USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > Centennial : the settlement, formation and progress of Dauphine County, Pennsylvania, from 1785 to 1876 > Part 9
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ARTICLES.
lishments.
No.of estab-
vested. ...
Capital in-
Material. .
Cost of Raw
employed.
No. of hands
of labor. . .
Annual cost
ducts .....
ue of pro-
Annual val-
Agricultural Implements. .
$23,000
$8,348
23
$7,800
$35,000
Boots and Shoes.
27
29,765
18,455
115
24,408
47,771
Cars
1
66,000
91,800
140
38,400
168,000
Coal, Anthracite.
2
650,000
36,125
525
162,000
265,000
Cotton Goods.
4
187,000
191,307
356
63,060
319.450
Flour and Meal
36
207,500
294,920
57
13,608
323,115
Iron-bar, sheet and railroad
1
60,000
111,980
40
16,800
152,000
Iron Blooms
2
11,500
19,800
29
8,700
36,000
Iron Castings
4
24,000
12,212
19
7,800
21,400
Stoves ..
3
11,500
4,350
13
4,560
12,500
Iron, Pig.
4
441,000
237,541
137
48,600
363,566
Leather
22
156,800
99,728
65
18,624
190,218
Liquors, distilled.
5
25,000
76,887
16
6,060
97,600
malt.
5
22,500
14,586
12
3,432
33,190
Lumber, planed.
3
75,000
60,170
34
11,040
80,000
sawed.
42
160,500
126,250
105
31,044
237,494
Machinery, steam engines. . ..
3
36,005
8,433
15
4,932
44,353
Marble and Stone work.
5
13,700
5,050
21
5,160
20,050
Printing, newspapers.
3
28,500
10,400
36
4,860
39,000
Tin, Copper and Sheet-iron ..
12
16,300
13,387
29
7,608
25,217
Clothing, men.
14
34,008
31,310
123
21,756
59,115
Total of all, including those not enumerated above ..
321 2,544,558 1,632,656 2315
617,480 2.946,382
The decade between 1860 and 1870, is particularly distinguished as an era of marked prosperity in the his- tory of the county. The civil war created a demand for
16
118
Historical Sketch of Dauphin County.
vast supplies in almost every article of manufacture, and the county, owing to its peculiar geographical location and transportation facilities, contributed more than an ordinary share in the general aggregate of production.
The following returns from the census report of 1870 will, by comparing it with the returns of 1860, give the reader a very impressive notion of the progress of the county during the intervening decade:
Acres improved land, 172,586; woodland, 57.788; other unimproved land, 3,461 ; cash value of farms, $19,053,433; value of farming implements and machinery, $582,291 ; total value of farm productions, including betterments and additions to stock, $3,034,199; orchard products, $58,021; produce of market gardens, $40,695; forest products, $11,225; value of home manufactures, $14,- 997; value of animals slaughtered, $475,479; value of all live stock, $1,660,572; horses, 7,002 ; mules and asses, 578; milch cows, 10,298; working oxen, 5; other cattle, 10,336; sheep, 4,462; swine, 19,239; winter wheat, bush- els, 422,637; rye, 56,527; Indian corn, 714,886; oats, 727,535; barley, 334; buckwheat,
II9
Historical Sketch of Dauphin County.
INDUSTRIES.
ments. .
Establish-
ecs. . . . .
Employ-
Capital. . .
Wages .. .
Materials.
Product. .
Agricultural Implements.
9
37
$22,800
$7,275
$11,086
$30,202
Belting and Hose, (leather)
1
3
5,000
1,812
8,914
15,000
Boats. .
2
13
4,500
2,800
3,680
10,500
Book-binding
1
22
15,000
6,500
92,809
100,000
Boots and Shoes.
1
65
23,500
26,000
37,800
72,000
Bread & other bakery products.
16
55
32,800
17,840
44,760
80,740
Brick .
14
210
99,634
42,899
22,542
88,110
Brooms ..
