USA > New York > Erie County > Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1) > Part 33
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Lucius Gould, $100, Townsend & Coit, $1,000,
Hiram Pratt, $200. Moses Baker, $200, A. Palmer, $100, Erastus Gilbert, $100, J. E. Marshall, $100, R. B. Heacock, $1,000,
Stephen Clarke, $100, Moses Bristol, $100,
Abner Bryant, $250,
H. R. Seymour, $250, Abraham Larzalere, $200, N. Darrow, $25, Robert Bush, $50. S. Matthews, $100,
Timothy Page, $100, J. A. Lazelle, $150, George Stow, $50,
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harbor. Local newspapers boasted that on August 5, 1822, fifteen vessels were moored off Buffalo, and on July 12 of the next year the number had increased to twenty nine.
The construction of the Erie Canal was now well under way. The first work upon it in Erie county was done at Tonawanda. It having been determined to use a part of Tonawanda Creek for the waterway, the canal commissioners contracted with Judge Samuel Wilkeson and Dr. Ebenezer Johnson early in the winter of 1822-23 to construct a dam across that stream near its mouth, and all through the summer of 1823 the work was vigorously prosecuted by a host of laborers. Judge Wilkeson believed that a considerable settlement would eventually gather at that point and he opened the first store there. Soon after- ward Albert H. Tracy, Charles Townsend and a few other citizens of Buffalo purchased a tract of land and laid it out in village lots and streets. That was the beginning of Tonawanda village. On the 9th of August, 1823, actual excavation on the canal itself in this county was commenced near the site of the Commercial street bridge in Buf- falo, on which occasion there was the customary celebration and speech-making. Behind the plows of the contractors followed a pro- cession with bands of music, while cannon were fired at intervals. "Then," says the published account, "they partook of a beverage furnished by the contractor." The work on the western section of the canal went rapidly forward and before the close of 1824 it was nearly finished within the limits of this county. Little remained to be done excepting the cut through the rocky mountain ridge at Lockport; this was completed in the fall of 1825 and the event was signalized by a grand celebration, in which the people of Erie county took a promi- nent part. In the evening of the 24th of October the filling of the Lake Erie level of the canal was begun and in twenty four hours there- after the whole waterway was open for travel. De Witt Clinton was again in the governor's chair at Albany, though his political opponents had succeeded in securing his removal from the office of canal commis- sioner. As it was well known that he had been foremost in creating the canal system of New York, a wave of popular indignation swept over the State, and Mr. Clinton was elected in the fall of 1824 by a large majority.1
' The Democratic party was divided and a new political organization, called the People's party. was formed, which carried several counties in the fall of 1833. Its strength was greatly in- creased by the exhibition of enmity towards Clinton by the Legislature. Intense indignation was created throughout the State, with the result above noted.
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FROM 1821 TO 1825.
On the evening of October 25, 1825, Governor Clinton and a large party of distinguished men from New York and Albany arrived in Buffalo. On the following morning a salvo of artillery awakened the echoes of the village and soon the place was alive with joyful enthu- siasm. At 9 o'clock a procession marched down Main street, led by Captain Rathbun's rifle company and bands of music. The rear was brought up by a carriage in which sat Governor Clinton, the hero of the time, and then the foremost man in the Empire State. The pro- cession marched to the canal basin, where the governor and his friends went on board the canal boat, Seneca Chief, which an hour later started on its long voyage to the Hudson River. The moment of its departure was announced by firing a 32 pounder cannon; other guns were sta- tioned along the canal at convenient intervals, which, one after the other, repeated this shot and thus soon carried the news of the start- ing of the Seneca Chief to Albany. The procession then returned to the court house, where Sheldon Smith delivered an oration, devoted chiefly to an exposition of the probable benefits of the canal to Erie county. Public dinners were given at Rathbun's Eagle Hotel and Lan- don's Mansion House, which were followed by a ball in the evening. A committee of Buffalo citizens accompanied the canal boat to New York, whence they brought a keg of water from the ocean; this was taken on a vessel a short distance out in the lake by a committee of citizens, where, after speeches and congratulations, the ocean brine was mingled with the clear waters of Lake Erie.
