USA > Pennsylvania > Northumberland County > History of Northumberland Co., Pennsylvania. With illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories > Part 16
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46
HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
The well at Neff's Hotel was dng in 1794, five years before the death of Washington. The Donnel House was once a botel, where "news much older than their ale went round," and where John G. Youngman, father of the present editor of the Gazette, put up when he first came to Sunbury. There was once a still-house where Dr. Haupt's bonse now stands. A tan-yard where the old Markle House stands. Mr. Daniel Bogar, lived in a log- house where John Hans now resides, and had a pottery ou the next lot east of his dwelling. An old hotel, afterwards the old barracks, stood near the south-west corner of Cbestunt and Front streets, The old Pleasant's House was once a jai, with plank np-ended behind it for u jail-yard.
There were in those days spirit-knockings, or spooks, und people enough who believed that hobgoblins were n necessary part of God's economy. Old Becca Gorman lived in a haunted house near the William Penn House, and was herself regarded as the incarnation of things mysterious. The old whip- ping-post stood in front of the old court house, near the market house, which was a structure about eighty feet long, and twenty wide, standing upon pillars of brick. The old stone-house of Miss Weitzell was the hotel at which the Supreme Judges stopped. Drumheller's old hotel was built in 1796, at which time they raised the sign of a buck. The first camp-meeting was held in Chillisquaque in 1806, which Judge Jordan attended when a lit- tle boy. A man named Joues was once hung on the gallows erected between the dam aud the old ferry, for murdering a mau named Lary, at Cattawissa. Another man named Armstrong, was hung abont a year Inter at the same place for felony. They were buried uear two linden-trees, aud a Sunbury doctor stole their bones. The gallows rotted away, these being the only cases of capital punishment in the County.
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SUNDURY INCORPORATED.
The following is the first section of the Act of Incorporation, of the Borongh of Sunbury, passed March 24th, 1797:
"SECTION I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the town of Sunbury shall be, and the same is hereby erected into a borough, which shall be called "the Borough of Sunbury," forever; the extent of which said borough is and shall be comprised within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning at the mouth of Shamokin Creek, where it empties into the river Susquehanna, nt low water-mark; tbence up the said ereck, on the north side thereof, to the mouth of the gut ; thence up the same, on the west side thereof, to the line of Samuel Scott's land; and by the same to the river aforesaid, at low water- mark ; theuce down the same river, at low water-mark, to the place of be- ginning."
COUNTY BUILDINGS.
Between 1794 and 1800, the first county buildings (now torn down,) viz: The old Court House, Prothonotary's office, Commissioners' office, and Register and Recorder's offices, were built. They were very substantial and neat two-story brick buildings for their day. The three offices just named were all under one aod the same roof, and occupied the whole front or northern part of the present spacions court house ground. The old court house stood in the center of the public square, immediately in front and north of our old county offices. It was built about the year 1797. All the records that refer to it are lost, except some orders for money in compensa- tion for services, signed by John Weitzel. There is a book containing the records of orders, which are continued from the minnte-book, but said min- ute-book cannot be found, neither contract for building. So that we are un- able to present anything farther on the subject. It was bere, in these old departed brick structures, that the distinguished departed lawyers, Bradford, Hall Bellus, Greenough, Hepburn, Packer, Donnell, and others displayed an industry, learning, and eloquence that made them famous not only at home but abrond.
THE PRESENT COURT HOUSE.
