USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > History of Erie County, Pennsylvania, Volume One > Part 29
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On April 12, 1842, Charles M. Reed, John A. Tracy and John H. Walker obtained a charter for the first railroad company in the county called The Erie and North East Railroad Company, and books for the popular subscription to its stock were opened on Oct. 19, 1846. Its stock was taken up largely in Erie. By .the spring of 1849 the route was sur- veyed under the supervision of Milton Courtright, who had been on the force of engineers on the old canal, and contracts for the construction of the new railroad were let on July 26, 1849, the road extending from Erie to the New York State Line at Northville, the present State Line.
Two companies in New York State had been projecting lines in that state up to the Pennsylvania line, and the Erie and North East Railroad Company contracted with the Dunkirk and State Line Railroad for a
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connection at the state line, both of which roads were planned with a six foot gauge, which would have made Erie the terminus of the railroad from Buffalo, for the gauge of roads from Ohio to Erie carried the Ohio standard guage of four feet eight and a half inches, which necessitated a reloading of cars at Erie. The road west from Erie had been built by The Franklin Canal Company, which had been originally chartered to re- pair the Franklin division of the old canal, and by an amendment of their charter were authorized to build a railroad on the route of the canal from Franklin to Meadville, and thence north to Erie and south to Pitts- burg. By a liberal construction of their charter powers, they assumed the right to construct their road from Erie to the Ohio State Line; but it was of the narrow width gauge.
The railroad companies found the change of gauge at Erie a most serious impediment to travel, and efforts were initiated to change the roads to make them of a uniform guage. The first train over the Frank- lin Canal Company's road west of Erie, left Erie for Ashtabula on the morning of Nov. 23, 1852.
On Nov. 17, 1853, the Erie and North East Company and the Buffalo and State Line Company entered into a contract to change their guages to four feet ten inches, thus planning to make a practically uniform guage from Buffalo to Cleveland. On Dec. 7, 1853, work was commenced to carry this agreement into effect, and was completed Feb. 1, 1854, when the first train arrived in Erie from the east over the newly changed guage. The people of Erie resented the plan, for they had hoped to make Erie the lake terminus of the New York lines, and saw in the instal- lation of the new and uniform guage the death knell to their hopes. They were filled with indignation, and resolved to prevent the change if possible.
The railroad situation became the general topic of conversation, on the street, at social and business gatherings, and in all public and private functions. At last the city councils were moved to the following :
"Whereas, The joint resolution granting to the Franklin Canal Com- pany the right to cross the streets of the city with their railroad where the same is now located, is not sufficiently guarded and restricted to pro- tect the rights of the city; and whereas, the city council will at all times be ready to grant all the facilities in their power to railroads terminating here, when the same will promote the interests of this city, when the
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policy of such railroad companies shall become settled and fixed with regard to width of track, etc., therefore,
"Resolved, etc., That the joint resolution granting the use of the streets of the city to the Franklin Canal Company, passed Nov. 12, 1852, and also the resolutions passed March 14, 1850, granting the Erie & North East Railroad Company the use of State Street from the depot to the lake on conditions therein named, for railroad purposes, be and the same are hereby repealed."
And here is the reason that the New York Central Railroad Com- pany today is not operating a railroad up and down the main street of Erie.
However, the railroads stood pat on their determination to effect the proposed change of grade, and many of the cool-headed citizens who were opposed to the change, believed that counsel would still win the day, held the more violent in check; even succeeding in obtaining council's passage of the following in hopes of peaceably effecting their purpose:
"Resolved, That the city councils will give all the aid in their power to the Erie & North East Railroad Company in procuring ground in the canal basin for depots, etc., in case they will run their road to the dock."
More or less conferences, discussions, and meetings continued to be held until Mayor King called a public meeting at 9 o'clock in the morning of July 19, 1853, which was marked by the most intense excitement and fervid oratory. That evening councils adopted a lengthy resolution pro- hibiting the railroads, entering Erie from the east, from using any other guage than six feet; and prohibiting the Franklin Canal Company from using any other guage on their road leading west from Erie, than four feet and ten inches, and providing for police action and penalties in case of violations. In the meantime the citizens were on the alert, noting any and every sign which would seem to indicate an attempt to alter the guage. Many exciting meetings took place, not all of them inspired by the prudence and good sense which should have prevailed, and many resolutions of councils were adopted bearing on various angles of the sit- uation, until Saturday afternoon, Nov. 26, 1853, when councils were sud- denly convened on the report that the railroad company had spotted the ties all along the way, and would effect the change that night. A reso- lution was adopted after a half day of earnest discussion, as follows:
"Resolved, That the mayor be instructed to call out the police force of the city to remove the bridges from the streets of the city, now used (23)
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by the Erie & North East Railroad Company at any time that he, the mayor may deem necessary, in order to preserve the present railroad guage, and to preserve the peace of the city, in accordance with the ordi- nance of July 19, 1853. Also any bridge or obstruction crossing any street used by the Western Railroad Company within the limits of the city."
This was adopted in their regular place of meeting in "Wright's Block," then located on the northeast corner of Fifth and State streets, where the excitement usually centered. On Nov. 28, 1853, councils passed another ordinance directing the mayor to remove from the streets of the city all bridges, tracks, embankments, ditches, timbers and other construction or obstructions placed in them by both of the railroad com- panies, and on Dec. 7, 1853, the mayor having sworn in 150 special police constables, mounted a large horse and rode at the head of his police, and followed by a determined crowd of his fellow citizens, went up State Street to the railroad bridge, where the city engineer carefully marked the location of the street lines upon the railroad structure, and men with saws carefully cut the bridge in two upon those lines. All was done sys- tematically and according to law and the ordinance. Ira W. Hart, a railroad man, and J. F. Tracy, another, tried to order them away; but they, being fiercely attacked, were glad to beat a hasty retreat. For a long time passengers and freight had to be carted from east of town to the west side of it, the bridges being wholly destroyed across the streets. Much upbraiding of our city was indulged in by the traveling public, who suffered great inconvenience. Through the traveling public the incident was widely advertised, and Erie received much adverse notoriety through this trouble. The matter was carried to the Pittsburg courts, the rail- road men in Erie were ostracised and abused, the newspaper which advo- cated the railroad side of the trouble was attacked, the press demolished, the type scattered about the street in front of where the Park View Hotel now stands, its publisher was assaulted, and even the building which housed the paper was destroyed.
Near Harborcreek the farmers tore up the tracks on two separate occasions, and the U. S. Marshal was sent here from Pittsburg to serve an injunction to restrain the determined people from interfering with the road; he found the rioters busy along the tracks, and had difficulty in getting the attention of the people, until Archie Kilpatrick demanded his business when the marshal informed them he had "An injunction
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under the seal of the United States Court," when Kilpatrick took it, and throwing it upon the ground most irreverently declared "Now it has the seal of Harborcreek," he he stamped it into the mud with his heel. He and John Jacks, Ira Sherwin and John Kilpatrick were arrested for this and taken to jail in Pittsburg, ultimately being released.
This strife engendered the most bitter feeling between the two fac- tions in the city and neighborhood, which was never really allayed in that generation. The Civil War coming on a little later, helped greatly in dissipating the keenness of the rancour; but to this day there are those in the city who resent every reference to it, terming it one of the "most disgraceful things" that ever happened in Erie.
However, this struggle created conditions which served to make pos- sible the construction of the great railroad from Philadelphia to Erie, shortly afterwards. Interest had been aroused, and that seemed to be a way to obtain railroad facilities for the sure development of the harbor at Erie, which the other railroads seemed to despise. It also served to stimulate the building of the Erie & Pittsburg Railroad. Both of those ยท projected railroads benefitted in the settlement made by which the Erie & North East Railroad Company contributed $400,000 to the construc- tion of the Erie & Pittsburg Railroad, while the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula Railroad Company (being the successor of the Franklin Canal Company) contributed $500,000 to the building of the Sunbury & Erie Railroad (now the Philadelphia & Erie Railroad).
The guage of the railroads became standard, and the various lines are today known as the New York Central (succeeding the former Erie and North East Railroad Company and the Franklin Canal Company) ; while the Philadelphia & Erie Railroad is a division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, as is likewise the Erie & Pittsburg Railroad, one of the great railway systems of the country.
The passenger depot of the P. & E. R. R. was situated on the east side of the State Street Bridge over the railroad below Hamot Hospital, where the freight business of that road in Erie continued to be carried on for some years after 1864, when the passenger traffic was handled at the Union Station.
The Nickel Plate Railroad was an enterprise projected to run from Buffalo to Chicago by way of Erie, Cleveland, Fostoria and Fort Wayne. Its road bed was graded, and the rails in place in very little over a year. The company was organized in 1880, grading commenced in June, 1881,
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and the first train over its entire length was run in August, 1882. Ex- periencing some difficulty in obtaining terms for its franchise through the City of Erie, a gang of men was set to laying ties and rails in the early morning of Sunday, April 2, 1882, and before dark the line was completed through the city for the running of a train. This was done to avoid delays which would have been occasioned had the work been done on a week day when civil process would have been served to arrest the work. Regular trains started to run over this line on Oct. 23, 1882.
From time to time interest was shown in the construction of another railroad from Erie to Pittsburg, to be built on the route of the old canal, the site of which was owned by W. W. Reed, and later was the property of his sister, Miss Sarah Reed of Erie. Several promising prospects for such an enterprise fell through. At last Messrs. Huidekoper and Dick, heading a syndicate from Meadville, arranged for the old canal bed, the road was laid into Erie in November, 1891, and the following spring was opened for business. From the start it had a large ore trade through the harbor at Conneaut, Ohio, from where a line joined the main road at Cranesville. It had a connection with Conneaut Lake, and also with Meadville. It has always done a thriving business, chiefly in ore and coal, making its passenger business of secondary importance. It was under- stood at the beginning that this road, which was known as the Pittsburg, Shenango & Lake Erie Railroad, and later more familiarily called "The Bessemer," would have extended dock facilities at the harbor, and a fine, large passenger depot up town. Neither of these expectations have been realized. It originally terminated at Butler, but sought and obtained a Pittsburg connection over the Pittsburg & Western, and is now enjoying running rights with the Baltimore & Ohio.
Several railroad enterprises towards the south and east from Erie, have never advanced beyond the promotion stage; some others have even secured charters, and a few have done some grading.
CHAPTER XXII
STREET AND ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.
HORSE CARS-BUS LINE COMPETITION-ERIE PASSENGER RAILWAY-ELECTRI- FICATION-CONNEAUT & ERIE-BUFFALO & LAKE ERIE-CAMBRIDGE LINES.
A horse-drawn street railway system had been in operation on the streets of Erie since 1867, superseding the picturesque bus line operated by William Loesch from Perry Square up State Street, Turnpike Street and Peach Street to Federal Hill. The driver of the bus sat on his high, outside seat, equipped with a strong-voiced tin horn upon which he per- formed with vigor and enthusiasm. The boys called this outfit "Bill Loesch's Band." Loesch operated under an ordinance requiring him to make regular daily trips between the termini.
In 1868 a company had been organized and commenced running its horse cars on the main line on State, Turnpike and Peach Streets from the Hamot Hospital site to its stables and car barns where the present South Erie Turn-hall stands, just south of Twenty-sixth Street. This company was called the Erie Passenger Railway Company, and its stock- holders and officers comprised practically all of the well known business men of the town.
Strife between the car company and the bus line soon developed, but one morning Mr. Loesch found all of his horses lying dead in the stables, and being obliged to defer service for a day or so to get others, he was called on to forfeit his franchise. He always maintained that the ani- mals had been poisoned to remove him from the competition.
W. W. Reed at length became active in its management, and he advo- cated its electrification ; and in the early spring of 1885 the first electric passenger car in this county came up State Street on its trial trip, with
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Jacob Pfetsch, the General Manager in charge. Other cars were speedily fitted for electricity, and shortly all of the rolling stock of the company were under electric power excepting a small bob-car running semi-occa- sionally up and down Turnpike Street, upon which a passenger was a startling curiosity. Mr. Casement of Painesville becoming interested in the company, it was re-organized on Oct. 1, 1888, as the Erie Electric Motor Company, which continued the operation of the lines until April 13, 1906, when a new organization called the Buffalo & Lake Erie Traction Company took over all of the lines, and in August of that year acquired the suburban and inter-urban lines east on the Buffalo Road to West- field from the promoters' receiver who had been operating for some time. A power station had been constructed by the builders of the road, at Six Mile Creek, which was later abandoned when better power facilities were secured. The inter-urban line to Buffalo is now being operated by the Buffalo & Erie Railways Company, which has bought the property from the receiver of the former company.
In January, 1901, John R. McDonald, H. E. Fish, Charles E. Shenk, J. Spencer VanCleve and John S. Rilling organized the Conneaut & Erie Traction Company, which was built along the Ridge Road to Conneaut, Ohio; later it was extended, and connecting companies joined their links of railway to it, until cars run over the rails from Erie to Cleveland, and the company finally became the Cleveland & Erie Railway Company, which later went into the hands of a receiver, who operated it for a time until he made a sale of the road and its road bed, iron, trolley, and cars were scrapped.
Another inter-urban line, that has apparently been making money for its owners, is operated by a company that is the final successor of the Erie Transit Company, chartered April 22, 1891, through the efforts of Hon. Perry A. Gibson, an Edinboro boy who had been living in Erie for some time. Its route was from Cambridge Springs to Edinboro, thence over the Edinboro Plank Road through McLane, Mckean, Kear- sarge to Erie. Construction on its line down Myrtle Street was halted at Nineteenth Street by the Nickel Plate Railroad, and never went any farther. It now enters the city over the Peach Street tracks of the local street car company. A branch was built from the line into Mead- ville, which later became the main line, with the branch leading from it to Cambridge Springs. Connections have since been made which extend the service to other points south and west of Meadville, and the line is being well patronized under modern, practical management.
CHAPTER XXIII
CHURCHES AND RELIGION.
FRENCH SERVICES-FIRST CHAPELS-SERVICES AT COLT'S STATION-FIRST CHURCH BUILT-FIRST SACRAMENT OF LORD'S SUPPER-MIDDLEBROOK- FAIRVIEW-REV. JOHNSTON EATON-LATER CHURCHES AND CONGREGA- TIONS.
Undoubtedly the first religious services held in this county were those conducted by Friar Gabriel Anheuser, a Recollect priest who signed . himself "Chaplain of the detachment," and who is officially recorded as being in attendance on the dying Jean Baptiste Texier in the fort at Presque Isle, and who died July 11, 1753, no doubt having his burial serv- ice conducted by that same friar.
It is of record that when the Chevalier Le Mercier brought the French forces under Chevalier Pierre Marin from Marcelona to Presque Isle harbor, that "finest in nature" which he had discovered a few days previously, in April of 1753, a log fort with its palisaded enclosure was forthwith constructed west of the mouth of Millcreek; and that a small log chapel was erected at the same time, presumably within the walls of that frontier outpost. Here were observed the rites of worship as approved by the Roman Catholic church while the French remained.
The second place of public worship would have been another small chapel which was erected of logs within the fortifications at Fort Le Boeuf within a few weeks thereafter. These were probably maintained until the French were driven from the county. A third is believed to have been constructd by them, perhaps of more ample size, just east of Millcreek, but not far from its mouth, in a village of French and Indians which is credited with being located there.
No record of any other services of a religious character have been .
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found until the memorable one held on Sunday, July 2, 1797, in a clearing in Greenfield Township, at what is now called "Colt's Station." About thirty persons assembled and attentively listened to the reading by Judah Colt of a sermon from a collection of Dr. Blair's sermons. The subject chosen for the reading that day, was no doubt inspired by the prevalent unsettled and tumultuous conditions in the county owing to the troubles prevailing over land titles; for we read from Judah Colt's manuscript "Life": "This season was one of much business, and, owing to the oppo- sition of adverse settlers, one of much trouble and perplexity. We were compelled to keep from forty to eighty or one hundred men in the serv- ice of the company (Population Land Company) to defend the settlers and property. More than once, mobs of men, from twenty to thirty, would assemble for the purpose of destroying houses, and other mischief, some of whom I had indicted, and bills were found against them by the grand jury of the then Allegheny County, the courts being held in the borough of Pittsburg." The subject chosen from the book of sermons was therefore most appropriate under the circumstances: "Let all things be done decently and in order," 1st Corinthians, chapter xiv, verse lv.
It is likely that other neighborhood services were held from time to time throughout the county, when two or more families would get to- gether and read a sermon, sing a psalm or two, and have prayer; but we have no record of these, nor of other public services excepting the general statements that such was the fact, and that occasional mission- aries and itinerent preachers came through the county holding irregu- lar seasons of worship, usually in the open air, in taverns, or other places which were made ready for them.
The next public service which has been recorded for us, was that held in the villages of Erie, Waterford and North East in 1799, when Revs. Stockton and McCurdy, two missionaries sent out here by the Ohio and Redstone Presbyteries, visited the county and preached to the people gathered to hear them. But there were no church buildings for their accommodation.
In August, 1801, Mr. McCurdy and Rev. Satterfield came to Venango Township from the presbyteries above named, and, gathering a large concourse of people in a chopped place in the woods by a large spring which gushed from under the trees at the foot of the hill below where is now the graveyard of the old Middlebrook Church, about a mile and a
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half north of Lowville, held a service in the open air which was so well received that at its close Mr. James Hunter arose in his place and invited "the boys" (as he called them), together and asked them to meet him at a certain place the next Thursday, with their axes and dinners. They well knew what was wanted of them, and the following Thursday all were at the spot, and Mr. Hunter said: "The Lord has been mindful of us in this wilderness, and has sent us the gospel by the mouth of one of his servants, and we had no house to meet in, but heard it as you know, under the beech trees in the open air. Now, if we wish to prosper while we build houses for ourselves, we must build one for God." He had selected this spot as it was the center of the township. But as the large hemlock tree which marked the center of the township stood in a wet place, young Mr. Warren suggested going a little north to higher ground, where he would give the church a deed for two acres of land upon which was a fine spring of water. This met with hearty approval, and they went to work, and so heartily did they labor that by night they had com- pleted the first log church, or church of any sort, which Americans had ever put up in this county. This was the old Middlebrook Presbyterian Church, on the site of which may still be seen the God's Acre filled with the dust of pioneer heroes who prepared this county for our own comfort. After a short while a larger log building was built on the site of the first, which endured until the Wattsburg Church had absorbed its members. Wood from the original timbers of this pioneer church was selected and made into a replica of the Middlebrook Church, which Miss Spencer be- queathed to the Erie Public Museum, where it is reverently preserved.
After organizing a congregation of eighteen members at Middle- brook, Messrs. McCurdy and Satterfield went to Colt's Station and North East, where they were joined by Revs. Tate and Boyd, also of the same presbyteries. At North East the four held a public service on Sept. 27, 1801, at the homestead of William Dundass, which was just west of the present residence of Mr. R. J. Moorhead, on Main Street in North East, at which were some three hundred persons. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered by them here, which was the first according to Protestant forms ever administered in this county. A congregation was organized then and there by the name of "The Churches of Upper and Lower Greenfield."
On Oct. 2, 1801, the Erie Presbytery was established, covering the territory between the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers and Lake Erie, extend-
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ing into Ohio. Its first meeting was at Mt. Pleasant, Beaver County, April 13, 1802, with seven ministers in attendance. They received re- quests for religious services from the Congregations of Upper and Lower Greenfield, and from Middlebrook; also a request from Presque Isle. Revs. McCurdy Satterfield and McPherrin were designated as mission- aries to serve in this county.
The first regular preacher in the county was Rev. Robert Patterson, who was received into the Erie Presbytery on Sept. 30, 1802, and accepted the call of "The Churches of Upper and Lower Greenfield," entering upon his work here Dec. 31, 1802. He seems to have lived at North East. In 1804 a small log church was built on the west side of the Sixteen Mile Creek, in what is now the cemetery of North East. In the same year a church was built in Springfield township, on the site of the East Springfield cemetery, Mr. Patterson preaching at Springfield, North East and Middlebrook for a time.
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