History of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens 20th century, Part 98

Author: McFarland, Joseph Fulton; Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1474

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > Washington > History of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens 20th century > Part 98

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Its transportation facilities are unrivaled. For freight and passengers it has the Monongahela River, the Mo- nongahela division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Mo- nongahela and Washington Railroad; and a free bridge, an advantage enjoyed by no other town in the valley, leading to the Mckeesport and Bellevernon division of the Lake Erie system. For passengers alone, it has half- hour trolley service to Pittsburg, and to up-river towns, and is within twenty minutes of the Baltimore and Ohio's western lines.

The increased trade and travel on this route to and from the East, of which Joseph Parkison was more cognizant than any other person, owing to his position as innkeeper, led him to lay out the new town of Will- iamsport, named as such in honor of his son William. After having the ground surveyed and a plot thereof made, he offered the lots at public sale, as will be seen by an advertisement in an October, 1792, issue of the Pittsburg Gazette.

The sale was not very successful, owing not so much to its being a new enterprise, as to the fact that diffi- culties still existed growing out of the issuing of Penn- sylvania patents and Virginia certificates. In 1796, however, the Board of Property decided that Joseph Parkison was the legal owner of the tract of land on which the town was laid out. In pursuance of such decision, the patent issued May 11, 1796, to Joseph Parkison on the Abraham Decker claim filed almost thirty years before. Encouraged by this decision and confident of success, Parkison determined once more to offer for sale additional lots in the town. The notice of this sale for August 26, 1796, was published in the "Telegraphe," a newspaper printed in Washington, Pa., by Messrs. William Hunter & Co. At this sale twenty-four lots were sold at prices ranging from $22 to $239, the total being $1,385. On the laying out of the town, the old road was superseded by Main street, or Market street, as it was originally named. Traces of the old road as it passed up the hill can still be seen.

The original plot of the town extended from Ford, now First street, to almost Race, now Third street. The original Parkison & Froman line cut one lot above Race at the river and two lots at the upper end on the hill. The tract of land adjoining the new town at Race, now Third street, was patented to Paul Froman

and sold by him to Adam Wickerham, March 13, 1792. On this same tract, or part thereof Adam Wickerham laid out Georgetown, in 1807. The Georgetown plot was made a part of Williamsport by the act of Adam Wickerham the 23d day of February, 1816.

The towns had been in separate plots under different names for nearly ten years, and we can readily imagine the rivalry and conflicting interests that would spring up between the two villages. Prior to this date the lot- holders had insisted on and finally required of Wicker- ham that he should record it as Williamsport. This paper was signed by such lot-holders as John Cooper, Patrick Burke, John R. Shugart, Joseph Butler, W. P. Biles, John Shouse, Michael Miller, Peter Shouse, James Manown, Joseph Hamilton, Thomas Gordon, and others of no less influence. East Williamsport was laid out in 1811, by James Mitchell, an early river trader and active, progressive business man, who was well known as Esq. Mitchell. The addition has always been more generally known as Catsburg, named in honor of Kitty Caldwell and her kittens. That part of the town known as the Island, though owned by Parkison, was not in- cluded within the original town plot. The island made by Pigeon Creek on two sides and the Monongahela River on the other, did not foreshodaw flattering pros- pects for an extension of the town, yet in time it became a busy hive of industry.

Parkison owned the island without improving it very much until January 5, 1829, at which time it was sold to James Manown by Sheriff Henderson. By this sale the right of the Washington County side of the ferry passed to the same purchaser. The ravine which reached the river at the mouth of Ford, now First street, has almost disappeared. Either by inheritance or otherwise, the Allegheny side of the ferry passed into the Manown family. The Manowns operated' the ferry until 1838, when the building of the bridge rendered it useless. On many of the lots in the Georgetown addition, ground rent was fixed, but in the original Parkison plot only a small portion of the lots were finally subject to such incumbrance. Among later additions West Monongahela was laid out by H. Higenbotham in 1893.

In the original design of the town a public square was reserved for a market house, and Parkison intended also a lot for a meeting and a schoolhouse. The square was reserved at the crossing of Market, changed to Main street, and Washington, now Second street. Besides the street crossings, a certain number of feet at each corner was included within the square.

The primitive market house stood in part on this square, on Main, just below Second street.