2
18
9,500
4,500
24,557
30,113
Carriages and Wagons. .
15
95
67,800
34,488
35,865
120,315
Carry Freight and Passengers. .
1
216
115,770
79,780
577,10G 1,120,227
Clothing, men's.
16
51
15,375
12,990
19,499
30,800
Coffee and Spices, ground.
2
4,500
1,965
38,100
41,800
Confectionery.
5
17
2,700
3,000
10,473
18,300
Cooperage. .
6
20
14,700
5,350
23,900
34,130
Cotton Goods.
2
282
251,500
53,200
247,945
326,600
Flowering Mill Products.
32
89
380,000
17,195
715,146
879,844
Furniture
16
72
33,975
29,350
21,767
72,500
Gas .
1
14
300,000
9,092
27,045
60.115
Iron, Blooms.
1
20
6,000
3,000
44,200
49,300
Forged and Rolled.
4
802
879,000 504,004 2.111,744 2,791,554
Pigs.
12
187
313,250
93,400
275,684
436,260
Leather, Tanned.
16
59
140,001
16,730
130,407
182,203
Curried.
1-
18
50,000
7.450
75,744
92,384
Lime. .
29
79
26,200
13.393
32,191
54,861
Liquors, Distilled
3
16
41,000
6,600
30,000
139,528
Malt.
4
16
30,00 ;
6,000
18,956
32,402
Lumber, Planed
5
68
237,000
39,840
202,100
298,596
Sawed .
18
212
134,700
88.420
546,416
795,784
Machinery, not specified.
14
438
424,150
220,980
597,293
861,951
Cigars. . .
13
33
13,800
8,980
15,768
37,168
Upholstery.
4
13
5,900
3,276
13,000
20,287
Wood-ward.
3
140
265,000
47,600
59,180
222,915
Wood, Turned and Carved.
8
69
86,075
32,915
35,460
95,165
Wood-ware.
1
55
80,000
35,000
36,000
120,000
Woolen Goods
8
89 167,000
29,882
72,725
130,035
1-
18,000
2.800
23,333
35,000
Nails and Spikes, cut.
1
175,000 51,428
333,931
400,000
294
582,800 132,320
713,271
980,767
Castings.
Moroco Tanned.
1
The following, from the same report, is a recapitulation of the manufacturing industries of the county:
Number of manufacturing establishments, 587; steam engines, 107; horse power of same, 6,830; water wheels, 102 ; horse power of same, 1,400; total, 4,865; hands em- ployed, 4,865; capital invested, $6,557,520; wages paid,
I 20
Historical Sketch of Dauphin County.
$1,998,486; materials, $9,248,585; value of products, $13,514,156.
A much better idea of the magnitude of the progress of the county, within the period indicated, may be had by contrasting the totals of the two census returns, viz:
1860. Number of manufacturing establishments. 321
1870. Number of manufacturing establishments. 587
1860. Workmen employed. 2,315
1870. Workmen employed. 4,865
1860. Capital invested
$2,544,558
1870. Capital invested .
$6,557,520
1860. Cost of raw material. $1,632,656
1870. Cost of raw material.
$9,248,585
1860. Value of products. $2,946,382
1870. Value of products $13,514,156
It will be observed by the above figures that the in- crease in the number of establishments is nearly 100 per centum; in the amount of capital invested, and the number of workmen employed, it is considerable over 200 per centum; in the cost of the raw material, it is nearly 500 per centum; and in the value of the products, it is over 400 per centum.
The rates of increase in manufacturing operations in the county up to the commencement of the present bus- iness depression, was in no wise diminished; and but for this unfortunate cause, we are satisfied that the next census would have shown an equal if not a greater per centage of increase.
