Our county and its people : a descriptive work on Erie County, New York, Volume I, Part 34

Author: White, Truman C
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Boston] : Boston History Co.
Number of Pages: 1014

USA > New York > Erie County > Our county and its people : a descriptive work on Erie County, New York, Volume I > Part 34

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

in this State, its candidate for governor was defeated by barely 8,000, while in 1832, when the poll was 320,000, the candidate for the same office failed of election by only about 10,000. The party also attained great strength in other States.

In its relations to Erie county in 1827 the Anti-Masonic movement was to some extent complicated with a rising opposition to the Holland Land Company. The settlers' farms in the county were still largely burdened with debt to the company, and notwithstanding the latter had shown a liberal spirit in the acceptance of produce in lieu of cash, as before noticed, many settlers found it almost impossible to meet their obligations. To render their situation still more unsatisfactory, rumors were circulated that the company was preparing to advance the prices of all lands on which the original time of payment had lapsed. David E. Evans was now appointed agent of the company in place of Mr. Otto, and under his administration land contracts were somewhat modified in favor of purchasers. Increasing dissatisfaction, however, prevailed in many parts of the purchase, which was expressed in ques- tioning the validity of the company's titles, in recommending heavier taxation of the property of the company, and otherwise. This rising spirit of opposition among the settlers was destined in later years to lead to serious trouble.

In 1827 the editor and proprietor of the Black Rock Gazette, Smith H. Salisbury, comprehended the rapidly growing importance of Buf- falo as the commercial and business center of Western New York, and removed his newspaper to the latter village. The waning importance of Black Rock is indicated also by the fact that the Black Rock Advo- cate, which had struggled for existence about a year, died· a natural death.

The Buffalo and Black Rock Jubilee Water Works Company was in- corporated in 1827 with a capital stock of $20,000. Up to the year 1832 this company had laid about sixteen miles of wooden water conduits. The supply was drawn from the Jubilee springs, situated near Dela- ware avenue about one hundred rods north of Ferry street, from which high ground the water flowed through the pipes by gravity. Black Rock and the northern part of the city were first supplied and subse- quently the pipes were laid down Main street to the southern part of the city. The officers of this company for 1832 (the first year in which they are recorded) were as follows: Peter B. Porter, president; Donald Fraser, S. C. Brewster, Peter B. Porter, directors; Absalom Bull, sec-

Buffalo as seen from top of old Buffalo Bank in 1829.

Buffalo as seen from the Lake in 1829.

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FROM 1825 TO 1832.

retary and treasurer; Donald Fraser, superintendent. At the present time the works are under control of commissioners, and the company still supplies a few families in the northern part of the city.

A company called the Buffalo Hydraulic Association was incorporated in 1827 by John G. Camp, Reuben B. Heacock, Frederick B. Merrill, and several associates; the capital of the company was $25,000 and it was hoped and believed that important business and manufacturing operations would be established through its influence. In the month of October of that year the company had partially completed and opened a canal from a branch of Big Buffalo Creek into Little Buffalo Creek, at a point where the necessary length of the canal was about four miles. Sixteen feet head of water power was thus obtained. A saw and grist mill, a woolen factory, a hat body factory, a last factory, and a brewery were built in that vicinity and a considerable settlement gathered there. The early spread of the city in that direction necessi- tated the subsequent filling up of the canal.

The incorporation of these companies constitutes one of the indica- tions of the general business activity of that time in Buffalo, which is more particularly noticed a little farther on. Merchants and manu- facturers were making money and their prosperity was reflected to the people of the outer towns. These conditions led to the need of further banking facilities, and during the latter half of the year 1826 the sub- ject of establishing a second bank in Buffalo was earnestly discussed. At a meeting, held December 16, a report was made by a previously appointed committee upon the details of the enterprise. There was a general desire on the part of the citizens for the establishment of a branch of the United States Bank in the village and the committee re- ported in favor of such a measure. This report was confirmed and the following Board of Directors appointed : William B. Rochester, Charles v Townsend, R. B. Heacock, Joseph Stocking, Albert H. Tracy, Sheldon Thompson, David Burt, Augustus Porter, David E. Evans, William Peacock, James Wadsworth and Lyman A. Spalding. But the insti- tution did not, for some reason, begin business at that time, and the scarcity of circulating currency continued. Frequent allusions to this subject are found in the newspapers of the period, and it is an unques- tioned fact that business was considerably hampered for some time from this cause; while there was no general financial stringency, the lack of means of effecting exchanges, except by actual cash in hand or barter, was severely felt, On the 29th of August, 1829, the Buffalo

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Republican made an especially emphatic assertion that the population of Buffalo was about 7,000 and yet they had no bank.1 Finally, the first meeting of the bank directors was held on October 26, 1829, and John R. Carpenter was appointed cashier ; Joseph Salter, teller; Charles Taintor, clerk. Heman B. Potter was soon afterward added to the Board of Directors. This bank began business on the northeast corner of South Division and Main streets.

