Lowrie Street

From Pittsburgh Streets
Not to be confused with Loughrey Street.
Lowrie Street
Neighborhood Troy Hill
Origin of name Walter H. Lowrie
Buchanan Street (until 1914; 1925–1990)
Portion Southwest of Gardner Street
Origin of name James Buchanan

Lowrie Street appears in maps from 1852 and 1862, both of which show the house of "Judge Lowrie" near the intersection of modern Rialto Street and Ley Street.[1][2] This was Walter H. Lowrie (1806–1876), associate judge of the District Court of Allegheny County (1846–1851) and justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (1851–1863).[3] Annie Clark Miller and Bob Regan both include Lowrie Street in lists of streets named for judges.[4][5]

George T. Fleming, in a 1916 Post-Gazette column about the early days of the city, implies instead that Lowrie Street is named for Matthew B. Lowrie, one of Pittsburgh's first aldermen.[6] However, this column's list of streets named for "Pittsburgh pioneers" includes some questionable entries: see Anderson Street and Carson Street.

The southwesternmost portion of Lowrie Street was laid out as Buchanan Street in 1858 in a plan of lots by Adam Reineman.[7] It was likely named for James Buchanan (1791–1868), at that time President of the United States (1857–1861). Buchanan Street was officially made part of Lowrie Street in 1914,[8] but it was changed back to Buchanan Street in 1925.[9] In 1989, when the city installed street signs as part of a $1.8 million project, residents on this street were surprised to see signs reading "Buchanan St" instead of "Lowrie St."[10] The residents petitioned City Council,[11] and Buchanan Street was again made part of Lowrie Street by a City Council resolution in 1990.[12]

References

  1. 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
  2. S. N. & F. W. Beers. Map of Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Smith, Gallup & Hewitt, Philadelphia, 1862. LCCN 2012592151; https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agdm/id/31783; 1862 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source]beers
  3. A. A. Lambing and J. W. F. White. Allegheny County: Its Early History and Subsequent Development, pp. 114, 119. Snowden & Peterson, Pittsburgh, 1888. Google Books 6bY-AAAAYAAJ; HathiTrust 008957728, 100693049; Historic Pittsburgh 00aee8946m; Internet Archive centennialhistor00lamb; LCCN 18008828. [view source]lambing
  4. 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. 34. Pittsburgh Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution, 1924. Historic Pittsburgh 00awn8211m; Internet Archive earlylandmarksna00mill. [view source]miller
  5. Bob Regan. The Names of Pittsburgh: How the City, Neighborhoods, Streets, Parks and More Got Their Names, p. 61. The Local History Company, Pittsburgh, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9770429-7-5. [view source]regan
  6. George T. Fleming. "Growth of city in century is great: Celebration of charter anniversary directs attention to progress made: Noteworthy events." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Mar. 12, 1916, sec. 5, p. 2. Newspapers.com 85766545. [view source]fleming-growth
  7. "Plan of lots on Troy Hill Reserve Township Allegheny County Pa. laid out for Adam Reineman Esq." Laid out July 1858; recorded Dec. 1, 1860, Plan Book 2, p. 145. Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds 3778440. [view source]adam-reineman-troy-hill-plan
  8. "An ordinance changing the names of certain avenues, streets and alleys in the City of Pittsburgh." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1914, no. 77. Passed Mar. 10, 1914; approved Mar. 14, 1914. Ordinance Book 26, p. 13. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the Proceedings of the Council of the City of Pittsburgh for the Year 1914, appendix, pp. 65–66, McClung Printing Co., Pittsburgh (HathiTrust uiug.30112108223899; Internet Archive Pghmunicipalrecord1914; https://pittsburgharchives.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_a82f1363-0512-40c8-b4e5-f02b090b761d/; https://pittsburgharchives.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_bf8a4f10-7526-4a96-8943-6a220d361293/). [view source]ordinance-1914-77
  9. "An ordinance changing the names of certain avenues, streets and ways in the City of Pittsburgh." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1925, no. 175. Passed Apr. 20, 1925; approved Apr. 22, 1925. Ordinance Book 36, p. 299. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the Proceedings of the Council of the City of Pittsburgh for the Year 1925, appendix, pp. 142–146, Kaufman Printing Company, Inc., Pittsburgh (Google Books qSb28JpAxN8C; HathiTrust uiug.30112109819786; Internet Archive Pghmunicipalrecord1925). Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Post, Apr. 27, 1925, p. 15 (Newspapers.com 88691643), and Apr. 28, [p. 21] (Newspapers.com 88691689). [view source]ordinance-1925-175
  10. Mackenzie Carpenter. "Residents asking, what's our sign?: City streets misspelled or renamed." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sept. 13, 1990, p. 6. Newspapers.com 89975654. [view source]whats-our-sign
  11. Minutes of the Proceedings of the Council of the City of Pittsburgh: For the Year 1990, p. 1290. Internet Archive Pghmunicipalrecord1990volA; https://pittsburgharchives.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_c5ffcc34-5844-408e-91c5-9175d0087ef0/. [view source]minutes-1990
  12. "Resolution changing the name of Buchanan Street, the 1300 block to Lowrie Street in the Twenty-fourth, First District of the City of Pittsburgh." Pittsburgh city resolution, 1990, no. 1081. Passed Oct. 9, 1990; approved Oct. 16, 1990. In Ordinances and Resolutions of the Council of the City of Pittsburgh for the Year 1990, vol. 124-B, p. 901 (Internet Archive Pghmunicipalrecord1990volB; https://pittsburgharchives.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_4f05384b-92a5-404a-b4f0-065eb41b1318/). [view source]resolution-1990-1081