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 82
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once, and his demands were set forth in quite vigorous fashion in the columns of the Dispatch.
The company at once stood on the defensive, pleading lack of funds and arguing that it was too expensive an undertaking to be thought of. They pointed to the fact that the main line had been steadily losing money. This was no argument at all to Mr. Cowell. who replied that of course it was losing money, because the branches that were to be feeders had not been built. It was from the residence portion of the city that patronage was to be got.
The officials were not convinced. No argument that could be advanced seemed to be of any avail. Thereupon Mr. Cowell tried an- other tack. He demanded that the branches be built or the charter and franchises surrendered, stating at length that he would take legal steps to have the charter annulled if the conditions were not at once complied with. It brought about the desired result. Then there was an awakening. The officials engaged in the exercise of "kicking them- selves" because the side lines were not built before.
However, the system was not improved. The management seemed out of joint. The rolling stock was poor, the service abominable, and there was neither expedition nor regularity, in running the cars. Con- ductors had long before been dispensed with, and a device employed by which the passengers performed the conductor's duty, paying their own fare as they entered the car into a contrivance where the driver could see it before he pulled the trap that dumped it into the cash box. The horses became poor and worn out and little mules were substi- tuted that jogged along at a dog-trot, the bells on their collars tinkling. After a time bob-tail cars were tried, and every sort of a device for effecting economy, until at length the entire institution appeared to be terribly down at the heel.
Meanwhile, the Erie City Passenger Railway Company attained its majority though no one could say that by doing so it had acquired the vigor that that age is associated with.
It was at this juncture that the late William W. Reed became con- nected with the company and his administration was distinguished by a movement in the direction of transforming the entire system and of substituting electricity as a motive power for the horses and mules that had for so long been in service. It was not accomplished at once, but at length the interest of Mr. Casement of Painesville, was enlisted and on October 1. 1888, the Erie Electric Motor Company was organ- ized. Its progress was swift. Before a year was up it had cars pro- pelled by electricity, and again for a time the street car became a fad. The first cars bought were summer cars, dinkey little affairs they seem to us today accustomed to the fine large commodious vehicles of mod- ern times. Those little affairs where the passengers sat back to back, with knees constantly interfering, brilliantly lighted, seemed palaces
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on wheels, and nightly for a considerable period they were crowded with people who rode to the end of the line, just for the novelty of the thing. Plenty of people in Erie remember those first days of electric transportation, and the evening trolley trips. Of course the electric cars were novel. Erie was one of the first cities in the country to have electric cars, and led many far larger cities in adopting this mod- ern method of propulsion. Her people were therefore pardonable in their enthusiastic reception of the new order of things. None of them -or very few-could boast of having seen it or had experience with it elsewhere.
There was a picking up in business from the start. People could now "get there," and though now and then the cars became balky, or something occurred at the power station which stalled every car on the entire road at times, the general results were so great an improvement over what had been that the change was welcome and appreciated.
Progress seemed to be the watchword of the new company. The trackage of the entire system was relaid. Not once, but twice, and even oftener, were rails put down, in order to ensure firm, smooth running. At brief intervals new equipments of rolling stock were pro- vided, each new outfit better than that which preceded it.
The Erie Electric Motor Company was aggressive. They laid a network of street railways all over the city. Fourth, Sixth, Twelfth, East Eighteenth, East and West Twenty-sixth, Parade, up into War- feltown and beyond, and away out into the country in every direction the lines of the motor company extended.
But the end of the enterprise of the motor company was not at the city's boundary nor the lines running east and west beyond. The enterprise extended farther. The motor company drove away the pleasure steamer, for so many years a picturesque feature of Erie bay and such a delightful mode of transportation. However, it was an inevitable outcome, and there was after all more public spirit and en- terprise in the motor company, and why, then, should it not win out. At the start, the trolley cars entered the list as competitors with the steamers for the patronage of pleasure seekers at Massassauga Point. It was in 1891 that a lease of that resort for ten years was effected by the motor company, and the line built down through that picturesque ravine and across that long inclined trestle to the picnic ground. It did not take long for the cars to win in the competition. Their vic- tory was immediate. It was complete.
