Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 92

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 930

USA > Pennsylvania > Indiana County > Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I > Part 92

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Second Decade, 1828 to 1838

During this period Blairsville became not only a turnpike village, but also a State road and canal village, and its population doubled. On the opposite side of the river were the boatyards of Isaac Green and the Union Line Company, comprising some of the Graff men and others, and it is stated at a later period that William and Ephraim Stitt also had boatyards. The west end of the Pennsylvania canal from Blairsville to Pittsburg was opened for travel, according to Chapman, in his history of the Conemaugh Valley, in 1828. After the canal was thus opened the turnpike and other roads brought in travelers and freight and other activities so as to make a large volume of business. This gave great im- portance to Blairsville as a depot, and the place became full of bustle and prosperity. Long strings of wagons laden with goods of various kinds were daily arriving and depart- ing. At night the town was a vast caravan- sary for the accommodation of man and beast. Immense hotels and warehouses were erected ; four or five churches were built within three years, property increased in value and the hotels were swarming with speculators, engi- neers, contractors and forwarding agents. Men grew rich here then, it is stated, in a day. Some three or four years later the canal was opened to Johnstown, but did not do much business between these two points, Blairsville and Johnstown, until the entire canal system was opened through from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, in 1834. But the western end, from Blairsville to Pittsburg, did a large business from the first. Social Hall, a very large brick residence, built in the old Colonial style, along the canal, four miles west of Blairsville, was built by one of the contrac- tors on the canal, and it is stated that many social functions were given there by the pro- prietor. This building is still standing, and the station on the West Penn railroad. three miles west of Blairsville, is named for it. When the canal was opened for use its entire length, in 1834, Blairsville lost much of its transshipping business, the communication thus established doing away with the traffic coming into Blairsville over the turnpike, and the business here was lessened considerably

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

in consequence. But the town continued to transshipments of freight and transfer of prosper and to gain in population.

Third Decade, 1838 to 1848

By this time the town had attained a pop- ulation of 1,500. It had a large steam grist- mill, known as the Peters Mill, and a woolen factory operated by Nickerson & Murphy. This same mill was operated by Joseph Gwin- ner from 1860 to 1870, when he died. His widow, son George and daughter still live in Blairsville. For a time this property was owned by William Maher. In 1876 John and Eli Moorhouse came from Philadelphia and took charge of it, but in 1881 it burned down. With the help of the citizens, they purchased a large building near the railroad that had been built by Graff, Sheak & Co., dealers in grain, who came here and commenced busi- ness in 1865. Eli Moorhouse retired in 1886 and John continued the business until 1897. He then sold the building to George J. New, who converted it into a grain, seed and agri- cultural implement stand. Then at the time named Blairsville also had a starch factory; two flourishing brickyards, operated by Henry Wynn and John Campbell; two ex- tensive foundries, operated by Silas Riggs and Andrew Steel; and several tanneries, Samuel Matthews and William T. Smith having two of these, and Patrick Maher coming later with another, then Speer & Henderson, Dr. Wil- liam Speer and Brice Henderson, whose tan- nery Charles G. Kerler later possessed and operated. Capacious wharves had been built along the slackwater, and three boatyards were doing business, having been in operation for some years. In 1850 business here opened with very bright prospects. The receipts of the boating office here in 1851 totaled $11,500.

There was also at this time the wagon and carriage and buggy works of John P. Ford. A little later the owners and operators of flouring mills here were Henry Triece and Adam Shurick. The Triece mill was taken over after Mr. Triece's death by E. M. Evans, the Shurick mill by Capt. M. H. Healy and later by McIntyre & Findley.

The roster of the woolen mill is given as follows: Nickerson & Murphy, 1852; Charles Niekerson, John Graff, William Lang, Joseph Gwinner, Bell, Maher & Co., Moorhouse Brothers, until it burned.

