History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical, Part 92

Author: Egle, William Henry, 1830-1901
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1046

USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical > Part 92
USA > Pennsylvania > Lebanon County > History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical > Part 92

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THE HARRISBURG COTTON-MILL was erected about 1352 by a stock company. Like similar enter- prises. it has had its periods of prosperity and adver- sity. It is located on North Street, between Front and Second, is built of brick, four stories high, two hundred feet long and sixty feet wide, with end wings of one story, sixty-four feet long and twenty-four feet wide. It has eight thousand spindles and two hundred and eighty looms, with a capacity of two thousand seven hundred bales cotton, producing cheviots, drill- ing, four-shafts twills, duck, warps, yarns, etc. The number of hands employed i- two hundred and sixty, and the monthly pay-roll amounts to forty-five hun- dred dollars. The mill produces four million yards of heavy sheeting annually. The present proprietors of the mill are George C'alder, Jr., & Co., of Lancaster.

THE FOUNDRY AND MACHINE-WORKS of Willson Brothers & Co. are located on the corner of State and Filbert Streets. They are largely engaged in the

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CHESAPEAKE NAIL-WORKS AND CENTRAL IRON-WORKS, PROPERTY OF CHARLES L. BAILEY & COMPANY, HARRISBURG, PA.

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CITY OF HARRISBURG.

manufacture of agricultural implements, of some which inventions they are the proprietors. These works are among the most successful industries of the city.

HARRISBURG CHAIN-WORKS .- Joshua W. Jones, of Harrisburg, the inventor of the new process for removing indentation made on paper after being printed thereon, and hydraulic dry-pressing ma- chines, and patent releasable elip-chain bale-tires, finding great difficulty in procuring the proper chains for his machines, established this business for his own benefit. It has grown to an extensive establishment, and the demand for the manufacture, apart from his own, has been greater than the supply. At present only four furnaces are in operation, but eight others will soon be erected. The principal product will be chain bale-tires, and the capacity of the works is estimated at three thousand per month. A small Baxter engine is employed to drive a fan for fires, and an oven (eight feet by two feet by six feet) is used for japanning the chains. Twelve men are employed.

THE STEAM- FITTING WORKS AND FOUNDRY of J. D. Marshbank & Son are located on corner of Short and South Streets, occupying the Jennings Franklin Foundry and Machine-shops. These works manufacture steam and hot-water fittings; also vari- ons descriptions of heavy and light castings. The annual value of their product is thirty thousand dollars, and they give employment to thirty-tive hands.

THE ILARRISBURG FOUNDRY, so long under the management of the Bay Brothers, is now operated by Messrs. John W. Brown and Augustus Reel, who carry on a general foundry business, with a probable annual capacity of one thousand tons. The works are located on State Street and the Pennsylvania Railroad.

THE HARRISBURG FIRE-BRICK WORKS. located on Second Street near Paxtang, were established in 1869, and have been in continuous operation since that date. They, manufacture fire-briek for blast- furnaces, steel-works, and rolling-mill use, and have a capacity of two million bricks per annum, which amount could be readily increased. The clays used are from the several well-known deposits in New Jersey, and from Clearfield, Clinton, Dauphin, and Lebanon Counties, in Pennsylvania. All the fire- bricks are made of these several clays combined in various proportions as best suits the intended use. A forty horse-power engine is employed in grinding and mixing the clays. The works give employment to ninety hands.

and sixty cubic feet of air per stroke, and is capable of running thirty to thirty-tive revolutions per min- ute, at a pressure of six to seven pounds of blast. There are three batteries of boilers, two of which give ample steam-power. Two Kent eight-inch pipe ovens heat the blast to 1000° or 1100º F. Only one oven is blown through, leaving one in reserve. Fuel, three-fourths anthracite, one-fourth coke ; ores, Dills- burg, Seizholtzville, Cornwall, and for two years past about one-third from Spain and other foreign coun- tries. Capacity, forty-five tons per day. This is a very complete furnace, and one of the most success- ful in the Susquehanna region.

HYDRAULIC CEMENT PIPE WORKS .- These works. located on Herr Street and the Pennsylvania Canal. have been in successful operation during the past three years, manufacturing cement drain-pipes and cement ware or artificial stone. The product is sold throughout the whole of Central Pennsylvania. The capacity of the works is twenty-five thousand feet of drain-pipe per annum. The capital invested is fifteen thousand dollars, and the work. give employment to twelve men. Henry J. Beatty, proprietor.