Among the manufacturing establishments not included in the returns of 1870, are the Pennsylvania steel works, at Baldwin, a few miles east of Harrisburg. To show how large a proportion these works bear to the manu- facturing industry of the county, we may state that the average production of steel at these works is about 12,000 pounds at each heat, and during the twenty-four hours
I2I
Historical Sketch of Dauphin County.
there are twenty-five heats; thus allowing for all waste, the daily production of steel rails is about 120 tons, be- sides a large amount of railroad frogs and crossings.
The amount of coal consumed in the forge and rail mills is 2,000 tons per month, and in the Bessemer plants about 1,800 tons per month.
These figures, allowing 312 working days in the year, give us the annual consumption and products of the works as follows:
Consumption-Pig Iron, 374,040 tons; Coal, 45,000 tons. Products-Steel Rails, 312,000 tons.
Other large and important industrial establishments have been put in operation at Middleton, Highspire, Hummelstown, Millersburg, Lykens and Williamstown since 1870, and of course are not included in the re- turns of that year.
But our province is merely to sketch, not to elaborate ; and in the retrospect, we have given, there is abundant cause for gratitude and praise on the part of all who re- side, or were born and reared in Dauphin county. Truly Providence has most highly favored us. Our resources are varied; our soil is everywhere strong, on the hills and by the streams; we are rich in the most useful min- erals in the world; and our streams of purest water afford facilities everywhere for industrial operations. The first settlers of the county were remarkable men; they were men of strong moral and religious principles -men of cultivated minds-men of industrious and fru- gal habits-full of enterprise and perseverance. They established and set in motion and gave direction to a state of society singularly perfect. Their own character they impressed upon their descendants. The result has
122
Historical Sketch of Dauphin County.
been that the county has long been the happy home of a large population, intelligent, virtuous, refined, possessing in a great degree pecuniary independence, and all the privileges, social, moral, educational and religious, which can promote the benefit and happiness of a community. Amid its magnificent scenery, surrounded by happy in- fluences, and enjoying the advantages there afforded, have been trained numerous sons and daughters, who have emigrated to other portions of the country. Most of whom have been prosperous and successful in what- ever business engaged. Many of them have attained high distinction and great usefulness.
123
Historical Sketch of Dauphin County.
THE CITIES, BOROUGHS AND TOWNS OF THE COUNTY.
HARRISBURG.
Harrisburg, the seat of justice of Dauphin county and capital of Pennsylvania, is situated on the east bank of the Susquehanna river, one hundred and six miles from Philadelphia, one hundred and twenty-one from Wash- ington city, two hundred and forty-eight from Pittsburg, eighty-two from Baltimore, and one hundred and eighty- two from the city of New York.
By a grant from Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, Esqrs., proprietaries, to John Harris, jr., dated "ye 19th February, 1753," that gentleman was allowed the right of running a ferry across the Susquehanna, from which ori- ginated the name Harris Ferry, by which the place was known previous to the organization of the county.
John Harris, jr., issued proposals for laying out a town at his ferry, at least ten years previous to the erection of the county. The town, however, was not laid out until 1785, when the original intentions of Mr. Harris were consumated by his son-in-law, William Maclay.
The town, as originally laid out, extended only as far south as Mulberry street, and the lot belonging to Mr. Valentine Egle, on the upper corner of Front and Mul- berry streets, was numbered one on the plan of the town. In the course of a few years afterwards it was extended to Mary's alley, and in 1792 the executors of Mr. Harris extended the plan of lots still further southward.
1 24
Historical Sketch of Dauphin County.
There is no house except the stone house on Front street, the property of Hon. Simon Cameron, now stand- ing within the present limits of Harrisburg, which is cer- tainly known to have been erected before the town was laid out.
John Hamilton, the grand father of A. B. Hamilton, Esq., erected the first permanent embellishment to the town, after Harris' stone house, by building a brick house on the corner of Front street and Blackberry alley, and a large establishment for his store on the corner of Mar- ket square and Market street. Neither of those build- ings are now standing. The latter structure was con- verted into a tavern, and was for many years known as. the Washington Hotel. It stood on the site of the pres- ent Jones' House.
