Decatur Street

Decatur Street has served as a public thoroughfare and river access for Marietta since 1813, when it was developed as one of the principal streets in the westernmost portion of the town. Laid out at the height of the War of 18 12, the wide-spread exuberance of national patriotism was memorialized in Marietta through the naming of local streets., The north-south streets bear the names of American naval heroes-Decatur, Porter, Bainbridge, Biddle, Perry, and Hull, while the east-west streets are named after notable US ships-Wasp, Essex, and United States (now West Market)., Known by the moniker Irishtown, this westernmost portion of town was founded by three local entrepreneurs: James Duffy (1771-1836), James Mehaffey (1772-1851), and John Pedan (1777-1821). Eager to take advantage of an unprecedented economic boom, Duffy, Mehaffey, and Pedan purchased 161 acres of land and laid out the building lots and necessary streets to develop Irishtown in 1813. Although physically connected to Marietta, Irishtown remained distinctly outside the corporate limits of the borough until 1970, when it was formally merged as part of a requirement to connect newly installed sewer lines to the borough-owned waste treatment plant., (Captions), Stephen Decatur was a distinguished US naval commander who was renowned for his bravery and unwavering patriotism during the War of 18 12.