History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 105

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 105

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

"The committee met immediately afterwards. Dr. Cowan was elected secretary. After discussing the matter at great length without coming to any definite conclusion with respect to a programme for the cele- bration, the committee appointed a sub-committee, consisting of Gen. Coulter, Judge Logan, Dr. Piper, E. F. Houseman, Dr. Kline, Col. Ege, and Frank Cowan, to report at an adjourned meeting to be held in the grand jury room on the following evening (Thursday) at half-past seven.

"The sub-committee agreed to meet in the grand jury room at 11 A.M. on the morrow.

"The sub-committee met at the time specified, and after discussing at length the project of a public cele- bration, the preparations for which are limited to only sixteen days, made the following suggestions, to be reported at the meeting of the committee in the evening.

"That there be a mass convention organized at the court-house in Greensburg on Saturday, May 15, 1875, in commemoration of the meeting held at Han- nastown on the 16th day of May, one hundred years ago, by the people of Westmoreland County, at which meeting certain resolutions were passed (as recorded in the American Archives, Fourth Series, vol. i., page 615) which are in effect a declaration of independ- ence and severance by force of arms from the sover- eignty of England, and supposed to be the earliest authentic declaration of like import on record.

"That a president be appointed to preside at said mass convention, and one vice-president from each of the fourteen counties of Southwestern Pennsylvania

originally comprised within the limits of Westmore- land County.

" That the officials and people of the several coun- ties originally comprised within the county of West- moreland be invited to be present, also all others in the State and country interested in commemorating the events of the Revolution.

"That the military organizations of South western Pennsylvania be invited to be present.

"That the programme of the day be a parade in the streets of Greensburg in the forenoon, a national salute fired at twelve o'clock meridian, and the or- ganization effected at one o'clock in the afternoon in the court-house.

"That the expenses of the convention be defrayed by subscription.

"The committee on resolutions appointed at the meeting last Saturday in Greensburg-consisting of H. P. Laird, Judge Sterrett, Judge Junkin, Col. F. A. Rohrer, John W. Riddle, H. C. Marchand, Judge Trunkey, Hon. John Williamson, R. G. Orr, William Jack, Rev. W. T. Cain, David Shaw, D. S. Atkinson -have reported the following as adopted by them :

" Resolved, That the resolutions of the citizens of Westmoreland County unanimously adopted one bnndred years ago at Hannastown, the then county-seat of Westmoreland County, are equally marked with dignity, firmness, intelligence, and wisdom ; and that now, after the lapse of a century, in the light of the great events that have since taken place, we can discern In the language and tone and thought of these moment- ous utterances the band of that overruling Providence who shapes the destinies of nations, and who maw and determined the end in the begin- ning. Hence, then,

" Resolved, That the first duty of this great assemblage, representing all the counties that originally formed a part of ' Old Westmoreland,' is reverently to acknowledge the debt of gratitude we owe, and in deep sincerity to invoke the continued protection and guidance of the God of our fathers, and that He would give us wisdom and virtue to enable us to trend in the footsteps of those worthy ancestors, who with such feeble means have raised so great an empire, whilst we preserve with dimculty an inheritance no gloriously acquired.

" Resolved, That, in the absence of any historical evidence to the con- trary, the resolute, brare, undannted men who met at Hannastown on the 16th of May, 1775, deserve the immortal honor of having fret of all the American colonists placed upon record and published to the world their firm and unchangeable purpose that Britain should cease the usurped claim of right to impose taxation on the colonists without their consent or fight. Abandoning all temporizing measures of non- importation, at a single bound they leaped over the abyss that separated peace from war, and in the interest of liberty and rightful independence unanimously staked their 'lives and their fortunes' on the issue of war, to the end that they might maintain their own 'just rights and transmit them entire to their posterity.'

" Resolved, That the resolution of allegiance to the British throne on the terms of a just olservance of the rights of the colonists was wise and statesmanlike and necessary to place in bold relief the true cause that was about to plunge the country into a long and bloody war. It was not impatience of government nor a mere desire to be independent of the British throne that urged the colonists into a fierce contest of doubtful issue, but to maintain the fundamental principle of Magna Charta.