During the period of the lease the business steadily increased. At its termination, however, a change was decided upon. The trolley company became the owner of the forest grove on the lake shore. It was known as Hoffman's Grove. No finer specimens of the chestnut, red or black oak, cucumber magnolia or hemlock spruce are to be found anywhere. As they stand today they are of almost inestima-
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ble value. There are trees centuries old, vigorous yet. It was always, so far as the memory of man goes, a magnificent grove, and it was a delight to know it when its only steady visitors were the birds, or the plant forms that visit it in regular procession as the seasons come and go. They were not different, either birds or plants, from what are to be found in other woods, but more plentiful, for it was an asylum that offered better protection than is usually found elsewhere. Some plants that in other localities are rather rare grow here almost in abundance -the coral root for example, the only parasitic orchid of these parts. And the beech-fern and common polypody-these were among the children of this wood. Down below in the little pond spanned by the high bridge, the water lily came first into these parts, for there it was found before it had become established in the peninsula ponds. And there too were found a splendid variety of interesting sedges, two or three species of bladderwort, the rose mallow and a showy aquatic joint-weed that now unfortunately has been crowded out by the growth of willows and alders at the upper end of the little lake.
It is a good old grove that the motor company bestowed the very appropriate name of Waldameer upon, and with more soul than any corporation has credit of possessing, they cherished it with a care and consideration that commands universal applause. Especially is this true when it is considered that Waldameer has been dedicated to the public. Waldameer, with its magnificent grove and matchless vistas -views of beach and heaving breakers, and expanse of shining blue water ; the placid surface of the bay, the timbered stretch of the penin- sula, and the forest covered shore away to the west-Waldameer only increases in popularity from year to year.
But there is more than that of Waldameer. The cars, leaving the lake road, take a course directly across what was formerly farm lands. These grounds are sloping lawns of beautifully trimmed turf with here and there a clump of trees or a mass of shrubbery, placed appar- ently at random, but yet with so much of landscape art that it com- mands applause. Here, topping a green knoll, is to be found a group of maples, planted, but not stiffly placed, seemingly a choice remnant of the woods. There may be seen a gnarled and twisted old orchard tree, the trunk distinguished by knobs and knots and tufts of suckers, but picturesque in the highest measure, framed as it is in the green that is a carpet and a background. Bordering the driveway, approach- ing the tracks, filling in the odd corners or depressions, and flanking the long columns of sumachs that grow along the little water course whose long pinnate leaves have a tropical suggestion-a hint of the palms-thousands of shrubs are to be seen. By a long loop the track passes through this splendid park, one of the finest to be found any- where.
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And this is the Ultima Thule of the railroad enterprise that began in 1867 with the question "Will it Pay?"
It is only in line with the mutability of all things human that in the electric railway business, too, there should be change. The reason why there should be a change in the management or ownership of the Erie street railway system is not so important or interesting as that that change did occur. On April 13, 1906, the ownership of the rail- road properties and franchises of the Erie Electric Motor Co. was trans- ferred to the Buffalo & Lake Erie Traction Co., and the new corpora- tion entered upon the management of the business at once, not a turn- ing of a wheel being effected at the time of the change. The extension of the interest, or related interests of the local and suburban lines is given an account of further along in this chapter.
Suburban trolley car service for Erie first took practical shape in 1891, the charter for the first of the lines that center at Erie being dated April 22, of that year. The company that was then incorporated was known as the Erie Transit Company, and its purpose was to build and operate a line of railroad between Erie and Edinboro and Cambridge Springs. It was the outcome of the initiative of the late Hon. Perry A. Gibson, an Edinboro boy, though for years a resident of Erie. Mr. Gibson was naturally a promoter. Nothing was more to his liking, and it is not stating more than simple fact that in initiative he was talented to a degree. The first meeting in the interest of this enter- prise was held April 17, 1891, when the following Erie men were pres- ent : J. F. Downing, Perry A. Gibson, Jacob Fritz, C. W. Davenport, J. F. Walther, Wellington Downing, John Doll, Samuel M. Brainerd, Christian Kessler. The organization effected was: President, Wel- lington Downing; Vice President, Perry A. Gibson; Secretary, R. P. Chapin ; Treasurer, John Doll; Directors, C. W. Davenport, S. M. Brainerd, J. F. Walther, J. F. Downing, Jacob Fritz. P. A. Gibson, John Doll, WV. Downing, Christian Kessler. Depository, the Erie Dime Savings & Loan Co.
