Our county and its people : a descriptive work on Erie County, New York, Volume I, Part 43

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 43

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PRESENT STANDING OF THE PRINCIPAL WATER WORKS AC- COUNTS, JANUARY 1, 1897-CONTINUED.

ITEMS.

Jan. 1, 1895.

Added two years, 1895 and 1896.

Standing Jan. 1, 1897.

Lower suction pipe ..

$863 52

Tunnel No. 3.

$51,646 87

51,646 87

New plant.

2,349 98

Rebuilding Worthington engines ...

50,000 00

Coal house and retaining wall.

345 67

Iron house, boiler, etc.

1,654 00

Raising roof s. boiler house

385 00

785 00

Total.

$7.831,304 21

$640,939 58

$8,472,243 79

The pumping plant consists of eight engines with a total capacity of 145,000,000 gallons every twenty-four hours, as follows :

Engine No. 1, Worthington

10,000,000 gallons.

15,000,000

4, Gaskill 6

15,000,000

20,000,000

8, Hammond.

30,000,000

Total.

145,000,000

374

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

just recovered from its second severe visitation of the cholera, which came in May, 1849, and during the summer months filled the streets with mourning and the people with fear and anxiety. Up to the last day of May 134 cases were reported, with fifty-one deaths. From that date to September 10 the daily number of cases ranged from fifteen to nearly one hundred, and the deaths from one to twenty-five. Thetotal number of cases in the city was a little more than 3,000 and the deaths nearly 900. The Board of Health fought the pestilence with vigor, but was unable to master it until it had thus wrought its will. Many of the inhabitants of the city fled to the country, where they were not always warmly welcomed. The disease found its way to some of the towns near by the city, but in a less fatal form.

The decade from 1850 to the breaking out of the Civil war was one of remarkable prosperity in Erie county, with the exception of the year 1857, during which a financial crisis was reached and a panic and strin- gency followed similar in character and consequences to that of twenty years before. The population of the county increased during the decade to 132,331 in 1855 and to 141,971 in 1860; in the city the gain was from 42,261 in 1850, to 74,214 in 1855, and to 81,129 in 1860- almost doubling in the ten years. The great West sent down its im- mense and rapidly increasing grain product to swell the commercial importance of Buffalo and inspire her business men with hopeful en- thusiasm. In 1850 3,681,347 bushels of wheat were received by lake, and ten years later the quantity had reached the enormous total of 18,502,649 bushels. During the same period the receipts of corn in- creased from 2,593,378 bushels in 1850 to 11,386,217 in 1860. Other lines of trade and manufacture, even to the modest store of the country merchant in the distant village, felt the impulse of this lake business. 1

1 Capt. A. Walker, in a paper deposited with the Historical Society, gives the following list of men and firms who were in business on the Buffalo docks in 1848-50, many of whom had been engaged in commercial business from its infancy : Israel T. Hatch, Joel Thayer, Seymour & Wells, James G. Gibson. H. W. Millard & Co., Joseph Dart, Jason Parker, S. W. Howell, Russell H. Heywood, J. T. Noye, John R. Evans, Joseph B. Gardner, Evans & Dunbar, B. Spencer, Waldo & Mann, J. Myers & Co., Niles & Whalen, Abell & Gardner, Ressel & Eldridge, William Andrews, Mack & Hall, James D. Sawyer, Holt & Palmer, J. & C. Hitchcock, H. S. Beecher, A. W. Johnson, A. Chester, I. H. Bostwick, H. Williams, William B. Harmon, R. Haskill, A. Morrison & Co., F. R. Townsend, George W. Tifft, R. Farnsworth. Morris Hazard, Monteath & Sherman, William Stimpson, Dean Richmond, W. H. Bement & Co., Hayes & Johnson, William Buckley, O. W. Ranney, H. B. Walbridge & Co., Bement & Ruden, William A. Brown, Ward & Co., M. S. Hawley, Hamilton Rainey, William Foote, Kent & Carley, Richard P. Wilkins, James Murray, Philo Durfee & Co., E. Root, Cobb & Co., Isaac S. Smith, Charles Holland, John G. Brown & Co., S. Purdy & Co., H. O. Corwin & Co., Coats & Folger, S. H. Fish, G. S. Hazard, Joseph E. Follett, A. W. Cutler, George W. Allen, Simon Spearman, Henry Daw, Fleeharty &

375

FROM 1840 TO THE CIVIL WAR.

Railroad facilities were improved and extended, many of the lines point- ing to Buffalo as a central point for termini and connections. Exten- sive public improvements were inaugurated in the city and many insti- tutions founded to contribute to the general advancement.

