Sarah Street

From Pittsburgh Streets
Sarah Street
Neighborhood South Side Flats
Origin of name Sarah Mahon Ormsby Phillips
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Mary Street (ca. 1815)
Portion From South 10th Street to Uxor Way
➤
Washington Street (ca. 1830 – 1881)
Portion West of South 17th Street
Origin of name George Washington
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Warren Street (1881)
Portion West of South 17th Street

Sarah Street is named for Sarah Mahon Ormsby Phillips (1803–1885), daughter of Oliver Ormsby (1767–1832) and granddaughter of John Ormsby (1720–1805).[1][2][3] She married Asher Phillips (1790–1843), a major in the U. S. Army, and they lived in a house called "The Orchard" on a tract of land between South 21st and South 24th Streets.[4]:32[5][6][7][8]

Other South Side streets are named after Oliver Ormsby's other daughters: Sidney Street, Jane Street, Mary Street, and Josephine Street. See Ormsby Street for more about the Ormsby family.

Sarah Street was not named for a daughter of John Ormsby, as some sources imply.[9][10][11] John had no daughter named Sarah.[4]:19[7]

West of South 17th Street

The oldest surviving portion of modern Sarah Street is that between Uxor Way and South 17th Street. This segment appears as a narrow, unlabeled street in the 1815 map of William Darby, which also shows a wider western continuation named Mary Street between modern South 10th Street and Uxor Way (not the same as modern Mary Street).[12] These were both outside the original plan of the town of Birmingham, laid out by Nathaniel Bedford in 1811.[13] By 1830, the eastern street had been named Washington Street, but Mary Street had vanished.[14][15]

By 1852, Washington Street had been extended as far west as Gregg Street (today South Seventh Street).[16][17][18]

The South Side boroughs were annexed by Pittsburgh in 1872,[19] after which the name Washington Street conflicted with another street of the same name in the old city (today Washington Place). In 1873, a committee of City Councils proposed an ordinance that renamed many streets to fix such duplications; Washington Street on the South Side was to be made part of Sarah Street.[20][21] But this ordinance was never passed.

In 1879, another ordinance was introduced in City Councils to change the names of Washington Street and Sarah Street to give them the same name. This ordinance was referred to the "Committee on duplicated street names," and apparently nothing further was done.[22]

An ordinance was finally enacted in March 1881 that established the names of all streets in Pittsburgh, renaming many of them to fix duplicates. From circumstantial evidence, it appears that this ordinance was intended to rename Washington Street, South Side, to Warren Street. The street is actually not listed in the ordinance text, but the name "Warren" is given as the northern terminus of Enon and Uxor Alleys (today Enon Way and Uxor Way). Curiously, the ordinance lists a different Warren Street somewhere in Squirrel Hill (probably part of modern Gladstone Street).[23] J. F. Diffenbacher's 1883 city directory lists "Warren, from South Seventh to South Seventeenth, late Washington, 28th & 29th wds."[24]