Fourth Decade, 1818 to 1858

travelers. The Pennsylvania railroad was completed from Philadelphia to Blairsville in 1851, so that all passengers coming over the railroad and all freight were transferred there to the boats. The Zimmer home was the station and the freight depot was near by. It was great times for the town. People passed through by the thousands every week, making it a great transshipping point, and the population had increased to 1,500. A new town or suburb called O'Harra was laid out by Mr. William Maher around the rail- road depot on the southern side of Blairs- ville, and town lots were readily sold for hun- dreds of dollars. Soon afterwards in many cases they could be purchased for very much less. Fine houses were erected, and every- thing was carried along on the top wave of success. But all this prosperity was evanes- cent. The Pennsylvania railroad was finished through to Pittsburg the latter part of 1852. From this time down to 1860 the town stead- ily declined. In that year the population was found to have receded to one thousand souls, just what it was in 1840. The Blairsville branch railroad from Blairsville to Indiana was completed in 1856, and this also tended to lessen Blairsville's shipping trade considera- bly, but during this decade the North West- ern railroad was projected and construction on it was commenced. The line was planned to connect Blairsville with New Castle. Con- siderable grading and other work was done, bridges were built, but the company failed and Blairsville and other places interested were keenly disappointed. Adam Shurick, of Bedford county, came to Blairsville in 1852 and built a gristmill which was destroyed by fire March 22, 1861. James H. Walker, who came in from Butler county, settled in Blairsville in 1854 and engaged in the build- ing of threshing machines, run by horse power, and also in the foundry business. Mr. Walker was the father of Mrs. William White, Jr., now one of the teachers in the public schools at Blacklick, and also of Mrs. John Mangan, of Blairsville. John Sipe, father of Mrs. Lewis George, of Blairsville, and Mrs. Mabel Whiteman, wife of T. F. Whiteman, of Latrobe, came into Blairsville in 1855, and commenced the manufacture of fanning mills on the lot of the late R. G. Stitt on West Campbell street. A man named Bushman had also engaged in the same business. James Lore, who was a tinner and located in Bairdstown, acquired the "Union House"

This decade marked likely the most striking activity the town ever had in the way of (hotel) in 1852 and conducted it for some

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IIISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

years. He exchanged it with George Wilkin- work was started the same year. The Act son for a place a mile out on the eastern chartering the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pike. Richard MeCabe, it is related, was about the first attorney. He is highly spoken of as a man, citizen, attorney and local his- torian. Recently A. B. MeCabe, the last son living, and his niece, Sara Woodward, went to reside with A. B. McCabe's only living sister, the wife of Dr. James Shields, in Pitts- burg.

During this decade some men lived here that afterwards became prominent in rail- road and business affairs. Edward Miller was the engineer in charge of the construc- tion of the main line of the Pennsylvania, that portion looked after from this point, and the branch into Blairsville. Mr. Miller lived in the Diamond, likely occupying part of the Dr. Emerson property, and the engi- neers had their offices there. The writer has a large wardrobe which his father purchased at the sale Mr. Miller had on leaving here.

A family named Barnes occupied Rose cot- tage fron 1852 to 1855, a widow, two daugh- ters and three sons. Oliver W. and William Henry Barnes were engineers on the original construction of the Pennsylvania railroad on the west end known as the Pittsburg division, Altoona to Pittsburg. The chief engineer was Edgar Thompson, afterwards president of the road, and Edward Miller was principal as- sistant engineer. The Barneses worked under him. After the completion of the Pennsyl- vania road Oliver W. Barnes was for a time president of the Pittsburg & Connellsville Railroad, part of the Baltimore & Ohio system. But soon he went East, and he became a cele- brated civil engineer and was located for many years in New York City, dying there at the age of eighty-six. He bought the land Latrobe occupies and plotted the village, as it was then. He called it for Benjamin H. Latrobe, of Baltimore, the celebrated civil en- gineer. W. H. Barnes, of this family, has been in the employ of the Pennsylvania Rail- road Company for sixty years and is now one of its directors, residing in Philadelphia : he is now aged eighty-four years. Another brother. Dr. Willis A. Barnes, resides in New York City, in Central Park District, and has recently contributed some interesting letters concerning local history here.