As Buffalo prospered, so did the farmers in the outlyingtowns. Their crops were uniformly good and their market always open and compara- tively easy of access. Before 1855 most of the old pine stumps, which had long resisted the decaying effects of time, and around which the farmer had for many years reluctantly driven his plow, were pulled from their beds and laid in the now seldom seen stump fences. Even on the back roads the farms now showed noticeable improvement in buildings, stock and care in tillage. Agricultural methods began to change at this time. Notwithstanding the general improvement mentioned, the quantity of grain raised in the county did not increase. This was owing to the fact that the farmers were beginning to appreciate the importance of dairy- ing, which has in recent years become so large a factor in their busi- ness; they also found it more and more profitable to produce hay, pota- toes and other vegetables for the Buffalo market.

Meanwhile the German element was rapidly increasing both in city and country. The European disturbances of 1848 gave a powerful impulse to German emigration, and many of the sturdy wanderers found their way to this county. Some of these brought money and almost none were at all destitute. All were endowed with habits of frugality and industry, which could not fail to bring to them a good measure of success. Many of these German settlers located near their countrymen who had already made homes in Collins, Eden, Hamburg, Cheektowaga, and Lancaster, while large numbers settled in Batavia and Genesee streets in Buffalo and soon spread over the whole northeastern part of

Warren, Robert Allen, Allen W. Norton, J. Nottingham, S. Strong, William Chard, S. Brown, J. M. Smith, Joseph Plumb, Maxwell & Co., Bemis & Brothers, I. H. Hooker, Joy & Chapin, William Howard & Co., D. N. Barney & Co., H. H. Sizer, Edwin Thomas, Charles C. Hall, and H. M. Kinne.

The following quotation is from a paper prepared by Sanford B. Hunt, descriptive of com- mercial affairs of that time : "Passenger steamboats were in their glory, numerous lines leav- ing daily, crowded with passengers, advertised with wonderful pertinacity by the class of 'runners,' very remarkable men in their way, and adding to the seductions of this persuasive system, the charms of music discoursed at all hours from the guards of the steamboats. Eleva- tors were only an experiment then, and a vast number of 'longshoremen were supported by the labor of handling freight by inconvenient processes. Canal boats were small but numerous, and the result was a business which advertised itself by its own bustle and by the crowd which was constantly maintained in the narrow quarters where it was transacted and through which every stranger passed on his way east or west."

376

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE,

the city and became an important element in the business life of the community.

One of the most interesting features of this German immigration was that known as the Ebenezer Society. This association of Germans, mostly emigrants from Rhenish Prussia and Hesse, purchased of the Ogden Company about 8,000 acres of land situated in the present town of West Seneca, including the old Indian village. The colony came over in 1844-45 and occupied their lands, which covered a large portion of the central and northern parts of the town. The whole number of the emigrants was about 2,000. They took the name Ebenezer, though among themselves they were known as the Community of Inspiration. They established two villages of considerable importance and one ham- let, which were designated as Lower Ebenezer, Middle Ebenezer, and Upper Ebenezer, the latter the smaller of the three and situated in what is now the town of Elma. They built a saw and grist mill, a tannery and a few houses on Cazenove Creek a short distance south of Lower Ebenezer, and later erected a woolen factory and mill on Buffalo Creek, above Middle Ebenezer, calling that place New Ebenezer. This pecul- iar society held their property in common and was incorporated by an act of the Legislature. The entire control of the property and the management of affairs was vested in a board of managers, the leading member of which was for a number of years Charles Meyer, who had been a merchant in Brazil and was a competent business man; their legal adviser was George R. Babcock, of Buffalo. Their villages were composed of large frame houses, each of which held several families. In these houses the cooking was done in a large kitchen, the meals were served at a common table, but each family had a separate bed- room. Their discipline and morals were severe and strict, and they never had trouble with their neighbors or the authorities. Pauperism and crime were unknown among them. Their products were always the best to be had and their prosperity was marked. Their religious beliefs were peculiar and little known to their American neighbors. This social and business experiment was successful financially, but not in other respects. While their land under careful tillage quadrupled in value, many of their young men and women became uneasy and dissatisfied under the strict discipline. Buffalo was near at hand, where thousands of other Germans were living under very different circum- stances, which appealed forcibly to the young people of the Ebenezer district. Public opinion, too, looked with disfavor upon a community

377

FROM 1840 TO THE CIVIL WAR.

