USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 66
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The steel works opened for operation in September, 1896. May 8th, the same year, at the public sale of lots, 276 were sold at not less than twenty-five cents per square foot for residence, and seventy-five-cents per square foot for business lots. The total sales amounted to $275,013. The place was incor- porated as a borough in 1896. The burgesses have been : H. W. Nichols, who served eight days; Oscar Lindquist, serving two years; Joseph Dougherty,
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
serving but two weeks. George A. Hunger was appointed and served about three years, was then elected and is still in office. A postoffice was established in 1896, with H. W. Nichols as postmaster. He was succeeded by H. W. Hamilton, the present postmaster. The first building erected on the plot, aside from the original farm houses, was the warehouse of George A. Hunger, which he still occupies. He commenced work on it May 13, 1896. The borough is provided with excellent water coming from artesian wells along the adjacent hillsides. It is furnished by a private water company, as is also gas and elec- tric light.
The first term of school taught here was by Professor Clarke. The first school house was erected in 1896, costing $20,000. It now has two first-class buildings in Vandergrift proper, while at the "Heights" there are two others.
The Lutherans were the first in the field in way of church organization. They dedicated a building in 1897. Then came these: Methodist Episcopal, dedicated in 1897; Presbyterian, United Presbyterian, Reformed, Catholic and Baptist, dedicated April, 1905. The following shows the churches worshipping in Vandergrift in 1905 : Methodist Episcopal, Grafton T. Reynolds, D. D., pas- tor ; Episcopal Mission, Rev. Thomas Lloyd, rector ; Presbyterian, Rev. H. R. Johnson, pastor ; Free Methodist, Rev. C. L. Wright, pastor ; St. Paul's Lu- theran (Vandergrift Heights) Rev. George Beiswanger, pastor; First Re- formed, Rev. D. Snider Stephan, pastor; First United Presbyterian, Rev. Curtis R. Stevenson, pastor ; First Baptist, Rev. Alexander Wilding, pastor; Free Methodist (Vandergrift Heights) Rev. C. L. Wright, pastor.
It should here be recorded and placed to the credit of the sometimes called "soulless corporations" that the Land Company made good their proposition on opening up the town, that they would donate a lot and give one-half the cost of the first churches erected if none so erected should cost less than $15,000. Hence, at the beginning, Vandergrift church architecture set the pace for fine edifices, several of which in point of magnificence and cost are not surpassed, if indeed equaled, in the entire county. Another exceptional feature of their splendid buildings is the fact that each has provided itself with an up-to-date pipe organ.
Nearly every civic and fraternal society, order and lodge extant, is here represented by strong organizations. The only newspaper of the borough is the Citizen, a strictly non-partisan paper, published each Saturday by E. H. Welsh, editor.
The Casino, a grand structure used for playhouse and general public as- sembly purposes, stands in a most commanding position, and was erected in 1891 at a cost of $32,000, of which sum $14,000 was given by the Steel Plant Company in way of stock purchased, and the remainder by other local men. It contains a library of three thousand volumes, and is the pride of every citi- zen of the place.
The banking business thus far has been conducted by one concern-the Vandergrift Savings and Trust Company-with a working capital of $130,000.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
The Commercial College of the borough is an excellent training school for those expecting to enter business pursuits. The population of Vandergrift proper in 1905 was about 4,000, while the combined population of Vandergrift and ad- juncts is about 8,000.
But we have yet to speak of the life-giving force of the borough-the bus- iness element, without which this splendid array of phenomenal growth and success would be impossible-the great steel plant of the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company, the extensive works of which cover many acres of ground, and whose furnace fires never go out, yet no work is performed on the Sab- bath. This may truly be called one of America's model manufacturing plants, wherein reigns the element of sobriety, intelligence and wonderful business thrift. The records given by the corporation itself shows the following: It is the largest plant of its kind in the world. The average age of its great force of workmen is thirty-two years. It is strictly a "Free non-union" concern, where "'union rules" are never tolerated. It became a part of the American Sheet Steel Company, May, 1900, and June 1, 1904, merged into the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company. At this point the company now has nine open hearth furnaces, one continuons blooming and bar mill ; twenty-nine sheet mills and twenty galvanizing pots. The annual product capacity is about 145 gross tons of finished sheets. The number of men employed, as per pay roll, is 2,200. At the Hyde Park plant of this company the equipment consists of five sheet mills, with an annual product capacity of $15.500 gross tons. The number of men employed is two hundred. Every known safeguard is provided for the workmen, and the most rigid sanitary rules are enforced. The spacious grounds remind the passerby of a beautifully cared for college campus, for the hillside, sloping up from the shops toward the town proper, is a perfect lawn and flower garden, upon which the toiling workingmen may ever and anon glance and enjoy. It has fifteen schools, with 596 pupils enrolled.
