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 67
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Much the greater part of the work of the borough council was occupied with the harbor and docks, but this subject will have attention by itself being incorporated in the chapter that has to do with the port of Erie.
It was on January 21, 1842, that official notice was taken of the fact that the Michigan was to be built here, which was by a resolution introduced in Council by Thomas G. Colt :
Whereas it hath come to the knowledge of the Burgess and Town Council that the citizens of Erie and northwestern Pennsylvania are deeply indebted to the exertions of Hon. Wm. W. Irwin, member of Con- gress from the city of Pittsburg, and to our fellow townsman Wm. M. Watts, Esq .. for the selection of the harbor of Erie as the point for build- ing the proposed Government steamship for the lakes ;
Resolved, That the Burgess and Town Council, in behalf of their constituents, thank the Hon. Wm. W. Irwin and Wm. M. Watts, Esq., for their able and very efficient services in procuring the government steamship for the lakes to be built at the harbor of Erie.
There was an attempt made in behalf of Buffalo to have the Michi- gan removed to that port from Erie, which elicited a warm protest, form- ally drawn up and passed at a special meeting of Council, Sept. 11, 1850. From the first Erie felt a proprietary interest in the Michigan (now the Wolverine), and at first took the liberty of naming the new ship the Erie.
There were stirring episodes in the early history of Erie-"'times that tried men's souls." and occasions quite the reverse. But it is in vain-almost-to search in the records of the borough for reference to these. There was, for example, the period of the War of 1812, when this little community was shaken to its very foundations; when terror possessed not a few, to the extent that some fled to Waterford to be safe from the apprehended invasion of the British and their Indian allies, while others, among them the family of Gen. Kelso took up their quarters at Duncan's tavern (in more recent times the Farmer's Hotel, at the corner of French and Fifth streets) to be out of danger from the bom- bardment it was believed was constantly impending. There was all man- ner of stir in the town. Perry's fleet was being built. Soldiers were being recruited for the army. Troops were arriving for the protection of the town, and departing to perform duties of a similar character else- where. There were sleepless nights, and days of anxiety during which nearly every eye was searching in the offing for the appearance of the dreaded sail of the enemy. But nothing of all this appears in the precise and concise record of the proceedings of the borough council-that is to say, in what is written, there is no mention of the war, nor of the naval preparations or army movements.
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But, between the lines there is a moving story of the conditions ; evidence that the official as well as his constituents, that high as well as low in the society of the time, were engrossed in the occurrences of the period. The meetings of Council had failed, and it was not until the second of July, 1813, that it had been possible to get enough together for business. The date is significant, in view of the state of affairs at the navy yards. All of the ships had been launched but the Niagara and she was completed and ready to be put into the water. Doubtless, there was a brief period of relief from the anxiety that had prevailed. So there was a meeting. But after all, little was done, except to pass the following :
Resolved that any member or members, including the Burgess, who does not attend at any meeting of the Council ( on having due notice, or being present at adjournment) within fifteen minutes after the time mentioned for said meeting, shall pay a fine of one dollar and fifty cents-unless he or they can give a satisfactory reason.
"Adjourned to 13 July next."
It was a determined effort that was made in this resolution to cor- rect a dereliction ; to remind the officials that there were duties to per- form; that one of these duties was to attend the meetings appointed to be held by the Council, and a day was set when they were next to meet or pay a fine. July 13 was that day. But Council did not meet until October 28. That was after the great battle had been fought and won; after the victorious fleet had returned; after the celebration had taken place; after all the excitement attendant upon the important event had subsided. There is surely a story of what did happen in what the Coun- cil did not say in that resolution or in the report of proceedings.
Another occurrence of importance was that of the visit of La Fay- ette in 1825. There is reference to that, but it consists in a refusal to pay a claim of Basil Hoskinson, the town bellman, for announcing the approach of the cortege.
