Oswald Street

From Pittsburgh Streets
Oswald Street
Neighborhood Brighton Heights
Oak Grove Avenue (until 1916)

The block of this street between Wilksboro Avenue and Chellis Street (then called Wheeler Avenue and Chelsea Street, respectively) appears as Oak Grove Avenue in the 1902 Hopkins atlas.[1]

The street was officially named Oswald Street and opened by a city ordinance in 1916.[2]

Bob Regan includes "Oswald" in a list of streets named for noted historical people, but unfortunately he gives no further details.[3] It is not clear who Regan had in mind—there are no obvious candidates. Certainly, for several reasons, the street is not named for Lee Harvey Oswald (1939–1963), who assassinated John F. Kennedy.[4] Nevertheless, shortly after Kennedy's assassination, some residents of the street wanted its name to be changed,[4] but apparently nothing was done.

References

  1. Real Estate Plat-Book of the City of Allegheny, vol. 2, plate 23. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1902. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1902-volume-2-plat-book-allegheny; included in the 1903–1906 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source]hopkins-1902-allegheny-vol-2
  2. "An ordinance approving a 'Plan of Lots, laid out for George Wittmer Estate,' in the Twenty-seventh ward of the City of Pittsburgh, accepting the dedication of Belgium street, Cambronne street, Chellis street, Oswald street, Perrott avenue and Wittmer street, as shown thereon, for public use for highway purposes, opening and naming the same and establishing the grades thereon." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1916, no. 53. Passed Feb. 21, 1916; approved Feb. 26, 1916. Ordinance Book 27, p. 401. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the Proceedings of the Council of the City of Pittsburgh for the Year 1916, appendix, p. 30, Eureka Printing Company, Pittsburgh (Internet Archive Pghmunicipalrecord1916). [view source]ordinance-1916-53
  3. Bob Regan. The Names of Pittsburgh: How the City, Neighborhoods, Streets, Parks and More Got Their Names, p. 63. The Local History Company, Pittsburgh, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9770429-7-5. [view source]regan
  4. 4.0 4.1 Charles F. Danver. Pittsburghesque. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Dec. 18, 1963, Daily Magazine, p. 33. Newspapers.com 87863428. [view source]danver-1963-12-18