Notes:Obey Street

1851: Source:Sidney-neff shows no road, but "Obey's Mansion Ho." on Middletown Road, and "Obeysville," a cluster of houses around the south bend in the road.

1862: Source:Beers shows the road, unlabeled. The north end of the road is between a toll house to the west and a hotel to the east (where Obey's mansion house was in 1851). Further east, where "Obeysville" was in 1851, is a house labeled "J. Obey."

1862-11-14

• "Death of an old citizen," Pittsburgh Gazette, [p. 4] (Newspapers.com 85646755): "Mr. John D. Obey, Sr., whose death is announced elsewhere, was one of the first settlers in Allegheny county, having emigrated to this country in 1804. For about half a century he resided in Chartiers township, and all who have traveled the Steubenville Pike are familiar with 'Obey's old stand.' The deceased was the grandfather of John A. Obey, who was so brutally murdered in this city in July last, for which offence Thomas B. Keenan is now on trial. It is related that he was greatly attached to his deceased grandson, who, unlike most young men, would spend hours and days in administering to his comfort and enjoyment—reading to and conversing with his venerable grandfather, when confined to his room and wearied with the infirmities of age. The kindness of this boy, and his sad fate, occupied the thoughts of the old man up to his last moments. The deceased was born in Borbach, Prussia, in 1789, and was consequently seventy-three years of age."
• "Death of an old settler," Daily Post, p. 3 (Newspapers.com 87564799).

1863-01-10: Pittsburgh Gazette, [p. 3] (Newspapers.com 85976782): "Lost.—On Thursday evening, about six o'clock, on the Steubenville pike, between Obeysville and the Methodist Church, a Kid Purse, containing $13 in notes, $8,75 in silver, and $5,50 in gold. The finder will be liberally rewarded by leaving it at this office, as it was all the lady possessed, who had just received it from her husband in the army. ¶ Mrs. Maggie Osborne."

1868-05-01?: Source:John-obey-sr-est-plan labels the road "Branch of Steubenville Road."

• The date of this plan is uncertain. According to the Recorder of Deeds, the "file date" was 1868-05-01. The previous page in the Plan Book was recorded 1871-04-13; the following page, 1869-05-22 and 1866-05-18.

1869-04-22: "Police intelligence," Pittsburgh Commercial, [p. 4] (Newspapers.com 85540379): "[Before Alderman Neeper.] ¶ Alleged Larceny by Bailee. ¶ Deborah Haywood appeared before Alderman Neeper, of the Fifth ward, yesterday and lodged an information against Thomas Robinson, for larceny by bailee. The defendant, it appears, is a jeweler by occupation, doing business at Obeysville, somewhere back of Temperanceville. Deponent alleges that she left a watch and chain, together worth $50, with him, to be repaired, which he unlawfully holds possession of, and refuses to return to her. The accused was arrested and held for his appearance at the next term of Court."

1875-05-03

• "South Side fires," Daily Post, [p. 4] (Newspapers.com 87632586): "Fire at Obeysville. ¶ A defective flue is credited with the destruction of three frame buildings on Friday afternoon in the village above named. The buildings were owned by Mr. Andrew McCartney and were valued at $5,000. No insurance. The occupants saved a portion of their effects in a damaged condition. The house of Mr. Gould was on fire, but saved with trifling loss. Obeysville is on the Steubenville pike, just beyond the city limits."
• "City matters in brief," Pittsburgh Commercial, [p. 4] (Newspapers.com 85130549): "Three frame dwellings in Obeysville, on the Steubenville pike, a short distance west of Temperanceville, were destroyed by fire Friday afternoon. The buildings were owned by Andrew McCartney, and were occupied by Messrs. Harris, Cassidy and Gould, respectively. Loss on buildings about $5,000. No insurance. Defective flue."

1876-03-29: Daily Gazette, [p. 4] (Newspapers.com 86348596): "DIED. ¶ BERRY—On Monday, March 27, at 9 o'clock, p. m., MARIA BERRY, in the 67th year of her age. ¶ The friends of the family are respectfully invited to attend the funeral from the residence of her son-in-law, James Obey, Obeysville, Chartiers township, on Thursday, the 30th, at 2 o'clock, p. m."

