USA > Indiana > Jefferson County > Madison > The western address directory : containing the cards of merchants, manufacturers, and other business men, in Pittsburgh, (Pa.) Wheeling, (Va.) Zanesville, (O.) Portsmouth, (O.) Dayton, (O.) Cincinnati, (O.) Madison, (Ind.) Louisville, (K.) St. Louis, (Mo.) , 1837 > Part 5
USA > Kentucky > Jefferson County > Louisville > The western address directory : containing the cards of merchants, manufacturers, and other business men, in Pittsburgh, (Pa.) Wheeling, (Va.) Zanesville, (O.) Portsmouth, (O.) Dayton, (O.) Cincinnati, (O.) Madison, (Ind.) Louisville, (K.) St. Louis, (Mo.) , 1837 > Part 5
USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > The western address directory : containing the cards of merchants, manufacturers, and other business men, in Pittsburgh, (Pa.) Wheeling, (Va.) Zanesville, (O.) Portsmouth, (O.) Dayton, (O.) Cincinnati, (O.) Madison, (Ind.) Louisville, (K.) St. Louis, (Mo.) , 1837 > Part 5
USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The western address directory : containing the cards of merchants, manufacturers, and other business men, in Pittsburgh, (Pa.) Wheeling, (Va.) Zanesville, (O.) Portsmouth, (O.) Dayton, (O.) Cincinnati, (O.) Madison, (Ind.) Louisville, (K.) St. Louis, (Mo.) , 1837 > Part 5
USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > The western address directory : containing the cards of merchants, manufacturers, and other business men, in Pittsburgh, (Pa.) Wheeling, (Va.) Zanesville, (O.) Portsmouth, (O.) Dayton, (O.) Cincinnati, (O.) Madison, (Ind.) Louisville, (K.) St. Louis, (Mo.) , 1837 > Part 5
USA > Ohio > Muskingum County > Zanesville > The western address directory : containing the cards of merchants, manufacturers, and other business men, in Pittsburgh, (Pa.) Wheeling, (Va.) Zanesville, (O.) Portsmouth, (O.) Dayton, (O.) Cincinnati, (O.) Madison, (Ind.) Louisville, (K.) St. Louis, (Mo.) , 1837 > Part 5
USA > Ohio > Scioto County > Portsmouth > The western address directory : containing the cards of merchants, manufacturers, and other business men, in Pittsburgh, (Pa.) Wheeling, (Va.) Zanesville, (O.) Portsmouth, (O.) Dayton, (O.) Cincinnati, (O.) Madison, (Ind.) Louisville, (K.) St. Louis, (Mo.) , 1837 > Part 5
USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > The western address directory : containing the cards of merchants, manufacturers, and other business men, in Pittsburgh, (Pa.) Wheeling, (Va.) Zanesville, (O.) Portsmouth, (O.) Dayton, (O.) Cincinnati, (O.) Madison, (Ind.) Louisville, (K.) St. Louis, (Mo.) , 1837 > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23
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Pittsburgh-its Appendages, &c. 59
unlike those it left on the opposite shore, with the addi- tion of a dense population in Bayardstown, until the view is intercepted by a spur of Quarry hill, the build- ings which embellish its brow, or the Fort Pitt glass house and surrounding tenements at its base. The road extending up the valley, called the Farmers' and Me- chanics' turnpike, as it commences at the base of Grant's hill, on which the new jail, and the building materials for a new court house, with a cotton factory on its de- clivity, and the great variety and mixture of the build- ings in the vicinity of, and on, the turnpike, taken as a whole, will be objects of curiosity.
The order in which the streets is laid out is objection- able ; but perhaps it was not a subject of much reflection at that time. The wider and longer, which are called Penn and Liberty, extend from the Monongahela paral- lel with the Allegheny, to the boundary line of the city proper ; and there are those which extend from Liberty street parallel with the Monongahela, forming an acute angle of course at their points of commencement. There are other streets, (Market, Smithfield and Wood,) which form right angles with the Monongahela. Hence arises . the awkward position which some of the houses would occupy, had not the difficulty been obviated by an ab- rupt termination to some of the blocks, although others, notwithstanding, are extended to a very narrow point .- The streets are generally paved, at least those between Grant's hill and the river ; but with the exception of five or sis, the remaining ones are rather too narrow.
