USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > Greensburg > History of Greensburg (Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania) and Greensburg schools > Part 5
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the sheds were long tronghs, along the edges of which were driven plenty of nails to prevent the hungry pack-horses from knawing away the wood. A glance into the loft would reveal numerous little heaps of oats and corn, carefully piled all over the floor by the pack-
RE
BLANK BROS. FURNITL
BUSINESS BUILDING OF BLANK BROS. East Otterman Street.
ers, going eastward, which they would feed to their faithful horses on the return trip. On the spacious barroom floor, with their feet to the fire, and their heads wherever they could find a resting place, the sturdy packers passed the night. Some of the barrooms had accommodations for two or three dozen lodgers. The habit of the packers and movers was a yellow or green hunting shirt. made of tow-linen, neatly plaided from the elbows to the wrists, and adorned with fringes around the tails, wrists, capes and col- lars. Under the long hunting shirt leggings were worn, while the feet were clad in moccasins. The packers and movers traveled in droves or caravans, with from six to a dozen horses tethered in single file, the driver riding in the lead or rear and directing the train by lusty vocal orders. With the heavily-ladened packsaddles, and a tinkling bell suspended from their necks, the horses trndged steadily along at the rate of from eighteen to twenty miles a day. Produce of certain kinds, whiskey and skins were conveyed to the east of the mountains and alum-salt, iron and merchandise brought back.
Among the innkeepers in Greensburg and immediate vicinity in 1788 were Joseph Thompson, Robert Taylor, Bartel Laffer and John Taylor. In this connection it will, no doubt, be a matter of interest to the reader to sean the form of a tavern license at that period. It was as follows:
Know all Men by these presents, that I, Joseph Thompson, of the Town of Greensburgh, am Held and firmly bound unto His Excellency Thomas Mifflin, Esquire, President of the Supreme Executive Council of the Com- mon-wealth of Pennsylvania. in the Sum of Forty pounds, Current Money of the said Common-wealth: To which payment well and truly to be made. I do bind myself, my Heirs, Executors, and administrators, firmly by these
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Presents. Sealed with my Seal, Dated the Sixth Day of October, in the year of our Lord, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty-Nine. The Condition of the above Obligation is such, That Whereas the above bounden Joseph Thompson hath obtained a Recommendation from the Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the County of Westmoreland to the Supreme Executive Council for their License to sell all Kinds of Spirituons Liquors by the Small measure, If therefore
the said Joseph Thompson, after having obtained the said License, shall during the Continuance thereof, be of good Behavior, and shall observe and keep all the Laws and Ordinances which are and shall be made, relating to his said employment, within this common-wealth, then the above Obligation to he void, otherwise to be and remain in full Force and Virtue. JOSEPH THOMPSON. [Seal].
Sealed and delivered in presence of THOMAS HAMILTON, MICH. HUFFNAGLE.
Early Mail Methods,
Messages, letters, papers and small packages, such as constitute what is ordinarily designated mail matter, in the early days of the western coun- try, were carried by the courtesy of travelers. A citizen of Greensburg or vicinity, when about to make a journey to Philadelphia, or points east of the mountains, was entrusted with letters or valu- able papers, by his neighbors, which he delivered as a favor. Persons traveling to the west of the mountains did the same thing. Packers and mov- ers likewise often combined the business of a mail carrier or post-express with that of transporting merchandise, for a small compensation. Post riders, under government authority, operated be- tween Pittsburg and Philadelphia, with more or less regularity, after 1792.
When Greensburg's first newspaper was estab- lished in 1799, the papers were sent in packages to prominent citizens, named in its columns, in vari-
RESIDENCE OF HON. JAMES S. BEACOM.
North Main Street.
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-
--
HUFF OFFICE BUILDING. Main Street.
ons localities, to whom subscribers in the vicinity went and received copies. The packages were carried from the publication office by post-riders employed by the publishers. In some instances, residents of a neighborhood, by an agreed order of rotation, journeyed to the printing office in Greensburg, proenred the required number of papers, took them back and distributed them among those subscribers in the rotation agreement. Subsequently, post-riders were employed for particular routes and received fifty cents per annum from each subscriber for the weekly delivery of his copy of the paper.
A regular stage and mail service, on the leading roads, was established a few years later. The schedule of the arrival and departure of the mail-stages, at Greensburg in 1807, was as follows:
EASTERN .- The mail-stage for Philadelphia leaves Greensburgh every Sunday and Thursday morning, and returns every Sunday and Wednesday evening.