The accommodations offered by this bank, even, did not seem to meet the needs and expectations of the community, for on the 16th of May, 1830, subscription books were opened for three days at the Eagle tavern for the sale of stock in the proposed Bank of Buffalo. James Mcknight, David E. Evans, I. T. Hatch, Benjamin Rathbun, Guy H. Goodrich, S. G. Austin and Pierre A. Barker were named as the bank commissioners. The capital of this institution was fixed at $200,000, while the subscriptions amounted to $1,654,250. The distribution of the shares under these circumstances created some dissatisfaction and opposition, which resulted in the granting of an injunction by the vice- chancellor stopping further proceedings in the matter; the injunction was, however, removed by mutual consent before it was argued and the following Board of Directors elected: Guy H. Goodrich, Hiram Pratt, Benjamin Rathbun, Major A. Andrews, Joseph Stocking, George Burt, William Ketchum, Henry Hamilton, Henry Root, George B. Webster, Noah P. Sprague, Stephen G. Austin and Russell Haywood. Guy H. Goodrich was elected president; Hiram Pratt, cashier; and S. G. Austin, teller. The bank began business September 6, 1831.

Another branch of business which was destined to become of large importance came into existence at this time. A charter had been granted by the Legislature, in 1819, for the Western Insurance Com- pany of Buffalo, but owing to the general financial stringency of that period it lay dormant until 1825, when Jacob A. Barker, of New York city, purchased the charter and opened the first insurance office in Buf- falo. Isaac S. Smith was the first secretary of the company, and Capt. William P. Miller the first president. In April, 1827, Mr. Smith re- signed his office and Lewis F. Allen 2 came on from New York and

1 A little later the same newspaper insisted that notwithstanding all causes for discourage- ment, the community was prosperous. Said the editor: "Still.our village rises, whilst others at the east are either folding their arms or are on the retrograde march; village lots and village property have gradually risen ; merchants are paying their debts, and farmers are coming in with cash. The corporation has made ample side and cross walks, Main street has been graduated and the pure water of the cold springs flows into any house on Main street."

? Lewis Falley Allen was born in Westfield, Mass., January 1, 1800, He attended the Westfield

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FROM 1825 TO 1832.

accepted the secretaryship. In 1828 Captain Miller also resigned and Charles Townsend was elected to the office. This company continued in successful operation until 1830, when its charter expired. In the winter of 1829-30 a charter was obtained, chiefly through the efforts of Mr. Allen, for the Buffalo Fire and Marine Insurance Company, with capital stock of $100,000; the incorporation of this company was ef- fected April 1, 1830; the stock was principally taken by Buffalo citi- zens. This company was also successfully managed, and closed its business in April, 1849.

While these developments were in progress incipient wholesale trade was being established in the village, and although it did not assume large proportions until several years later, it was still an important factor of the prevailing business activity and thrift.

In commenting upon the bright prospects of Buffalo a local paper of December, 1828, stated editorially, that "notwithstanding the scarcity of the circulating medium at the present time, and the general sickness which has pervaded all parts of our vicinity, during the last summer, including our village, still Buffalo steadily progresses in beauty and improvements; still pushes on to fulfill its destiny-to become that which it is pre-eminently calculated to be, the commercial emporium of the west." The editor then noted various improvements that were in progress at the time, among them a "county poor house, built of stone on a site between Black Rock and Buffalo, and nearly finished;" the erection of "an edifice for the High School about a half mile east