As I have commenced with the view of keeping in sight the progress this city has made towards the eleva- ted position she at present occupies among the manufac-
-
14 .
į
- -
60
Western Address Directory.
turing towns in the United States (perhaps I might go farther,) it is necessary that I should step back some six or seven lustrums-say about the beginning of the present century-for in the neighborhood of that period she com- menced ship building !
From the year 1802 to 1805, the following vessels were launched at the ship-yards of this city : the ships Pitts- burgh, Louisiana, General Butler, and Western trader ; brigs Nanina, Dean, and Black Warrior ; schooners Amity, Allegheny, and Conquest-the ship Monon- gahela Farmer, and brig Ann Jean, were built at Eliza- beth Town, on the Monongahela river. [The first sea vessel, however, that was built on the western waters, was a brig called the St. Clair, of 120 tons burthen, built at Marietta, by Com. Preble, in 1798 -- 9, who descended the Ohio and Mississippi in her, went to Havana, and thence to Philadelphia, where he sold her. ] Misfortunes and accidents in getting these vessels down the Ohio, which most probably arose from bad management in the persons entrusted with them, gave a damp to ship-build- ing, and not many years afterwards the business was transferred to steamboat building, which has been suc- cessfully prosecuted ever since.
The first steamboat on the western waters, was built in this city, and called the New Orleans. She was 138 feet keel, between 300 and 400 tons burthen, and owned by Messrs. Fulton and Livingston and a Mr. Rosewalt, of New York. The latter gentleman superintended the building of her, and she cost S40,000. She was launch- ed in March, descended the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to Natchez, in December, where she took in her first freight and passengers, and proceeded to New Orleans on
Pittsburgh-its early Statistics, &c. 61
the 24th of that month. This boat continued to ply be- tween New Orleans and Natchez, ascending in 7 or 8, and descending in 2 or 3 days, conveying passengers up at $25 each, and down at $18, (clearing, nett, the first year, $20,000,) until she got snagged on her upward pas- sage, near Baton Rouge, in the winter 1813 -- 4 and lost. But I have wandered far away from Pittsburgh again- no wonder, I was on a steamboat.
Some idea may be formed of the progress made in the mechanic arts, in this city, after the start it took in 1793, from the fact, that in an enumeration had in the fall of 1807, there were found as follows :
One cotton manufactory having a mule of 120 threads, and 1 spinning jenny of 40 threads, 4 looms, and a wool carding machine under the same roof, 1 glass works on the opposite side of the Monongahela for green, and 1 on this side for white glass, 2 breweries, 1 air-furnace, 4 nail factories, one of which made 100 tons of cut and hammered nails annually, 7 coppersmiths, tin-plate work- ers, and japanners, 1 wire weaving and riddle factory, 1 brass foundry, 6 saddlers and harness makers, 2 gun- smiths, 2 tobacconists, 1 bell maker, S tallow chandlers, 1 brush maker, 1 trunk maker, 5 coopers, 13 weavers, 10 blue dyers, 1 comb and 7 cabinet makers, 1 turner, 6 bakers, 8 butchers, 2 barbers, 6 hatters, 4 physicians, 2 potteries of earthen ware, S straw bonnet makers, 4 plane makers, 6 milliners, 12 mantua makers, 1 stocking weav- er, 2 book-binders, 4 house and sign painters, 2 portrait painters, 1 mattress maker, 3 wheel-wrights, 5 watch and clock makers and silversmiths, 5 bricklayers, 5 plaster- ers, S stone cutters, 8 boat, barge and ship builders, 1 pump maker, 1 looking-glass maker, 1 lock maker, 7
· 6 .
!
. . .. . .. . . . ... . .............................
.