The State census was taken in June, 1825, and showed the population of Erie county to be 24, 316, of which number Buffalo contained 2,412. This census entitled the county to two members of assembly.
It was at about this time that the Holland Land Company adopted a new system of collecting payments for land, under which they accepted stock and produce instead of cash. Numerous agents were appointed who gave notice of where they would be at certain dates to receive cattle and farm products and give credit for them on contracts. This change was of great benefit to the settlers, but was a source of large ex- pense to the company in maintaining the agencies and disposing of re- ceipts.
There is little more of importance to record in the history of the county from the time of its formation until the close of 1825.
Sometime in the year 1821 a new post-office was opened at East Ham-
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burg, with Lewis Arnold postmaster, and one at Wales, with William A. Burt postmaster. The latter had previously opened a small store of goods in his dwelling. In the fall Joseph Ellicott, the founder of Buffalo, resigned the agency of the Holland Company's land, which he had held for twenty-one years. Dissatisfaction had arisen in the latter part of his administration, based chiefly upon the difficulty encountered by many of the settlers in keeping up payments on their farms. This may have influenced Mr. Ellicott in his course. While his mind was clear, he had given evidence of hypochondria which five years later led to insanity and suicide-a pathetic end to such a career as his. He was succeeded in the agency by Jacob S. Otto.
The adoption of the new constitution, which went into effect in 1822, changed the time of election from April to November. Judge Oliver Forward had been elected to the State Senate in the spring of 1821, but neither of the assemblymen was from Erie county. Under the new constitution sheriffs and county clerks were made elective by the people, the term of each office being three years. District attorneys and justices of the peace were appointed by the judges of the Court of Common Pleas and the Boards of Supervisors acting conjointly. All other judicial officers were appointed by the governor and Senate.
New post-offices were opened in 1822 in this county at Holland, with Lyman Clark postmaster; in Collins (Taylor's Hollow), named Angola, with the veteran Jacob Taylor postmaster; at Eden, with the name Evans, John M. Welch postmaster; the name of this latter office and that of one previously opened in Evans, called Eden, were soon trans- posed, giving each of these towns an office with the name of the town in which it was situated. Sometime in the winter of 1822-23 a post- office was opened in Clarence on the site of the present village of Lan- caster (then included in Clarence), with the name Cayuga Creek, and and with Thomas Gross postmaster. In the same year (1822) the three post-offices then in the town of Hamburg, being doubtless considered too many, with the names East Hamburg, Smithville, and Barkersville, were all discontinued, and a new one opened at Abbott's Corners, called Hamburg; the old office with the latter name was doubtless dis- continued a little earlier. An office was opened also before the close of 1822 at West Clarence, of which Simeon Fillmore was postmaster.
On March 27, 1823, two new towns were created from Clarence -- Alden and Erie. The former included its present area, with the nom- inal addition of a part of the reservation opposite. The name of Erie
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was changed to Newstead April 18, 1831.' This was an important town in early years, especially that part known as the Vandeventer neighborhood, which was a center of considerable political influence. There Judge Archibald S. Clarke was the leader, and James Cronk and William Mills were prominent. At the time of the formation of this town there was a large amount of travel through it, the old stages fre- quently being loaded with passengers on their way to Buffalo, whence they took steamers up the lakes. John S. Ball succeeded Judge Clarke as storekeeper on the Buffalo road and probably kept the largest stock of goods in the county outside of Buffalo; Mr. Ball was made post- master in the new town of Erie soon after its formation, and opened an office with that name. Indications pointed to the founding of a prosperous village at that place, but there was no water power, and the land purchase of the Ogden Company in 1826, as noted farther on, changed the aspect of the matter.
On June 4, 1825, an event took place in Buffalo which had been pleasantly anticipated for several days. Captain Vosburg's cavalry and Capt. Rathbun's Frontier Guard were kept under arms during that time, awaiting the arrival of the steamboat Superior. When the vessel came up to the dock the venerable figure of the distinguished patriot, General La Fayette, who was then making a tour of the country as the guest of this nation, stepped ashore amid the cheers of the assembled multitude. He was escorted by the military to Rathbun's Hotel, where he was publicly welcomed in an address by Judge Forward, to which La Fayette responded. The village was illuminated in his honor in the evening, and on the following morning he departed for Niagara Falls, escorted as far as Black Rock by the military and citizens.