One of the first measures to be secured for the new corporation was a franchise by city ordinance for the use of certain city streets, and the meeting at which the draft of this ordinance was made was held May 14, 1891. This measure requisitioned a right of way on Twenty-eighth street from about Cherry street to Myrtle; Myrtle street to Sixteenth and Sixteenth to Peach, the plan being to establish the Erie terminus of the line in proximity to the Union Railroad Sta- tion. This route was allowed by the city council, though it is well enough to state right here, the company was prevented from ever coming farther down Myrtle street than Nineteenth because the Nickel Plate Railroad (N. Y., C. & St. L. Railroad Co.) refused to per- mit its track to be crossed at grade.
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Suburban trolley lines at the time the Erie Transit Company en- tered the field were new and untried enterprises, and this proving to be a heavy undertaking it became subject to the rule that "all large bodies move slowly." It was not until 1898 that the corporation was ready to get down to the business of realizing its purpose by building the railroad line. There was a meeting of the company on November 3, 1898, at which a resolution was adopted authorizing P. A. Gibson "to complete a contract forthwith in the name of the Erie Traction Company with some responsible company to build the road from Erie to Cambridge Springs." In pursuance of this resolution there was sub- mitted at a meeting held Feb. 20, 1899, the proposal of C. H. Lawrence of the International Construction Co., of Detroit, to build and equip in first class manner an electric railway line between the city of Erie, via Kearsarge, McKean and Edinboro, to Cambridge Springs, by way of the old Plank Road to Silverling's Corners, thence the Creek Road to Cambridge Springs, 25 miles in length, for $275,000, $110,000 in cash, bonds at 85 cents for the remainder, i. e., $165,000. Work was begun March 6, 1899, but the proposal of the International Construction Co. was not formally accepted by the Erie Transit Co. until April 8, 1899.
The way was not clear, however. On May 27 of that year it was found that the consent of all the property owners on the line had not been secured, whereupon a resolution was adopted that work should be indefinitely suspended. The next month a fresh start was made. At a meeting held June 12, 1899, it was voted to issue first mortgage bonds for $400,000, secured by the property and franchises of the com- pany, and 5,100 shares of capital stock of the par value of $50 per share. At a meeting held ten days later, June 22, a mortgage bond for $500,- 000 with a deed of trust was given to the New York Security & Trust Co., and this was accepted by the International Construction Co., of Detroit, and the acceptance was received and acknowledged by the company.
But even now the sailing was not smooth. On the 29th of May, 1900, W. C. Culbertson of Girard, came in on the purchase of 1,000 shares of stock, and July 19, 1900, a reorganization was effected with Frank May of Girard, F. F. Curtze, W. C. Culbertson, David Schlosser and J. F. Downing as directors. W. C. Culbertson was elected presi- dent; Frank May, vice president; F. F. Curtze, treasurer; David Schlosser, secretary, and Frank May, general manager. The reorgan- ized company took over the road, and finding it not fully complete, completed it and put it in operation under Frank May. Cars began to be run regularly on the Edinboro line in September, 1900.
On February 14, 1901, the property was sold at sheriff's sale and was bought by W. C. Culbertson and F. F. Curtze, when a second re- organization was effected, with W. C. Culbertson (president), F. F. Curtze, Adolph Curtze, William Spencer, T. A. Lamb and Frank May
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as directors; F. F. Curtze, treasurer; D. Schlosser, secretary, and Frank May, general manager. A new charter was obtained, dated April 16, 1901, for the Erie Traction Co. On August 25, C. M. Hatch was elected treasurer and director.
W. C. Culbertson died early in 1906, and on June 12 of that year his son, J. A. Culbertson, was elected president of the road, but early in 1907 the Culbertson interests were sold to F. F. Curtze, to date from January, 1907, and from that time on the controlling interest in the road has been held by Mr. Curtze. Mr. May was succeeded as mana- ger by A. A. Culbertson, who held the position from October 1, 1901, until February, 1904. Frank Leland was in charge until June, 1904, when F. A. Austin and C. M. Hatch came in as joint managers until September 1, 1905, from which date Mr. Hatch has been sole manager.
