Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 52

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1526

USA > Pennsylvania > Butler County > Butler > Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th > Part 52

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The Butler County Record, formerly the Petrolia Record, was founded October 27, 1877, at Petrolia by Charles E. Herr, who carried on a job printing establishment there. In April, 1878, the size was in- creased from the original folio of twenty columns to the folio of twenty-eight col- umns, and in every respect the Record was made worthy of the busy oil center which Petrolia then was. Among the reporters and associate editors employed on the paper at Petrolia were D. W. Moorehouse, now a preacher of the Gospel at Newbury- port, Massachusetts; Dr. B. L. Davis, F. F. Herr, W. F. Jordan, and L. H. Pat- terson. On the 6th of June, 1888, the office was removed to Butler and the title of the paper changed to The Butler County Rec- ord. It was first issued from the building occupied by Colonel Thompson's law offices on Diamond Street, and when that building was torn down in 1902, to give way to the present Butler County National Bank Building, the Record office was removed

to the old Park Theatre building on East Diamond Street. L. H. Patterson was associate editor for several years after the Record was established in Butler, and on October 1, 1889, Prof. B. S. Bancroft, for- merly of the Witherspoon Institute, and later of the local department of the Eagle, was engaged as associate editor, a position he still holds. The office was burned out in the great fire of November 23, 1903, which destroyed the Park Theatre and a number of buildings on Main Street, and the entire plant was a total loss to its owner. With characteristic energy Mr. Herr went to work immediately after the fire, secured a new location in the Herald Building from W. G. Ziegler, on West Cun- ningham Street, purchased a new outfit and issued his paper with scarcely a week's delay. The form of the paper has been changed from an eight-column folio to a six-column quarto, and it is neatly printed and carefully edited.

The Times. The semi-monthly Times was established in September, 1881, by C. M. and W. J. Heineman as a magazine and was issued from the office in the Heine- man Building until 1884. Two or three other little papers were published at inter- vals but never for any length of time.

The Daily Times, an evening paper, was founded April 14, 1884, by Charles M. and W. J. Heineman and W. G. Ziegler as The Times Publishing Company, the object be- ing to furnish the public of Butler the cream of the daily news and the details of the oil field. The beginnings of the paper were small, but not to be despised. It was at first a four-page journal, neatly printed, each page being eleven by eight inches. On January 1, 1885, it was enlarged to eleven by fifteen inches and on August 3, 1885, it was again increased to twenty-two by fifteen inches, being a four-column folio. About the close of 1885 W. G. Ziegler sold his interest in the paper to the Heinemans, since which time the brothers have carried it on with good success. The size of the

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paper has been increased from time to time until it is a seven-column quarto, and the circulation has increased from less than five hundred in 1885 to three thou- sand in 1908.

The Weekly Times was established in August, 1884, as a seven-column four-page journal, and is now an eight-page paper of forty-eight columns. In 1894 a new two- story printing-office was erected on East Cunningham Street, which is thoroughly equipped with linotype machine, duplex printing-press, and all the equipments of a modern newspaper office. The job print- ing department of the office is also very complete, and the patronage large. In 1903 the Weekly Times was changed to a semi-weekly edition.

The Orphan's Friend is a periodical published in the interest of St. Paul's Orphan's Home, and is edited by the super- intendent and the faculty of that institu- tion. Its first editor was T. F. Stauffer, who was superintendent of the home pre- vious to 1882, and he was succeeded by Rev. P. C. Prugh. The present editor is Rev. Leader.

The Tidings was a denominational paper published by Rev. J. Q. Waters of the Eng- lish Lutheran Church and was issued in April, 1883. Its life was not of long dura- tion and the publication was abandoned the same year.

The Magnet was a semi-monthly maga- zine published by the students of the But- ler High School from 1892 to 1897.

EVANS CITY.

The record of newspaper enterprises in Evans City is that of a few years and much trouble. About 1895 John R. Young, who had previously been associated with his father, Col. Samuel Young, in the pub- lication of the Connoquenessing Valley News, at Zelienople, moved to Evans City, and founded the Evans City Times. The first editions of the paper were published in a magazine form, and showed consider-

able enterprise and originality in their make-up. The form of the publication was afterward changed to a six-column quarto with a patent inside. Young sold the plant to J. S. Spence, who in turn disposed of it to a stock company, of which the leading movers were J. C. Dight and H. W. Bame. History repeated itself in so far as the stock company was concerned, and in 1901 the plant was disposed of to Levi M. Wise of Butler, who became the sole owner, with A. L. Weihe as editor and manager. The title of the paper had been changed in 1900 to The Butler County Observer, and the publication was continued under that name until the plant was merged with the Butler Eagle in January, 1903. The Observer en- joyed a fair share of patronage during its existence, but the business of the commun- ity did not justify the owners of the paper in continuing it.