It was in the years 1824-5 that occurred the extraordinary and amus- ing experience of Mordecai M. Noah and his co-operators in an attempt to found a great city on Grand Island, to be peopled mainly by Jews, of which race Noah was a prominent representative. The whole affair resulted in an early and ludicrous failure, the account of which is left for the Gazetteer of Towns in later chapters of this volume.
Considerable advancement was made in public improvements in vari- ous parts of the county during the period under consideration. On the 15th of March, 1822, Elijah Leech, Pascal P. Pratt and Benjamin W. Pratt were authorized by act of Legislature to build a toll bridge
! It will be remembered that the county had another town named Erie, erected in 1804, which became extinct,
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
over Buffalo Creek at about the point where they had previously oper- ated a ferry. They were empowered to erect a gate at one end of the bridge and collect a system of tolls of which the following is a part: " 1834 cents for all double teams, for every coach, coachee, phaeton, or curricle with two horses; 3712 cents for sulkeys, chaises, two- wheeled pleasure carriages, etc .; 1834 cents for one-horse wagons; 9 cents for horses rode or led;" etc. The act provided that no other bridge should be built across the creek between its mouth and a point one mile above the bridge authorized. In the next year (1823) a num- ber of citizens were authorized to build a toll bridge over Eighteen- mile Creek in the town of Hamburg, under similar conditions.
On April 23, 1823, Stephen Griswold, Daniel H. Dana and William Mills were appointed by the Legislature as commissioners to lay out a road four rods wide, "beginning at a point in the north bounds of the Great Buffalo 10ad three quarters of a mile west of the division between the counties of Genesee and Erie, and running thence westwardly through the Tonawanta village to intersect the Grand Canal."
An act of the Legislature, passed March 17, 1824, authorized Charles Townsend, Elisha C. Hickox, George Coit, Sheldon Thompson and Benjamin Barton to build a toll bridge "over Tonawanta Creek at or near the place where the ferrry is now kept by Peter Taylor." Col- lection of tolls was provided for under regulations similar to those be- fore given. In this immediate connection an act of the Legislature, passed April 16, 1825, authorized William Williams to establish a ferry from the south side of Tonawanda Creek across the Niagara River to Grand Island. The same act gave James Sweeney the right to estab- lish a similar ferry from the north side of the mouth of the creek to the island.
The murder of John Love, in the town of Boston, by the so-called Three Thayers, was committed early in 1825. The Thayers consisted of the father and three sons; all three of the sons were convicted of the crime and were hung in public in the presence of 20,000 to 30,000 people on the 7th of June.
The population of Buffalo has been stated as 2,412 in 1825. The rapid increase after the settlement of the canal and harbor matters is shown by the comparative statement that the whole town in 1820, with Black Rock included, of course, contained only 2,095 population. At that time most of the business of Buffalo village was transacted between
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FROM 1821 TO 1825.
Exchange street and the park in front of the court house. Interspersed among the stores and shops of Main street were many dwellings, and others were scattered along Ellicott, Washington, Pearl, and Franklin streets. What is now the great northeastern section of the city was then low ground which had not been even tilled. Not far out Genesee street a log causeway made the road passable and black berries were abundant there. The irregular line of the forest approached within from forty to one hundred rods of Main street as far southward as Cold Spring, and to near the line of Virginia street on Delaware. Compared with this description of the place in 1820 we have a clear picture of the Buffalo of 1825 in a pamphlet published by S. Ball in that year, from which the following is taken :
There are at present between 400 and 500 buildings including dwellings, houses, stores and mechanics' shops; and according to the census taken in January last, there were 2,412 inhabitants, which is 317 more than the whole township of Buffalo, including the village of Black Rock, contained in the year 1820, according to the census then taken. Black Rock now contains 1,039 inhabitants.
