Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1), Part 37

Author: Truman C. White
Publication date: 1898
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017

USA > New York > Erie County > Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1) > Part 37

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Lakeside Cemetery, comprising about 250 acres, is situated near Athol Springs in the town of Hamburg, and was opened in 18.5.

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only. The Anti-Masonic movement had now passed its zenith. In the fall of 1832 (the year of Jackson's second election as president) Millard Fillmore was elected to Congress from the Thirtieth District, and William Mills and Horace Clark, the two Erie county members of assembly, were re-elected. Mr. Fillmore was then only thirty-two years old and had rapidly risen to an honorable official station within the nine years since he began the practice of law.

Erie county was beginning to profit to an annually increasing ex- tent from the tide of immigration that was rolling westward, the ship- ment by canal of the large quantities of goods and merchandise of all kinds that accompanied the influx of population, and the constantly gaining shipments of grain from the West that found its way into the boats of the canal at Buffalo. Crowds of immigrants, Yankees, Ger- mans and Irish, pressed on westward, most of them at that time pass- ing on beyond the bounds of Erie county, but a considerable number, particularly of the Germans, stopping here to join their countrymen who had preceded them.

Canal commerce which, from the opening of the waterway to about 1830, was in its primitive stage,' was rapidly extended during the five or six years after the disappearance of the cholera. In 1832-3 the for- warding and commission merchants of Buffalo and the lines they rep- resented were as follows: Townsend, Coit & Co., and Thompson & Co., Troy and Erie line; Joy & Webster, Pilot line; Pratt, Taylor & Co., Washington line; Richard Sears, James L. Barton, Western line; Smith & Macy, New York and Ohio line; Baker & Holt, Merchants' line; Norton & Carlisle, Hudson and Erie line; Augustus Eaton, Clin- ton line. In 1835 all the wheat, corn and flour received at this port was equivalent to 543,815 bushels. The rapid increase in succeeding years will be found in tables of statistics in a later chapter.

It was at about the time under consideration that President Jackson began his historical warfare on the United States Bank. In the fall of 1833 he withdrew from that institution the deposit of national funds, amounting to about $10,000,000, and the bank was finally closed with far-reaching consequences, both financial and political. The New York Legislature, then strongly Democratic, passed a resolution early

1 James L. Barton, who formed a partnership in the forwarding business with Samuel Wilke- son in 1827, which continued about two years, read a paper before the Historical Society in 1866, in which he stated that, while the firm had a large line of boats on the canal and vessels on the lake, yet freight was so scarce that it was frequently difficult to secure a full boat load, although the boats were small. A few tons would be shipped for Albany, and at Rochester, then the cen- ter of a prolific grain-growing district, the boats would be further laden.

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in 1834 endorsing the president's course. Numerous State banks were chartered, frequently under insufficient guarantees, and the national funds were deposited with them. It was argued that the placing of a vast sum of money in widely separated State banks would be of great benefit to all business interests, through the facility with which loans would be granted. While this was doubtless true, there was at the same time founded an immense credit system and an era of speculation opened which was soon to bring disaster to the whole country.

Money soon became plenty and business of every kind was abnor- mally active. No new enterprise could be brought forward that did not find men ready to put their means and their credit into it. Local works of a public character were inaugurated which gave employment to many persons and contributed to the general feeling of hopefulness. For example, the Buffalo Patriot of February 7, 1832, made the an- nouncement that a "ship canal 80 feet wide and 13 feet deep, across from the harbor, near the outlet of Buffalo creek, to the canal, a dis- tance of 700 yards, was commenced last week, under the superin- tendence of Maj. John G. Camp, and to be completed during the en- suing season. Also, a boat canal, commencing at the Big Buffalo creek, extending to the Little Buffalo creek, a distance of 1,600 feet."

Another local newspaper made the following statement early in 1833 :

No former year since the destruction of Buffalo by the British troops has witnessed so many and such permanent and valuable improvements, as the present. Our com- merce on the lakes is increasing beyond all former example, and the enterprise from merchants finds increased activity and zeal in these new stimulants to exertion.

