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 81
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It was not long before it became evident that the equipment was not equal to the demands, so a power house was erected on or near the side of the railroad between Chestnut and Walnut, probably where the foundry of the Erie Engine Works is now located, and two dyna- mos instead of one were provided to furnish the current. And so the work of lighting the city proceeded. 'But an unpleasant feature of the business developed. It was found that the supplies of every kind re- quired were exceedingly expensive, and that, bought from the Brush Co., they cost more than they could be obtained from others. And then another discovery was made: that the Erie company was tied hand and foot to the Brush Co. The contract with the city was at a high figure, but it was, even at that, entirely inadequate to meet the expenses. Even public spirit has its limit, and the limit was reached at length.
Now it was with electric lighting just as it was with the telephone business. There was a rival in the field, and this rival had a decided advantage. By the Brush system the lighting was through the me- dium of arc lamps, and it was practically useless for commercial pur- poses or for dwellings, individual converters being required to make it serviceable for house use. On the other hand, the Edison system of
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incandescent lamps, with a lower tension current, commended itself where the Brush system was not available. And the Edison system was standing knocking at the door. It did not take long for the Erie pioneer promoters of electric lighting to reach a decision. They had fully made good to the citizens all they had agreed to, and they could not reasonably be expected to continue to reach down into their pockets. When, therefore, they decided to retire, it was a retreat in good order. They disposed of their holdings at a loss of fifty per cent of what had been invested, and cheerfully yielded the ground to their successors.
It was on March 23, 1892, that the original charter to the Erie County Light Company was issued and the names that appear on the charter are R. D. McGonnigle of Allegheny City, S. A. Duncan of Pittsburg, W. B. Rodgers of Allegheny, D. W. Nason, W. E. Hayes, Joseph Henderson and David A. Sawdey of Erie. The Erie gentlemen named above were brought in later, principally to furnish the sinews of war, the incorporators from Pittsburg representing the Brush in- terest. It was found afterward to be necessary to have a perfecting. charter issued, for the reason that the manufacture and sale of electric energy was a new business, and not within the knowledge of those who framed the corporations act of April 29, 1874. The new perfect- ing charter was granted to the Erie County Light Co. on August 14, 1889, in accordance with the new enabling act of May 8, 1889. This company obtained from the city the necessary franchises for the use of the streets to the extent of erecting poles ; and also had a contract awarded for furnishing light to the city. Electric street lighting was then a new thing. There were no precedents-unless the use of tow- ering masts, as had been the case in Cleveland, might be taken as such. It was therefore a sort of makeshift to plant a pole upon each of two diagonally opposite corners and swing a lamp midway. It was crude, but effective, and really became the established method by becoming adopted in most of the cities of the Union. For four years the Erie County Light Co. continued to furnish electricity as an illuminant to the city.
On the 8th of February, 1886, the Edison Electric Light & Power Co. of Erie was chartered by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania by act of April 29, 1874, upon the application of Marius Duvall, Jr., Henry Tibbals, Chas. H. Strong, Henry A. Clark and M. H. Taylor, all of Erie. A perfecting charter was granted the same company by the com- monwealth on August 14, 1889, under the act of May 8, 1889. It was the Edison E. L. & P. Co., that, acquiring control of the Erie County Light Co., by the purchase of interests the stockholders in the original electric light company were quite ready to dispose of. On July 12, 1886, the Edison Company bought a piece of land, 50 feet on Peach street by 120 feet deep and erected a central station building on it,
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on the east side of Peach street between Tenth and Eleventh, where the first Edison dynamos were installed, run by Ball engines. This Edison Company was one of the first incandescent light companies operated in the world, being fifth or sixth on the list.
After the organization of the Edison Electric Light & Power Co., and the installation of some few incandescent lamps in the stores and houses of Erie, on October 15, 1886, the majority stock of the Erie County Light Co. was purchased by stockholders of the Edison E. L. & P. Co., and, as a matter of economy and convenience, under con- tract dated October 25, 1887, the two plants were moved together and operated from the central station building of the Edison E. L. & P. Co., on Peach street.