The act erecting the town of Harrisburg into a bor- ough, was passed on the 13th day of April, 1791; and an act to alter the same, without interfering with the boundaries originally laid down, was approved February I, 1808. The limits of the borough as incorporated in 1791, began at low water mark on the eastern shore of the Susquehanna river; thence by the pine apple tree north sixty degrees and one quarter east seventy-nine perches to an ash tree on the west bank of Paxton creek; thence by the several courses thereof three hun- dred and seventy-three perches to a white hickory on William Maclay's line; thence by the same south sixty- seven and three quarter degrees west two hundred and twelve perches to a marked chestnut oak on the eastern bank of the Susquehanna; thence by the same course to low water mark to the place of beginning. This made the northern limit of the borough South street.
The borough limits were extended by the act of 16th April, 1838, in the following language: The north-
I25
Historical Sketch of Dauphin County.
western boundary line of the borough of Harrisburg shall be, and the same is hereby extended and enlarged as follows: Extending it along the river line to the up- per line of the land of the late William Maclay on said river; thence to Paxton creek, and thence along said creek to the north-western corner of the present bound- ary; thus annexing the town of Maclaysburg, or in other words, taking in the territory now comprehended be- tween South and Herr streets.
The minutes of the first Town Council are not to be found, and the only record we can discover relative to the affairs of the borough in the first year of its incorpo- ration, is singularly enough, a deed of charity, being an account of the Overseers of the Poor, who posted their credit as follows: "To amount of hogs and butter for ye use of ye poor, {16 Is. 11/2d."
The seventh section of the act of March 4, 1785, erect- ing the county of Dauphin, directs the Court to sit for the said county near Harris Ferry. The design was to leave to John Harris the privilege of naming the town. But the Chief Justice M'Kean, and some of the judges of the Supreme Court conceived the notion that, as the county was called after the Dauphin of France, the town should be called Louisburg, after Louis XVI. Accord- ingly, in the first precept for holding the courts here, the court was directed to be held at Louisburg. John Harris, however, told the judges that they might "Louisburg "er much as they pleased, but that he would never ex. town. a title for any lot in any other name than that offo Stood on burg; and his determination prevailed. ople then
The building in which the first court at Is in a fair was held, was a log house, until about thirty the mean at the corner of what is now Washingtond the people,
I26
Historical Sketch of Dauphin County.
Front street, and the "pillory," or punishing place, was in that neighborhood. The courts were afterwards held in the old log jail which formerly stood on the north-west side of Strawberry alley, a short distance north-east of Raspberry alley, and in a log house which formerly stood on the lot now occupied by the Farmer's Hotel, on the east side of Market street, below Third. From this place the court moved into the building which formerly stood on the site of the present structure. When it vacated this for the use of the Legislature in December, 1812, it moved into the then partially finished brick building owned at the time by Mr. Capp, now known as the White Hall Tavern. While here, the commissioners erected the brick building at the corner of Walnut street and Raspberry alley, into which the court moved and which it occupied until the Legislature vacated the court house.
The entire cost of the court building that immediately preceded the present edifice, was £5,979 1IS. 812d. The present court house was erected in 1860, at a cost of about $83,000. The original contract of Messrs. Hol- man & Wilt was for $57,012 57, but before the building was completed, an additional expense of some $25,000 for extras was put in, and after some dispute with the authorities, was allowed.
sev .The first courts in the county were held by justices, and twelvearliest record of a court reads-"At a Court of bank of c Sessions, holden near Harris Ferry, in and for low water ty of Dauphin," &c., on the "third Tuesday of the northerhe year of our Lord 1785, before Timothy
The boronuel Jones and Jonathan M'Clure, Esqrs., Jus- April, 1838, ame court."
127
Historical Sketch of Dauphin County.
The sheriff of Lancaster county officiated until the election of that officer by the new county.