living in a manner so at variance with American customs. Their char- ter was for sixteen years and it seemed doubtful if it would be renewed. These conditions, with the desire for more land, led the society in 1856 to purchase a large tract in Iowa, and to sell their property in West Seneca. In this business Mr. Babcock continued to act as their agent and in the early part of 1857 made some sales; but the financial strin- gency of that year closed all similar sales. With the coming of better times the sales continued at reduced prices, and the society conscien - tiously reimbursed the purchasers who had paid the higher prices at the beginning. The managers soon began transferring their people to Iowa and between that time and 1863 all were removed. Their lands, mills, etc., were mostly purchased by other Germans-the mills at Caz- enove Creek, with 60 acres of land, were sold to John Saxe for $10,000. The woolen factory at Middle Ebenezer passed into possession of J. Schoeflin & Son, who removed the machinery and engaged in the man . ufacture of cider mills, horse powers, etc The factory at New Ebene- zer was burned. The Ebenezer post-office was retained at Lower Ebenezer, and a new one opened at Middle Ebenezer with the name of Gardenville.

On the 15th of October, 1850, the town of Hamburg, which had remained unchanged since its formation in 1812, was divided and the new town of Ellicott erected, comprising all but the two western tiers of lots in township 9, range 7. The first election was held in the following spring. The name of the town was not satisfactory and it was changed to East Hamburg, February 20, 1852.

On the 16th of October, 1851, the new town of Seneca was formed, the territory being wholly within the boundaries of the Buffalo Creek Reservation and comprising that part of the reservation formerly em- braced in the towns of Black Rock, Cheektowaga, Hamburg and East Hamburg. The Ebenezer colony comprised the greater part of its inhabitants. On March 25, 1852, the name of this town was changed to West Seneca.

Three other new towns were formed in the next two years, which may as well be noticed here. On October 19, 1852, Grand Island was set off from Tonawanda, and on November 24 following the town of North Collins was formed from Collins, with the name Shirley; the name was changed on June 24, 1853. On December 2, 1853, the town of Marilla was formed, which comprised all of the Buffalo Creek

378

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Reservation within the limits of Wales and Alden, excepting the mile- and-a-half strip on the north side. Marilla was the last town but one erected in Erie county.

In 1850 the Buffalo and Rochester Railroad Company was formed by the consolidation of the Buffalo and Attica company (before described) and a company which had constructed a road from Attica to Rochester, and in 1852 opened a new direct line from Buffalo to Batavia and sold its line from Buffalo to Attica to the New York City Railroad Com- pany. The latter leased this line to the New York and Erie Company, which built a branch from Attica to Hornellsville, thus forming a con- tinuous line from Buffalo to New York; this whole line was ready for traffic in 1852. In the same year the Buffalo and New York City Com- pany 1 opened a line of road from Buffalo to Batavia, near the line of the Central track, thence eastward to Avon, and thence southeastward to Corning. In a short time, however, the track between Buffalo and Batavia was taken up, while the line beyond Batavia went under con- trol of the Erie company.

What was then called the Buffalo and State Line railroad (now a part of the Lake Shore line) was opened for travel between Buffalo and Dunkirk on February 22, 1852, having already been opened from Dun- kirk to the State line on the first of the previous month.

This was an era of railroad building and improvement. The Buffalo and Brantford Railroad was begun about 1852 and was completed to Brantford, Ont., in 1854. The line was extended to Goderich in 1858. The name was subsequently changed to Buffalo and Lake Huron Rail- way, and in July, 1868, it was leased in perpetuity to the Grand Trunk Railway Company.

In 1853 efforts were made to build a railroad from Buffalo through Aurora and the southeastern part of the county. Early in that year the Buffalo and Pittsburg Railroad Company was chartered under the presidency of the late Orlando Allen .? The line was projected to run

I The name, Buffalo and New York City Company was changed in 1857 to Buffalo, New York and Erie. Its road was subsequently leased to the Erie Company.

2 Orlando Allen was born in New Hartford, N. Y., February 10, 1803. In 1819 he came to Buf- falo and entered the office of Dr. Cyrenius Chapin as a student. This profession did not appeal to the tastes of young Allen and when, in the fall of 1821, Dr. Chapin and Hiram Pratt opened a store, he was employed by them as clerk. In 1824 he was made manager for Mr. Pratt and Horace Meech, who were then partners in mercantile business; two years later he became partner with Mr. Pratt, Mr. Meech having retired. Upon the death of Mr. Pratt in 1840 Mr. Allen succeeded him as president of the old Bank of Buffalo. He was identified with various business undertak-

379

FROM 1840 TO THE CIVIL WAR.

near the west end of the village of East Aurora, thence up the valley of Cazenove Creek, and on to the coal fields of Pennsylvania and to Pittsburg. Owing to dissatisfaction with the proposed route, the Buf- falo and Allegany Railroad Company was organized and began work on a line of road designed to extend from the city through the east end of the village of East Aurora, thence up the Cazenove valley to a point near Arcade, where it was to connect with the line running southward from Attica to the Pennsylvania line. Both of these companies did considerable work in 1853 in the vicinity of Aurora, but from lack of financial soundness the last described company first ceased operations but did not abandon its organization; the other company also stopped work and its organization was given up. Further operations were dis- continued until after the war of the Rebellion.

