Greentree Road

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Greentree Road
Neighborhoods Ridgemont, West End, Westwood
Origin of name Borough of Green Tree
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Black Horse Trail (1760s)
Origin of name Colonel Henry Bouquet's Black Horse Brigade
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Pittsburgh and Washington Turnpike (1812–1881)
Origin of name Connected Pittsburgh and Washington, Pennsylvania
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Washington Pike (1812–1881)
Origin of name Shortening of Pittsburgh and Washington Turnpike
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Independence Street (1881–1933)

The route of Greentree Road was originally a Native American trail along a crest called Warrior's Ridge. It was used by Colonel Henry Bouquet (eponym of Bouquet Street) and his Black Horse Brigade shortly after he relieved the siege of Fort Pitt in 1763, for which it became known as the Black Horse Trail. In 1812 work began on a road to connect Pittsburgh to the National Pike (today's U. S. Route 40) at Washington, Pennsylvania; this road became known as the Pittsburgh and Washington Turnpike or simply the Washington Pike.[1][2]

The South Side boroughs were annexed by Pittsburgh in 1872.[3] There were many streets in the enlarged city named Washington. In 1873, an ordinance to fix duplicate street names was presented; it would have changed the Washington Pike to Wellington Avenue.[4][5][6] However, this ordinance was never enacted. The problem with conflicting street names was finally fixed eight years later. The first version of a new street-renaming ordinance, proposed in 1880, would have changed the Washington Pike to the Hamilton Pike,[7] but the version passed by City Councils in 1881 changed it to Independence Street (within Pittsburgh city limits).[8][9] See South First Street for more about the process of deduplicating street names after the annexation of the South Side.

Independence Street was renamed Greentree Road in 1933,[10] so called because it leads to the borough of Green Tree. The name of the borough comes from a large sycamore tree that served as a landmark and meeting point. It was an early mail stop along the Washington Pike, and it was jokingly called "the Green Tree post office." The name was made official in 1844 when a real post office was later opened nearby, and in 1885 when the borough was incorporated it also took the name Green Tree. The sycamore blew down in 1905, but the stump sprouted new branches, and it was nursed back to health by borough residents. The tree was finally cut down in 1945 at the request of the property owner.[11][12][1][13][2][14] Today the tree is memorialized by a stone monument and plaque on the west side of Greentree Road just south of Western Avenue.

The 1850 Allegheny County map of E. H. Heastings shows a cluster of houses labeled Green Tree, and Sidney & Neff's 1851 map shows "Green Tree P. O.," but not exactly in the location of today's Green Tree borough. Instead, these maps put Green Tree a little further along Washington Pike, corresponding to modern Greentree Road between Cochran and Swallow Hill Roads.[15][16]

Some sources say that the borough of Green Tree is named after a Green Tree Hotel that stood on the Washington Pike,[17][18] but I cannot find evidence to corroborate this claim. Sidney & Neff's 1851 map of Allegheny County, which is detailed enough to show individual residences, hotels, stores, and taverns, does not show a Green Tree Hotel. It does include a Green Tree Tavern, but this was just outside Cowanville (part of today's Mount Washington), far from Green Tree.[16]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Rachel Kirk. "Greentree's historic sycamore goes way of all good trees: It 'vanishes' at owner's request." Pittsburgh Press, Oct. 18, 1945, p. 18. Newspapers.com 147482199. [view source] kirk
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kay Ryall. "Indian mound proves early tribes once occupied site of Greentree: Red Men's trail to Logstown lay over 'Warrior's Ridge': Victorious General Bouquet used route to peace meet." Pittsburgh Press, July 9, 1933, classified section, p. 8. Newspapers.com 146698905. [view source] ryall
  3. ↑ 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
  4. ↑ The Municipal Record: Containing the Proceedings of the Select and Common Councils of the City of Pittsburgh, Together with the Ordinances, &c.: With an Index, vol. V, p. 129. Pittsburgh Daily Gazette, Pittsburgh, 1873. Internet Archive pghmunicipalrecord1872; https://pittsburgharchives.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_354091a4-ac98-465c-b50a-c82749d79acd/. [view source] municipal-record-1873
  5. ↑ "Street nomenclature: The changes proposed by the committee." Pittsburgh Commercial, Dec. 30, 1873, [p. 4]. Newspapers.com 85549642. [view source] street-nomenclature
  6. ↑ "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
  7. ↑ "Street names: The committee to change duplicate named thoroughfares ready to report." Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, June 29, 1880, [p. 4]. Newspapers.com 85554654. [view source] street-names-1880
  8. ↑ "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
  9. ↑ Atlas of the Cities Pittsburgh and Allegheny, plates 28, 29. G. M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, 1882. http://historicpittsburgh.org/maps-hopkins/1882-atlas-pittsburgh-allegheny; 1882 layer at Pittsburgh Historic Maps (https://esriurl.com/pittsburgh). [view source] hopkins-1882
  10. ↑ "An ordinance changing the names of certain avenues, streets, roads and ways in the City of Pittsburgh." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1933, no. 121. Passed May 29, 1933; approved May 31, 1933. Ordinance Book 45, p. 241. In Municipal Record: Minutes of the Proceedings of the Council of the City of Pittsburgh: For the Year 1933, appendix, p. 72, City Printing Co., Pittsburgh (Internet Archive Pghmunicipalrecord1933). Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, June 3, 1933, p. 13 (Newspapers.com 523406708); and in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 5, 1933, p. 25 (Newspapers.com 89887815), and June 6, p. 23 (Newspapers.com 89888832). [view source] ordinance-1933-121
  11. ↑ "Earle invited to Greentree." Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, June 30, 1935, sec. 1, p. 15. Newspapers.com 523812185. [view source] earle
  12. ↑ John L. Kay and Chester M. Smith, Jr. Pennsylvania Postal History, p. 39. Quarterman Publications, Lawrence, Mass., 1976, ISBN 0-88000-059-7. LCCN 75-1784. [view source] kay-smith
  13. ↑ Virginia Peden. "Banksville seniors delight in historical photographs." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 28, 2001, South section, p. S-11. Newspapers.com 90884837. [view source] peden
  14. ↑ Candy Woodall. "Green Tree history recalled as borough marks 125 years." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 17, 2010, South Xtra section, pp. S-1, S-6. Newspapers.com 96456160, 96456174; https://www.post-gazette.com/local/south/2010/06/17/Green-Tree-history-recalled-as-borough-marks-125-years/stories/201006170376. [view source] woodall
  15. ↑ E. H. Heastings. Map of the County of Allegheny, Pennsylvania. 1850. Historic Pittsburgh DARMAP0090. [view source] heastings
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Sidney & Neff and S. McRea. Map of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, with the Names of Property-Holders. Philadelphia, 1851. LCCN 2012592150. [view source] sidney-neff
  17. ↑ Jan Ackerman. "Town names carry a bit of history." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 10, 1984, PG South, pp. 1, 6. Newspapers.com 90021754, 90021778. [view source] ackerman-south
  18. ↑ Bob Regan. The Names of Pittsburgh: How the City, Neighborhoods, Streets, Parks and More Got Their Names, p. 162. The Local History Company, Pittsburgh, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9770429-7-5. [view source] regan
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