Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 54

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 54

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- The company began to branch out in business in 1902, when a line was con- structed from the central office in Butler to the Speechley oil field in Washington Township. The Speechley Telephone Com- pany was then organized, which is now con- trolled as a branch line of the People's Telephone Company. The company is now operating exchanges at Mars, Evans City, Zelienople, Connoquenessing, North Hope, Bruin, and Chicora, and controls by a lease or otherwise, the Speechley Tele- phone Company, the Butler-Coylesville Telephone Company connecting line, the Burton Telephone Company of Penn Town- ship, the Eau Claire Telephone Company, the Slippery Rock Telephone Company, and connecting lines with the Emlenton Telephone Company in Venango County, the Plain Grove Telephone Company in Lawrence County, and the Ridge Tele- phone Company in Cherry Township.

In 1904 the Pittsburg and Butler Trunk Line was built, which connects the cen- tral office at Butler with the central of- fice of the Pittsburg aod Allegheny Tele- phone Company at Pittsburg, which is one of the largest independent lines in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. This con-

nection gives the People's Company long distance connections with the towns south and southwest of Pittsburg, while a similar arrangement with Kittanning gives con- nections with the towns in the east.

From 1896 until 1906 the company was quartered on the second floor of the brick building on West Jefferson Street, now owned by Robert Kirkpatrick, but in the latter year the offices were removed to the present quarters at the corner of West Jefferson and Washington Streets. The People's Telephone Company of Butler is an enterprise of which the people of the county may feel justly proud. It was pro- moted, financed and built by Butler peo- ple under difficulties which would have made the faint-hearted quit. It now has the largest patronage of any company in the district, and is constantly growing in strength and usefulness.

THE SPEECHLEY TELEPHONE COMPANY.

The oil developments in the Speechley field in Washington Township led a num- ber of oil operators and business men who were interested there to organize the Speechley Telephone Company and build a line from Butler to North Washington. There were forty-six subscribers to the articles of association and the capital stock and the formal organization was ef- fected June 9, 1902, by the election of T. J. Shufflin, president; A. L. Reiber, sec- retary, and John Younkins, treasurer. These with J. F. Harper and B. M. Stein- dorf composed the directory. This com- pany was sub-leased and is now a part of the plant of the People's Telephone Com- pany.

THE BUTLER AND COYLESVILLE TELEPHONE CO.

The Butler and Coylesville Telephone Company was organized in 1904 by the business men of Kittanning, and a line built from Kittanning to Coylesville. A charter was taken out by the company on the 13th of March, 1905, extending the line

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to Butler. The officers of this company and incorporators are K. B. Schotte, John G. Ayers, F. M. Monks, and C. J. JJessop, all of Kittanning.

THE BURTON TELEPHONE COMPANY.

The most extensive rural line built in the county was the Burton Telephone Com- pany's line, which was built in 1906. The directors of the company were W. J. Bur- ton, of Penn Township; Robert J. Marks, of Glade Mills; Joseph L. Campbell, of Renfrew ; Langdon S. Riley, of Penn Town- ship, and Thos. J. Shufflin, of Butler. This company constructed a line from Renfrew to Zelienople by way of Brownsdale to Evans City and Harmony; a line from Renfrew to Prospect by way of Conno- quenessing and Whitestown; to Mars by way of Valencia; to Saxonburg by way of Cooperstown and to Butler. This company was eventually taken over by the People's Telephone Company of Butler.

SLIPPERY ROCK TELEPHONE COMPANY.

The Slippery Rock Telephone Company was organized in 1905 and the charter granted on July 11th of the same year. The incorporators were J. E. Bard, H. P. Grif- fith, William Christie, John P. Castor, F. P. Bingham, A. L. Cooper, John P. Bu- chanan, and F. W. Prouty. The charter called for the construction of a line from Slippery Rock to Butler by way of West Liberty and Prospect, a line from Slip- pery Rock to Branchton, West Sunbury and Annandale, a line to Grove City, and one to New Castle.

THE SAXONBURG TELEPHONE COMPANY.

The Saxonburg Telephone Company was chartered July 9, 1907, by Samuel Moore, Thomas Kennedy, Wadsworth Ekas, Mar- tin Monks, Dr. W. W. Lasher, G. O. Ham- mer, and T. G. Wilhelm. This line was constructed and is now operated under a lease by the Bell Telephone Company.