" Resolved, That the several Courts of Common Pleas of the counties that were in 1775 a part of Westmoreland County be respectfully re- quested to direct a copy of the Hannastown resolutions, and also a copy of these resolutions, together with the names of the officers of the meet- ing, to be entered on the records of the courts in perpetuam rei memo- riam."

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

COURT-HOUSE, GREENSBURG, WESTMORELAND CO., PA.

Digitized by

Google

425

COUNTY BUILDINGS.

CHAPTER LI. COUNTY BUILDINGS.

Acts relating to County Buildings-The Old Court-House-Present Court-House-Sheriff's House and County Jail-Poor-House, now County Home-Tables of Expenditures, etc., for County Home-The Cattle Show - Wool-Growers' Association - Westmoreland County Agricultural Society.

THE act of 18th September, 1785, is as follows :

" WHEREAs, the seat of justice for the county of Westmoreland hath not heretofore been established by law, for want of which the inhabit- ante of said county labor under great inconveniences; for remedy whereof

. " Be if enacted that, etc., That it shall and may be lawful for Benjamin Davis, Michael Rough, John Shields, John Pomroy, and Hugh Martin, of the county of Westmoreland, or any three of them, to purchase and take assurance, in. the name of the commonwealth, of a piece of land, in trust for the use of the inhabitants of Westmoreland County. Pro- vided said piece of land be not sitnate farther east than the Nine-Mile Run, nor farther west than Brushy Run, farther north than Loyalhanna, nor farther south than five miles south of old Pennsylvania road leading to Pittsburgh, on which piece of ground said commissioners shall erect . court-house and prison sufficient to accommodate the public service of the said county."

By an act of the 27th of December, 1786, the pow- ers given to the commissioners by the above act, and the acts passed on the 26th of February, 1773, and the 22d of March, 1784, to purchase land and erect thereon a court-house and jail for this county, were superseded until the Legislature should further and otherwise direct, and the mode of settling their ac- counts was prescribed. But this suspending law was repealed by act of 14th of February, 1789, which in its preamble and enacting clause throws light upon the subject of which we are considering. This reads as follows :

" WHEREAS & law, passed on the 13th day of December, 1786, empow- ering certain trustees, therein named, to purchase a piece of ground within certain prescribed limits and bounds, and thereon to erect a court-house and prison for the use of the county, and in ald thereof the commissioners of said county were authorized to levy the sum of one thousand pounds, which was accordingly levied and collected for the 'purposes aforesaid;

" AND WHEREAS the said trustees found it expedient to proceed im- mediately in erecting a small wooden building to accommodate the public business of the county, as a temporary convenience until proper materials could be procured for a substantial and permanent court-house and prison;

"AND WHEREAS by a subsequent law, passed the 27th of December, 1786, entitled ' An act to suspend the powers of the trustees of West- moreland County,' the powers of the said. trustees, and all further pro- ceedings by them intended, respecting the substantial and permanent building aforesaid, were suspended until a Legislature should farther and otherwise direct concerning the same;

"AND WHEREAS the sheriff, the justices of the peace, and other officers of the county of Westmoreland have, by their petition, stated the great deficiency of the small wooden building, which was only intended for temporary purposes, and the many inconveniences which the officers of the court, as well as the prisoners in confinement, are subject to from the present uncomfortable state of the small building, and pray that the same suspending law may be repealed ;

"AND WHEREAS it appears just and reasonable that the said county of Westmoreland should be accommodated with decent, sufficient, and permanent buildings, calculated to answer all the important purposes of a court-house and prison ; and that the money which has been levied: and collected for these purposes should be applied agreeably to the in- tentions of the law by which it was granted; therefore

" Be it enacted, ale., That the maid suspending law, by which the powers .of the trustees of Westmoreland County were suspended, is hereby re-

pealed, made null and void, to all intents and purposes; and that the maid trustees are hereby anthorised and required to proceed in applying the remaining part of the money so levied and collected to the express purposes for which it was granted."