It was a great occasion for Erie, and to this day his visit here is set down as one of the most important events in our local records. In those days Erie held a most important position. It was believed to be the gateway to the internal commerce of the nation. The route by which trade from the eastern states to the great west of the interior was expected to proceed was through Erie to Waterford, whence, by way of French creek. the Allegheny and the Ohio, all of the vast western country was to be reached. These natural waterways were then looked upon as a provision of Providence, which could never be surpassed or superseded for the development of that boundless region, and. coin- ciding in the judgment of the French who had selected Erie as the most available point from which to start into the interior, the pioneers of the Anglo-Saxon race looked upon this place as the most important upon the
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shores of these inland seas. It was to Erie, then, that La Fayette came from Pittsburg, traversing the route the French had originally adopted.
His journey by water brought him to Waterford which was the northern terminus of the boating stage, and there he arrived on June 2, 1825. He spent the night in Waterford. There he was met by the re- ception committee sent from Erie, and early on June 3 he set out for this place. The route, however, was not over the French road, but by way of what is still known as the Waterford pike. It comes from Waterford through the Strong settlement and leads in a very nearly direct line to a point a short distance south of the hamlet now known as Kearsarge, at which point it is joined by the road from Edinboro. Along this route the procession passed, through Kearsarge, down Nicholson's hill, as we now know it, to Eagle village or Federal Hill. This point is at the corner of Peach and Twenty-sixth streets, and was for many years a considerable place, a point to halt at in old staging days, for it marked the junction of two leading thoroughfares, the great route of travel to- ward the west and the roads that led to the south.
At Eagle Village there was in waiting a military escort, sent there to accompany the distinguished French general the rest of the way to Erie. The little borough might have been distinguishable in the distance, but for the forests that intervened, but it was yet a considerable march before Erie could be reached. Down the turnpike the procession wended its way, continuing until it halted at the foot of State street. Then, from the navy yard at the mouth of Lee's run (the gas works occupy the site at present ) a national salute to the guest of the American people was fired. This ceremony concluded, General La Fayette was presented to the United States naval officers and the prominent citizens of the little village of Erie.
In those days there stood on the northeast corner of State and Third ' streets, the residence of Captain Daniel Dobbins. It was one of the most pretentious of the time. To this Gen. La Fayette was escorted and it be- came his place of abode while in Erie.
But the general was not given much time to rest. He was formally welcomed in a set speech by John C. Wallace, burgess of Erie, and when the ceremony had been concluded he was escorted to the residence of Thomas G. Colt to be introduced to the ladies of Erie. Tradition has it that the gallant old soldier and his interesting son, who accompanied him, made themselves very popular with the ladies of that early time.
The most notable feature, however, was yet to come. This was a public dinner, and, probably for lack of a room of sufficient dimensions, the bridge that spanned the ravine, on Second street, between State and French, was utilized for the purpose. The arrangements for the dinner were put in charge of John Dickson, who kept the large tavern at the southeast corner of Second and French streets, which still stands very much the same in appearance as then, now more than eighty years ago. Dickson had been a sailor in his youth, a British tar, and had served
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under Lord Nelson. He was therefore able, with the bridge as a basis of operations, to improvise a banqueting hall worthy the occasion, for he had ample material at hand. Employing the sails of the British ves- sels captured by Perry, which were stored at the navy yard, a canopy was constructed which covered the whole bridge. Flags and ship's bunting were requisitioned and with a sailor's skill employed to ornament the place, and the accounts that have come down to us of that grand oc- casion describe it as a scene of splendor such as Erie people had never before dreamed of.
Under the decorated canopy on the bridge the tables were spread, and there was a great gathering at this public dinner, the first of its kind in the history of Erie. The population of Erie at that time probably did not reach a thousand souls. Five years earlier, according to the census, the population was 635; in 1830, five years after the visit of La Fayette. there were 1,329 inhabitants. It is, therefore, reasonable to presume that the village did not number more than a thousand people of all ages. The stories the oldest people,-of other days now,-used to tell of that ban- quet to La Fayette would lead one with any reasonable amount of im- agination in his mental make-up to believe that everyone of that thousand was a partaker of the feast.