Academy until he was twelve years old, when he went to New York to begin work in a wholesale dry goods house in which his father was interested. In 1813 he returned to the employ of his father, who had left his mercantile business in New York and begun manufacturing woolen goods in Connecticut. From that time until April, 1827, Mr. Allen was variously employed, a part of the time near Sandusky, O. In 1825 he married Margaret Cleveland ; her brother, Rev. Richard F. Cleveland, was father of President Grover Cleveland. From the time of his arrival in Buffalo (1827) Mr. Allen was for many years prominent in the insurance business and in real estate operations. Some of his purchases of land about that time and the prices paid have his- torical significance. In 1827 he purchased an outer lot of five acres, a short distance above Chippewa street and extending from Main to Delaware streets, for $750 ; he also purchased a five acre tract on Virginia street, opposite the orphan asylum, for $150. In 1829 he purchased the farm lot of twenty-nine acres, extending from Main street to the State Reservation line of Black Rock, for $2,500. In 1830 Mr. Allen and Ira A. Blossom leased from the Holland Land Company for sixty-three years the entire block bounded by Main, Swan, Washington and South Division streets ; the rental was $700 per annum for twenty one years; $850 for the next twenty-one years, and $1,000 for the last twenty-one years. On the Main street front of this tract they built fourteen three-story brick stores. In 1833 Mr. Allen and others purchased about 16,000 acres of forest land on Grand Island, for about six dollars an acre. Two or three years later he and other Buffalo men pur- chased the extensive real estate of Gen. Peter B. Porter and others at Black Rock, and Mr. Allen lived many years in the old Porter residence on Niagara street. He gave much attention to agri- cultural matters, particularly the breeding of blooded stock, and was in every way an enterpris- ing and respected citizen.

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

of the village-a large and commodious stone building "; a " massive pier constructed by the United States government," then about half completed ; a grist mill, tannery and other buildings erected "at the termination of the Buffalo and Seneca canal"; the building in the previous year of the warehouses of S. Thompson & Co. and E. F. Norton, two breweries, etc. After deploring the lack of water power, the editor noticed the arrival in the preceding season of about two hundred German and Swiss settlers; in the light of subsequent history in this connection, it is surprising to read the editor's characterization of this immigration as an unmixed evil.

During the period under consideration the village suffered severely from fires: The fire extinguishing apparatus of those days was in- efficient and meager and when the destructive agent broke forth among the wooden buildings, which were in a large majority in the place, the loss was usually heavy. Early on the morning of November 14, 1829, eleven stores were burned on the west side of Main street. On December 15, 1831, the Kremlin corner was burned, with a loss of more than $20,000. On November 14, 1832, a few months after the city was incorporated, one of the most destructive conflagrations in the history of the place, considering its size at that time, occurred, destroying several squares of buildings in the heart of the young city, on Main, East and West Seneca, Pearl and Washington streets, and causing a loss of nearly $200,000.

The first steps taken toward providing Erie county with an alms house were under an act passed by the Legislature March 20, 1828, which directed the commissioners of the land office to cause the sale of certain lots of land in the village of Black Rock to the supervisors of the county for a site for the institution. The certificate of sale was directed to be given to John G. Camp, Elijah Leech, and Josiah Trow- bridge, who were appointed commissioners to build the alms house. The numbers of the lots on which the institution was erected were 118 to 125 inclusive, and 135 to 143 inclusive. This institution was com- pleted in January, 1829, and Dr. Josiah Trowbridge, Reuben B. Hea- cock, D. P. White, Abraham Miller, Robert Person, O. R. Hopkins and Joseph Clary were superintendents; Dr. Cyrenius Chapin, physi- cian, and John D. Harty, keeper. For the year 1830 the total expense of conductiug the institution was $3,653.54, an average cost of eighty- three cents per week for each inmate.1

1 This provision for the care of the indigent poor of the county sufficed until 1851, when the

301

FROM 1825 TO 1882.

Between 1825 and 1832 the arrival in Buffalo of a number of German immigrants, with a few French and Swedes, constituted the first phase of change in respect to the nationality of the population as a whole, which in later years rendered it more cosmopolitan in character than that of any other inland city in the country. The reader will learn in another chapter of the later rapid accession of German immigrants, not only to Buffalo city, but to many of the towns of Erie county. In the year 1829 Bishop Dubois visited Buffalo and preached to these Catholic believers and administered the church sacraments. He stated that he found at that time 700 or 800 Roman Catholics, instead of the seventy or eighty he had expected to find. He noted the fact, also, that he heard the confessions of about 200 Swedes, and there were, doubtless, a few Irish. In the same year he sent to Buffalo the first settled Roman Catholic priest, Father Nicholas Merz. A few German Catholics had settled at Lancaster at that time, but none elsewhere in the county, excepting scattered individuals. The pioneer, Louis Le Couteulx, was prominent among the French Catholics and early en - deavored to found a church. To carry out this purpose he donated the now very valuable land on which St. Louis church 1 stands, corner of Main and Edward streets; the deed of transfer was made in 1829, soon after which the first house of worship of that society was erected.

