Foster Street

From Pittsburgh Streets
Foster Street
Neighborhoods Central Lawrenceville, Lower Lawrenceville
Origin of name Foster family, including William Barclay Foster and Stephen Foster
North Street (until 1881)
Portion Northeast of Allegheny Arsenal
Origin of name Its location relative to the arsenal
South Street (until 1881)
Portion Southwest of Allegheny Arsenal
Origin of name Its location relative to the arsenal

This street is separated into two parts by the grounds of the old Allegheny Arsenal, which lay between 39th Street and 40th Street. The part northeast of the arsenal was originally named North Street, while the part to the southwest was named South Street. These streets appear, unlabeled, in William Darby's 1815 map,[1] and they are labeled in the 1830 map of Jean Barbeau and Lewis Keyon.[2]

North and South Street were together renamed Foster Street in 1881.[3] The name honors the Foster family, in particular William Barclay Foster (1779–1855), the founder of Lawrenceville, and his son Stephen Foster (1826–1864), the famous composer.[4][5]

See also

References

  1. Wm. Darby. Plan of Pittsburg and Adjacent Country. R. Patterson and W. Darby, Philadelphia, 1815. Historic Pittsburgh DARMAP0197, DARMAP0198. Reproduced in John W. Reps, The Making of Urban America: A history of city planning in the United States, p. 207, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N. J., 1965 (LCCN 63023414); and in Bruce J. Buvinger, The Origin, Development and Persistence of Street Patterns in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, p. 24. Also reproduced as "Plan von Pittsburg und Umgebungen" in Bernhard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (Heinrich Luden, ed.), Reise Sr. Hoheit des Herzogs Bernhard zu Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach durch Nord-Amerika in den Jahren 1825 und 1826, vol. II, following p. 200, Wilhelm Hoffmann, Weimar, 1828 (Internet Archive reisesrhoheitdes00bern, reisesrhoheitdes00inbern). [view source]darby
  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. "An ordinance establishing the names of avenues, streets, lanes and alleys of the City of Pittsburgh." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1881, no. 33. Passed Feb. 28, 1881; approved Mar. 4, 1881. Ordinance Book 5, p. 212. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the proceedings of the Select and Common Councils of the City of Pittsburgh, for the year 1880, pp. 213–234 (Internet Archive pghmunicipalrecord1880). [view source]ordinance-1881-33
  4. George T. Fleming. "Stories of Lawrenceville: Part of the city which was once rich in names recalling the stirring days of early Pittsburgh." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Jan. 24, 1915, sec. 5, p. 2. Newspapers.com 85751412. [view source]fleming-lawrenceville
  5. Bob Regan. The Names of Pittsburgh: How the city, neighborhoods, streets, parks and more got their names, p. 68. The Local History Company, Pittsburgh, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9770429-7-5. [view source]regan