It passed off with eclat. Not a hitch occurred to mar the proceedings, nor an untoward break of any kind. At the conclusion of the feast there was the usual "flow of soul." and the toast proposed by La Fayette has been preserved, a sentiment that it is needless to say was heartily ap- preciated. He proposed :
"Erie : a name that has great share in American glory: may this town ever enjoy a proportionate share in American prosperity and happi- ness."
Gen. La Fayette spent the night at the Dobbins house, occupying the room on the second floor front in the northwestern corner of the build- ing, and the next day took his departure, escorted to the mouth of Chau- tauqua creek, below Westfield, where he took boat for Buffalo. The room the great Frenchman occupied during his stay in Erie was long a place of interest and everything connected with it became valued as a relic.
Subsequent visits by notable men were not so slighted by the borough council. The visit of Henry Clay on July 8, 1849, was deemed of suf- ficient importance to receive official notice in the public record. But, so far as action taken is concerned, the most important of all was the visit to Erie of President Taylor and Governor Johnston in August, 1849. It required the action of several meetings to conclude a plan and at a special session, held August 21, 1849, Thomas H. Sill. John Galbraith, Samuel Hays, George A. Elliot, Charles M. Reed, James Thompson, C. WV. Kelso and Wm. Kelly were appointed a committee of reception ; Miles W. Caug- hey was commissioned to carry to Pittsburg the message of the Burgess inviting the President and the Governor to Erie: M. W. Caughey and
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John W. McLane were appointed marshals, and James Skinner, James D. Dunlap, J. C. Reed and John Pinckney were named as the committee of arrangements. The procession was to include the officers and mem- bers of the fire department, the officers and crew of the U. S. S. Michigan, the officers and crew of the U. S. Revenue Schooner Ingham, and the military company.
The committee of reception was to proceed from the Reed House in carriages to Cochran's farm house to await the arrival of the distin- guished guests, and were to escort them to the city, where the carriages were to be so maneuvered that in arriving at the Reed House the Presi- dent and the Burgess were to be brought opposite and facing. Thereupon the Burgess was to arise and in a set address welcome the guests. Up- on the response by the President being completed, the company was to en- ter the hotel and be provided with entertainment. It was a program of old fashioned ceremonious courtesy, but unfortunately, circumstances prevented. He probably never saw the Reed House at all, being halted at Eighth street.
The President was making ( for those days) an extensive tour of the country and came by the usual route which led him through Waterford. At that place he was taken ill, but he continued upon his journey. When he reached Erie he was too sick to proceed further and for a time his life was despaired of. He was quartered at the home of Dr. W. M. Woods, surgeon in the U. S. navy and he lay there ill for ten days. Dur- ing his illness, and while it was feared he could not recover, word was sent to Vice President Fillmore at Buffalo, and lie came on to Erie to visit the president and remained here until the crisis of the disease had passed.
When it came time for his departure a demonstration was organized, and upon the sailing of the boat for Buffalo a salute was fired on the Michigan. During the firing a gun burst and seven men were killed. Two of the victims of this accident, boatswain's mates, are buried on the high ground of the southern part of Erie cemetery. The house in which President Taylor stayed while in Erie stood on Eighth street at about where the office of the Hotel Bismarck now is. The president recovered, but it was deemed unwise to proceed further, and he therefore returned to Washington where he died next year. Thus it may be observed that Erie was the seat of government, according to old-fashioned rules, for more than a week.
It is no easy matter to classify the remnant of old Erie. There can be no grouping into blocks or squares, for that would be too arbitrary, and as a matter of fact there is no block or square that has not been made to feel the touch of modern ideas or of-modern progress. This is manifest either in the changed appearance of part of the old buildings or the substitution of new for old ones long ago torn down or swept away by fire. Neither is it advisable to attempt a classification as to age. That
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quality may be introduced incidentally. It may be allowable, however, to follow the plan of taking them up by streets.
