Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 80

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1192

USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania > Part 80

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In 1828 the mayor's salary amounted to $200; the commissioner's the same and the treasurer's $150. An ordinance of 1828 required that all residences, stores and warehouses renting for from $50 to $100 per year should keep one leather fire-bucket, and those renting for more than $100 per year should keep two such buckets. In May, 1828, Allegheny was duly organized as a borough, the vote for burgess standing as follows: John Irwin 71, William Robinson, Tr., 56.

In September, 1828, the water committee informed the public that they were ready to furnish river water to all residences and business houses requir- ing it. "Pittsburg goes on prosperously. The happy union of the two arms of the American system will make her great-her manufactures and the loca- tion of the Pennsylvania Canal. It is stated that 247 houses are now building in this city, chiefly of brick. Alleghenytown, a suburb, grows rapidly, 61 houses having been built in it within a year. We hope yet to communicate with Pitts- burg by a branch of our railroad, and then she will be a close neighbor. If any place in the United States is obliged to support the American system without combination or compromise or any sort of looking one way and rowing another,

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it is Pittsburg. She has prospered by it, and will not make any bargain about it" (k).

By November, 1828, the water-works were not yet ready to supply the citizens, owing to a delay in laying pipes, but it was announced that all would be ready on or about December Ist. George Evans was elected superintendent of the works.

In February, 1829, the grand jury of the Mayor's Court prepared a memorial to be presented to the Legislature, praying that the then existing wards, two in number, called East and West, might be reorganized and changed into four, to be numbered First, Second, Third and Fourth, owing to the great increase in population, from 700 voters when the two wards were created, to over 1,800 voters in February, 1829. Among these memorialists were the fol- lowing gentlemen: George Darsie, G. Mckown, Willard Leonard, B. Franklin, Hiram Badgely, James McEhoy, Joseph Welsh, J. E. Crosby, Jame's Verner, John Anderson, James O'Hern, Edward Kerno, Peter Beard, Thomas Taylor, Ezekiel Day, Samuel Hay, Robert Walker and C. W. Ernest.

The act of 1829 permitted the councils to fix within the limits of each ward, if they thought proper to do so, the places for voting. The law of 1833 required them to do so, and thus removed the option which had been given them. This law required that they should not establish voting places anywhere else, and made it unlawful for any man to vote outside of his own ward. Some question having arisen as to the time when the councils should act under the latter law, a supplement was passed in April, 1833, requiring the councils to establish the voting places within three months after the passage of the supplement.

In February, 1829, a bill pending in the Legislature, authorizing the alder- men of Pittsburg to elect a mayor from the people, instead of from their own number, stirred up a tempestuous debate. The ayes and noes were called and the bill was lost. It was reconsidered and was again lost by the vote of 47 ayes to 47 noes. Ross Wilkins, then a member of the Legislature, voted against the bill. Under this act the powers of the mayor were sought to be restricted. In the supplemental act of 1818 the Governor had refused to sign the bill which extended the powers of the Pittsburg mayor, on the ground of its unconstitu- tionality. The bill of 1829 recognized this objection, and sought to confine the mayor's jurisdiction within the limits of the Governor's objection, but the bill was voted down as stated.

On May 12, 1829, John Irwin was elected burgess of Allegheny, and Martin Lowrie burgess of Bayardstown. The council elected in Allegheny were as follows: James Brown, Isaac Lightner, Richard Gray, William Leckey, Rob- ert Campbell, Robert Stewart, Foster Graham, Enoch Wright and E. G. Nelson, and the council elected in Bayardstown were as follows: Alexander Ingram, Joseph Sawtell, James A. Bartram, Francis W. Bain, Robert Jones, Bernard McClellan, John Kerns, John Lightner and David Agnew (1).

When the first water-works were put in operation many imperfections were found to exist in the system and many complaints arose in consequence. Defects were discovered in the pipes and vexatious interruptions ensued during the winter of 1828-9, to such an extent that the citizens were almost ready to consign the plant to oblivion. Even the newspapers expressed doubt as to the success of the system. However, by May, 1829, a great change had taken place, the works being then in excellent running order. By the last of May, 1829, the indications pointed to the collection of at least $2,000 from the water supply. At this time the engine was used only about twenty-one hours per week to supply all with water who desired it.

(k) Niles Register, August 23, 1828.

(1) Statesman, May, 1829.