The first railroad of any kind in Erie county was built in 1833. As an avenue of transportation and travel it was not of great importance, for it extended only from Buffalo to Black Rock and the cars were drawn by horses; but its construction was significant of the rising tide of investment and speculation. The road was completed in December : its cost was about $15,000.' The county clerk's office also was erected in the same year, as more fully described in another place. Prices of all commodities and of real estate began to advance in 1833, and during the succeeding two years a speculative fever seized upon the people, unexampled in its intensity and its universality before or since. Ex-

' The old and spirited rivalry that formerly existed between Buffalo and Black Rock had by this time almost wholly disappeared. At the launching of a new steamer. the General Porter, on November 3, 183, the following toast was given by Dr. Chapin : " Buffalo and Black Rock- one and indivisible ; may their citizens continue to be united in enterprise and deeds of benevolence as long as Lake Erie bears a wave."

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travagance and luxury took the place of prudence and economy, and everybody was blind to the oncoming consequences. Erie county, and especially the city of Buffalo, offered a bountiful field to the sanguine speculator; indeed, all along the lakes lands were acquired, villages laid out and cities projected where common business sanity should have shown they could never have the slightest foundation, except upon paper. In no other city in the country, perhaps, did the real estate speculative mania attain such wide-spread strength as in Buffalo. The causes for this are not difficult to determine. Outside of the busi- ness growth of a legitimate character before mentioned, the popula- tion of the city increased between 1830 and 1835 from 8,653 to 15, 661, or 81 per cent., while in the county at large the growth was from 35,- 719 to 57,594, or 61 per cent. Moreover, far-seeing men were already foretelling the future greatness of the city-a greatness that was to be almost thrust upon her by virtue of her situation and other material advantages.

Land sales became active in and around Buffalo in 1834-35 and the transactions soon represented an enormous sum. In an editorial the Daily Star of December 30, 1835, stated that " there is very little abate- ment of this business in the city, in consequence of the temporary pressure in the money market. In fact real estate seems to be the only article which commands money." The editorial continued upon the subject of recent sales and gradually rising values, and mentioned large investments that had been made in the few previous weeks by men from New York. A few days later the fact was published of the sale by Col. O. H. Dibble of one undivided one-half of his land " ad- joining the South Channel," for $200,000, of which sum he was paid $14,000 in cash. That was the largest sale of land that had then been made in the city. On the 11th of February notice was published of the purchase by Samuel Johnson of thirty-four acres " near the upper end of Main street," at $6,000 an acre advance over what it was sold for in the preceding summer. These are only examples of hundreds of similar operations involving smaller amounts, but all of the same gen- eral character. It has been estimated that during this speculative period more than 25,000 conveyances of land were made here, a large portion of which were for city property; and that the entire amount in- volved in the transactions was nearly or quite $25,000,000. Building operations advanced in sympathy with the general business tone of the community, and during the years 1835 and 1836 it is estimated that the new structures erected cost nearly $3,000,000. At that time Buffalo

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was either blessed or cursed by the citizenship of Benjamin Rathbun, a man whose type has been frequently reproduced in this country in later years. He had successfully conducted the Eagle tavern a number of years, and when the era of flush times dawned he stepped into the front ranks of the most daring speculators, and there he remained until the final crash. He built the American Hotel; he erected a large store building on the east side of Main street, where he carried on a large business; he made contracts of every description involving large sums and soon had thousands of men directly or indirectly in his employ. He laid the foundation of an immense hotel and exchange which was to occupy the square bounded by Main, North Division, South Divi- sion and Washington streets, which was to have a rotunda 260 feet high; and he bought and sold land not alone in Buffalo, but through- out a wide section of territory. It may readily be imagined what an influence for good or evil such a man might exert at such a time.

Early in 1836 the beginning of the end was felt in more or less pressure in the money market. Higher rates of interest began to pre- vail, and soon those who could actually command funds and were so in- clined reaped a harvest of usury. From three to five per cent. a month was paid, and even at those figures there was an unusual demand. This condition is explained by the fact that hundreds of otherwise sane people were led into borrowing money at enormous rates of interest, in the hope that by its use they could realize a share of the great profits that were being made by their neighbors; and thus almost the whole community-capitalists, merchants, manufacturers, lawyers, doctors, and even ministers, were led into the whirpool.