On August 16, 1892, the Edison Electric Light & Power Co. pur- chased the property on the corner of Twelfth and French streets, formerly owned by the Erie City Iron Works, which had then just been vacated for the new iron works plant on East avenue and the railroad. Previously, however, on June 15, 1891, under temporary lease, the Edison Co. moved into their new quarters at Twelfth and French, where the central station and offices of the company, and the company succeeding by the consolidation and merger of the earlier organizations, have operated ever since.
On May 16, 1892, the Erie County Light Co. was acquired by the Edison Electric Light & Power Co., by purchase of its franchises and property, real, personal and mixed, and became consolidated and merged into the Edison Electric Light & Power Co.
On October 3, 1898, the Erie County Electric Company was char- tered to operate an electric light and power plant in Erie county, Penn- sylvania, the incorporators being W. C. Readio, William E. Brown, William S. Carroll, William G. Reed and Fred Einfeldt, by applica- tion dated September 24, 1898. This Erie County Electric Co., on September 6, 1902, by charter granted October 17, 1902, by the com- monwealth of Pennsylvania, under the name of the Erie County Elec- tric Company, became merged and consolidated with the Terminal Street Railway Company, a corporation chartered on November 19, 1900, to construct and operate a terminal street railway in the city and county of Erie, Pennsylvania.
On June 13, 1903, the Erie County Electric Company became merged and consolidated with the Edison Electric Light & Power Company under the corporate name of the Erie County Electric Com- pany, which is the corporate name under which all the several light and power companies previously named are now known, the charter being granted by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania on June 30, 1903.
These details are furnished through the kindness of Mr. C. H. Strong, president of the company, and are printed because it seems to be of sufficient importance to know what the legal developments lead-
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ing up to the present status have been. Mr. Benj. P. Diffenbaugh, chief engineer at the power station of the Erie County Electric Co., was the first engineer of the Erie County Light Company, and has served from the beginning until the present, and from him have been obtained some interesting facts with reference to first things in elec- tric lighting in Erie. The first president of the Erie County Light Company was W. L. Cleveland ; the second, J. C. Selden, and the third George V. Maus. The first power station, in the Erie City Iron Works plant, consisted of one 9x12 engine and another 10x12, with one 30- light Brush dynamo, and one 45-light dynamo. The street lights were first turned on September 2, 1884, and the territory covered was State and French streets from Twelfth to the Parks. The first private light- ing was in the stores of James Carney, Frank Neubauer and W. J. Sell. The machinery of the first power station was installed by a Mr. Lewis of the Brush Electric Light Co. In the year 1885 the plant was removed to a building which is now part of the foundry of the Erie Engine Co. In 1887, the plant was moved to Peach street and con- solidated with that of the Edison Company.
A second company for the manufacture of electricity was organ- ized in 1894. The Merchants and Manufacturers Electric Light, Heat and Power Company was chartered by the state with E. D. Carter, Louis Streuber, John S. Rilling, E. C. Siegel and J. B. Arbuckle as corporators, and the power plant was established at the foot of French street and immediately equipped. In October of that year the lights were first turned on, and the company having secured a contract to light the city for a term of years, the M. & M. Co. became first known to the citizens in connection with street lighting. However, that was only a part of what the new company purposed doing. Lighting with incandescent lamps was to be a part of the business, as was also the furnishing of power.
In 1896 the Home Heating Company was chartered, the corpor- ators being E. D. Carter, J. S. Rilling, Louis Streuber, C. WV. Lawrie and M. J. Campbell. This company was organized to supply steam for heat to business or mercantile buildings and dwellings, and a fran- chise was obtained that permitted the use of the streets in which to lay pipes. In 1899 the Home Heating Co. was consolidated with the Merchants and Manufacturers Electric Light, Heating and Power Co. under the name of The Erie Company.