It was there in 1834, and it is very likely that it was erected soon after the incorporation of the town of Will- iamsport into a borough by the act of April 8, 1833. In

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

course of time this building was removed to Second street above Main. The building was erected on brick pillars, and in not many years after its removal the boys had so far destroyed the columns as necessitated its removal. The building and objects were both fail- ures. The butcher shops and wagons have long since taken the place of market houses.

The reserve for a meeting house never developed, only in consideration of a certain sum of money Joseph Parkison and Adam Wickerham, in July, 1814, did con- vey to certain trustees for building a meeting house, the tract of land known in part as lot No. 72, on which was afterwards erected a brick church building by contribu- tions from all denominations, and on which was located the primitive graveyard, in which were buried a large number of the older citizens of the town and surrounding country. The lot for a schoolhouse was forgotten, and the scholars of the impromptu schools had to find shelter for training in whatever shanty could be found unfitted for any other purpose.

The first borough officers of Williamsport were: Henry Wilson, burgess; Abram Fulton, clerk; Joseph Alex- ander, treasurer; Benjamin Foster, street commissioner ; councilmen, John S. Markell, John Stone, Joseph Kid- do, Alexander Wilson, William J. Alexander and R. M. Clark.

The act creating the borough of Williamsport appoint- ed the third Friday in May for the first election, and thereafter the third Friday in March each year, at the tavern of Joseph Caldwell. The elections ordered by the act of incorporation related merely to borough offi- cers, not changing the township officers, as the new borough remained in Fallowfield and Nottingham until September 30, 1834, and in Carrol until 1842.

In 1833 the name of the postoffice was changed to Williamsport, and April 1, 1837, it took the name of Monongahela City.

Although the town had been incorporated for nine years, yet it never had severed its connection with Car- rol Township as a general voting district. Before the formation of Carrol Township, September 30, 1834, a part of the citizens of the town of Williamsport voted with Fallowfield, at the tavern house of Abram Frye, on the Pittsburg and Brownsville State road, and the re- maining citizens voted with Nottingham Township. From September, 1834, to May 26, 1842, the voting place of Carrol and the borough was at the tavern of Joseph Ham- ilton, known as the City Hotel. After the separation, the voting place of the town remained at the same place, but the citizens of Carrol voted for a time in a little brick office of Thomas Collins, Esq., near the cor- near of Main and Cemetery streets, in Catsburg.

In after years the polling place was removed to the Rose Thompson house, up the Turnpike, a short distance

outside the borough. In the borough, in the course of time, the place of holding elections was moved to the Teeters Hotel, corner Second and Railroad streets. The ground on which the hotel stood is now owned by the railroad company. On the incorporation of the borough into a city, by act of Assembly of March 24, 1873, three wards were formed, each of which constituted a voting district.

In 1893 the name of the postoffice was changed for the last time and it is now known as Monongahela, in- stead of Monongahela City, Williamsport or Parkison 's Ferry. The following are the names of some of the postmasters :

Joseph Parkison, Adam Hailman, Mr. White, George Wythe, Jesse Martin, W. S. Mellinger, J. W. Smith, W. J. Markell, R. M .- Clark, Chill Hazzard, James H. Moore, W. C. Robison, John Holland, J. F. Nicholson, Mrs. Sue Nicholson, Dewitt Parkinson.

Two rural delivery routes emanate from the Monon- gahela postoffice. The postoffice has just been moved into the new First National Bank building. The post- office receipts for 1908 were $14,875.73, making it second in rank in the county.

The population of Monongahela City increased grad- ually at first, but very rapidly within the last eight years as seen by the folowing statistics: 1810, 500; 1830, 600; 1840, 752; 1850, 977; 1860, 999; 1870, 1,078; 1880, 2,904; 1890, 4,065; 1900, 5,283; 1908, 12,782.

In 1850 there were 146 registered voters in Monon- gahela City; in 1904, 1,691; and in the year 1908, 1,502. The decrease is alleged to be caused by the new law. The voters register under the personal registration act, Monongahela City being the only town in the county entitled to the benefits of this reform law. It has 1,173 citizens, between the ages of 21 and 45, qualified for military duty.

Monongahela City has a real estate valuation of $2,- 475,275; personal property valuation, $198,265. The city tax for 1908 was 10 mills and $21,107.28 was collected and $7,498.46 expended.