THE BUTLER COUNTY TELEPHONE COMPANY.

The Butler County Telephone Company was chartered December 26, 1906, its in- corporators being Harry Hamilton of Grove City, W. T. McDonald of Eau Claire, A. O. Miller of Eau Claire, and Thomas H. Greer of Butler. Its charter provides for the construction of a telephone line from the central office at Eau Claire to Parker and in the counties of Armstrong, Butler. Crawford, Clarion, Mercer, Lawrence and Beaver.

THE HARRISVILLE TELEPHONE COMPANY.

The Harrisville Telephone Company was chartered January 2, 1907, with the fol- lowing directors: W. A. McWilliams, H. A. Kelley, W. B. Campbell, E. E. Wick, J. C. Buchanan and H. L. Johnson. The company operates in the northern part of the county and has its central office at Harrisville.

THE PITTSBURG AND BUTLER TELEPHONE CO.

The Pittsburg and Butler Telephone Company was chartered August 18, 1904, with a capital of $25,000.00 for the pur- pose of constructing a line from Pittsburg to Butler to connect with the People's Telephone Company of the latter place. The directors of this company were J. G. Splane of Pittsburg, J. W. Weller of Pitts- burg, and Thos. J. Shufflin of Butler. The effect of the organi ___ tion of this company and the building of the line to Butler was to give the local patrons of the People's Telephone Company the advantage of di- rect communication with Pittsburg through the Pittsburg and Allegheny Com- pany of that city.

THE PORTERSVILLE TELEPHONE COMPANY.

The Portersville Telephone Company, with a central office at Portersville, But- ler County, was organized in 1905, with the following officers: James McConnell, president; Edwin W. Humphrey, treas- urer; and N. L. Gardner, secretary. This

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company operates in Muddycreek, Worth, Brady and Franklin Townships in Butler County, and in Lawrence County, and is now under lease, being operated by the Bell Telephone Company.

Short lines that are in operation in the country districts are the Jackson line, the Lancaster line, and the Ridge line in Cherry Township, the latter having a cen- tral office at Amos Hall's.

CHAPTER XVI

BUTLER BOROUGH

Founders of Butler-The County Seat-First Sale of Lots-Original Maps-Dispute about Title-First Settlers-Incorporation of the Town-First Public School Tax -Fire Department Considered-Extension of Borough and Street Lights-Light and Fuel Companies-Fire Insurance Companies-Water Companies-Railroads -Telegraph Lines-Board of Trade-Business Men's Association-Grocers' As- sociation-Chamber of Commerce-Public Buildings-Taverns and Hotels-Man- ufactures-Machine Shops-Brick-yards-Building and Loan Associations- Churches-Schools-Religious and Charitable Societies-Graveyards and Ceme- teries-Postmasters.

The borough of Butler doubtless owes its origin to the foresight and shrewdness of the Cunningham brothers, a family which has passed away leaving no de- scendants in the town or county, but leav- ing its name and the marks of its energy fixed upon both. There were three broth- ers in this family, viz .: John, Samuel and James, and they came originally from the Conestoga valley in Lancaster county. James Cunningham was a surveyor and surveyed the lands in what is known as Cunningham's district of the Depreciation lands.

Robert Morris, the Revolutionary patri- ot, was the owner of the ground upon which the borough of Butler has been built and of at least 80,000 acres more within the limits of the county. He had three hundred and eleven warrants made out in the name of Lancaster County citi- zens, but assigned by them to him, and these warrants, which were each good for 250 acres of land or more, he caused to be located by his agent James Cunningham,

who was also the surveyor of what is known as. Cunningham's district. A num- ber of these warrants had been taken out in the name of John Tressler and Andrew Reighert, and by them assigned to Morris. The patent on the Tressler tract was not received by Samuel J. Cunningham until May 13, 1805. It sets forth that it was granted in consideration of moneys paid by John Tressler into the receiver gen- eral's office at the granting of the warrant and of the sum of $158.00 paid by Samuel J. Cunningham, and also in said Samuel J. Cunningham having made it appear that he made or caused to be made an actual settlement, and continued his residence agreeable to the settlement law of 1792 on a tract of land called Butler. These war- rants were located several years before Butler County was organized. The war- rants for the tracts of land on which it was destined a thriving city should arise, passed into the possession of John and Samuel J. Cunningham in 1805, and the land adjoining upon the north became by

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settlers' right the property of Robert Gra- ham, who located in 1797, where the resi- dence of John Berg now stands, on North Main Street.

