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 64
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An interesting personage in Corry at the present time is Alderman Albert Truesdell, who is the oldest justice of the peace, in point of years of service, of any man now living in Erie county, and few at any time have exceeded his record. Mr. Truesdell was born at Lawsville, Susquehanna county, in August, 1831. He received a common school and academic edu- cation and began the study of law in his native county. Susquehanna was the county of Galusha A. Grow, and Truesdell became an enthusiastic disciple of that political leader, and was made chairman of the Republican County Committee in 1860, and a delegate the same year to the state con- vention that nominated Andrew G. Curtin, the War Governor of Penn- sylvania. He was postmaster of Lawsville Centre from July, 1861 to September, 1863, and then was commissioned by Salmon P. Chase, Sec- retary of the U. S. Treasury, as United States assessor, and held the office four years. Mr. Truesdell came to Corry in 1871. He was com- missioned alderman in 1879, and has held the office continuously to this time, his present commission expiring May 3, 1914. During his thirty years as alderman he has married over 150 couples. He has been ad- mitted to practice law in the courts of Susquehanna, Erie, and other counties of western Pennsylvania.
PART THREE THE CITY
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ยท TYM, LEHOX T LDEN FOUNDATIONS
CHAPTER I .- THE SITE OF THE TOWN.
ITS LOCATION IN THE ORIGINAL FOREST .- CHARACTER OF THE LAND .- THIE STREAMS AND SWAMPS AND RAVINES.
Behold a vast area of primeval forest, stretching along a bluff shore, and extending away back, across one bench after another, and away over the hills as far as the eye can reach, and seemingly limitless to the traveler, who, day after day, pursuing a southern course is only re- peating what has been his experience with scarcely the atom of a change, as each day is added to the period of his travel. It is a forest that is the work of centuries of vegetation, growing in a thick mould, the product of a millenium of disintegration that has been working with the debris of the woods and the ruins of arboreal giants of their time, fallen when their noble career was at an end. A grand old forest, it is, here com- posed of hemlock spruces that tower a hundred feet or more above the slippery carpet of fallen needles embellished with the red-berried Mitchel- la at their feet, and in the perpetual twilight shade of which the pink moccasin flower loves to grow; there a grove of sugar maples with an occasional liriodendron spreading its myriad gleaming hands nearly fifty yards in the air, in the warm June sun a miracle of tulip-bloom ; again it is given over to the beech, tender in the spring-time in its tints of pale, delicate green its graceful spray and soft foliage permitting the sunlight to sift through upon the beds of springbeauties and trilliums and early phloxes, while standing with its feet in the bosky margins of the pools, or haunting the forest rills is seen that ghostly giant, the sycamore, white-robed as if it were a sylvan priest that had stretched wide its arms in benediction ; sturdy oaks and hickories and the American linden-a fountain of fragrance and vocal with the hum of bees when the warm June sun is bathing the pregnant earth ; and the ash trees and chestnuts, the graceful elm, the birches and a score of other forest forms-all these unite to form that widely extended shade that stretches illimitable.
Out of this grand forest select a limited tract ; a tract with a bound- ary ; that boundary, on its northern edge, an expanse of shining water reflecting the blue of the summer sky. East or west, there is no invidious line, but by choice it is located where a beautiful bay begins, the bay of . Presque Isle as the voyageurs, the earliest of the white race to come that way, named it. This tract is for our consideration at the present time, and for the purpose of study it will be examined a trifle in detail.
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First we look upon it from the surface of the water, as the red man may have as he paddled his bark canoe along the shore, and we notice here and there a break in the line of the bluff that forms the border of the lake, and these breaks occur at tolerably regular intervals. They mark the courses of streams that in the space of countless ages have been formed by the action of the waters, that, draining the plateau above, or finding their way from the hills beyond, have poured their libation at the feet of old Erie, an offering to the prime source of their supply. Within the space that has been marked out there are better than a half dozen of these-seven by actual count-that break the regularity of that portion of the wooded coast that frames the watery mirror of Lake Erie.
