USA > New York > Schenectady County > Schenectady County, New York : its history to the close of the nineteenth century > Part 15
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SCHENECTADY COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
forbears to make any effort to discover who originated or was respon- sible for the infliction of this outrage upon a city which had suffered its share of barbarian outrage long years before. Yet the N. Y. C. strangely permits the picture of its shame still to hang on depot walls. That depot retarded Schenectady's progress for fifty years. The wayfarer on the train averted his gaze, and in the summer held his nose. The Schenectadian came to it in horror when he must and fled from it in disgust when he could.
In January, 1832, the company reported to the Legislature that the amount actually paid and disbursed in the construction of the road was $483,215, and that $156,693 would be required to complete it.
In the spring of 1832, the road was completed throughout its whole line, and the inclined plane being in working order, another grand excursion was given on the 14th of May, extending from the foot of Gansevoort street, Albany, into the heart of Schenectady.
" Billy " Marshall was conductor of the trains. He went around on the outside on a platform built along the sides, put his head in at the windows and yelled "tickets!" When the Schenectady Street Rail- road was opened more than half a century later, Billy was accorded the honor of being one of the passengers on its first excursion train and was given an ovation all along the line.
There was no cab over the engineer. He suffered bitterly in the winter. The spokes of the engine drivers were of wood as late as 1841 and 1842. The rails were at first flat slabs of iron laid on heavy wooden rails called "H" rails. About the middle of the for- ties " T" rails came into use, and at once supplanted the terrible " H," that driven into the wood by spikes would loosen until the turned end would catch a following wheel and shoot up through, several accidents of indescribable horror occurring from this cause.
The cars were drawn up the inclined plane by means of a long rope attached to them and to a stationary engine at the top, the whole leading and balanced by a car loaded with stone descending on the opposite track. This same ceremony was observed at both termina- tions of the road, occupying much time. The same style of coaches were still used. In the fall of this year a new pattern of car was built at Schenectady, inore nearly like those now in use, the archi-
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ANOTHER RAILROAD.
tecture of which was modeled fromn Dr. Nott's parlor stove, and was called the Gothic car.
In 1841 the inclined planes at both ends of the road, were done away with, and locomotives were used on the whole length of the road. The success of this road, and the advantages of this means of communication, although rudely constructed at great and much need- less expense, became so apparent, that within three years railroads, duly chartered by law, were projected in every part of the state.
The next railroad built in this section was called the Saratoga and Schenectady Railroad, and ran from Schenectady to Saratoga. This company was formed February 16th, 1831, and the road was com- pleted and in operation in 1832. This road really began by a con- nection with the basin at the lift bridge at Church street. A bridge was built there to meet the needs of the road. From thence it ran through Railroad street, having its station for passengers at the cor- ner of Water street, where is the row of brick buildings built by the late Hon. A. W. Hunter for Roy & Co., of the shawl works. From the station it was a horse railroad running through a subway under State street, east of the present building occupied by the Young Women's Christian Association, from thence straight through close to the easterly line of the residence of Judge Strong on Union street, and from there crossing the street it ran just east of the present County Clerk's office, and in rear of the residences of Judge Jackson and Ex-District Attorney Naylon, under Front street, beneath the present residence of Mrs. Robinson. After crossing Front street it curved through the property now owned by Mr. Jacob Vrooman, where it emerged from the elevation through which it had been cut, and crossed the Mohawk bridge. The engine house was a brick building on the Glenville side, demolished only a few years ago. A little wheelbarrow of an engine then picked up the train and took it to Saratoga. About twelve years after the construction of the road another line was laid out and the track of the Utica and Schenectady railroad was used to the sand bank where the road branched off to the north. About twenty-five years ago the route was again changed, a bridge built and the present line adopted. This road is now part of the system of the Delaware & Hudson Company.
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SCHENECTADY COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
In 1835 the Utica and Schenectady road was constructed, and in 1843 the Schenectady and Troy branch was built.
It will be seen at this early date in the history of railroads in this country, that Schenectady enjoyed facilities for communication by rail, equal to, if not surpassing, any place in the state.