The contract for building this edifice was allotted to D. S. Risel, January 5th, 1865, in the sum of $97,000. From said contract we obtain the follow- ing: The building is one hundred and sixteen feet eleven inches long by sixty feet wide, with projecting corners of three feet each way, making the entire length one hundred and twenty-two feet eleven inches and the width sixty-six feet two inches; it is two stories high with a cellar underneath. The outer walls of the four angles are of hard brick, und are two feet nine inebes thick, and the intermediate walls, also of brick, two feet six inches thick. The walls of the cellar are of a good quality of quarry building- stone ; it is eight feet deep in the clear, and contains three heaters for beating
the whole building ; they are from the mainfactory of Matzinger & Bros., Philadelphia. It also contains coal rooms, etc. The first story is twelve feet from finor to floor, aud contains the offices of Prothonotary, Register and Recorder, Treasurer, Connty Commissioners, Sheriff, and an arbitration room, each' of which, with the exception of the Sheriff's office, contains a fire-proof vault in which the records and valuable documents are kept. On the second fluor is the court room, which is twenty-eight feet high in the clear. The bar and seat of justice are finely finished in ash and walnut, and the other portions of the room in an imitation of oak. The work is neatly done and reflects credit upon its builder. There is also upon this floor, jury- rooms, witness-rooms, ete. ' The tower upon the north-west corner is about one hundred and twenty-five feet high. It contains a elock of the best manu- facture, which has four dials.
THE FIRST REGULAR JAIL.
Ou the 21st of March, 1772, the Colonial Legislature provided for the erection of Northumberland County, with judges, courts, etc., for the gov- ernment of its own internal affairs. The fifth section of this aet declared that the said " conrts shall, from and after the publication of this act, sit and be held for the said County of Northumberland, on the fourth Tuesday in the months of Muy, August, November and' February, in every year, at Fort Augusta, until a court house shall be built; and when the same is built and erected in the county aforesaid, the suid several courts shall then be holden and kept at the said court house on the days before mentioned."
The same uct also declared that William Maclay, Samuel Hunter, John Louden, Joseph Wallis, and Robert Moodie, or any three of them should have authority to view the grounds and fix on a site for the building of a court house and jail, in and for Northumberland County, and purchase the said ground or grounds subject to the approval of the Governor of Pennsyl- vanin. (Seetion 1, Smith's Laws, 367-9.)
1773, April 2 .- William Maclay, who was the first Prothonotary aud Register and Recorder of our Northumberland County courts, in a letter of this date written from Fort Angusta to James Tilghman, of Philadelphia, in regard to a jail for onr County, says: "Sir, I enclose to you a letter from three of the Trustees for the public buildings of this County respecting some measures which we have lately fallen on to rescue ns from the scandal of living entirely without any place of confinement or punishment for villains. Captoin Samuel Hunter had address enough to render abortive every at- tempt that was marle Inst summer (1772) for keeping a regular jail, even after I had been nt considerable expense in fitting up this magazine (at Fort Augusta ) under which there is a small but complete dungeon. I am sorry to inform you that he has given our present measures the most obstinate resist- ance in his power and impeded us with every embarrassment in the compass of bis invention. We know nothing of the footing (authority) on which Captain Hunter has possession of these buildings, and only beg that the County may be accommodated with this old magazine with the addition pro- posed to be made to it, and with the house in which I now live to hold our court in, I have repaired the honse in which I now live, but expect to have an house ready to remove to in Sunbury before our November court. As the present repairs are done entirely by subscription you wdl readily guess that Captain Hunter is not among the number of subscribers. As there are many pieces of old iron, etc., which formerly belonged to the fort, not of any use at present, the Trustees propose using any of them which can be con- verted to any advantage for grates, etc., for our temporary Goal, unless they receive contrary directions from Philadelphia."-(See Penn'n Archives, vol. 4, pages 462-3.)
The James Tilghman here noticed, wns then Secretary of the Colony or Province of Pennsylvania, and so the proper person for William Maclay to write to touching this "old Magazine's Dungeon," and "the additions pro- posed to be made to it," as "a place of confinement for villains."
As there appears nothing in the Pennsylvanin Archives, or in the Colonial Records denying this request of Prothonotary Maelny, and his two associate trustees, it may be inferred that he and they, by lenve of the Pro- vincial Council of Pennsylvania, made additions to the magazine of Fort Augusta to answer the purposes of a temporary county jail.
On July 23d, 1774, the Colonial Legislature now passed " Au Act for lend- ing the sum of #800 to the County of Northumberland for building a Court House and Prison in said County." (See 10 Col. Rec. 197-8 aud 1 Smith's Laws XIV.) We have already seen that Capt. S. Hunter was one of the trustees appointed by the Provincial Council at Philadelphia for purchasing ground and erecting a court house and jail for Northumberland County ; but Capt. Hunter was also iu 1772, aud for some years afterwards, the com-
PLATE X
INDUSTRIAL IRON WORKS
RES. OF WILLIAM BROWN, COR ARCH & LINCOLN ST3. FRONTING MARKET. SHAMOKIN, NORTH'D CO, PA
INDUSTRIAL IRON WORKS, WM BROWN, PROPRIETOR. INDEPENDENCE ST.
"STIRLING COLLIERY, FULTON & KENDRICKS, PROPRIETORS.
PHILADELPHIA OFFICE, 113 WALNUT ST.
COAL TP., NORTH'D CO., PA, NEW YORK OFFICE, TRINITY BUILDING.
47
HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
mander of Fort Augusta, and for some reason unknown to us, resisted Maclay and his colleagues in making use of the Fort's magazine and dun- geons as a place for confining and puoishing criminals. But in 1775 and 177G, he, Hunter, united with Maclay in building the first regular jad of Northumberland County.
For in March, 1775, Samnel Hunter, William Maclay, and Robert Moodie, commenced the building of "a new jail in Sunbury," as their orders upon Alexander Hunter, the first Treasurer of Northumberland County, for the payment of materials furnished, and work done, clearly show. And these same orders, or vouchers, also show that the said Hunter, Maclay, and Moodie, among other things, employed Jumes Chisnall to quarry the stone for said jail; Jolm Lee, to furnish the lime; John Harris, Sen., Paxton, (now Harrisburg,) to furnish the iron; Frederick Weyman, to supply the hinges, hooks, rivets, etc .; Joseph McCarrell, Zachariah Robins, and Conrad Platner, to haul the stone, lime, scaffold-poles, etc .; Henry Crawford and Robert Lenet, to do the stone-mason work; Wilton Atkinson, to do the blacksmith work ; and John Buyers and John Maclay, to do the carpenter work of said jad, which seems to have been furnished in 1776.
It was a stone and brick strneture, one part being used for a court house, and the other for a prison. It was subsequently used, a portion of it, for z printing-office, and still Jater, the building served the purpose of a store and dwelling.
Though much modified in appearance, the old structure is still standing, and can be seen on the south side of Market street, corner of Centre alley. It is owned by Mrs. Dr. Leinaweaver, only surviving child of Charles Plea- sant. For many years it has been known as the " Pleasant House." Its original cost was about four thousand dollars.
THE SECOND JAIL.
On March 10th, 1801, John Frick, Abraham M'Kinney, and Flavel Roan, the then Commissioners of Northumberland County, now met, and paid Evan R. Evans, n Sunbury lawyer of some note, four hundred and fifty dollars, for Sunbury town lots Nos. 149 and 150, as the site for the budding of a county jail, being the ground where the new and third jail is in process of erection. These county commissioners, at the same time, made a contract with Frederick Hawger and Mathias App, for two thousand bushels of lime; with Zacharias Robins, for five hundred perch of stone; and with George Deitz, to do all the mason work; and with Andrew Grove and Jacob Dorst, to do all the smith work on the jail, at teu cents per pound. This done, they authorized John Frick, of their own body, to superintend the whole business of' building the sandstone jail and its yard-walls.
On the 2d of November, 1802, the county commissioners agreed to allow the said John Frick six per cent. of all the monies that passed through his bants in said business, as a compensation for his time and services therein.
On April 25th, 1803, the commissioners paid John Frick, for the build- ing of said jail and its yard walls, as allowed by John Buyers, Daniel Mont- gomery, and Evan R. Evans, the auditors of his accounts, the sum of 86,856.30 ; percentage on same, 323.90; to which said auditors, on the 1st of August, 1804, added for stone not previously allowed said Frick, the further sum of 94.00. Total, $7,274.20.
To the foregoing, if we add the cost of the lots, which was four hundred and fifty dollars, and allow about two hundred and seventy-five dollars for incidentals, it will bring the cost of' the second jail up to eight thousand dollars, which is probably not far from being correct.
THE NEW JAIL.
In the Spring of 1876, the structure that constituted the second jail was torn down, and a new one ( third ) commenced, on the same site, on Second street, corner of Mulberry alley.
The contract for its erection was awarded to Ira T. Clement, of Sunbury, in the amount of ninety-one thousand, six hundred and thirty-six dollars. This is exclusive of the iron and water-pipes, which will probably cost some forty thousand dollars additional. It is estimated that the building, when completed, will stand to the County in the amount of one hundred and forty thousand dollars.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION. .
The building to be two stories, with basement under cutire building. A tower in front of centre. All of the exterior walls and those of the prison wings and internal to be built of stone. The front of building to be relieved with dressed-stone trimmings.
The first Ooor to be elevated above the pavement grade five feet seven inches.
The steps to the entrance and to the basement and the base of building to be of select stone, patent bammer dressed.
The front of building to he of' select stone, first-class rock work, laid in Ashler courses.
The guard wall, which is to enclose the entire balance of lot; faeing on Second street two hundred and thirty (230), and one hundred and seventy- two feet (172) on Arch street, one hundred and seventy-two (172) on alley, and two hundred and thirty (230) in rear, leaving an eight (8) foot alley on line of lot.
The main building fronting on Second street on centre of lot.
The main entrance opens into a vestibule four feet by twelve (4x12), from thenee into a hall ten feet (10) wide. On the one side is the warden's office, stair-ball, committee and turnkey's rooms. -
The other side fitted up for family use-a parlor stair-hall to second floor, dining-room and kitchen.
On the second floor, three rooms on citber side of hall, store-rooms, bath and water-closet, and stairs to third floor, and tank-room, which is to con- tain two tanks of three thousand (3,000) gallons each, to receive the water from the steam-pump. The tanks supply the building throughout, including a hose outlet on each floor.
The hall on first floor extends back to an angular hall, from which opens the vestibule entrance to the corridors of the prison-wings, extending back ninety-six (96) feet, and fifteen (15) feet wide, with cells on either side.
The corridor to be laid with flag-stone. The second tier of cells having iron platforms three (3) feet wide, with stairs of iron at cach end. There nre to be twenty-three (23) cells on each floor of each wing. A laboratory, and six (G) large rooms for work-rooms, and one tor sick-room or hospital, all supplied with water aud water-closets.
One wing to be fitted with extra cells for penitentiary and solitary confine- ment, and work-shops. The entire building arranged for summer and winter ventilation. To be heated by steam, by indirect radiation, from the boiler which is located in rear of the centre of building for that purpose; also, the pump, with all the steam arrangements and supplies, coal, etc.
Basement under entire building, the part under centre building to be fitted up for kitchen, bake-room, and laundry, with sink, oven, range, and boiler, and sad-iron heaters, etc., to be thoroughly drained to the river.
The entire building to be fitted with all the most modern improved ar- rangements for prison purposes.
FLOODS.
In the year 1744, occurred the first 'great flood of the Susquehanna, of which there is any record. Another took place in 175G, and one in 1772. Another called the "great pumpkin flood," took place in the fall of 1786, when a great invoice of pumpkins went down to Port Deposit. The spring of 1800, witnessed another flood; also the Gth of August, 1814. Another in 1847, and one again in 1865, of which some citizens may have some faint recollection, when the pigs "rummaged through the attics," and Sunbury wore the aspect of Venice with its gondolas.
Again, in March, 1875, occurred a flood almost equal to the one in 1865. In it the bridge connecting Sunbury with Lyon's Island was swept away.
RAILROADS.
There are five lines of railroads centering in Sunbury, viz : the Philadel- phia and Erie, the Northern Central, Shamokin Division Northern Central, Sunbury and Lewistown, and Danville, Hazleton and Wilkesbarre railroads. These roads give unusual facilities for the shipment of goods in every direc- tions, and give Sunbury great advantages as a manufacturing center.
Philadelphia and Erie Railroad .- This'rond is leased und operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. It is two hundred and eighty-eight miles long, extending from Erie to Sunbury. It connects at Erie with the Lake Shore road for all points in the West; at Smibury with the North- eru Central Railway for Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, also for the Shamokin coal regions; and with the Dauville, Hazleton and Wilkebarre Rnilrond for all points on the Lehigh; at Corry with the Oil Creek and Alleghany Valley Railroad and Atlantic and Great Western Railway ; at Irvington with the Warren and Franklin Railroad ; at Empo- rium with the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railroad; at Driftwood with tho Low Gratle Division of the Allegheny Valley Ruilrond ; at Wil= liamsport with the Northern Central Railway, and with the Catawisea Rail- road (P. & R. R. R. Lessee) ; at Milton with the Catawissa Railroad ; at Lewisburg Junction with the Lewisburg Centre and Spruce Creek Railroad; and at Northumberland with the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad.
48
HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
The officers of the company at Sunbury are: Jacob Shipman, passenger agent ; H. F. Man, freight agent ; N. F. Martz, baggage-master; Capt. Roach, depot-master.
Northern Central Railway .- This road extends from Snubury to Balti- more, a distance of one hundred and thirty-eight miles. It connects with railroads diverging from Baltimore as follows: at Relay with the Western Maryland Railroad; at Hanover Junction with the Hanover Branch ; at York with the York Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad ; at Harrisburg with the Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania and Lebanon Valley Railroads; ot Dauphin with the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad ; at Millersburg with the Lyken's Valley Coal Railroad; at Trevorton Junction with the Mahonoy and Shamokin Branch of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad; at Sunbury with the Philadelphia and Erie and Danville, Hazleton and Wilkesbarre Railroad, the Sunbury Division of the Northern Central Railway. The officers of this railway at Sunbury are : Jacob Shipman, ticket agent; H. F. Mann, freight agent ; N. F. Martz, baggage-master.
Sunbury and Lewistown Railroad .- This road is a branch of the Penn- sylvania railroad, and is operated by that company. It extends from Sun- bury to Lewistown, a distance of fifty miles.
Danville, Hazleton and Wilkesbarre Railroad .- This road, owned and operated by the Pennsylvania railroad, extends from Sunbury to Tomhicken, where it connects with the Lehigh Valley railroad. The officers are the same as the Philadelphia and Erie. The road is a new one, but promises to become an important link in the railroad system of the State. E. B. Westfall is superintendent of the Sunbury Division, embracing the D., H. and W. and the Shamokin Branch.
THE PASSENGER DEPOT.
Is used by all the railroads centering in Sunbury. It is an elegant brick structure, located at Third and Arch streets, and was completed June 1, 1872, at a cost of thirty-five thousand dollars. The first floor contains the ladies' and gentlemen's waiting-rooms, ticket-offices, telegraph-offices, bag- gage, mail, and express-rooms, station-master's and train-men's rooms, etc.
The second floor is occupied hy E. B. Westfall, superintendent of the Sun- bury Division, and by other officials who have their headquarters at this point.
THE RAILROAD SHOPS AT SUNBURY.
The railroad repair-shops located at Sunbury were constructed by the Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company, in 1864-5. They consist of machine- shop, car-shop, blacksmith-shop, boiler, and tin-shop, and rouod-house The Sunbury and Erie Company passing under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, they were occupied by this company in January, 1866, and became the headquarters of the motive-power department of the Eastern Division, Philadelphia and Erie Railroad. Frank Thompson, now general manager of P. R. R., was then Division-superintendent, and Thomas J. Hamer, master-mechanic. Since then considerable change has been made. In 1872, the D., H. aud W. R. R., aud in 1873, the N. C. R. R. passed under the control of the P. R. R., and their shops at Sunbury and Shamokin were transferred here. They are now the motive-power headquarters of the Eastern Division of the Susquehanna, with Thomas Gucker, of Williams- port, superintendent; and of the Sunbury Division, with E. B. Westfall, of Sunbury, superintendent, and are under the supervision of W. F. Beardsley, master-mechanic. The number of men employed in the different depart- ments centering here, is as follows: Master-mechanic, one; foremen, four ; road-foremeu of engines, two; stationary-engineers, one; laborers on coal- platform, nine; car-inspectors, twenty-two; car-cleaners, two; watchmen, four; store-keeper, one; elerks, three; engine-preparers, ten; engine cleaners, eleven ; engineers, seventy-one ; firemen, seventy-four ; machinists, twenty-three; machinists' helpers, ten; machinists' apprentices, thirteen ; blacksmiths, fifteen ; blacksmiths' helpers, seventeen ; blacksmiths' appren- tiees, two; boiler-makers, ten; boiler-makers' helpers, eight; boiler-makers' apprentices, one; tin-smiths, one ; tin-smiths' helpers, one; tin-smiths' ap- prentices, one ; copper-smiths, one; copper-smiths' apprentices, one; car- penters, forty-three; car-laborers, forty-three; painters, five ; painters' ap- prentices, one ; laborers, twenty ; telegraph-operators, one. From the fore- going list it will be seen that there are now employed, four hundred and three men in the various departments centering at the railroad shops.
SUNBURY BOROUGH OFFICERS.
Chief burgess-John Bourne; second burgess-W. I. Greenongh ; assist- ant burgesses-W. H. Miller, John Boweu, J. A. Boyd, W. T. Grant ;
councilmen-James Kirchner, Andrew Hoover, G. B. Cadwallader, H. F. Mengas, W. C. Packer, Charles Garinger, Charles Sensenbach, W. W. Moody ; town elerk-George Bucher ; borough collector-Solomon Weaver; borough treasurer-N. 8. Engel ; assessors-S. Faust, Sr., Thomas G. Cooper; street-commissioners-John Leeser, Samuel Savidge, M. A. Kcefer, Jeremiah Savidge.
The regular meetings of the Borongh Council are held at the conneil chamber, over the engine-house on Chestnut street, near Third, on the first Tuesday evening of each month.
THE POST-OFFICE
at Sunbury, Pa., is located on Third street, between Market and Chestnut streets. The building is of brick, three stories in height, twenty-one feet front, forty-three feet in depth and is lighted by gas. The interior design was executed by the Yale Lock Manufacturing Company, of Stamford, Conn., and cost two thousand one hundred dollars. It is one of the most convenient and ornamental structures of the kind in central Pennsylvania. The general delivery is in front, four feet in width. The delivery cases extend back six feet on an angle, and are covered with stained glass, from whence two rows of boxes extend back nineteen feet. The space between is six feet ; the space between the boxes and walls on each side is five feet. On the left side is the money-order delivery. The number of boxes is eight hundred and eighty-eight, as follows: Seven hundred and sixty-eight lock- boxes, twenty-four lock-drawers, and ninety-six call-boxes. The boxes are the patent metallic Yale box with gilt fronts. The wood-work is pine inlaid with walnut. The distance from the front door to delivery is ten feet. The entrance to the back office is on the right. The distribution table is made of walnut inlaid with oak, and is constructed on the circular plan. It has a capacity for twelve No. 1 mail-pouches at one time. Ten pouches of mail matter are received at the office daily for delivery and distribution, and the same number are sent out daily. About one thousand letters are cancelled daily at this office. The money-order system was commenced here August 10th, 1872. About one thousand orders are issued per year, and about the same number paid. The number of letters registered is about four hundred per year. Since 1870, the business of the office has increased about twenty per cent. J. J. Smith is the present post-master, and G. W. Young, deputy.
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