3
. 7
1
62
Western Address Directory.
tanyards, 2 rope walks, 1 spinning-wheel maker, 17 blacksmiths, 1 machinist and whitesmith, 1 cutler and tool maker, $2 house carpenters and joiners, 21 boot and shoemakers or cordwainers, 5 windsor chair makers, 13 tailors, 1 breeches maker and skin dresser, 12 school- masters, 4 school-mistresses, SS taverns or public inns, 51 mercantile stores, 4 printing offices, 6 brick yards, 3 stone masons, 2 book stores, 4 lumber yards, 1 maker of machinery for cotton and wool manufactories, 1 factory for clay smoking pipes, 1 copperplate printing press.
In 17 streets and 4 lanes or alleys, in March, 1808, were 236 brick houses, and 361 wooden ones : 47 of the former, and 70 of the latter, were built the preceding year. There were 50 stores of well assorted goods, and the retail business of several of them amounted to $100, . and on market days, $150, per day, in cash, exclusive of the credit business. f
In the year 1810 there was the following enumeration made by the marshal :
-
In Pittsburgh and the immediate vicinity, " One grist mill, by steam, manufactures 60,000 bushels of grain .- Three carding and spinning mills, two of cotton and one of wool, amount to S14,248. One mill for grinding flat irons, S2,000. Two distilleries, which make 600 barrels of whiskey. Three breweries make 6,435 barrels of por- ter, ale and beer. Four brick yards, $15,600. Two air furnaces, 400 tons, $40,000. Three red lead factories estimated at $13,100. Six naileries, $49,890. Three glass works, 1 green, and 2 white glass, S62,000. Two
*Cramer.
tIbid.
:
1
Pittsburgh-its eurly Statistics, &c. 63
potteries, $3,400. Two gunsmitheries, $2,400. Three tobacconists, $11,500. Sixteen looms, 19,448 yards of cloth. Six tanneries, $15,500. Seventeen smitheries, $$4,400. Four cooperies, $2,250. Eight chair and cabi- net makers, $17,424. Saddlers, and shoe and boot ma- kers, estimated at $110,000. Ten hatteries, $24,50". Four silversmiths and watch makers, S9,500. Six cop- per, brass and tin factories, $25,500. Three stone cutters, $8,800. Three boat and ship builders, $43,000. Two wagon makers, $2,872. Three chandlers, $14,500 .- One rope walk, $2,500. One button manufactory, S3,000. One stocking weaver. One cutlery, $3,000. One glass cutting, $1,000. One wire weaving, at which sieves, screens, riddles, &c. are made to a considerable extent. Three printing establishments, and one book- bindery."
The quantity of hemp and spun yarn, from Kentucky, where they were raised and manufactured, (and where is yet extensively manufactured, rope yarns, rope and bag- ging,) which was carried through this city during the year 1810, on its way to the Baltimore and Philadelphia mar- kets, amounted to 1,378,944 pounds ; averaging, at that time, in those markets, 15 cents per lb. and the sum to- tal was $206,841 60 cents.
Cotton commanded 19 cents per lb .; and 600 bales averaging 400 lbs. sold for $45,600-the year's opera- tion.
The quantity of bar iron and castings, manufactured and sold during the same period, amounted to 1,307 tons ; averaging per ton $140, equal to $182,980-and 110,000 lbs. cut and wrought nails, worth 17 cents per lb. to $18,700.
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- ----
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64 Western Address Directory.
Bacon and Pork had not acquired the celebrity it has since-50 tons were sold that year at 10 cents per lb. amounting to $11,000.
The sales of Tobacco, at 15 cents per lb. average, amounted to $2, 600.
The avails of domestic industry for the year 1810, was estimated at $2,000,000.
The following account of the Manufactures, &c. carried on in the city and the vicinity, was collected under the direction of the Councils, and reported to them in Ja- nuary, 1814, by their committee.
