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 92
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In 1872 Farrar Hall was closed, the owners having decided to build in its stead a theatre modeled upon the best of the times. For the time being theatricals were accommodated at the Academy of Mu- sic, which was the name given to the hall on the third floor of the Ga- bel block on State street, built in 1870, and fitted with a stage. Farrar Hall had for a time been under the management of W. J. Sell ; he con- ducted the business of the Academy of Music during the period of transition on North Park Row. The new theatre was built somewhat
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on the plan of Booth's Theatre, New York, and its owners were liberal. Messrs. Gray and Farrar had as partners in the larger enterprise W. M. Caughey and John Clemens, who pushed the work so that it was finished and formally opened on March 17, 1873. It was a handsome theatre and became immediately popular. The first managers were Smith & Kennedy, but in the course of time the business was turned over to W. J. Sell, who had had not a little experience in local theatri- cal management.
In Park Opera House, which was its appropriate name, Erie lib- erally patronized, at one time and another, the leading performers in every line of dramatic art. Booth, Forrest, Barrett, Keene, Downing, Davenport. Janauschek, Charlotte Cushman, John McCullough, among the tragedians ; the Florences, Sothern, Raymond, Mrs. Langtry, Mary Anderson, Sarah Bernhardt, Mr. and Mrs. Chanfrau, John E. Owens, Mr. and Mrs. Howard, Robson and Crane, Sara Jewett, Clara Morris, Annie Pixley, Minnie Maddern, Fanny Davenport, Kate Claxton, Ed- win Adams, Joseph Jefferson, Richard Mansfield, Ada Rehan, the Vokes family, William Horace Lingard, Tony Pastor, among come- dians-in short, all the stage notables of the time were seen upon Erie boards and applauded by appreciative and discriminating Erie au- diences, in Park Opera House.
In 1887 the firm of Wagner & Reis-Mr. Wagner had been a lo- cal theatrical manager at Bradford-rented Park Opera House, which was operated in connection with Bradford and some other nearby towns, forming a circuit. John L. Kerr was made local manager and had direction of affairs at Park Opera House, remaining here until 1891, when he was transferred to Syracuse, N. Y. Under the new management the character of the attractions was maintained and the degree of patronage continued. When Mr. Kerr left Frank Caughey was made local manager, and served for two years, after which John L. Gilson assumed the position and has been manager in Erie ever since. The firm of Wagner & Reis was dissolved in 1897, at which time M. Reis took over all the holdings of the firm. Later a corpora- tion known as the Reis Circuit was formed and this acquired the hold- ings of Mr. Reis in 1907.
In 1903 there was a corporation formed under the name of the Erie Amusement Company for the purpose of erecting a new and thoroughly modern theatre. Its officers were F. B. Downing, presi- dent ; Davenport Galbraith, vice-president; H. A. Clark, secretary ; F. J. Walker, treasurer, and besides these, the stockholders were. Henry E. Fish, A. A. Culbertson, J. C. Mackintosh, C. Kessler and R. J. Salts- man. After a thorough canvass, it was decided to effect a long-term lease of a piece of ground on Tenth street from the Erie Academy, being a part of the grounds upon which the Academy stands. Plans were secured from McElfatrick & Sons, of New York, who had then
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built more than forty theatres, the contract for construction was award- ed to the Henry Shenk Co., and work was begun immediately. The new play-house was dedicated as the Majestic Theatre on January 28, 1904, with Grace George in "Pretty Peggy."
It was a handsome theatre and was immediately popular, under the management of W. J. Sell, who had been manager for years of Farrar Hall and Park Opera House. It was operated on a high plane, and only the best attractions of the time were offered. On January 1. 1907, the M. Reis Circuit bought the Majestic Theatre from the Erie Amusement Co., and at once assumed the management, installing Frank Williams as the local representative of the corporation at that theatre, but he was superseded after a year by John L. Gilson, who, being then in charge of the Park Opera House, became local manager of both theatres. The effect upon local amusements has been to ef- fect a grading as to the character of the attractions offered, the Ma- jestic standing for the "combinations," and the Park for the "reper- toire" companies, in each instance, however, a discriminating judg- ment being exercised as to merit.
