USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > History of Erie County, Pennsylvania, Volume One > Part 23
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
McBlair, - Nicholas, Joseph Lanman, John C. Carter, Francis A. Roe, A. Breyson, James E. Jouett, Brown, - Gillis,
Bigelow, - Wright, - Cushman, G. W. Hayward, Albert Kautz.
/
CHAPTER XV
PRESQUE ISLE, ERIE, ERIETOWN-HAMLET, BORO, CITY.
SETTLEMENT, EARLY SURVEYS, BUILDINGS, ORDINANCES-"ERIE STONE"-EPI- DEMICS-FIRST COURTS AND JUDGES-FIRST JAIL AND PRISONERS-BORO ORGANIZED-FIRST ELECTION-FIRE PROTECTION-WATERWORKS-EARLY HOTELS AND KEEPERS-UNITED STATES BANK OF PENNSYLVANIA-NAMES OF ERIE LOCALITIES-ERIE BURGESSES-EARLY JUSTICES OF THE PEACE AND ALDERMEN-EARLY WATER COMMISSIONERS-EARLY CHIEFS OF FIRE DEPARTMENT-EARLY FIRE BOARDS-PUBLIC BUILDINGS-EARLY STREET NAMES AND CHANGES-CITY INCORPORATED APRIL 14, 1851-ROLL OF CITY MAYORS-FIRST CITY COUNCILS-LAFAYETTE'S VISIT AND DINNER-POINTS OF INTEREST AT ERIE.
As heretofore stated when the first settlers located here, there were but a comparatively few acres of cleared ground around the site of the old fort. This cleared space was sufficient for all needs of building and town development for some time afterwards. Little by little, and by spots here and there, other openings in the great, surrounding forest were made. Second Street was opened up by Mr. McNair, he commenc- ing the great work in 1802 by cutting out the trees and underbrush westwards from the fort-clearing at Parade Street. By 1811 the street had been opened through the woods as far as French Street. French Street itself had been opened for a distance south from the harbor by that date, and several buildings had been put upon it. One of these buildings was that of George Buehler, on the northeast corner of Third and French Streets. Here the first court in the county was organized a little later-in fact the county of Erie itself was organized and estab- lished in that house at that time. The Buehler house thus became the county building, as well as "The Buehler Hotel" of the time, one of the most celebrated public houses in this western country.
282
283
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
When the future town was laid out by Andrew Ellicott, it was of course necessary to have a well-known starting point for his measure- ments. This he established by careful calculations upon a spot where the old French Fort had stood, as being perhaps as convenient a place as any, which point was at the southeast corner of the present Front and Parade Streets. Here he set up a stone found near by, of slaty- shale, some three inches thick, four feet long, and perhaps sixteen inches wide. This was crudely inscribed with the following legend:
Erie, 1795 Lat. 42° 8' 14" N. Var. 43 E.
From this upended stone, the measurements for all of the streets, alleys, lanes, in-lots, out-lots and squares of the City of Erie were taken. This stone was called "The Erie Stone," and remained in its original loca- tion for many years; but eventually it was disturbed, rolled about, and accidentlly discovered by our townsman, Colonel John H. Bliss, who took charge of it, and later, when the Public Library Museum was opened, · deposited it there, where it may now be seen carefully crated to preserve it from accident.
It was very close to "The Erie Stone" that Erie began its develop- ment. The second building put up in Erie was on the corner just south of it-the Presque Isle Hotel. This was Rufus S. Reed's venture. His father started the town by erecting a rude shack down on the beach. Then followed the government saw-mill built by the troops under Captain Bissell, and a second one built by Colonel Thomas Forster, both near the mouth of the creek, the latter being on the east side of it about where the old Fairmont Mills were located. Then Mr. Deming put up a tan- nery at Fifth and Holland, and Thomas Hughes opened a brick-yard down in the creek valley.
After Second Street had been worked into condition suitable for decent travel, it was occasionally used as a race course, where the horses of all degrees were entered to furnish entertainment and sport for the populace. The start was usually made at Rufus S. Reed's store at the corner of Second and Parade Streets, finishing at the house of Captain John Cummins on the southwest corner of French and Second Streets. These occasions seem to have afforded great entertainment for the people in those days, and many a plow horse and scrub trotter, exhibited unex- pected ability.
