USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 62
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The charter that created the borough of Waterford bears date April 8, 1833. Since that time the character of borough and township has changed. There is now no inland commerce. The calls of the water men, and the shouts of the teamsters, who are guiding the long strings of plodding oxen or the more active equine teams, are no longer heard. The stir of the loading and unloading at the harbor, and the access of strangers for a few days or nights that contributed toward making the hostelries profitable, are gone. They were never of the borough. Dur- ing those "lively" times fortunes were made in a brief space. In the salt trade John Vincent became a rich man. But if, as a borough, the liveli- ness of the old regime was departed, there was substituted a solidity that had never before characterized the place. The manufacturing that came was on a sounder foundation. The stores were of a higher order and became diversified as merchandising became specialized. Waterford township developed into an excellent farming and grazing section, and the borough became the centre, as the market for the produce, as the source from which necessary supplies were obtained-it was the heart of the township that kept the incoming and outgoing currents in healthy motion. Long ago all rivalry with Erie was abandoned, but Waterford, nestled among the low hills of the French Creek Valley, by the side of the lake whose name is an echo of the occupancy by the soldiers of Louis of France over a century and a half ago, is the abode of peace and comfort and content-and the multi-millionaires of the Twentieth Century can- not have more.
CHAPTER XXI .- WAYNE.
FORMED IN 1826 .- EARLY SETTLERS .- MICHAEL HARE, OLDEST MAN OF ERIE COUNTY .- HORACE GREELEY'S RESIDENCE IN WAYNE. -THE STATE FISH HATCHERY.
Originally that portion of Erie county south of the Triangle that extends eastward of the meridian of the western boundary line of New York State, was one township under the name of Brokenstraw, which it obtained from the stream of that name, an affluent of the Allegheny River, that flows through a corner of that pan-handle. Through the in- fluence of Wm. Miles the name was changed to Concord in 1821. Five years later, in 1826, the township was very nearly evenly divided, the southern portion retaining the name of Concord, and the northern part was called Wayne township in honor of Gen. Anthony Wayne, a hero of the Revolutionary war and of the Indian war shortly afterwards, who died in Erie county. Wayne township has twice been reduced in size, first in 1863 when the borough of Corry was organized, and again in 1866 when Corry was incorporated a city. Wayne has an average width of about six miles and a length of about eight miles. Its northern bound- ary which is the line between New York and Pennsylvania, was estab- lished by commissioners on the part of the two states in 1785, who com- pleted their work in 1787, their work being confirmed by the Legislature in 1789. The eastern boundary of the township was laid down by the act of 1800 which established the counties of Erie and Warren.
From all accounts it appears that the earliest settlers in the territory that became Wayne township in 1826, were Messrs. Hare. Rihue and Call, but the year of their coming is not exactly known. It was previous to 1798. The first of these was Michael Hare, who with his wife. Betty. lived in a log cabin on the east side of Hare creek, about a mile north of Corry, and it was from him the stream obtained its name. Michael Hare achieved fame by living to be the oldest man the county of Erie -- and perhaps the State of Pennsylvania-ever produced. He died at Waterford at the age of one hundred and fifteen years, eight months and twenty-two days, and is buried in the Waterford cemetery. Neither of the three first settlers remained long. All left before the country was cleared up, Hare locating finally in Waterford. Call's location was on the Amos Heath farm and Rihue's where the Stanford brick yard in Corry was
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for years operated. During 1:97 a man named Prosser went in, and during the same year Joseph Hall settled at Beaver Dam, but afterwards removed to Elgin. Settlers in 1798 were William and Samuel Smith and Daniel Findley ; in 1800, William Carson and John Kincaide and his five sons, several of whom were grown; in 1806, William Gray, who afterwards changed to Waterford; in 1817, Joseph Grant, a native of New London, Conn., who late in life, moved to Wesleyville; from 1820 to 1824, Daniel Yeager and Messrs. Perkins, Childs and Doud. The Smith brothers were followed at an early day by two other brothers, James and Robert. Zaccheus Greeley took up land in the township in 1825, but his brothers, Benjamin and Leonard had moved into the neigh- borhood two years before. Jolin Heath, father of Amos, purchased what afterwards came to be known as the G. W. Spencer place in 1827 or 1828 when Amos was a boy of four or five. A Mr. Miller had prev- iously lived on the farm and built a saw mill on the run, farther up, which was the first saw mill in the township. Matthias Spencer moved to what is known as the Spencer place in March. 1831. He was born in East Haddam, Conn., and emigrated to Columbus, Warren county, and from there moved into Wayne. In 1865 he went to Erie to live with his son, Dr. H. A. Spencer, where he remained until his death. Isaac Kennedy settled in the township in 1834. Chauncey G. Rickerson, a native of Windham, Conn., came in in 1835. Robert Osborne from Beaver county, located in Wayne in 1839, and D. W. Howard came in 1840, Philander Miller settling about the same time. It was not until after 1830 that the township began to fill up. Joseph Grant began in the valley of Beaver Dam run. near the U. B. church, and it was on that farm, in a log cabin, that Benjamin Grant, afterwards one of Erie's lead- ing lawyers, was born. The first white child born in the township was William Smith, born in 1800, son of John W. Smith. E. Perkins, who went into the wilderness about 1820, was a true pioneer, going in on foot with nothing but a pack and an axe.