1 Auger Maker, - -
No. of hands. Am't 5,500 6
1 Bellows Maker, - -
S 10,000
18 Blacksmiths, -
-
74 75,100
3 Brewers, -
17 72,000
S Brush Makers, -
-
7
8,600
1 Button Maker, -
6 6,250
2 Cotton Spinners and Carders, -
$6 25,518
11 Coppersmiths & Tin Plate Workers, 100 200,000
7 Cabinet Makers, -
43
40,000
1 Currier, -
4 12,000
2 Cutlers, - . -
6
2,400
4 Foundries Iron, 87 .
180,000
S Gunsmiths and Bridle Bitt Makers, 14 13,800
2 Flint Glass Manufactories, -
82 110,000
S Green do. - -
92 150,000
2 Hardware Manufactories, -
17
18,000
7 Hatters, .
.
49 44,640
1 Locksmith,
7 12,000
1 Linen Manufactory, - .
-
20 25,000
7 Nail do. - 47 174,716
1 Paper Maker, - . 40 23,000
-
-
-
-
.
Pittsburgh-its early Statistics, &c.
65
1 Pattern do. -
-
2
1,500
3 Plane do. -
-
-
6 57,600
1 Potter, fine ware -
-
-
5 8,000
1 Rope Maker, -
-
8
15,000
1 Spinning Machine Maker, -
6
6,000
1 Spanish Brown Manufactory, -
2 6,720
1 Silver Plater, .
40
20,000
2 Steam Engine Makers, -
70
125,000
2 Steam Grist Mills, -
10
50,000
6 Saddlers, .
60
86,000
5 Silversmiths and Watch Repairers,
17
12,000
14 Shoe and Boot Makers, -
109
120,000
7 Tanners and Curriers, -
47
58,860
4 Tallow Chandlers, -
7 32,600
4 Tobacconists, -
23
21,000
5 Wagon Makers, - -
21
28,500
2 Weavers, -
9
14,562
S' Windsor Chair Makers, -
23
42,600
2 Woollen Manufactories,
-
30
17,000
1 Wire Drawer, -
-
12
6,000
1 White Lead Factory, -
6
40,000
.
-
-
-
-
Total hands, 1280 ; Total amount, $1, 896, 366.
In addition to the preceding, the committee returned the following trades, but received no estimates from the conductors. In their opinion, they employ 357 hands, producing $370,000, making the total 1,637 hands, the total of which was $2,266, 366 :- S chair makers; 1 cur- rier; 2 cabinet makers; 1 cotton carder; 1 comb maker; 1 coach maker; 2 copper plate printers; S book binders; 4 hatters; 1 gilder; 2 machine and pattern makers; 5 nailers; 6 printers; 1 plane maker; 21 blacksmiths; 23 shoe makers; 2 saddlers; 1 silk dyer; 6 stone cutters; 6*
:
66
Western Address Directory.
3 tallow chandlers; 5 tanners; 15 weavers; 1 wire worker; and 1 coffee mill maker.
The natural inference is, that, during the progress of a good business, in any place, rents must be high; for, were it otherwise, as soon as the fact became known, the influx of traders would be so numerous, and the compe- tition so great, that a decrease in prices would naturally follow. It is much the same with reference to certain streets, and particular stands in commercial cities and towns: the same principle will be found to apply in those cases. The rents in Pittsburgh had advanced nearly a thousand per cent. during the preceding ten years, and stores during the latter year varied from $300 to $500 per annum; one ware house rented for $1,200, which was the price also for a good tavern stand. Fa- mily residences commanded a rent of $300 to $400.
Before the introduction of steam boats, the trade up and down the Ohio was carried on by means of barges and keel boats, constructed for the purpose. There was not much difficulty in getting down. Boats fre- quently reached the mouth of the river, during high wa- ter, in 15 days-to Louisville, in 10, was esteemed a quick passage.
Trade and manufactures continued to flourish ; and, notwithstanding a war existed between the U. States and England, it appeared in no hideous form-probably it contributed to the thrift of the place. In 1812, the quantity of plank and boards brought down the Alle- gheny, and passed inspection, exceeded 7,000,000 feet, all of which was used for building purposes in the city. The number of wagons laden with goods and country produce, which continued to arrive from various points,
.