THE COUNTY SEAT.

When Butler County was erected by the act of March 12, 1800, it was provided that the place for holding courts should be fixed at any place distant not more than four miles from the center of the county. The Cunningham brothers doubtless were aware, a considerable time previous to March 12, 1800, where the boundaries of the county would be established, and an- ticipated that the seat of justice would be located approximately in the center. They owned the most available site for a town within the prescribed radius of four miles and profited by their shrewdness or good fortune in having secured it. Other loca- tions were proposed, one near the present site of Boydstown and another on Slip- pery Rock Creek.

One of the commissioners under date of June 7, 1802, writes of the land proposed by the Cunninghams for county seat as follows :

The situation is beautiful, being on an eminence which descends in all directions; the land scarce of timber, but sufficiently dry, and large bodies of meadow ground near the seat. This site will have the advantage of the creek with sundry springs of water, and coal banks near, lime- stone and freestone quarries partly adjoining the site. The ridges, all pointing into the little valley, will be con- venient for roads from every direction.

The commissioner who wrote the above paragraph in his diary was favorably im- pressed, and his impressions were doubt- less strengthened during the evening by a conversation with one of the Cunningham brothers. That night Isaac Weaver, John Hamilton and Presley Car Lane of the committee lodged with Samuel Cunning- ham at the millhouse near the site of Wal- ter's mill, and the other two commission- ers, Thos. Morton and James Brady, lodged at the cabin of Robert Cunningham near the Salt Lick, about two miles north of Samuel Cunningham's place. All of the

commissioners that night were guests at the millhouse, which was probably kept by John and Samuel J. Cunningham, who had built a mill about two years previous. The Cunninghams and Robert Graham pro- posed to lay out in town lots three hun- dred acres of land, five acres of which should be devoted to the use of the coun- ty of Butler, should their location be made the seat of justice.

How well they succeeded in their pur- pose was first made known to the general public when the legislature upon the 8th of March, 1803, passed an act of which the following are the important sections :

Section 1. "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsyl- vania, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, that John McBride, Esq., William Elliott, Esq., and John David, be and hereby are appointed trustees for the county of Butler, and the said trustees, or a majority of them, are hereby author- ized and required to survey, or cause to be surveyed, 300 acres of land situate on the north side of Connoqueness- ing Creek, near Samuel Cunningham's mill, agreeably to a description given of the situation and boundary thereof expressed in the grant and obligation of Samuel Cun- ningham, John Cunningham and Robert Graham, made by them to the Governor for the use of the county of Butler, and the said trustees are hereby authorized and required to lay out a convenient lot or lots of land with- in the said 300 acres not exceeding five acres, whereon the public buildings shall be erected for the use of the county of Butler, and the surplus or residue of said 300 acres of land, which shall remain after the sites for the public buildings are set apart and determined, shall be laid out for a town, with suitable town lots, at the dis- cretion of the trustees, with necessary reservations for a quarry, streets, lanes, alleys and roads or highways; pro- vided, however, that no outlots shall exceed five acres, and the town hereby directed to be laid out shall be called Butler."

Section 2. "And be it further enacted by the author- ity aforesaid, That it shall be the duty of the said trus- tees, or a majority of them, to sell by public auction the said town lots and outlots at such times as they may judge most advantageous to the county, which sale shall be held at the said Cunningham Mill, in the said county, previous to which the said trustees shall advertise the same three times at least in one or more newspapers pub- lished in Pittsburg, Greensburg and Washington one month before the day appointed for such sale; provided. that before the said commissioners proceed to the dis- charge of the duties herein enjoined and required, they shall demand and receive from the aforesaid Samuel Cun- ningham, John Cunningham and Robert Graham suffi- cient deeds in fee simple of the above-described 300 acres of land in trust for the use of the said county of Butler, agreeably to the grant thereof heretofore made to the Governor for the use of the county of Butler by the said Samuel Cunningham, John Cunningham, and

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Robert Graham, and shall procure the same to be recorded in the office for recording of deeds in Allegheny County. and when the said trustees shall have so done they shall have authority, and it shall be their duty, to make out and grant sufficient deeds in fee-simple for the town and outlots by them sold in pursuance of this art."

