Neville Street

From Pittsburgh Streets
For other streets that have been named Neville Street, see Neville Street (disambiguation).
Neville Street
Neighborhoods Lower Lawrenceville, North Oakland, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill North
Origin of name Probably John Neville

At least three men important in Pittsburgh's early history bore the name Neville: General John Neville, his son Colonel Presley Neville, and his grandson Neville B. Craig.[1]

General John Neville (1731–1803) was an officer in the Revolutionary War. He was a private in the ill-fated expedition of General Edward Braddock (eponym of Braddock Avenue) to Fort Duquesne in 1755.[2][3][1] As a captain, he commanded the Virginia troops that occupied Fort Pitt in 1775, remaining there for two years.[2][1][4][5]:47,52[6]:22[7] In 1794, he was appointed "Inspector of Excise" by President Washington to collect the recently enacted "whiskey tax." The tax was very unpopular in western Pennsylvania. Neville suffered repeated threats on his life, and his house was attacked and burned—a critical event in the Whiskey Rebellion.[1][4][5]:86[6]:16–17[7] General Neville is the source of the name of Neville Island, formerly Montour's Island, in the Ohio River.[1][6]:16–17

John Neville's son, Colonel Presley Neville (1755–1818), served from 1804 to 1805 as the Chief Burgess of the Borough of Pittsburgh (the equivalent of mayor before the 1816 city charter).[8]

Neville B. Craig (1787–1863), a newspaper editor and early historian of Pittsburgh, was the son of Isaac Craig (eponym of Craig Street) and grandson of General John Neville.[1][4] He was born in the Fort Pitt Block House in 1787.[3][1][9][4][10] He bought the Pittsburgh Gazette in 1829 and was its editor until 1841.[4] In 1846 he began a monthly historical magazine called Olden Time, and later published a History of Pittsburgh.[2][4]

Bob Regan says "there are two possibilities reported in the literature" for the origin of the name of Neville Street, listing John Neville and Presley Neville.[8] James K. DeLaney, George T. Fleming, Julia Morgan Harding, Gilbert Love, Torsten Ove, and Lillian Thomas point to John Neville.[11][12][13][14][15][16] Some sources claim Presley Neville.[17] And at least one source associates Neville Street with Neville B. Craig.[18] Annie Clark Miller says that Neville was one of the "family names" used for streets when Bellefield, the farm of Neville B. Craig, was divided into city blocks, along with Bellefield, Craig, and Wallingford.[10][9]