284
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
The first court was organized in the Buehler House on April 2, 1803, at the northeast corner of Third and French Streets. This house also known as the "McConkey House," was kept by Thomas Rees, Jr., and lastly by James McConkey. When Commodore Perry was building his fleet he used it as his official headquarters, although it is believed that he had his private rooms at Second and French. Judge Jesse Moore held that first court in the Buehler House.
With the coming of the court, it necessarily followed that a jail must be provided. Accordingly a most pretentious structure was erected on the lot of Judah Colt on the southeast corner of Second and Holland Streets. It was built of hemlock logs, cut from the woods on the prop-
BUEHLER HOUSE
WHERE PERRY BOARDED
erty now occupied by the St. Joseph's Orphanage. Much difficulty was experienced in hauling the logs out of the woods because of the swampy condition of the ground. Oxen or horses were unable to do this work on account of getting mired. Therefore the logs were pulled out by human power. They were cut and hewed a foot square, and were built into the structure by Robert Irvine, the carpenter, and Mr. Graves, the mason. It seems that the building was really intended as one suitable for a residence, but used temporarily for the jail, until sold by Mr. Colt to the county commissioners, who continued it as a jail. It was built in 1804. Upon its acquisition by the county, a substantial stone floor was put in two feet thick, and the walls and ceilings were covered with stout oak planking two inches thick firmly held and re-inforced by stout cross- cleatings. This building was two-stories high, with two rooms in each story, the windows very small and high up, well protected with iron
285
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
gratings. The whole was surrounded by a stout picket enclosure of Hem- lock 15 feet high and about 80 feet from the building. The debtors were confined in the upper portion, criminals in the lower, while the keeper's family were confined in the eastern portion of it. It seems to have been taken down about 1830, 1831 or 1832. The carpenter who built it was the first jailor. He came from Ireland to America in 1774, moving from Philadelphia to Carlisle with General Wayne's family, between which families arose a very strong attachment. Mr. Irvine came to Erie in 1802, building himself a home on Seventh Street near French. When General Wayne's remains were removed by Isaac Wayne in 1807, the General's effects were presented to Robert Irvine, the General's chair to Mrs. David Wasson, the mother of Mrs. Bernard Hubley, by whom it was sacredly cherished as a prized possession.
The first prisoner in this first jail was a colored servant girl in the family of William F. Codd, charged with having drowned a little child, whose body was found in the creek. The confinement brought on insanity and she became so violent that she had to be chained. After · three months, no evidence being produced to connect her with the crime, she was released.
The first prisoner in it for debt, seems to have been one of the lead- ing citizens of the growing town, and a man who assisted in founding it. He was Thomas Wilson, an army contractor and a ship-owner, who, failing in business was incarcerated until R. S. Reed and Robert Knox came to his relief, acting as his bondsmen, he was allowed to reside with the family of the jailor. He seems to have been a man of some ability, and to have possessed the confidence of the people in spite of his misfor- tunes; for in 1813-14 he represented this district in Congress.
Plenty of ambition to make of the village a thriving center was prevalent during those first few years of establishing the settlement down by the creek and between French and Parade Streets. Here were the first efforts at store keeping; the first civic center of the town. All about the little clearing which was dotted over with scattered buildings, was the dense forest which stretched away in every direction from the lake for miles and miles, with only here and there at great distances, small clearings with a rude cabin and a few sheds in each; and with primitive trails leading through the woods in a few directions only, which constituted the public roads of the day. But a most singular fact stands out in bold relief to the student of those early days, in the lack of
286
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
religious organization in the little settlement. It is clearly shown that the church-going people of Erie sought places for worship, not in their settlement, but at North East, Lowville, and "Fairview" (at the mouth of Walnut Creek). Strange that the thriving settlement on the magnifi- cent harbor here should not have been the pioneer in religious organi- zation and effort, as well as in commercial matters, in this county. Yet so we must record the fact. Other county communities had provided for the means of grace far in advance of Erie, notably Upper and Lower Greenfield (Lowville and North East), and Fairview.
