USA > New York > Niagara County > Landmarks of Niagara County, New York > Part 12
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miles, with Lockport village as the center. In 1820 there was not a frame building within five miles of Lockport, and about this time the later village corporation contained less than 100 souls.
The population of the village reached in 1865 13,523, and the place was becoming unwieldy to be governed as a village. After the usual preliminary discussion an act was passed by the Legislature April II, 1865, incorporating Lockport city, with four wards. The officers elected by ballot under the charter were a mayor, clerk, police justice, treasurer tax collector, superintendent of streets, one chief and two as- sistants of the fire department; and in each ward two aldermen, a su- pervisor, three inspectors of election, a constable, assessor, poormaster and fire warden. The principal officers elected the first year were Ben- jamin Carpenter, mayor (re-elected 1866) ; Isaac Allen and M. M. Southworth, aldermen of the First ward; William H. Fursman and David C. Huff, aldermen of the Second ward; J. L. Breyfogle and S. R. Daniels, aldermen or the Third ward; A. W. Brazee and H. C. Pom- roy, aldermen of the Fourth ward. The mayors of Lockport have been as follows :
Benjamin Carpenter, 1865-6 ; James Jackson, 1867-8 ; Albert F. Brown, 1869 ; John Van Horn, 1870 ; Origen Storrs, 1871 ; Elisha Moody, 1872 ; Peter D. Walter, 1873 ; John H. Buck, 1874 ; Freeman H. Mott, 1875 ; Samuel R. Daniels, 1876 ; Hiram D. McNeil, 1877 ; Richard B. Hoag, 1878 ; John E. Pound, 1879-80 ; Ambrose S. Beverly, 1881; Edward W. Rogers, 1882; William Richmond, 1883 ; John Hawkes, 1884 ; William Spalding, 1885-87 ; Thomas Oliver, 1888-89 ; James S. Lid- dle, 1890-91 ; John T. Darrison, 1892-93 ; James Atwater, 1894-95 ; Charles Peterson, 1896-97.
The original city charter was amended in many important features by the laws of each year from 1886 to 1890 inclusive and in 1892, to which the reader is referred. By the laws of 1892 the city was divided into six wards instead of four, making the Board of Aldermen twelve and giving some sections of the city better representation. To ac- commodate the various city officials and departments, the stone build- building which had been occupied as a mill by W. K. Moore & Co. was secured in 1893 and such changes made in it as would adapt it for its purpose ; it was given the name of the Water Works building. In 1894 a stone addition was erected for the council chamber and the structure is now known as the City building.
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Some interesting. incidents took place in connection with the early mail service of Lockport and its vicinity. A daily mail service was established between the village and Wright's Corners, Sundays included. This practice called out determined opposition, and when it was dem- onstrated that moral suasion was not sufficient to cause a discontinuance of the Sunday business, an opposition line of stages was started, run- ning only six days in the week, and called the Pioneer line. This pro- ceeding developed the fact that there were in the village a number of prominent citizens who desired Sunday mail and traveling facilities, who called a meeting to remonstrate against the efforts of the new stage line. This meeting was held on the 9th of December, 1828, and the call was quite numerously signed; it declared among other things, that at the time there were within the village four or five hundred buildings of various kinds, a population of about 2,000, and twenty-five respectable mercantile establishments. It also emphatically denied that a majority of the business men favored the discontinuance of the Sunday mail. However, the Pioneer line of stages was operated about two years, but did not pay and did not prevent the receipt of mails on Sunday.
In this connection the following sketch by Thomas Scovell, printed in the Lockport Journal, is worthy of preservation in these pages. After noting the fact that John L. Wright was an early mail carrier in the vicinity of Lockport, Mr. Scovell continues thus :
I will say the late Col. Hezekah W. Scovell was postmaster 3 or 4 terms from 1835 and 1845. I have now in my office three commissions given him in 1835 and 1840 and 1845 signed and sealed by Martin Van Buren and John Tyler as president and John C. Calhoun secretary of the state and by the postmaster general, and in the winter of 1841 and 1842 I boarded with my uncle and went to select school in the basement of the old frame Episcopal church on Buffalo street where the German Church now stands and worked night and morning in the post-office and carrying the mail to Lower Town nights and mornings, as a large part of the business letters were taken or sent from Lower Town.