The second Presbyterian church organized within the limits of the present city was called the First Presbyterian Church of Black Rock (afterwards the Breckenridge Street and now the West Avenue Pres- byterian church). It was organized on September 18, 1831. The first

buildings became inadequate and measures were adopted to sécure more commodious accommo- dations. A tract of land comprising 153 acres, then situated in the town of Black Rock, but. now partly within the city limits, on Main street, was purchased and a new structure erected thereon at a cost of about $20,000. The main building was burned in 1855, and rebuilt in the same year. Since that time extensive improvements have been made in the institution. An insane asylum was built in 1865-66, at a cost of $43,000, which was enlarged in 1874 and again in 1878. A consump- tive hospital building was erected in 1895, and a new boiler house at about the same time. When the care of insane persons passed to the State in 1893 and they were removed to State institutions, the asylum became the Erie County Hospital. This institution is supplied with a large medical staff and is in every respect efficiently and successfully conducted. The total value of the alms house and property is about $230,000 for the land and about $550,000 for buildings and improve- ments.

1 The St. Louis church was organized by a union of French and Germans and the society still retains that character. The first church edifice was succeeded by a more commodious structure which was subsequently burned, and the present beautiful example of church architecture was erected in 1886. St. Peter's French Catholic society was an outgrowth of St. Louis church and was separately incorporated January 8, 1857, and their house of worship erected on the corner of Washington and Clinton streets. A parochial school is connected with this church.

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

elders were Joseph Sill, James German and William Davis.1 The present edifice on the corner of West avenue and Ferry street was built in 1889.

1 Since the organization of this church there has been a large extension of this denomination in Buffalo. In 1835 what is now the First United Presbyterian church was formed as a part of the Associate Reformed Church of America. This society expired in 1840, and was reorganized in 1848, with thirty-six charter members. The first regular pastor was Rev. Clark Kendall, who was installed in 1850. In that year the church property was purchased for $5,000. In 1857 the church united with the Associate Church of America and was afterwards considered a part of the United Presbyterian Church of North America.

The North Presbyterian church was organized March 25, 1847, with forty-three members from the First church, and Rev. Charles Rich was the first pastor, beginning October 3, 1847. The elders were George B. Walbridge, Benjamin Hodge and Chauncey D. Cowles. The church edifice was built and dedicated December 29, 1847.

The Central Presbyterian church was organized under the title, Pearl Street Presbyterian church, November 14, 1835. The first officers were James I. Baldwin, Reuben B. Heacock, Alden S. Sprague, George Stowe, Daniel R. Hamlin, James Cooper, H. H. Reynolds and W. G. Miller. Rev. John C. Lord was called to the pastorate. A church edifice, corner of Pearl and Genesee streets, was finished in 1836. A reorganization under the present title was effected in 1848, and in that year was built a second edifice on the northeast corner of the streets named, opposite the first one.

What is now Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian church was organized July 13, 1845, with the title, Park Church Society, with the following trustees: Reuben B. Heacock, George Kibbe, N. B. Palmer, C. A. Van Slyke, Orrin Edgarton, Lovel Kimball, George Howard and T. J. Winslow. The organization was then Congregational, but in 1845 the title was changed and union effected with the Presbyterian denomination. A house of worship was erected, which was burned in 1850, and the second one erected in 1862, on Washington street. This was superseded by the pres- ent edifice on Lafayette avenue, corner of Elmwood, in 1889. Rev. Grosvenor W. Heacock was in- stalled pastor in 1845 and served the church thirty-one years.

Westminster Presbyterian church was organized September 3, 1854 ; the first Board of Trus- tees was composed of Jesse Ketchum, Noyes Darrow, Isaac F. Bryant, James M. Ganson, Moses Bristol, Alanson Robinson, William S. Vanduzee, Benjamin Hodge and Horace Parmelee. Mainly through the efforts of Mr. Ketchum the lot on which the church stands was purchased and a chapel erected. A new church edifice was built in 1858-59 at a cost of about $20,000. Rev. John Germain Porter was the first pastor.