Adopting that system French street should demand attention at the start. On the lower portion of that street little remains of what was in the olden time and very little as it was at first. The old frame hotel at the corner of Second street is the most noteworthy of all the buildings in that neighborhood and has endured to the present very little changed from what it was originally. It dates back almost-and perhaps quite-to Perry's time. In its day it was one of the most pretentious of Erie's public houses. It was built for John Dickson, if my informant is re- liable, and was in especial favor at the time of the visit of Gen. La Fayette to Erie in 1826. It was Dickson, landlord of the hostelry, who furnished forth the grand feast that was served under canvas on the Second street bridge in honor of Washington's great lieutenant. Dickson was in his time a notable character. He had been a sailor under Admiral Lord Nel- son and bore his share in the great battle on Aboukir Bay that made Nelson famous forever. Coming to Erie Dickson became popular as a landlord, and for many years-until his death-conducted the hotel that remains to this day, though in later times shorn of its importance. After Dickson's death this hotel was known as the Steamboat hotel. and was kept by a Mr. Hulbert, descendants of whom still live in Erie.
In those early times the centre of Erie was very close to that corner, for then, more than now, the harbor of Erie was of importance to the embryo city. The water route was the principal thoroughfare for travel and practically the only avenue for commerce. And it developed, with steamboating, into still greater importance. The landing for the boats was first at the foot of French street, that point being naturally selected because the ravine that ended on the bay shore was available for a road- way. Opposite the Dickson house, on French street, there stood another great public house, the United States hotel, years ago leveled, and both of these hospices thrived on the business that came to Erie by the steam- boats. Farther down French street on the west side was the Himrod property, most of the buildings fallen into decay, but some still remain- ing. These, with the Dickson hotel, compose the vestiges of ancient Erie now to be found where the pulse of Erie once beat strongest.
You will have to pass up the street three squares before another reninant of the olden times is to be found. and you will pass by the sites of many places that were famous in their time-past where the log house that served as a postoffice stood : past the location of the Buehler public house, afterwards known as the McConkey house. headquarters of Com. Perry ; past the hospitable mansion of Thomas G. Colt, first mayor of Erie : past all that once was the mercantile centre of the place. For the landmark that remains, that I am next to look into, is the old Farmers' Hotel. At first it was known as Duncan's Tavern: afterwards it was called the Banner Hotel, and though not as pretentious as the, Mansion
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House or the Reed House of later and partially contemporaneous period, was a very successful candidate for public favor and at various times was kept by men who subsequently became known as prominent among the citi- zens of Erie. It was especially popular as the scene of social functions at a time when there were not so many places available for the accommodation of dancing parties as there are today, and at least upon one occasion it was used for a very different purpose. That was in the early days of Methodism, when even the name of the denomination was strange and un- known. One of the first of the itinerants in these parts, Rev. Ira Eddy, came to Erie, and, choosing the humbler tavern as a place of temporary abode, on the score of economy, broached to the landlord the subject of holding religious service. The landlord, true to the traditions concerning good landlords, told Mr. Eddy that he was ready to accommodate pro- vided the bar-room was acceptable. It was. Therefore the public were invited and on Sunday a goodly number attended, Mr. Eddy preaching from a table that his host had furnished for him to stand upon. The landlord took up the collection, presented it to Mr. Eddy, and, declining to take anything for his board and lodging, sent him on his way rejoicing. It is some time since the Farmers' Hotel ceased to be a public house; if memory serves the last landlord was John Boyle.
Opposite the Farmers' Hotel on the east side of French street, where Dr. Bryće's livery stable now stands the leading dry goods store of Erie was once located. It was a fine large brick building and Moses Koch was the owner. Later that store was occupied by Morrison & Dinsmore, and eventually it was destroyed by fire, along with adjacent property. The large block that now stands next to Dr. Bryce's and that has for many years been occupied by Johnston & Brevillier and their successor F. Brevil- lier, is more modern. It was built in 1860. South of that, however, and up to the Becker block, the buildings are old timers, some of them modernized. Through the decade of the fifties, and for five or six years more this was perhaps the principal retail center. It was known as Cheap- side. Of the buildings that stand yet the oldest are the Conrad Brown and Tracy buildings, but these, one altered into French, with a mansard roof, and the other given a Tudoresque style by modern process, do not look as though they had been originally built in the thirties. Farther down the street the buildings are twenty years younger and yet are old. In one of these the Sterrett grocery was for a long time conducted and Jacob Hanson was also known in business on the same row. In the Brown building the Crouches for many years sold flour and mill pro- ducts and French & McKnight, in their time leading grocers, occupied the other store. Tracy & Courtright for a period did business in the Tracy building but later the southern half was taken by Sherbourne Smith ("Shube" was the almost universal cognomen of this gentleman, who was among the most popular of his age, and was for a time mayor
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of Erie). The northern store was kept by J. C. Selden, a leading hard- ware dealer.