An experiment of putting on vaudeville at Park Opera House was not a complete success, and that form of entertainment was aban- doned. In the spring of 1907, however, E. H. Suerken ventured into this branch of the show business, and erected a small but quite com- fortable theatre on State street, between Eighth and Ninth, which was opened in the spring of 1907. It was not a success at the start, but Mr. Suerken was not discouraged, and had the satisfaction of reaping ex- cellent financial harvests during the winter succeeding and through- out 1908. In the spring of 1909 he bought land on Eighth street be- tween State and Peach streets, and began the erection of a large mod- ern theatre, which it is intended shall be finished and in operation be- fore the end of the year. It is to be known as the Alpha Theatre, un- der which name his first amusement venture became popular.
Early in 1909 A. P. Weschler, a prominent real estate dealer bought of the Church of Christ the building that for years had been known as the Tabernacle. Although it was built for church purposes, in appearance, both inside and out, it was as unlike the traditional church as possible. The floor was of the amphitheatre form or style ; the rostrum or platform was in reality a stage, and it was provided with a gallery. There was therefore but little reconstruction neces- sary, and before the spring was over the Colonial Theatre had been dedicated as an addition to Erie's playhouses, to be devoted to the vaudeville line.
There remains to this day, besides the Academy of Music, already referred to, three halls that in their time figured as temples of amuse- ment. The oldest of these, Wayne Hall, on French street between Fifth and Sixth streets, opened about 1860, though on the third floor
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was for years in request for lectures and concerts. On the platform of the Wayne Hall appeared Edward Everett, Artemus Ward and other notables of that period. But the hall ceased to attract after Park Opera House was built.
In 1875 Scott's block, at the corner of Tenth and State streets, was completed. The third and fourth stories, in front, were finished as a theatre, and it was opened May 30, 1875, under the management of W. J. Sell, with Mrs. Lander and company in "Queen Elizabeth," as the attraction. It was operated for three years as a public thea- ter, after which it became devoted to concerts, private theatricals and balls.
When H. V. Claus bought the storerooms of Black & Germer on State street between Tenth and Eleventh, in 1885, he reconstructed the buildings and built a neat little theatre in the rear on the second floor. It was taken in 1888, by Walker & Gallagher, show printers, and operated for a time ; but vaudeville was not yet Erie's taste. After a year the theatre was taken over by Col. McClure, a showman who had come in from the world beyond. He made it a success. Later it was taken by J. E. Girard and F. E. Woods, who added museum fea- tures, and it became popular for a time as Wonderland. Girard, how- ever, failed in the nineties and the Claus theatre has almost passed from recollection as a place of amusement.
The history of sports in Erie begins with the coming of the per- manent settlers, for the love of athletics was bred in their bone. In an early chapter it was related how a land title was settled by resorting to the fists-in accordance with the wager of battle provision of old English law. It was in a way in line with what the sports of the time consisted of. Among the first acts of the council after the borough had been chartered, was a resolution with reference to horse-racing on Second street, indicative of the strength of the passion for the turf that existed at that early day. While there are no recorded details of the meets that were held from time to time since Second street was the race course, nor of the associations by which they were promoted, it can be stated in a general way that there never was a period when no interest was taken. If a measurement back to the sixties may be accepted the span of modern times, it will not be difficult to designate the leading spirits. From the Civil war period to the present, the name of Reed has always been associated with the turf. When there was a failure of the county fair enterprise that located itself in the neighborhood of Wesleyville, the fairground and race track were laid out on a Reed farm at the western edge of the city, and when that was requisitioned by the big factories the driving park was constructed, handsomer and better than ever before, out near Four-mile Creek on the Lake road, on another Reed farm. Along with Reed the names of
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Russell, Van Scoter, Dunbar and others are associated in the earlier days and in the later times no name has been more prominent than that of Theo. F. Noble, as clean a horseman and square as ever lived. His place, now that he has passed away, will not easily be filled.
Of the interest taken in aquatic sports mention has already been made. It began later than that in the turf, but has been as constant and as deep seated, and the prosperous existence of the Yacht Club at the present time is sufficient evidence of this.