About the same time a controlling interest in the Erie Gas Com- pany was purchased by the stockholders in The Erie Company. The Erie Gas Company was organized in 1852 and obtained a state char- ter in that year, as well as a franchise from the city that enabled it to lay pipes in the city streets. It was also awarded a contract for light- ing the streets, upon the agreement that the rate charged would not
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be higher than that of any other company performing a similar service in any municipality on the south shore of Lake Erie. In the course of time many amendments were made to the charter in order to meet developments brought about by the constant advances being made in science and business, so that it was kept in line with the progress of the times. While under the control of the company engaged in sup- plying electricity, however, the Erie Gas Company was maintained as a distinct and separate corporation. In 1906 the shares of the Erie Gas Co. were disposed of to Philadelphia parties, who continued the business of furnishing gas to patrons and are steadily increasing and ยท extending the service.
Meanwhile the use of electricity steadily grew, until in a great measure it has become indispensible. The use of electricity for light- ing is well-nigh universal in the business section, not alone in stores and offices, but outside where, in the form of signs and other devices, it plays a prominent and important part in illumination. It has, in the city, displaced the steam engine for power, not alone where a small amount was required, but in many instances in establishments operat- ing large numbers of machines. In the printing houses, and other plants, it has became invaluable because it can be directly connected, doing away with belts and shafting, not only effecting economy but greatly reducing the danger attendant upon the old methods of trans- mitting power. Electricity is now an important factor in Erie in the operation of some of Erie's largest plants, for the propulsion of ma- chines, the operation of cranes, in the work of hoisting, and on the docks is supplanting many of the old devices by which power is ob- tained, preferred because it is less cumbersome, and also because it is an ever ready and adequate power.
There has also come to the city of Erie the new lines of manu- facture and mercantile trade that are the natural outcome of the use of electricity. The extensive works of the Burke Electric Co., where motors and dynamos of every grade and condition are made and the product of which finds a market anywhere and everywhere in the United States and Canada, have grown from very small beginnings into one of the leading industrial plants in Erie. Out of it has grown another, started by C. J. Sturgeon, who was one of the founders of the present Burke Electric enterprise. This, known as the Federal Elec- tric Co., occupied the old Canal Mills on Myrtle street for several years, but removed to North Girard in 1906, where it has become a well established and prosperous industry. Not the least important factor in the development of Erie-though that is a matter of the future largely-is the great plant of the General Electric Co., which by reason of the fact that 800 acres of land has already been actually purchased, is assured. Already the General Electric Co. has begun its operations in Erie, by establishing here, in one of the buildings vacat-
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ed by the Stearns Mfg. C., at Wayne street and the Lake Shore Rail- road, a shop for the making of patterns. This shop has been in opera- tion for a considerable time. The tract east of the city was secured by options in 1907, and by actual purchase in 1908.
Besides, there are the electric equipment houses, where all that is needful in connection with the use of electricity may be procured. Electroliers (a Twentieth century addition to the English vocabulary), with their embellishments that render the facilities for illumination of the present so much superior and more artistic than those of the past ; the electric fan, the motor for the sewing machine, and for domes- tic uses, the flat-irons and ranges and cleaning devices and inventions that need not here be catalogued but are fast becoming a requisite of every well regulated home-all this is a part of the Erie of the present, which, being progressive, keeps itself in the van of the procession.
CHAPTER XIII .- BY TROLLEY ROUTE.
ELECTRICITY SUPERSEDES THE MULE .- THE EVOLUTION OF STREET RAIL- ROADING .- ERIE ELECTRIFED .- SUBURBAN SERVICE.
