Castleman Street

From Pittsburgh Streets
Castleman Street
Neighborhood Shadyside
Origin of name Jacob Castleman

Castleman Street is named for Jacob Castleman, an early settler of Pittsburgh.[1] In 1788, he acquired 246 acres of land, roughly corresponding to the western half of modern Greenfield and part of northwest Hazelwood. He named his estate Castlemania.[1][2] He had four daughters, one of whom, Rachel, married David Aiken (or Ekin), who had immigrated from Ireland around 1810.[1][3][4][5][6] (Another daughter, Margaret, married Edward Smith, the son of Devereux Smith, for whom Smithfield Street is named.)[1] In 1814, David's brother George (1777–1845) also came to Pittsburgh.[4][5] The name Castleman became a common given name in the Aiken family. One of George Aiken's sons was named Castleman (born 1818), and David Aiken's daughter was named Rachel Castleman Aiken in honor of his wife. This Rachel married her cousin Thomas (1814–1873), another son of George Aiken.[4] Their son David Aiken (1833–1889) perpetuated the family names: two of his children were named David Castleman Aiken (died 1908) and Rachel Castleman Aiken (died 1955).[4][7][8] The Aiken family were early landowners in what is today Shadyside and helped to develop that neighborhood; see Aiken Avenue, which is named for them. The younger David Aiken owned the land that became the portion of Shadyside between Neville Street and Amberson Avenue.[3][5][6] Castleman Street was built through this property to the south of his home, which was located where Amberson Place is today.[9][6]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Margaret Pearson Bothwell. "Devereux Smith, fearless pioneer." Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, vol. 40, no. 4, winter 1957, pp. 277–291. https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/view/2584. [view source]bothwell
  2. Pennsylvania Department of Internal Affairs. Warrantee Atlas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: Constructed from the records on file in the Department of Internal Affairs, and surveys made on the ground during 1909, 1910, 1912 under the direction of Henry Houck. 1914. https://historicpittsburgh.org/collection/warrantee-atlas-allegheny-county-pennsylvania. [view source]warrantee
  3. 3.0 3.1 Donald Doherty. Pittsburgh's Shadyside, p. 7. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, S. C., 2008, ISBN 978-0-7385-5701-4. LCCN 2007938996. [view source]doherty
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 John W. Jordan. Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography, vol. I, pp. 207–210. Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York, 1914. Google Books K-UsAAAAYAAJ; HathiTrust 008588881; Internet Archive encyclopediaofpe01jord; https://digital.libraries.psu.edu/digital/collection/digitalbks2/id/0. [view source]ency-pa-biog-1
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Robert J. Jucha. "The anatomy of a streetcar suburb: A development history of Shadyside, 1852–1916." Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, vol. 62, no. 4, Oct. 1979, pp. 301–319. https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/view/3609. [view source]jucha
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Pittsburgh Neighborhood Alliance. An Atlas of the Shadyside Neighborhood of Pittsburgh 1977, p. 2. 1977. Historic Pittsburgh 31735070288067; https://ucsur.pitt.edu/files/center/1977/shadyside%20PNA%201977.pdf. [view source]pna-shadyside
  7. "Death takes Rachel Aiken at age 92." Pittsburgh Press, Aug. 12, 1955, p. 24. Newspapers.com 148962213. [view source]rachel-aiken-death
  8. "Oldest PCW graduate dies." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Aug. 12, 1955, p. 9. Newspapers.com 91058402. [view source]rachel-aiken-dies
  9. Atlas of the City of Pittsburgh, vol. 4. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1890. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1890-volume-4-atlas-pittsburgh; included in the 1890 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source]hopkins-1890-vol-4