USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > Lancaster's golden century, 1821-1921; a chronicle of men and women who planned and toiled to build a city strong and beautiful > Part 4
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
55
A PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT
hours to run from Columbia to Philadelphia, the expenses for the trip being $14.60, of which the engineer and his attendants received $4. In 1835 an act was passed authorizing the company to ex- tend the road to Mt. Joy and Harrisburg. In 1857 the Reading and Columbia Railroad was in- corporated.
In the war with Mexico Lancaster county fur- nished a number of soldiers for the armies of General Scott and General Taylor. Many of the men served under Taylor at Palo Alto, Reseca de la Palma and Monterey, and under Scott at Vera Cruz and the campaign which led to the capture of Mexico City. Lieut. Luther and Lieut. (later Captain) Roland won honors and promotion in this war. A Lancaster writer describes among his memories a visit made to Lancaster by General Taylor, the twelfth President of the United States. It appears that he stopped here on his way to Washington.
Around 1850 a group of municipal public buildings were erected in Lancaster including the present Court House, the prison at the east end of the city, Odd Fellows Hall, Fulton Hall and Franklin and Marshall College. It seems to have been a period of rapid growth for the city. It is said that a thousand residences were erected within a few years. By the inevitable march of progress the venerable historic Court House in Centre Square was outgrown, and in 1852 a site was se- cured at Duke and East King streets, contracts
56
LANCASTER'S GOLDEN CENTURY
made and the present structure completed at a cost of $166,000. The Odd Fellows had been meeting in a room rented in the old Museum building corner of Chestnut and North Queen streets, until 1846 when lots were purchased from ex-Judge Ellis Lewis one of which was occupied by the old Quaker church and the other used as a burial ground by the same society. Here a handsome building was dedicated in 1852 by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. At that time there were 2500 members of that fraternity in the city.
In speaking of lodges of olden times it is well to recall that Lodge No. 43 F. and A. M. ranks as one of the oldest Masonic organizations in America. When Major Andre was held here as a prisoner in 1775 he was known as a Mason. In 1798 it was agreed that the borough of Lan- caster was to build the first story and the lodge the second story of the building now known as City Hall. From 1800 to the present time the mem- bers have continued holding their meetings in the old hall. Some time prior to the building of the hall, the lodge was visited by George Washington, and later by Lafayette. In the hall to this day there is a set of implements in a case the frame of which was made from cedar wood growing over the grave of Washington at Mount Vernon.
The building of the present Fulton Hall in 1852 on the site of the old Lancaster Jail on Prince street was an event of great significance in the development of Lancaster. The Lancaster County
57
A PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT
Commissioners sold the site to Peter G. Eberman and Christopher Hager for $8,400. Later Chris- topher Hager became the sole owner. He at once began tearing down the old prison, and procured Samuel Sloane as architect, and John Sener as builder of Fulton Hall. Later Christopher Hager sold his interest to the Fulton Hall Association. The Examiner and Herald of May 5, 1852 says, " The new opera house to be erected is to be called Fulton Hall in honor of Robert Fulton the discoverer of the power of steam as applied to navigation, a native of Lancaster County. The proprietor has evinced a laudable pride in the com- memoration of one whom Lancaster county may feel pride in claiming as one of her most distin- guished sons." Fulton Hall was formally opened to the public on October 14, 1852, the principal address of the occasion being made by Judge Hayes. The speaker referred to the fact that new life was being infused into the city of Lan- caster by the erection of many buildings and that 5000 inhabitants had been recently added to the population. The wooden image of Robert Fulton which still stands above the doorway was carved by a Mr. Cannon of Philadelphia, and is an inter- esting if not highly artistic piece of work. In Fulton Hall a long line of distinguished actors, orators and musicians have appeared in the past seventy years. Ole Bull with his matchless violin, Joe Jefferson, Booth, Barrett, Madame Modjeska, Horace Greeley, Wendell Phillips, Henry Ward
58
LANCASTER'S GOLDEN CENTURY
Beecher, John B. Gough, Adelina Patti, Woodrow Wilson, Sarah Bernhardt, Nazimova, and a host of other notables have appeared in this historic old structure.