Erie's street car line dates back to 1867, and came up through the usual tribulation. It is highly entertaining and perhaps a trifle in- structive to peruse the oldest of the documents that have come down to us from the beginnings of this enterprise. It was worked into form by Mr. Edward J. Cowell. In those days the word "promoter" was un- known, but that is what Mr. Cowell was, and he was a most indus- trious and intelligent one. This is proven by the character of the leaflet that was used to make conversions among the Erie people. It was headed: "The Street Railway! Will It Pay?" Seven pages were employed to demonstrate what the experience had been in Phila- delphia. In this work Mr. Cowell set forth the fact that in the city of Philadelphia there were at that time twenty-one street railway com- panies, and, notwithstanding the strong competition that necessarily existed they all paid a large percentage on the cost of construction after paying liberal running expenses. The tables furnished are highly interesting in this era of electricity ; the estimates of the cost of road ; of cars ; of horses and harness, and other expenses. It was calculated that a mile of road would cost $8,000, and horses were put in at $150 each. The estimate of what was necessary to pay for setting the Erie street railway on its feet and complete it in readiness for operation was as follows :
7.714 miles of road .$61,712
Eight cars 9,600
Forty horses 6,000
Stable 5,000
Total for building and equipping. $81,312
Then followed an estimate of the earnings of the new road, which it was stated would amount to about 81/2 per cent after paying all running expenses. Of course there was another calculation, with reference to the effect the new road would have upon real estate. It was an excellent stimulus toward the accomplishment of the enter-
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prise. Directly the organization was effected, and the list of subscrib- ers included the following, which is an admirable roster of the business men of the time: G. F. Brevillier, William S. Brown, John Berst, Conrad Brown, M. R. Barr, Dr. Charles Brandes, A. P. Burton, Wil- liam Bell, John H. Bliss, P. A. Becker, W. C. Curry, J. S. Carter, Newell J. Clark, Milton Courtwright, D. S. Clarke, William M. Caughey, Joseph D. Clark, WV. A. Crawford, E. Camphausen, Edward J. Cowell, John W. Douglass, Ezra Diefendorf, W. W. Densmore, WVm. R. Davenport, John Eliot, F. F. Farrar, Azro Goff, Jonas Gunni- son, A. H. Gray, J. R. Graham, George W. Gunnison, W. A. Galbraith, Fred Gingenbach, John Gensheimer, Henry Gingrich, John B. Gunni- son, Emanuel Goodrich, James Hughes, William Henry, O. G. Holt, M. Hartleb, August Jarecki, Heman Janes, John Kuhn, Alfred King, B. F. H. Lynn, Walter J. F. Liddell, William Loesch, Alex. McD. Lyon, John McCloskey, Selden Marvin, Dr. W. E. Magill, Prescott Metcalf, Joseph McCarter, L. A. Morrison, Orange Noble, Richard O'Brien, Chas. M. Reed, H. C. Rogers, W. F. Rindernecht, Henry Rawle, C. Siegel, F. Schneider, Valentine Schultz, James Skinner, Sherburne Smith, E. E. Stuerznickel, H. C. Shannon, W. L. Scott, John C. Selden, Judah C. Spencer, James Sill, G. W. Starr, F. Schlaudecker, Andrew Scott, V. M. Thompson, C. M. Tibbals, A. L. Tyler, B. B. Vin- cent, W. C. Warren, Benj. Whitman, Dr. W. M. Wallace, J. H. Walk- er and Thomas Wilkins. Those who remember Erie as it was in the end of the sixties will not recall many names of any standing in the community not included in the above list.
The company was organized with a capital stock of $100,000, con- sisting of 2,000 shares of $50 each, and had authority to mortgage the road and franchise when it should be deemed necessary.
The original route, in accordance with the charter and franchises obtained from the city was: From the corner of Second and Holland streets, west on Second to State, and south on State, Turnpike and Peach to Twenty-sixth, with three branches, one on Eighth from State to Raspberry ; one on Eleventh from State to Parade, south on Parade to Fourteenth, and east on Fourteenth to Wallace; a third branch from Peach on Eighteenth (it was then the Buffalo road) westward to Brown's avenue, to the Ridge road. It was required that the road should be begun on or before April 1, 1868, and completed from Second and Holland to Buffalo street within one year, the branches to be finished within five years.
Now there was an interesting condition in existence at the time the street railroad was built. There was another candidate for public patronage as a carrier of passengers. This was the omnibus line. It existed by virtue of a charter from the state, and William Loesch was its manager. It was engaged in the passenger business and had a patronage liberal enough to make it a paying investment. The route
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of the busses was from the Parks to Federal Hill by way of State, Turnpike and Peach streets, and it is no exaggeration to say that this bus line and its equipment was a decidedly picturesque feature of old Erie. It was musical as well. The driver perched away up on top of the vehicle carried a long tin horn, and like the postboy of the old stories blew periodical blasts upon his instrument. "Bill Loesch's band," was what the boys of the town called it, and there can be no denying that the tooting of the horns and the rumbling of the old carryalls up and down the street, over the cobble stone pavement, con- tributed a decidedly civic atmosphere to the place. They were not swift, these Federal Hill omnibuses, but they were considerable of a convenience, for then it was a much greater distance from Eagle Vil- lage to Erie than it is today from Twenty-sixth street down town.