In 1853 a company was formed by consolidating all the railroads then in operation, and some projected roads between Albany and Buffalo, called the New York Central Railroad. This consolidation included the Mohawk and Hudson, the Schenectady and Troy and the Utica and Schenectady railroads. The act allowing the consoli- dation was passed April 2, 1853, and carried into effect May 17th, 1854. This road runs from Albany to Buffalo. It was finished and in operation in 1855.
In 1869 this company consolidated with the Hudson River road, running from Albany to New York, under the corporation name of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, thus opening a road under the management of one company, extending from the great lakes to the Atlantic seaport.
In 1874, this road from Albany to Buffalo, was increased from two tracks to four, making it the only four-track road in the United States.
In 1869, the Schenectady and Duanesburgh road was incorporated, with a capital of $150,000, and completed in 1873. It runs from Schenectady to Quaker Street, and connects at the latter place with the Albany and Susquehanna road. It is, with the latter road, a part of the Delaware & Hudson system.
In 1866, a road called the Athens Branch was constructed. It runs from Athens to Schenectady, and is now owned and operated by the New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railroad.
In 1883, the New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railroad was constructed, and runs through the western portion of Schenectady County, having a station at South Schenectady, about two and a half miles from the city.
This completes a necessarily brief account of the railroads in Schenectady County, which today form the most important business
169
RAVAGES OF CHOLERA.
interest of this city which can almost lay claim to the proud distinc- tion of having been the birthplace of the great railway system of the world.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE CHOLERA AND AFTER.
1832 was a year of horror for Schenectady. The whole country was awaiting with terror the approach of the Asiatic cholera. Fear was intensified when news came that the disease had landed at Que- bec and was enroute eastward and southward. So, on June 16th, 1832, the common council passed the following resolution :
Whereas, It appears from various accounts in the public papers that the Asiatic cholera has reached this country and is now raging in Montreal and Quebec, it appears to this board proper to take every necessary prudential measure to prevent the spread of the disease.
June 16th the mayor reported as follows :
"That agreeable to the suggestions of the Board of Health, he has caused two apartments to be fitted up in the old brick college edifice, which report having been accepted,
Resolved, That the said rooms be appropriated for such uses as this board or the health officer, (Dr. John S. L. Tonnelier) of this city, may deein necessary for the promotion of the public healthı, but that said apartinents shall not be used as a cholera hospital.
Resolved, That the account of William Marshall, amounting to one dollar, for removing Samuel Ostrander, supposed to be of cholera and in indigent circumstances, be paid by the treasurer and charged to the county."
September roth the following minute appears in the record :
" Resolved, That the mayor be authorized to recommend to the citizens to set apart Thursday next as a day of prayer and praise to
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SCHENECTADY COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
Almighty God for permitting the violence of the pestilence (cholera) that scourges our beloved country, to pass over us."
It is difficult to understand the last resolution. It utters thanks for the passage over the city of the violence of the pestilence. What must it have been elsewhere, for there are those yet living who remember with horror its awful ravages. When it struck the city it began its work at once and fiercely. It was a new and unknown disease. It is to the lasting credit of medical science that in civilized lands the scourge like the small-pox that used to slay or mutilate its thousands, no longer has any terrors when its coming is heralded, and it is stopped at the harbor gates, even in Canada. That natural neighbor of ours has twice bestowed the beneficence upon us, but she has at last learned to keep it away from herself.
The cholera then was unknown and therefore the more terrible horror. Nobody knew how to handle it and the fatality was enor- mnous. It was battled with by Drs. Tonnelier, McDugal and McGuffin. Dr. Toll, a retired physician, entered the lists against the dragon. Mr. Lawrence C. Van Eps, then living opposite the Dutch Church Cemetery in Green street, says that funerals were incessant, almost hourly. It was not only fatal to a terrible degree, but a short and indescribable agony until collapse set in. In the dying hours a greenish hue spread over the features that added horror to the awful scene. It was especially deadly along Caslorn Creek, Rotterdam border and on the flats in Rotterdam street and Frog Alley, so-called. An eye-witness relates that a man was stricken with it in Governor's Lane and was carried away dead in two hours. The frost killed it in September.