The formal opening of Franklin and Marshall College was held in Fulton Hall on the 7th of June, 1853. This college was the result of the union of Franklin College of Lancaster and Mar- shall College of Mercersburg, Pa. At the open- ing of the new institution addresses were deliv- ered by Judge Hayes, Dr. J. W. Nevin and Bishop Potter. Until the new buildings were erected on " College Hill," the students met in Franklin Col- lege on North Lime Street. At first there appear to have been frequent troubles between town and gown, due to the rivalry of the fire companies. It appears the students " ran with the Union." Dr. E. V. Gerhart was the first president of the col- lege. Twenty-two acres were bought in the north- western part of the city and buildings erected. When the corner stone of the main building was laid on 24th of July, 1854 a procession marched from the old Franklin College to the new site and listened to an address by Dr. Henry Harbaugh. The new college was formally dedicated on the 16th of May, 1856. At the same time with the erection of the main building two literary society halls were built, at great sacrifice on the part of the students themselves. Since then numerous buildings have been erected, including the J. Watts de Peyster Library, and a handsome and
59
A PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT
thoroughly equipped science building, an astron- omical observatory and an academy building. The area of the college grounds is now fifty-eight acres. Franklin and Marshall College does not pretend to do the work of a university or a techni- cal school. Its claim for patronage is that it is a thoroughly first-class American college, in which a careful foundation can be laid that will prepare young men for an intelligent pursuit of profes- sional studies, for the work of higher education and the business pursuits of life. The college has been in full sympathy with the progress of the age in art, science, literature and business under the leadership of its several presidents, Dr. E. V. Gerhart, Dr. J. W. Nevin, Dr. Thos. G. Apple, Dr. John S. Stahr and Dr. H. H. Apple. Frank- lin and Marshall College stands under the general care of the Reformed Church in the United States, but students of all faiths and creeds are found in its halls.
The Yeates Institute of Lancaster was incor- porated in 1857. It had for its object the edu- cation of young men in all branches of academic courses of learning. The corporation was liber- ally endowed by Miss Catharine Yeates from whom it takes its name.
Franklin and Marshall Academy continued in connection with the College until 1872 when the first building was erected for its own use. It is in the best sense a training school for boys who desire to go to college.
60
LANCASTER'S GOLDEN CENTURY
The first State Normal School was erected at Millersville, Lancaster County in 1859.
The Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church did not come to Lancaster until 1871, and therefore belongs to a later period. The person- ality and work of John Williamson Nevin, how- ever, belong to the period now under considera- tion. This distinguished theologian of Scotch- Irish ancestry came to Lancaster shortly after the removal of Marshall College of which he had been president. After residing in the city for a year, and making his home at Windsor Forge, near Churchtown for two years, he settled per- manently at Caernarvon Place. In the fall of 1861 he became professor of History and Aesthetics in Franklin and Marshall College, and in 1866 presi- dent of the institution, a position which he held for ten years. From 1876 to 1886 he continued to reside at Caernarvon Place. Dr. Nevin occu- pied high rank among the most distinguished men of his age. An eminent scholar, a profound theo- logian recognized on two continents, an independ- ent thinker, a vigorous writer, he exerted a power- ful influence.
Another distinguished son of Lancaster of the pre-Civil War period was the Right Reverend Samuel Bowman, pastor of St. James' church from 1827 to 1858 when he was chosen Bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. The whole community begged him to remain in Lancaster, and induced him to keep his residence here while performing
61
A PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT
his episcopal duties in the western part of the state. The Bishop Bowman Home was incor- porated in 1857 as an institution for the aged and infirm designed to provide for Christian people a comfortable home in the evening of life. The Home for Friendless Children was likewise estab- lished in 1859 by the efforts and contributions of Miss Mary Bowman and a number of citizens who were impressed with the necessity of rescuing from degradation and idleness children who were left without a proper protector.
It is thus evident that along every line, material, intellectual, social and industrial, Lancaster made commendable progress in the period leading up to the Civil War.