But the ominous pressure of 1836 did not deter Benjamin Rathbun in the slightest degree from carrying on his ambitious schemes. He bought land and laid out a grand city at Niagara Falls, announcing an auction sale of lots for August 2. A crowd of bidders assembled and in the forenoon numerous sales were made. Rathbun was on hand, enthusiastic, beaming and confident as ever; yet at that very day he knew that his forgeries for large sums had been discovered and that he would soon be placed under arrest. David E. Evans discovered in Philadelphia that Rathbun had used his name as endorser on notes for a large amount. Returning to Buffalo Mr. Evans confronted the specu- lator, who thereupon confessed his crime and acknowledged that the paper bearing Mr. Evans's name was only a fraction of what had been forged. An assignment of Rathbun's estate was made for the benefit

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of creditors, but in the mean time he permitted the sale at Niagara Falls to progress to the last.1

The issue of President Jackson's specie circular precipitated the financial crash, and the catastrophe in and around Erie county was hastened and magnified by Rathbun's downfall. Work stopped on all of his contracts and the workmen clamored in mobs for their pay. The assignees made the best of the situation and paid off most of the work- men, though it required nearly the whole of the assets of the estate to do it. The forgeries of the speculator reached nearly a millon dollars. The community was paralyzed. Business men began to fear the finan- cial soundness of their neighbors. Dismal forebodings began to be whispered from one to another. Soon panic reigned. The whole stupendous fabric, based upon credit, built up of speculation, and held together only by dazzling expectation, collapsed and came to the ground, burying hundreds in the ruin. Banks withdrew their accommodations, a general suspension of specie payments followed and bankruptcy pre- vailed everywhere. Prices of land and merchandise that had advanced at rapid strides, came down with even greater speed. The reaction in Buffalo was most severe; fortunes disappeared more rapidly than they had been acquired; mortgages were foreclosed on all sides and land that had been sold at $30 or $40 per foot would not bring as much per acre. Land is known in the city of Buffalo which sold early in 1835 at $ per foot, or about $500 an acre. It was sold and resold in parcels during the speculative period until within twelve months it brought at the rate of $10,000 an acre; the same land sold in 1865 at $18 a foot .?

Recovery from this financial crisis was everywhere slow. Although the blow had been a heavy one in Erie county, it cannot be claimed that its effects were not shaken off sooner than in many localities. The comparatively few strong men of the community, whose foresight had enabled them to escape from the general ruin, now put forth their best efforts to restore confidence and start the wheels of progress. What the local newspapers called a " panic meeting" was held on the evening of May 3, 1837, at which John Lay presided. The assemblage was

' The arrest and trial of Rathbun followed. His brother, Col. Lyman Rathbun, and his nephew, Rathbun Allen, were implicated with him in the crimes; the latter turned State's evidence. Rathbun's trial began in Batavia March 20, 1837, and he was found guilty and sentenced to State prison for five years. He served his term and subsequently engaged in his old business of hotel keeping in various places, finishing in a boarding house in New York, where he died at the age of about eighty years.

2 In 182 Guy H. Salisbury compared the prices of fifty unimproved lots on thirty-seven differ- ent streets, as they were sold in 1836, with their estimated value in the year first named. and found that the selling price of 1836 was more than double the value in 1802.

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addressed by Millard Fillmore and others, and resolutions were adopted to the effect that it was the duty of the citizens to unite with those of other distressed localities to "remove forever the causes and effects so disastrous to the whole community." It does not appear that these wholesome sentiments thus expressed wielded perceptible influence on the existing "hard times"; it is more probable that the meeting had some local political significance. Throughout the whole of the specula- lative period the local Democratic paper had designated the opposing party as "panic Whigs," and denounced all opposition to the adminis- tration then in power.

On the 6th of May, 1837, the banks of Buffalo were served with in- junctions by the chancellor, at the instance of the bank commissioners. While those banks had undoubtedly been, to some extent, embarrassed by the financial disaster, they were well understood to be solvent, and the action of the commissioners was denounced by the citizens of the city as unjust and calculated to still further impair local credit. To dispel this feeling the commissioners announced publicly that the banks were not proceeded against through fears of their insolvency, but that complaints had been made that they had violated their charters in their business methods, and that the notes of the Buffalo banks would be received at par at the offices of all collectors of State revenues.