1889: Source:History-of-allegheny-county, part II, p. 387: "One of his [Elizabeth Benny's father's] daughters married John Obey, a gentleman who was noted as a keeper of a popular house of entertainment at south end of Smithfield street bridge. She became the mother of the well-known Obey family. . . . One of her [Elizabeth Benny Trunick's] daughters, Jane, married a gentleman named Reese, and by this union a large number of children were born, two of whom, James and Reuben, married two sisters, daughters of Mrs. John Obey, and reside at this date upon the old homestead of the Obey family, and are noted as men of force, energy and enterprise."

1899-04-02: [Headline destroyed], Pittsburgh Press, p. 9 (Newspapers.com 141828808): "In passing, it is pertinent to remark that the neighborhood in question is one in which an ethnologist might revel a lifetime and still be as much in the dark in his efforts to explain some phenomena as are the musicians relative to the cause of their quarrel. Half a century ago the Steubenville pike was among the liveliest, if not the liveliest, of the great thoroughfares of Western Pennsylvania. An old resident, who spent his boyhood in it, counts up 14 taverns then existent between Temperanceville, Thirty-sixth ward, and Stonecipher's hostelry, a distance of about eight miles, and in the Shades of Death they were so thickly strewn that one might almost throw from one to another. The only one left in three or four times that distance is the old Obey house, in Chartiers township, in the vicinity of Dogtown, and at present kept by that retired navigator, Samuel McCartney. It is very a restful place for the strangers who haul hay to the city. The same old resident states that though these taverns averaged more than two to the mile there was less drunkenness then along the line generally than now. He attributes it to the quality of old-time whisky, which did not set the brain on fire as the present article does, and the further fact that the buckwheat straw stack was not fenced at that date."

1900-07: Source:West-pittsburg-plan labels it "Stone Road."

1901-05: Source:Nevin-place-plan: Stone Road.

1901-09-08: "Taverns and tales of them," Pittsburg Press, p. 16 (Newspapers.com 141822853):

AN OLD HOSTELRY WITH A HISTORY

Among the oldest road houses in or around Pittsburg is the Obey house on the Steubenville pike just a short distance beyond the city line. This tavern, although a plain, shambling structure, has had some stirring incidents to shade the years of its existence.

The original building is still in use as that for which it was built—a hostelry—and for the matter of that, is just as good a building today as it ever was.

In 1823, the time John Robinson caused the Obey house to be erected, the venture from a business standpoint seemed to be a losing one, as the travel over the Steubenville pike at that time did not indicate a possibility of lucrativeness for John Robinson. Maybe the people of that time lacked foresight or John Robinson possessed an extraordinary amount of it, for the tavern business panned out in great shape—in fact still does so.

The stepping stone to the assured prosperity of Robinson's tavern was a custom introduced by some of Pittsburg's butchers in their trading with the farmers west as far as Steubenville. There being no such thing as Chicago dressed beef then all butchers did their own buying and killing of live stock. It was a long way for the stock traders to drive cattle and space in the city being even then somewhat limited and access difficult because of the rivers, by mutual agreement the butchers of Pittsburg and drovers of different places met at Robinson's tavern, traded in cattle, quaffed good grog and swapped stories. There was a weakness (?) in those days of combining pleasure with business—the days seemed to be longer.

STATESMAN TOOK TURN AT FIDDLE

Famous men have enjoyed the hospitality of Robinson's road house. Henry Clay, when once riding through to Ohio, was obliged to stop for the night at the Obey house—the name finally taken on through the succession of proprietors. A dance was in progress when he arrived—in all probability the strains of old familiar tunes may have constituted an inducement for him to stop instead of pushing on to the next public house. Clay, nothing loth, immediately entered into the spirit of the dance as heartily as any there. The great orator took his turn at playing the fiddle—there were no violins, all were fiddles. The oldest resident does not remember of ever having heard anyone say as to whether judgment had been passed on the excellence of his music, but certain it is that he scraped and sawed laboriously at the fiddle while the dancers persuaded the dust from between the flooring boards.