7
OLD BREW HOUSE
CHAPTER IV
JAMES BUCHANAN-THE CITIZEN
AMES BUCHANAN, the fifteenth President of the United States, was Lancaster's most distinguished citizen during a period of years that embraced some of the most significant and tragic events in the nation's history. In that wonderful year 1809, the year in which Alfred Tennyson, the most gifted poet who has used the English language since Wordsworth, was born, the year in which William Gladstone, the most powerful, versatile, and high-minded statesman of the nineteenth cen- tury, was born, the year in which Charles Darwin, the greatest naturalist, and the chief scientific dis- coverer of modern times, was born, the year in which Abraham Lincoln, the most picturesque and stimulating figure that America has given to the world's history, was born-in that same year a young Dickinson College graduate, only eighteen years of age, came into this community for the purpose of studying law, little conscious of the fact that the legal principles which he was to learn here were destined to be applied by him during the coming years in the attempted solution of some
James Buchanan!
63
JAMES BUCHANAN, THE CITIZEN
of the most difficult national and international problems of the century. That he made good use of the three years during which he was a law student in this city, previous to his admittance to the Bar, is evidenced by the fact that later in life when he wrote his autobiography, he said concern- ing this period, " I came to Lancaster to study law with the late Mr. Hopkins, in the month of December, 1809, and was admitted to practice in November, 1812. I determined that if severe application would make me a good lawyer, I should not fail in this particular; and I can say, with truth, that I have never known a harder student than I was at that period of my life. I studied law, and nothing but law, or what was essentially connected with it. I almost every evening took a lonely walk and embodied the ideas which I had acquired during the day in my own language. This gave me a habit of extempore speaking."
In 1810, young Buchanan's father in a letter wrote to him, " I am very glad to hear that you are so well pleased with Lancaster and with the study of the law." It was in the year that saw the commencement of the War of 1812, under the Madison Administration, that James Buchanan was admitted to the practice of law at the Lan- caster County Bar-a Bar, which according to James Ford Rhodes, America's foremost historian, " has always been noted for its excellent lawyers." He soon became a public figure in the community
64
LANCASTER'S GOLDEN CENTURY
which he had chosen for permanent residence. He came into prominence in 1814 through a speech that he delivered at a public meeting in Lancaster, after the City of Washington had been captured by the British. As a Federalist in politics, he had disapproved of the war, but when the capture of Washington had sent a flame of patriotism through the state, and every patriot was called upon to defend the country against an invading enemy, and a public meeting was called in Lan- caster for the purpose of obtaining volunteers to march to the defense of Baltimore, James Buchanan, then twenty-three years of age, ad- dressed the people of the community in public and was among the first to register his name as a volunteer. With a company of dragoons he marched to Baltimore and served until he was honorably discharged. Upon his return, the County of Lancaster elected him a member of the House of Representatives in the Legislature of Pennsylvania, where he served with rare ability to the end of the session. From 1816 to 1820 his law practice in this community increased rapidly. He writes, " My practice in Lancaster and some of the adjoining counties is extensive, laborious and lucrative." It was during this period that he de- livered before the Washington Society of Lancas- ter a speech which subjected him for the time to much criticism because of his antagonistic attitude to the administration at Washington in regard to its methods of conducting the War of 1812,
65
JAMES BUCHANAN, THE CITIZEN
When Buchanan's writings were collected and edited by John Basset Moore, only the concluding part of this oration could be found. It was printed in the first volume of Buchanan's works. The late W. U. Hensel, however, discovered by accident the opening part of the speech in time to have it inserted in the closing volume. The circumstances of this discovery probably gave as much durable satisfaction to the ardent historical spirit of Mr. Hensel as any event in his life.
It was during this period, too, that Mr. Buchanan, when only twenty-five years of age, undertook alone to defend Judge Franklin on articles of impeachment which had been inspired against him largely by political bias and party asperity.
