USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Bridgeport > Hart's history and directory of the three towns, Brownsville, Bridgeport, West Brownsville also abridged history of Fayette county & western Pennsylvania > Part 14
USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > West Brownsville > Hart's history and directory of the three towns, Brownsville, Bridgeport, West Brownsville also abridged history of Fayette county & western Pennsylvania > Part 14
USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > Brownsville > Hart's history and directory of the three towns, Brownsville, Bridgeport, West Brownsville also abridged history of Fayette county & western Pennsylvania > Part 14
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
This mammoth plant is of no inconsiderable consequence to the Three Towns, to Fayette County and to the Monongahela Valley, and is but the forerunner of others in the same line and in other lines that are sure to follow.
THE BROWNSVILLE BREWERY.
Those who are familiar with the construction of brewery plants and their equipment, emphasize the declaration that the Brownsville Brewery is one of the most conveniently constructed and best and most modernly equipped of any along the Monongahela Valley It certainly stands among the leading enterprises of the Three Towns, and to Mr. George J. Edel, is largely due the credit for the perfection and conveniences of the plant. Mr. Edel is
Monongahela Railroad Yards and River Coal Company's Plant
160
The Brownsville Brewery
president of the company and has served since the company was orga- nized as building superintendent and general manager.
The promoters and organizers of the Brownsville Brewing Company, are Geo. J. Edel, W. H. Calvert and John Monier, of Charleroi; J. I. Thornton and George Rathmell, of Bridgeport, with whom are associated many promi- nent business men of Brownsville, Bridgeport, Uniontown, Connellsville, Fayette City, Belle Vernon, Charleroi, Monessen and other river and inland towns.
The company secured a charter January 12, 1903 and steps were at once taken to secure a site and erect a plant. A\ plot of ground 261 by 241 feet, on Water Street, Bridgeport, Pa., was bought from George D. Thompson and ground was broken, March 25, of the same year, and the first beer was brewed February 7, 1904.
The buildings are all substantial brick structures each built for an express purpose and all are thoroughly equipped with the most modern machinery and the most up-to-date methods are used in the production of the seductive amber fluid.
It may be interesting for those who care to observe the manner in which the beverage they use, is made, to follow the grain from the car through the various processes to the kegging and bottling rooms. Such a journey is instructive as well as interesting. From the car on the siding which runs along one side of the main building and the ice plant, the grain is run auto- matically into an elevator by which it is conveved to the top of the five- story main building and dumped into the storage bins which have a capacity of eight car loads of barley malt. From here the grain is taken directly into the clearing bins passing through fans, sieves and over a number of powerful magnets which free it from all dust or other foreign matter, eliminating everything that could be deleterious to absolute purity. The malt then goes through the mill where it is crushed and passed on into the malt hopper scales where it is weighed, exactly 8,000 pounds being required for cach brew. It is next conducted to the mixing kettle where it is steeped with water and the desired substance extracted. The refuse grain falls from the mixing kettle into the wet-grain bin thence into the drier from whence it is carried to the top of the building into the dry-grain bin, and discharged into sacks ready for shipment as horse feed. The Brownsville Brewing Company has a contract with the German army for all the feed of this kind it turns out, and consequently it is shipped directly to Bremen, Germany.