With the resumption of specie payments in New York city about the middle of May, and similar action by the Buffalo banks soon afterward, with the removal of the injunctions just mentioned in June, confidence was partially restored. A general banking law was passed in 1838 under the influence of which business throughout the State gradually resumed its former activity.

The interest and excitement usually attendant upon a presidential election were almost overshadowed by the universal gloom of the finan- cial and business outlook in 1836. Anti-Masonry had almost ceased to exist as a political factor, and most lodges temporarily disappeared .in this region. Van Buren was elected president and Marcy governor of this State, but Erie county, as usual, went strongly for the opposition, which party had now assumed the title of Whig throughout the coun- try. Millard Fillmore, after two years' retirement, was again elected to Congress, and the increase of population gave this county three members of assembly. In the fall of 1837 William A. Mosely, of Buffalo, was elected State senator in place of Albert H. Tracy, who retired from public life at the early age of forty-four years, after a brilliant career of twenty years,

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EAGLE TAVERN AND ITS SURROUNDINGS IN 1830. Southwest corner of Main and Court Streets. Original in Buffalo Historical Society.

AMERICAN HOTEL, ON THE SITE OF AMERICAN BLOCK. Built by Col. Alanson Palmer about 1836; burned March 10, 1850.

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Although it involves considerable descriptive reference to the city of Buffalo in 1862, we quote the following from the writings of the late Guy H. Salisbury, which draws an interesting comparison between the city on the date mentioned and in 1836:

In 1836 we had less than 16,000 inhabitants. Now we may in round numbers have 100,000. We had then but a single street paved, for one-fifth of a mile in length- now we have 52 miles of superior pavement in one hundred and thirty-seven streets or two hundred and fifty-nine times as much as in 1836. Then we had but one mile of imperfectly constructed sewers, in three streets-now we have an extensive and connected system of sewerage, of which fifty-two miles have already been built in the most substantial manner, in one hundred and twenty-four streets, the benefits of which to the public health, cleanliness and comfort will be incalculable. We had then but the dim lamps of the oyster sellers to light the steps of the benighted alder- men and drowsy watchmen-now we have one of the best gas works in the Union, whose castellated edifice is a model of graceful architecture, and which has laid down fifty-five miles of street mains, furnishing a beautiful light to over twenty-one hundred street lamps, elevated on a tasteful iron column, whose long lines of flaming cressets are in brilliant contrast with the somber gloom through which we used to grope our way. Then we obtained the indispensable element of water from public and private wells, often at inconvenient distances, while, for the extinguishment of fires, we had to depend mainly upon reservoirs under the streets in only the central parts of the city, that were filled by a " Water Jack" affair, drawn to and from the canal by a pair of horses. Now, we have the current of the Niagara river flowing in large iron pipes through every section of the city, supplying numerous hydrants, whence our principal steam fire engines have always an exhaustless supply for arresting con- flagration ; while in our residences the touch of a child's finger can summon the gush- ing waters as easily as could the nymphs of Undine, midst their native streams. Our harbor was in 1836 of such limited capacity as to present a seeming barrier to the increase of our commercial business. Now by an enlarged and liberal system of improvement we have in all, some thirteen miles of water front, for lake and canal craft-enough to answer all the wants of our commerce for an indefinite period. This, too, is exclusive of Black Rock harbor, and the new commercial emporium of Tonawanda, which, some years since, neglecting her mullet fisheries, had ambitious aspirings to become an infant rival of Buffalo and a colony of Cleveland. It has been understood that the experiment was not a success. In 1836 we had but a single railroad running into Buffalo-that from Niagara Falls-of not less than twenty miles in length, with no connection whatever with any other road. Now we have the great New York Central, with its vast freight and passenger depots and enor- mous business-the New York and Erie, the terminus of whose line, is practically here -the Buffalo and State line, with its interminable western connections-the Buffalo, New York and Erie, and the Buffalo and Lake Huron, connecting with the Great Western and Grand Trunk railways, and altogether with over two thousand miles of Canadian roads. And in the convenience of local travel within the city limits the change is great indeed. In 1836 we had but four omnibuses, making hourly trips through a part of Main street, and literally a one-horse railroad that made occa- sional trips between the terrace market and Black Rock ferry. Now we have eleven

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miles of well-built double track street railways through our most important avenues, running sixty elegant passenger cars, not surpassed in any city, that make regular trips every five and ten minutes, greatly facilitating the travel and intercourse be- tween the distant sections of the city, rendering a suburban residence a cheap, ac- cessible and desirable home, and adding more to the permanent value of the prop- erty thus benefited, than all the cost of the roads and their ample equipment.