Pittsburgh-its early Statistics, &c. 67
and discharge or pass through, was immense-some were bound eastwardly and others westwardly.
The following is the estimate of the number of boat and wagon loads received during the year 1813 :- 350 boat loads, viz. 3,750 tons salt-petre, salt, lead, peltry, sugar, cotton, &c .; 1,250 do. hemp; 3,750 do. yarn; 4,000 wagon loads dry goods, groceries, &c., and 1,000 do. iron.
A farmer, who resided only 4 miles distant, took an account of 4,055 wagons which passed his farm from Jan. 1, 1813, to Jan. 1, 1814. The provision (or home) markets rose very considerably during the same period; fresh beef selling at 7 cts. per lb. ; flour, bbl. $9 ; po- tatoes 75 cts. bush .; cabbages 6 cts. head; butter 50 cts. lb .; fowls 50 a pair ; ducks 50 do .; geese 75 to 1 25 a piece ; turkies $1 to 2 do .; pork, lb. 7 cts .; lard 11; mutton 7; veal 6 ; cheese 18 to 25 ; eggs 25 cents per doz. ; onions $1 25 bush .; beans 1; Indian meal 1- and even coal, which lies imbedded but a short distance from the residence of every family of the place, keep- ing pace with the advance of labor, provisions, and every thing else, rose from 6 to 12 cents a bushel !
This tide of prosperity was not destined to flow always -it would have been unnatural for it to do so. Soon after the termination of the war, an ebb began to be per- ceptible; in 1817 it was felt. A number of factories stopped their operations; for trade was paralyzed, in consequence of the immense quantities of goods, of every description, brought into the country from England. In 1821, distress appeared to have reached its climax, and manufactures, trade and industry of all kinds, were prostrated. The farmer could get no money for the pro-
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68 Western Address Directory.
duce of his land ; it was therefore not worth his while to cultivate it: the cloth factories had been "done up" by the introduction of foreign fabrics, which were put at prices with which our manufacturers could not possibly compete-and so with all other manufactures, as well as cloth-thus, so far ungearing the whole machinery, it threw the operators in iron also out of employ, and an approaching bankruptcy, for a time, appeared to be in- evitable. The markets had experienced a wonderful depression, and, from their high prices, had got down to almost nothing. In May, of that year, the price of flour per bbl. was one dollar; whiskey, gal. 15 cts .; pine boards, good merchantable, 100 feet, 20 cts .; sheep and calves, per head, 1 doll. It required a bushel and a half of wheat to buy a pound of coffee; a barrel of flour to buy a pound of tea; and twelve and a half bar- rels to buy a yard of superfine broad cloth. Foreign goods were plenty, and laid in on the best terms-were sold very cheap, and at a moderate profit. This was the condition, at that time, of the western country ; for like causes produced like effects in other cities and towns, as well as in Pittsburgh.
In process of time, however, a reflux again began to manifest itself, and in 1825-6 and 7, all was bustle .- · Seven steam boats went down the river well freighted, and from that period till the year 1830, the " winter of discontent" continued to recede, until a " glorious sum- mer," accompanied by all the associations calculated to arrest and gratify every rational sense, burst upon the people of this western region. They availed themselves of the occasion ; for, profiting by its genial rays, they sowed
-
Pittsburgh-Statistics in '30-1, &c. 69
liberally, but prudently, and are now gathering in their harvest, " some fifty, and some an hundred fold."
In 1830, there were made here 100 steam engines, and 9,282 tons of iron rolled. Five rolling and three slitting mills (making a total of eight) were erected the two pre- ceding years-and it is ascertained, that of the iron ma- nufactured during the period named, 600 tons of it were converted into other articles, before it left the city. In 1831, there were 150 steam engines made.