The North Western Railroad, which was planned from Blairsville to New Castle, in Lawrence county, was chartered in 1853 and work begun on its line in 1854. The company failed and the road was sold in 1860. The Pennsylvania R. R. Co. bought it in 1862 and

pany was passed in 1846. Work commenced on the road July 7, 1847. At the close of 1851 the road connected from the east with the Portage railroad near Hollidaysburg. In August following a connection with the Por- tage system two miles east of Johnstown brought about twenty miles of the new track on the Western Division into use, extending the line to Lockport. In December the West- ern Division of the road was further extended to Beatty station, forty-two miles west of the intersection with the Portage. At the same time that portion of the road from Pitts- burg to Turtle Creek was opened, but the intermediate twenty-seven miles operated by stage and wagon lines in the winters of 1851 and 1852. In 1857 the Pennsylvania Rail- road Company bought the State Works, which gave them a continuous line through from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. Up to that time the Pennsylvania railroad connected its own line with the Philadelphia & Columbia rail- road and ran over the tracks of the latter from Columbia to Philadelphia. From Har- risburg to Dillsburg it operated over the tracks of the Harrisburg & Lancaster, which it did not lease in perpetuity until some years later.

Fifth Decade, 1858 to 1868

During this decade, covering the beginning and progress of the Civil war, great history was written in the country. The turning point in this awful war was on Pennsylvania soil, at Gettysburg. The reconstruction period followed the close of the conflict. Blairsville, then having say, in the beginning of this war, a population of from eleven to twelve hundred people, sent out three companies for the service of the United States, also a part of a company recruited by Capt. Laury Cant- well, a native of Blairsville, then an attorney at Kittanning, Armstrong county. Then a company went out for the defense of the State under Capt. William R. Ford, a principal of the Blairsville public schools. Then there were many separate enlistments. The writer's brother. Dr. George Marshall, was one of these. He went out in the service of the State under Capt. Ford. then enlisted in the United States service, but was rejected by the surgeon. Later, on account of superior eye- sight, he got into the signal service, serviug as aid to the commander, Signal Corps, in the Shenandoah valley, to the end of the con- fliet.

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

The first company to go out was Capt. Na- so that he was ordered to the hospital. Against thaniel Nesbit's, Company E, 40th Pennsyl- the orders of the surgeon, when the word came to move on to Donelson he managed to get with his company, and for some distance marched on crutches. When nearing the fort they were ordered to charge a masked battery, and Captain Mendell's head was severed from his body by a cannon ball. vania Volunteers, or 11th Pennsylvania Re- serves. Company I went next under Capt. Hudson Spires and was in the same regiment. These were the only troops having two regi- ment numbers. Company B followed in the fall. The expense of enlisting this company was borne by the business firm of Cunning- ham Brothers. Capt. MeIntire was chosen as commander and Jesse Cunningham as first lieutenant, Thomas D. Cunningham later fill- ing the same office. This became Company B of the 56th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Of course the surrounding country contributed much to these enlistments.

James Kelley, who just died, aged eighty- one, was a member of Company B, 56th Penn- sylvania Volunteers. He was wounded just prior to the battle of Fredericksburg at a point on the Rappahannock river while on picket duty, being struck by a minie ball above the knee. He was not operated on, however, for seven hours. One operation fol- lowed the other. He was taken prisoner and taken to Libby, later released and taken to Annapolis, when by reason of neglect another operation hecame necessary and the surgeons amputated at the hip joint. Very few sur- vive this operation. These, men saw hard service. The history and roster of the com- panies given elsewhere (Company E, pages 109 and 147, Company I, pages 109 and 149, Company B, pages 117 and 154) shows the number killed and missing.

Capt. Nathaniel Nesbit was killed at South Mountain. Maj. H. A. Torrance was shot in the head there. Coleman Bruce (a son of John Bruce) and also a son of John Short died in the army. Albert Kuhn was killed in battle. Blairsville always was a military town, its citizens from the first having their military companies. The Blairsville Blues, Blacklick Greys, Bigler Blues and Washing- ton Greys are talked of, and the great muster days, the anniversary of Perry's victory being one of them.

George S. Mendell, an early postmaster of Blairsville, and famous as a teacher, came to Blairsville from New England. He had two sons, Harry Mendell and Noah Mendell, and one daughter, Kate Mendell. His son Harry was a graduate of West Point and be- came eminent as an engineer in the govern- ment service. During the Civil war Noah Mendell, then a resident of Springfield, Ill., enlisted in the army, became a captain, and on the march to Fort Donelson became lame,

Other things of much business importance occurred in this decade. One was the comple- tion of the Western Division (now called the Concmaugh Division) of the Pennsylvania road. Work was begun on .this road in 1862, and completed to Allegheny Junction in the fall of 1864, and from there to Allegheny, December 1st, 1866. This road after being opened in 1866 until Robert Neilson took charge, in 1870, was under Andrew Carnegie, superintendent then of the Pittsburg Divis- ion. The construction work was under charge of George B. Roberts, later president of the road, but Antes Snyder, assisted by Joseph B. Hutchinson and others, did most of the field work and for some time they were in charge here, under Mr. Carnegie, of the oper- ating of the road. Blairsville became head- quarters for the road, and its completion, coupled with that fact, did much for the town.