There were a few who dared to venture beyond the boundaries prescribed by the business of the early time. They had the gift of prophecy. and they were undoubtedly far-seeing who, forsaking French street, not only selected State, but went as far south as beyond the park. There was, very early in the century, a large tavern built on the corner of South Park and State street. It was built of stone, the blue stone that until recently was quite extensively quarried hereabout. It is a stratum of the shale formation and is a good material for building, but it is not plentiful. The stone tavern was called the American hotel, and it may have been in existence as early as 1825. In the course of time it figured prominently in business and became as well a sort of social centre, for it was the scene of many a function such as balls and banquets. The corner was occupied by one of the principal banks of the early time- that of Nailer & Warren. But it had to stand aside when the march of progress passed that way and the Erie Trust Co. building of today re- placed it.
Next to the old stone tavern in the year 1835 August Jarecki erected a business block, one of the finest blocks of the town at that period, and thus manifested the possession of foresight, for he was the pioneer who blazed the way toward the future development of the city and by break- ing away from the traditions of the time that confined the business to French street or park row, manifested his courage. That building stands to the present, and is probably the oldest building on State street.
This is not certain, for the three-story structure on the west side of State street a few yards away from the motor company's depot may be some years older. That was built as a residence for Gen. Reed. It was always a lofty building, and the people of the time when it was new used to speak of it as the shot-tower, for besides being tall with a narrow front, it stood apart, and was a commanding figure in the land- scape. It was occupied by Gen. Reed until about 1845, when he moved into the fine mansion at the corner of Sixth and Peach streets. The old building stands today much the same in appearance as of old, ex- cept that the basement has been remodeled for business purposes and now has a plate glass front.
Passing up State street no other building below Fourth remains to be classified as worthy of note because of its age or historical association. There was a notable building that stood for many years at the corner of Third street. It was the Dobbins house, where Gen. La Fayette was quartered. But it is not now there. It was moved around the corner, and, now standing on Third street, has been modernized. The glamour of its ancient honor does not cling to it as it used to, but it is well to remember still that it once sheltered one of the great men of this earth.
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On the corner of Fourth street stands a brick building erected in 1846. It is now used and occupied by Christian Kessler. For many years it was the property of Fred Schneider, one of the earliest and most progressive of the Germans who settled in Erie. During the first Lin- coln campaign Mr. Schneider lived there and it fell to his lot to entertain Hon. Carl Schurz, who was one of the leading supporters of Abraham Lincoln in that famous political contest. Next to the Kessler building stands a brick structure considerably changed from its original plan. It was built somewhere in the thirties by John Riddle, then a leading Erie lawyer, and for a considerable time was a sort of naval headquarters, be- ing the place of residence of the officers.
The next building is not only the most striking and handsome in Erie today, but is one of the most noteworthy in the United States. It is one of only seven examples in the country of pure Doric architecture. That building was erected in 1836 as a branch of the United States bank. The architect was William Kelly, of Philadelphia. The United States bank at Erie was a notable enterprise and extensive as well, for besides the banking house there was built a residence for the cashier, Peter Ben- son, which stands immediately south and is now owned and occupied by Mrs. Woodruff. Soon after this building was completed the United States banking act was vetoed by President Jackson, but by an act of the state legislature it became a state institution and was operated under the old name, Philadelphia capital being employed in the business. At length it failed and the bank building was bought by the government and became the custom house, the postoffice occupying a part for several years. It remained in use as the custom house until the completion of the new federal building. The basement is still used as a bonded warehouse, while the main floor has been devoted to the use of the G. A. R., who took possession early in 1909.
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