Commonwealth Place

Commonwealth Place
Neighborhood	Central Business District
Origin of name	Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
➤ Marbury Street (1784–1868)
Portion	North of Liberty Avenue
Origin of name	Joseph Marbury
➤ Short Street (1784–1958)
Portion	South of Liberty Avenue
Origin of name	Its short length
➤ Third Street (1868–1910)
Portion	North of Liberty Avenue
Origin of name	Sequential numbering up the Allegheny River
➤ Barbeau Street (1910–1958)
Portion	North of Liberty Avenue
Origin of name	Jean Barbeau

The two halves of Commonwealth Place, on either side of Liberty Avenue, were originally two distinct streets. George Woods' 1784 plan of Pittsburgh included Marbury Street, from Liberty Street (today's Liberty Avenue) to the Allegheny River, and Short Street, from Liberty Street to Water Street (today's Fort Pitt Boulevard). These two streets were almost opposite each other across Liberty Street.

Marbury Street was just east of the site of the east-facing wall of Fort Pitt. In Woods' plan, this was the westernmost street perpendicular to the Allegheny River. Woods' assistant Thomas Vickroy (eponym of Vickroy Street) recalled in 1841 that they were unable to survey the land below Marbury Street (that is, closer to the Point) because of the presence of the fort. The street was named for Major Joseph Marbury, commander of Fort Pitt in 1783 and 1784, during the time that Woods and Vickroy were making their survey. Neville B. Craig wrote in 1847 that Vickroy often talked about playing ball against the wall of the fort, perhaps in the location where Marbury Street was laid, and speculated that Marbury may have joined him, or that the two men had formed a friendship in another way. The name Marbury has sometimes been spelled Marburg.

The name Short Street was probably just a literal description: it was one of the shortest streets in Woods' plan (though Eighth Street, West Street, and Plum Alley—later Ogle Way—were shorter).

Pittsburgh's modern sequence of numbered streets was created in 1868 by renaming all the streets perpendicular to the Allegheny River; Marbury Street became Third Street. The name was transferred from Third Avenue, which the same ordinance "promoted" to an avenue. In 1910, over 900 streets were renamed to eliminate duplicates, and Third Street became Barbeau Street. It was probably named for Jean Barbeau, an early Pittsburgh mapmaker. Some locals interpreted it as a tribute to Jap Barbeau, third baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1909; this is unlikely, as he was an unimpressive player who was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals after just a few months.

Barbeau Street and Short Street were together renamed Commonwealth Place in 1958. The new name, suggested by the City Planning Commission, honors the role that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania played in the redevelopment of the Point in the 1950s, in particular Point State Park, of which Commonwealth Place forms the eastern boundary. Compare Stanwix Street, which was also originally two distinct streets, united under a common name in the 1950s.

See also

• Third Street, for other streets that have had that name