Right here might be noted the contrast between the Yankee and Briton. In England the fact that a great man had stopped for one night at a hostelry, disregarding the musical indulgence, would have insured for all time the prosperity of the particular "mine host." In this case, the present proprietor, when queried concerning his knowledge of the distinguished lodger, only said: "Yes, Henry Clay stopped here and played the fiddle and danced, too, right in this very house. But," he added, "there's not a whole lot of people as knows it, though." He readily confessed that, to his knowledge, no one had ever sampled the store of his tavern just because Henry Clay had once honored his roof.

Andrew Jackson, once put up at the Obey, as did Sam Houston, so even if in these days, it would be noted by the passerby as an ordinary country saloon, it was once rated as a first class road house.

There is only one year since its erection that liquors have not been sold there, that being the first year the Brooks license law was in force. Prior to, and since then, the tin lager signs have constantly adorned the long low porch front, being regularly replaced with new ones each year. The tavern as it stands now is practically unchanged. The hitching post has been replaced often as necessituated [sic] by the constant gnawing propensities of the horses, which at all hours of the day can be seen hitched in front of the inn.

. . .

. . . The Stone tavern, as well as the Obey house, was known to every chicken fighter in the western half of the state. . . .

1903–1906 layer: Stone Road.

1909-05-03: Source:Ordinance-chartiers-93 changed Stone Road to Obey Avenue. (This ordinance had been introduced at the previous meeting, 1909-04-05.)

1921-01-03: Source:Lgeo-chartiers-annexation

1922-09-27: Source:Ordinance-1922-334 established the name Obey Street.

1924-03-09: "Reuben Deese's [sic] widow dies in Westend," Pittsburgh Press, additional news section, p. 4 (Newspapers.com 149579048): "Funeral services for Mrs. Catherine Obey Reese, widow of Reuben Reese, one of the oldest residents of the Westend, who died Friday in the home of her son, R. B. Reese, Arnold st., will be held tomorrow. Interment will take place in the Chartiers cemetery. ¶ Mrs. Reese was born on the Southside in 1934 [sic], where the P. & L. E. depot now stands. Her father, John Obey, moved to Chartiers township when she was aged 2, and she had resided at that place her entire life. Mrs. Reese was one of the oldest members of the Westend Methodist Episcopal church, and is survived by two sons, George W. Reese of Zanesville, O., and R. B. Reese, and a daughter, Mrs. J. E. Andrews."

1940-01-07: "Pittsburgh's oldest club woman declares home woman's sphere," Pittsburgh Press, society section, p. 4 (Newspapers.com 141362172): a couple of paragraphs about the Obey House.

Born in Pittsburgh, this smiling and philosophic student of human nature [Mrs. Minnie Ourey Roberts] looks out from the tall old-style windows of the home on the outskirts of Crafton which she has occupied for sixty years, upon the old Steubenville Pike, once the "gateway to the West." The mother of four living children, most of whom live nearby, she relates that the name of Roberts has been associated with this particular suburban section for over a century. She still owns much of the land bequeathed to her by her late husband, Charles M. Roberts, a pioneer merchant.

The old Roberts homestead, built in 1851, stands within sight of her own old-fashioned frame dwelling, which she moved into four years after her marriage. "You see," she confided, "much of the land comprised the old Beatty brothers farm which was purchased by James Wood and John D. Obey more than 100 years ago." The old "Obey House," built in 1823, once known as Obey Inn, still stands on the corner of the main highway and the old Steubenville Pike, within sight of the Roberts homestead.

"Still a suburban hotel, the old inn was once the stopping place for many a weary traveler on horseback and wagon who traveled over the highway to the West," Mrs. Roberts related. "Once a toll gate stood just in front of the Obey House. It was in the parlor of the old inn that Hugh Roberts, Charles Roberts father, and Jane Obey, daughter of John D. Obey, were married.["]