Sixth Decade, 1868 to 1878

This gave Blairsville the Isabella Coke Fur- nace, situated a mile from the center of the town and on the south side of the Conemaugh river. A town was built there which was first called Cokeville, and afterwards changed to Coketown. The place had about 800 popu- lation and was a neat appearing village. The Isabella Coke Company commenced to build ovens in the spring of 1872, firing them in the fall of the same year. They employed three hundred men. This enterprise continued until 1903, shutting down for want of avail- able coal, but a few years before its closing was purchased by the American Hoop Iron & Steel Company. From the business fur- nished by the railroad and this company the town was prospering. In 1873 James H. Walker and William H. Stitt and George Ray built a planing mill in the town which was operated by different firms until some time in the nineties.

Samuel Ray, in 1874, started a foundry bought several years after by Charles L. Tittle, now a good sized and prosperous plant.

During this time Robert Neilson was super- intendent of the West Penn Division, Penn- sylvania railroad, from January 1, 1870, to

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IIISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

February, 1874, when he became the general West Penn Division of the Pennsylvania rail- superintendent for the same road at Wil- road from September 1, 1881, to January 1, 1890, when he retired from the railroad serv- ice. Mr. Kirtland, during his long residence in Blairsville, was a citizen highly esteemed and very public spirited. liamsport. James McCreighton was superin- tendent from February, 1874, to December 31, 1878, when he became general freight agent for the same company, with offices in Philadelphia. ,

Seventh and Eighth Decades, 1878 to 1898

It was rumored that the headquarters of the division of the West Penn railroad would be removed to Allegheny, and the officials were removed there in the spring of 1889, the shops and the trainmen who had been changing crews here being removed some years later. This gave the town another period of depression and within the next ten or fifteen years the people got some ex- periences that possibly were useful in im- parting wisdom, but that caused them to lose money and also to experience keen disap- pointment. The Blairsville citizens, or a number of them, girded on their commercial and industrial armor and struck out boldly for the establishment of manufacturing in- dustries. Hence these industries were pro- moted : The West Penn Glass Company, later acquired by the Whitney Company of New Jersey ; the Asa G. Neville Glass Company, later acquired by the Hamiltons of Pittsburg ; the Blairsville Tin Plate Mill, and in connec- tion with this an independent foundry and box factory ; the Blairsville Enameling Ware Company, started by Harry Harlander and J. Diegleman, and later acquired by a com- pany of which P. J. McGuire was the head. and afterwards by the Howell-Macrum Com- pany, in whose hands it burned in 1905 (they then removed what was left of the plant to Uniontown) ; the Blairsville Lad- der Company, and another company, to man- ufacture incubators. The ladder plant had been a planing mill operated for a number of years by D. M. Fair, R. W. Hamilton and J. P. Kennedy, and later by some others. Harbison & Ferguson, A. T. Harbison & Co. and Harbison & Watson (Taylor Harbison and T. C. Watson) also engaged in the plan- ing mill and lumber business for some years.

Edward B. Taylor was superintendent of the West Penn Division of the Pennsylvania railroad. from January 1, 1879, to August 31, 1881. He went to the line of the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company west of Pittsburg. works were conducted successfully for many and is now one of the vice presidents of that line.

The superintendents following were J. B. Hutchinson, now assistant to the vice presi- dent of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Philadelphia, A. S. Robb, James Reed, David Watt, R. T. Morrow and Andrew Keyser.

On February 7, 1890, when a storm blew down the staek of the West Penn Glass Works, being constructed, two men who were to con- duct the business, Charley Barr and John Burney, both quite young, residents of Tar- entum, were killed. This made a great change in the success and plans of the factory. The Whitney Company of New Jersey took it in hand later, but were not successful in oper- ating it.