The names of the grand jurymen were, James Cowden (foreman), Robert Montgomery, John Gilchrist, Barefoot Brunson, John Clark, Rowen M'Clure, John Carson, John Wilson, William Crane, Archibald M'Allister, Richard Dixon, John Pattimore, James Crouch, Jacob Awl, Wm. Brown, Andrew Stewart, James Rogers, Samuel Stewart, John Cooper, Alexander Berryhill.
Alexander Graydon was the first prothonotary, An- thony Kelker the first sheriff, and Rudolph Kelker the first deputy sheriff.
The earliest record of a punishment is that inflicted on William Courtney and Jesse Rowland, who were sen- tenced to receive eighteen lashes and pay fifteen shillings sterling on the 18th of August, 1785, between the hours of four and six in the afternoon. Several records occur in which punishment was inflicted by lashes, and stand- ing in the pillory.
A large number of the cases tried during the first term, were for horse stealing.
In 1793 Harrisburg was very sickly, the chief ailment being a malarius fever, which took an epidemical form. A number of Irish emigrants died, and many of the citi- zens were more or less affected by it. The chief cause was ascribed to a stagnant mill dam belonging to Peter and Abraham Landis, in the lower section of the town. The citizens remonstrated with the owners, who stood on their vested rights and refused to listen; the people then appealed to the authorities, and the case was in a fair way for an interminable litigation. But, in the mean time, the deaths and sickness continued; and the people,
I28
Historical Sketch of Dauphin County.
exasperated with the stubbornness of the owners, held town meetings and resolved to take the matter in their own hands. Accordingly, one blustery snowy morning, at a signal from the court house bell, the citizens assem- bled, with the implements of destruction in their hands, and proceeded to the dam, which they demolished amid the loud vivas of the assembled multitude. The citi- zens subsequently paid the owners £2,633 45. 6d. for the mill property, which amount was raised by taxation.
After considerable opposition from various causes, the seat of government of Pennsylvania was established at Harrisburg in 1810. The present capitol building, how- ever, was not completed and occupied until December 22, 1822, the Legislature in the mean time sitting in the court house, which formerly stood on the site of the pres- ent structure.
In 1860 Harrisburg received the highest corporate honors in the power of the Legislature to bestow-that of being made a city, and that it is destined to become a large and populous city, must be apparent to all who are acquainted with its geographical location and local ad- vantages.
In 1850 Harrisburg had a population of some 6,000 inhabitants. Its population in 1860 was 13,000; in 1870 it was 23,000; and by a voluntary census, taken by the police under instructions from the authorities, in 1876, it was found to contain 27,000 inhabitants, thus continu- ing to increase since 1860 at the rate of nearly 90 per cent.
Since 1860 there have been built over four hundred acres of additional ground to what the city occupied in that year, averaging yearly an increase of forty acres of buildings. In 1860 the whole district north of North
129
Historical Sketch of Dauphin County.
street was little else than meadow land. Now it is built up to Maclay street. Skirting the river from North street to Maclay street, and from the river to Twelfth street, there is a district of at least five hundred acres, of which four-fifths are covered with buildings of the most substantial character. In 1860 Allison's hill had but five or six houses on it. Now at least fifty acres are built over, or occupied as gardens, and fifty acres more are laid out in building lots. All this, besides that portion of the city built over from Paxton street to the Lochiel iron works.
This increase in the population of the city has carried along with it general prosperity, which is particularly exemplified in the increased value of real estate. The Osler property consisted, inclusive of streets, of five acres of land between Boas and Herr streets on the north and south, and Second and Third streets on the east and west. In 1860, the heirs of this estate were offered $2,500 for the tract, or at the rate of $500 per acre gross, that is including streets and alleys. This offer was declined. In 1863 the heirs were offered $50,000, or $ 10,000 per acre for the tract, an increase of $9,500 per acre, which offer was also declined. In 1868, this same piece of ground was sold at public sale, and brought the enormous sum of sixty-three thousand dollars, or $12,600 per acre, and those parts of it now vacant could not be purchased at less than $20,000 per acre, or at the rate of $100,000 for the whole, exclusive of buildings. At the present, six years later, Messrs. Fink & Boyer hold about one-half acre of this land for which they have been offered $15,000, making the value of an acre $30,000, which in 1860 could have been purchased for $500. Other persons holding lands in the same neighborhood
130
Historical Sketch of Dauphin County.