HARRISBURG STEEL- AND IRON-WORKS. - Messrs. Hummel, Fendrick & Co., since 1881, have occupied the old " Novelty Works," on the Pennsylvania Rail- road foot of Third Street, where they are engaged in the manufacture of bar-iron and tires, and promises to be one of the most successful industries of the capital.

THE HARRISBURG STEAM-BOILER ANT, TANK- WORKS were erected in 1868 by Robert Tippett, who successfully carried on the business until his decease. They are now owned and operated by his sons, Charles E., David, and William P., under the firm- name of Robert Tippett's Sons. Their principal busi- ness is the manufacture of steam-boilers, furnace work, stacks, etc. They ship punched andl shaped iron to Ohio, Alabama, and Tennessee. The works employ sixty hands, and have a capacity of thirty tons per week. They are located at the foot of Race Street, on the line of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

CHAPTER XIII.

The Fire Department-How they formerly extinguished Fires in Har- risburg-The First Fire Company- Friendship- Hope - Citizen- Washington-Monut Vernon-Paxton-Gool Will -- Mount Pleasant.

ONE of the early ordinances of the borough re- quired every householder to have one fire-bucket for each story of the house. These buckets were made of heavy leather, long and narrow in size, and were painted different colors as the owner chose, with his or her name on them, and were kept hanging in some convenient place, frequently in the hall or entry, and it was the occupant's duty, in case of an alarm, to

WISTAR FURNACE .- This furnace was built in 1867, originally fourteen by forty-five feet, but re- cently altered to fourteen by sixty feet. It is blown by a thirty by forty-eight-inch horizontal engine, geared to drive two blowing cylinders seventy-two by seventy-two inches. This engine blows two hundred . carry or send them to the fire. Double lines were

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HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY.

formed to the nearest pumps, and sometimes to the river ; men, women, and children joined in these lines, the latter being in the empty-bucket line. The buekets were pas-ed from one to another filled with water and emptied into the side of the engines, which were worked by hand ; the empty bucket- then passed back by those on the opposite line. Often the buck- ets were not more than half full when reaching the engines, the water being spilled by passing them along the line. There were separate lines for each engine. Balthaser Sees, who built the old " Union," the first fire-engine in the town, also made about fifty feet of leather -- ewed hose, which was intended to have water conveyed from the pumps through them. As sewed hose was not water-tight, they never could be used. It was a difficult matter to maintain the lines at a distance from and out of sight of the fire, as every one wished to see it. It was hard, laborious work to pump water for the buckets and to work the engines. When the pumps failed, as they often did, lines were then formed to the river.

This primitive means of putting out fires was con- tinned until 1586, when, to the great relief and joy of the people. the "Citizen" suction-engine was pur- cha-ed. Hose enough was bought to reach from either the river or canal to the centre of the town, and by that means the engines at the fires were sup- plied, but not in sufficient quantity without the bucket-lines. This continued until the water-works were completed, in 1840.

The hard work of the firemen at a conflagration at the engine-brakes continued until the present steam- engines were adopted, the "Friendship" being the first. All the hand-engine, were gradually replaced by steam until the whole five companies were -up- plied. The first mode of giving the alarm of fire was by the ringing of the old eourt-house bell, followed by the different church bells, as the engine-houses then were small frame buildings without bells. Sub- sequently the direction was struck by the bells on the different engine-hou-es. The old Philadelphia sys- tem was then adopted, viz. : one stroke for north, two for south, three for east, and four for west; the other divisions of the compa -. were also struck. This alarm continued until the tire-alarm was ereeted in 1974.

The first fire company was organized June 17, 1791, and John Kean was the first president thereof. The following is a copy of the original subscription paper :

" We, the subscribers, considering the necessity of having an engine for extinguishing fire», do agree to pay to Adam Boyd the sums to our names affixed on demand, for the purpose of purchasing an engine for the use of the Borough of Harrisburg.

" June 17, 1791."

On Friday, Nov. 25, 1791. the residence of MIr. James Sawyer, on Locust Street, was destroyed by fire. After the fire was over Mr. Sawyer returned his thanks to the men and women of the borough for the aid they had rendered him. As Jate as March 8. 1797, there was no apparatus in the city designed

for putting out fires. This is shown by an ex- tract from the minutes of the Harrisburg Free De- bating Society. Among other questions discusssed (March 8, 1797) was one for procuring a fire-engine. At the fire in the building used by William Porter as a cold-nail factory, on the 12th of February, 179s, no reference is made to any service by an engine, but Mr. Porter did thank the ladies for what they had clone, and declared his willingness to contribute to a fund towards procuring another engine. The infer- ence from this is that an engine was then owned by the borough. Tradition nanies the "Union" as being the first engine in use, which is the one re- motely referred to by Mr. Porter. The Union Com- pany was dissolved some time between 1930 and 1838. Robert Sloan and Frederick Hei-ely were directors of the company, and George Capp secretary in 1824. An ordinance was pa -- ed by the Town Council, July 13, 1813, impressing on all property-owners and ten- ants, whether male or female, to have within con- venient reach on their premises at least one leather bucket for use at fires. By the terms of the same ordinance the borough was divided into two fire dis- triets, called respectively northern and southern, with Market Street a- the dividing line, each distriet con- taining a company. These companies were the "Union" and the " Friend-hip."