It came again in 1849, watched in its approach with the same shivering terror, and this time many remember that, though lacking greatly the violence of the visitation of 1832, it was still such a pes- tilence that with all the ravages of diphtheria we have never seen the like of it since. Many living will remember that in August 26th, the whole city was shocked with the news that the awful scourge had mounted College Hill, and in that pure air had stricken down in ten hours the Rev. John Austin Yates, D. D., Professor of Rhetoric. Dr. Yates was taken ill Saturday night, and at Sunday morning
171
POPULATION IN 1845.
service it was announced from the pulpit, Dr. Backus falling back into his chair as he read the announcement for which he was utterly unprepared.
When the scourge again came in 1854, it did little harm. It advanced in more threatening form in 1866, but was stamped out and never reached here again. A strange feature of its visit in 1866 was the death by unquestioned Asiatic cholera of two of the well known Tullock family on the Princetown Hills.
In 1845 the population of the city was only 6,555. Railroad and canal had made a way-station of the town, forgetful of the renown and credit that belonged to her as the mother of the passenger rail- way system of the continent. When she halted in new progress, as she had for a long time, the name of "Old Dorp" was put upon her; cheap jokes as to her being fenced all around and ceiled overhead, began to circulate over the land. The passenger saw the frowning discomfort of the depot sheds on one side, saw Isha Banker's black- sinith shop, Clute and Bailey's foundry and the tavern-like Givens Hotel on the other, and hastened on out of the town. But Isha Banker was a first-class workman, reared a fine family of first-class citizens; the Givens Hotel up to within a few years of its obliteration by the Edison, gave as good a fare as could be found on the whole line of the railroad, and liandsome fortunes for those days were made there. Clute and Bailey became Clute Brothers, with Spencer Ostrom, a past-master in mechanism, as its foreman. Uncle Sam owes the salvation and the rescue of the forlorn remnant of his navy to those same Clute Brothers of whom John B. and Jethro Clute are the survivors. They built the engines and machinery of the little Monitor that overthrew and sunk the Merrimac, and was the pioneer of the grander battleship of our splendid navy of today. And one of their proud achievements, never to be forgotten, was the construc- tion of the machinery and engines of the picket boats participating in the dare devil exploit of Cushing in the destruction of the Albe- ınarle.
Lines of passenger packets were running from Schenectady to Utica, and the runners with John Bowtell at the head, were scream- ing for patronage at the store-steps where Mr. John Ellis now keeps
172
SCHENECTADY COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
his fruit store. They were long, sharp-pointed, handsomely painted and state-roomed and upholstered in grand style for that day. The dock was called the battleground because of the boatmen's fights of almost daily occurrence. At the swing bridge was the dry-dock. On the sight of the present freight depot, was the famous old " Bulls- head " where canalers lived and fought.
An awful battle nearly occurred at the dry-dock (Swing Bridge) in the summer of 1848. There was a style of firemen's contest in those days of the volunteer firemen that would be impossible now. There were five volunteer companies in Schenectady: Protection I, Deluge 2, Niagara 3, Neptune 4 and Conqueror 5. The firemen's tournament consisted of a strife decided when one of the hand engines succeeded in flooding the other.
No. 4 had invited No. 8 of Albany to act as their allies against No. 2 and 3 combined. The contest was fierce, two relays of men on each of the brakes relieving one another. Five minutes was always more than time enough to decide the strife. One of the engines was either pumped dry or overflowed in less than that time. Four and eight won, flooding Deluge No. 2. Cheating was claimed by the defeated party. Of course a fight ensued ; it always did, and it always found men equipped for the emergency.
But this was no ordinary fight. It developed into a terrible riot. The exasperated, insanely enraged laddies, used to fire fighting, carried the battle all through the streets. The town constables were power- less, stores were closed, people fled into their homes and the battle raged until nightfall rested on the battered Albanians strewn along the Albany turnpike. Searcher Smith, foremost in the melee, still lives. Anyone looking at the old man now can see traces of that physical power that made him the Fitzsimmons of this region. And he was the master of the situation. The firemen of that day fought everything but fire. What a splendid contrast is the magnificent outfit of Chief Yates and his officers and men of to-day.