FIRST SALE OF LOTS.

In August, 1803, the village was duly laid out, the plot containing seventy-six acres and seventy-nine perches. This was deeded to William Elliott, John David and John McBride, as trustees for the county, and the sales of the lots were made through them at a public auction, August 10th. David Dougal purchased lot No. 1 on the northeast corner of the Diamond for $100.00, which was the highest price paid for lots in that locality. This is the prop- erty now owned by C. N. Boyd. Other lots were sold along Main Street at prices ranging from $20.00 to $126.00, which in 1908 were valued at $1,000.00 per foot front regardless of the improvements.

The fact that the new town was to be the seat of justice held out great promises of financial returns to the people, and the lots were readily sold. The pioneer vil- lagers then entered upon the humble be- ginnings of what, as a rule, were to be suc- cessful careers. The promise of prosperity was realized by almost everyone except John Cunningham, one of the founders of the town. His financial affairs became in- volved, and it was said that he was hur- ried to his grave by the disappointments he met with. He died in 1805, and was buried in the cemetery which he and his brother had donated to the borough of Butler.

The deed of release, which describes the ground now occupied by the court house, was executed in favor of John Cunning- ham by his creditors Simon Gratz and Heyman Gratz, trading under the firm name of Simon & Heyman Gratz; William Wistar, John Price, and John Wistar, trading under the name of Wistar, Price & Wistar; John Wistar and his private right; Joseph Karrick and Joshua Perci-

val, trading under the name of Karrick & Percival; and Thomas Ryerson, all of Philadelphia, and is the first recorded in- strument in the recorder's office in But- ler. The deed was executed in Philadel- phia on the 5th of October, 1803, and re- corded on the 23d of January, 1804.

John Cunningham was a brother of Sam- uel and James Cunningham, and was a na- tive of Lancaster county. In all probabil- ity he was engaged extensively in business elsewhere than in the village of Butler, and was the victim of the fever for land speculation that had ruined Robert Mor- ris and other prominent men of that time. When he became financially embarrassed, his share in the 300 acres set apart for the town of Butler was seventy acres. Judg- ments were laid upon his property by the creditors living in Philadelphia, and it be- 'came necessary in order to give perfect title to have a deed of release for the prop- erty included in the town site. Such a deed was made. It recites that the release was granted in consideration of the fact that John Cunningham had other lands adjoin- ing the town which were bounded by judg- ments which his creditors had obtained, and that these lands were so materially increased in value by the location of the county seat as to make them ample secur- ity for his creditors.

David Cunningham, another brother of John and Samuel, resided in Butler in 1804, and was one of the first attorneys registered at the Butler Bar. He is said to have been a lawyer of ability, but noth- ing is known of his career after he left Butler. Samuel Cunningham lived and died in Butler, and was buried in the old cemetery with his brother John, but the graves of these two pioneers were never marked, and all trace of them was lost many years ago, When the high school building was erected on the site of the old cemetery a tablet was placed on the wall in the corridor to the right of the Mckean Street entrance, which bears the names of

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John and Samuel J. Cunningham, the founders of Butler.

THE ORIGINAL MAPS.

The original survey of the town lots of Butler made in 1803 exists, and a map of the town made by Harvey Boyd in 1828, which was taken from a plat of J. E. Brown, is in the possession of John S. Campbell, of Butler. This old map is made on parchment and is an excellent example of the work done by surveyors of that day. According to the boundary lines shown on the map, the northern limit of the town was an alley which is now Penn Street, and the southern limit was the quarry re- serve which began at the alley south of Wayne Street and extended to the creek. The western limit was the first alley west of Washington Street, and the eastern limit ended at Franklin Street. All of the territory lying east of Main Street and north of North Street, now in the fourth ward, was known as the outlots, and the territory lying south of Jefferson Street and east of Mckean street as far as the creek was placed in the same class. Jef- ferson Street extended west to the first alley west of Washington Street, and Mif- flin Street extended to Walker's brick yard, which lay between Bluff and Chest- nut Streets. The main road leading to the west and northwest at that time left the Willard House corner and followed Wayne Street and what is now Water Street to the junction of New Castle and Mercer Street. This point was then known as the forks of the New Castle and Mercer roads. The cemetery lot was located on the site of the High school building on North Mc- Kean Street. and the academy building was marked on the corner of Mckean and Jefferson Streets, now occupied by the Jefferson school building. The millhouse is marked on the banks of the creek out- side of the quarry reserve. The quarry reserve was so called because of the exist-

ence of a stone quarry, where the early in- habitants secured stone for building pur- poses.