Let us look these ravines over as the red hunter might when he traversed that tract in search of his daily sustenance. Each extends backward into the interior, some for a half mile or so ; one for many miles. They are as a rule narrow, with steep sides, and they are filled with the remains of the fallen timber, or, where the slight break in the forest has permitted, grown rankly with alders and sumachs and a multitude of shrubs of humbler growth, a tangled wilderness that is the delight of the summer birds that love to haunt such situations. It is a toilsome journey, that three miles or so that parallels the shore.
But it is to be the site of a city !
For ages this wilderness had slumbered in peace, no sound more terrifying than the occasional cry of the Indian, unless, perchance, the rare scream of the giant felidae that once roamed these forests. But at length there occurred the beginning of the great change that was to come upon that region. One day in early spring there landed at the mouth of the largest of these streams a company of pale-faced men. They were soldiers. At once with axes they attacked the forest. Soon the splendid chestnuts and oaks gave way, and there was an opening, and before the summer was gone, up on the height to the west of the stream there was a clearing enclosed with a rough stockade, and, within, build- ings that were to serve as places of protection, and shelter. It was the first break in the wilderness, a break that, before the work of de- struction ceased, was to sweep the country well-nigh bare; a break that was the beginning of a future city. It required years to effect a material change, but in the course of time the axe of the pioneer and his suc- cessors had wiped off the covering of trees, and those yawning water courses stood revealed to view.
Then began the changes that were in the course of time to obliterate them ; that were to so transform that tract that even the traces of those difficult obstacles to free progress were to be utterly lost. This result is not yet quite accomplished. Not all of the gorges and ravines have altogether been wiped out ; but some have, and in what has been done there is a prophecy of what will yet be.
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Generally speaking, it was a broad plateau extending back for a mile or more, but yet there was considerable diversity when the surface came to be studied. For example : At the margin of the plateau, where there was a sudden descent to the water of the lake and bay, there were at pretty regular intervals ravines that marked the location of the streams that drained the country back a short distance. Mill creek and Cascade creek over a mile and a half apart were large streams having their rise back of the ridge. Between the two principal streams there were three others. One, that seems never to have had a name, emptied into the bay a little more than half a mile west of Mill creek; another, Lee's run, was about 385 yards farther west ; the third, Little Cascade run, was 930 yards farther west and about 500 yards east of Cascade creek. Of these streams Little Cascade had two branches, and Mill creek had an affluent within the boundaries of the borough as originally surveyed. We will consider some of these streams more in detail presently.
When the settlement spread as far west as to the first gully or gorge, growth was for a time arrested, principally because of the ad- vantages that gorge offered, not because it was an especial obstacle. It debouched upon the shore of the bay just at the foot of French street. as laid out by Irvine and Ellicott, and thus afforded, by the expenditure of a little labor, an excellent means of communication with the harbor be- low. This was the reason why the growth of the settlement was halted at French street. Population gradually extended up French street and by the year 1810 all the business of the village was transacted on that street.
But all the rest of the borough was still woods, with openings here and there in the present First ward where the settlers had cleared up their possessions. Even French street, in 1806, was a street only in name, for among the first recorded acts of the borough council in that year was the passage of measures calling for the removal of stumps from French street.