At last came a more definite move in political organization for the hamlet by the bay. This was its incorporation as a borough under the provisions of the Act of Assembly of March 29, 1805 (P. L. 1805, p. 176). Under this act the borough acquired certain rights over the reserved lands for wharves and water-lots. Under the Act of March 16, 1807, the munificent sum of $2,000 was appropriated by the state to public buildings in Erie. A supplement to this act, in the Act of March 20, 1811, provided for the appraisal and sale of all the in-lots in squares, and the out-lots in the second extension of the town (5 Sm. L. 212). A provision in this latter act was that the land for twenty perches back from the water's edge and from the upper corner of the Garrison Tract down to Lot No. 38 owned by John Kelso, should be and remain a public landing for the use of the public, until otherwise disposed of.
The new borough extended from the bay south to Twelfth Street, and from Chestnut Street to Parade Street, being practically a mile square. Its population on incorporation was between 200 and 300 souls. It is said that its mile square of area was proportioned to the portion cleared and settled about as ten to one. Fifteen years later, 1820, the census gave it 635 inhabitants.
A curious feature of legislation is expressed in an Act of 1833 relat- ing to Erie's Borough boundaries, "fixing" them by the east side of Parade Street, the south side of Twelfth Street, the west side of Chest- nut Street, and the north side of the Water Lots in the Bay of Presque Isle, and that the first section of the town of Erie, in the county of Erie, "shall still continue and forever remain a borough under the name and title of 'The Borough of Erie'." What a handicap this town has since been laboring under to develop into a famous metropolis with such a legislative incubus. However, the fiat of the legislature, usually so effective, did not prevent the town eventually responding to the impetus
287
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
given it from the boosts and determination of its original settlers. It soon became a city in spite of the legislature; and, although for a time it was dubbed by jocularly-minded people as "The Sleepy Borough," the borough council kept on with improvements and development work, open- ing, clearing, and grading new streets; taking out trees and stumps, pushing their clearings farther back into the forest with which they were surrounded; constructing walks and bridges over the many, many, ravines and streams which cut down through the hill to the bay; originat -. ing and adopting legislation for the better government of the people, and otherwise laying the foundation work for the future growth of their town.
The town pushed westward, however, as towns seem to have the habit of doing, instead of toward Parade Street, and by 1811 it was French Street that had become the business section of the town. This must have been something of a disappointment to the plans of Rufus S. Reed who had built on Parade Street, but that family soon foresaw the trend of the future, and were foremost in keeping step with progress.
The first election of the little borough was held on May 5, 1806, a little more than a year after the act was passed for its incorporation. The officers chosen were, Burgess, Dr. John C. Wallace, Erie's first doc- tor; Councilmen, Judah Colt, Rufus S. Reed, George Buehler, George Shontz, and Robert Hays; Constable, Robert Irwin. On May 6, 1806, these gentlemen met and duly organized, appointing as Town Clerk, James E. Heron; Street Commissioners, Thomas Forster, James Baird, and William Wallace; Treasurer, William Bell. William Wallace was the first lawyer in the town, and was the counsel for the Pennsylvania Popu- lation Company ; Dr. Wallace was an exceptionally well-fitted citizen, and later discharged the duties of Justice of the Peace, County Commissioner and a regimental colonel in the War of 1812; Thomas Forster was a Princeton College man, and an able civil engineer. Thus we see that the business of the little community was from the first entrusted to the management and guidance of men of affairs who were exceptionally well fitted and qualified for their several positions.
The first act of the Borough Council was taken at their first busi- ness meeting held on May 9, 1806, when they issued their "Instructions to Thomas Forster, James Baird, and William Wallace, Regulators for the Burough of Erie," in the following terms:
"Gentlemen: You will please proceed as soon as convenient to ex-
288
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
amine and regulate Second Street from the west side of Parade Street to the east side of French Street, and French Street, from the south side of Front Street to the north side of Sixth Street, marking by post or otherwise each corner where streets intersect the same, and also mark- ing from the edges of the lots twelve feet for the purpose of footways. You will also procure implements for the purpose of regulating the streets of the borough, and when said business is finished you will make report to the burgess, who is hereby authorized to draw his warrant on the treasurer of the borough for the amount of moneys due for said service, allowing each regulator one dollar per day while necessarily engaged in said business, as also the moneys expended in the purchase of the afore- said implements.