Scrapping matches, as they are called in the vernacular of this day, were common between the students and the " townies." Union had nearly 400 undergraduates, largely made up of western and southern men. There were no locomotive works nor General Elec-
Eva by E- G. Williams & Bro NY
173
A GREAT INDUSTRY.
tric works and the fighting gangs were nearly equal. A tremendous battle was fought in West College yard, led on by a future president of the United States, in 1845, which even the venerable president, bareheaded on the old stone steps, could not for a long time subdue, and not till some of the contestants had to be fished out of the canal.
But Schenectady soon took a boom. Some enterprising citizens, among their number the Hon. Daniel D. Campbell, Simon C. Groot and others, conceived the idea of erecting here locomotive works and established a corporation that is now sending its products all over the world, the roar of whose progress is heard from New York around to Japan. Associated with the incorporators was John Ellis, one of the shrewdest, ablest, hardheaded Scotchmen and skillful mechanics this state has ever known.
The Norris Brothers of Philadelphia, about as eminent locomo- tive builders as lived in the land, came to take control of the little plant, whose main building was about the size of the thriving man- ufactory of Weiderhold & Co., with a little brass foundry adjoining and still standing. The Norrises started well but for some reason made a bad failure in the end. They built an engine in 1849 called the "Lightning." It had single drivers seven and one-half feet in diameter. It was to revolutionize locomotion. But it could not revolutionize itself or revolve its wheels. It froze up on its trial trip, so that it could not start. When thawed out and put on the road, the friction was not great enough to hold the wheels. It lost motion, and what was worse, lost time. This failure, added to other causes, broke up the Norrises to the regret of Schenectady, with whom these genial hearted Philadelphians were exceedingly popular. The sheriff sold them out. The stockholders took charge in 1850.
A disagreement occurred, in fact grew chronic among the share- holders. Ellis had the strength of his convictions and, when dis- putes arose, with true Scottish tenacity of belief and purpose he would not give way. He was the only real mechanic of the outfit and believed he understood the business. Subsequent events showed that he did. At one deadlock, the stockholders, inflamed with vexa- tion, determined to get rid of him. The great builder, as he became, seems to have been expecting the outbreak and to be prepared. His
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SCHENECTADY COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
partners made him a proposition to name his price and they would name theirs. They announced the price at which they would sell. He announced his. Theirs was tremendous but Ellis' was out of sight. They thought their demand was above his means, but he promptly accepted their terms and the Ellis work went on its way with John Ellis at the throttle. Walter McQueen, father of the Hon. D. P. McQueen, formerly member of assembly from this county, was associated with himn; a grand mechanic understanding every phase of the business. The McQueen engine became known all over the United States. One of them, purchased by the govern- ment, rolled into Fairfax Court House one fine afternoon in the fall of 1862, when the 134th was lying there drilling for the awful expe- rience they were destined to undergo. The Schenectady men recog- nized an old friend and swarming about it, patted it like a horse and would have hugged it if they could. The genius of McQueen and the business ability of Ellis were building up an immense plant soon to rival the Baldwins of Philadelphia and the Rogers of Paterson1.
Ellis died after living to see the works he had established take rank among the leading industries of America and to send the name of McQueen all over the continent. He left a large fortune. His ' son took his place as president. Under his management the works grew and throve. John C., dying, Charles, a younger brother, suc- ceeded to the control. Charles survived him but a few years and Edward, a younger brother, came to the direction. Two years ago death visited this family and removed Edward ; and William D., the youngest son, is at this writing the president of the plant. All these men, by the wise foresight of the father, were practically educated in the business. Walter McQueen retired old, full of honors and possessed of ample fortune. His burden was taken up by A. J. Pitkin. To-day the plant is one of the largest in the world, its workmanship unsurpassed and in recent trials outstripping every locomotive on earth. "999" of the Empire State Express was the admiration of every sightseer at the Columbian Exposition at Chi- cago. Yet "999" is an every day engine now beside the monster of the type of 2207.
The Ellis sons were men of large generosity, every one of the11.
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THE CIVIL WAR.
The Ellis hospital was founded by Charles G., the second son, and the family have helped to sustain the grand beneficence. Each one of them left a princely fortune and the wealth of each did immeasur- able though unostentatious good.
CHAPTER XVIII.
SCHENECTADY IN THE CIVIL WAR AND THE LATTER HALF OF THE CENTURY.