There is no incorporated town in Wayne township, and although there are several hamlets or cross-roads settlements, but one of them at- tained to the dignity of a village. It was for many years, and even to the present, known as Beaver Dam, though its postoffice title has been different and changed more than once. Located in the extreme south- western corner of the township, its site was determined by the inter- section of the Erie and Warren and Wattsburg and Spartansburg roads, and is reputed to owe its origin to John Bunker, who started a store and ashiery at that place, at an early day. This store was followed by an- other kept by Mr. Foot, and the town being on the regular stage line between Erie and Warren, grew quite rapidly so that by 1840, besides the stores and a smithy, there were two taverns, one kept by Mr. Crook and the other by Mr. Ellis, and a constantly increasing number of dwell- ings. The building of the P. & E. Railroad, however, and the growth
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of Union City and Corry had the effect of drawing travel and trade away; soon one of the hotels closed, and then another, until at length there remained but one store, and. like Sweet Auburn, Beaver Dam became a deserted village. But it was in an excellent rural district, and in a measure recovered. In 1867 there was a Presbyterian church erected there at a cost of $3,000. There had been an Associate Reform (U. P.) congregation organized in 1820. that had built a small frame church in 1830, but after a time it was decided to unite with the regular Presby- terian congregation. Later, in 1859, the U. P. adherents again organ- ized, and in 1822 built a church that cost $3,000, but neither of these has proved entirely successful, the membership and interest falling away.
The Methodist Episcopal church has proved the most stable of the religious organizations of Beaver Dam. It was organized in a class that met in Warren Palmer's log cabin in 1832, and numbered then eight men- bers. In 1838 with twenty members, it took on a church form with Rev. William Patterson as pastor. In 1839, by voluntary contributions, $3,200 was raised and a meeting house built. A short distance north is located the Wayne Valley United Brethren church, which was organized and erected its church building in 1820.
In slavery days Beaver Dam was an important station on the U'n- derground Railroad, and the place was long noted as a total abstinence town. A temperance society was organized in 1832, and except for a single year, in 1840, no drinking place was ever maintained in Wayne township, that exceptional year being due to one of the hotels securing a license.
For a time Carter Hill was a place of some importance. It obtained its name from Elijah Carter, who moved in when the country was un- broken forest. At one time it maintained a cheese factory. but that went out of business, and the postoffice was discontinued in 1883. The Meth- odist Episcopal church that had been in some sort of existence for about fifty years at length, in 1883, built a meeting house, and that, with a school house and some farm houses constituted the hamlet of Carter Hill. Hare Creek for a time gave promise of becoming a village, forging ahead considerably during the seventies and acquiring a Christian church, a school house, a Mutual Protective hall, a saw mill and a dozen dwelling houses. The church was built in 1880.