"By order of the Burgess and Town Council.
"James E. Heron, Town Clerk."
By the foregoing it will be seen that Erie adopted the idea of "dollar- a-day men," perhaps setting the example for the later "dollar-a-year men," at a very eary date in the history of the country.
These regulators made their first report on May 17.
They also knew that "without Revenue, Representation is useless," and so they followed their first act by providing measures for acquiring "Sinews of War" upon the natural impediments to the village growth. And so they levied a "Tax of fifty-one-hundredths of a dollar on the valu- ation of property for the year 1806."
The first public improvement which called their attention, was pro- vided for in their ordinance: "That the Burgess is authorized to receive proposals for taking the stumps out of French Street from the south side of Front Street to the north side of Sixth Street, viz .: between the lines made by the Street Commissioners for foot-ways."
The owners of property were required to take out and remove the stumps from the foot-walks in front of their respective properties.
James Savage got the job of "taking the stumps and roots out from the front side of the Burgess' house to the front side of Judge Bell's house" for $37. Then council provided that R. S. Reed was author- ized to contract on the best terms obtainable to have the stumps and roots hauled away, and for leveling French Street, also for leveling Sec- ond Street "from the Gaol to French Street."
Later they appropriated the sums of $25 for repairing Second Street, $5 for improving Third Street, $10 for improving Fourth Street,
289
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
and the extensive improvements to be made in State Street were to be liquidated with $11.
The meetings of the borough council were held in the village inn, of which Mr. Buehler was the proprietor.
On May 16, 1807, councils made a start towards further improve- ments on State Street by adopting the following resolution, with the pur- pose of co-operating in an effort being made to open up and prepare for travel the later well known "Waterford Turnpike." It was as follows:
"Resolved, That $150 be specially appropriated for turnpiking State Street from Ninth to the south side of Twelfth Street and that John Hay be authorized to make the contract.
"Resolved, That the street regulators be instructed by the high constable to ascertain and mark without delay the center of State Street and make report to the council at the next meeting, the expense to be paid out of the above appropriation."
One will naturally wonder what about the north end of State Street, its location, condition and use, if the council is paying this attention to · that part of it south of Ninth Street.
At this period it was French Street that was the town center, the cleared portion of the village, and west of that, and south of it, was still the great forest filled with forest plants, vines and brush. The parks of a later period were as nature made them, unblemished by the hand of man. Down through east Perry Park flowed a gurgling stream, deep seated in its fern lined banks, over which, at North Park Row, was shortly to be thrown a bridge built of the forest poles in the most ap- proved rustic fashion. And we shall see that the north end of State Street had as yet not emerged from its primeval conditions, nor pro- truded itself into the attention of the authorities. The village life had as yet not spread away from French Street for the council explain to us in their resolution of July 30, 1810, adopted at their meeting held in George Buehler's Hotel that:
"Resolved, That the burgess be authorized to draw a warrant on the treasury of the borough of Erie in favor of any person or persons for the sum of $14 payable in county warrants, who shall clear State Street from the north side of Front Street to the center of the Public Square of all brush, logs, and wood of every description, lying or being in said street, to be approved by a majority of the council when the same shall be said to be completed.
(19)
290
.
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
"Resolved, That Samuel Hays and Arch McSparren be a committee to contract for taking out the stumps for 20 feet on each side of the center of State Street and filling in the holes from the south side of the public square to the north end of the bridge between Ninth and Tenth streets."
On August 4, 1807, the council had spread upon their records the following resolution, which is enlightening as to the conditions of forest, ravine, and other natural evidences existing where are now no hints of them.
"An ordinance prohibiting persons from throwing stumps, etc., in the water course that passes through the borough.
"Be it ordained and enacted by the town council of the Borough of Erie, That from and after the 12th day of January next, any person who shall throw stumps, logs, or any other substance subject to decay into the gully or water course that passes through the borough where the streets cross the same, or in the public square, shall pay a fine of $5 for the use of the borough, with costs of prosecution and the same shall be removed at the expense of the person throwing them in."
On May 6, 1807, the inhabitants of the borough were granted the liberty of planting trees in the streets.
On September 15, 1815, the borough voted $350 to buy a fire engine, but the following season it was a problem as to getting it in repair.
