41st Street

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See also Fisk Street, which was named 41st Street for less than a month in 1868.
41st Street
Neighborhood Central Lawrenceville
Origin of name Sequential numbering up the Allegheny River
Burrows Street (1814–1868)
Origin of name William Ward Burrows II
42nd Street (1868)
Origin of name Sequential numbering up the Allegheny River, including Fisk Street

The original name of 41st Street was Burrows Street.[1][2][3][4] It was named for William Ward Burrows II (1785–1813), a naval officer who was killed while in command of the USS Enterprise in the War of 1812 and who was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. The other original streets of Lawrenceville, founded in 1814 during that war with an arsenal as its central feature,[1] were also named for military officers killed in 1813: Allen Street (today 38th Street), Pike Street (today 39th Street), and Covington Street (today 40th Street). Lawrenceville itself was named for James Lawrence (1781–1813), the naval captain famous for his last words, "Don't give up the ship!"[5][6][7][8][9]:7[1]

In 1868, Pittsburgh's modern sequence of numbered streets was created by renaming all the streets perpendicular to the Allegheny River; Burrows Street became 41st Street.[10] The original renaming ordinance actually changed Burrows Street to 42nd Street because it included Fisk Street as 41st,[11][12] but this was apparently a mistake. Less than a month later, a supplementary ordinance repealed all of the name changes east of 40th Street and redid the numbering with Fisk Street omitted, which put Burrows Street at 41st.[13]

The 1868 ordinances also corrupted the original name of the street, spelling it Borough Street.[11][13] Most sources after this date use that spelling.[14][15][12][10][9]:14 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh supposes the street was named for Lawrenceville Borough,[10] but this is based on the misspelling. It is clear from the original spelling and the names of the surrounding streets, and Lawrenceville itself, that the names are those of fallen military officers.

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Tom Powers and James Wudarczyk. The Allegheny Arsenal Handbook: A guidebook to Pittsburgh's former military facility in stories, illustrations, maps, and photographs, pp. 3–6. Lawrenceville Historical Society, Pittsburgh, 2022, ISBN 978-0-9773469-3-6. [view source]powers-wudarczyk
  2. R. E. McGowin. Map of the Cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny and of the Boroughs of South-Pittsburgh, Birmingham, East-Birmingham, Lawrenceville, Duquesne & Manchester etc. Schuchman & Haunlein, Pittsburgh, 1852. https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agdm/id/32269/. [view source]mcgowin-1852
  3. R. E. McGowin. Pittsburgh: Engraved from R. E. McGowin's map for Geo. H. Thurston. Wm. Schuchman & Bro., Pittsburgh, 1856. Historic Pittsburgh DARMAP0091. [view source]mcgowin-1856
  4. S. N. & F. W. Beers. Map of Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Smith, Gallup & Hewitt, Philadelphia, 1862. LCCN 2012592151; 1862 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source]beers
  5. Edward M. McKeever. "Earlier Lawrenceville." Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, vol. 5, no. 4, Oct. 1922, pp. 277–286. https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/view/1301. [view source]mckeever
  6. Annie Clark Miller. Early Land Marks and Names of Old Pittsburgh: An address delivered before the Pittsburgh Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution at Carnegie Institute, Nov. 30, 1923, p. 43. Pittsburgh Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution, 1924. Historic Pittsburgh 00awn8211m; Internet Archive earlylandmarksna00mill. [view source]miller
  7. Joseph A. Borkowski. Miscellaneous History of Lawrenceville, pp. 20, 25, 122. 1989. [view source]borkowski
  8. Bob Regan. The Names of Pittsburgh: How the city, neighborhoods, streets, parks and more got their names, p. 43. The Local History Company, Pittsburgh, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9770429-7-5. [view source]regan
  9. 9.0 9.1 Joann Cantrell and James Wudarczyk. Lawrenceville. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, S. C., 2015, ISBN 978-1-4671-2330-3. LCCN 2014958031. [view source]cantrell-wudarczyk
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh. "Field notes: Changing Pittsburgh street names—from downtown to Lawrenceville." Pghbridges.com: Bridges & tunnels of Allegheny County & Pittsburgh, PA, Feb. 9, 2000. http://pghbridges.com/articles/fieldnote_pghstnames.htm. [view source]cridlebaugh
  11. 11.0 11.1 "An ordinance changing the names of streets." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1868. Passed Aug. 31, 1868. In The Municipal Record: Containing the proceedings of the Select and Common Councils of the City of Pittsburgh: 1868, Pittsburgh Daily Commercial, Pittsburgh (Internet Archive pghmunicipalrecord1868_20200904_2014). Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Gazette, Sept. 2, 1868, p. 5 (Newspapers.com 86347563), Sept. 3, p. 3 (Newspapers.com 86347623), and Sept. 4, p. 3 (Newspapers.com 86347714). [view source]ordinance-1868-name-changes
  12. 12.0 12.1 Sarah H. Killikelly. The History of Pittsburgh: Its rise and progress, p. 534. B. C. & Gordon Montgomery Co., Pittsburgh, 1906. DonsList.net HistPgh1909M; Google Books kXmloex-vr8C, poRU0YjqrzsC; HathiTrust 100122020; Historic Pittsburgh 00adc8925m; Internet Archive historyofpittsbu00kill, historypittsbur00killgoog. [view source]killikelly
  13. 13.0 13.1 "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
  14. Atlas of the Cities of Pittsburgh, Allegheny, and the Adjoining Boroughs. 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
  15. Atlas of the Cities of Pittsburgh, Allegheny, and the Adjoining Boroughs. 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