The principal establishment of the township is the State fish hatch- ery in the southern edge, about a mile west of Corry on the road leading to Elgin. It is known as the Western Hatchery. It was begun as a pri- vate enterprise in 1873 by Seth Weeks, who erected the necessary build- ings and constructed the pools or tanks required for the propagation of fish artificially from the roe. Devoted largely to the hatching of trout and other species of fish that live in streams, this establishment at the very start demonstrated its great utility. It was wisely located, the
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site being chosen because at that place an abundant supply of pure spring water was available. In 1875 Hon. W. W. Brown, of Corry, a representative in the State Legislature, convinced of the importance of the undertaking of Mr. Weeks, procured the passage of an act to estab- lish the Western Fish Hatchery, and in 1876, the State acquired Mr. Weeks's property, and has ever since conducted it with success and great advantage to the commonwealth. For many years Mr. Weeks continued as superintendent, and was succeeded in 1885 by William Buller, who is still in charge.
The citizens of Wayne township who have been honored by county or state office are : John G. Kincaide, director of the poor ; L. M. Childs, Melvin Smith, county commissioners ; Samuel E. Kincaide, member of the State Legislature four years; O. W. Follett, W. E. Ewer, jury com- missioners.
Four of the sons of Matthias Spencer became professional men- Dr. H. A. Spencer, of Erie, Dr. E. V. Spencer, of Mt. Vernon, Ind., John W. Spencer, an attorney of Rising Sun, Ind., and Elijah M. Spen- cer, an attorney of Mt. Vernon, Ind. Both of the latter were members of the Indiana Legislature and John W. was a judge at the time of his death.
The most prominent name associated with Wayne township is that of Horace Greeley, the great editor and politician. Zaccheus Greeley, his father, began life as a small farmer in Vermont. Becoming em- barrassed, his farm was sold by the sheriff, and he worked for a time as a laborer in New Hampshire. In the year 1825, having saved a small sum of money, he started out to find a new home in the wilds of Penn- sylvania, following his brothers, Benjamin and Leonard, who, two years before, had settled near the New York state line. He found his way into Wayne township, where he bought 200 acres of land, to which he afterwards added 150 acres more. Returning to the old home he brought his family on in 1826, the party consisting, besides Mr. and Mrs. Greeley, of Barnes, the oldest son, and the three daughters, Esther, Arminda and Marguerite. Horace had apprenticed himself to a printer in Poultney, Vt., and did not accompany the family although pressed to do so. During the ensuing four years he twice visited them in their wilderness home, walking most of the way, and remaining about a month at a time. The failure in business of his employer, threw him out of a position, and in 1830 he came again to the paternal roof, where he remained for a con- siderable time, doing some work on the farm but seeking employment in near-by towns. For a time he worked as a compositor on the Erie Gazette, and from there set out on foot for New York, going by way of Wayne township to see his parents. Years afterward, when he had made a reputation on the New Yorker, he again paid a visit to his parents, and it was during this visit that he wrote one of his best poems, "The Faded Stars." Zaccheus Greeley and his wife lived the rest of their
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years on the Wayne township farm, and were buried close by, Mrs. Gree- ley's death occurring about 1854, and Mr. Greeley's in 1867. Barnes Greeley remained on the homestead farm; Esther, his sister married Orestes Cleveland, a partner of Horace in the New York Tribune; Ar- minda was married to her cousin Lovell, and Marguerite was wedded to a writing master named Bush, from whom she separated.
CHAPTER XXII .- THE CITY OF CORRY.
( )RIGINATED IN A RAILROAD CROSSING .- CONSEQUENT UPON THE OIL BUSINESS .- A STORY OF REMARKABLY SWIFT GROWTH. -BECOMES A CHARTERED CITY IN FIVE YEARS. -DEVELOPS INTO A GREAT INDUSTRIAL CENTER.
The City of Corry was a railroad accident. In 1861 when the At- lantic & Great Western and the Sunbury & Erie railroads came together in a swamp in the southeastern corner of the county, that was the begin- ning of the second city in the shire of Erie. A more unpromising site for a city could not have been found than the swampy tract grown over with hemlocks and black ash in which those two railroads crossed one another. But the city of Corry was also a romance. When Aladdin, by the rubbing of his lamp, in a single night produced a magnificent palace, he did a thing not much more wonderful than was the result of the rub- bing together of those two railroads; for there was that at hand, which, because of the contact, was to bring about the marvel of rearing a city in almost a night.