There is an unmarked segment of Neville Street in Lower Lawrenceville, in Skunk Hollow, just west of where the Bloomfield Bridge crosses the ravine. A building of the M. O'Herron Company displays a sign with the address "3807 Neville St." The Hopkins atlas from 1889–1890 shows Neville Street running continuously from 33rd Street to Forward Avenue in Four Mile Run (today Saline Street),[19][20] though the portion south of Forbes Avenue is called Boundary Street in both earlier and later maps.[21][22]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 George T. Fleming. "Neville a name that shines in history: Notable deeds of two Revolutionary heroes recalled by Pittsburgh streets: A legacy of honor." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Aug. 15, 1915, sec. 5, p. 2. Newspapers.com 85379719. [view source]fleming-neville
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Neville B. Craig. The History of Pittsburgh: With a Brief Notice of Its Facilities of Communication, and Other Advantages for Commercial and Manufacturing Purposes. John H. Mellor, Pittsburgh, 1851. Google Books cE0OAAAAIAAJ; HathiTrust 001263103; Historic Pittsburgh 00aee7261m, 31735056285699; Internet Archive historyofpittsbu00crai. [view source]craig
  3. 3.0 3.1 George Thornton Fleming. History of Pittsburgh and Environs: From Prehistoric Days to the Beginning of the American Revolution, vol. 1. American Historical Society, New York and Chicago, 1922. Google Books 7ctaAAAAYAAJ, ffQMAAAAYAAJ, S88wAQAAMAAJ, tzUafgt-eskC; HathiTrust 011262563; Historic Pittsburgh 01aee9405m; Internet Archive historypittsbur01compgoog, historypittsbur01socigoog, historypittsbur01yorkgoog. [view source]fleming-history
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 History of Pittsburgh and Environs, vol. 2. American Historical Society, New York and Chicago, 1922. Google Books 3staAAAAYAAJ, TPUMAAAAYAAJ; HathiTrust 011262563; Internet Archive historypittsbur00yorkgoog, historypittsbur02socigoog. [view source]history-pgh-environs-2
  5. 5.0 5.1 A. A. Lambing and J. W. F. White. Allegheny County: Its Early History and Subsequent Development. Snowden & Peterson, Pittsburgh, 1888. Google Books 6bY-AAAAYAAJ; HathiTrust 008957728, 100693049; Historic Pittsburgh 00aee8946m; Internet Archive centennialhistor00lamb; LCCN 18008828. [view source]lambing
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 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. Pittsburgh Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution, 1924. Historic Pittsburgh 00awn8211m; Internet Archive earlylandmarksna00mill. [view source]miller
  7. 7.0 7.1 Lois Mulkearn and Edwin V. Pugh. A Traveler's Guide to Historic Western Pennsylvania, pp. 90–91. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, 1954. Historic Pittsburgh 31735057894978. [view source]mulkearn-pugh
  8. 8.0 8.1 Bob Regan. The Names of Pittsburgh: How the City, Neighborhoods, Streets, Parks and More Got Their Names, p. 72. The Local History Company, Pittsburgh, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9770429-7-5. [view source]regan
  9. 9.0 9.1 Laura C. Frey. The Land in the Fork: Pittsburgh 1753–1914, p. 134. Dorrance & Co., Philadelphia, 1955. LCCN 55-10986. [view source]frey
  10. 10.0 10.1 Annie Clark Miller. Chronicles of Families, Houses and Estates of Pittsburgh and Its Environs, pp. 3–4. Pittsburgh, 1927. Google Books ulkLyD9MkygC; Internet Archive chroniclesoffami00mill. [view source]miller-chronicles
  11. James K. DeLaney. "Spectres of past haunt Pittsburgh's corner signposts: Street names 'pennants of tribute.'" Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mar. 30, 1967, [p. 41]. Newspapers.com 88235360. [view source]delaney
  12. George T. Fleming. "Wood's [sic] plan of Pittsburgh: Thomas Vickroy's account of the survey of 1784 and parts taken in city's early life by Craig and Bayard." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Dec. 13, 1914, sec. 2, p. 2. Newspapers.com 85908612. [view source]fleming-woods
  13. Julia Morgan Harding. "Names of Pittsburgh streets: Their historical significance." Pittsburgh Bulletin, Feb. 15, 1893. Reprinted in Fort Duquesne and Fort Pitt: Early Names of Pittsburgh Streets, 13th ed., pp. 52–60, Fort Pitt Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 1958 (HathiTrust 007074456). [view source]harding
  14. Gilbert Love. "What's in a name? A lot!: Titles of city streets recall persons famed in U. S. history: From Golden Triangle eastward, thoroughfares list great and near great of colonial and revolutionary days." Pittsburgh Press, Feb. 12, 1944, p. 9. Newspapers.com 147946752. [view source]love-titles
  15. Torsten Ove. "Site names here are out of sight: From Swamp Poodle Road to Grant Street, locales in the region bear names that are little understood or largely forgotten." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 8, 1998, pp. A-1, A-6. Newspapers.com 94754709, 94754864. [view source]ove
  16. Lillian Thomas. "City plays the name game." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mar. 26, 2001, pp. C-5, C-8. Newspapers.com 90410524, 90410540. [view source]thomas-city
  17. "Historical society discusses lives of early Pittsburgh men." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Feb. 9, 1926, p. 8. Newspapers.com 86463468. [view source]historical
  18. Margaret Carlin. "How our streets got their names." Pittsburgh Press, Feb. 6, 1966, Pittsburgh's Family Magazine, p. 10. Newspapers.com 149098376. [view source]carlin
  19. Atlas of the City of Pittsburgh, vol. 2. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1889. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1889-volume-2-atlas-pittsburgh; included in the 1890 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source]hopkins-1889-vol-2
  20. 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
  21. Atlas of the Cities Pittsburgh and Allegheny. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1882. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1882-atlas-pittsburgh-allegheny; 1882 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source]hopkins-1882
  22. Real Estate Plat-Book of the City of Pittsburgh, vol. 1. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1898. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1898-volume-1-plat-book-pittsburgh-east. [view source]hopkins-1898-vol-1