It was during this period, too, that there came into his life in this community one of the saddest romances that cruel fate ever inflicted upon a youth. As a distraction from his great grief, he plunged into public life again, accepted the nomin- ation to Congress, was elected on the Federalist ticket, and took his seat as the representative from this district when he was barely twenty-nine years of age. To this high office he was reelected every two years until 1830. It was his intention to re- tire from public life at the close of Congress, March, 1831. He was spoken of for the vice- presidency, but discouraged the idea by saying, " I shall retire to private life after the close of the present session, without casting one lingering look
66
LANCASTER'S GOLDEN CENTURY
behind. As a private citizen I shall always re- member with the deepest sensibility the many favors I have received from the people of the dis- trict, whom I have so long represented." But circumstances willed otherwise. President Jack- son appointed him Minister to Russia just at the time he was contemplating renewing the practice of law, for which he was so well fitted because of his competent learning, industry, ready address, reasoning power, and high integrity. In his diary for March 21, 1832, he has this significant paragraph :
" I left Lancaster in the stage early in the morn- ing for Washington and arrived in Baltimore the same evening. Although my feelings are not very easily excited, yet my impressions on this day were solemn and sad. I was leaving a city where I had spent the best years of my life, where I had been uniformly the popular favorite, and, above all, where I had many good and true friends who had never abandoned me under the most trying circumstances. Among these people I had ac- quired a competence for a man of moderate wishes, and I think I may say without vanity, my professional and personal character stood very high."
In a letter from Russia, written during October of the same year, he speaks of the good city of Lancaster, and of his interest in all the little news of the town. From 1830 to 1848 it was possible for him to spend comparatively little of his time
67
JAMES BUCHANAN, THE CITIZEN
in this community because of his wide-spread pub- lic duties ; for upon his return from Russia he was chosen United States Senator and continued to fill that office ten years, after which he became Secretary of State under President Polk. These were years of strenuous labor for Lancaster's fore- most citizen. In one letter he writes, " nearly half of my time is now occupied in writing answers to mass, county, township and association meetings." During this period up to 1848, Mr. Buchanan, when at home in Lancaster, resided in a bachelor establishment, a spacious brick house on East King street.
From 1849, when he retired to private life, after having been President Polk's Secretary of State, until 1853, when President Pierce appointed him as United States Minister to England, he spent a great deal of his time in this community. He left office March 4, 1849, with the fixed pur- pose of not entering public life again. With this in view he purchased that beautiful ideal of a statesman's abode known as " Wheatland " situ- ated half a mile west of Lancaster. This sub- stantial old mansion had for some years been occu- pied as a summer residence by the Honorable Wil- liam M. Meredith, an eminent lawyer who became Secretary of the Treasury under President Taylor. Nothing shows the character of Mr. Buchanan in a higher light than the honorable way in which the purchase of " Wheatland " was conducted. From Mr. Buchanan's correspondence it appears that
68
LANCASTER'S GOLDEN CENTURY
after the agreement for purchase had been made and part of the purchase money paid, Mr. Buchanan learned indirectly that Mr. Meredith regretted the bargain, upon which he sat down and wrote the following letter, which is a model of old-time courtesy.
" My dear Sir :
I have seen Mr. Fordney since I came here, who read me a part of your second letter. From this I infer that you regret that you have parted with Wheatland. Now, my dear sir, if you have the least inclination to retain it, speak the word, and our bargain shall be as if it never had been. It will not put me to the least inconvenience, as I have an excellent house in Lancaster. Indeed I feel a personal interest in having you in the midst of our society, and if you should retain Wheatland I know that after you shall be satisfied with fame and fortune you will make this beautiful residence your place of permanent abode."
To which Mr. Meredith replied with equal courtesy in the following words :
" I had to express to you my deep sense of the courtesy and consideration which induced you to make me the offer which your letter contained. I cannot accept it, because to do so would be to take advantage of your friendly impulses, which I ought not and cannot do."
That was a fine example of the square deal. Mr. Buchanan bought the property and removed to it
69
JAMES BUCHANAN, THE CITIZEN
the furniture which he had hitherto used in Wash- ington and Lancaster, establishing in his new home a residence noted for its comfort, dignity, repose, respectability, and hospitality.
Though he had retired to private life during this short period, his life was by no means one of ease. He writes in 1851 from Wheatland, " My correspondence is now so heavy as to occupy my whole time from early morning until late at night. My life is now one of great labor, but I am philosopher enough not to be very anxious. The mass of letters before me is prodigious." At an- other time he writes, " I now receive about fifty letters a day. Last Saturday there were sixty- nine, and the cry is 'still they come'. I labor day and night."
