Pressley Street
| Pressley Street | |
|---|---|
| Neighborhood | East Allegheny |
| Washington Street (until 1902) | |
| Origin of name | George Washington |
| Washington Place (1902–1910) | |
| Origin of name | George Washington |
| Park Way (1910–1915) | |
This street was originally named Washington Street. It appears in the 1830 map of Jean Barbeau and Lewis Keyon[1] and was accepted as a street by the Borough of Allegheny in 1831.[2]
The name was changed to Washington Place by an Allegheny city ordinance in 1902.[3]
In 1910, three years after Allegheny was annexed by the City of Pittsburgh, over 900 streets were renamed to fix duplicates. The name of this street conflicted with Washington Place downtown, so it was made part of Park Way,[4] which continued in approximately the same line on the west side of East Park (today the eastern part of Allegheny Commons Park). Park Way does not exist today.
The part of Park Way east of Cedar Avenue was renamed Pressley Street in 1915.[5]
Bob Regan includes "Pressley" in a list of streets named for noted historical people, but unfortunately he gives no further details.[6]:63 It is not clear who Regan had in mind—there are no obvious candidates. It is certainly not named for Elvis Presley (1935–1977). It is possible that the street takes the first name of Colonel Presley Neville (1755–1818), whose name was commonly spelled Pressley. He served from 1804 to 1805 as the Chief Burgess of the Borough of Pittsburgh (the equivalent of mayor before the 1816 city charter).[6]:72 See Neville Street for more about the Nevilles.
See also
- Washington Street, for other streets that have had this name
References
- ↑ 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
- ↑ "An ordinance accepting of Washington street, and appropriating 20 dollars for the improvement of the same." Allegheny city ordinance, 1831. Passed Apr. 14, 1831; approved Apr. 14, 1831. Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Gazette, Apr. 29, 1831, [p. 3] (Newspapers.com 96050821), and May 3, [p. 3] (Newspapers.com 96050831). [view source] ordinance-1831-washington
- ↑ "An ordinance changing the name of Washington street, Fourth ward, to Washington place." Allegheny city ordinance, 1902, no. 342. Passed Apr. 29, 1902; approved Apr. 30, 1902. Reprinted in the Pittsburg Post, May 7, 1902, p. 11 (Newspapers.com 86408443), and May 8, p. 11 (Newspapers.com 86408724); and in the Pittsburg Press, May 8, 1902, p. 7 (Newspapers.com 141917475), May 9, p. 8 (Newspapers.com 141918126), and May 10, p. 8 (Newspapers.com 141918828). [view source] ordinance-1902-342
- ↑ "An ordinance changing the names of certain avenues, streets, lanes and alleys in the City of Pittsburgh." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1910, no. 715. Passed Mar. 31, 1910; approved Apr. 5, 1910. Ordinance Book 21, p. 342. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the proceedings of the [Select and Common Councils] of the City of Pittsburgh for the years 1909–1910, appendix, pp. 312–328, Devine & Co., Pittsburgh, 1910 (Google Books doQzAQAAMAAJ; HathiTrust uiug.30112108223832; Internet Archive Pghmunicipalrecord1909). Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Post, Apr. 19, 1910, pp. 10–11 (Newspapers.com 86611990, 86612022), Apr. 20, pp. 10–11 (Newspapers.com 86612278, 86612297), and Apr. 21, pp. 10–11 (Newspapers.com 86612601, 86612625). [view source] ordinance-1910-715
- ↑ "An ordinance changing the names of certain avenues, streets and ways in the City of Pittsburgh." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1915, no. 117. Passed Apr. 28, 1915; approved Apr. 29, 1915. Ordinance Book 26, p. 615. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the proceedings of the Council of the City of Pittsburgh for the year 1915, appendix, pp. 99–103, Arlington Printing Co., Pittsburgh, 1915 (Internet Archive Pghmunicipalrecord1915). Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Post, May 7, 1915, sporting section, p. 4 (Newspapers.com 88028157), May 8, p. 15 (Newspapers.com 88028802), and May 10, p. 11 (Newspapers.com 88030672). [view source] ordinance-1915-117
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Bob Regan. The Names of Pittsburgh: How the city, neighborhoods, streets, parks and more got their names. The Local History Company, Pittsburgh, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9770429-7-5. [view source] regan
