Gibson Street is a short street off Leeson Street in west Belfast, in the district between Grosvenor Road and the Falls Road.
Reports of meetings of the Belfast Corporation Works Committee in 1869 indicate that a Mr William Gibson was responsible for building houses in the street. An amended plan submitted to the committee proposed thirty houses in two new streets off Leeson Street for Mr Wm. Gibson (Belfast News-Letter, 2 March 1869). A later report records permission being granted to take in water for fifteen houses in Gibson Street and fifteen houses in Theodore Street (Northern Whig, 3 June 1869). A further report mentions a plan for four houses in Leeson Street for Mr Wm. Gibson (Northern Whig, 2 July 1869).
These reports suggest that Gibson Street formed part of a small housing development carried out in the area in 1869.
A William Gibson, watchmaker and jeweller with premises in Castle Buildings, at the corner of Donegall Place and Castle Place, was trading in Belfast at the same time (Banner of Ulster, 17 March 1868). It is possible that this businessman was also involved in the housing development off Leeson Street, though the available evidence does not establish this with certainty.
It is therefore possible that Gibson Street was named after the developer referred to in the Works Committee reports, but this has not been conclusively proven.
Banner of Ulster, 17 March 1868.
Belfast News-Letter, 2 March 1869.
Northern Whig, 3 June 1869.
Northern Whig, 2 July 1869.