PROSPECT.

The history of journalism in Prospect is not a record of brilliant successes. The first newspaper published in the place was the Prospect Record, established in 1852 or 1853 by Dr. D. H. B. Brower, and edited by John S. Fairman. It was a good-sized paper, all printed at home and ably edited, but it expired after one year's existence, not from lack of patronage, but for want of good management.

The Mirror and News was issued at Prospect, September, 1854, by Spear and Fairman, in the form of a six-column folio. Like the pioneer venture, twelve months of "love's labor lost" convinced the editors that their hopes of establishing a news- paper were futile, and the publication was ·suspended.

Two years after the suspension of the Mirror and News a new paper was issued in Prospect called The Trump. It led a precarious existence for three months and went the way of its predecessors.

The Camp Meeting Register was a daily morning paper issued at Prospect in

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August, 1859, by John S. Fairman. It was a part and parcel of the great camp meet- ing which was organized there by Rev. Samuel Crouse, and the local preachers. There appears to have been no issue of the paper after August 26 of that year.

The last newspaper enterprise in Pros- peet grew up in the job printing office of S. B. Martincourt. It appeared in Decem- ber, 1879, as a four-column eight-page paper, and was continued until the begin- ning of April, 1880. This paper was called The Prospect Leader. It became evident to the publisher after four or five months that the town would not support an enter- prise of that kind and the enterprise was abandoned.

ZELIENOPLE.

The first newspaper published in the county outside of the borough of Butler was the Zelienople Recorder, published about 1847, which is said to have had a short and precarious existence.

In October, 1878, the late Col. Samuel and J. R. Young established the Con- noquenessing Valley News, and in the salutatory the publishers promised that nothing of a sectarian or political charac- ter should occupy its columns, but that the purpose of the paper should be "to ad- vance the varied local interests of the region and advocate every idea that is cal- culated to benefit them." On July 10, 1879, Samuel Young became sole proprie- tor and published the paper until his death which occurred March 27, 1891. Editor Young was a man of marked individuality of character and was known throughout the western part of Pennsylvania as "Colonel." After his death his son J. R.

Young succeeded him as editor and pro- prietor until 1895 when he disposed of the plant to Ira Ziegler. Mr. Ziegler carried on the business for a number of years and then sold it to J. E. Kocher, who is the present editor and proprietor. The News continues to be an influential factor in the

Connquenessing valley and is one of the prosperous weekly papers in the county.

SLIPPERY ROCK.

The Centerville Casket was the title of a paper published in Slippery Rock for some time prior to August, 1879, and was edited by W. S. Fulkman, known as Stan- ley Fulkman, who afterward moved to Beaver, Pennsylvania, and established an office in that place. The career of this paper was short and uninteresting, and the last number was published on the 8th of August, 1879.

After the opening of the State Normal School at Slippery Rock the Signal was established by R. D. Young, February 12, 1892. He carried on the paper until the close of the summer of that year, when a stock company took charge, and Young went to New Castle where he engaged in the publication of the New Castle Courant. In January, 1894, Albert L. Weihe, for- merly of the New Wilmington Globe, pur- chased the office and published the paper for about a year. R. C. McClymonds suc- ceeded Weihe as editor of the paper, and in 1897 publication was suspended for want of patronage.

The Saxonburg Herald was first issued in 1888 by Paul F. Voigt, and was an eight- page weekly journal of forty-eight col- umns. The paper was not printed in the borough, but the local columns were usu- ally well filled. Charles Hoffman was the local manager and reporter at Saxonburg, the main office of the paper being at Natrona. The discovery of the Saxonburg oil field and the consequent influx of people to that community led to the establishing of the Herald, and when the excitement died out the patronage of the paper fell off to such an extent that its publication was abandoned. About 1895 Albert L. Weihe, who had formerly published the Signal at Slippery Rock, made an attempt to revive the Herald at Saxonburg, but was unsuccessful.

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PETROLIA AND VICINITY.