The adoption of the National Game in Erie was prompt. The or- ganization of the Erie City Club with such afterwards-to-be-notable railway men as W. A. Baldwin, A. J. Cassatt and others as officers ; and of the Excelsior Club with players who were in time to occupy foremost places on the bench, in manufacturing and in the mercantile affairs of the city, has already been noted. The game then was rudi- mentary as compared with what it is today. Balls were pitched, not thrown, by the pitcher; the batter could call for a ball to suit him; there were no called balls and strikes-the latter only when the batter "fanned ;" there was no umpire, and no enclosed grounds. It was a gentleman's game and was played for the pure sport of it. There were numerous contests with out of town clubs, and the game increased steadily in popularity. The principal ball field was a commons bound- ed by Sixth and Seventh streets, and extending from Parade street eastward indefinitely. When the P. & E. Railroad offices were removed to Williamsport, the Erie City Club went with them, for the players were mostly railroad clerks, and the Excelsior Club went out of ex- istence about the same time, for the boys had become tied up in bus- iness.
But other clubs started. The Mutuals-amateurs of course- were the leading team in 1871, and included Eichenlaub, Willing, Van Velsor, Ferguson, Irwin, Kelly, Hubbard, Rea, Downing and Cowell, all to become more or less prominent in business later, some of them still leading men in Erie affairs. The most famous contest the Mu- tuals had was with the Oil Stockings of Franklin, August 22, 1871, that team including some who became prominent in professional base- ball a few years later, one of them Joe Quest of Capt. Spalding's Chi- cago Club, the best second baseman in the world in his time. But the Mutuals were not the only team then. The Dolly Vardens, the Shoo Flys, the Eagles, the Mechanics' Own, flourished and played good ball. The Burdett Organ Company began business in 1872. Out of that came a baseball team. Another came from the Jarecki shop and yet another from the P. & E. shops. These flourished until 1874, when the Keystone Club was formed from the pick of the other teams. In 1876 it was at its best, and through the efforts of Johnny Whitcomb and Sam Woods was provided with a fine enclosed ground and grand stand at the corner of Tenth and Peach streets.
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This marked a revolution in baseball in Erie. It was an amateur club with professional abilities, but it was the last of amateur ball as an attraction for Erie. It was made up of Emor and Jack Allen, Will Ely and Burden of Girard, and Swalley, Cushman, McCarty, Kenny, Guise and Brown of Erie. A feature of the Centennial celebration of the Fourth of July was a game with the Aetnas of Detroit. The Key- stones won. When the Aetnas returned from a trip towards Pitts- burg for a second game they had picked up a curve pitcher and won from the Keystones, hands down. With that defeat professional ball came to Erie. Shortly afterward the Quicksteps of Wilmington went broke, and at once the opportunity was seized. A new organization was effected with Pitt Gilson as manager; John H. Whitcomb as sec- retary, and Fred Metcalf as treasurer. The new club was completed on August 18, 1816, and entered the diamond as the Erie Baseball Club. There were no schedules then, nor during the next two years, but plenty of opportunities were presented and Erie revelled in really high class baseball.
In 1885 Archie Miller organized a team to revive interest in the sport, which had begun to lag, and got together an excellent combi- nation. He thought he had also organized a circuit or league. It un- happily turned out otherwise, when he found no team at Dayton, Ohio, and an empty treasury. For a while the sport was dead. In 1887 the Erie Commercial Travelers Association organized the Drummer's club of amateurs and, aided by Father Thomas A. Casey, vicar general of the Cathalic diocese of Erie, laid out handsome grounds on West Eighth street. For two or three years good ball at irregular periods was furnished, and at length in 1891 the New York and Pennsylvania league, including Erie, Meadville, Bradford, Olean, Elmira and James- town, was formed. The grounds of the Drummers were used and Erie won the pennant.
In 1893 Erie was admitted to the Eastern league, and, with Char- ley Morton as manager, put a strong club in the field to contest with Troy, Springfield, Buffalo, Binghamton, Albany, Providence and Wilkesbarre. The pennant was won by Erie. Next year, 1894, Erie was in the same league, changed a bit, the other clubs being Scranton, Allentown, Syracuse, Providence, Buffalo, Springfield and Wilkes- barre. Erie closed the season second in the race, Syracuse the winner, being only one point ahead.