VANDERGRIFT HEIGHTS.
A separate borough from Vandergrift proper was platted on the hillside to the south from the latter place, soon after the steel company established Van- dergrift. It was incorporated as a borough December 8, 1897. The chief ob- ject was to afford workingmen cheaper building sites and locations where lot owners might make their own improvements as they felt able ; hence this por- tion, usually called the "Heights," does not show the up-to-date improve- ments found on every hand in the original town. The Heights are situated about one mile distant, and intervening is a beautiful level plateau which is de- signed for building the two places together when the increase of population requires it. At Vandergrift Heights there are two churches-the Free Meth- odist, a frame building, and the Lutheran, a brick structure; the latter has a pipe organ and a good parsonage.
In 1898 the first school was taught on the plat after the town had been laid out, in a frame schoolhouse owned by the country district before the existence
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
of the village ; to this was built an addition equal in size to the original struc- ture. This, with a modern brick schoolhouse erected in 1891, gives a total of ten school rooms in the borough. The general business of the place consists in the retail trade to its inhabitants, many of whom find employment in the shops and various works at Vandergrift. It has ten schools, with 512 pupils enrolled.
LIGONIER TOWNSHIP.
As the reader has seen in the former part of the work, no name in the early history of Westmoreland is more prominent than that of Ligonier. It was originally the name of the fort built under the direction of Henry Bouquet, but really by Captain Burd, and named after Sir John Ligonier, a great English general in European wars. Since then the town, which was founded in 1817, has taken the name of the fort, and the name of Ligonier has also been given to the valley lying between the Chestnut Ridge and Laurel Hill.
The township of Ligonier was erected in 1822. That part of the township which lies close to the ridge cr mountain is hilly and is of little value for agri- cultural purposes. For the last thirty years it has yielded a great deal of lum- ber, and lately stone quarries have been opened both on the mountain and ridge, from which have been taken a great deal of valuable material. The in- terior of the valley is richer in agricultural wealth, and its diversified surface is well adapted to grazing and the production of all kinds of grain and vegetables. There are many streams, which in the southern part flow into the Loyalhanna, and in the northern part flow into the Conemaugh river. The northern part of the valley is underlaid with the Pittsburgh seam of coal, which has a thick- ness of from six to eight feet, and the upper and lower Freeport veins underlie most of the valley. The Loyalhanna is a stream of great beauty, and around it cluster many historical incidents. Its praises have been sung by many writ- ers, and the story of our western border can not be told without its frequent mention. Its first considerable tributary is the California Furnace run, which flows into it about three miles south of Ligonier. Its second is the Washing- ton Furnace, or Laughlinstown run, which flows into the Loyalhanna about two miles south of Ligonier. Northwest of Ligonier are Mill creek, Two Mile run, Four Mile run, and west of Youngstown it receives the Nine and the Fourteen Mile runs. These streams appear on the earliest maps, and were probably named by General Forbes' army in 1758. Each one is designated by the estim- ated number of miles it is distant from Fort Ligonier; thus, the Two Mile run enters the Loyalhanna about two miles from the fort, and the Four Mile run about four miles from the fort, etc. A large majority of the early settlers in this valley located along these streams. The name Loyalhanna, according to the best authority, is derived from an Indian word-La-el-han-neck, and means Middle creek. If this derivation be correct, it probably took its name from its location between the Youghiogheny and the Conemaugh rivers. It was
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
known to the French and Indians by this name before the arrival of Forbes' army.
Fort Ligonier was partly built in 1758, as a temporary protection against the Indians, and against the French and Indians should they come from Fort Duquesne and attack the army at that place. This was done, as has been seen in the earlier part of this work, the battle being fought October 12, 1758, at Ligonier. General Forbes arrived in Ligonier on the 6th of November, 1758, and Washington had arrived about the first. The army, as we have seen, then moved on to Fort Duquesne, and on their return a detachment was left at Fort Ligonier. It was this detachment which finished the fort. They had also gar- risoned Fort Duquesne (now Fort Pitt) and a line of communication with Bedford and Carlisle had to be kept open. Those who remained at Fort Lig- onier were attacked with a strange fatality that winter, and the greater number of them died. For a time there had been nearly seven thousand men, with hundreds of horses and cattle, at the fort, and it was claimed that the water was infected, even covered with a scum, it is said. Their death was probably due to this and to the want of proper food.