During the days of the oil excitement at Petrolia, Karns City and Fairview, no less than eight newspapers were estab- lished in a period of ten years-from 1872 to 1882. The first newspaper to enter the field was the Advertiser, which was pub- lished at Buena Vista in December, 1873, as a tri-weekly. Its editor was J. T. Springstead. Old newspaper men of But- ler do not remember this paper, but yet it is on record and is recalled by the early operators of the Buena Vista oil field.

The Item was established at Greece City in March, 1873, and after a brief and tem- pestuous existence, went the way of that phantom oil town. The editor of the paper was Rev. A. S. Thorne, a Presbyterian preacher, and principal of West Sunbury Academy. W. W. McQuistion and Andrew Fitzsimmons of Butler were the typos and assisted him in the office. They called the place "Grease City," and said other dis- agreeable things about this extraordinary little oil town that did not make the paper or its editor many friends.

The Fairview Reporter was founded in 1872 by Col. Samuel Young and continued publication for about twelve months. The enterprise wasn't a success and Colonel Young suspended publication after about twelve months and sought a more promis- ing field, finally locating in Zelienople. Among the aids of Colonel Young in the publishing of the Reporter was R. W. Criswell, who afterwards became a re- porter for the Oil City Derrick and in later years became a humorous writer of na- tional reputation and was employed on the leading papers of New York City.

The pioneer journal of Petrolia borough was the Advertiser, which was published by Lerch and Mapes in 1877 and ante- dated the Petrolia Record by a few months. The history of this journal was uneventful and its publication was soon abandoned.

In 1878 Lerch and Mapes established the

Producers' Free Press as a journal wholly devoted to the interests of the Petrolia oil field. To insure the success of their sec- ond venture they engaged P. C. Boyle as editor, and while he edited the Free Press it met with a fair measure of success. Sub- sequently the owners made the way clear for The Record, finding the battle for precedent to be against them.

The first newspaper issued at Karns City was the Item. It may have been the same as that of Greece City with the title changed to suit Karns City, or vice versa. Publication ceased after a year.

The successor of the Item at Karns City was the Telephone, which was established in 1878 by Dr. J. Borland, and was regu- larly published until 1882, when the office was moved to Grove City, Mercer County.

The first paper published in the oil re- gion in the interest of labor was Labor's Voice, which was founded at Martinsburg or Bruin in 1877, by Patrick C. Boyle. Boyle was born in Donegal County, Ire- land, and came to the United States in 1846, settling with his parents at Brady's Bend in Armstrong County. He entered the Fifty-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteers in January, 1862, and re-enlisted in 1864. From 1868 to 1874 he was connected with wells and pipe lines in the Butler and Arm- strong County fields and in the latter year entered the domain of journalism. Want of patronage caused the early demise of Labor's Voice, and Boyle was subse- quently engaged as editor of the Pro- ducers' Free Press at Petrolia. Shortly after leaving Petrolia he became editor and manager of the Oil City Derrick at Oil City, and has become one of the best known journalists in the country.

MILLERSTOWN.

The Sand Pump was issued at Millers- town in August, 1873, by O. H. Jackson. The first number was a trial issue to learn how far the editor could depend on the oil

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men and business community for support in publishing a daily journal. The paper was issued regularly during the month of September, 1873, and at first met with some encouragement. It was an eight by ten inch sheet filed with news of the oil fields and advertisements. The people tired of it, however, in a little while, and The Sand Pump went the way of the oil field.

Rev. A. S. Thorne, who had attempted to establish a paper at Greece City and at Karns City, began the publication of the Millerstown Review in 1875. This paper was published with some degree of regu- larity until 1879, when Thorne removed to Atwood, Kansas.

The Millerstown Herald was founded by S. J. Small, in 1876. On May 19, 1877, he sold his interest in the paper and material to P. A. Rattigan, who made it a photo- graph of the oil field as well as a stanch supporter of the Democratic party. The

Herald became a popular vehicle of news for the oil fields, and obtained a large cir- culation in the county. In June, 1899, Mr. Rattigan removed his plant to Butler, where he had purchased the Democratic Herald from Ziegler and McKee, and con- solidated the two papers under the title of The Butler Herald. Shortly after the re- moval of the Herald another paper was started in Millerstown by R. C. McCly- monds in the office formerly occupied by Mr. Rattigan. This plant was burned out January 25th, 1901.

A coincidence connected with the fire was the sudden death of P. A. Rattigan, its former owner, in Butler on the same day.