And yet he found time to do a great many things for the higher life of the community. This was the period in which Franklin College, of Lan- caster, was united with Marshall College, of Mercersburg, and the present institution, known as Franklin and Marshall College, was established by a union of the two. In bringing about that union Mr. Buchanan was of great service. He had been interested in Franklin College from an early date, and wrote the deed of transfer by means of which the real and personal estate of Franklin College was transferred to the new Franklin and Marshall College. He is described at that time as a man of portly form, with head inclined to one side, a peculiar top-knot of white
70
LANCASTER'S GOLDEN CENTURY
hair that made him look older than the sixty-two years that he had actually lived. One writer says that courtesy had become his second nature and he spoke to boys on the street as if they had been princes of the blood. Naturally this foremost citizen of Lancaster was elected the first president of the newly constituted Board of Trustees of Franklin and Marshall College, an office which he held for twelve years. He was a faithful friend of the college. As far back as 1827 his name ap- peared on the subscription list of old Franklin College, and when old Marshall College was still at Mercersburg Mr. Buchanan gave it a scholar- ship of $500.00, and when the new institution was formed in Lancaster he contributed $1,000.00 to the fund which was then raised for the erection of buildings. He helped to direct the policy of the college, and when he was in Lancaster he was always present at its public exercises. At the literary society anniversaries he had a kind word for each youthful speaker, which the recipient was sure to bear away as a precious remembrance.
When a new college building was to be erected at the time of the union of Franklin and Marshall College, the citizens of Lancaster contributed $25,000.00. Then came the question where should the new building be erected. Some suggested a tract on West Orange street; others suggested a location at the eastern end of the city. When this site was proposed, President Buchanan said, " I do not think the best location for a literary in-
71
JAMES BUCHANAN, THE CITIZEN
stitution is between a court house and a jail." One day Mr. Buchanan and the other members of the board went to the northwestern part of Lan- caster in carriages and unanimously decided to erect the buildings on what is now known as College Hill, the highest ground in Lancaster. " Thank God," said Dr. Harbaugh at the laying of the corner-stone, " the college stands higher than the jail. Education must be lifted up, and crime let sink to its lowest depths."
During these years, Mr. Buchanan enjoyed the fullest confidence of the community and found great satisfaction in the hours that he spent at Wheatland. He writes to a friend, " The birds are now singing around the house, and we are en- joying the luxury of a fine day in the opening spring."
In 1853 he was again thrown into active public life by being appointed United States Minister to England under the administration of President Pierce. Before he left for London, he wrote a letter to the citizens of the community in answer to an invitation which he had received to be present at a public dinner to be given in his honor. In this letter he opens his heart to the citizens of Lancaster. Among other things he says,
" No event of my past life has afforded me greater satisfaction than this invitation, proceed- ing as it does, without distinction of party, from those who have known me the longest and known me the best.
72
LANCASTER'S GOLDEN CENTURY
" Born in a neighboring county, I cast my lot among you when little more than eighteen years of age, and have now enjoyed a happy home with you for more than forty-three years, except the intervals which I have passed in the public service. During this long period I have experienced more personal kindness, both from yourselves and from your fathers, than has, perhaps, ever been ex- tended to any other man in Pennsylvania who has taken so active a part, as I have done, in the ex- citing political struggles which have so peculiarly marked this portion of our history.
" It was both my purpose and desire to pass the remainder of my days in kind and friendly social intercourse with the friends of my youth and of my riper years, when invited by the President of my choice, under circumstances which a sense of duty rendered irresistible, to accept the mission to London. This purpose is now postponed, not changed. It is my intention to carry it into exe- cution, should a kind Providence prolong my days and restore me to my native land."
From London he wrote, "Everything about home is dear to me. You give me information concerning my neighbors in Lancaster, which I highly prize." While in England, this Lancaster citizen had the degree of Doctor of Civil Law conferred on him by Oxford University along with the poet, Alfred Tennyson. He returned from London to America, arriving at Wheatland in April, 1856. Within two months he was asked to
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.