FRIENDSHIP COMPANY, No. 1 .- This company may be termed the patriarch of the present fire department of Harrisburg. having been instituted prior to 1803, although its oldest constitution only dates as far back as Aug. 11, 1812. The oldest official document among the records of the company is what purports to be a list of " sundry members of the Friendship Fire Com- pany who are indebted to the sums annexed to their names respectively, the account being down to the yearly meeting, Nov. 7. 1809, including said meeting." This list is attested by James Maginnis, secretary. The first debtor on the list is Thomas Ridge, and the amount of his indebtedness was as follows :

10 shillings 1804, August 7th,

1803, August 1st,

1808, February 2d, .4 to sundry fines 44

11 3

Mes-rs. Samuel Pool. Michael Krehl. Albright Wea- ver, John Kapp, I-aiah MeFarland, and Patrick Burk were also debtors to the company at this period. The indebtedness arose from tax and fines. "Messrs. Sawyer, Gla-, Brua, Norton, Dor-heimer, managers of the company, and the secretary met at the house of John Norton, Feb. 9, 1808, for the purpose of hokling an appeal, whereat B. Kurtz appealed ten shillings, Mr. George five shillings, Mr. Laverty five shillings, Mr. Glass five shillings, Mr. Dorsheimer one shilling, whereupon it was agreed that Mr. Goodman should give every one that is indebted to the company a call for the pay, and them that don't pay shall be sued." -Manuscript Minutes of Managers, Feb. 2, 1803.

Among the names of the members of the company in ISOS are recognized many whose descendants still

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CITY OF HARRISBURG.

reside in Harrisburg. These are Messrs. John Zinn, Samuel Pool. Abraham Rupley. Andrew Berryhill, Moses Gillmor, John Mytinger, Joseph Young, Sam - uel Bryan, Christian Stahl, John Forster, James Brown, Samuel Black, Dr. Hall, Dr. Cleaveland, Peter Keller, Joseph Doll, Jamie, Sawyer. Frederick Felty, George Boyer, Jacob Boas, John Wyeth, John Wingert, Jacob Ziegler. George Roberts, and Benja- min Bowman, secretary.

Obed Fahnestock wa- president of the company in 1812. and Christian Gleim secretary and treasurer in 1813. In 1918, Abraham Bombaugh was the treas- urer, who was succeeded in 1819 by Obed Fahne-tock. Jacob Seiler was secretary of the company in 1827. From this period we can find no records of the com- pany until 1848, when it adopted a new constitution, and in many respects increased its efficiency. The first hose-carriage of the company was purchased a short time after the introduction of water into Har- risburg. The old engine being too limited in its ca- pacity, and its wood-work partially rotted. the com- pany applied for and obtained the old " Harrisburg" engine, which belonged to a company of that name formerly existing in Harrisburg. This was used by the company for several year-, when it was found de- fective, and then abandoned. The company was then granted the use of the " United States," a powerful second-class engine, formerly used by a company of that name in Middletown, but owned by Judge W. F. Murray, who had it brought here for sale. The Town Council, however, refused to buy it. and in lieu thereof purchased in Philadelphia an efficient second- hand engine, which the company continued to use until IS60, when they purchased their present steamer, a second-class Amoskeag make.

The fine building of the company on Third Street below Chestuut Street was erected in 1850, the coul- pany having previously occupied a two-story frame structure on the river-bank, a -hort distance north of the toll-house of the Harrisburg bridge.

THE HOPE FIRE COMPANY, NO. 2 .- This associ- ation was instituted on the 6th day of January, 1814, and was the third of it- kind organized after Harris- burg was laid out. Its cotemporaries were the " Union" and " Friend-hip." The following " list of members of the Hope Fire Company who have been furnished with badges" is from an old memorandum- book. Those marked with a (*) were members in 1814, the others in 1816. Only one on the roll sur- vives, the genial and scholarly gentleman that he is, Col. Samuel Shoch, of Columbia :

John Lyne. Henry Antes. John C. Bucher. John Smith. William Smith. Alexander Graydon. Joseph Wallace. Jacob Hover.