Just over a month after the passage of that ordinance, another ordinance was introduced to make Warren Street part of Sarah Street.[25] This ordinance was passed in June 1881.[26]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Tales of old times: When the Southside was a small village amid the woodlands: Memoirs of early residents: The neglected grave of the founder of Birmingham borough: The first church, school and mill." Pittsburg Dispatch, Mar. 1, 1890, second part, p. 9. Newspapers.com 76218651. [view source] tales
  2. ↑ Flashbacks. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Feb. 21, 1933, p. 8. Newspapers.com 90310579. [view source] flashbacks
  3. ↑ Ruth Ayers. "Do you know this place—?: Ormsby estate on South Side now cluttered with tenements: Old mansion now only part of overcrowded district: Horses once raced where children romp and play now." Pittsburgh Press, Aug. 16, 1934, p. 21. Newspapers.com 146695755. [view source] ayers-do-you-know
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Oliver Ormsby Page. A Short Account of the Family of Ormsby of Pittsburgh. Joel Munsell's Sons, Albany, N. Y., 1892. Internet Archive ashortaccountfa00pagegoog, shortaccountoffa00page; https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Short_Account_of_the_Family_of_Ormsby_of_Pittsburgh. [view source] ormsby
  5. ↑ Annie Clark Miller. "Old houses and estates in Pittsburgh." Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, vol. 9, no. 3, July 1926, pp. 129–168. https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/view/1411. [view source] old-houses
  6. ↑ Leland D. Baldwin. Pittsburgh: The Story of a City, p. 246. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, 1937. HathiTrust 001263101. [view source] baldwin
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Walter T. Kamprad. "John Ormsby, Pittsburgh's original citizen." Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, vol. 23, no. 4, Dec. 1940, pp. 203–222. https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/view/2173. [view source] kamprad
  8. ↑ Stuart P. Boehmig. Pittsburgh's South Side, p. 8. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, S. C., 2006, ISBN 978-0-7385-3939-3. LCCN 2005932359. [view source] boehmig
  9. ↑ Franklin Toker. Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait, p. 132. Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, Penna., 1986, ISBN 0-271-00415-0. LCCN 85-71786. [view source] toker
  10. ↑ Chris Potter. "My husband recently got a job on the South Side, and we noticed there are a lot of streets named after women. How come?" You Had to Ask. Pittsburgh City Paper, Dec. 29, 2005. https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/Content?oid=1337601. [view source] south-side-women
  11. ↑ Franklin Toker. Pittsburgh: A New Portrait, p. 160. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, 2009, ISBN 978-0-8229-4371-6. LCCN 2009022903. [view source] toker-new
  12. ↑ 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
  13. ↑ "Plan of the town of Birmingham." Recorded in Plan Book 1, p. 3. Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds 3778176. [view source] birmingham-town-plan
  14. ↑ 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
  15. ↑ Lewis Keyon. Map of Pittsburgh and Its Environs. Johnston & Stockton, Pittsburgh, 1835. Historic Pittsburgh DARMAP0577; 1835 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source] keyon
  16. ↑ R. E. McGowin. Map of the Cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny and of the Boroughs of South-Pittsburgh, Birmingham, East-Birmingham, Lawrenceville, Duquesne & Manchester etc. Schuchman & Haunlein, Pittsburgh, 1852. https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agdm/id/32269. [view source] mcgowin-1852
  17. ↑ S. N. & F. W. Beers. Map of Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Smith, Gallup & Hewitt, Philadelphia, 1862. LCCN 2012592151; https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agdm/id/31783; 1862 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source] beers
  18. ↑ Atlas of the Cities of Pittsburgh, Allegheny, and the Adjoining Boroughs, pp. 104–105. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1872. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1872-atlas-pittsburgh-allegheny; 1872 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source] hopkins-1872
  19. ↑ Mark A. Connelly. "Pittsburgh City 1872 Borough Mergers." Local Geohistory Project. https://www.localgeohistory.pro/en/pa/event/pittsburgh-city-1872-borough-mergers/. [view source] lgeo-south-side-annexation
  20. ↑ "Street nomenclature: The changes proposed by the committee." Pittsburgh Commercial, Dec. 30, 1873, [p. 4]. Newspapers.com 85549642. [view source] street-nomenclature
  21. ↑ "Notice—the following ordinances relative to Street Improvements is [sic] published for information, in accordance with the provisions of Section 6 of an Act of Assembly, entitled 'a further Supplement to an act entitled an act concerning Streets and Sewers in the City of Pittsburgh,' approved March 20th, 1873." Pittsburgh Gazette, Jan. 5, 1874, [p. 4]. Newspapers.com 86344686. [view source] ordinances-relative-to-street-improvements
  22. ↑ Municipal Record: Minutes of the Proceedings of the Select and Common Councils of the City of Pittsburgh, for the Year 1879, p. 141. Herald Printing Co., Pittsburgh, 1880. Internet Archive pghmunicipalrecord1879; https://pittsburgharchives.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_2fecb8fd-416f-4978-aba3-bdeb30741ea3/. [view source] municipal-record-1879-1880
  23. ↑ "An ordinance establishing the names of avenues, streets, lanes and alleys of the City of Pittsburgh." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1880–1881, 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, Herald Printing Company, Pittsburgh, 1881 (Internet Archive pghmunicipalrecord1880; https://pittsburgharchives.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_b24d64b7-2eda-488e-a00b-cddc143becfd/). [view source] ordinance-1880-1881-33
  24. ↑ J. F. Diffenbacher. J. F. Diffenbacher's Directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny Cities, for 1883: Embracing a general directory of residences of citizens, full classified business directory, register of public institutions, benevolent societies and city government; directory of the streets, secret societies, schools and churches, twenty-eighth annual issue. Diffenbacher & Thurston, Pittsburgh, 1883. Historic Pittsburgh 31735056286713. [view source] diffenbacher-1883
  25. ↑ Municipal Record: Minutes of the Proceedings of the Select Council of the City of Pittsburgh, for the Year 1881, p. 7. Herald Printing Co., Pittsburgh, 1882. Internet Archive pghmunicipalrecord1881; https://pittsburgharchives.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_25c1321f-0306-472a-9c02-ccd8944a341e/. [view source] municipal-record-1881-1882-select
  26. ↑ "An ordinance changing the name of Warren street, S. S., to Sarah street." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1881–1882, no. 16. Passed June 13, 1881; approved June 14, 1881. Ordinance Book 5, p. 258. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the Proceedings of the Select Council of the City of Pittsburgh, for the Year 1881, p. 185, Herald Printing Co., Pittsburgh, 1882 (Internet Archive pghmunicipalrecord1881; https://pittsburgharchives.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_25c1321f-0306-472a-9c02-ccd8944a341e/) and Municipal Record: Minutes of the Proceedings of the Common Council of the City of Pittsburgh, for the Year 1881, p. 161, Herald Printing Co., Pittsburgh, 1882 (Internet Archive pghmunicipalrecord1881; https://pittsburgharchives.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_8b8d8fd5-ccaa-469f-8a44-f6c952c970f9/). [view source] ordinance-1881-1882-16
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