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On the Fourth of July, 1829, the following was a toast offered by Mr. R. Bryant: "Allegheny Borough .- An unparalleled exemplification of what indus- try and wealth combined are able to accomplish in a short period." In fact, Allegheny, at this time, was enjoying an extraordinary period of growth; so was Pittsburg and so were the surburban towns. The canal brought thousands of prospective citizens to this locality, and the towns grew with a speed that excited the admiration and kindled the joy of every citizen. Allegheny, as a borough, began operations in 1829. Its first loans were $500 for a market-house and $2,000 for the improvement of Federal Street.

In November, 1829, the act before mentioned passed the Legislature, divid- ing Pittsburg into four wards instead of the two then existing. The boundaries of the four wards were established as follows: All that part of the city lying north of the center of Liberty Street to be the North Ward; all between the cen- ters of Liberty and Market streets to be the West Ward; all beginning at the foot of Market Strect, thence up the center of the same to Fifth, thence along the center of the same to Grant, thence down the center of Grant to Fourth, thence along the center of Fourth and the line of the Farmers' and Mechanics' turnpike road to the city line, thence to the Monongahela River, thence to the place of beginning, to be the South Ward; all east of the center of Liberty Street, Fifth Street and the boundary of South Ward to comprise the East Ward. In 1830 the population of the wards was as follows: North Ward, 3,000; East Ward, 3,184; South Ward, 4,606; West Ward, 1,750.

By the later part of 1829 the city had spent on its water-works $47,913.99, and had issued water certificates to the amount of $90,000. At the close of 1829 the city owned lots on Grant's Hill valued at $3,800. Its indebtedness at this time amounted to $81,540.78, incurred chiefly in building the water- works. For 1830 a tax levy of $15,000 was ordered by the councils, which sum, together with the delinquent taxes and moneys arising from rents, fines, forfeitures, licenses, etc., it was estimated, would meet the city expenditures for 1830. Of this sum, $10,000 was appropriated to the extension of the water- works, etc .; $1,000 to the redemption of and interest on the city bills, and $5,837.90 to interest on the city debt.

In 1830 the southeast quarter of the center square in Allegheny, partly occupied by the market-house, was set apart for a market place for the sale of articles sold usually in the market proper. Public market was allowed to be held on Tuesdays and Fridays until noon.

By the act of April 23, 1829, Northern Liberties was created a borough, and by the act of March 1, 1837, it was added to Pittsburg as the Fifth Ward. By the latter act the West Ward was called First; South Ward, Second; East Ward, Third; North Ward, Fourth; and Northern Liberties, Fifth. Justices of the peace in Northern Liberties became, under the law of 1829, aldermen of Pitts- burg. By the act of March 1, 1837, the large tract on the east, which was settling rapidly, was ordered surveyed, as out of it other boroughs, and later wards, would have to be formed at some future day. These limits were as follows: From the city limits up the Monongahela to the mouth of Four-mile Run, thence up that stream to its source, thence to a branch of the Two-mile Run, near the brick house of Mr. Aikens, thence by such run to the Pittsburg and Greensburg Turnpike, thence by the Lawrenceville borough line to the Allegheny River, thence down the same to the city line, and thence to the place of beginning. By act of April 2, 1831, Birmingham was made a separate township, and elec- tions for the necessary officers were ordered to be held in January, 1832.

In 1830 there was assessed for county purposes in Pittsburg the sum of $9,203.21; in Allegheny, $1,314.13; and in Northern Liberties, $768.90. In 1831 the burgess of Allegheny received a salary of $50. The borough appropriation

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for this year amounted to $1,949.21. In 1831 the total sum paid to Pittsburg officers amounted to $3,242, and there was spent for cleaning the streets the sum of $2,156.45. In January, 1831, the mayor was authorized to employ special nightly patrols, owing to the great increase in assaults, fires and other offenses.