Henry Colestock. Jacob Zollinger.

Henry Smith.

John A. Fisher.

John Peacock.

William Roberts.

James R. Boyd.

Thomas Buthington.

John Untington.

"James Mitchell.

Samuel Wie-tling.

Thomas Martin.

Joseph Youse. William Burns.

#John H. Candor.

John Whitehill. Samuel Sees.

JJacob Kimmel. John Kurtz.

*John M. Forster.

Jacob Bogler.

* Mose, Musgrave. David Gregg.

Luther Reily.

J. Lindemuth.

" Ezekiel Gregg.

John H. Kroberger.

* Zeno Fenn.

Charles Shaffert.

# John Wilson.

James Wright.

* G. W. Hollis.

Andrew Graydon.

* G. Taylor.

W. Crist.

* F. Scheaffer.

James Scoll.

* Hugh Roland.

Edward Hughes. * George Horter.

*John Kunkel. # George Mish.

Jacob Baughman.

Capt. Thomas Walker was the first vice-president of the company, and Hon. John C. Bucher held that office in 1819. In Is23, Mr. Bucher was president. and in the year following Henry Buehler was secre- tary of the company. Mr. Bucher was succeeded by Charles F. Mnench, Dr. Luther Reily, Hamilton Al- rick-, A. Boyd Hamilton, etc. Joseph Wallace, Henry Antes, Dr. Heisely, Dr. Orth, and other prominent citizens were at one time members of the company. The long time which ha- elapsed since its first organi- zation, and the number of changes in the affairs of the company, render it extremely difficult to obtain- any considerable knowledge of its carly history. We know, however, that the first engine of the company was manufactured in Philadelphia by the celebrated Pat Lyon-him of bank prosecution memory-at a cost of twelve hundred dollars, and that it was capa- ble of throwing two boysheads of water per minute!

After the erection of the water-works the company added to their apparatus a beautiful ho-e-carriage. Shortly after this period the affairs of the company seem to have been in a depressed condition until January, 1853, when a number of public-spirited citi- zens residing in the upper part of the borough joined together and effected its complete reorganization under the auspices of the Town Council. A beautiful second- clas- engine, capable of throwing two side and a gai- lery stream, manufactured by J. Agnew, of Philadel- phia, was purchased at a cost of thirteen hundred and fifty dollars. In March, 1558, the company also re- placed their hose-carriage by a neat "-piler" or "crab," at a cost of one hundred dollar-, and in September, 1858, further increased its efficiency by obtaining a hook-and-ladder apparatus.

The house of the company up to 1855 was a small frame structure which stood on the site of the present building. In that year the municipal authorities re-

George Suyder. John Williams. Samuel Shoch. Andrew Krause.

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HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY.

moved the structure, and erected in its place a two- story briek building thirty-four by twenty-four feet. The company subsequently extended this building forty feet in length and added another story, and as a : highly creditable fact we might add that the brick- layers, carpenters, plasterers, and painters belonging to the company performed the work gratis by the light of their fire-lanterns. The hand-engine was finally sold to a Lewistown fire company, and its place supplied by the company's present steam-engine, whieb arrived here Feb. 28, 1865. It was manufae- tured by L. Button, Waterford, N. Y., and at the first test in this city threw a stream from a one and three- eighth inch nozzle on a level two hundred and twenty- five feet, and through a one and one-eighth inch nozzle

13th of May, 1858, and on the 23d of August follow- ing the court granted the prayer of the petitioners by direeting that the said constitution and by-laws shall " thereafter be deemed and taken to be the instru- ment on which said association shall be governed as firemen."

The first hose-carriage having become dilapidated by time and service, the company, in the fall of 1856, purchased in Philadelphia a new one, handsomely mounted with silver and other embellishments, at a cost of about one thousand dollars. In addition to this, they shortly afterwards procured a handsome "spider," manufactured to order by R. J. Fleming, of Harrisburg, and eo-ting about two hundred dollars.

