Boyd Street

From Pittsburgh Streets
Boyd Street
Neighborhood Bluff
Origin of name John Boyd

Boyd Street is on the Bluff, formerly known as Boyd's Hill. The hill was named for John Boyd, an early Pittsburgh newspaper publisher, who hanged himself there in August 1788.[1] (Before it was called Boyd's Hill, it was known as Ayres Hill.)[2][3][4][5]

John Scull and Joseph Hall, both from Philadelphia, came to Pittsburgh and founded the Pittsburgh Gazette in 1786, publishing the first issue on July 29. Unfortunately Hall died within four months, and Scull found a second partner in Boyd, also a Philadelphian. Scull and Boyd published the paper together until Boyd's death. Afterward, Scull continued as sole proprietor until his son John I. Scull took over in 1816.[1] Today's Post-Gazette is a direct descendant of the Gazette.

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 George T. Fleming. "History of the early social life of Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh's first newspaper, The Gazette, and the sorrows and triumphs of its editor, John Scull: The tragedy in the death of John Boyd: First postoffice installed in print shop: Printing and publishing carried on soon after first issue—Zadok Cramer and his enterprises—clippings from early Gazette files—some flings at the erudite Brackenridge." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Feb. 15, 1920, sec. 5, pp. 2–3. Newspapers.com 85674464, 85674466. [view source]fleming-social
  2. Jean Barbeau and Lewis Keyon. Map of Pittsburgh and Its Environs. N. B. Molineux, Pittsburgh, 1830. Historic Pittsburgh DARMAP0576; https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/36c3ab00-57aa-0136-8f4f-08990f217bc9. [view source]barbeau
  3. Wm. Darby. Plan of Pittsburg and Adjacent Country. R. Patterson and W. Darby, Philadelphia, 1815. Historic Pittsburgh DARMAP0197, DARMAP0198. Reproduced in John W. Reps, The Making of Urban America: A history of city planning in the United States, p. 207, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N. J., 1965 (LCCN 63023414); and in Bruce J. Buvinger, The Origin, Development and Persistence of Street Patterns in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, p. 24. Also reproduced as "Plan von Pittsburg und Umgebungen" in Bernhard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (Heinrich Luden, ed.), Reise Sr. Hoheit des Herzogs Bernhard zu Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach durch Nord-Amerika in den Jahren 1825 und 1826, vol. II, following p. 200, Wilhelm Hoffmann, Weimar, 1828 (Internet Archive reisesrhoheitdes00bern, reisesrhoheitdes00inbern). [view source]darby
  4. George T. Fleming. "Reisville now forgotten name: Once thriving suburb called after a pioneer has long been incorporated into City of Pittsburgh." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Dec. 19, 1915, sec. 5, p. 2. Newspapers.com 85762040. [view source]fleming-reisville
  5. Lewis Keyon. Map of Pittsburgh and Its Environs. Johnston & Stockton, Pittsburgh, 1835. Historic Pittsburgh DARMAP0577; 1835 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source]keyon