Notes:Bigelow Street

1845-05-22: Martha Gray, "Land for sale," Pittsburgh Gazette, [p. 3] (Newspapers.com 85131938): "Also, two good Orchards, containing 30 trees each, the Squirrel Hill Road running along the east side of it . . . ." But the land described was on the "4th st. road," so unless the orchards were separate this must have been a different road (perhaps modern Shady Avenue). Source:Sidney-neff shows "Gray Est." near modern Fifth and Shady.

1847-03-04: Source:Fox-hunts: "'The line will begin at the 4 mile run, thence along the Squirrel Hill road, to the Salt Works on the 9 Mile Run, and to close near the 6 Mile Ferry on the Monongahela.'"

1850: Source:Heastings: Drawn, unlabeled.

1851: Source:Sidney-neff: Drawn, unlabeled.

1852: Source:Mcgowin-1852 shows the very northwesternmost end, around Boundary Street and "Braddock" (Second Avenue), unlabeled.

1862: Source:Beers: Drawn, measured, unlabeled.

1872: Source:Hopkins-1872, p. 69: "Squirrel Hill Road." At the bend at the modern intersection with Lydia Street, "Fort Squirrel Hill."

1882: Source:Hopkins-1882: plate 14, "Squirrel Hill Road" to "Fort Squirrel Hill" written at the edge of the map; plate 16, "Fort Squirrel Hill" in large, bold letters (road unlabeled).

1886-01-12: Source:Firemens-salaries: "The ordinance locating Bigelow street, which is to immortalize the City Engineer, passed finally."

1909-10-30: Source:Ordinance-1909-1910-377 opened Bigelow Street from Hazelwood Avenue to Kaercher Street and established its location.

1886-02-01: Source:Ordinance-1885-1886-155 located Bigelow Street from Sylvan Avenue to Kearcher [sic] Street.

2003: Source:Kulina

• p. 6: "What it used to be / What it is now ¶ . . . ¶ Squirrel Hill Road / Bigelow Street"
• p. 14: "The most traveled path near Four Mile Run was Nemacolin's Path, blazed by an Indian named Nemacolin and a settler named Michael Cresap who lived along the trail. Nemacolin's Path reached west from the Potomac River to Diondega where the Monongahela River meets the Ohio. A traveler to Diondega often saved a few hours on his journey by taking one of the shortcuts through Four Mile Run."
• p. 26: "They [the Girty boys] headed up the Monongahela to the dense forest above Four Mile Run, where they found the perfect location for their farm. There was fertile land, and lots of game in case times got lean. They could take produce downriver on the Monongahela or to the Point by land—there was a path that led north to follow Forbes Trail and another down Four Mile Run to Braddock's Field Path, which followed the river to Grant's Hill. ¶ At the top of a hill between Four Mile Run and Six Mile Run, the boys notched trees with a hatchet to claim their 'tomahawk rights' to the land. Starting at a spring filled with cool, clear water at the top of Brown's Hill near the salt lick, they marked their border, cleared the land and started to farm."
• p. 27: "The squirrels were becoming quite a nuisance, eating seed planted in the fields and grain stored for winter, and running across the cabin roofs keeping everyone awake at night. The area began to be known by the name of Squirrel Hill, and the shortcut from Nemacolin's Path that ran along the ridge above the river became Squirrel Hill Road. With more and more travelers coming by, the dirt road was a little wider and more defined than it had been in years past. Salt Lick Trail was still a quiet lane through a forest of willow, elm and oak trees that grew so thick you couldn't see more than twenty feet in any direction. A walk down Salt Lick Trail took you from the salt lick at Brown's Hill north and then west through the forest to Braddock's Field Road along the Monongahela River. It passed a settlement at the bottom of the hill that had been started by some of the Scots from the village at the Point who were farming land between Four Mile Run and Six Mile Run. Their village was known as Scotch Bottom."
• p. 31: "The Indian trails, including Squirrel Hill Road, were widened now that wagons joined the horseback and walking traffic. It made for a pleasant journey, unlike Braddock's Field Road, which ran along the Monongahela River from the Point to Braddock's Field."
• p. 33: "Burkhart's Glen was on Brown's Hill, which reached from the Monongahela River to Squirrel Hill Road."
• p. 40: "Squirrel Hill Road saw more and more traffic, and Viewland, Killymoon's inn at the top of Brown's Hill, was full of cattlemen and stagecoach drivers pounding down his three-cents-a-shot whiskey."
• p. 41: "Plenty of people were using a shortcut from the Monongahela River, traveling Squirrel Hill Road or Salt Lick Road on their way to Pittsburgh or nearby Hazelwood where they could buy boats and provisions to take them to their chosen area of the western frontier. . . . ¶ Killymoon wasn't the only one capitalizing on the travelers passing over Squirrel Hill Road. There was another inn farther on along the ridge, and yet another coming down the hill. Along the road between the two, a blacksmith shoed horses and mended wagon wheels."
• pp. 61–62: "One logical location for a fort was along Squirrel Hill Road, overlooking the Monongahela River on a bluff called Mount Airy or Tunsel Hill. This fort was not to be a building but rather a breastworks, a breast-high trench from which fighting men could hide from bullets as they aimed their rifles over the rim. ¶ Fort Black. It wasn't a fort as you think of a fort, maybe. It wasn't logs or anything, it was mounds of earth. And crevices and craters in there. ¶ Nearly 50 men from Brown's coal mine were directed to dig the Squirrel Hill fort. They went at it with gusto. When they were finished, the miners needed help to climb out of their ditches, some of which were 15 feet deep. Of course, the trenches were completely unusable, and after an ear-beating from their supervisor, Mr. Chess, they had to dig two more small trenches shallow enough for a man to see over the top. Cannons were installed. ¶ [p. 62] Old maps show the fort as Fort Squirrel Hill, but it was more popularly known as Fort Black, after a Colonel Sam Black who was killed in the Civil War. It was also referred to as Fort Lytle since it was on the Lytle farm, and Fort Chess after the man in charge of building it. Most fortunately, there was never a reason to fire the cannons."
• p. 69: "Squirrel Hill Elementary School was on Squirrel Hill Road at the corner of Tesla and Bigelow streets."
• p. 70: "So here we are. Greenfield is now part of the city of Pittsburgh. How have things changed? Let's take a morning stroll down Squirrel Hill Road to find out."
• p. 73: "A statue of Edward Bigelow stands in the middle of the road across from Phipps Conservatory in Schenley Park. Bigelow Street and Bigelow Boulevard are named after him."
• p. 77: "Protestants who were descended from the town's first settlers lived on top of the hill along Bigelow Street, the old Squirrel Hill Road. . . . When the congregation grew, the church was replaced with a new brick one at the corner of Gladstone Street and Squirrel Hill Road."
• p. 93: "The stretch of Bigelow Street on the side along the fort was a vast hillside of mud surrounded by mines."
• p. 100: "All that upper part along Bigelow Street, there were no houses then, it was all Fort Black, and coal mines underneath."