But we are now to take a wider view of the topography of the em- bryo city. Therefore let us first follow upward the stream or ravine that ended at the foot of French street. In doing so we proceed in a course nearly parallel with State and French across Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth streets. At Fifth there is a turn toward the west and we proceed under the east end of the old Brown's Hotel property ( now a vacant lot) and the western part of the three-story block that stands west of the Reed House. The course bends by something of a curve across a corner of the East Park, crosses State street near the Soldier's monument, cuts the West Park diagonally, passes under the City hall and across Peach, through the Babbit property, where traces are yet to be seen, back of the Hotel Kimberly, through the Walker property, south of Seventh and past the Y. W. C. A. building where a remnant is still visible ; it reached Eighth street at about where Dr. Stranahan's residence now stands,
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crossed Eighth, and cutting the square south of Eighth diagonally, in- volved Sassafras and had its rise in the neighborhood of the old Erie & Pittsburg round house, where there is to this day a vigorous spring. It may thus be seen there was, in nature, a deep diagonal scar across the face of the territory that was in the process of time to become a populous part of a city.
And now let us look at another somewhat similar feature that in- volves the present business centre of the city. It is a branch of Mill creek, and emptied into that stream between Eighth and Ninth streets. Following it back it would seem to cross Ninth street and French at the corner where the Lafayette now stands. It proceeded back through the square west of French and south of Ninth until it crossed State street at about where the Palace hardware store stands and then could be fol- lowed backward through the southern end of the Academy lot to the level tract of land east of the high school. North of this stream the land was high, and there are still traces of this elevated tract-visible on French street between Eighth and Ninth, where some of the buildings have had basements transformed into first stories and where there are still back yards several feet higher than the level of the sidewalk or street. The northern part of the Academy grounds is one end of this former ridge while the yard behind contains among its trees some relics of the original timber that covered that tract of land.
The next to pass from view was probably Lee's run, although that had a distinguished career before it forever disappeared. At the time of the war of 1812 the space between the French street ravine and that of Lee's run was only partly cleared, a portion overlooking the latter having been made a camping place for the soldiers who had been mobilized here for the defense of the city. It was contiguous to the navy yard on the beach below, and therefore a desirable location for a camp. But it was in the outskirts of the village, though on the maps it was a part of the present city. There the growth of the borough was again halted, and it remained, practically, the limits of the settlement until the begin- ning of the decade of the forties, when Lee's run underwent a remark- able transformation. It became the route of the Erie extension canal. From 1844, when the first boats arrived from Pittsburg, until the canal was closed in 1871 the valley of Lee's run was a centre of business activity that was inspiring, and the town quickly spread beyond.
The closing of the canal brought a transformation almost as swift as its beginning, and far more radical. In the space of a few years not a trace of the old waterway was to be seen above Fifth street. A large main sewer was constructed in the bed of the extinct canal. From one place and another-from how many places no one can ever tell-ma- terial was brought to fill up the depression. Locks, bridges, docks, and even the big gas works disappeared. Streets that had been interrupted were opened through. Fine residences sprang up. Today there is not
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a vestige remaining of either the canal or the numerous industries that bordered it-nothing save only the Constable establishment, and that a very different affair from that which canal days knew, and not at all suggestive of the past, except to those who knew it in the olden time.
In this final transformation how great the change from what it was in nature's hands ! And yet it covers only a little more than 60 years. A few people still living in Erie can remember Lee's run in its pristine condition, or when but slightly altered from what it was when the red man ranged the virgin wilderness. Therefore the change, from first to last, was all effected during the period of a single life-in the memory of one it had passed from the forest to the modern city.
During the same period as that which marked the final passage of Lee's run occurred two other notable changes in the natural aspect of the city ; the obliteration of two other prominent features of topography of old-time Erie. At one time there was a stream of considerable size, known as Ichabod run, that, rising in the extreme western edge of the city, above Eighteenth street, flowed directly east, emptying into Mill creek not far from Sixteenth street. It was a favorite haunt of bare-foot boys who could enjoy the sport of fishing for chubs, for it was well stocked with this species of fish. It flowed through what was a tract of open country in a gentle vale, bounded on the south by the slope toward Federal hill and the Ridge road and on the north by Turkey ridge. The summit of the latter was, when Ichabod run was at its best, where Sixteenth street is now located-then it was called Court street-and in aid of the industries of the time the water of the creek was impounded, forming a mill pond from which power was derived for a fine flouring mill and a woolen factory.