The city embraces a large extent of territory in com- parison with the original design of Parkison. The early business of the town was transacted on a trading scale, generally only a very small amount of cash being cur- rent. The exports and imports were transported by means of the pack-horse. About the time the town re- ceived its new impetus after the second sale of lots, the river became utilized as a means of transportation by crude craft, called flat-boats or broad-horns. William Parkison was no doubt the first to build such boats at his yard in the "gut," as it was called, at the mouth of Ford street. These craft, loaded with whiskey, flour, etc., were floated to the lower markets.

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The flat for local use succeeded such craft. Their destiny was Pittsburg and up-river trading points. They were returned by being pushed with the old-time pole. The keel boat succeeded the flat, and was used until displaced by the steamboat. The keel boats always landed at the mouth of Pigeon Creek, which was not only a convenient landing, but a safe harbor. Steamboats never made this point a landing place. They first landed at Chess wharf, at the mouth of Ferry, now Fourth street. Town council had it removed to the mouth of Washing- ton, now Second street. Another avenue of trade was opened up by the Washington and Williamsport Turn- pike Co. The company was chartered by act of March 18, 1816. It is still called a turnpike in name. It was constructed under very great financial difficulties, and was only completed by the State coming to its aid with a liberal subscription to the stock. For many years this turnpike was on the great route from the East to the West.

The westward wave of immigration was at its height between 1830 and 1840. At this period for the most part, Conrad Crickbaum and Frank Manown were run- ning the ferry at the mouth of Pigeon Creek. On the turnpike was established a line of coaches, called stages, each of which could carry nine passengers and the mail.

The stage office and horses were kept at the tavern of Joseph Hamilton, long known as the City Hotel. The first survey through the town for a railroad was B. H. Latrobe, in 1835. The line was run along Coal street, across Pigeon Creek, in the rear of the Applegate prop- erty, in Catsburg.

Opposition in the Legislature and the cry that the passage through Washington County of a railroad would ruin Pittsburg and make the grass grow over the Na- tional Pike, prevented the company from getting the right of way. After several unsuccessful efforts, the railroad company finally constructed its road around Washington County, leaving Pittsburg to seek other chan- nels of transit to the East, and thus the town of Will- iamsport was deprived of railroad facilities for thirty- eight years.

In 1850, May 15, the Hempfield Railroad Company was incorporated with the view of constructing a rail- road from Greensburg to Wheeling. It was to cross the river just below Third street. After a large sum of money had been expended, the work was abandoned. In 1873, the Pittsburg, Virginia & Charleston Railroad was opened to this city. Dr. W. L. S. Wilson was appointed agent, and held the position until his death, September 6, 1886. The completion of the Mckeesport & Belle- vernor Railroad in October, 1889, on the east shore of the Monongahela River, added another avenue to the growing trade of this city.

In 1800 Joseph Parkison was the innkeeper, and in connection therewith, he had a trading mercantile store, in which certain goods were kept to be sold for cash or produce, such as grain, whisky, furs in shape of skins. Iron and salt, transported from east of the mountains on pack-horses were very common commodities.

At the close of the 18th century (1796), Samuel Black appeared in the town as a merchant and down-river trader. He built the house long known as the Red House, on the river bank just below First street. The very site of the building has long since been washed away by the ravages of the river. He was very successful in business, and, at his death in 1846, was considered one of the most wealthy men in the county.

Daniel DePue was the esquire of his day. He lived in the old log house on the point at the mouth of Pigeon Creek. His first commission was dated March 12, 1792.

William Irwin was also a merchant, and had his store in a log room on the corner of First street. He, in 1802, built the old part of the house, and it was the first brick house in the town. At the beginning of that cen- tury James Warne and William Parkison were associated as merchants.

William Parkison, son of Joseph Parkison, and busi- ness partner of James Warne, owned, in early days, the farm long known as the Black homestead, on the pike, in what is now called Bellevidere. He built the old man- sion still standing on the turnpike. In front of this mansion, on the meadow land, William had a race course, in circular form, through the woodland. This race ground gave rise to the name of Race, now Third street, in the town of Williamsport, laid out by his father.

In October, 1805, Benjamin Butler, with his family, arrived in town on his way West, but he having died the first night after his arrival, the family abandoned migration and settled here. The arrival of the family and the death of the father created no little stir. Busi- ness and the social status of the town received a new impulse through the Butler family.