In 1861 Corry consisted of a single building, a ticket office of tri- angular form that stood at the junction point or crossing of the two railroads. In 1863 Corry was chartered as a borough. In 1866 Corry was incorporated as a city. Seven years later it seemed as though noth- ing could prevent Corry from being the shire town of a new county in the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania In derision it was called the city of stumps by its envious rivals. Well might the stump have been adopted as the insignia for its coats of arms. As swiftly as the city emerged from the swamp, did the stump disappear from the land- scape, and the Corryite might well employ it to decorate his armorial crest, with the motto, "In hoc signo vinces."
" The name was derived from the owner of the land at the junction point of the railroads, Hiram Corry. The Atlantic & Great Western Railroad desired a piece of land there additional to its right of way, and the general manager of the road, Mr. Hill, was so pleased with the liberality of Mr. Corry that immediately the station was named after him. But at the time there was nothing there to invite people. Off to the
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south some little distance there was a rise of the ground to a consider- able height and somewhat abruptly. To the north also the ground sloped upward, but by an easier grade. Eastward and westward, however, there was nothing beneath the trees to be seen but the same wet, boggy soil ; so that there was little apparent to invite people. But. after all, there was that upon the ground on which a city could be built-two parallel lines of iron crossing one another. It did not occur to the people who erected little shanties hard-by in the summer of 1861. It did not occur to them and to some others a bit later.
Petroleum was discovered in the vicinity of Titusville in 1859. The substance had been known for years, and had had its uses, but its real discovery was not made until 1859. and the discovery produced a sen- sational effect. Titusville was remote from everywhere. Fabulous wealth gushed from the rocks pierced by the drill, but, what could they who had got it do with it? It had to be refined ; it had to be marketed. In 1861 Samuel Downer, a wealthy oil refiner of Boston, conceived the idea that by establishing a refinery at some point adjacent to the oil region where good shipping facilities might be obtained he would secure an im- mense advantage over his rivals in the business. He set out to find such a place. He found it at Corry. That year. 1861, he bought fifty acres of land from Mr. Corry and laid it out in town lots. By the fall of that year he had the land cleared and a frame building erected, which was the office of the Downer Oil Co. A postoffice was established with C. S. Harris as postmaster, and a small refinery was started. People began to turn their faces toward Corry. In the summer of 1862 the Downer and Kent refinery, one of the largest of the time, was built, and other factories sprang up as by magic. The Boston Hotel and the Gil- son House were ready for guests. Stores appeared on the scene and dwellings multiplied. Then people began to flock toward Corry. Money became plenty and enterprise ruled. In 1862 a third railroad was construct- ed to Corry-from Titusville and the oil field thereaway. Real estate boomed as the town grew and many became wealthy from the land.
Nor was it a tedious process. Business moved with alacrity in Corry, so that in the space of two years it became desirable to have some form of organized community. It stood astraddle the boundary line between Concord and Wayne townships and only a stone's-throw from the Warren county line. It was decided to incorporate a borough and a requisition for an equal amount of land from each of the town- ships was made. As a borough its growth continued. Industries multi- plied ; business increased. As a matter of fact there was no place better situated for business, with two lines of railroad to the east and west and the road into the oil region. During the decade of the sixties Titusville was the heart of the oil region, and Corry, being almost its nearest neighbor, was, besides, at the gateway which led into the world without. It was at Corry that communication was made with the east
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and west, and, though Corry was just outside the boundaries of the oil region, Corry was an oil town. During the whole of the period during which the original oil region flourished, Corry prospered.
For all the oil shipped by rail out of the oil region came by way of Corry, and this continued for a number of years. At that time the gauge of the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad was six feet. When the Oil Creek railroad was built in 1862 its gauge was made to agree with that of the A. & G. W. Later a third rail was laid, so that for a period of time the rolling stock of both the Pennsylvania and the Erie systems could be accommodated on the road that led into the heart of the oil region. It was not a common practice, even under the circum- stances that existed in the early days of oil, to have a road of two different gauges ; but it illustrated the spirit that dominated the time and place when the Oil Creek road, to secure business and also to save the ex- pense of buying its own rolling stock, adopted the two-gauge expedient.