who purchased from the Foster estate, ask prices still higher than those just given. In 1863, the school board bought a lot on Third street, near Briggs, for $100. In 1868, deeming it expedient to sell it, they did so, realizing the sum of $3,500 for the same. Nor are all these excep- tional cases. Many individuals made much better bar- gains than these. In 1865 Dr. George W. Reily threw upon the market eighty-five acres of land, and has since sold it out, except five acres, having thrown it into lots at the rate of $8,500 per acre. This almost a mile be- yond the northern limits of the city in 1860. East- ward property has increased at the same rate, as it also has in the portion of our city from Paxton street to the Lochiel iron works. Instances: In 1868 D. Mumma, Esq., purchased from Dr. G. Baily ten acres of land on Allison's hill, for which he paid $16,000. He sold it in less than two years for $32,000. The same gentleman bought from Miller two acres of land, and from Dock four acres of land, situated below Paxton street, in 1865- 6, for $2,500 per acre, and re-sold it in less than a year for $5,000 per acre.
Nor is the prosperity of the city confined alone to the increased value of land. Within the last fifteen years manufacturing establishments have been greatly multi- plied, and to-day, in the amount of capital invested in manufacturing and the value of the goods manufactured, it takes rank as the third city in the State-in other words, it is only excelled by Philadelphia and Pittsburg.
The city owes much of its prosperity to the prudent, liberal and wise management of its banks. They are eight in number, as follows:
The Harrisburg National Bank; the First National Bank, which are national banks of issue, and the follow- ing State and private banks:
13I
Historical Sketch of Dauphin County.
The Dauphin Deposit Bank; the State Bank; the Me- chanics' Bank; the Farmer's Bank; the Real Estate Bank; Bank of Dougherty Bros. & Co.
The extent of the business of the banks is shown in the fact that the aggregate of their average deposits is about $3,000,000, and their average loans and discounts nearly $3,500,000.
The fact that our banks passed through the panic of 1874, without either suspension or any material curtail- ment of accommodations, is an evidence of their strength and sagacity, as well as the financial ability of our busi- ness men.
The stranger is struck with the number, magnitude and fine architecture of the public school buildings in Harrisburg. There are twenty-three in number, of which eighteen are owned by the school board, and five rented. The estimated value of the city school property is over $350,000. The schools afford room for about 5,000 scholars, but the rapid increase of the population has crowded so fast upon the school accommodations that they are behind the requirements of the city. The school system is an excellent one, and under the charge of an efficient superintendent.
More than forty churches attest the prevalence of re- ligious zeal among the people of Harrisburg. Most of these edifices are very substantial and elegant, and some of them are remarkably fine specimens of ecclesiastical architecture.
The city is supplied with gas whose mains extend for nearly thirteen miles through all the principal streets. The gas produced is of excellent quality, and furnished at a reasonable price.
I32
Historical Sketch of Dauphin County.
A street railway traverses the city from its northern to its southern end, with a transverse track to the several depots.
There are few cities of greater size, equal Harrisburg in business activity, in the extent and wide geographical range of its trade, in the volume of its current financial transactions, in the solid strength and high standing of its business houses and banks, in the external marks of energy and vigorous prosperity, which are visible in the ceaseless whirl and clatter of its work shops, in the rush and shriek of its half hundred trains arriving and departing daily, in the solid and stately architecture of its business streets, in the palatial elegance of many of its private residences, churches and other public build- ings. Its business and industries have increased even faster than its population, while their capacities are limited only by the amount of capital invested in them.
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