But Ichabod run has disappeared. What is left of it as a stream flows through the Seventeenth street sewer, and all that remains visible on the surface is to be found in the celery beds of black muck that still border Eighteenth street. No longer is the vernal season proclaimed by the piping of a million batrachians, as was the case before the building up of the western end of the city brought about the transformation ; now the sounds in evidence in the spring evenings are those of a section of town populous with children, and of the rasping noise of the trolley car.
Almost contemporaneous with the disappearance of Ichabod run was the change that abolished the left, or west, branch of Garrison run. That stream had its origin up beyond Marvintown and in its winding way passed down, but was eventually turned into the Parade street sewer. It is not so many years-less than 40-since it occupied the east side of Parade street for a considerable distance where there are now modern mercantile blocks. It used to mark the eastern boundary of the settled part of Erie. Beyond there were only widely extended fields with here and there a house. Now it is one of the most populous
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sections of the city, with pavements and sewers and many handsome houses.
Another natural feature that might be classed as a serious obstacle in the way of building a city, but which was in time to vanish before the footsteps of progress was the great hemlock swamp. This extended quite across the city, as the city exists today, though it was located mainly just south of the borough boundary line. West of State street it was very much narrowed; to the east it became very wide, extending . as far north as Tenth street. It was a tract of thin soil with a sub-stratum of hard-pan above shale, and in a state of nature was covered with a heavy growth of hemlock timber. It was not an inviting territory, for the farmer could make no use of it, and only the lumber-man could find interest in it. Home-seekers avoided it, and it was not until the city began to be populous that thoroughfares were opened through it, and even to this day the clayey soil in some sort of hazy fashion tells to the modern citizen a small part of the story of what was when nature here held sway. Through this region at great expense of patient toil Sieur Marin's soldiers constructed a road of corduroy, the remains of which endured until, many years afterwards the wilderness road became transformed into a city street.
The Chestnut Orchard was another feature of nature that the trans- forming hand of civic art was in time to level in accord with the notions of what was proper or desirable in connection with human occupancy. It extended from Millcreek to Garrison run, from Fifth street north, and was made up of numerous swampy ravines separated by rather high ridges ; as unpromising a bit of ground as could well be imagined. It was, in fact, chiefly the eastern slope of Millcreek Valley, and only in degree more rough and uneven than the opposite side. Now not even a trace remains of the ravines, and it is many years since the last remnant of the splendid woods that gave it its name, utterly disappeared.
Thus has been sketched the site of the city, as it was when nature still held it. How it became transformed the story of the city's develop- ment may make clear. But it was not done except by the toilsome and painful process that must attend every great and important work.
CHAPTER II .- THE TOWN OF ERIE.
PLAN UPON WHICH IT WAS LAID OUT .- FIRST STEPS CITYWARD .- EARLIEST BUILDINGS .- THE STREET PROBLEM.
Erie is a splendid example of municipal foreordination. Erie was a town, and even a great city, years before the first settler found his way into this part of the forest wilderness-that is to say, its location was known, and its area, the character of its lay-out, the width of its streets and the size of its squares. As a matter of fact Erie came into existence just about a month after the triangular addition, in which it is located, was made to the state of Pennsylvania, for it was in April, 1792, that the legislature of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania passed an act re- serving the necessary land for the purpose and in April, 1795, that the act providing specifications for the future city was passed. There is nothing so very remarkable in all this when a student of local history comes to take into account what had been happening. As has been already stated, there were interests in Philadelphia that early in the history of the new American republic had judged it important for the state, and especially for that city, that Pennsylvania should possess a lake harbor. General William Irvine had been sent into this region upon an exploring expedition and had submitted his report, and from this report it had been learned that an excellent natural harbor existed here. It was this report that established the belief of the people of the eastern counties that Pennsylvania needed a lake harbor, and the harbor ready-made was ex- actly the harbor that was needed. Happily, it was also ascertained that the land, of which that coast was a part, was "in the market," and at once proceedings were entered upon that led to the purchase of the Triangle.