Among my schoolmates that winter was the lamented Col. D. Donnelly, the late Rollin Daniels, and many others long gone. Only Windsor Trowbridge, now of this city, and myself are left living that I now remember. In the spring of 1842 I was appointed post-office clerk in place of W. S. Towle, who went to Buffalo. I remained in office during '42, '43 and most of '44, when I resigned and went out to Cambria to help my father on the farm, Chauncey Wolcott taking my place in the office.
The post-office in 1842 was in a small one story white building on Canal street, just east of the Grand, where is now the grocery store owned by Mr. Smith, and in 1843 the post-office was moved into a brick building next east of the old Eagle Tavern,
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where the Grand now stands. The first news stand in the city was opened in the front hall or porch of the post-office that season by Lockhart R. Carswell, a Scotch- man, who slept under his counter the first year and afterwards moved up on Main street. As there was no railroads at that time, the mails were carried only by stages on the different routes. Mr. Isaac Dole and his son, the late Daniel E. Dole, in connection with a man in Brockport, ran a line of tally-ho coaches with four horses daily each way on the Ridge Road between here and Rochester. Another line with covered wagon went the canal route to Rochester daily each way ; another line daily each way from here to Batavia; also one to Buffalo, the Falls, and Lewiston; other side mails once or twice a week. When the roads was good the mails all got in be- fore night; but with bad roads they came at all times of night and left very early in the morning. I did all the work alone in the office except occasionally an hour or two a day by the postmaster. The rates of postage were then 5, 61, 10, 121, 182 and 25 cents each, according to distance, and each letter or as many as was going to one place, had to have a bill made out and entered in the book and the package done up separately and plainly directed, and each package received, when opened, the bill accompanying it had to be entered in an account book for that purpose. The mail used to average about 150 to 175 letters daily ; occasionally 200 each way, besides, a large amount of papers, daily and weekly. Even that number of letters, with the form of keeping the accounts and waiting on delivery, kept one clerk very busy.
The year 1886 saw the completion and opening of what Lockport citizens usually term " the big bridge," which superseded the old structure which had been in use for more than half a century. The new bridge was not secured without a prolonged and energetic effort, and upon its completion its opening was inaugurated with one of the largest and most enthusiastic celebrations ever held in the place. This occurred on the 2d of September, 1886. A great crowd, two or three brass bands, lavish illumination and fire-works and many speeches from prominent men were features of the event. A platform was erected on the bridge on which were Mayor Spalding, Aldermen Crosby, McGrath, Heary, Ashford, Darrison and Gaskill, with A. Stewart Gooding, M. C. Richardson, O. W. Cutler, H S Servoss, W. W. Henry, L. P. Gordon, Richard Crowley, W. C. Olmsted, J. A. Ward, John G. Freeman, Henry Hueshoff, Joseph Rainor, D. F. Stevens, T. M. McGrath, Wil- liam E. Tuttle, A. R. Brooks, George F. Smith. Col. W. E. Palmer was master of ceremonies. After introductory remarks by Colonel Palmer the following preamble and resolutions were adopted :
WHEREAS, The structure lately within the city of Lockport called by its citizens the "Big Bridge," which for more than half a century has carried in safety the traffic of the town and afforded to the citizens of the County of Niagara a public market for their produce, has now been replaced by a better and more durable one of like char-
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acter and capacity, of design and detail most satisfactory and pleasing to our citizens, in that its similarity of form and uses to the one which it replaces, affords us a guar- antee that one of the valued landmarks of our city is not to be obliterated, but that it shall stand to bear the weight of a thriving and progressive community in the future as it has in the past sustained the steps of those who formed the nucleus and basis of a city destined by its natural advantages and the public spirit of almost all of its citizens to become one of the fairest and most prosperous in the Empire State; and
WHEREAS, The erection and completion of the present structure was obtained through the intelligent efforts in that behalf of certain public officers, both State and local, and we are desirous of expressing in some public manner our acknowledgment of the service they performed; therefore,
Resolved, That the citizens of the City of Lockport are under obligations for the aid and encouragement afforded the enterprise by Hon. Elnathan Sweet, state engi- neer; Hon. James Shanahan, superintendent of public works, and Mr. Horace H. Servoss, superintendent of locks at Lockport; and hereby assure them individually of our appreciation of their public spirit and good judgment.