The law of 1787 reserved 100 acres in Allegheny for a common, or pasture, for the town. Previous to 1831 the Presbyterians built on this common a church, and at that date other perversion of its use was contemplated, where- upon a large meeting of the citizens was held on September Ioth for the purpose of taking action to prevent any further use of the same, otherwise than as pro- vided under the law of 1787. William Robinson, Jr., endeavored, by par- liamentary tactics, to defcat the object of the meeting, but was outgeneraled by other citizens. By an ordinance passed in 1828 the burgess and council of Alle- gheny had permitted the trustees of the Presbyterian Church to occupy on the common a tract 240 by 130 feet. The meeting of September 10th demanded that no other tract on the common should be diverted from the design originally intendcd, and requested that the Presbyterian Church already built thereon should, within a reasonable timc, be removed. This was a stormy meeting, but the intention of the citizens, in spite of the action of Mr. Robinson and others, could not be misunderstood. Decided opposition to the use of the Allegheny common for other purpose than originally intended was interposed by Messrs. Tassey, Avery, Plumb, Page, Blackstock, Montgomery, Tiernan, W. Herron, Barnett, McClelland and others. The burgess and council were requested to repeal the resolution granting the Presbyterians the tract of 240 by 130 feet.

In December, 1832, James Brown, Nathan Pusey, Abishai Way, Thomas Scott, David Evans, Thomas Williams, Adam Hays, Samuel Thompson, Allen & Grant, David Gricr, William Hays, Anthony Dravo, Samuel Robinson, John Wright and Thomas Cassilly, in compliance with their contract with the City Councils, built a markct-house on Liberty Street between St. Clair Street and Cecil Alley, at a cost of $1,550, and accepted the stall rents, as they became due, in payment for their labor. Previous to this the market-house was very much contracted and congested; the new building gave great relief. In May, 1832, so great had become the demand for water from the city works, it became cvident that a second engine would have to be set in operation soon. The Monongahela bridge, which had needed repairing very much, was greatly improved by Coltart & Dilworth in November, 1832, and made as substantial and convenient as ever.

During the period of the cholera scourge of 1832 Allegheny spent for sanitary measures the sum of $86.78.

Previous to January 1, 1832, the city had spent for improvements, $3,800 for lots on Grant's Hill, $1,435 for lots on the Allegheny River at the foot of Cecil Alley for the engine-house, and had spent a total of $III,086.52 on the city water-works. The city duplicate for 1832 was $17,592.77. During 1832 there was spent upon fire-engines and hose companies a total of $2,412.50. During the year the city paid as a bonus for temporary loans to the Bank of Pittsburg $2,000, and to the Bank of the United States $3,500. The interest on the city loans for that year amounted to $7,118.17. The net indebtedness of the city at the close of the year 1832 was $152,772.61. Previous to this the city had paid $7,000 for a tract upon which to locate its poorhouse. During the year 1832 the city purchased an additional lot on the Allegheny River at the foot of Cecil Alley, upon which to locate an additional engine-house. In June, 1832, the city effected a $10,000 loan for sanitary purposes. The cholera had made its appearance, and strict regulations were required to stamp it out. A temporary hospital was established at a cost of $965.08. During the year the sum of $7,833.88 was spent in cleaning the streets, in removing garbage, in

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repairing gutters and in scattering lime in the worst localities. The entire city levy for 1832 for all purposes amounted to $20,000. This was the largest sum levied up to that date. The county assessment upon the city for 1833 was as follows: East Ward, $2,847.14; West Ward, $2,701.85; North Ward, $3,835.57; South Ward, $4,697.33; total, $14,081.89; and for Allegheny Bor- ough, $3,III.OI; Northern Liberties, $1,599.78; Birmingham, $315.84.

The act of April 9, 1833, prohibited imprisonment for debt where the amount was less than $5.34, exclusive of costs, debt or judgment. In this year also lotteries were abolished in the State. In February, 1832, occurred the greatest flood known in the history of Pittsburg. In March, 1833, the Mayor's Court, pursuant to the law of April 22, 1794, limited the number of tavern licenses to 100. In May, 1833, an ordinance was passed creating a sanitary board, and an ordinance relative to sanitary measures, passed in 1832, was reenacted, and other steps were taken to prevent the spread of cholera. During this year Alle- gheny borrowed $6,000, the most of which, it was designed, would be used in sanitary measures. The act of April 8, 1833, made important changes in the election of city officers. It provided that the Select and Common Councils should meet and elect, viva voce, a mayor, on the second Tuesday in January, 1834, and by this act a portion of the South Ward was attached to the East Ward, and a portion of the North Ward was attached to the West Ward. This act fixed the voting place in each ward, and not elsewhere.