A mail for Alexandria, Huntingdon county via Dennistonstown (New Alex- andria), Armagh, Benta, &c., leaves Greensburgh every Friday morning and returns every Monday evening.
WESTERN .- The mail stage for Pittsburgh leaves Greensburgh every Monday and Thursday morning and returns every Wednesday and Saturday evening.
A mail leaves Greensburgh every Tuesday morning for Kittanning, via Free- port, and returns every Wednesday evening.
Another mail leaves Greensburgh once in two weeks, on Monday morning, via Mountpleasant and Robbstown, for Wheeling, and returns on Saturday, following.
Subjoined is the order of the arrival and departure of the mail-stages at Greensburg in 1813:
The Philadelphia and Pittsburg mail arrives every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings, and departs every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings.
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The Washington mail arrives every Tuesday and departs the same day.
The Kittanning mail arrives every Thursday evening and departs every Tuesday morning.
RESIDENCE OF MRS. JOHN KUHNS. West Pittsburg Street. [ 53 ]
The Bedford mail arrives every Friday evening and de- parts every Saturday morning.
The Uniontown mail arrives every Monday evening and departs every Tuesday morning.
The Building of the Turnpike,
Recognizing the need of a better and more substantial highway from the central to the western part of the State, and in compliance with a popular demand, the General Assembly on April 2, 1811, passed an Act "to encourage the constructing of certain great and leading roads within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," etc. By this statute the sum of $350,000 was appropriated toward the building of an artifical road from the bank of the Susquehanna river, opposite Harrisburg, to Pittsburg. Governor Snyder, in accordance with the law, appointed Nathan Beech, of Philadelphia, Robert Harris and John Schoch, of Harrisburg, and William McCandless and Adamson Tannehill, of Pittsburg, commissioners to view the two routes proposed, the northern and southern. After due consideration, they reported in favor of the latter route, leading through Chambersburg, Bedford, Somerset and Greensburg to Pittsburg.
Although the provisions of the Act were extended as to time, the residents of the western counties were slow to avail themselves of the terms and opportunity offered. Toward the close of the year 1813, however, there was an
awakening among the inhabitants of Westmoreland and Alle- gheny counties on the subject. Meetings were held at vari- ous places throughout the iwo counties and committees ap- pointed to attend a general meeting, which took place at the
RESIDENCE OF MR. FRANK N. GRAFF.
North Maple Avenue.
house of James Herron, in Pittsburg, on December 27, 1813. Messrs. Dunning McNair, John B. Alexander, Esq., and Ephraim Pentland were appointed a committee by that meet- ing to draft a memorial to the Legislature, praying for the enactment of a law authorizing the incorporation of a com- pany to build an artificial road from Pittsburg to Greensburg.
In the course of the memorial the General Assembly was informed that the inhabitants of Allegheny and Westmore- land counties were anxious to foster and encourage the com- merce of the western country; that Pittsburg was the place of deposit for all the foreign merchandise destined for the western part of Virginia, that part of Pennsylvania connected with the waters of Lake Erie, and the States of Ohio, Ken- tucky and Tennessee, transported by land from Philadelphia and Baltimore; that the number of teams engaged in the transportation of merchandise and annually arriving at Pitts- burg was from 7,000 to 10,000; that a free turnpike was then in course of construction, at the entire expense of the United States government, from the vicinity of Washington, D. C., to Wheeling, the result of which would be to injure the trade of Philadelphia and extend that of Baltimore; that "during the present season, owing to the extreme badness of the roads, hundreds of wagons have left the main road, east of Greensburgh, and made the best of their way to the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers, and from thence have transported their loading by water to Pittsburgh, at a con- siderable addition of expense and delay." As a remedy for those evils, the passage of an Act authorizing the Governor
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RESIDENCE OF MR. L. W. BOTT. Corner West Second Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.
to incorporate a company for making a turnpike road from Pitts- burg to Greensburg, and subscribing on the part of the State therefor $60,000, while the inhabitants of the two counties would, it was believed, subscribe 872,000; and, repeal such part of the Act of April 2, 1811, as would be supplied by this plan, was pro- posed. Copies of the petition or memorial were circulated in both Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, numerously signed and forwarded to Harrisburg.