Resolved, That the thanks of our citizens are particularly due to Hon. Edward C. Walker, State senator from this district; Hon. Lewis P. Gordon and Hon. Peter A. Porter, members of assembly from Niagara county, for action and zealous effort in behalf of the enactment which secured an appropriation for this work sufficient in amount to ensure the proper and satisfactory completion of it.
Resolved, That the citizens of Lockport, contemplating the skill and good judg- ment of the State officers having control of the erection of bridges over the Erie Canal, as displayed in the form and convenience of the structure now completed, are led most earnestly to hope and believe that the design for a high truss bridge over said canal at Cottage street, in this city, may be changed so as to correspond to that of the one upon which we now stand, and thus a most serious obstruction to view and travel be obviated, and the well-earned reputations of those officials for sound and practical administration of the affairs of the canal be sustained.
D. F. STEVENS,
T. M. MCGRATH, Committee on Resolutions.
Hon. Richard Crowley was the first speaker and gave a brief history of the old bridge, stating that when the canal was first built, sixty five years earlier, it was bridged with logs, and that a few years later the bridge demolished to make way for the new one was erected. Other addresses were made by M. C. Richardson, L. P. Gordon and others with music at intervals. The exercises closed with a display of fireworks.
Lockport had a fire service before its incorporation as a village in 1829, and before the organization of the department was effected Lyman A. Spalding purchased a rotary engine, which he named Tus- carora, and for which a company was subsequently organized. It re-
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quired sixteen men to operate this engine and it was soon displaced by the Niagara. The company for the Tuscarora was formed soon after the incorporation of the village, with John G. Gustin foreman. The first hook and ladder company was organized in 1833. In 1836 a com- pany was formed in the Lower Town with the name of Tuscarora No. 2, with William Dixon foreman. Some years later Osceola Engine Company No. I was organized and continued until 1873, when it was reorganized as Spalding Hose Company No. I and still exists. At about the same time that Osceola Company was organized another was formed with the title of Rescue Engine Company No 3 ; this company was disbanded in 1868, and Washington Hose Company No. 2 was or- ganized from it and is now in existence. In 1853 Tuscarora Company No. 2 was reorganized and became De Witt Clinton Engine Company. Protection Hook and Ladder Company was organized in 1863 with thirty-five members. Hydrant Hose Company No. I was organized in November, 1865, and Washington Hose Company No 2 in January, 1868. The present department comprises Active Hose Company No. 5 (formerly Active Engine Company and organized in 1878) ; De Witt Clinton Hose No. 6; Hydrant Hose No. 1; Spalding Hose No. 3 ; Washington Hose No. 2, and Protection Hook and Ladder Company No. I.