The Canandaigua and Niagara Falls Railroad Company was organ- ized in 1851 and its road completed in 1854, extending from Suspension Bridge to Tonawanda and thence eastward through the northern towns of Erie county and on to Canandaigua; this line passed to the control of the New York Central in 1858.

In May, 1853, the various companies and roads between Buffalo and Albany were consolidated under the name of the New York Central Railroad, making Buffalo the western terminus of one of the greatest railroads in the country. Its importance was still further increased in 1869 by absorption of the Hudson River road. In 1855 the Buffalo and Niagara Falls road was purchased by the Central.

Between 1850 and 1860 the lumber trade in Buffalo became an im- portant factor in business. At that date the wholesale trade was con- fined to three or four firms. Previous to that the lumber supply was near at hand in Canada and was shipped across in small schooners, while the hemlock supply came, even down to later years, from the surrounding country on this side. Between 1855 and 1860 the Canada supply began to decline and the superior quality of Michigan pine be- gan to be better known. From that time onward shipments of lumber down the lakes rapidly increased, and a large trade was carried on at Buffalo and Tonawanda. About 1859, when the local supply of hem -

ings and was called to several positions of responsibility ; was alderman, in 1835, 1846, and 1847, mayor in 1848, member of assembly in 1850-51 and in 1860. He was also connected with many of the prominent institutions and societies of Buffalo, and was in every way an active and useful citizen. He died September 4, 1874.

380

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

lock declined, the Pennsylvania forests were drawn upon for this market and a large part of the supply still comes from that State.

The coal trade, too, which was insignificant prior to 1850, assumed great importance before 1860. In 1852 only 60,000 tons of soft coal was brought to the city, for the supply of foundries and shops. An- thracite coal was first brought into use in Buffalo in any considerable quantity in 1860, and in 1861 it was found difficult to dispose of 25,000 tons.1

Shipbuilding, which had from the first been carried on at Black Rock, now began to assume importance. There Capt. Asa Stanard and Ben- jamin Bidwell, as the firm of Stanard & Bidwell, built many vessels before 1838. Jacob Banta was another prominent shipbuilder of early days, and built the steamers, Western Metropolis and City of Buffalo. Capt. Frederick N. Jones settled in Buffalo in 1845 and built the pro- peller Pocahontas, the schooner Watts Sherman, and other vessels; he afterwards removed to Tonawanda and continued the same business. During the year ending June 30, 1853, there were built at Buffalo one brig, twelve steamers, and nine schooners, with a gross tonnage of 65,184.25.2

The growth of these various branches of trade and the rapidly ex- tending commerce of the port demanded greatly increased banking facilities in the city, and several banks were founded between 1850 and 1860 which have ever since possessed the confidence and patronage of the business public. The Marine Bank was organized on the 8th of July, 1850, by George Palmer and James M. Ganson, of Buffalo; James S. Wadsworth, of Geneseo; J. P. Beekman, of Kinderhook; John Arnot, of Elmira; John Mayer and Constant Cook, of Bath, and Will-

1 From the insignificant receipts of coal in 1852, there was an increase in 1868 to 299,914 tons. It is estimated that at the present time the coal imports to Buffalo are nearly 10,000,000 tons. Coal trestles have been constructed here that are the largest in the world and more than $16,000,000 are invested in shipping docks and stocking plants.

2 Shipbuilding continued to increase and in 1867 there were built here three ships or barks, sixty-nine sloops and canal boats, seven brigs, and fourteen steamers. In 1870 there were built fourteen propellers, one side-wheel steamer, one barge, two sail vessels and twenty-six canal boats. In 1862 David Bell, of Buffalo, built for E. T. Evans the first iron propeller constructed west of New York; she was 850 tons; the iron was rolled in the Pratt mills and almost the entire work was done in Buffalo. In 1851 Sherman Petrie made an effort to get a tug built in Buffalo, but was unsuccessful, chiefly for the reason that no one had any confidence in the success of the craft financially. The first tug was put afloat in Buffalo harbor in 1855; she was the. Franklin and was purchased in Albany by William Farrell. She found plenty of business and others rapidly followed. Among those who have been conspicuous in the shipbuilding interest are David Bell, Samuel Gibson, R. Mills & Co., Baker & Sons, Carroll Bros., William Hingston & Son, Riley Bros., Union Dry Dock Company, C. L. Dimmers, and others.