On August 14, 1804, the trustees made the terms of sale more liberal, giving one year for second payment, and two years for third payment. Under this rule fifty- seven lots were sold August 14, 15, and 16, 1804, the total sum realized being $1,612.25.

DISPUTE ABOUT TITLE.

It would appear from the events that fol- lowed the laying out of the town lots and the public sale that Robert Graham and the Cunninghams donated lands to which they had no legal title. Following the set- tlement with the creditors of John Cun- ningham, another cloud arose in 1807 which threatened to affect the title of every lot owner in the town. In the early part of that year the effects of Robert Morris were sold at the Merchant's Coffee House in Philadelphia at United States marshal's sale to satisfy some of his for- eign creditors. Stephen Lowry of Mary- land and other land speculators purchased the Butler County warrants. The John Tressler warrant and the Adam Reighert warrant came into the possession of Lowry and on December 12, 1807, Thomas Col- lins, attorney for Lowry, notified the com- missioners of Butler County of his claims on the land comprising the town site of Butler. It will be noticed that Robert Gra- ham claimed ownership of the Adam Reighert warrant by right of settlement, and that John and Samuel Cunningham did not secure their patent for the Tressler warrant until 1805. The attorney for Lowry threatened to bring suits of eject- ment, and after a correspondence of more than two years, the matter was finally compromised. The commissioners released their claims to the lots in the original plan that had not been sold at that time, and Lowry executed quit claim deeds to the commissioners for the lots that had been

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sold up to that date in both the tracts do- nated by the Cunninghams and Robert Graham, thus confirming the titles made by the trustees of Butler county at the first sale of lots. These deeds were executed on the 12th day of February, 1810.

In the original plan of lots, Jefferson Street is the dividing line between the Tressler warrant owned by the Cunning- hams, and the Adam Reighert, Sr., war- rant, upon which Robert Graham had made a settlement. The eastern limits of these warrants was Monroe Street, and the western limits was Bluff Street. The present limits of the city now comprise in addition to the two warrants mentioned the Adam Reighert, Jr., warrant in the Institute Hill district, the George Slough warrant in the first ward, the Christian Stake warrant and the John Greaff war- rant comprise all that part of the town west of Bluff Street known as Duffytown, and part of the property now owned by the Standard Steel Car Company, and Charles Duffy. The Tressler warrant ex- tended from Jefferson Street to the top of the hill south of town, and the Adam Reighert, Sr., warrant extended from Jef- ferson Street north to the foot of cemetery hill, and was designated on the early docu- ments as "Warren Point."

FIRST SETTLERS.

The first settlers within the orginal lim- its of Butler were among those who pur- chased lots at the first sale, and who began immediately to erect buildings on their new possessions. James Thompson, a blacksmith, erected the first building on the Diamond. Other houses were built in their order by William Young, William Neyman, Abraham Brinker, and Jacob Funk. The Neyman house stood next to the Boos building on South Main Street. Abra- ham Brinker's house was on the other side of the street, and the Funk house stood on the ground now occupied by the resi- dence of W. A. Lowry on East Diamond

Street. John Potts built a log house on the corner now occupied by A. Troutman & Sons' store. He resided in this house for two or three years, and then built a substantial hewed log house upon the op- posite side of the street on ground now oc- cupied by the store of Alf. M. Reiber. This log house was considered one of the fine residences of the town, and stood until 1892 or 1893, when it gave way to the pres- ent brick building. Other houses were built, all of a very primitive character, by John Emfrey, George Powers, and Stephen Crawford.

While the foregoing men were the first settlers within the original limits of the town, John Negley had settled in 1800 south of the creek, opposite the Cunning- ham Mill, now the Walters Mill, and in the third ward of the city. Robert Gra- ham and his family had also settled in Butler Township in what is now the Fifth Ward. Robert Graham's son William was the first child born in the district, and made his advent in December, 1803. The first female child was Sarah, daughter of John and Jane Potts, who was born at the Potts residence on Main Street in March, 1805. She married Squire Robert Carna- han, and resided in Butler all her life, her death occurring near the close of the cen- tury.

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Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 54

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