The Johnstown flood occurred the same year. Bodies were floated here and taken out. A small boy floated within three miles above, lodged in a tree top and was reseued. He is still living and visits Blairsville. There was a Cantwell family living here. One son, Ter- rence, became a doctor and another, Laury, an attorney. He came in from Kittanning, where he had located, and recruited some men during the beginning of the war of the Re- bellion.

William White did much of the brick and stone work on buildings here from 1870 to 1890. He introduced the first cement work in Blairsville.

Ninth Decade, 1898 to 1908

During this period a man named Henry Murphy, of Pittsburg, took over the plant of the ladder company, then being operated by J. B. Flint, as receiver, and for some time very successfully continued the manufacture of worked lumber. A nice pay roll was main- tained, but the plant was put out of commis- sion by the cut made by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in a change of grade.

About this time brick works were estab- lished at Blairsville and Blairsville Intersec- tion, and at the latter point were apparently successful for some time. Here they were not, although under the old system brick years.

The Neville Glass Works, under the con- A. P. Kirtland was superintendent of the trol of the Hamiltons, and the management of

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HISTORY OF INDIANA. COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

David Pugh, was operated for some time with a full force and a good pay roll, but in the spring of 1903 burned down and was not rebuilt. A number of Blairsville men, in trying to promote the various industries named, parted with one fifth of a million dol- lars. Were they more courageous and enter- prising than wise is a question that it is not our place to answer, or try to answer.

This decade gave us the new Enameled Ware Company, the Columbia Plate Glass Company, a large increase in the railroad pay roll for the men living in Blairsville, the Hen-E-Ta Bone Company, the Conemaugh Utilization Company, and the Little Giant Food Company. These three occupy the buildings constructed by the West Penn Glass Company and those adjoining, constructed by the companies just named. A. E. Fuchs and J. F. Altemus, of Blairsville, are man- ager and superintendent, respectively, of the Hen-E-Ta Bone Company; the president, E. J. Fuchs, and treasurer, A. K. Fuchs, are residents of Newark, N. J. The officers of the Conemaugh Utilization Company are : T. Bro- hard, president, E. J. Fuchs, vice president and treasurer, and A. E. Fuchs, secretary. E. J. Fuchs is also president and treasurer of the Little Giant Food Company.

The Columbia Plate Glass Company, situ- ated at the bend of the Conemaugh river, south and west from the main part of the town, was promoted by W. D. Keys, now a resident of Wilkinsburg, and he was the first superintendent of the plant. The buildings However, the people of the good old town are not looking into the future with colored glasses, but with lenses of crystal. Nature has done much for the place. The scenery surrounding Blairsville is varied and of great charm. As we arise in the morning, the wel- come sight of the green or blue or white clad summits of the majestic ridge and hill tops greet us. The river, as it encircles us south and west, imparts its courage and energy and points out its great possibilities. . The splendid example of many of our forbears gives us great inspiration. The town has a rich history. The Star of Empire is ever moving this way, and we should and we will have a future that can be anticipated with great pride. Good things are being done here now. The most extensive system of street paving that has ever been undertaken is being accomplished. A new water system are of brick, and it is said to be the most complete plant in the world. It has been enlarged from time to time by additional buildings, which were also constructed of brick. There are now forty double brick dwellings for the use of employees. The cap- italization is more than one and three fifths millions dollars. Work commenced on the construction in 1901, and in 1903 they com- menced to make plate glass. They have run the works since it started without intermis- sion except when it was necessary to stop for repairs. The officers, with two exceptions, are residents of Pittsburg: J. P. MeKinney, president; J. B. Davidson, vice president ; C. W. Dahlinger, chairman of executive com- mittee; C. A. Simon, secretary. The direc- tors are : J. P. Mckinney, J. H. Davidson, C. W. Dahlinger, John Dewar, Chester T. Hoag, superintendent, Edmund C. Bower .. is being installed, and the people will be Mr. Simon and Mr. Bower are residents of Blairsville. This company employs three hundred men.

Tenth Decade, 1908 to Present

The present population of the town, includ- ing surroundings, is estimated at 5,000.

Among the enterprises of the last two decades have been laundries under varying managements. After operating for some time they had to give up business.

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Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 92

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 930

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 930