Under the provisions of an Act passed March 9, 1814, the Gov- ernor was directed to incorporate five companies to construct the contemplated turnpike. The first corporation was for the building of the road from Harrisburg to Chambersburg; the second from Chambersburg to Bedford; the third from Bedford to Somerset; the fourth from Somerset to Greensburg; and the fifth from Greens- burg to Pittsburg. The Commissioners, empowered by the law, to open books for subscriptions to the stock of the Somerset (sub- sequently Stoystown) and Greensburg Turnpike Road Company were John Ankeny, John Dennison and John Fletcher, of Somer- set county; William Jack, Sr., Arthur Carr, Peter Gay, John Grove, Hugh Martin, John White, John Hurst and Alexander Johnston, of Westmoreland county; and Samuel Trevor, John Lyon and Richard Weaver, of Fayette county. Those named with like authority for the Greensburg and Pittsburg Turnpike Road Company were Simon Drum, Jr., William Friedt, Robert Stewart and Jeremiah Murry, of Westmoreland county; William McCandlass, Philip Gilleland, John Darrah, James Morrison and George Stewart, of Allegheny county; and David Bruce and Robert Bowland, Jr., of Washington county. When twenty-five [ 55]
persons had subscribed 500 shares to the stock of the Somer- set and Greensburg Company, the State Executive was di- rected to issue letters patent to the Company. £ That official was to pursue a similar course when fifty persons had sub- scribed 600 shares to the Greensburg and Pittsburg Company.
Books were promptly opened for the Greensburg and Pitts- burg turnpike at both those places and also at the houses of Robert Stewart, in North Huntingdon township, and Jere- miah Murry, in Franklin township. Having met the require-
ments of the law and been duly incorporated the first officers and managers were elected on August 5, 1814, as follows: President, William Wilkins; Treasurer, William Friedt; Managers, Joseph Patterson, Ephraim Pentland, William B. Foster, Dunning MeNair, Thomas Sampson, Jacob Negley, William Caven, George Armstrong, James Irwin, William Hindman, Tobias Painter, William Fullerton. The first con- tract at the eastern end of the road was awarded in Septem- ber, 1814, being for two miles westward from Greensburg.
SUMMER RESIDENCE OF MR. E. M. GROSS. Hempfield Township, Northwest of Greensburg.
Some delay was occasioned as to the Somerset and Greens- burg turnpike, by reason of the amendment of the law, changing the route. Somerset was passed by, and, as a con- sequence, the name of the corporation became the Stoystown and Greensburg Turnpike Road Company. Officers were elected on July 28, 1815, by the selection of John B. Alex-
ander, Esq., as President; Thomas Pollock, Treasurer; and John Dennison, Alexander Johnston, Joseph Baldridge, Arthur Carr, Abraham Horbach, John Ramsey, Alexander Seaton, Matthew Jack, Thomas Dunlap, John Lehmer and William Lehmer, as Managers. The first contracts for the construction of the road were awarded in the following September.
Upon the incorporation of the companies, by the law already referred to, the Governor was author- ized to subscribe, (and, on the completion of five miles of road by each company, to pay a propor- tionate amount thereof), for 1,100 shares of the Har- risburg and Chambersburg Company; 2,100 shares of the Chambersburg and Bedford Company; 1,300 shares each, of the Bedford and Stoystown, and the Stoystown and Greensburg Company; and 1,200 of the Greensburg and Pittsburg Company. By an Act of March, 1821, the Executive was di- rected to subscribe for 1,600 shares of the five companies in addition to that already mentioned.
A report made to the House of Representatives, on March 23, 1823, showed the subscriptions to the stock of the several companies to have been as follows:
Individual.
State.
Length-Miles.
First ..
$ 75,000
$ 85.000
48}
Second
113,850
167,500
55
Third.
40,400
104,000
281
Fourth
71,000
112,000
37
Fifth
62,000
89,000
304
RESIDENCE OF MR. CHRISTOPHER CRIBES.
Alexander Street.
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MOST HOLY SACRAMENT (CATHOLIC) CHURCH. North Main Street. First Building, 1816; second. 1887.
The turnpike was completed from one end to the other before the close of the year 1821. That part of the great thoroughfare from Greensburg to Stoystown, and from Greensburg to Pittsburg, however, was virtually finish- ed two and three years previously. Annexed is a statemant of the receipts and expenditures of the Stoystown and Greensburg Turnpike Road Com- pany, for the period terminating December 31, 1819, issued for the infor- mation of the stockholders:
RECEIPTS.
Stock paid in by individuals. .. $ 66,629.02}
Interest received from individual stock- holders 856 60
Stock paid by the Commonwealth. 97.436 48 Borrowed from Westmoreland Bank of
Pennsylvania . 25.000.00
Paid to contractor by Superintendent.
and for which Treasurer has eredit .. 575.39
Paid to Treasurer by different gate- keepers .. 15,982.37
Bills and tickets issued by the Company Balance duc to Treasurer.