COURT-HOUSE.

The court-house usually known as the old court- house was a two-story brick building, located on the square of the present court-house. It fronted towards the east, and its entrance from that side was about where the entrance of the present one is. The door of this entrance, with another and smaller one which opened into the jail-yard, was the only means of in- gress and egress. A paved yard extended from the street to the house, and the floor of the first story was reached by two steps. The whole of this story was used for a court-room. A high balustrade extended the length of the room north and south, and separated it into two parts. In the middle of the balustrade was a gate, and on each side of the gate were columns of wood which supported the lofty ceiling. On the western side of this partition were the judges, lawyers, jurymen, and criminals. The judges sat against the wall facing the east; the jury box was on their right. The eastern side of the room, or that part outside of the balustrade, was reserved for the public.1

In the upper story was the grand jury room. This room was large, lofty, well aired and well lighted. In it, as well as in the ball-room of the Dublin Hotel, were held theatrical performances by amateur socie- ties and by strolling minstrels, "where the king was welcome, and the lover did not sigh gratis."" It was the fittest room in the town, and commodious enough for its auditory. . The students of the Greensburg Academy in 1812, as before that, were publicly ex- amined in Greek and Latin and delivered orations and discourses in the grand jury room. This was the court-house proper, and it was reserved for the pur- poses of the court when in session. None of the public offices were in this building. The sheriff's, register and recorder's, prothonotary's, and clerk of the courts' offices were kept in a two-story brick build- ing which stood north of the court-house, and between it and the building still standing, which was best known as the Dr. Morrison property. On the south of the court-house was a one-story brick building, in which was the commissioners' office. This was the building in which, tradition reports, were first kept the records, and where court was first holden on the re- moval of the county-seat from Hannastown.

Behind the judge's bench in the old court-room were placed two rams' heads with ponderous horns moulded out of plaster, while lesser ones moulded out of clay and colored white were fixed against the col- umns which supported the ceiling. A pious and

1 According to the seal of the burgesses and corporation of Greens- burg, which was intended to represent the old court-house, it stood with the gable front to the street; the door was round arched. It was two stories high.

" Hamlet to the players.

Digitized by Google

426

HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

iconoclastic generation demolished these memorials of an ancient art, and in the new court-house, under the inspiration of the modern renaissance, bad painted on the walls of the new court-room some horrible daubs, which were said to be intended for Maj. Alex- ander and Judge Coulter, for Washington and Jack- son, but which bore no more resemblance to their prototype than a cow bears to a canal-boat, a hawk to a hernshaw.

The bell which hangs in the belfry of the present court-house hung in the old one. It hung there until Friday, the 6th of May, 1854, when it was taken down in the process of removing the public buildings. It had been originally cast for a church-bell, as the inscription circling its mouth would indicate, "I will sound and resound unto Thy people, O Lord, and call them to Thy word!" It is one yard in diameter across the mouth, and was cast by George Hedderly, Philadelphia, in 1818. It has rung out with many strains for more than two generations. It was used for a long time to call the children to school and the people to church. It has been rung for war meetings and for peace meetings. It has tolled for sorrow and pealed for joy. It was rung on the termination of the war of Eighteen-Twelve, the Mexican war, and the civil war. Its tones, as all will distinguish, are beau- tiful rather than loud, but remarkably sonorous. It is said by travelers and connoisseurs to compare, in this respect, with the most famous bells of America or Europe.

The old court-house stood until it was demolished in 1854. In pursuance of a presentment from the grand jury, under the advice of the court, the com- missioners of the county prior to that time had taken incipient measures for the erection of a new court- house and for the demolition of the old. The courts from the time the old house was torn down till the new one was ready for occupancy were held in the Methodist Church. The present one was first occu- pied in 1856.

