Maddock Place

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Maddock Place
Neighborhood Central Business District
Origin of name William or Gallen Meddock
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Maddock's Alley (until 1895)
Origin of name William or Gallen Meddock

Maddock's Alley is listed in James M. Riddle and M. M. Murray's 1819 Pittsburgh directory.[1] It appears in the 1830 map of Jean Barbeau and Lewis Keyon, labeled simply "Alley," between Irwin Street (today's Seventh Street) and Irwin's Alley (today's Eighth Street).[2] A bill was introduced in the Pennsylvania legislature in 1851 to open Mattock's [sic] Alley as a public highway.[3] It is named Maddock Alley in Colton's 1856 map[4] and the Hopkins atlases of 1889 and 1900.[5][6] The name was variously spelled Mattock's Alley[3][7] or Maddox Alley.[8] The name was changed from Maddocks [sic] Alley to Maddock Place in 1895; other downtown alleys were similarly renamed.[9]

The name was originally Meddock. It may refer to William Meddock, who is listed in James M. Riddle's 1815 Pittsburgh directory as a lumber merchant on the north side of Irwin Street between Penn Street (today's Penn Avenue) and the river, i.e., at the location of this alley.[10] Or it may refer to Gallen Meddock, listed in the 1819 directory as a trader on Meddock's alley.[1] In any case, these appearances of the name Meddock make it clear that this was the original spelling; as further confirmation, the 1819 directory also lists James Means as a nailer on Meddock's alley. However, in the list of streets in that directory, the name of the alley is spelled Maddock (though alphabetized after Market Street, where Meddock should be), and that is the spelling that stuck.

Compare nearby Cecil Place, Barkers Place, Scott Place, and Irwin's Alley (today's Eighth Street), which were similarly named for people living at those locations.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 James M. Riddle and M. M. Murray. The Pittsburgh Directory for 1819: Containing the names, professons [sic], and residence of all the heads of families, and persons in business, in the city of Pittsburgh, and its suburbs; and a variety of other useful information. Butler & Lambdin, Pittsburgh, 1819. Internet Archive pittsburghdirect00murr. [view source] riddle-murray
  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. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Du Quesne [pseudonym]. "From Harrisburgh: Correspondence of the Daily Pittsburgh Gazette." Daily Pittsburgh Gazette, Feb. 3, 1851, [p. 1]. Newspapers.com 85650667. [view source] du-quesne
  4. ↑ The Cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny, with Parts of Adjacent Boroughs, Pennsylvania. 1855. Historic Pittsburgh DARMAP0089; https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~1688~130047; 1855 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). In George W. Colton, Colton's Atlas of the World: Illustrating physical and political geography, J. H. Colton & Co., New York, 1856 (https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/view/search?q=Pub_List_No%3D0149.000). [view source] colton
  5. ↑ Atlas of the City of Pittsburgh, vol. 1. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1889. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1889-volume-1-atlas-pittsburgh; included in the 1890 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source] hopkins-1889-vol-1
  6. ↑ Real Estate Plat-Book of the City of Pittsburgh, vol. 3. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1900. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1900-volume-3-plat-book-pittsburgh. [view source] hopkins-1900-vol-3
  7. ↑ "An ordinance repealing all Ordinances and Resolutions passed during the years 1860 and 1861, relating to the Grading and Paving of Mattock's Alley." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1862. Passed Jan. 9, 1862. Reprinted in the Daily Pittsburgh Gazette and Commercial Journal, Jan. 18, 1862, p. 4 (Newspapers.com 85632693); and in the Pittsburgh Post, Jan. 17, 1862, p. 2 (Newspapers.com 87565229). [view source] ordinance-1862
  8. ↑ "No thoroughfare: How six families are penned up in the Fourth ward: Their only means of egress and ingress, over a ten foot fence." Daily Post (Pittsburgh), July 23, 1881, [p. 4]. Newspapers.com 86363038. [view source] no-thoroughfare
  9. ↑ "An ordinance changing the names of Cecil alley to Cecil place, Barkers alley to Barker place, Scott alley to Scott place, Maddocks alley to Maddock place, and Garrison alley to Garrison place." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1895, no. 386. Passed Mar. 18, 1895; approved Mar. 21, 1895. Ordinance Book 10, p. 227. Reprinted in the Pittsburg Press, Apr. 8, 1895, p. 8 (Newspapers.com 141562334), Apr. 9, p. 7 (Newspapers.com 141562391), and Apr. 10, p. 9 (Newspapers.com 141562481). [view source] ordinance-1895-386
  10. ↑ James M. Riddle. The Pittsburgh Directory for 1815: Containing the names, professions and residence of the heads of families and persons in business, in the borough of Pittsburgh, with an appendix containing a variety of useful information. James M. Riddle, Pittsburgh, 1815. Internet Archive pittsburghdirect00ridd. Republished by the Colonial Trust Co., Pittsburgh, 1905 (Google Books 9ihRAAAAYAAJ; Historic Pittsburgh 00ach3238m); and by Duquesne Smelting Corporation, Pittsburgh, 1940 (Internet Archive pittsburghdirect00repu). [view source] riddle
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