381

FROM 1840 TO THE CIVIL WAR.

iam P. Grimm, of Medina; these were the only stockholders and were all made directors. George Palmer was elected president and James M. Ganson, cashier. In 1853 the capital was increased from $170,000 to $255,000, and again in 1854 to $300,000; in 1859 it was reduced to $200,000.

On April 4, 1853, George C White and William Williams, who had for many years conducted a private banking house under the firm name of White & Williams, organized White's Bank, with capital stock of $100,000, which was increased on March 1, 1854, to $200,000. Mr. White was president of the bank and Mr. Williams cashier.

The Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank was established in Batavia about 1840 and removed to Buffalo in 1852 through the influence of the late E. G. Spaulding, at which time he was elected president. The first board of trustees were E. G. Spaulding, Rufus L. King, John S. Ganson, William R. Gwinn and H. Pompelly. The capital was $100,000, which was subsequently increased to $200,000. The institution was made a National bank in May, 1864, and on May 1, 1889, was changed to a State bank.

The Manufacturers' and Traders' Bank was incorporated under State laws on March 24, 1856, and still remains a State bank. It be- gan business August 29, 1856, with a capital of $200,000. This bank was founded for the especial purpose of giving the business men of the community more extensive and liberal accommodations than they had previously enjoyed, and its success was marked from the first. In 1859 its capital was increased to $500,000 and in 1870 to $900,000. The first officers were Henry Martin,1 president; Pascal P. Pratt,2 vice- president; D. F. Frazell, cashier; G. R. Wilson, Sidney Shepard, M. P. Bush, S. V. R. Watson,3 Pascal P. Pratt, Bronson C. Rumsey, F.

1 Henry Martin was born in Woodbury, Conn., and at the time of hisdeath, in 1897, was in his ninety-fifth year. He removed to near Lockport when a young man, where he engaged in mer- cantile business and continued it fourteen years. He settled in Buffalo in 1848, took active inter- est in railroads, and was elected president of the Buffalo and Attica road, and others In 1853 he was elected president of the Cleveland and Toledo road. He was president of the Manufacturers' and Traders' Bank of Buffalo for thirty years.

2 A biography of Pascal P. Pratt may be found in Vol. II of this work.

3 Stephen V. R. Watson was born in Rensselaerville, N. Y., June 13, 1817, and located in Buf- falo in 1844, where he purchased large tracts of real estate which he laid out in lots and sold prin- cipally to Germans. In the early history of the street railroads in Buffalo he took an active interest in their promotion and from that time until his death he labored unceasingly and with success to build up the system and place it on a paying basis. He held the office of assemblyman in 1861, and was at one period president of the Young Men's Association. His death took place June 15, 1880.

382

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

H. Root, Alexander H. Anderson, William H. Glenny,1 Wells D. Wal- bridge, George Truscott and John Wilkeson.

The first savings bank in Buffalo was chartered May 9, 1846, with the name Buffalo Savings Bank, with the following named officers and trustees: Charles Townsend, president; Francis J. Handel, vice-presi- dent; Nathan K. Hall, attorney; Robert Pomeroy, secretary; Albert H. Tracy, Millard Fillmore, John L. Kimberly, Noah H. Gardner, Francis J. Handel, Frederick Dellenbaugh, Jacob Siebold, Elijah D. Efner, Russell H. Heywood, Warren Bryant, Daniel Bowen, Isaac Sherman, William Tweedy, Hiram P. Thayer, Benjamin Caryl, Charles Townsend, Francis C. Brunck and Ernest G. Gray, trustees. A build- ing was erected for this institution in 1851-52 on Main street, a little south of Court, and was burned in 1865, when a lot was purchased and a building erected on the corner of Washington and Lafayette streets, which is still occupied.

The Western Savings Bank was incorporated July 9, 1851, with the following officers: Dean Richmond, president; George W. Tifft,2 first vice-president; James Hollister, second vice-president; Heman B. Pot- ter, attorney; George Palmer, Seth C. Hawley, Elijah Ford, Henry

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Our county and its people : a descriptive work on Erie County, New York, Volume I, Part 43

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