Of Erie boys who played on the vacant lots there were many who distinguished themselves. Lou Bierbauer became one of the best second basemen of his time, and is responsible for the Pittsburg team being called the Pirates. He had been playing with Philadelphia, and when that club made up its reserve list it could not be stretched to include him, though he was wanted. When the lists were made public a representative of Pittsburg rushed to Erie hot-foot and signed
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Lou. Philadelphia hoped they might have Bierbauer anyway, but when they found Pittsburg had overreached them they charged piracy, and the Pittsburgs are Pirates to this day. Ed. Cushman was for sev- eral years the star twirler of the Metropolitans. Mike Fogarty was a shortstop for the Live Oaks of Lynn and the Tecumsehs of London, Canada. Tony Mullane, the only ambidextrous pitcher on record, made good with Cincinnati. Charley Strick (now register and re- corder of Erie county), played in the Louisville League team. Eddie Zinram became a catcher in the Southern League.
For a period of ten years Erie depended upon amateur sport, the fast work of the Eastern League teams having left a feeling difficult to be satisfied with anything inferior to what had been. In 1905 Erie was again in the field with a professional team and during that season and the seasons of 1906 and 1907 played in the New York and Penn- sylvania League, with teams in Jamestown, Bradford, Olean, Frank- lin, Oil City and other towns.
But Erie's ambition was for something better, and in 1908 the team entered the Ohio and Pennsylvania League, playing with Akron, East Liverpool, Canton, Youngstown, Sharon, Mckeesport and New Castle. In this league Erie's baseball fortunes seem now to be anchored.
CHAPTER XX .- PARKS AND RESORTS.
MASSASSAUGA POINT .- LONE FISHERMAN'S INN .- GROVE HOUSE PARK .- GLENWOOD, ERIE'S FIRST REAL PARK .- ERIE'S CEMETERIES.
It is summer time in 1864; an August day, and as perfect as an August day only can be. I am standing on the summit of the escarp- ment known as the Red Bank, a bare bluff of sandy clay that stands as a scar in the border of sylvan foliage with which the bay is bounded on the south. Its location is about half way to the head of the bay. Overhead there is a cloudless sky of deepest blue that is duplicated in the waters of the bay and of the lake beyond. There is an interval, however, a broad strip of fresh, bright green-the meadow-like sedge and back of it the swelling contour of the peninsula woods on the one hand, and farther west the detached clumps of poplars and willows that separate the bay from the wider sweep of the lake, stretching away till sky and water meet. Over all there is a flood of mellow sunshine that, but for the softly swelling breeze from the west, might be unpleasant in its warmth. It is a view pleasant to contemplate and productive of a feeling of dolce far niente to which it is easy to sur- render one's self.
Now and then, as we idly contemplate the pleasant view of rip- pled water and of greening trees, there come at irregular intervals, made by the rising and falling of the softly breathing wind, the strains of music, and presently there moves into view and passes athwart the summer picture, an object that accounts for the melody, for the sun- light is reflected from the burnished brass of the instruments. It is a picnic party that is moving up the bay, the means of transportation a large flat scow provided with rude seats extemporized for the occa- sion and towed by one of the smallest of the tug boats at the time in service in the harbor. There are probably a hundred people on the scow, scarcely more, and there will be few if any in addition at the picnic, for, unless they shall drive up from the city there is no other means of transportation. Nor will there be another trip by the scow and the busy, noisy little tug that puffs its way through the water pulling the picnic barge in its wake. That would not be permissible, for the scow is to furnish the only facilities available for dancing, without which the picnic party would not be complete.
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So we see the happy party gliding by, and with them enjoy the strains of Mehl's band as it passes while the incident lends the neces- sary touch of human interest to make the scene complete.
Let us now, anticipating the arrival of the picnic party, visit the Head that we may learn the character of the place that is to be the scene of the festive occasion.
From the pebbly beach it gently slopes in gradually widening area toward the west. Elevated at the most but a few feet above the level of the water, it is studded with trees in parklike fashion, the ground covered with a fine short turf, as trim as though cut with a lawn mower. No such device, however, was employed upon that lovely piece of sward. Lawn mowers were then not even dreamed of. But, feeding further west, we might see a flock of sheep. These served to keep the grass in trim, and, seated in the doorway of a shed-like structure that was part of an old oil well derrick, is to be found the guardian of the sheep. An old man he is, and a sort of hermit, but yet he has been important in affairs in Erie. This, however, is aside.