I have not sufficient data to state particulars, with re- ference to the manufacture of glass during the period in question; but the best of which I can avail myself, show, that there were four houses in operation, containing $2 pots, at which flint glass was manufactured-and that at four others, three of which made, monthly, 1,500 boxes of window glass, (100 feet each,) and 1,000 dolls. worth of hollow ware, employing 102 bands-consuming annually 7,000 cords of wood, 700 tons of sand, 1,000 barrels salt, 40,000 lbs. scorched salts or potash, 150,000 bushels coal, with ashes, lime, &c. The cost for labor was about $2,500 per month. This statement does not embrace the operations of a glass house at Bir- mingham. The estimates, as reported to the Friends of Domestic Industry, assembled in New York, in the au- tumn of 1831, fix the value of the window glass and bot- tles made at, and in the neighborhood of, Pittsburgh, at more than 500,000 dollars a year. The report is silent on the subject of cotton manufactures.
In Peck's and Tanner's Guides, the former gives the following as the amount of business done by that branch, to which it refers, in 1831:
:
70
Western Address Directory.
Nail factories and rolling mills.
Weight in lbs.
Value.
Union, -
- 720,000
$43,000 .
Sligo, -
400,000
32,000
Pittsburgh, -
· 782,887 86,544
Grant's hill,
500,000
20,000
Juniata,
· 500,000
30,000
Pine creek,
457,000
34,100
Miscellaneous factories,
- 360,000
28,200
The same year there were 12 foundries in and near Pittsburgh, which converted 2,963 tons of metal into castings, employed 132 hands, consumed 87,000 bushels of coal, and produced the value of $189,614.
The number of cotton factories in operation at the period in question, was 8, having 369 power looms, and employing 598 hands.
Steam engines in operation, same year, 37, which em- ployed 123 hands. .
Early in February, 1832, in consequence of mild weather and heavy rains, the sources of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers " were broken up," " and the floods descended" with such impetuosity as to sweep be- fore them almost every moveable thing with which they came in contact. The bottom part of the city was nearly inundated. Penn and Liberty streets, near as high up as Ferry street, and a part of Wood street, suffered by the visitation. Such freshets, however, are of rare oc- currence. The first that I can find any record of, was in 1784; again in 1792; again in Dec., 1808; Nov., 1810; in 1813; and the one first mentioned. During the freshet of 1810, so rapid was its rise, that from sunset, Nov. 10, (which was on Saturday,) to Sunday noon, it reached an elevation of 37 feet above the ordinary level, when it became for some time stationary.
71
Pittsburgh-in 1836.
LETTER III.
Pittsburgh continued-Its population-Houses-Churches and other public buildings-Arsenal-Water and Gas Works, Fire Depart- ment, &c .- Retailers of Merchandize-Coal, and a new theory suggested-Hotels, &c. and Home Markets-Stages-Roadstead for Steamboats-Periodical obstructions to river travelling.
PITTSBURGH, Dec. 12th, 1836.
The population of this city, in 1800, was 1,565 ; in 1310, it had increased to 4,768 ; in 1820, to 7,248; in 1850, to 12,542 ; and this year, including the appen- dages which have been mentioned, (by estimation.) to $0,000. In 1808 the number of buildings was 400; in 1810 there were 767 ; in 181S the number was 958- thus have the houses increased as the population multi- plied, until the number now exceeds 4,500. There are upwards of 250 stores and warehouses, generally from S to 5 stories high, and mostly of brick, 90 of which were erected this year ; some of the warehouses are construct- ed according to the modern mode of building, (the fronts resting on pillars of stone or iron,) but are strong, very capacious and secure* ; but rents are high, and dwellings scarce. There are not many buildings which can be termed elegant, for however clean and tasty may be their finish, they soon partake of the property of the element with which they are surrounded, and imbibe the dingy and dusky hue incidental to the place. This is more clearly perceptible in winter than any other season, as the falling snow has the appearance of pepper and salt,
*Harris' Intel.
72
Western Address Directory.
and a short time after it ceases to fall it becomes black. These are not material objections, however, to business- men ; for they have no hesitation in exchanging that spe- cies of luxury for a more humble but comfortable domi- cil, provided in so doing they enjoy better health, eco- nomise in expenses, keep out of debt, and add to their yearly increasing estates.