No sooner was this accomplished than steps were taken to make use of the newly acquired possession, and the first thing done was to adopt a law providing for the survey of the Triangle, that first law set- ting apart a section that was intended to be the site of the future city. Because there were other matters yet to be settled in connection with the Triangle, not the least being the Indian troubles, the matter then rested. But they were in earnest regarding the future of Erie, those people of the eastern end of the state. Therefore the act of the legislature that was specific. So much of these two acts-that of 1792 and that of 1:95-
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as are necessary to duly enlighten the reader are quoted below ; but please note that in this earliest act relating to this county the name of the stream that empties into the eastern end of the bay was appropriately Harbor Creek, and note also that the contention of the late Capt. Willard Russell with reference to the erroneous names bestowed upon two of the town- ships of the county, is thus sustained. The following paragraphs are sections of the law providing for laying out the town of Erie, the first paragraph being an extract from the act of 1:92 and the other three taken from the act of 1195:
That the following tracts of land shall be reserved for the use of the Commonwealth, that is to say, at Presque Isle, formed by Lake Erie, the island or peninsula which forms the harbor, and a tract extending eight miles along the shore of the lake, and three miles in breadth, so as to include the tract already surveyed by virtue of a resolution of the General Assembly, and the whole of the harbor formed by the said Pres- que Isle, at the mouth of Harbor Creek, which empties into the Lake Erie, and along the shore of the lake, on both sides of said creek, two thousand acres."
In order to facilitate and promote the progress of settlement within this Commonwealth, and to afford additional security to the frontiers thereof by the establishment of towns within the several tracts of land heretofore reserved for public uses :
Be it enacted. etc. That the Governor may and shall appoint two commissioners to survey or cause to be surveyed one thousand and six hundred acres of land for town lots, and three thousand and four hun- dred acres of land adjoining thereto for out-lots, at or near to Presque Isle, on Lake Erie, within the tract heretofore reserved for public use in and by said act entitled, "An Act for the sale of Vacant lands within this Commonwealth," passed on the third day of April, 1192 ; and the said lands so surveyed shall be laid out into town lots and out lots, in such manner, and with such streets, not more than one hundred nor less than sixty feet wide, and such lanes, alleys and reservations for public uses as the said Commonwealth shall direct, but no town lots shall contain more than one-third of an acre. no out lot shall contain more than five acres, nor shall the reservations for public uses exceed in the whole twenty acres ; and the town hereby directed to be laid out shall be called Erie, and all the streets, lanes and alleys thereof and of the out lots thereto ad- joining, shall be and forever remain common highways.
That the said commissioners shall with all convenient despatch file a draft, return and report of the survey and proceedings made and executed by virtre of this act in the office of the Secretary of the Com- monwealth, and thereupon it shall be lawful for the governor at such time and times, in such manner and on such terms as to him shall ap- pear most advantageous to the Commonwealth, to sell or cause to be sold at public auction, and by letters patent under the seal of the state to grant and convey to the highest and best bidders respectively, one third part of the town lots and one third part of the out lots surveyed and laid out as aforesaid upon the condition hereinafter specified.
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It will thus appear that there was a plan ready prepared for the surveyors, up to which they could work. And yet there was latitude. There was no delay after the approval of this act (of 1795). By the end of June, 1795, the surveyors were on the ground with a force of state troops to guard them from possible interference by the Indians. Nor had the state authorities failed to exercise careful discrimination in selecting the surveyors. The chief was Andrew Ellicott, who had laid out the city of Washington for the United States Government. His as- sociate was General William Irvine. In the minds of the people of the present day it will readily be apparent how it came about that so ad- mirable a plan for the city was provided, the details of it having been committed to him who had the laying out of the national capital.
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