The company, in October, 1858, increased its, effi- a vertical stream of two hundred and seven feet. The , ciency by procuring a "Button engine," a lately building of the company having become unsafe, it was torn down in the spring of 1870, and the present structure erected in its place. patented fire apparatus, manufactured at Waterford, N. Y., a trial of which, in front of Brant's Hall, was thus noticed in the Daily Telegraph : "She did nobly, and more than realized the expectations of the most sanguine members of the Citizen Company. In our opinion the engine is fully equal to three ordinary machines of the old style, and ranks next to the steam fire-engines lately adopted in the various cities. On the first trial she threw a stream of water through a 14-inch nozzle a distance of two hundred and one feet. On the second trial she threw two streams at once through 14-ineh nozzles a distance of one hundred and sixty-five feet each. On the third trial she threw five streams at once through g-inch nozzles from one hundred and five to one hundred and twenty-one feet. When this feat was accomplished the members of the Citizen Com- pany, pleased with the success of their new machine, made the welkin ring with repeated and enthusiastic

TitE CITIZEN FIRE COMPANY, NO. 3 .- This effi- cient fire company was organized in the year 1836. Its first officers were William Bostick, Sr., president ; Ilenry Lyne, vice-president ; George &. Kemble, treasurer; and William Parkhill, secretary. The company, shortly after its organization, purchased a beautiful and powerful engine at a cost of nine hun- dred and fifty dollars. It was of second-elass capacity, throwing a gallery and two side streams, and was manufactured at the celebrated establishment of Joel Bates, in Philadelphia. The power and effectiveness of this engine was fully tested at the disastrous fires which occurred in the summer and fall of 1838 at the opposite corners of Fourth and Market Streets. At these fires it rendered the most important services in consequence of being provided with a suction appa- i cheers for the engine and its manufacturer. On the ratus, which forced water from the eanal, thus in a great measure dispensing with the then prevailing system of " bueket-lines."

The introduction of water and hydrants into the borough created a material change in the operations of the fire department. The " bucket-lines" already referred to gave way to hose, and it was necessary that the several fire companies should be provided with this article. The Citizen Company was the first to respond to this necessity, and accordingly pur- chased in Philadelphia a beautiful hose-carriage and sixteen hundred feet of hose, the former at a cost of two hundred and eighty-five dollars.

fourth trial the largest nozzle-13-inch-was used. and this powerful volume of water was thrown a dis- tance of one hundred and sixty-seven feet. The machine gave entire satisfaction in every respect." This at the time was the largest engine of the kind in the State. It weighed three thousand five hundred pounds, required fifty men to work it, and cost two thousand and fifty dollars delivered in Harrisburg.

THE WASHINGTON HOSE COMPANY, NO. 4 .- The example of the Citizen Fire Company in procuring hose to meet the requirements of the change in the fire department caused by the introduction of water into the borough was followed by the organization of a company whose apparatus consists exclusively of hose and its carriage.

With this useful addition the company required the privileges and powers of an incorporation, and accordingly an application for a charter was made aud granted by the Court of Common Pleas in 1841. Being convinced of the utility of such an organiza- tion, a number of young men met in the dining-room of the United States Hotel, on the corner of Second and Mulberry Streets, on Wednesday evening, Jan. 27, 1841, for the purpose of organization and to raise funds to purchase a ho-e-carriage. A committee was It was discovered, however, by time and experience, that this charter was defective; accordingly, at a meeting of the company held May 12, 1958, a new constitution and by-laws were proposed and a com- mittee appointed to petition the court for their ap- proval. This committee petitioned the court on the , appointed to solicit money by subscription to pur-

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CITY OF HARRISBURG.

chase a carriage, and on the 5th of February, 1841, that. committee reported that sufficient amount had been subscribed by the citizens, when John L. Mar- tin was deputed to purchase the carriage of the Wash- ington llose Company, of Philadelphia, at a cost of one hundred and eighty dollars. The carriage was received on the 20th of March, 1841, and at the same time the Town Council furnished the company with six hundred feet of hose. On Friday evening, April 2, 1841, the company was regularly organized, and denominated the Washington Hose Company, of Harrisburg, Pa., a constitution and by-laws adopted, and the following officers were elected : President, Levi Wolfinger ; Vice-President, John L. Martin ; Secre- tary, E. S. German ; Treasurer. David Lingle. From this period the company has been one of the most active and efficient in the borough.

On the 3d day of May, 1843, application was made to the court of Dauphin County for an act of incorpora- ! tioh, which was granted on the 20 of September, 1843, and recorded on the 8th day of September, 1843, in Deed-Book P, vol ii. page 432.

The want of a suitable building for the carriage and a room for the meetings of the company was a great inconvenience, and prompted by the generosity previously manifested by the citizens, it was proposed and a committee appointed on the 5th of January, 1844, to devise ways and means to raise funds to erect a suitable house. On the 2d of February, 1844, a lot of ground was purchased, on the corner of Second Street and Meadow Lane, from C. L. Berghaus, Esq., . for the sum of ninety dollars.

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History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical, Part 92

Author: Egle, William Henry, 1830-1901 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1046

Author: Egle, William Henry, 1830-1901
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1046