But this bus line was a thorn in the flesh of the new passenger railway company. The charter of the omnibus company gave it the right to use the streets that had been appropriated by the street rail- way company for its main line. Therefore the street railway people desired to be rid of it. They were not well enough heeled, however, to take over the bus line, and Mr. Loesch didn't propose to go out of business just to accommodate a hated rival. Instead he exerted him- self to win a firmer place in public favor. But something happened. Something generally happens where two strong rivals are striving with one another.
It was a condition of the charter held by the omnibus company that if it ceased to make regular trips every day its rights under its charter would be forfeited. It was this condition that threw it down, for it happened one morning that Manager Loesch found every horse in his stable dead. It was like the passage of the destroying angel in an Egyptian plague. Not a beast was left alive. They were poisoned, Mr. Loesch declares to this day. The occurrence was certainly open to that suspicion ; and yet who could have poisoned the omnibus steeds?
It might be said though this might have the effect of temporarily embarrassing the management of the transportation company, and even of crippling it, there could be a way found out of the difficulty. Of course that could be done. But it required a day or two to do this. For one day there were no omnibuses running on the regular line. That was quite enough to cause a forfeit of the charter. As a matter of fact the business of the omnibus line terminated there and then.
It is only proper to state here that there are other versions of the horse trouble that came upon Mr. Loesch and his enterprise and com- pelled its abandonment. The epizootic is by some declared to have been the cause of the trouble. Whether it was or not is still an open question in view of the fact that at least one, namely, Mr. Loesch. adheres to the theory that his stock was poisoned.
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The reader will note that the route of the street car line origin- ally started at the corner of Second and Holland streets, and it may occur to him that that was a peculiar starting point. So it was. The company's choice was the corner of State and Second. The actual point of starting was the choice of Senator Lowry, who, then a mem- ber of the upper house of the state legislature and the owner of pretty extensive real estate on East Second did not fail to see that the charter when granted by the legislature of which he was a part, should be right in accordance with its relations to his interests. He wanted whatever benefit there was in the street railroad occupying the street upon which his property fronted.
It was in 1868 that the "main line" of the Erie Passenger Railway Company was built. It extended as far south as to a point beyond Twenty-sixth, where the stables and car barns of the company were located. That building has for many years been known as the South Erie Turn-hall. In those days Erie did not extend farther south than Buffalo road, and Twenty-sixth street had no existence by that name. It was called the Ridge road, and the locality at the corner of that street and Peach was generally spoken of as Federal Hill. Earlier it was Eagle Village. It is presumed the station was located up beyond Federal Hill in order to escape city taxation.
The cars were running in 1868, and they were the attraction of the hour. Car riding for a time became a sort of a fad, and the "local" of the Dispatch was moved to remark that it was remarkable how many South Erie people wanted to attend church downtown and how many downtown people were moved to worship on the hill. The fare was seven cents, but by investing enough in tickets it was possible to ride for a nickel. For a time business seemed to prosper, but in a little while patronage fell off, until it became necessary to retrench. After a term of ill success the expedient was adopted of reducing the fare. While it may have increased the number of passengers carried there was no better result in the net earnings. Even a five cent fare could not save the day. The novelty of the thing had worn off and people did not seem to care to ride.
At this juncture, Mr. Cowell again appeared on the scene. Having organized the company and set it in operation, he had in the pursuit of his vocation as a promoter, gone to other cities and secured for them street railway facilities. When he returned he found that the State, Turnpike and Peach street line cars were all there were in operation. At once he took hold of the matter. At that time he was only a plain citizen. He had no office nor authority in the Erie Passenger Railway Company, but he became active at once. The franchise given the rail- way company was on the condition that the main line should be built within one year from March 1, 1867, and the branches within five years. What Mr. Cowell demanded was that the branches should be built at Vol. I-48
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