In an article headed, "Important Discovery," the Gazette of July 23, 1833, noticed that John Murray, in boring a short distance above the bridge on the south side of the Monongahela River, struck a body of salt water at the depth of 627 feet, which rose with sufficient force to reach thirty feet above the surface, and that about 7,000 gallons, enough for twelve or fifteen barrels of salt, were discharged every twenty-four hours. In going down he had struck ten inches - of coal at the depth of 133 feet, 33 feet of coal at 280 feet, 33 feet of coal at 440 feet, 33 feet of coal at 480 feet, 33 feet of coal at 580 feet, and 4 inches of coal at 602 feet, and had found gas at every vein, which continued to discharge for several weeks sufficient in quantity to light an establishment larger than the Exchange Hotel then in the city. After reaching the depth of 33 feet he had encountered 88 feet of slate, then 90 feet of varied sandstone, then more slate, then 7 feet of limestone, the only stone of the kind found, then, at the depth of 590 feet, had passed through a dark gray, rotten sandstone containing iron, then a body of hard, gray sandstone, then a stratum of white sandstone. At this time Mr. Anshutz was conducting his saltworks one mile below the city. In 1833 William Robinson, Jr., was deputed by a number of citizens to go to Har- risburg to aid in securing the incorporation of the Merchants' and Manufac- turers' Bank.

In August, 1833, the City Councils authorized a loan of $6,000, to be used for sanitary measures. The cholera was here, and much excitement prevailed. The act of December 26, 1833, required the councils of Pittsburg to meet on the first Tuesday in January, 1834, to divide the city into four wards, or elec- tion districts. The law provided that one select and five common councilmen should be elected annually from each ward, and that the mayor should be elected by a vote of the people. The latter was an important change, and at the time and later met with considerable opposition. The Select Council consisted of twelve members and the Common Council of twenty. Under the act establishing the four wards the councils fixed the places of holding elections in the four wards, but this course was changed at a later date and all four wards held their voting places in the Courthouse. This caused great confusion, and soon the voting places were transferred back to the wards. The act of February 18, 1834, created Lawrenceville a borough.

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For several years previous to April, 1834, the question of where the new Courthouse should be located perplexed the inhabitants of Pittsburg. At this date, however, a tract 337 by 230 feet, situated at the corner of Fourth and Grant streets, was purchased from James Ross for the sum of $20,000. The act of April 1, 1834, empowered the Court of Quarter Sessions and the grand jury jointly to incorporate any town or village containing not less than 300 inhabitants, and thus remove from the Legislature the annoying necessity of having to pass special acts for the incorporation of innumerable small bor- oughs. Early in 1834 Abraham H. Hodge, George D. Blaikie and Andrew N. McDowell, under the name of the Pittsburg Gas Company, were authorized to open streets, lay pipes and to have 3,000 feet in operation by July 4, 1834, and thereafter, annually, to lay 3,000 feet; and the exclusive privilege of fur- nishing gas to the city was granted them for the term of twenty-one years. In 1834, $664 was paid for police patrol, and on election night, owing to antici- pated riots, $145 extra was paid for special police patrol. One hundred and fifty men were required to guard the city on this occasion. The water-basin, or reservoir, stood on Grant's Hill, and the engine-house on the Allegheny 'River at the east side of Cecil Alley. Up to this time the water-works had cost the city the grand total of about $120,000.

In 1834 the city appropriated, among others, the following amounts: For the Eagle Engine and Hose Company, $200; for the Allegheny Engine Com- pany, $150; for the Neptune Engine Company, $215; for the Vigilant Engine Company, $700; for the first Pittsburg Hose Company, $200; and for the Union Hose Company, $150.

In May, 1834, the councils appointed a committee to select a site for a hospital. The location chosen was in Summerville, but the citizens of that suburb vigorously protested against the establishment of such an institution there. In 1834 John M. Snowden was register and recorder, which position paid about $2,000 per year.

In 1834 the county jail was used by both the city and the county, and at that time was in a miserable condition. It was stated in the newspapers that for a period of thirty years the institution had been pronounced unsafe by the grand juries, and that for many recent years its sanitary condition was a shame to the county and city authorities. It was declared that, owing to its unsafe, unsanitary and tottering condition, it would be declared a nuisance without any hesitancy if it was a private institution.

It seems that up to this date the night patrol of the streets was not an established custom, and had been resorted to only in emergency cases. So great had become the number of criminal assaults that in October, 1834, a large meeting was held in the South Ward, and resolutions were passed declaring that a permanent night-watch was essential in that district to the security of life and property, and that suitable street lights should be provided; and it was further resolved to memoralize the City Councils to that effect.