Among the population there are four clergymen, seventeen attorneys, nine physi- cians, three printers, who give employment to ten hands; two bookbinders, four do .; four goldsmiths, three do; three tin and coppersmiths, sixteen do .; seven black- smiths, seventeen do .; two cabinet makers, ten do; three wheelwrights and coach- builders, ten do .; two chair makers, five do .; one cooper, three do .; three hatters, eight do. ; two tanners and curriers, nine do. ; five boot and shoemakers, thirty-five do .; two painters, five do; four tailors, twenty do .; one manufacturer of tobacco, two do .; fifty-one carpenters and joiners, nineteen masons and stone cutters, three butchers and one brush maker. . There are twenty-six dry goods stores, thirty-six groceries, three hat stores, seven clothing, do. ; four druggist do. ; one hard- ware do; six shoe do. ; one looking glass do. ; three jewelry do. ; three printing offices, two book stores and binderies, eleven houses of public entertainment, one rope walk, three tanneries, one brewery, one livery stable, eight store houses, one custom house, one reading room, one post office, one public library, one masonic hall, and one theater situated on lot No. 15, which has been conducted during the past year with a very . considerable degree of ability. The public buildings consist of a brick court house, a very handsome designed building. but remains unfinished, situated upon an emi- nence on the east side of North Onondaga [Washington] street, fronting Cazenovia [Court] street and is on the most commanding ground in the village. A stone Gaol, standing on lot No. 185. A market house situated at the head of Stadnitzka avenue. The market is well supplied as most country villages. . . The Niagara Bank is a large brick building, situated on North Onondaga, between Swan and Eagle streets. The Buffalo Insurance office is a large, well-finished, three-story brick building, on lot No. 35, Willink avenue. An Episcopal church, built of wood, a good sized and well-finished edifice, standing on lot 42. A Presbyterian Meeting House, a very commodious building, situated on lot 43. And a convenient Methodist Chapel, on lot No. 83. There is one Young Ladies' school, one Young Gentlemen's Academy,
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and four common schools. The lots Nos. 108, 109, 111, and 112 are occupied for a burying ground. The space left blank in the plan is lands owned and reserved by Joseph Ellicott, Esq. There are five religious congregations-one Episcopalian, one Presbyterian, one Methodist, one Baptist, and one Universalist. Among the societies and institutions, there are five religious, two masonic, one Library, one Banking and one Insurance. There are four weekly newspapers, to wit: The Buffalo Patriot, established in 1811; the Buffalo Journal, established in 1815; the Gospel Ad- vocate, established in 1823; the Buffalo Emporium, established in 1824.
The buildings in the village are principally of wood, and not very compact, with the exception of Willink avenue; this street is filled up, and is the most business part of the town. Van Staphorst avenue is built upon much beyond the extent of the map accompanying this work, and is the principal street that is traveled in passing from east to west. The streets leading along the creeks, (which have not yet been favored even with a Dutch name) may be seen in thesummer season, to exhibit a bustle and hurry of business, not unlike a seaport ; . these streets are well built, with extensive and commodious warehouses, and capacious docks, where the shipping lies undisturbed and in perfect safety.
Mr. Ball's valuable pamphlet then records, among other evidences of growth and advancement, the existence of six different mail routes leading to and from the village, with nine regular lines of stages arriv- ing and leaving every day and ample accommodations for travelers.
The view for the accompanying engraving of Buffalo harbor, which is copied from the pamphlet, was taken from the Terrace. The fore- ground shows the Erie Canal, then in a somewhat unfinished condition, from a point near the line of Erie street to near the Little Buffalo Creek, above the Commercial street bridge; thence is shown the bed of Little Buffalo Creek to the Big Buffalo Creek. At the left is seen the point on which was afterwards erected the warehouse of Joy & Web- ster. The small building on the extreme left was in Prime street. The next one is the "old red warehouse," as it was called, which was occupied by Townsend & Coit; and below it two buildings standing in and near the foot of Commercial street. Farther down the harbor is seen a cluster of small buildings, then standing on the Johnson & Wilkeson lot. Next and near the center of the view is the warehouse then occupied by Hiram Pratt and Asa B. Meech. The next and last building on the right is the smaller warehouse used by Sheldon Thompson & Co. Between the canal and the buildings was then an open field.1
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' In the year 1876 O. H. Marshall received a letter from Hon. Gideon J. Ball, in which was given a brief description of the production of the plates copied herein. He wrote : "S. Ball was not an engraver - never claimed to be but with a pencil he sketched well and cleverly. After the completion of his drawings, he corresponded with engravers in the city of New York, and to
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VIEW OF BUFFALO HARBOR -- FROM COLDEN'S MEMOIR, 1826.