In 1858 a contract was made between the commis- sioners and Bell & Arnold to build a new court-house and jail for the sum of thirty-nine thousand six hundred and fourteen dollars, according to a plan furnished by an architect named J. Edgar. On further consultation the plan of Mr. Edgar was rejected, and a plan fur- nished by Samuel Sloan, of Philadelphia, was adopted. This plan required a greater expenditure of money, and so another contract was made in 1854, by which terms the county of Westmoreland agreed to pay the builders forty-six thousand seven hundred dollars, besides additional sums for adventitious work. It was, moreover, stipulated that the architect should decide whether the compensation for the whole work was just and proper according to the estimate of cost and labor, and in the manner in which the workman- ship of all parts was executed.

On the 24th day of October, 1854, the corner-stone of the new court-house was laid with all due cere-

mony and formality. Notice of the event was given, and a number of the most intelligent and respectable citizens of Westmoreland were invited to be present. Prayers were offered to the throne of grace by the Revs. Geisy and Valentine, and addresses were de- livered by the Hon. Henry D. Foster and the Hon. Edgar Cowan. A copper box, containing copies of the census, of all the papers published in the county, s description of the burning of Hannastown from the pen of Judge Coulter, and a number of other things that may be instructive and amusing to remote pos- terity, were placed in the corner-stone. The stone was then laid on the southeast corner of the diagram, in the right position indicated by the great mystery of Masonry.

Disputes arose between the commissioners and the contractors about the proper understanding of the contract, and the non-fulfillment of some of its specifications, and hence, in August, 1855, the con- tract with Bell & Arnold was rescinded by the mu- tual consent of both the contracting parties. In the same month another contract was made with John- ston & McFarland for the completion of the public buildings. By the conditions of this contract they stipulated that the court-house should be finished in time to hold the session of the court in the next May, and that all the public buildings should be completed by August, 1856. In return for this work the stipu- lated price was twenty-seven thousand six hundred and eighty-eight dollars. The contract was executed, and in 1856 the law was administered in the new tem- ple of Themis.

It is very difficult to give the exact sum which the new public buildings of Westmoreland cost the county treasury. There were a number of contracts separate and apart from the main one, such as con- tracts for shelves, wainscots, railing, and pavements. It is, however, estimated that all the expense connected with the public buildings from the inception to the completion amounted to a sum between ninety and one hundred thousand dollars.

The new court-house stands about the middle of the town, at the corner of Main and West Pittsburgh Streets. It has its façade to the south on Pittsburgh Street, and extends northwards in a longitudinal man- ner along Main Street, with a space of some twenty feet between it and the common pavement. It is one hundred and thirty feet in length and sixty-two in breadth. . It comprises a deep and extensive basement, first and second floors, with halls and apartments, in part a third floor, garret, and belfry. Two sides, the .eastern and southern, are built of stone. The north- ern and western sides are built of brick and covered. with cement. This is so moulded by the trowel as to resemble stone. The walls are very massive, and pre- sent an appearance of great durability. The inside of the house is plastered, painted, frescoed, and wain- scoted. Although in some instances the materials were not good, and although there were some defects

Digitized by Google -

427

COUNTY BUILDINGS.

in the arrangement, the construction appears to have been good, and the house united style and durability with fine proportions and handsome ornamental workmanship.

The basement of the building is large and deep. In a wide passage that runs lengthwise throughout the middle of it are placed three large furnaces, by which the whole building is warmed through flues and gratings in the side walls. For the furnaces coke is used, which is burnt and prepared for this purpose by the paupers and help at the county home. On each side of the passage where the furnaces are placed there is a row of ten heavy stone arches, making in all twenty arches. The basement is as cool as a cellar in summer, and very warm and comfortable in winter.

The approach to the main entrance to the court- house on the southern side is by a series of a dozen or more heavy stone steps, which extend along the whole front, and reach from the pavement to a stone plat- form. Several more steps lead from the platform to three large double doors, which open into a wide vestibule. Two massive pillars, more than a yard square, support the arched ceiling at the back of the vestibule, and offer access by three openings to the main passage of the edifice.