The population of Schenectady ran up to 13,000 by the time the war broke out. She entered the ordeal of 1861 full of loyalty but she was a Democratic city by nature and habit. She had Copper- heads, more than her share, but on their appearance after the first Bull Run, they were promptly suppressed. The following record is taken from the admirable compilation of Rev. J. H. Munsell :
" The first company organized in Schenectady for the late Civil War, was the Seward Volunteer Zouaves, afterwards known as Com- pany A., Eighteenth Regiment, New York Volunteers. This com- pany was organized by William Seward Gridley, who was elected its captain, and who commanded it at the first battle of Bull Run.
"On the 12th of April, 1861, Fort Sumpter was bombarded, and evacuated by Major Anderson on the 15th. On this same day, Presi- dent Lincoln called for 75,000 mnen to suppress the insurrection. The next day the New York Legislature passed a bill, which was signed by Governor Morgan, appropriating three million dollars for the purpose of raising and equipping 30,000 volunteers.
"On the 18th day of April, or six days after the first shot was fired at Fort Sumpter, the following notice was published in the Schenectady Daily Times :
" ATTENTION VOLUNTEERS-All young men who are in favor of forming a light infantry company and offering their services to garri- son this state, or to the President of the United States, to aid and
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SCHENECTADY COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
assist in defending the Constitution and Union of the United States against foreign or domestic foes, are requested to meet at Cleary's saloon, opposite the railroad depot, on Friday evening at 7.30 o'clock, the 19th inst. This means fight, and all who sign must go.
WM. SEWARD GRIDLEY."
At the meeting held in response to this notice forty-seven inen , signed an application for a company organization, and asked Gover- nor Morgan to commission William Seward Gridley, captain ; Daniel Daley, first lieutenant, and Edward W. Groat, ensign of said company. Gridley took the application to Albany, and received an order from the Adjutant General to report at Albany with his company on the 22d day of April, 1861. In the same order, Lieutenant Simon G. Smith, of the Twenty-sixth Regiment, New York Militia, was ordered to inspect and muster said company, and to preside over an election of the officers. The muster and election took place on the 20th of April, when the same officers were elected that Governor Morgan was asked to commission. In two days this company was organized and officered, and three days from the time of the call was ordered to report for duty at Albany.
May 14th, 1861, the Eighteenth Regiment, New York Volunteers, was organized, and this company (then called the Seward Volunteer Zouaves) was assigned to that regiment as Company " A." At this time it numbered seventy-four men and three officers. About sixty of the inen were from Schenectady.
May 17th, 1861, the Eighteenth Regiment was mustered into the service of the United States, and on the 18th of June following, started for Washington, being one of the regiments in the first fight of Bull Run.
Captain Gridley was promoted to the rank of inajor October 14th, 1862, and received at the close of the war the honorary title of Brevet Colonel, New York Volunteers. Daniel Daley was promoted to the captaincy of this company, November 10th, 1862, and was honorably discharged February 26th, 1863. Edward W. Groat was promoted from ensign to second lieutenant July 4th, 1861, but resigned December 18th, 1861. March 5th, 1863, he became major of the 134th Regiment. Joseplı Strunk, who entered Gridley's com-
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SECOND COMPANY ORGANIZED.
pany as sergeant, was mustered out May 28th, 1863, as second lieu1- tenant. He was commissioned December 14th, 1863, as captain in the Second Regiment, Veteran Cavalry, and at the close of the war was made brevet major of New York Volunteers.
The second company organized in Schenectady was formed by Stephen Truax. The officers who received their commissions May 2, 1861, were : Captain, Stephen Truax; first lieutenant, William Horsfall ; ensign, John Vedder. This company was enrolled in the Eighteenth Regiment as Company E, May 17th, 1861, (same time as Captain Gridley's company), for a term of two years. Captain Truax resigned December 27th of this year, and was succeeded in command by William Horsfall, who was killed while gallantly leading his company at Crampton Gap, Maryland, September 14th, 1861. John Vedder succeeded him as captain, and remained in command until the company was mustered out of service May 28th, 1863. Alfred Truax, who entered this company as sergeant, was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant December 15th, 1862. Andrew C. Barup became second lieutenant.
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