All traces of the fort are long since obliterated, though they were visible in 1842, as a writer from Somerset indicates in a letter to his home paper. Many implements used in the fort have been dug up on the ground where it stood. Mr. Cyrus T. Long made a survey from the original draft in the British war office, and was able to locate it exactly.
The following letter written by Colonel Henry Bouquet to Captain James Burd relative to the Ligonier encampment is taken from the original, in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Bouquet, it will be re- membered, was a Swiss by birth, and was not thoroughly at home in the use of the English language: "Locus," to be cut for the horses, has puzzled Philadel- phia antiquarians a great deal. He probably meant a "place," and, not know- ing the English word, used the Latin, which is "locus."
Sir : You are to march from Reastown Camp the 23, Aug. with the R. A. R., Fifth Highlander Battlie, 5 companies. Your own Battlie, One division of artillery, Intrench- ing tools, waggons, loaded with provisions. You are to proceed to Loyal Hannon, leav- ing your waggons where the road is not open with orders to join you with all possible expedition.
When the three days' provisions taken by your men are consumed (they are served for the 25th inclusive) you will take provisions out of the waggons of your convoy, and make them carry part of the other waggons load. The horses are to be tyed every night upon the mountain as they would otherwise be lost. Locus is to be cut for them. They could perhaps be left loose at Edmund's swamp and Kickeny Pawlins.
Lieut. Chew with a party are to be detached from the top of the Allegheny to recon- noitre in a straight line the ground between that place and the Gap of Lawrell Hill- he is to, cross that gap-observing the course of the water and the path, and is to join the detachment at L. H.
All the detachments of the R. A. R. those of the 5 companys of Highlanders and your own battalion are to march with you to Loyal H. with 3 or 4 days provisions for the whole. Col. Stephens is to march with and his six companies. At the place where
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
you leave the Artillery and waggons, your men are to carry the tools themselves, pack- ing on the horses the saws, grindstones etc. You are to employ all the pack horses of the first Battlie and those that you may find on the road to carry your provisions until the waggons come to you, and load the 5 barrels of cartridges. Drive also some bullocks. As soon as you arrive at L. H. Mr. Basur is to lay out your encampment at the place assigned by Mr. Rhor with two small redoubts at 200 yards; all hands are then to be employed in entrenching the camp. Those who have no tools will pitch the tents, cook, -and the rest relieve one another in the work. Before night the ground must be recon- noitred, and your advance guards posted. The centrys are to relieve every hour in the night, without noise. No drum is to be beat as long as you judge that the post has not been reconnoitered by the enemy. Suffer (in the beginning chiefly) no hunters or strag- glers, to prevent their being taken-no gun to be fired. A store house of 120 feet long. and at the least 25 feet wide is to be built immediately to lodge your provisions and am- munition in the place where the fort is to be erected and covered with shingles.
All the artificers are to be put to work-the sawyers and shingle makers with the smiths first-an hospital is to be built near the fort, and ovens. Mr. Rohr is to give directions for the fort. If there is any possibility of making hay, no time is to be lost and the clear grounds are to be kept for that use, and not serve for pasture. Send proper people to reconnoitre where sea coal could be got-if there is none, charcoal must be made. The houses of the officers to be kept clean. The ammunition and arms carefully inspected, the arms loaded with a running ball. Tools to be delivered to each party upon. receipt of their commanding officer, who is to see them returned to the trenches before night. The entrenchment is to be divided by tasks, and all the officers are to inspect the works. If you send any party forward, do not permit them to take scalps, which serves only to make the enemy more vigilant. No party is to be sent until you hear from Major Armstrong and Captain Shelby. It would perhaps be proper to change every day the place of your advanced posts. Secure all avenues. If any difficulty should occur to you, consult Major Grant whose experience and perfect knowledge of the service you may rely on.
I give the above instructions by way of memorandum, and you are at liberty to make any alterations that your judgment and circumstances may direct. Let me hear from you every two days. You know that some of the provincial officers are not vigilant upon guard. Warn them every day. They could ruin all our affairs. Keep a journal of your proceedings.
