Twain Street

Twain Street
Neighborhood	Perry South
Origin of name	Mark Twain
➤ Columbia Court (until 1896)
Origin of name	Columbia Park plan of lots
➤ Towanda Street (1896–1910)

This street was laid out as Columbia Court in the City Savings Bank's Columbia Park plan, recorded in 1891. It was renamed Towanda Street by an Allegheny city ordinance in 1896, under which name it appears in the 1902 Hopkins atlas.

In 1910, three years after Allegheny was annexed to the City of Pittsburgh, over 900 streets were renamed to fix duplicates, and Towanda Street was renamed Twain Street. (Apparently it was thought to conflict with a street in the East End: the next ordinance, listing all streets in Pittsburgh, includes "Towanda, from Oakwood to prop. line, 13th wd." I have been unable to corroborate the existence of this other Towanda Street.)

Bob Regan includes "Twain" in a list of streets named for noted historical people; the implied eponym seems to be Mark Twain, the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835–1910), who died less than a month after the street was renamed.

See also

• Colescott Street in Westwood, originally named Columbia Avenue
• Columbia Place in the Central Northside
• Colville Street in the Strip District, originally named Columbia Street