The site originally purchased for a town by Mr. Smith, and laid out in lots, was fifty acres in area. Mr. Smith represented the Downer in- terests, and the first purpose in view in the purchase was to provide place for the refining plant. What was left of the purchase was in the market for those who wished to locate. Before the end of the year far more than the original purchase had been disposed of. Two years afterwards, when the first election for borough officers was held, the area was ten times as great. When it became a city, in 1866, it had made a proportionate growth, and before the end of the decade it measured three miles in greatest length by two and a half miles in width. In 1870 its population was more than 6,800. It then had a fourth railroad-the Cross-cut from Brockton, built in 1862.
The first mayor of Corry was W. H. L. Smith, elected in 1866, and his successors have been: S. A. Bennett, 1867; R. A. Palmer, 1868; F. S. Barney, 1869; Manley Crosby, 1870; F. A. Philips, 1822; A. F. Kent, 1873; B. Ellsworth, 1824; T. A. Allen, 1875; F. Stanford, 1879; J. D. Bentley, 1881; T. A. Allen, 1882: Isaac Colegrove, 1884; J. L. Hatch, 1886; W. C. Shields, 1887; W. E. Marsh, 1888; A. F. Bole, 1889; Eli Barlow, 1890 ; J. M. Lambing, 1891 ; A. B. Osborne, 1893 ; R. N. Seaver. 1895 : Byron H. Phelps, 1896.
A new city charter went into effect at this time being the State provision for the government of cities. Under its provisions the term of the mayor is three years. Nathaniel Stone, elected in 1897, was the first mayor under the new regime, and his successors have been: Richard P. Dawson, 1900; Frank L. Bliss, 1903; Guy D. Heath 1906; Cassius L. Alexander, the present mayor, elected in 1909.
It was the thought of an industry that breathed the breath of life into Corry. When Mr. Downer found the railroad crossing in the swamp. where Amity and Concord townships touched the Warren county line,
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and knew it was within easy reach of the centre of oil, and there decided to erect a refinery, it was the fiat that gave Corry birth. The refinery turned out to be a large concern. It occupied when at its best estate the space bounded by the railroad and Washington street, and by Centre street and First Avenue. With the kindred industries that sprang up. Corry knew itself to be an industrial centre, and its citizens recognized the fact that its future lay in manufacturing. It therefore became the ruling spirit of its people to secure industries, and if possible to obtain varied in- dustries. It was commendable, but unhappily was once carried too far.
In 1868 there had been established at Corry a manufactory of the Climax mowers and reapers, under the leadership of G. W. N. Yost. After struggling along for four years it came to be understood by the progressive people of Corry that the trouble with the reaper works was insufficient capital. A movement was begun to provide the money neces- sary, and the movement assumed a political form, the proposition that the city issue manufacturing bonds being made an issue at the spring election of 1873, and winning out by a large majority. On the first of April, 1823, the city issued bonds to the total amount of $106,000, the issue bearing 8 per cent interest and running ten years. That year the great panic occurred. It may be that the stringency of business was the cause, or it may be that there were other reasons (it has been suggested by one who had experience that there were better reapers and mowers built) ; at any rate the business continued to be unprofitable. The firm of Gibbs & Sterrett which was the principal (probably the only) bene- ficiary from the bond issue, began to build engines and other machinery, and at length, in 1882, sold its property to R. S. Battles of Girard, who introduced revolutionary methods and set things in motion in the right direction.
Meanwhile the city's manufacturing bonds came due. On April 1, 1883, they were to be paid. The city had no money with which to pay. As a matter of fact default had been made in the payment of in- terest. Legal advice was taken. It was represented that the issue was illegal, and on the strength of this legal opinion the debt was repudiated by the city council. The majority of the bonds were held by a Mr. Kerr of Titusville, and in his interest suit was brought against the city. It came up before Judge Galbraith at Erie, and the decision of the court was that the issue was contrary to law and therefore the bond holders could not recover. That was not the end of the matter. The Corry bond case became a cause celebre. It went up to the supreme court, and after a bitter fight the court of common pleas of Erie county was reversed, on the ground that the holders of the bonds were innocent parties and that therefore they were entitled to recover. The city accepted the decision with as good grace as was possible under the circumstances. Hon. J. L. Hatch was mayor at the time (1886), and he succeeded in effecting a compromise with the Kerr interests, which became the basis of settle-
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