17,871.00
180.21
Total
$224,531.07}
EXPENDITURES.
Expenses for locating the road, includ-
ing Manager's wages for 1815 and 1816. $ 1,766.75 Paid contractors for making road ...... 188 996.78
Paid Managers' wages for 1817 and 1818,
including clerks of elections, allow- anee to Secretary, etc. ... 612.00
Paid stamps and discounts on bank Ioan . 3.273.15
Paid Westmoreland Bank of Pennsyl- vania 25.000.00
Paid for gate houses. 654.00
Paid for printing. scal, attorney's fees and other incidental expenses. 629.15
Expenses of repairing the road . 3.633.45}
Paid bills and tickets issued by the Company. 2,935.84
Treasurer's pay, four years ending 1st of July, 1819. 2,000.00
Total $224.531.07}
Wagons, Stages and Hotels,
Although wagons and stage coaches had been seen on the streets of Greens- burg daily before, the completion of the turnpike, to the eastward and west- ward, greatly multiplied the number. Additional taverns were opened, both in the borough and on the outskirts, for the entertainment of the wagoners and turnpike travelers. There was a recognized line of distinction between the
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public houses, those at which the stages and their passengers stopped claiming to be of a better class than the hostelries patronized by the freight teamsters. Sheds and stage or wagon yards were indispensable adjuncts of a tavern of that period.
RESIDENCE AND OFFICE OF DR. E. M. CLIFFORD. Corner South Main and East Fourth Street.
Wagons in use for regular turnpike transportation were almost entirely of the ponderous six-horse Conestoga type. They had deep, strong beds, with a weather covering of stout linen, supported by hickory hows. A box, with a clasped lid, was affixed to the left side of the wagon-bed. In this were deposited a curry-comb, brush, spong and other essentials and extras, which generally in- cluded a flask of whiskey. A feeding-trough was attached to the rear end of the wagon-body by two chains. It was of sufficient capacity to provision six horses. When the place was reached where the stop was to be made for the night, the saddle- horse was detached, the trongh brought forward and fastened on the wagon-tongue, with iron fix- tures provided for that purpose, and a prop placed at the end of the tongue. All the horses were then unhitched and tied to the trough, three on each side. Rails or poles were run from one wheel to the other, under the wagon-bed, on which the gears were hung during the night. The even- ing and morning allotments of oats or corn, to- gether with a liberal supply of hay, usually con- stituted all the feed which the horses received in the course of twenty-four hours. In the winter season the horses were sometimes covered with a blanket. After providing for their horses, the teamsters refreshed themselves with both liquids and solids. Merry-making, dancing and discussions
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of events and affairs, happening or pertaining to the road, ordinarily engaged the rugged and jolly wagoners during the evenings. Wrapped in a blanket they snored and rested at night upon the barroom floor. At 5 o'clock in the morning the wagons were again on the move. The spirited crack of
PENPLANTS
SILKS
Putts
10
STOREROOM OF MESSRS. A. E. TROUTMAN & CO. Corner Main and West Second Street. [60]
the whip, and the stentorian yell of the teamster, in giving commands to the uncomplaining beasts of burden, or vocaliz- ing a song, could frequently be heard a half-mile over the hills as they journeyed along. The teams, under normal con- ditions, traveled in groupes, varying in number from four to twenty. Each wagon carried 8,000 or 9,000 pounds from Philadelphia and Baltimore to Pittsburg. From the former place the carrriage rates were $2.50 and $3.00 per hundred-weight, and from Baltimore 82.00. The time from Philadelphia, with fair weather and no mishaps, was eighteen days, and from Baltimore, fifteen. At times a wagon carried goods for several consignees. That was characterized as "piece loading," and commanded higher rates.
A stock company formed in the early part of 1817, as "The Philadelphia and Pittsburg Transporting Company," employed many teams between those two cities. Annual contracts were made with the owners of horses and wagons. Greater speed than the customary wagon travel was one of the main purposes of this company. The loading did not exceed 4,000 pounds, per wagon, from Philadelphia to Carlisle, and 3,500 from that place to Pittsburg. Com- pany wagons left Philadelphia and Pittsburg daily and moved continuously day and night. Drivers were requir- ed to make no less than two miles an hour and change horses every ten miles.