At this stage the product that is eventually to become beer, is conveyed to the mash tub or mixing kettle where they get from it what is known as extract of malt after which it is carried to the brew kettle, an immense copper receptacle, the one in the Brownsville brewery having a capacity of 185 barrels. Here it is boiled for three and a half hours when it is again conveyed to an upper floor and allowed to descend over a series of copper pipes that are kept as cold as ice by currents of cooling vapor which reduces the liquid from a boiling to a freezing point almost instantaneously. This liquid is then carried by pipes into the immense vats in the fermentation
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The Brownsville Brewery-George J. Edel, President and Manager
162
The Brownsville Brewery
room at the top of the stock house where it is allowed to remain for twenty- four hours to let all albuminous and nitrogenous substances precipitate. After this the beer is conducted by pipes to the fermenting room below where are twenty tubs of 185 barrels each. Here it remains for from 16 to 18 days till it is thoroughly fermented. After complete fermentation it is taken to the story below, the storage room, where there are twenty large vats with a capacity each of 350 barrels, or a total capacity of 7,000 barrels, where it is left for from three to four months. It is then taken to the next story below where it is put into 20 immense casks of 250 barrels each, or 5,000, and kept under pressure for from five to six weeks so as to insure a good and solid foam: the grand total of beer on hand is 14,000 barrels. This gives the plant an annual capacity of 75,000 barrels. After this it is taken to the kegging and bottling room where it is filled into kegs or bottles for shipment or use.
At every step the most diligent care is taken to insure absolute cleanliness and purity. Every receptacle is thoroughly washed and cleaned with hot water and the kegs are taken through a bath of hot water by an ingenious machine for that purpose after which they are scrubbed by a machine, rinsed with cold mater and then thoroughly inspected before they are used. The bottles go through a similar process of cleaning and inspection. Another ingenious machine is that which drives the hoops onto the kegs if they are not already tight. The ice plant is one of the largest in this part of the State, and is one of the most modern, making ice in cakes 22 feet 6 inches by 12 feet 8 inches and 16 inches thick, weighing 19,000 pounds. The plant is capable of making six of these cakes of ice each day which is a grand total of 54 tons. The company has three fine artesian wells within its building and none but this water is used for any purpose.
The prime motive power of this immense plant is furnished by a battery of three boilers of 200 horsepower each fired by gas, though coal may be used, ample bins for which are provided. The gas is automatically fed by a steam-pressure regulator and supplied with a high and low water whistle or alarm, the water also being fed to the boilers automatically, thus dis- pensing with the services of a fireman.
All the machinery is run by electricity cach machine having a separate or individual motor. The current is furnished these motors by two direct- connected generators or dynamos, the one a 65 horsepower and the other a 22 horsepower. The entire plant and all the buildings connected with it are also lighted by electricity generated in the power house of the building.
The ice plant alone is run by steam direct and the motive power is furnished by two magnificent Corliss engines, the one 195 horse-power and the other 125. The capacity of the ice machines is about 200 tons per day, much of the capacity being utilized in cooling the various departments of the plant. The exhaust steam is used in a retort for heating all the water that is used in the boilers and about the plant. An air compressor is used to force the liquid, in making beer, from one vat to another.
As noted elsewhere, the buildings are all of brick, the main building being 100x261 feet. part of it five stories high; the ice plant building containing
Old Warehouse, Brownsville, Recently Torn Away to Make Room for the Monongahela Railroad
Old Stone Schoolhouse, Bridgeport, First School Building Under the Public School System in the Three Towns
P
REGISTERED DISTILLERY OF
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Little Brick Schoolhouse, Bridgeport
Jones' Old Distillery, Bridgeport
164
The Ph. Hamburger Distillery
the tanks, is 60x125 feet two stories high. They also have a stable that accommodates 16 horses, sheds for wagons, an elegant office and handsome modern residence for the resident manager and president of the company.
The present board of directors are George J. Edel, President and Super- intendent; Sam C. Todd, Secretary; John Monier, Treasurer; W. H. Calvert, Vice-President; J. 1. Thornton, George Rathmell.
THE HAMBURGER DISTILLERY, LIMITED.
In the upper part of Bridgeport stands a mass of imposing brick buildings that form the center of one of the most extensive and widely known business enterprises in the Monongahela Valley, and the output of this enterprise is not only known from ocean to ocean, but in every civilized country on the globe. We refer to the Hamburger Distillery, Limited, and its famous brands of pure whiskey, among the latter being the "Old Bridgeport Pure Rye," "Bridgeport Pure Malt" and "G. W. Jones Monongahela Rye."