There are at present 30 Churches, or places of public worship, in the city, viz : 7 Presbyterians ; 6 Methodists ; 2 Roman Catholics, one of these, (the cathedral, not quite finished, on the brow of Grant's hill,) has a very imposing appearance ; 2 Episcopal ; 1 Baptist ; 1 Covenanters ; 1 Unitarian ; 1 German ; 1 Associate Re- formed ; 1 Union ; and 7 others, one of which is African.
The Western University is in third street, in the very. centre of the business part of the city, with its front com- ing out nearly full to the side walk, and no yard about it-the site is much against its prosperity. It has been degenerating, as a literary institution, for some years .- The Theological Seminary, although on Seminary hill, and withdrawn from all noise and bustle, it is said is not in a flourishing condition neither. There are 4 public (primary) schools, one in each ward, or will be as soon as the houses are completed, and three or four select schools, one or two of which are boarding schools for young ladies, and these constitute about all the literary institutions in the city.
There are 4 Banks, 1 Savings Fund, and & Insur- ance Companies, viz : The Exchange Bank, capital $1,000,000-Wm. Robinson, jr. Prest .- John Foster, Cash .- The Merchants' and Manufacturers' Bank, (go- vernment deposit, ) capital $600,000-M. Tiernan, Prest.
Pittsburgh -- its Statistics in 1836. 73
Jesse Carrothers, Cashr .- The Bank of Pittsburgh, (an extensive and splendid edifice,) capital $1,000,000- John Graham, Prest. ; John Snyder, Cash .- Bank of the United States, of Pennsylvania ; Michal Allen, Prest. ; James Corry, Cash .- Pittsburgh Savings Fund Compa- ny, capital $100,000, James H. M'Clelland, Prest. ; James M'Cauley, Treas. ; John B. Bell, Sec'y .- Fire- men's Insurance Company, capital $250,000, John D. Davis, Prest. ; Samuel Gormly, Sec .- Navigation and Fire Insurance Company, capital S250,000, M. Allen, Prest. ; James S. Craft, Sec.
Here is also a spacious Reading and News Room, es- tablished by the Board of Trade, in which are filed a large number of the most prominent and leading papers of the eastern and western cities ; and books are kept, one for a record of local matters of interest, and as an index to any particular item of news-and the other, for the purpose of recording the names of such visiting strangers as are introduced by its patrons. The room is supported by the subscriptions of the merchants, manu- facturers, &c. of the city.
Here is likewise a Theatre, which is not often occupi- ed-and a Museum-in the latter is a Bee palace, so constructed that the operations of the little inhabitants can be seen without difficulty. Appropos-It is said that wasps are never seen in this city.
The Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania is situate in Allegheny-town, which has cost the state an immense sum of money. It is conducted on the principle of soli- tary confinement.
The Courthouse is on the northern side of Market street, which bisects the Diamond, but will be converted
7
74
Western Address Directory.
to some other use as soon as the new one is built, the foundation of which is now in progress, on the summit of Grant's hill, contiguous to the new Jail. It will be of free stone, as the jail is, quarried from the neighboring hills.
The Diamond is a square, the sides of which are form- ed of brick buildings, 3 or 4 stories in height, occupied as dwellings, coffee houses, stores, shops, offices, &c. to the number of ten or a dozen on a side, Diamond alley extending from its centre to Grant's hill. As the fronts all face inward, the whole assumes something of the cha- racter of a bazaar. Immediately in front of the Court- house is also that of a Market, which forms a kind of semi-circle, and being thus placed in juxta-position with the former, suggests the idea, which I hope I may be pardoned for expressing, as it is only intended as a piece of pleasantry, of the powerful pantomimical arguments which are there sometimes unwittingly advanced towards the making up a verdict, by a uuxG-ry jury ; one of which, perhaps, as he passes a window, attracted by his visual sense, mentally denounces in no measured terms his eleven compeers, for persevering in their " obstina- cy."* The two other Market houses are located, at con- siderable distance, one to the S. E. and the other to the N. E. parts of the city.
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