The terminal station of the road was located at Myrtle and Nine- teenth streets, with a connection with the Nickel Plate Railroad from the time the trolley service was opened, September, 1900, until June 1, 1906, when it was moved down town, to North Park Row, a connec- tion with the city trolley lines being made at Myrtle and Twenty- sixth streets. On November 1, 1907, the company was enabled to lay its line straight out Peach street to the curve at the Coffin Factory, and then the use of Myrtle street was abandoned and the track re -- moved from the street. The power station of the Erie Transit Co. is at McLane, and the mechanical station a short distance south of the city line at about Cherry street.
It was not unnatural that with the interest in suburban trolley lines awakened in Erie the grape belt and the populous Buffalo road sec- tion should invite attention. The remarkable thing in connection with this trolley route is that it did not invite earlier action. Unfortunately, however, the enterprising men who enlisted in this venture were to encounter their troubles and grave troubles they were too. But that may be shown in the narrative.
Early in the year 1898, a half dozen prominent Erie men came to- gether and, after the preliminary meetings at which the subject was discussed, decided to organize a company to build a line of electric rail- way from North East into Erie. They were L. J. Chase, J. W. Little, H. C. Yard, E. T. Moore, W. E. Hayes and B. A. Stewart. Applica- tion was made for a charter, and on June 21, 1898, the Erie Rapid Tran- sit Street Railway Co. was incorporated. At once the company set about procuring the necessary franchises, on the Buffalo road and in the city of Erie. In the course of time franchises were obtained from the city councils for the use of Twenty-first street from East avenue to Peach and Twentieth street westward, and also for French street from Twenty-first street to the Park, it being the intention of the company
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to have the terminal station of the road at some available location on the public square.
The start was most encouraging, the funds necessary to construct the road were provided for and a contract was let for the work, to a Philadelphia firm, Smethurst & Allen. The work was progressing fa- vorably, the road had been graded and part of the track laid. when difficulties of the most serious nature arose. These grew out of the city franchises. Strenuous opposition was made, and the corporation was given to understand that the road must terminate at the city limits or there would be a fight on. This proposition was promptly rejected. But the opposition were not easily driven off. They were determined to accomplish the defeat of the new enterprise. In the course of a few days it was learned that the source from which the money necessary to prosecute the work was being procured, had been cut off, and also that their right to pass certain properties in the country had been de- nied. It is stated that a well known Cleveland electric railway pro- moter had succeeded in closing the financial doors in the eastern cities ; at any rate the sources from which it was expected to obtain funds failed the company. Then came injunctions and the enterprise was effectively tied up.
Soon afterwards representatives of a Philadelphia financial con- cern came forward and proposed a reorganization, a condition being that they be let in, and, there appearing to be no other solution of the difficulty, as good a deal as could be made was made. The agreement was that all the old stock was to be retired and the new company was to issue new stock, each of the members of the old company to have an amount in the new company equal to that they had held in the old. The stock certificates, it was stated, were to be lithographed so that they could be put on the market. In the new organization two of the old directors were to be retained, and the rights and privileges of the original promoters were to remain. The deal was not all that could be desired, but was entered into. Poor as it was when it was consum- mated, it quickly turned out to be in a short time much worse, for the new stockholders immediately crowded out the old. Not a share of stock, it is said by a member of the original company, was ever issued to the old stockholders.
However, the line was built. It was turned over to the Vander- grift Co., who pushed the work to completion and equipped it, and then proceeded to extend the road to Westfield. It is probable the cost of building the line was greater than had been calculated. At any rate the road became bankrupt and was for a time operated by the receiver. It was never built into Erie, but had its terminus at the P. & E. Rail- road on the Buffalo road, doing a strictly suburban business. This continued until the bridge over the Pennsylvania Railroad lines was built when a connection with the East Eighteenth street line of the
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Erie Electric Motor Co. was made, and the cars of the North East, or Lake Shore Fast Line, as it was called, came into Erie on the street railway tracks, ending their run at the Park.
In August, 1906, the North East line was purchased from the re- ceiver of the Erie Rapid Transit Co. by the B. & L. E. T. Co. which had in April of the same year come into possession of the Erie street railway system. This new owner was interested in other railway ven- tures, not the least important of which is a road, or series of roads, from Buffalo west, paralleling the L. S. & M. S. Railway. At the time the North East road was acquired, there remained a considerable gap to be filled before continuous travel by trolley between Buffalo and Erie could be accomplished. The Buffalo end extended only to Fre- donia ; the Erie end to Westfield. Work was pushed, however, and on January 1, 1909, the road was open through, and the two cities, Buffalo and Erie, were connected by electric road, all under one management.