Out of the wreckage of the period of disaster, described in foregoing pages, came the first steam railroad in Erie county. Besides the Buf- falo and Black Rock road before mentioned, two railroad companies were incorporated as early as April, 1832, neither of which, however, constructed its proposed line. One of these was the Buffalo and Erie Railroad Company, whose proposed road was to run from Buffalo through Chautauqua county to the State line. The other was the Aurora and Buffalo Railroad Company, which proposed to build a road from Buffalo seventeen miles long to East Aurora. The incorporators were Joseph Howard, jr., Edward Paine, Joseph Riley, Robert Persons, Calvin Fillmore, Deloss Warren and Aaron Riley, all of whom were residents of Aurora. Considerable stock was subscribed and the line was surveyed by William Wallace. In the midst of their hopeful an- ticipations that this road would speedily be built came the crisis of 1836-7 and the project was abandoned.

The Buffalo and Niagara Railroad Company was another product of the inflated period, and when the first ominous signs of the coming crisis were seen in 1836, the road was in process of construction. On the 26th of August of that year the first steam locomotive in the county was placed on this road at Black Rock and ran from there to Tona- wanda at a speed of fifteen to twenty miles an hour. On the 6th of the following month its trips were extended to Buffalo and on the 5th of November trains ran regularly to the Falls.

While the people of Erie county were suffering from the effects of the financial crisis that has been described, an institution was founded in Buffalo which has only recently reached the height of its long career of usefulness. In the year 1834 there was in existence in this city the old Buffalo Library, incorporated in 1816, containing 500 or 600 vol- umes; this institution had long lain almost dormant. There was also the Buffalo Lyceum, organized in 1832, mainly for the maintenance of lecture courses and the gathering of a library. In 1834 a first attempt was made to found a new literary institution, with the name of the Young Men's Association. In furtherance of this undertaking Rev. Dr. William Shelton delivered an address and was made president of

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the incipient organization. For several reasons this project was aban- doned upon the organization of the succeeding association. The Com- mercial Advertiser of February 20, 1836, then edited by Thomas Y. Foote, contained the following :

YOUNG MEN'S ASSOCIATION .- The young men of Buffalo, friendly to the foundation of a Young Men's Association, for mutual improvement in literature and science, are requested to meet at the Court House on Monday, the 22d of February, at the hour of 7 p. m.

This announcement bore the signatures of nearly 400 citizens of the city, embracing all classes. At a succeeding meeting, over which Hiram Pratt presided, and R. L. Allen and Isaac W. Skinner were secretaries, a constitution for the proposed association was presented which had been prepared by Seth C. Hawley. After considerable dis- cussion the constitution was adopted and the meeting adjourned to the 29th of the same month. An election was there held, resulting as follows: Seth C. Hawley, president; Dr. Charles Winne, Samuel N. Callender and George Brown, vice-presidents; Frederick P. Stevens, corresponding secretary; A. G. C. Cochrane, recording secretary ; John R. Lee, treasurer; Oliver G. Steele, Henry K. Smith, William H. Lacy, George W. Allen, Charles H. Raymond, Henry R. Williams, George E. Hayes, Halsey R. Wing, Rushmore Poole, Hunting S. Chamberlain, board of managers. The association was incorporated by the Legislature March 3, 1837. To raise funds for this association a subscription was started in the spring of 1836, before the beginning of the financial panic, which was numerously and liberally signed; the lowest sum on the list was $25, and the highest $500, the total being $6,700. At about the same time the books of both the old library and the Buffalo Lyceum were acquired and placed in the association rooms. The coming of the financial crisis reduced the collections on the sub- scription list and a debt was created through the too liberal purchase of books and furniture of the reading room, which was not extinguished in many years. A library of 2.700 volumes was rapidly accumulated, from which were drawn the first year 5,500 books, and the reading room was also extensively patronized.'

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Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1), Part 37

Author: Truman C. White Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1017

Author: Truman C. White
Publication date: 1898
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017