Chief Engineers of the Fire Department .- The Board of Trustees of Lockport on May 13, 1829, was composed of Joel McCollum, presi- dent ; Levi Taylor, Levi F. Bounds, Joshua Driscoll, James F. Mason, and Henry K. Hopkins, clerk. It was ordered that sixteen firemen and sixteen hook and ladder men be appointed. George W. Rogers was appointed chief engineer, and a small engine was purchased at a cost of $650. The list of chiefs and dates of service from 1829 to 1897 as far as known is given below :
George W. Rogers, 1826, 1831, 1832, 1833 and 1849; Lewis Godard, 1830-31; Ben- jamin Carpenter, 1833-38; B. S. Pease, 1838, 1839, 1846; Isaac Dole, 1840-41; Robert White, 1850; John Jenney, 1850-52; Alexander Eastman, 1852-53; Dudley Don- nelly, 1853-61; L. Austin Spalding, 1855-58; B. H. Fletcher, 1861-62; Joseph T. Bellah, 1862-63; John E. Mack, 1863-64; M. Dempsey, 1864-65; James Jackson, jr., 1865; Henry F. Cady, 1865-67; L, W. Bristol, 1867-69 and 1874-76; William Spald- ing, 1869-74 and 1878-79; Robert Madden, 1876-77 and 1890-91; John Hodge, 1877- 78; H. D. McNeil, 1879-80; William E. Jenney, 1880-81; Max Starck, 1881-82; H. K. Wicker, 1882-91; H. L. Cleveland, 1891-93; C. E. Carnall, 1893; Dr. William E. Jenney, 1897.
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List of Fire Organizations of Lockport from 1829 .- Niagara Fire Company No.
1, organized December 25, 1834.
Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, organized September 18, 1834.
Tuscarora Fire Engine Company No. 2, organized November 28, 1838.
Protection Fire Engine Company No. 1, organized 1850.
Osceola Fire Engine Company No. 1, organized September $7, 1860.
Rescue Fire Engine Company No. 3, organized February 23, 1852.
Bucket Company, organized December 20, 1852.
De Witt Clinton Fire Engine Company No. 2, organized 1854, from Tuscarora Company above named.
Protection Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, organized June 15, 1863, from Hook and Ladder Company No. 1.
Hydrant Hose Company No. 1, organized November 24, 1865, first hose company in the State to use hydrants of the Holly Water Works system.
Washington Hose Company No. 2, organized January 27, 1868, from Niagara Fire Engine Company No. 1 and Rescue Engine Company No. 3.
Spalding Hose Company No. 3, organized May 26, 1873, from Protection Fire Company No. 1 and Osceola Company No. 1.
Active Hose Company No. 5, incorporated, organized February 5, 1878.
De Witt Clinton Hose Company No. 6, organized April 1, 1879, from De Witt Clinton Engine Company No. 2.
The Exempt Firemen's Association of Lockport was organized De- cember 16, 1893, with the following officers : H. K. Wicker, president ; T. James McMaster, vice president; Charles F. Foley, secretary ; John R. Mahaney, treasurer ; H. L. Cleveland, marshal; Charles B. Long, Charles E. Carnall, trustees ; Richard Smith, steward.
The object of the association is stated as the promotion of friendly and social intercourse, to provide a headquarters for the transaction of all business connected with the association, together with a reading room where the members may meet and renew their old-time friend- ship, to collect and preserve relics, pictures and implements used in olden times, and to provide for and establish a mutual aid or funeral fund for the benefit of its members. Only such persons as served as firemen of the late volunteer fire department can become members.
On the Ist of January, 1897, this association had 174 members, and the following are the present officers: President, George W. Mann ; vice-president, W. R. Scott; treasurer, J. R. Mahaney ; financial secre- tary, Fred R. Oliver ; marshal, W. J. Quinlan ; steward, Richard Smith. The association has just purchased a building at a cost of $3,000 which will be used for general club purposes.