The power station of the North East line was located on the Buf- falo road at Six-mile creek, where the tracks are curved to pass under the Lake Shore and Nickel Plate railroads. There is a possibility that before long the electric energy necessary to operate the road will be derived from Niagara Falls, and that not only the suburban lines east of Erie, but the city service itself, will be supplied with power from the great cataract.
The Conneaut and Erie Traction Company was organized in Jan- uary, 1901, by John R. McDonald, H. E. Fish, J. Spencer Van Cleve. Charles E. Shenk and John S. Rilling, for the purpose of constructing and operating a street railway in Erie county, from the west line of the city of Erie, at or near Weigeltown westwardly through Millcreek township, Fairview township, Fairview borough, Girard township, Girard borough, East Springfield borough, and Springfield township to the Ohio state line, and thence to Conneaut, Ohio.
As soon as a charter was obtained the original incorporators in- terested the well known banking house of R. L. Forrest & Company of Philadelphia in the project. The road was surveyed; the main ob- stacles to the construction being the crossing of the large ravines in Walnut Creek, Elk Creek, and Crooked Creek valleys. By making detours these were crossed at easy grades without any high level bridges.
Franchises from the several municipalities were obtained and the necessary rights of way were also obtained from the individual prop- erty owners ; it being necessary at that time to acquire the consent of every foot of property along the highway, as street railroad companies then did not have the power of eminent domain that is now vested in them. Wherever private right of way could be secured this was done,
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and about one-third of the entire road was constructed on private right of way.
The road generally runs along the highway known as the Ridge road, excepting in Fairview township where it crosses Walnut Creek valley, and in Girard township where the road extends northwardly so as to pass through North Girard, formerly Milesgrove. The entire length of the road is about thirty-one miles.
At Conneaut, Ohio, it is constructed over a high level bridge by virtue of a franchise acquired over the same from the company con- structing and operating it. The Conneaut & Erie road connects with the electric street railway system at Conneaut, Ohio, that extends westward to Cleveland, Ohio.
The construction of the road was done by the Lake Construction Company, a corporation organized for that purpose. The first car passed over the line in June, 1902.
The large and well equipped power house was constructed at Elk Creek on the Nickel Plate Railway, and terminal facilities were ac- quired whereby the cars were operated into the City of Erie over the City lines. The three suburban electric lines occupy a union terminal station on North Park Row, Erie.
TH NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENCY TILDEN FONDATION
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COURT HOUSE, ERIE.
OLD CUSTOM HOUSE.
CHAPTER XIV .- PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
SEVERAL COURT HOUSE BUILDINGS .- OLD CUSTOM HOUSE .- SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' HOME .- FEDERAL BUILDING .- CITY HALL .- HOSPITALS, HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
Landmarks in the onward progress of the city, the public buildings may be considered, not alone as to the dates of their construction, which mark the passage of years, but the fact of their having been built, for this circumstance furnishes evidence that local development had reached such a stage that they were demanded. The town was grow- ing, the population increasing, the needs of the community becoming multiplied, business required it. The first public building erected in Erie was the courthouse in the public square, erected in 1808-for the log jail on East Second street does not count as a public building, be- cause it was erected for a dwelling and bought and converted into a jail by the county commissioners. The courthouse of 1808 was there- fore the first public building in Erie. The town was small and the county very sparsely populated, so the state rendered efficient aid by voting an appropriation of $2,000. The first courthouse was of brick, and stood until 1823, when on Sunday morning, March 23, it was de- stroyed by fire. Its successor was built in 1824, upon the site of the house that had been burned, and, as the former had been, became the most useful building in Erie-a public building in every sense of the word. It was two stories high, surmounted by a belfry, in which was the bell of the British ship Queen Charlotte, taken as a prize in the victory of Commodore Perry in 1813. That bell served all sorts of purposes-just as many as the courthouse did. Sometimes it called to court; at otliers it was a church bell ; again it proclaimed a political rally or convention ; at another time it announced a lecture. All sorts of doings were permitted in the courthouse-even the strolling players had access to the temple of justice, and when the Rippers and the Shanghais contended it was the center of attraction, but not at the time in a judicial sense.
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