5 minutes walk from Fifth Avenue Cable line, easy terms. Samuel W. Black & Co. 99 Fourth Avenue On April 5, the price was shown as reduced to $5,850, “IF SOLD AT ONCE – ONE of the best locations in Oakland.” The name Oakland Square was not mentioned in the ads, but the description is exact and there were no other development at the time which would match the description. Charles H. Chance was the builder of all 67 units of housing, a young man of thirty-two years when he began Oakland Square. Edeburg and Cooper, Civil Engineers, provided plot plans. The designer of the houses is presently unknown as no architect was listed on the building permit. Possible Chance was his own architect. Chance later became president of the Oakland Board of Trade and after 1904, left building for real estate, with his office in Oakland. O’Neill likely played a major role in the layout and design because he would have been familiar with Dublin, Ireland, houses and squares, and there are many similarities. O’Neill was only 35 years old when he purchased the 5.5 acres of land from Beymer. The houses were all completed and sold by May 1, 1891, or in about two years. The actual sale prices, as recorded in the County Deed Books, are generally higher than the advertised price of $6,500, suggesting that most of the purchasers had additional construction done, such as adding one more room, finishing the basement, or specifying more expensive fittings. O’Neill’s success in this development may be implied by at least three facts: He sold off all of the homes in a relatively short time He attracted at least eight families sited on the Social Register He continued to develop not only the total of 67 units in his Oakland Square plan, but perhaps as many as 200 more in the area by 1904 The developer: Eugene M. O’Neill Eugene Murrough O’Neill, developer of Oakland Square, much of Parkview Avenue, and other areas of Oakland and Squirrel Hill, had a remarkable life. Born in 1850 and educated in Ireland, he came to Pittsburgh in his early twenties where his brother Daniel was established as an editor and part-owner of the Pittsburgh Dispatch, the first successful penny newspaper west of the Alleghenies. Eugene first read law and was admitted to the Bar on 11 March 1876. His future looked bright