Man, I love a good name. And Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh's got some doozies. We're not a city of numbered streets and Letter Avenues, not us. We've got 90 neighborhoods, each with its own handle, and behind every one of those names is a story. Some are sweet, some are weird, and some are just plain mysterious. Let me walk you through a few of my favorites, because once you know where these names come from, you'll never see the city the same way again.
The Lay of the Land
First, you gotta understand the terrain. This city isn't a flat grid. It's a jumble of hills, rivers, and valleys that chop up the land into all these little pockets. That's a big reason we have so many distinct neighborhoods in the first place. The topography just doesn't let things blend together. So you get a patchwork of 90 unique areas, each with its own history, character, and atmosphere, as a recent TribLive piece points out. And the names? They're as varied as the neighborhoods themselves.
Take the North Side, for example. Those neighborhoods, from Allegheny West to Troy Hill, they all owe their names to Allegheny City, the independent municipality that got annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. So when you're walking around the North Side, you're literally walking through history, one street at a time.
A Son-in-Law's Flattery
Now, here's a story that gets me every time. Banksville. That's a southwestern strip of land along Little Saw Mill Run. Back in the day, an Irishman named David Carnahan bought the land and divided it between his kids. His son Alexander, now, he named the area after his wife's family. Their last name was Banks. That's right, he named a whole neighborhood after his in-laws. Talk about a suck-up son-in-law. I wonder if that got him out of holiday dinners.
And then there's Allentown, down south. That one's named for Joseph Allen, an Englishman who bought the land in 1827. It became part of Pittsburgh in 1872. Simple, straightforward, a man's name on a map. But I like the personal touch. It's like the land remembers who owned it first.
The Mysteries and the Racetracks
But not every name has a clear story. Arlington and Arlington Heights? Nobody's quite sure how those two southern neighborhoods got their names. Sometimes a little mystery is a good thing, you know? It keeps the place interesting. And Beechview? No known reason has been recorded for that one, though its first use was on a map in 1905 as the Borough of Beechview, and it got annexed to the city in 1909. I like to imagine someone just looked at the beech trees and said, "Hey, that's a nice view." But that's just me guessing.
Then you've got Belmar, which is named after the former Belmar Racetrack. That's right, a neighborhood named for a place where people went to bet on horses. I don't know about you, but I think that's a way better story than "named after a guy." And Beltzhoover? It sounds like a place where vacuum cleaners are repaired, but it was actually named for Melchior Beltzhoover, a real person. I'll let you look up the details, but trust me, it's a name that sticks with you.
The Trendy East End
Now, let's talk about Shadyside. That's a name that's been attached to the word "trendy" since way back, and I mean way back. That most elegant and affluent neighborhood in Pittsburgh's East End is home to what Andy Warhol called the Beautiful People, and the upscale shops that cater to their needs. Walnut Street and Ellsworth Avenue, you can find just about anything there, from designer dental floss to iPods custom-sculpted for the bodily orifice of your choice. That's a line from a Pittsburgh Quarterly piece that I can't improve on.
But the 21st-century Beautiful People, and their bank accounts, pale in comparison with the original BPs. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Shadyside provided many of the city's wealthy industrialists with the nearest residential escape from Pittsburgh's smoky center. Some of their most fabulous Fifth Avenue mansions are still standing, and they're marvels to behold. So when you're strolling through Shadyside today, you're walking in the footsteps of the original Beautiful People, the ones who built this city.
The Names Keep Coming
And the stories don't stop there. We've got neighborhoods like Bloomfield, sometimes called Little Italy, and Lawrenceville, with its bustling business district, and Oakland, with its hospitals and universities. Each one has a name and a tale. The Strip District is home to an array of local restaurants and markets. Mt. Washington offers stunning views of the cityscape. And the South Side is best known for its boozy nightlife scene.
But it's the smaller details that get me. Did you know that some of our street names are just plain odd? There's a road called Seldom Seen, and I'm not kidding. There's also Purity, Romance, Climax, and Bliss, all within a short trip of each other. We've got Stoner, Hero, Moody, Clever, Crooks School, Silver Slipper, Dragon Rouge, Dinnerbell, Cathell, and Mae West. I mean, who comes up with this stuff?
According to hobbyist Brian Kell, who's researching street names in Pittsburgh proper, there are maybe 5,000 or so named streets in the city. We name almost every little strip of pavement, and our hills and rivers chop up what might otherwise be through streets. So desperate officials and developers have plucked names from flowers like Begonia, trees like Poplar, gems like Ruby, authors like Dickens, businesses like Heinz, and materials like Hot Metal. They've honored celebrities, like the Clementes, Blakey, and Strayhorn.
Why It Matters
Here's what gets me about all this. These names, they're not just labels. They're little pieces of history, of the people who lived here, the things they loved, the places they came from. When you say "Banksville," you're telling the story of a son-in-law trying to win favor. When you say "Belmar," you're remembering a racetrack that's long gone. And when you say "Shadyside," you're evoking a time when the city's elite escaped the smoke to build mansions on Fifth Avenue.
So next time you're driving through Banksville or strolling down Walnut Street, take a second to think about the name. There's a story there, and it's probably a lot more interesting than you'd expect. I know I'll never look at a street sign the same way again.
If you want to dive deeper into the weird and wonderful world of Pittsburgh street names, check out this piece from NEXTpittsburgh: Why does Western Pennsylvania have such odd street names?. It's a fun read, and it'll make you appreciate our quirky geography even more.
And hey, if you've got a favorite neighborhood name story, I'd love to hear it. There's always more to learn about this city, and that's what keeps me coming back.