But we will find no hotel. nor facilities for dancing ; no shelter of any kind, nor no landing for boats. Away to the west, the view is unobstructed. We can see the grassy lawn extending until it meets the ranker growth of sedges that border the ponds; then the white dunes of sand; beyond these the blue of the lake, the waves of which break with musical murmur upon the shore. Looking toward the north the placid waters of the bay, shut in by the long low stretch of the narrow neck of the peninsula greet the eye; eastward there is hardly an object between us and the light-house at the entrance that by some optical illusion seems to be standing away above the surface of a glassy sea; southward the wall of wooded hill is unbroken, the narrow roadway that winds down the side of the hill being invisible from the shore.
This is what there was of the Head in 1864, and this was the favorite and nearly the only resort available for picnics. Waiting for the party to arrive that but a few moments ago we discovered passing the Red Bank we may learn how the place is utilized. It is a scow that has been employed for transportation, and the especial utility of a craft of this character becomes at once evident as we observe the proceedings. Having approached as near the shore as it is safe with her draft, the Hercules casts off the hawser with which she has been towing and then turning out of the way the scow's momentum carries her high and dry upon the beach so that her projecting end overhangs the dry land. A gangplank is required because the step is too great for ease and comfort. So the scow is her own landing. But the scow is more. She has been berthed near a spreading beech tree, which fur- nishes agreeable shade, and, the planks that formed the seats having been transformed into a barricade around the sides and ends as the
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principal part of the deck is cleared, the scow is now become a danc- ing pavilion, where the young people dance the waltzes and polkas and schottisches that were so popular in their day. On the grassy sward the cloth is spread, around which the al fresco repast is enjoyed, and swings from the trees are about the only accessories to nature's provision that the company enjoy ashore.
This was the Head, even before it had its Indian name bestowed upon it.
For many years there were no other facilities available for trans- portation to the Head than those we have mentioned, nor any better accommodations on the grounds. A change came about the year 1868, when the first steam yacht, the Minnie Harris, was brought to Erie by Captain James Hunter, and the change came swiftly. Almost directly there was built a little tavern on the grounds at the Head-a plain structure of rough weather-beaten boards, consisting of three or four rooms, the principal that which contained the bar, at which Jake Graham presided. It was not much of a place, but it was nevertheless a great convenience and as a consequence was highly appreciated- so much so that the grounds took on a new name and assumed a good deal of consequence. Massassauga Point, they called it, and Massas- sauga Point it is to this day. Picnic parties became frequent, and conveniences gradually multiplied. After a time some rude sheds were found near the eastern end. Jake had built them to enclose a floor for dancing that he had recently had built. As a ball room it was rustic enough and the floor was nothing to brag of, but it sprang into instant popularity, for it was now possible to reach it at almost any hour. The success of the Minnie Harris encouraged an enlargement of the transportation facilities, so that in a season or two more Captain Hunter was ready with a new and larger boat, the Eva Wadsworth, and Captain Frank Harmon, he who brought the sailing yachts Flora and Dexter to this port, brought the steam yacht Walter Scott to Erie, and there was plenty of business for both.
It was not long before Captain J. D. Paasch, observing the trend of business at the lake and appreciating the fact that the facilities were soon to be altogether inadequate, bought the yacht Emma V. Sutton and built a large and well appointed flat-boat or scow, which he named the Picnic and this was hardly in commission before even that was taxed to keep pace with travel to Massassauga Point.
Jake Graham was a noted hunter and sportsman. His place was not much for show, but it soon became known as a place where fish were served up to guests in a style a little better than anywhere else in the country round. It may be that the rustic surroundings added zest to Jake's meals, but it was current belief that no such conditions were necessary, and the fame of his table drew many to Massassauga
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Point. It was also a place of rendezvous for amateur fishermen and sportsmen, who found in the bay and at the mouths of the streams west of the Head, as far as Walnut creek, splendid fishing grounds for black bass, while the sedgy shores of the upper end of the peninsula, where the eel-grass grew abundantly, was a favorite feeding ground for wild duck, and as a consequence an excellent field for gunning.
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