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The water supply of Lockport had its inception in a reservoir on the site of the later American Hotel, the water being pumped into it by a pump which Lyman A. Spalding had procured to use in case of fire in his early mill. From the reservoir the water flowed by gravity. This inadequate establishment did not long suffice. Fires were frequent and many of them were destructive in spite of the efforts of firemen. This condition of affairs led Birdsall Holly, whose name became famous in connection with his system of supplying water to communities, to turn his attention to devising a remedy. As a result of his genins the Lock- port Water Works were constructed in 1864, by a company organized for such undertakings. The system, as now well known, consists briefly in setting up pumping machinery to raise water to a sufficient height and to supply it under pressure, and so regulated by the pressure of the water in the mains that the machinery will respond to the demand. About 6,000 feet of pipe were laid in the village (then soon to become a city) and twenty-seven hydrants were set, the highest of which was seventy-two feet above the pumping station. The machinery was pro- pelled by a turbine wheel under a head of nineteen feet. The contract between the village and the Holly Company stipulated that from a hy- drant fifty feet above the pumping station a stream could be thrown through one hundred feet of hose one hundred feet high. At the test the stream was thrown 175 feet under those conditions, and the works were promptly accepted. In 1882 the water works were taken under municipal control. About twenty four miles of mains are now in use, with one pump of 3,000,000 and one of 5,000,000 gallons daily capacity. George H. Drake was the first superintendent, and was succeeded by R. J. Sterrett. The present superintendent is B Burroughs who as- sumed the office in 1893.
THE LOCKPORT PRESS .- The history of newspapers in Lockport furnishes an illustration of the consequences of changed business and industrial conditions, frequently enabling new communities to spring up and outstrip older and apparently more permanent ones. A news- paper was born in Lewiston many years before Lockport was more than a canal settlement ; but it was soon removed to the younger com- munity. The Niagara Democrat was started in Lewiston in 1821, by Bartemus Ferguson; but in the ensuing winter some of the enterpris-
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ing citizens of Lockport purchased the printing office, removed it to their little village and the editor with it. The name of the paper was at the same time changed to The Lockport Observatory. In August, 1822, the establishment passed to possession of Orasmus Turner, who for about thirty years thereafter was prominently identified with Niag- ara county journalism.1 Meanwhile, another paper, the Lewiston Sen - tinel, was started in Lewiston in 1822 by James O. Dailey. It soon passed into the hands of Oliver Grace, who read the signs of the times and also removed it to Lockport, changing the name to the Niagara Sentinel. In 1828, for business reasons, the Observatory and the Sen- tinel were consolidated and published with the name of the Democrat and Sentinel. In the same year the establishment was purchased by Peter Besancon, who changed the name of the paper to the Lockport Journal. In 1829 another change of name was made to the Lockport Balance.
In 1833 the Lockport Gazette was started by Pierpont Baker, and one year later the two papers were consolidated and issued as the Lockport Balance and Gazette; the last part of the title was soon dropped and the Balance was published a short time by D. C. Coul- ton, and later by T. H. Hyatt. In 1835 Orasmus Turner started a new journal with the name of the Niagara Democrat, and in 1837 purchased the Balance, and continued the publication of the Niagara Democrat and Lockport Balance as one paper ; the last part of the title was soon dropped. Mr. Turner remained as editor and publisher until 1839, when it passed into the hands of Thomas P. Scoville, who continued the publication until 1846. It was then sold to Turner & McCollum, who were succeeded by Ballou & Campbell, who transferred it to its former publisher, Mr. Turner ; he continued the paper until his death in 1855. John Campbell was the next publisher, continuing until 1858, when the establishment was purchased by A. S. Prentiss, who had for about five years been conducting the Lockport Daily Ad- vertiser, a free advertising medium. After purchasing the Democrat he enlarged the Advertiser and continued its daily issue, while the
1 Mr. Turner died on March 21, 1855. It is a historical fact of special importance to printers, that the first "composition " roller in this county was made and used in Mr. Turner's office; the discovery was made in England.
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weekly issue was named the Democrat and Advertiser. In 1860 the establishment was transferred to Gaylord J. Clark.