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BUFFALO VILLAGE FROM THE LIGHT HOUSE-FROM COLDEN'S MEMOIR, 1826.
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VIEW OF BUFFALO HARBOR -- FROM COLDEN'S MEMOIR, 1826.
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BUFFALO VILLAGE FROM THE LIGHT HOUSE-FROM COLDEN'S MEMOIR, 1826.
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The theater alluded to in Mr. Ball's pamphlet was known as the Buffalo Theater and was built in 1821-22; it stood on Main street about opposite the Eagle tavern; it was advertised to rent from January, 1822, with four changes of scenery, by S. H. Salisbury. It was pur- chased not long afterward by Walden & Moseley. In 1823 Rev. J. Bradley taught a classical school there, while in 1826 we find notice of its use again as a theater and the production of Richard III.' There are many minor places of amusement in the city that do not call for particular notice here.
Mr. Ball neglected to notice the formation of a regular fire company, which took place December 16, 1824. An engine had previously been procured, but the chief dependence for fire extinguishment was the buckets, ladders, etc., which property owners were compelled to pro- vide. The fire company of 1824 was made up of the following mem- bers: George B. Webster, Hiram Johnson, George B. Gleason, Ebene- zer Johnson, Henry Fales, Guy H. Goodrich, Barent I. Staats, Na-
his surprise found their charges so high and the difficulties of distance so great, that for a time he was disposed to give up his hobby. After reflection, he resolved to do the work himself. Cop- per was procured ; the plates were hammered to firmness, and by infinite rubbing, their surfaces were finished so that they presented polished planes. Mr. Ball then set himself to the work and by persevering effort, succeeded in transferring to the copper the pictures he had drawn." After the plates were engraved Mr. Ball was astonished to learn in the office of the Patriot that they could not be printed on an ordinary printing press. After investigation of the subject of copper plate printing, he constructed a roller press mainly of wood, made his own ink, and succeeded in making very good impressions of his work.
1 There was no regular theater in the city after the one here described until the building of the old Eagle Street Theater, which was erected in 1885 by Albert Brisbane, for Dean & McKin- ney. This was long a noted place of amusement and for nearly twenty years all traveling com- panies, of any pretensions, occupied it. This theater was opened on the night of July 20. 1895, with " The Hunchback," and "Katherine and Petruchio." The Eagle Street Theater was burned in June, 1852. Lola Montez appeared on the stage on the previous night before a small audience and was hissed. She was greatly incensed at her cold reception and before morning the theater was in ruins. This led to a suspicion that she was responsible for the burning of the building ; but such was probably not the case, as the theater had twice been on fire previous to that. What
was called the Buffalo Theater was in use by a Mr. Duffy, who came from Albany in 1835, on the corner of Washington and South Division streets. A new Eagle Street Theater was built on the site of the first one by the Brisbanes, corner of Washington and Eagle streets ; it was opened Sep- tember 1, 1852. In the same year the Metropolitan Theater was completed by H. T. Meech, and opened October 15 of that year, under lease to C. T. Smith, when Anna Cora Mowatt appeared in "The Honeymoon." This theater became the well-known Academy of Music, situated on the east side of Main street, and was long managed by John H. and Henry L. Meech, sons of the origi- nal owners. The so-called Buffalo Opera House was built by the Brisbanes in 1861-2, and subse- quently was called the Adelphi ; it acquired considerable popularity under management of Dan. Shelby. Wahle's Opera House, on Court street, between Pearl and Franklin, was erected in 1882 and was opened on the 12th of October of that year ; this is now the Court Street Theater. The Lyceum Theater, Washington street, near Lafayette Square, was erected and opened in 1886, as the Grand Opera House, by Joseph Bork. The Star Theater is now the leading place of amuse- ment in Buffalo; it is situated on the corner of Pearl and Mohawk streets and was built in 12 by E. Levi, and opened on December 24 of that year.
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