabeled) between properties of C. Seibert and Mrs. Mowrey.[5] Perhaps the planners saw the relatively short distance between 50th and 51st Streets and assumed that another street would be put through in the gap between 51st and their new street, making theirs 53rd.

The expected street was never built in that gap, and the street that had been opened as 53rd Street soon came to be called 52nd Street. A list of liquor licenses granted in November 1873 included "Boyle, Manus, eating house, Fifty-second street, Eighteenth ward, Pittsburgh."[6] An 1876 bill in City Councils to locate Harrison Street had to be amended to change "Fifty-third street" to "Fifty-second street."[7]

The name 52nd Street was certainly established by 1876, when it appeared in both the Hopkins atlas[8] and the street guide of George H. Thurston and J. F. Diffenbacher's city directory.[9]

References

  1. "An ordinance supplementary to an ordinance changing the names of streets." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1868. Passed Sept. 28, 1868. Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Gazette, Oct. 1, 1868, p. 7 (Newspapers.com 86349783), and Oct. 2, p. 7 (Newspapers.com 86349850). [view source]ordinance-1868-name-changes-supplement
  2. S. N. & F. W. Beers. Map of Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Smith, Gallup & Hewitt, Philadelphia, 1862. LCCN 2012592151; https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agdm/id/31783; 1862 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source]beers
  3. "An ordinance authorizing the opening of 53d street, from Butler street to the Allegheny River." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1871. Passed Feb. 27, 1871. In The Municipal Record: Containing the Proceedings of the Select and Common Councils of the City of Pittsburgh: 1871, Pittsburgh Daily Gazette, Pittsburgh, 1871 (Internet Archive pghmunicipalrecord1868_20200904_2014). Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Gazette, Mar. 4, 1871, p. 1 (Newspapers.com 85590545), Mar. 6, [p. 4] (Newspapers.com 85590595), and Mar. 7, [p. 4] (Newspapers.com 85590628). [view source]ordinance-1871-53rd
  4. The Municipal Record: Containing the Proceedings of the Select and Common Councils of the City of Pittsburgh: 1871. Pittsburgh Daily Gazette, Pittsburgh, 1871. Internet Archive pghmunicipalrecord1868_20200904_2014. [view source]municipal-record-1871
  5. Atlas of the Cities of Pittsburgh, Allegheny, and the Adjoining Boroughs, p. 61. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1872. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1872-atlas-pittsburgh-allegheny; 1872 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source]hopkins-1872
  6. "Lists of licenses and transfers of licenses to sell liquors in Allegheny County, granted by the County Treasurer at November term, 1873." Pittsburgh Commercial, Nov. 7, 1873, [p. 4]. Newspapers.com 85549085. [view source]liquor-licenses-1873-11
  7. Municipal Record: Minutes of the Proceedings of the Select and Common Councils of the City of Pittsburgh, for the Year 1876, p. 52. Stevenson & Foster, Pittsburgh, 1877. Internet Archive pghmunicipalrecord1876. [view source]municipal-record-1876
  8. Atlas of the Cities of Pittsburgh, Allegheny, and the Adjoining Boroughs, p. 72. 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
  9. George H. Thurston and J. F. Diffenbacher. Directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny for 1876–7: Embracing a general directory of the residences of citizens, full classified business directory, register of public institutions, benevolent societies and city governments, directory of the streets, secret societies, schools and churches. Thurston & Diffenbacher, Pittsburgh, 1876, p. 7. Google Books 8dkCAAAAYAAJ; Historic Pittsburgh 31735038288480. [view source]thurston-diffenbacher-1876