After the fire the paper was revived by R. C. MeClymonds, who sold it to William R. Brown, the present owner and pub- lisher. The new Herald is a neatly printed eight-page paper and its editor enjoys a liberal patronage from the community.

CHAPTER XIV

EDUCATION

The subject of education was one to which the pioneer settlers of this region could give but little attention, whatever degree of importance they may have at- tached to it. Doubtless there were among them here, and there, men possessing some degree of scholarship, but as in every new country, in its early stages of develop- ment, material wants take precedence over everything else, and the axe and the plow go before the spelling-book. Not that our forefathers were unmindful of the de- sirability of furnishing educational oppor- tunities to their children. They yielded simply to necessity in at first subordinat- ing the cultivation of the mind to the taming of the soil. As soon as a fair start had been made in the latter direction, and white settlements had begun to appear, scattered through the primeval forest, they installed the schoolmaster, who thenceforth became a man of influence in every community.

The latter's position at first was no sinecure. In most communities school was held only during what may be termed the winter months, or during that part of the year when there was comparatively little work to do on the farm. When the spring plowing began, not only the male pupils, many of whom were grown-up young men, but the teachers also, rolled up their sleeves, cast all thoughts of books aside and went forth into the fields to do battle with the soil; and thereafter there was little intermission in the regular routine of

farm drudgery until well on in the fall when all the crops had been harvested and everything made snug for the coming winter.

The cost of supporting the early schools was usually met by a sort of regulated subscription of the patrons, each one con- tributing in amount according to the num- ber of pupils he furnished to the school. These pupils, as already intimated, were in many cases grown-up young men and women, who thus sought to make up in some degree for their lack of earlier op- portunities. It often happened that they were inclined to be unruly, and upon such occasions it took a firm will and wise judgment, and not infrequently a stal- wart arm, to deal with them, especially with the older boys who found the re- straint of the schoolroom irksome to them. For this reason physical prowess was con- sidered a desirable and often indispens- able qualification in a pedagogue, and it may be said that in this respect, at least, the pioneer schoolmasters were seldom found lacking. As to their ability to im- part knowledge, much was not required of them. To be able to spell correctly, to know the arithmetic to the "single rule of three," and to write a good hand, were deemed sufficient in most districts. Writ- ing was the accomplishment on which they chiefly prided themselves, and he who wrote a good hand was often taken to be educationally proficient without much fur- ther inquiry being made. Grammar did

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not come until later and was a study at first undertaken by few, while the ambi- tious pupil who wished to go beyond the rule of three in arithmetic had to tread the thorny path of higher mathematics alone. Some among the early teachers-especially the Scotch and Irish-were better edu- cated, and as a rule all did their work well, as is sufficiently attested by the great statesmen, writers and orators of the mid- dle of the nineteenth century, many or most of whom were graduates of the pio- neer schoolhouse.

The first schoolhouses were rude log structures, very similar to those in which the majority of the settlers were then liv- ing. One end of the schoolhouse was al- most entirely occupied by the huge chimney where great roaring wood fires were kept in the winter time. The best of these had a single horizontal row of panes of glass to serve for a window. Against the wall beneath this window, a long board sup- ported by wooden pegs driven into the wall served as a desk for the older pupils who were learning to write. Schoolhouses of this form substantially continued to be used for many years until the region became more thickly settled, and a better grade of schoolhouses came into vogue. One of the latter, which flourished early in the fifties in a neighboring county, was thus described a few years ago by one who had learned in it his first lessons in reading and writing.

"It was built of hewed logs and contained three win- dows, each having eight small panes of glass. Instead of the huge fireplace, a coal stove stood in the middle of the room. The board for a desk still decorated three sides of the wall, and between these desks and the stove were three long low benches, on which the smaller schol- ars sat and very often roasted, especially if the weather was very cold. The chinks between the logs were filled with mud from the road, which had been thoroughly kneaded by horses and vehicles, and one of the tasks which the boys especially enjoyed was that of patching up the walls and filling the crevices, on some mild winter day, when the road had been thawed. The only ventila- tion in this room was caused by the accidental breaking of a window-pane, and as the schoolhouse was a long way from town, it usually happened that two or three such apertures were to be seen. In extremely cold

weather these were sometimes stopped up with a hat or a piece of paper."