The main passage is cruciform. The stem of the cross runs from south to north, and the transept from east to west. On passing the pillars of the vestibule, within recesses to the right and left hand are two flights of stairs that ascend and wind about the walls until they reach the second floor and the lobby before the court-room. At an advance of some few feet from the bottom of the stairs, and south of the transept, on the right hand, are two doors that open into the offices of the treasurer and commissioners. North of it, and on the other side of the transept, are two doors that lead into the offices of the clerk of the courts and prothono- tary. On the left hand side of the stem of the cross, and south of the transvere arm, are the two doors of the arbitration-room, opposite those of the treasurer's and commissioners' offices. North of the transept are two doors that open into the offices of the sheriff and register. A stairway at the northern end leads to the jury-rooms and court-rooms on the second floor. As you enter from Main Street into the transept, a door on the north side opens into the clerk's office, and one on the south side into the commissioners' office. Both the stem and the transept have doors at all the ends, or cardinal points of the compass, and both are paved with small square and octagonal colored English tiles, which are intended to represent counterpanes. The arbitration-room is also thus paved. The cruci- form passage is ten feet wide and about fifteen feet high, and is brilliantly lighted in every part by gas through the means of pendants.

On a level with the second floor, and above the vestibule, is a portico, whose roof is supported by four large fluted columns, with ornamented cast-iron capi- tals. The portico is about thirty feet in length,

twelve in width, and twenty in height. The floor is flagged, and the roof covered with metallic fire-proof sheeting. There is no access into this fine, airy, handsome portico except through windows that open through the main wall of the building from the lobby before the court-room. In summer-time innumerable birds, sparrows, martins, and pigeons roost here, and even build their procreant cradles under the over- hanging eaves of this temple of justice.

After passing the lobby on the second floor one enters the court-room. It is about sixty feet in length, forty-five in width, and twenty-four in height. The room is not well adapted for a display of ora- tory, for which many reasons have been assigned, the most probable of which is that it is so high, and there are so many angles, caused by the recesses of the windows, that the voice is lost or broken, and reverberates upon itself. The platform where the judge sits is at the north end of the room. At this end about one-third of the floor of the room is ele- vated above the remainder, so as to form a kind of dais or estrade. The dais is surrounded with balus- ters, and upon it are chairs for lawyers, clients, and jurymen. Outside of the balustrade the rest of the room is occupied by nave, aisle, and pews, like those in churches, only that the hinder pews are elevated about the height of a foot above those in front. On entering the room, at the south side a nave of the width of five or six feet leads nearly to the bottom of the balustrade. Along the walls on the east and west sides are aisles, and between the nave and them are double rows of pews, making four rows in all. Each pew will comfortably contain nine persons. There are sixty-four pews, and so seats are provided for five hundred and seventy-six persons, exclusive of those who can be seated within the balustrade.

The room is lighted at night with two gas candel- abra on the judge's bench, and with three chandeliers. There are from six to ten globes on each chandelier. By day it receives light from fourteen windows, being seven on each side. The windows are fifteen feet in height and four in width.

The original frescoing of this roomn was very tasty, and cost the county four hundred dollars. It was done by a foreign artist, Signor Michel. But the mortar of the walls being defective it gave way, and necessitated a new coating, the frescoing of which was executed in an inferior manner. At present the ceiling is lined with boards, and it and the walls now carry the third coat of colors.

The belfry is some twenty feet in diameter, and the floor and roof are both covered with fire-proof iron and tin plates. The view from the belfry is noble and beautiful.

On the eastern and western sides of the court-house runs a stone wall surmounted by a handsome iron railing. Along Main Street the wall is from three to six feet in height, and is twenty feet distant from the house. Along the western or alley side the wall rises

Digitized by Google

428

HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

to fifteen or twenty feet in height, and on both sides it is some twenty or thirty feet longer than the court- house itself. Between the wall and the court-house on both sides terraces have been formed, walks paved with stone, and the remaining space has been sown with grass and planted with shade-trees. The entire railing cost eleven hundred and seventy-nine dollars.

This is the court-house, a grand and handsome and costly building, which is an ornament to the town of Greensburg, and a matter of honest pride to the public-spirited citizens of Westmoreland.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 105

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: