Onondago Street

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Onondago Street
Neighborhood Swisshelm Park
Origin of name Onondaga people
Ontario Street (until 1910)
Black Oak Street (until 1910)
Blackoak Street (1910–1928)

Most of this street was originally named Ontario Street, while the westernmost end was called Black Oak Street.[1][2]

In 1910, over 900 streets were renamed to fix duplication, and Ontario Street was renamed Onondago Street to avoid confusion with Ontario Street on the North Side. (The renaming ordinance actually spelled the name Onendago, but the immediately following ordinance, establishing the names of all streets in the city, spelled it Onondago.)[3][4] It is named for the Onondaga people.[5] The homeland of the Onondaga, a member of the Iroquois Six Nations, is around Onondaga County in New York state, south of Lake Ontario; today they also have significant numbers in Ontario. Their name comes from onõtá'ke, meaning "place of the hill or mountain."[6]

The 1910 ordinance establishing all street names also set the spelling Blackoak Street.[4] Blackoak Street was made part of Onondago Street in 1928.[7]

References

  1. Real Estate Plat-Book of the City of Pittsburgh, vol. 1. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1904. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1904-volume-1-plat-book-pittsburgh; included in the 1903–1906 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source]hopkins-1904-vol-1
  2. Atlas of Greater Pittsburgh. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1910. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1910-atlas-greater-pittsburgh; 1910 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source]hopkins-1910
  3. "An ordinance changing the names of certain avenues, streets, lanes and alleys in the City of Pittsburgh." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1910, no. 715. Passed Mar. 31, 1910; approved Apr. 5, 1910. Ordinance Book 21, p. 342. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the proceedings of the [Select and Common Councils] of the City of Pittsburgh for the years 1909–1910, appendix, pp. 312–328, Devine & Co., Pittsburgh, 1910 (Google Books doQzAQAAMAAJ; HathiTrust uiug.30112108223832; Internet Archive Pghmunicipalrecord1909). Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Post, Apr. 19, 1910, pp. 10–11 (Newspapers.com 86611990, 86612022), Apr. 20, pp. 10–11 (Newspapers.com 86612278, 86612297), and Apr. 21, pp. 10–11 (Newspapers.com 86612601, 86612625). [view source]ordinance-1910-715
  4. 4.0 4.1 "An ordinance establishing the names of the avenues, streets, lanes and alleys in the City of Pittsburgh." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1910, no. 716. Passed Mar. 31, 1910; approved Apr. 5, 1910. Ordinance Book 21, p. 359. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the proceedings of the [Select and Common Councils] of the City of Pittsburgh for the years 1909–1910, appendix, pp. 328–381, Devine & Co., Pittsburgh, 1910 (Google Books doQzAQAAMAAJ; HathiTrust uiug.30112108223832; Internet Archive Pghmunicipalrecord1909). Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Post, Apr. 29, 1910, pp. 12–16 (Newspapers.com 86616256, 86616285, 86616314, 86616333, 86616343), and Apr. 30, pp. 12–16 (Newspapers.com 86616643, 86616672, 86616694, 86616726, 86616748). [view source]ordinance-1910-716
  5. George T. Fleming. "History recalled by street names: Stanwix brings to mind many important happenings in the early days of the Western Pennsylvania settlement." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Dec. 6, 1914, sec. 2, p. 8. Newspapers.com 85907599. [view source]fleming-history-recalled
  6. William Bright. Native American Placenames of the United States, p. 353. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 2004, ISBN 978-0-8061-3598-4. [view source]bright
  7. "An ordinance changing the name of Blackoak street in the Fourteenth Ward of the City of Pittsburgh, from Whipple street to Ober street to 'Onondago street.'" Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1928, no. 397. Passed June 25, 1928; approved June 27, 1928. Ordinance Book 40, p. 205. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the proceedings of the Council of the City of Pittsburgh: For the year 1928, appendix, p. 264, Smith Bros. Co. Inc., Pittsburgh (Google Books PwGkOIBtAccC; HathiTrust uiug.30112109819810; Internet Archive Pghmunicipalrecord1928). [view source]ordinance-1928-397