On April 9, 1859, the Lockport Chronicle was started by S. S. Pom- roy & Co., a weekly, and in the following year the Lockport Daily Union was issued from the same office by the County Democratic Com- mittee. In 1862 a consolidation was effected by the Democrat and Advertiser, and the Chronicle and the Union, the new daily taking the name of the Lockport Daily Union, and the weekly that of the Niag- ara Democrat. At the time of the consolidation Pomroy & Chamber- lain became proprietors and editors. In 1863 Mr. Pomroy retired from the business, and in the next year Mr. Chamberlain sold out to Henry E. Shaft, who had already begun the publication of the Lock- . port Bee, which was then merged with the Union and Democrat. Mr. Shaft soon transferred the establishment to Wolcott & Chamberlain, who continued until June, 1867, when Mr. Chamberlain sold his inter- est to R. M. Skeels; in 1876 he bought Wolcott's interest also. On the Ist of October, 1876, a stock company was formed, for the pub- lication of the paper, with John Hodge, president ; James Jackson, jr., treasurer, and Mr. Skeels remained as editor. Early in the eighties O. W. Cutler acquired a controlling interest in the company stock and continued in the management of the business until 1895, when Fred W. Corson became an equal partner with him. At the same time the plant and papers of the Lockport Sun Company were taken into the Union Company. In February, 1896, Mr. Cutler's interest was ac- quired by Walter P. Horne, and in July, 1897, the business was incor- porated and the present organization effected as follows: Walter P. Horne, president ; Fred W. Corson, treasurer and manager ; George S. Palmer, secretary.
The Lockport Daily Sun, referred to above, was founded by Messrs. M. H. Hoover and Fred Relyea, June 19, 1891. The plant was located on Market street. After the paper had been published a few months Mr. Relyea between two days quietly slipped away and has never since returned. On May 30, 1892, the paper and plant passed into the hands of Democratic politicians, under the company name of the Sun Print- ing and Publishing Company, William C. Greene, president ; F. H. Pomroy, secretary ; A. E. Hoyt, treasurer and managing editor, and
FRED W. CORSON.
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C. N. Seabury, business manager. It was proving to be a most suc- cessful party rival of the Democratic Lockport Daily Union, and that concern thought it policy to buy up the Sun, and subsequently did so, as related above.
On May 1, 1827, M. Cadwallader began the publication of the Ni- agara Courier, and was succeeded for a short time by George Reese, who sold to Hon. T. T. Flagler. Under his direction the paper was successful. In 1843 it was purchased by Crandall & Brigham, who transferred it to David S. Crandall. In 1847 he began the issue of a daily, the first of a permanent character in the village. In 1851 the es- tablishment was sold to C. L. Skeels and John Williams. In 1846 Robert H. Stevens began the publication of the Niagara Cataract, which he soon sold to Humphrey & Fox; they were succeeded by Charles J. Fox, who continued until June, 1851, when Moses C. Rich- ardson, who had been for three preceding years editorially associated with the Courier, purchased the plant of the Cataract for the purpose of using the material on a Free Soil paper. With additions to the material he started the Lockport Journal in June, 1851. The paper was liberally received, and in 1852, at the solicitation of his friends, Mr. Richardson began publishing the Lockport Daily Journal. It was an up-hill struggle for a few years, on account of the limited population of the district. In 1852 Cornelius Underwood, a practical printer, ac- quired an interest in the business. He had no capital and was soon discouraged with his prospects and retired. Mr. Richardson continued alone and in 1853 introduced the first power printing press to the vil- lage. In November, 1854, the establishment was nearly ruined by the great fire. Undismayed, Mr. Richardson purchased new material and continued the issue of the paper, and in course of time the estab- lishment was placed upon a secure basis. In the year (1851) that Skeels and Williams purchased the Niagara Courier, as before stated, S. S. Pomroy assumed its editorship, and in 1855 became its owner. In 1857 John G. Freeman acquired an interest in the office and a little later became sole owner. The Courier and the Journal now occupied substantially the same political field and the friends of each urged a consolidation. Accordidgly in February, 1859, the two were united by the firm of Richardson & Freeman, the daily issue being called the
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