Western Pennsylvania has always been noted for the amount and the excellency of its whiskey, even in the days prior to the famous Whiskey Insur- rection, of which mention is made in the historic part of this volume.
The Hamburger Distillery, Limited, is one of the largest plants of the kind in the world, covering about fourteen acres of ground. Almost all its buildings are of brick, of the most modern style of architecture for the purpose to be served, and its warehouses are thoroughly equipped with all the latest im- provements and devices, thoroughly ventilated and heated by steam, which manner of storage is equivalent to twice the same length of natural storage. The capacity of the warehouses is about 60,000 barrels. Every modern device that will make whiskey better is put into the distillery the moment it is proven to be of excellence.
None but the best grain is used, and the utmost care is taken at every step of the process of making whiskey to produce only the best that can be made.
Since 1885 this property has been in the hands of and owned principally by Ph. Hamburger, whose honesty and integrity is proverbial. In Janu- ary, 1901, the Hamburger Distillery, Limited, was organized and bought the Ph. Hamburger Distillery property from its former owners. Mr. Ham- burger then retired from business altogether and has since spent his time in traveling and in philanthropic work. To those who use or handle whiskey the name of "Hamburger" is a guarantec of purity and excellence.
For many years this business has been under the direct supervision and management of W. V. Winans, at present president of Brigeport council, and a man who thoroughly understands the business, and who has done much to make the business what it is. Not a year passes that important additions and improvements are not made, all of which are made necessary by the growing business, a growth that is due to the excellency of the prod- uct and the efficiency of the management.
Seth T. Hurd, Founder of the Brownsville Clipper
Stephen I. Gadd, Veteran Blacksmith of Brownsville
Samuel Steele, Prop. of Steele's Tannery, Brownsville
T. S. Wright, Original Tombstone Mfgr. of the Three Towns
Ephriam Barr, For Many Years Proprietor of the Barr House
166
The Thompson Distilling Company
THE THOMPSON DISTILLING CO.
A history of this section of Pennsylvania would not be complete without some reference to the Thompson Distillery, or what is now known as the Thompson Distilling Company. It is one of the leading industries in this section of the country and has been for over half a century. The business was established by Samuel Thompson long before the war and has ever since borne his name. In fact, the name of Sam Thompson in connection with a brand of whiskey is worth more than most modern plants of today.
It may not be out of order to state here that the old stone structure now used as a bottling house was once the home of the late illustrious James G. Blaine, and it was here that he received his first instructions, which, followed up with the Blaine persistency, made of him the leading statesman of the nation. But it is not of Blaine that we wish to write here.
It is not essential in this article to go into the details of making whiskey, as all readers, particularly those who are interested, are familiar with that; but something about the output and the capacity of the plant will be of interest.
The Thompson Distilling Company's plant consists of three large brick storerooms, one five, one six and one eight stories high, besides the distillery proper and many other outbuildings. The capacity of the distillery is about fifty barrels per day, and every step in the process of making whiskey, from handling the grain as it comes in to storing the whiskey and putting it on the market, is watched and directed by men of years of experience and unques- tioned integrity, and this is why "Sam Thompson Whiskey" is so well and so widely known.
The three huge storerooms before mentioned have a capacity of about 36,000 barrels, and are both constructed in the most modern manner, being thoroughly ventilated and heated by steam. In addition to this they have a 50,000 bushel grain storage house and are at present erecting a new pro- cess drying house where the slop or mash, after use, is dried and prepared for feed.
A full description of the plant cannot be given, for the reason that constant additions and improvements are being made, so that a description of the plant today would in a few months be inadequate and unjust.
The entire business is and has for many years been under the direct super- vision and management of Algernon B. Donahey, who not only thoroughly understands the business in all its details, but who has the confidence of the company and of the wide and growing circle of patrons. There are few places in the civilized world where "Sam Thompson Whiskey " is not known and appreciated by those who use or handle spirituous liquors.