Adam Wickerham, proprietor of Georgetown, was an active business man in the early days. George Trout built, prior to 1805, and kept the tavern on Main street, afterwards so long carried on by Joseph Caldwell. Na- than Chalfant was a boat builder. A. B. Chess was farmer and trader, he built the old frame tavern on the river bank above Ferry street known as Chess' tavern.

But space is not sufficient to tell in detail of Dr. Rose, Aeneas Graham, Frederick Layman, Thomas Of- ficer, Drs. King, Pollock and Brooks, Esq. Mitchell, James Gordon, William Hunter, John Eckles, J. and R. Mc- Grew, John Watkins, Washington Palmer, who built the City Hotel, W. P. Biles, John Shouse, Peter Shouse,

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Robert Beebee, Joseph Hamilton, Jesse Martin, Benja- min Furguson, and many others more or less prominent. We will refer only to a few.

Joseph McClure was the first cabinet maker in the town. Thomas Wells was the first saddle and harness maker. Charles Bollman located in the town about 1810. He had a store in the first place in a log building near the bank of the river, a short distance below Ford street. Bollman in after years, erected a brick house on Main, two doors above Second street. On the corner next to the alley he had a storeroom, to which he removed his store. About 1830 his dwelling and storeroom and goods were burned, this being the first fire in the town.

Joseph Wilson, successor to H. Wilson & Son, had a store for nearly half a century on Main street, just be- low the Parkison Tavern. Jesse Martin had the post- office and a shoe shop for many years, on the corner of Main and Second streets. He also kept the office on the Dick King corner. He lived for many years in the brick house just below, which has been displaced by the new house built by his grandson, James C. Scott.

The old glass works on Coal street, below Washington, now Second street, were erected by Warne, Parkison & Co. The company consisted of James Warne, William Parkison, Joel and Benjamin Butler. For convenience in their business, the company issued a currency in the shape of bank notes, known better as shin-plasters, re- deemable in goods or current bank notes at their store. These notes were of the denomination of 61/4, or fips, 121/2, or levies, 25 and 50 cents. The works were sold to Samuel Black and J. and R. McGrew, and after being repaired was leased to William Ihmsen.

Some time prior to 1834, William Ihmsen erected what was called the new factory, on the island. He operated both of these factories until the day of his death. He was considered the most extensive and successful glass man of his day.

In later years Samuel Black erected a glass works at Dry Run. It never was much of a success. William "Ihmsen, Henry Ihmsen, John S. Markill, A. L. Will- iams, Smith and Herron, were the prominent glass man- ufacturers in former days.

We have not any knowledge who originally carried on the Chess Tavern, other than at one time George Rose, the older, had it rented. George Rose also kept a tavern and cake and beer stand in the old frame house which stood on what is now Brown's corner, Main and Second streets.

The tavern already mentioned, built by George Trout on Main street, a short distance below the Episcopal church, had, in its day, several landlords, such as George Trout, Joseph Caldwell, A. T. Gregg and John Chess- rown. The old City Hotel, which has already been men- tioned, was built by Washington Palmer, in 1811, just

before he went into the army with Capt. James Warne's company. Joseph Hamilton, Henry Wilson, Caleb Har- vey and W. H. Miller were landlords in this tavern.

Abram Teeters had a tavern for many years at the corner of Second and Railroad streets. After his death it was kept by his son, Dan Teeters. The house was used for a depot after the building of the railroad, and on the completion of the present depot the old tavern house was torn away.

The brick house corner of Main and Fourth streets was erected by James Mercer, prior to 1834. He used the corner for a store room, in which he kept the first exclu- sive shoe store in town. He was drowned at the wharf, south of Fourth street, by his horse plunging into the river. After his death the house was used as a tavern by Mrs. Backhouse, Shively Hazelbaker, Abram Fulton, James P. Shepler, T. B. Wilgus, and others.

John Lamb, in early days, carried on a tan-yard, over the creek where David Woodward lived.

John Cooper removed from West Newton, in old time called Robbstown, to this place in 1810, and erected a tannery.

R. F. Cooper was not only a man of learning, but one of the most accomplished military men of the State. He died in the U. S. service in 1864.

James Gordon, for years in connection with a store, had a tan-yard on Main street above Bollman's alley. He built the brick house, corner of Main and Bollman's alley, in which he lived for many years. The same yard in after years was operated by John J. Lynn, Henry Fulton, and Richard Stockdale. Matthew Fleming, in the forties, had a small tannery on the river bank, just below the present knitting factory.