A record made by a turnpike gate-keeper, on the Chest- nut Ridge, between Greensburg and Stoystown, showed
the following as having passed through that gate for the year ending May 31, 1818: 7,120 single horses, 350 one-horse vehicles, 501 two-horse vehicles, 105 three-horse vehicles, 281 four-horse vehicles, 2,412 tive-horse vehicles, 2,698 six- horse vehicles, 38 one-horse sleighs and sleds, and 201 two-
RESIDENCE OF MR. EDWARD K. DICK. . Corner North Pennsylvania Avenue and Academy Street.
horse sleighs and sleds, making a total of 38,599 horses for the first year after the erection of the gate. An account, kept at a point four and one-half miles east of Pittsburg, re- vealed the fact that, from January 1, 1815, to December 31, 1815, inclusive, 5,800 road wagons, ladened with merchandise, passed into that city. Nearly all of those wagons return- ed to the east of the mountains with loads of cordage, saltpetre, flour, etc. Wagons from the Juniata and other iron works, which generally traveled by the northern route, were not included in the above account. From March 1 to March 20, 1827, a total of 500 wagons, eastward and westward, passed through the turnpike gate on the hill west of Greensburg. Eighty-five wagons passed through the gate on the hill, east of Greensburg, on March 31, 1832, being the largest num- ber in a single day up to that time. That record was eclipsed, however, on March 12, 1837, when the num- ber reached ninety-two.
Some facts as to the arrival and departure of the stages, at Greensburg, prior to the construction of the turnpike, are presented in preceding pages of this vol- ume. A lively rivalry sprang up, between the stage owners in 1819, on the partial completion of the North- ern turnpike, from Harrisburg, through Lewistown, Huntingdon, New Alexandria and New Salem to Pitts- burg. By that route stages left Harrisburg at noon, on Tuesday, and arrived at Pittsburg on the following Monday. The fare was $14 for the entire distance and
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seven cents per mile for way passengers. As a result, the Baltimore and Pittsburg stages, on the turnpike through Greensburg, which formerly occupied four days from Cham- bersburg to Pittsburg, reduced the time to three, with a cor-
responding rate of fare to that of the Northern pike. In 1837. when turnpike travel and transportation was at its zenith, there were four regular lines of stages, besides many extras, passing daily through Greensburg. So heavy was the pas- senger and freight traffic, at that time on the turnpike, that it greatly stimulated the agitation and efforts then under way, for the extension of the railroad to the western part of the State.
THE RIVAL BRIDGES.
At the beginning of the year 1815 there were six first-class, commodious taverns, for that period, in Greensburg. The borough limits, it should be remembered, however, were not so far-reaching then as they are at the present time. In that year, and for forty-five years thereafter, the lines were practically the same as set forth in the statute of incorporation. Outlin- ed as nearly as can be done by readily recognized streets, of this day, the borough, for the first sixty years of the present century, was bounded on the north by Tunnel Street; on the south by Third Street; on the east by an almost direct line from the corner of East Third Street and Maple Avenue to the junction of East Otterman and Arch Street, or the New Alexandria road; and, on the west by Pennsylvania Avenue, ex- cept between West Otterman and Second
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RESIDENCE OF MR. JAMES CARROLL. East Greensburg.
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Streets, where the boundary line extended about one square farther westward. Of the six hotels referred to, three were located on Pittsburg Street and three on Otterman Street. Those two streets join on the eastern side of the borough
AANWE
RESIDENCE OF JOHN E. KUNKLE, ESQ. Corner North Maple Avenue and Park Street. [ 63 ]
and run parallel, with one square intervening, to a point west of the borough, where they again conjoin and are merged in- to one. Accordingly, both were available, and, of about equidistance, for turnpike travel. As was quite natural, under such circumstances, there was an animated con-
petition between the innkeepers and merchants on the two parallel streets. Various methods were adopted to divert the wagons and stages, in traversing the borough eastward and west-
ward, from one street to the other. As an in-
stance, it may be related that in 1815, the Coun- ty Commissioners erected a substantial stone bridge over the creek on West Pittsburg Street, (in recent years popularly styled Coal Tar run), at the earnest solicitation of the friends and bene- ficiaries of travel on that thoroughfare. When the county officials were urged to make a like improvement over the same stream on West Otterman Street, however, they declined. Rec- ognizing the great advantage gained in the bridge by their competitors, and thoroughly aroused, the Otterman Street residents, notwith- standing the partial action of the County Com- missioners, determined upon a somewhat expen- sive counter move. They had an equally sub- stantial stone bridge constructed on Otterman Street and paid for it out of their own pockets.
The spirit evinced by the Otterman Street business men will be more full appreciated when the fact is recalled that, al- though they resided in the borough, the bridge was located in Hempfield township.
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