The first $70,000 of indebtedness created under the ordinance providing for the erection of water-works fell due on July 1, 1835. This necessitated a previous provision for meeting the certificates as they accrued. Other indebtedness, to a considerable amount, feil due December 15, 1834. To meet all this, an ordi- nance was passed December II, 1834, calling for a loan of $75,000. Notices were issued in the Pittsburg and Philadelphia papers for sealed proposals for the whole or part of that amount, the paper to draw five per cent. interest, payable semi-annually in Pittsburg or Philadelphia; $20,000 to be redeemable in July, 1862, $20,000 in July, 1864, $20,000 in July, 1866, and $15,000 in July, 1868. Each certificate was to be of the denomination of $100, and all proposals were to be opened May 1, 1835.

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In 1834 city printing was done by the following individuals and firms: Leonard S. Johns, Alfred Sutton, Joseph Snowden, Richard Phillips, Neville B. Craig, John B. Butler, Wilson & Marks, Mr. Etzler, Alexander Jaynes, John- ston & Stockton and Mr. Smith, and amounted to $664.75. About this time William Wilkins was paid a fee of $1,000 for his services in the famous Monon- gahela Batture case.

In January, 1835, the city treasurer was allowed $15 in good money in lieu of that amount of counterfeit notes which he had received, and which were ordered destroyed by the City Councils. There were outstanding at this time, unredeemed, old city bills to the amount of $847. Five hundred dollars was appropriated to be applied toward their redemption. The city loan seems to have been increased, because, in March, 1835, it was announced that the entire issue of $80,000 of five per cent. certificates had been taken by Jackson, Riddle & Co., at one per cent. premium. At this time the city was busily engaged in filling in the deep cut over the tunnel. The assessment of Pittsburg in 1835 was $22,269.90; Northern Liberties, $2,663.88; Allegheny, $6,415.61; Birming- ham, $601.06; Lawrenceville, $349.12. The three principal hotels at this time were the Mansion House, kept by B. Weaver; the Pittsburg Hotel, by C. McKib- ben, and the Exchange Hotel, by James Crossan.

In January, 1835, the Pittsburg Board of Trade was first organized. Thomas Bakewell was first president and S. P. Darlington first secretary. At the first annual meeting in January, 1836, William Bell was elected president, Alexander Brackenridge and Michael Tiernan vice-presidents, S. P. Darlington secretary and D. M. Hogan treasurer. A constitution was prepared the previous year by William Ebbs, George . Cochran, George Grant, J. P. Bakewell and Louis Peterson. The advisability of uniting the two organizations, the Board of Trade and the Chamber of Commerce, was discussed in December, 1835, and recom- mendations in favor of such a course were adopted. The councils levied two inills for school purposes in 1835, and it was estimated that such levy would net to the city schools the sum of $8,300. For the year 1835 a special appropria- tion of $1,000 was made for sanitary purposes.

In 1835 it was particularly noticed by the newspapers that Pittsburg, Alle- gheny and their suburbs were growing at a tremendous rate. It was esti- mated that the population of Allegheny was nearly 5,000; that numerous large industries, including cotton factories, had been erected there. In September, 1835, it was stated by the Gazette that five schoolhouses, a new county prison and a splendid structure for the Bank of Pittsburg were in process of erection. It was stated that in Pittsburg during the year, previous to September, sixty- four brick buildings and forty-eight stores were erected; that in Northern Lib- erties sixty-seven dwellings, one iron railing factory and one church were erected; and that in Birmingham six dwellings, one lock and screw factory, one glass- factory, one cutting-house and one store were erected. Great improvements were also noted in Arthursville and Hayti. About this time the Select Council passed an ordinance to restrict the limits of the Allegheny River at the bridge and aqueduct, which proceedings, it was claimed by a number of the citizens, were taken in the interest of private individuals in order to extend their lots as far as possible into the river. A conspiracy was alleged to exist and an investi- gation was demanded. At this time great improvements were made in the streets, sewers and in grading the bank of the Monongahela. So great had become the increase of criminal depredations within the city limits by 1835 that a large meeting was held to take action thereon. After admitting that there seemed to be a spirit of disorder which was sweeping over the country, and that the same had visited Pittsburg with all its force, it was resolved that sufficient pressure should be brought upon the mayor and the councils to so increase the

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Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 80

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co. Number of Pages: 1192

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1192