The school law of 1790 relating to sub- scription schools was first observed in the limits of Butler county about 1799 or 1800, when a school was opened south of Coyles- ville in Clearfield Township. This school was presided over by John Smith in 1807. Subscription schools were multiplied under the act of 1802, the people giving more than ordinary attention to making pro- vision for the education of their children, and as early as 1810 this interest culmi- nated in the establishment of an academy at Butler.

Under the provisions of an act passed on March 29, 1824, providing for the educa- tion of poor children, Robert Cunningham. a school teacher of Buffalo Township, pe- titioned the court in October, 1825, to ap- point school men for that district. The pe- tition stated that his action was made ne(- essary by the number of poor children sent to him to be educated, and the non-exist- ence of any authorized person to pay him for such service. The court thereupon ap- pointed Francis Anderson, William Hes- selgesser and Robert Elliott, school men. The transactions of the county commission- ers show that at various times sums of money were paid in the different townships for the education of poor children under this act. The act of 1824 proved so bene- ficial generally that a desire was created among the people for laws giving greater educational advantages to the poor of the state, and led to a movement having for its purpose the passage of a common school law. With this object in view "an Asso- ciation for the Promotion of Education" was organized in Philadelphia, which soon had branches in all parts of the state, one being organized in Butler County in 1827.

The common school system was adopted in Pennsylvania in 1834, but met with a strong opposition and was not will- ingly acquiesced in by many of the districts of Butler County until sev-

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eral years later, the people not be- ing able or willing to see its many advan- tages over the old system. In October, 1834, public meetings were held to de- nounce the law, which was declared to be unjust and impolitic, it being asserted that the Constitution never intended that the education of other than the children of the poor should be at public expense. The landed interests were especially hostile to the new measure, because the principal bur- den of taxation necessary to carry its pro- visions into effect was borne by the land.

FIRST TAX LEVY.

The first tax levy under the new law for school purposes was made in 1835 and the amounts collected in each township were as follows: Butler Borough, $122.19; But- ler Township, $108.14; Centre Township, $214.47; Slippery Rock, $191.84; Mercer, $69.77; Venango, $57.32; Parker, $103.37; Donegal, $128,43; Clearfield, 63.13; Buf- falo, $106.15; Middlesex, $175.51 Cran- berry, $123.52; Connoquenessing, $264.29; and Muddy Creek, $204.41. The total was $3,113.63.

Gradually, however, the people grew rec- onciled to the new law, and in 1854, twenty years after its adoption, there were in Butler County no less than 175 school buildings, most of them a decided improve- ment upon the log cabins of the subscrip- tion school days.

The committee appointed by the court in 1853 to re-district the county into town- ships found a number of objections urged in connection with the arrangement of the school districts, and in their report they quote from the report of the superin- tendent of common schools for the year ending June, 1852. The number of school- houses then in the county was found to be 225, and thirteen school districts were not yet provided for. Of the 225 schoolhouses, less than fifty had the conveniences req- uisite for school purposes, and the re- mainder were dilapidated, being mostly

log buildings put up for temporary pur- poses immediately after the passage of the school law. The amount of tax levied for school purposes in the county at that time was $11,668.14, and the amount received from the state, $2,934.06. The average term of school in the county was five months. Under the new arrangement of townships the number of school districts . was reduced to 132, and two years later the number of school houses reported in the county was 175. The report of Isaac Black, the first county superintendent of common schools, made in 1856, shows that there were 182 schoolhouses, eighty-four of which were unfit to enter. Forty-one could be made tolerable, and 57 were tol- erable. Eighty of the buildings showed ceilings not over seven feet in height, sev- enty-nine were log structures, 108 were destitute of furniture (save the backless benches so high that the pupils' feet could not reach the floor), while only fourteen had suitable furniture. An era of school- house building followed, from 1854 to 1860, and many. of the new schoolhouses were built in the shape of an octagon with benches and desks built in a circle around five sides of the room, and facing the cen- ter. The number of schools reported in January, 1861, was 212, and the number of pupils, 6,585. In 1872 Superintendent Glenn stated that of the 220 schools in op- eration in the county, not one failed in reaching the statutes standard. In 1875 modern furniture was provided in a few of the schools in the townships and in But- ler Borough, and this matter was made the subject of a satisfactory report of Super- intendent Young. In 1876 and 1877 there were 246 schools in existence which were open for an average of 5 65-100 months that year. There were 177 male and 175 female teachers employed, the average salary being $38.12 for the former, and $30.01 per month for the latter. The total number of pupils enrolled was 13,251, and the average attendance was 9,583, while

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Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 52

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1526

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1526