The Sam Thompson Distillery is conspicuously situated in the upper part of West Brownsville, on the west bank of the Monongahela River, and has been seen and heralded abroad by the hundreds and thousands of people who have passed up and down this historic stream for the past half century.
THREE WELL-KNOWN COLORED PEOPLE
Chas. Cox, Who Died at the Age of 107 Years
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W. H. "Tip" Florence
Veteran Teamster of the Three Towns
Henrietta Hamilton Best-Known Chambermaid on the Monon- gahela, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers
168
Elwood Natural Gas and Oil Company
Elwood Gas Co.'s Derrick, Elwood Farm
ELWOOD NATURAL GAS AND OIL COMPANY.
One of the most enterprising corporations in the Monongahela Valley, today and one with the most flattering prospects, is the Elwood Natural Gas and Oil Company that was organized May 9, 1903, and secured its charter November 18th of the same year.
THREE GENERATIONS
Jno. S. Wilgus
For a Number of Years Postmaster at Brownsville
T. B. Wilgus, of Morgantown, W. Va. At One Time a Prominent Citizen of Bridgeport
John Wilgus The Man Who First Proposed the Pacific Railroad
170
Public Library
This company has now leased in Washington County, Pennsylvania, cleven hundred acres of land, has three wells down that by actual test yield 10,000,- 000 cubic feet of gas per day. The company already has franchises for furnishing gas to the boroughs of Centreville and West Brownsville in Wash- ington County and Bridgeport and Brownsville in Fayette, and will no doubt extend its territory rapidly both for consumption as well as for production.
All the work on their plant including the lines they have laid and are still laying, is done in the most modern and approved manner, and the manage- ment and the stockholders are all men of exceptionally strong financial standing and good business judgment.
The stockholders are Joseph S. Elliott, Robert W. Thompson, George D. Thompson, William H. Fisher, James 1. Thornton, J. W. Breckenridge. Thomas H. Thompson, A. L. Milliken, R. M. Poletz, O. S. Bodall and George C. Steele.
The present officers are, Joseph S. Elliott, President ; Robert W. Thompson, Vice President: George C. Steele, Secretary and Treasurer.
The Board of Directors, Joesph S. Elliott, Robert W. Thompson, George D. Thompson, J. 1. Thornton and A. L. Milliken.
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
The Ladies of the Brownsville Women's Christian Temperance Union, believing they could exert a substantial moral influence in the community by placing good literature within the reach of everyone, decided, in January, 1885, to establish a public library by organizing a company or association and disposing of 100 shares of the stock at three dollars each. This was ac- cordingly done, the entire amount being taken by residents of the Three Towns.
The first officers of the W. C. T. U. Library were Miss Anna E. Cox, Presi- dent : Mrs. Sol. G. Krepps, Vice President ; Miss Mamie Armstrong, Correspond- ing Secretary; Miss Sadie H. Miller, Recording Secretary ; Mrs. A. L. Duncan, Treasurer.
A circular letter was written to many friends and former residents, solicit- ing co-operation and a number of handsome contributions in books and money were received. Among the out-of-town contributors were, Hon. J. A. Martin, Governor of Kansas; Messrs. T. M. and R. C. Rogers, of Philadelphia ; Capt. Isaac M. Mason of St. Louis; Wm. Clark Breckenridge of Uniontown; Samuel J. Krepps of Oklahoma; Messrs. John L. Moorhouse Wm. C. Lilley. Wm. H Holmes, George W. Acklin, and Prof. John A. Brashear, all of Pitt- burg.
The library was opened in rooms in the post office in Brownsville, known as the "Round Corner," the evening of July 2, 1885, with religious exercises conducted by the ministers of the Three Towns among them being Revs. S. D. Day and Charlton. The President, Miss Anna E. Cox delivered an ad- dress which was followed by a book reception and ice cream sale.
The library opened with 800 volumes which very much encouraged its projectors.