Calvary Presbyterian church was organized February 22, 1860, with forty-one members, the first elders being Gustavus A. Rogers, M. S. Allen and William R. Allen ; deacons, William E. Lyman and Lorenzo Sweet. The present stone edifice on Delaware avenue was dedicated July 8, 1862 ; with the parsonage it was a gift by George Palmer.

The East Presbyterian church, an offshoot of the North church, was organized July 21, 1869, with sixty-five members, Rev. Henry Ward being the first pastor ; he had been a city missionary under the North church in 1864. A chapel was completed on Seneca street in February, 1865, and was used by the society until 1875, when it was sold, a new church edifice, begun in September, 1822, having been completed on South Division street.

The Wells Street chapel, organized asa Sunday school in August, 1865, and as a church with forty-five members in March, 1874, and the West Side Presbyterian church, organized May 9, 1875, have both gone out of existence or merged with other societies. Other and more recently formed bodies of this denomination are Bethany church, the Church of the Covenant, Bethlehem church, Bethesda church, Park church, South church, Walden Avenue church, and Lebanon chapel. The First Presbyterian church, organized February 2, 1812, with twenty nine members, dedicated an edifice March 28, 1827 ; in 1891-2 the present structure was built at a cost of about $200,000. This church has about 690 members, more than any other society in the Presbytery of Buffalo.

The Presbyterian churches in the county, outside the city, with the dates of their organiza- tion, are as follows: Orchard Park, 1817; Alden, 1817; Lancaster, 1818; Clarence, 1821 ; Gowanda, 1826 ; Akron, 1835; Springville (organized as Congregational, 1816), 1840 ; South Wales (organized

OLD FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

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FROM 1825 TO 1832.

Agitation of the subject of city incorporation began in 1830-31. A village census made in 1830 showed a population of 8,653, and local newspapers congratulated the community upon the fact that the num- ber of inhabitants had quadrupled in the preceding ten years. The State census of that year showed the population of the whole county to be 35, 719, an increase of 11,413, or 47 per cent. in five years.

The canal was now rapidly demonstrating the wisdom of its pro- jectors and becoming a factor in the advancement of Erie county. The canal business at Buffalo was about 16,000 tons for 1829, more than half of which was salt coming westward.

There were then twenty-seven post-offices in the sixteen towns of the county; the dates of establishment of many of these have been given; all of the remainder were opened between 1825 and 1830. Nine of the towns had one office each, viz : Alden, Amherst, Boston, Eden, Erie, Colden, Concord, Holland and Sardinia. Each office bore the name of the town, with the exception of those in Amherst and Con- cord, where the offices were respectively Williamsville and Springville. Four towns had two offices each: Aurora, with Willink and Griffin's Mills; Clarence, with Clarence and Cayuga Creek; Evans, with Evans and East Evans; Wales, with Wales and South Wales. Two towns had each three offices: Buffalo, with Buffalo, Black Rock and Tona- wanda; and Hamburg, with Hamburg, East Hamburg and Hamburg-' on the Lake (formerly Barkersville). Collins had four offices in 1830- Collins, Angola, Collins Center and Zoar.

It was at this period that were heard in Western New York the first faint suggestions of the oncoming of a young giant that was before the lapse of many years to create a far greater revolution in methods of transportation and travel than had been accomplished by the canal, to build up villages in favored localities to the utter obliteration of those in less fortunate sections, and contribute in an enormous degree to the upbuilding of Buffalo. In April, 1831, David Long, Otis Turner, William R. Gwinn, William Mills and C. Vandeventer addressed a letter to Governor Throop on the subject of a contemplated railroad from Buffalo to the Hudson River, and urging the propriety of its being built by the State. A charter had already been granted by the Legis-

as Congregational), 1841; East Aurora, 1843 ; Tonawanda, 1852 ; Glenwood (organized as Congre- gational, 1829), 1875 ; Hamburg, Kenmore, and Tonawanda (mission).

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Our county and its people : a descriptive work on Erie County, New York, Volume I, Part 34

Author: White, Truman C Publication date: 1898 Publisher: [Boston] : Boston History Co. Number of Pages: 1014

Author: White, Truman C
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Boston] : Boston History Co.
Number of Pages: 1014