I am, Sir, your most Obt. servant, HENRY BOUQUET.
The Old State Road, coming from Somerset county into Westmoreland, crossed the line of the present Greensburg and Stoystown turnpike from the northern side, on the eastern slope of Laurel Hill, and came over the crest of the mountain at its highest point south of the turnpike. It then came down the mountain through Laughlinstown, and crossed the Loyalhanna, below the Moore brick house. The stones used in the abutments of the bridge can still be seen in the stream at Mr. Frank Shafer's fields. It then went slantingly up the hill south of the Shook farm house and crossed the line of road leading from Ligonier to Donegal at the Albright farm house, about one mile south of Ligonier. Most of the road between the Loyalhanna and the Donegal road is yet in use. From the main road it passed over the bluff to the present farm house of A. M. Karns. This part of the road was vacated some years ago, but its route can easily be seen in the fields. About midway between the Albright and Karns residences, Colonel John Ramsey built a large frame house which
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
was used as a tavern stand in the early part of last century. In 1833 it and the farm surrounding it was sold by William Ross to David Boucher. The State road then led up towards Withrow's, after which it joined the Forbes road and passed over Chestnut Ridge towards Youngstown and Greensburg. This was the route over which the trains of heavily laden pack-horses plodded their weary way. It was in those days the main route between the East and the- West, and remained without a rival till the building of the present turnpike in 1817. It was then that John Ramsey laid out the town of Ligonier.
The building of the state road, the turnpike, with its stage coaches, wagons,. etc., the iron furnace industry of Ligonier valley, have necessarily been con- sidered in the general history of the county, and need not be repeated here.
When the town of Ligonier was laid out, its founder, among other things donated a square upon which to construct a court house, if Ligonier Valley ever became a separate county with Ligonier as its county seat. For nearly fifty years after, the question of forming such a county was agitated. It was kept alive by politicians who, in order to secure votes in that section, promised if elected, to favor a bill erecting the new county.
In 1841 a public meeting was called at the house of John Elliott, in West Fairfield, for the purpose of inaugurating the movement, and expressing the- sentiments of the people relative to it. The meeting was very largely attended by prominent people from all parts of the proposed new county. In the same week a similar meeting was held in Donegal, at the house of Abraham Brugh. The Donegal meeting was held on Friday, February 19, 1841.
The Fairfield meeting was called to order by electing Colonel John Moor- head as president ; Colonel Amos Ogden, William Graham, Esq., Hugh Ken- nedy, John Kirker, Robert Donaldson, William Huston, Robert McDowell and Jacob Covode vice-presidents, and Samuel P. Cummins and Andrew Graham secretaries. The president appointd fifteen persons to draft resolutions. Among these were John Covode, John Hill, Joseph Moorhead, Colonel John McFarland, and others. They prepared resolutions setting forth that the town- ships in the valley and Salt Lick township in Fayette county were from eigh- teen to forty miles distant from county seats, and cut off from the other parts of the counties by Chestnut Ridge, and thus rendered very difficult for their citizens to attend court, etc., in fact impossible to reach their county seats on Monday morning without traveling on the Sabbath day. They had, the petition said, from nine to twelve thousand population, which was rapidly increasing. They set forth also that, if these townships were cut off from the counties of Fayette and Westmoreland, the county seats, Uniontown and Greensburg, would still be and remain about the center of their respective counties. They recite that large petitions have been presented to the legislature asking for the erection of the proposed county, etc. They therefore urge their members of the legislature, Messrs. Plumer, Hill, and Johnston, to pass the necessary legis- lation at once.
At the Donegal meeting, Killian Ambrose was elected president, and Joseph
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
Moorehead, Robert Graham, C. Hubbs, John May and Jacob Hoffer were elected vice-presidents, while Henry Ostler and John Gay were elected secre- taries. They appointed a committee which drafted resolutions which set forth that the people of the proposed new county were the ones who should be con- sulted, and, whereas they regarded the scheme before the legislature as a "wild scheme," to which the citizens of Donegal were violently opposed, and that its projectors were actuated by selfish motives, they therefore urged the members of the legislature to oppose the erection of the county of Ligonier with all their power, etc., etc. The published account says that Mr. Graham, one of the vice- presidents, withdrew from the meeting and would not sign the proceedings. These proceedings are published at length in the Greensburg papers of Feb- ruary 26, 1841. The defeat of the project was blamed on Donegal, and it was many years before they were forgiven for opposing it. Several times after that the matter was brought up again, when the valley townships unitedly asked for the new county. But the building of railroads made it easier for the citizens to reach the county seats, and we believe the project has not been con- templated seriously for over forty years, and will probably never be heard of again.