Prof. L. F. Parker First Principal Bridgeport Public Schools
Miss Emeline Lindy For 51 Years a Teacher in the Brige port Public Schools
J. Stanley Lindy Street Commissioner of the Borough of Bridgeport
John J. Rathmell For 18 Years Toll Taker at the River Bridge
172
Newspaper Enterprises
The first book committee was composed of the following members: Miss Anna E. Cox, Miss Sadie H. Miller, Mrs. R. C. Miller, Mrs. Sol. G. Krepps, Mrs. S. S. Fishburn, Dr. W. S. Duncan and Mrs. J. D. Armstrong.
The W. C. T. U. library was controlled and supported by that organization till 1899 when a Public Library Association was formed. The library which had grown to 1,304 volumes, with the book cases, etc., was then turned over to the new association in the hope that it would grow more rapidly and become a permanent and valued institution.
The officers of the new Public Library Association were, Rev. W. S. Bow- man, President; George W. Wilkinson, Vice President; Miss Jane Ewing, Secretary ; George W. Lenhart, Treasurer; Directors: Miss Harriet E. Abrams, Mrs. Isaac R. Beazell, Roland C. Rogers, Rev. W. E. Rambo and C. L. Snow- don.
The book committee were, Roland C. Rogers, Chairman; Miss Jane Ewing and Mrs. Isaac R .Beazell. The library under the new association was for- mally opened in the Library Room in the Odd Fellows building or hall, Tuesday evening, March 14, 1899, with a book reception. This library now contains about 2,000 volumes.
NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISES.
Among the newspapers that have been published in the Three Towns, commencing as far back as 1810, may be mentioned, in the order of their succession, as near as we can ascertian, there being differences in the dates of past historians, the following:
The Western Repository, The Western Palladium, The Western Register, The Brownsville Gazette, The Western Spy, The American Telegraph, afterwards consolidated with the Genius of Liberty at Uniontown, The American Observer, also later merged with the Genius of Liberty, The Browns- ville Galaxy, The Brownsville Intelligencer, The Brownsville Free Press, The Brownsville Clipper established by Seth T. Hurd. Mr. Hurd was succeeded by E. A. Hastings from whom its present editor and proprietor, W. F. Aplegate, purchased it in 1878.
Following the establishment of the Clipper came the Brownsville Times, Greenback Banner, The Better Times, which suspended after three weeks of adversity, The Labor Advance, The Star that only twinkled one week. The Comet was next launched by the same men who published The Star and while it was a daily, strange as it may seem, the Comet lived longer than The Star, surviving for a period of three weeks. .After this came The Free Lance, The Three Towns and The Regulator.
Then The Monitor was started and run for about twelve years by J. E. Mc Kinney when it changed hands, D. M. and J. Percy Hart taking it up. After running it about a year they sold it to Edwin P. Couse, the present editor and proprietor. This, so far as we have been able to learn, completes the list of journalistic enterprises in the Three Towns.
WELL-KNOWN JUSTICES OF THE PEACE
Squire Henry J. Rigden
Squire Albert G. Booth
TWO PROMINENT ITALIANS OF OUR TOWNS
Robert Patriello
Railroad Construction Contractor
Rosy Poletz Notary Public and Banker
174
Physicians of the Three Towns
PHYSICIANS OF THE THREE TOWNS.
Many eminent physicians have practied in the Three Towns since the old Hanguard was built. Among them were Drs. Mitchell and Chester, Edward Schull, James Roberts, Thomas Blodgett, Piper, John J. Steele, Lewis Sweitzer, Samuel Shuman, Henry W. Stoy, R. W. Playford, William L. Laferty, W. S. Duncan, Isaac Jackson, C. C. Richard, U. L. Clemmer, Benjamin Shoemaker, O. P. Dearth, N. W. Truxall, C. L. Gummert and others.
In 1831 an attempt was made to establish a medical college here but further than a notice to the effect that it was to commence in November of that year, no record of it can be found.