On Aug. 3, 1816, the financial problem was met by an expedient which has ever since been a favorite resort of our legislators as follows:
"That the Burgess and Town Council do issue small bills or notes (bearing interest) to an amount equal to four-fifths of the purchase money arising from the sale of water-lots; that said bills or notes be redeemable out of said purchase money, and that the Borough be author- ized to send to Pittsburg and obtain a quantity of suitable paper for said bills."
By November 4, the borough was prepared to issue these bills or notes, and 24 bills were issued in denominations of 75 cents, 48 bills of 50 cents each, 72 bills of 371/2 cents each, 192 of 25 cents each, and 240 of 121/2 cents each, aggregating the grand total of $147, all of which, think of it, was to go for public improvements.
In 1816 the first fire-engine company was organized, and talk was heard of securing a water supply for the borough; but the subject lan- guished, coming up spasmodically in 1822, May 4, 1838, and perhaps at
291
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
other occasions, until the little town was visited by its first serious fire in the destruction of "The Mansion House," the leading hotel of the place, on Jan. 24, 1840. June 25, 1841, R. S. Reed and Thomas G. Colt were appointed a committee with power to contract for bringing water into Erie in log pipes. This was then secured, and a Pump-log Water Works was constructed at the cost of $442.28, bringing the water from Ichabod's Run near Seventeenth and Peach streets to the village below the park.
We must not omit mention of the periodical frights the people were thrown into because of various plagues and scourges, such as small-pox, cholera, etc., which either visited the town, or strongly threatened it. It was in 1831 that Dr. Kellogg and Dr. Vosburg discovered a case of small-pox in the town, in the family of Mr. Martin. The family had been living in one of the old buildings left by the government when it abandoned the Navy Yard in 1826. The Council ordered the family re- moved to the old block house then still remaining on the peninsula. The following year the town was badly scared at the approach of cholera, which visited numerous towns in the country. We were mercifully spared its acquaintance. Such vigorous action was taken by the councils and the medical men in charge of affairs here, that by rigorous quarantine, travelers being denied entry to the town, steamboats prevented landing, all houses ordered cleaned, drunkards and vagrants locked up, and tippl- ing rooms and groceries placed under the closest bans, no signs of this dread scourge was discovered here.
In 1849, pursuant to council mandate, a hospital was constructed, after several years of desultory debate. Its location, as well as its cost and general description, seem never to have been a matter of record; and neither can we find a record of its existence or experiences.
From time to time in after years, the small-pox made periodical visits to the town, until the Health Officers and Boards enforced compul- sory vaccination here and elsewhere, since which only occasional cases have been noted, usually of mild forms.
One of Erie's first booms in real estate followed shortly after it became assured that the Pennsylvania Extension Canal would be built from Pittsburg to Erie. In anticipation of this event a number of enter- prises were projected here, notably the building of the Erie Branch of the United States Bank of Pennsylvania. There were three buildings in the group forming the Bank property, including the bank building
292
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
proper, and the cashier's residence. High up inside the porch of the old banking building, now generally known as "The Old Custom House" on lower State Street, will be found the inscription "William Kelly, Archi- tect, 1838." The design of this building is one of the purest architec- tural types of Grecian construction to be found in America. At various times architects and builders of note have journeyed to Erie for the pur- pose of inspecting and studying its design and outlines. It was later used by the Postoffice, and subsequently by the U. S. Custom House. which title has remained with it to this day. The parent bank at Phila- delphia having failed in 1840, the one at Erie also went into liquidation. The officers of the Erie branch were, Thomas H. Sill, President; Peter Benson, Cashier; Josiah Kellogg, Charles M. Reed, William Kelley, G. A. Eliot, Samuel Hays, William Feming, J. G. Williams, and H. J. Huide- koper, Directors. On the failure of the banks, Mr. W. C. Curry was selected to settle up the affairs of the Erie branch. In 1849 the bank building was sold to the United States Government and converted into a custom house, the price paid being $29,000; while the cashier's residence alongeside of it to the south brought but $4,000; about half of its original cost. The old banking house is now used by the Strong Vincent Post of the G. A. R., as a kind of club for the old Civil War Veterans.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.