Aeneas Graham was an early resident of the town. He was a tailor by trade. He had his tailor shop first in an old building on Second street.

Frederick Layman, the tailor, emigrated from Germany and came direct to Williamsport in 1807, where he re- sided all his long life.

William P. Biles was an early settler in the town, and was the first citizen who pretended to practice law in that place. He was also a singing master. He lived for years in the old house which stood on Main street, a little west of Mark Borland's residence.

J. R. Shugart and Henry Rabe were old-time saddlers, but for the last half century R. M. Clark has been the fixed saddle and harness maker.

Before and some time after 1834, Samuel Devore had a brewery on Main street opposite the brick row in the "gut, " as it was called.

Billy Savage was the old-time stone-cutter. He lived on the island and made most of the old-time stone tomb- stones, many of which lie scattered in the old graveyard.

James McCalla was a gunsmith. He built and lived

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

in the house for many years occupied by the late Rev. John Kerr, corner of Fifth and Main streets.

J. and R. McGrew were the hatters for nearly a half century. They carried on the business at the corner where the Odd Fellows' building now stands. The firm was dissolved by the death of Robert, the junior part- near, somewhere in the later thirties.

In later years, Alexander Wilson was a very active man. He settled in this city about 1845, where he grad- ually extended his business until he became the largest dealer in the county in wool, grain and produce gen- erally.

The first drug store in the town was kept by Dr. George Morgan, in the brick house opposite McGregor's block on Main street, in which James Dickey, the cabinet maker, in later years resided.

Asher Vankirk was the chair maker of olden time. His shop was located on the island. The town has al- ways been famous for its many skilled carpenters.

Thomas Collins was a potter by trade and with James Collins carried on the pottery business in a building that stood on Cemetery street, in Catsburg.

Samuel Devore, in 1837, had a small carding-machine in the rear of the old Parkison lot.

About the year 1834 C. W. & William Bryant erected what has long been called the old carriage factory, on Main street. On its completion in 1834, the firm re- moved their iron store from the shop one door west of the City Hotel, in which Jacob Cort immediately com- menced to manufacture copper and tinware.

The Bryants were the first in the town to make plows and wagons on an extensive scale, and to keep a general assortment of iron, especially Juniata iron.

In 1834, Mrs. S. Guthrie carried on a millinery and mantua making next door to Joseph Wilson's store, on Main street.

Robert Walker, in the later forties, had a woolen fac- tory on or near the site of Blythe & Co.'s planing mill on Fifth street, near the river. It was burned in June, 1853.

William Johnson at an early date, erected the first sawmill in the town. It stood below the site of the above mentioned planing mill.

There was another sawmill as late as 1837 above the same planing mill, owned and operated for a time by William Mills. It was the first to saw lumber by steam for the boat yard of Robert Beebee. Timber for build- ing boats had been before this time sawed by hand with a whip-saw.

As William Mills had erected a sawmill for the boat yard, so William Ihmsen, Vankirk and McAllister built one at the mouth of Pigeon Creek, in Catsburg, to fur- nish boards for glass boxes for his two factories. This mill, after the death of Ihmsen, passed to other owners

and operators. Just before the late war a Mr. Cunning- ham built a few steamboat hulls at this mill. Mr. James Smith, we believe, was the last owner before it was dis- mantled.

David Bolton manufactured augers over a half century ago in the old house that was located at the upper end of the street leading from the creek bridge in Catsburg.

The beginning of the Monongahela Manufacturing Co., now located in the Third Ward, was started by James W. Downer in 1872. The business was carried on by Downer, Samuel Hindman and Col. David Lackey until 1877, at which time Downer and Lackey retired and Maj. W. H. Morrison was taken into the firm and the business was carried on by Hindman & Morrison until 1881, when R. B. Abrams was added to the firm, which was changed to Morrison, Abrams & Co. In 1883 the company was merged into the Monongahela Manufactur- ing Company. The whole plant was burned June, 1890. The present extensive brick plant was erected immediate- ly after the fire, excepting the carpenter and blacksmith shops, which were erected in 1892.

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History of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens 20th century, Part 98

Author: McFarland, Joseph Fulton; Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1474

Author: McFarland, Joseph Fulton; Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1474