The following announcement concerning a proposed fox-hunt is taken from The Ligonier Free Press of Thursday, February 26, 1846:
"Turn out, Turn ont, to the Latest and greatest Grand Circular Fox Hunt. Accord- ing to previous notice a number of the citizens of Ligonier township met at Hermitage school-house where the following arrangements were proposed and unanimously adopted for conducting a GRAND CIRCULAR FOX HUNT, to close on the farm of John McConaughey Esq. 2 miles northeast of Ligonier, on Saturday the 7th day of March.
Grand Marshal, DR. GEORGE B. FUNDENBERG. Aids-Jacob Reed, Joseph Naugle, Esq. Col. Joseph Nicewonger, Robert McConaughey, John Clifford, Esq., Benj. Park Esq. and Samuel A. Armour.
The line to commence at Ligonier, and from thence to Boyds brick house. MARSHALS : Richard Graham, John Hargnett, Daniel Boucher, James Waugh.
Captains-A. Biddinger, William Aschom, Conrad George, Joseph Moorhead, Esq., Josiah Boncher, Henry Hargnett, John Matthews, Henry Oursler, George Pealing, Henry Lowry and Daniel Park.
From Brick house to Laughlinstown. Marshals-Col. K. Ambrose, I. Matthews and Robert Kirkwood. Captains- John Fry, James Graham, George Phillippi, Robert Mc- Millan, Robert Mickey, Sur. George Marker, Joseph Laughery, Joseph Harbinson, George Albrigh, John Ewing, Joseph Phillipi, Thomas Metzler and William Curry.
From Laughlinstown along the Pike to Widow Irwin's.
Marshals-Dr. J. Peterson, Robert Louther, Esq., Capt. Chambers Moore and John Armor.
Captains-Frederick Scepter, Frederick Naugle, James Moore, Esq., A. Douglass, Esq., Jacob Rector, George Carnes, Sam'l Irwin, John Knupp, John Johnson, William Armor, Israel Brown, William Menoher, G. McMullen, John Galbraith, William McMul- len, and David Lee.
From Widow Irwin's to Waterford.
Marshals-Francis Smith, William McCurdy, Joseph Ogden, James McElroy.
Captains-Alexander Irwin, Adam Penrod, David Hamil, Jos. Taylor, Alexander Johnson. James McCurdy, Nathaniel McKelvey, Thomas L. Beam, John Menoher, M. G.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
Lobinger, D. Shepherd, James Ogden, Harmon Skiles, Gordon Clifford, David Taylor, Alexander Lee, Thomas Findley, David McConaughey, James Clifford, R. D. Clifford. From Waterford to Clifford's sawmill.
Marshals-Major John Hill, Robert Brown, John Pollock, Esq., Thomas Smith, Frances Little, Andrew Graham.
Captains-Jonathan Louther, James Wilson Joseph Murphy, Samuel Smith, John Woodend, James Willy, Jno. L. Smith, D. Brown, James Graham, Jr., Hugh McCreary Ambrose Welshontz, Jacob Welshontz, Thomas McCoy, James Hamil, Jr., J. T. Smith, J. Milligan, Hugh Little, L. Pollock, William Brody, Edward Clifford, Jacob Losh, David Hill, Andrew Galbraith, John Arbaugh, Samuel Knupp and Thomas McDowell, Esq.
From Clifford's saw mill to Ligonier.
Marshals-Amos Ogden, Esq., William Clifford, Joseph Peebles, Jacob McDowell, Robert Martin, Col. John McFarland, Cicero Mendell.
Captains-Samuel Piper, Alexander Blair, Marshal Reed, Robert McDowell, Henry Johnson, John Tosh, Jacob Myers, Robert Hazlett, George Johnson, Thomas Seaton, Thomas Sutton, William Carnes, Robert Knox, John Giesey, Michael Keiffer, John Frank, Abram Culin, Alexander McIlwain, William Huber, G. W. Cook, E. Nebhut, John Amick and Samuel Baker.
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