The present physicians of Brownsville are Drs. C. C. Reichard, Lewis N. Reicherd, Dr. Colley Miller. Dr. Isaac Jackson still does some office practice.
Not least among de many prominent men of Bridgeport were in carlier as well as its present practitioners of medicine. Among the most prominent of the old-time physicians, we find Drs. Jesse Pennel, H. W. Stoy, Thos. G. Lamb, Caleb Bracken. Abram Stanley, Mathew O. Jones, W. S. Duncan, Chas. Hubb, W. G. Hubb, J. A. Hubb, J. A. Nelan, J. B. Grooms, Jno. W. Worrell.
Physicians who are now practicing in Bridgeport are Drs. Alfred Smith, Henry Eastman, Wilbur Lilley, and F. S. Hoover, the latter just recently located here.
PIONEER LODGES OF THE THREE TOWNS.
BROWNSVILLE LODGE, No. 60, F. AND A. M.
The record of this lodge begins with an entry dated January 22, 1794, at which time John Bowles, John McDowell, Joseph Asheton (of Pittsburgh Lodge, No. 45), James Chambers, Jr., William Arbutton, John Faraker, James Chambers, Sr., and Jonathan Morris (of Washington Lodge, No. 54), James Long (of No. 3, Philadelphia), and Ready McSherry (of No. 660, Ireland), opened the new lodge No. 60, in due form, John Bowles being appointed secretary. Applications were received from James Elliott, Jonathan Hickman, and Charles Ford for initiation. John Christmas, Michael Sowers, Ready McSherry were appointed a committee to inquire and to report to the lodge the next evening.
January 23, 1794, the lodge commenced work under a dispensation of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, dated December 9, 1793, Chads Chalfant, W. M .; John Chambers, S. W .; Michael Sowers, J. W.
Twenty-seven members were added to the lodge in 1794.
In 1799 the first building owned by the lodge was erected for its use. On the 6th day of May in that year " Bros. Rogers and Miner agreed to furnish 700 plank at the lodge for use; Bro. Gregg, lime; B. Hezlip to have doors and windows." June 14, 1811, Chads Calfant sold for fifty dollars the lot of ground on the southwest side of Church Street, on which the Masonic Hall building was erected in 1834.
GROUP OF EMINENT PHYSICIANS
Dr. Benjamin Shoemaker
Dr. Daniel N. Robinson
Dr. W. S. Duncan
Dr. Wm. G. Hubbs Dr. Jno. A. Hubby
Dr. J. B. Groom-
Dr. N. W. Truxal
176
Pioneer Lodges of the Three Towns
On the 2d of February, 1829, Andrew Jackson, President-elect of the United States, arrived at Brownsville by stage over the National Road front the West, and stopped at George Gibbon's inn. There he was waited on by Henry Pieffer, Valentine Giesey, Robert Patterson, John Blythe, and N. Isler, who had been appointed a committee to invite him to visit the lodge. He accepted the invitation, and was introduced by Brother John Davis.
Brownsville Lodge, No. 60, and Pittsburgh, No. 45, were the only lodges west of the mountains which did not surrender their charters during the anti- Masonic excitement a little over half a century ago. From the Brownsville Lodge have sprung the following-named lodges, viz: Fayette City, Union- town, California, Greensborough, Connellsville, Carmicheal, and Clarksville.
BROWNSVILLE CHAPTER, No. 164, R. A. M.
Chartered in June, 1849. The following were the first officers: M. E. H Priest, W. L. Lafferty; King, C. P. Gummert; Scribe, Thomas Duncan.
ST. OMER'S COMMANDERY, No. 7, F. T.
Application was made June 10, 1862, to the Grand Commandery of Penn- sylvania to revive St. Omer's Commandery, which had been organized at Uniontown in 1853, and suspended work in the following year. The appli- cation was granted. E. Sir William Chatland was installed E. Commander. The commandery was ordered removed from Uniontown to Brownsville, where the first meeting was held October 23, 1862. The number of charter members was twelve.
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