USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > Lancaster > The story of Lancaster, old and new : being a narrative history of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, form 1730 to the centennial year 1918 > Part 16
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CITY HALL AS IT APPEARED IN 1855
REMOVAL OF COUNCILS TO FULTON HALL 245
At a meeting, October 20, following, it was ordered that "The Presidents of Select and Common Coun- cils be authorized to sign bonds of a city loan to the amount of seven hundred dollars, and that the sum of $650 thereof be applied to purchase the aforesaid State House and buildings, and the balance to be paid into the treasury."
With the purchase and fitting up of city hall, at the same October meeting, another loan of $5,000 was authorized "to pay and complete the four new market houses in course of erection, and that the Mayor be instructed to negotiate a loan on the best terms possible." This was followed by the report of the committee on the new market houses stating that the expenditures, including the price paid for the several properties to this time, amounted . to $43,846, and that the receipts, including the special appropriation of $40,000, were $42,125, leaving a deficit of $1,725.
The properties referred to were eleven in number, used for various purposes. However, this new market house must not be confused with the present brick structure standing in the place of the one long since removed, costing $40,000. Nor has it refer- ence to the building over which Blue Lodge have their rooms.
At a meeting, January 10, 1854, it was ordered by Councils, "that arrangement be made with H. M. Reigart, postmaster, to get the post office in the building adjoining that of the Mayor's new quarters-to-be. Also, that any part of city hall not otherwise engaged be let for exhibition purposes
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until such time as alterations be made for the con- venience of Councils and other departments of the town government."
The first organization to ask permission to meet in an upper room of city hall was the Young Men's Christian Association, and which was granted.
At a convention of Councilmen held in Fulton Hall, February 3, 1855, Jacob Albright was elected the seventh mayor, and sworn into office by Judge Hayes.
On March 3, as the records show, the Mayor, Councils and other officials of the town government went from Fulton Hall to their new permanent quarters in city hall, where they have resided officially ever since down to the incoming year 1918. But the end is not yet; it was at a meeting, December . 23, 1856, that the property committee reported that they "had rented the room to the postmaster, H. B. Swarr, for a term of four years at the same price Mr. Reigart had been paying, to be used as a post office and nothing else."
Postmaster Swarr held the office under Mr. Bu- chanan until 1861, when Mr. John J. Cochran was appointed by President Lincoln.
Of the twenty-two postmasters in the borough and city of Lancaster, the first was Samuel Turbett in 1790. He was succeeded by the following: John Stone, Henry Wilcox, William Hamilton, George Moore, his wife Ann, Mary Dickson, George W. Hammerly, H. M. Reigart, Hiram B. Swarr, John J. Cochran, H. W. Hager, Ellen H. Hager, James H. Marshall, H. E. Slaymaker, Elwood Griest,
REMOVAL OF COUNCILS TO FULTON HALL 247
John E. Malone, Elwood Griest, Adam C. Reinoehl, S. Clay Miller, H. L. Trout, Louis W. Spencer, the present postmaster.
As has already been referred to, we have no means of knowing where or in what building the first post- office was held in 1790. However, it was not during the whole of these one hundred and twenty-nine years that the delivery man was in evidence. For years there were no postage stamps like at the present day for souvenir collectors or no government envelopes. And yet, people are not satisfied to rest over the Sabbath. What the letter carrier did not bring them on Sunday, they called for at the office- window until Uncle Sam concluded to give the over- worked officials a day's rest to attend church service.
Whether the officials are underpaid or overpaid we do not know. What all have reason to know is that they are most welcome visitors, provided there be a ring at the door-bell at least three times daily. During years gone by they were usually handed a small stipend on each Christmas. It used to be the same with the newspaper carrier lad, and who, after handing in his almanac souvenir embellished with a picture, received sometimes a nickel, at others, a dime, and from the kindly disposed a quarter or, maybe, a half dollar. And since we come to think it over, these free-givers have never been forgotten by once newsboys. So, in closing this chapter, do not fail to be kindly disposed toward the boys! They, as a class, have long memories, and seldom forget favors to buy goodies with! All boys have appetites for goodies! And it is better that coppers
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go for these delicacies than to burn a hole in their pockets. Again, before closing, have you ever thought why boy trousers have pockets anyway? Dress a six-year old in pantaloons without pockets and you can imagine the result. They are not simply to be filled with slate pencils, a jacknife and other worthless odds and ends, but with paddy cakes and ginger horses! Every school ought to have a paddy cake shop in which goodies are dealt out instead of too much of the non-essentials of the present-day school room curriculum.
CHAPTER XX
LANCASTER JOCKEY CLUB. Two-FORTY ON THE PLANK ROAD FOR SPEEDERS
IF anyone is predisposed to the opinion that clubs of any and all kind are peculiar to this twentieth century, and particularly to "New Lancaster," his opinion must undergo change after reading of the "Gentlemen's Jockey Club," one of "Old Lan- caster's" famous organizations. It was started as far back as the year 1830 by the town's sporting fraternity.
Its rules and regulations would lead one to suppose that its members were imbued with a desire to im- prove conditions which had hitherto prevailed among the drivers of fast horses. Printed in pamphlet form, the club's rules were set forth as follows:
"For the encouragement and breed of fine horses, which all experience has proved is best promoted by occasional trials of speed and strength; and for the prevention of that vicious dissipation, which is too common on such occasions, unless the races are under the direction of an association, empowered and determined to prevent it by the exhibition races respectably conducted. The subscribers there- fore agree to unite and form a society which shall be stiled 'The Lancaster Jockey Club' for the en- couragement of the breed of fine horses."
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For the preservation of harmony and good order, as the twenty-two rules and articles of the club indicated, it consisted of one hundred members with an annual fee of ten dollars, payable in advance. Its membership was not confined alone to Lancaster. It included the owners of fast horses from various sections of other states known for their respect- ability and standing.
As only a few of the club's provisions need be mentioned, these ran as follows: "The officers shall have entire control over the place where the races may be given, and it shall be the special duty of the officers to prohibit all gambling; that no cards, dice, tables, boards or cloths of any kind or description, shall be suffered. No member shall suffer any gambling on his horse, or within the sphere of his control.
"Every rider at starting must be dressed neatly and cleanly, in boots or half boots, leather or nan- keen breeches or pantaloons, white shirt, jockey cap and silk jacket, with sleeves; in default thereof, the horse, mare or gelding, to be rode by such rider, shall not be permitted to start. And if two or more riders shall appear dressed in the same uni- form, the rider of the first horse entered shall have preference. And the time between heats shall be twenty minutes for mile heats, twenty-five for two- mile heats, thirty for three-mile heats, and forty for four-mile heats. The Judges shall give the word, 'Are you ready'?
"The course shall measure one mile, and the following shall be the weight to be carried, viz.,
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Aged horses 126 lbs .; six year old, 120; five year old, 112, four year old, 102, three year old, 88. The Stewards shall provide a good set of scales with good weights, for the use of the club. After the races are over, the result shall be published in the American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine, and in the papers of Lancaster.
"Riders, jostling, whipping each other, or each other's horses, is foul riding; and every rider guilty of infringing the rules, shall be deemed distanced, and the rider rendered incapable of riding any nag, for any prize of this association."
For many years this was known as "The Lan- caster Gentlemen's Jockey Club" composed of all reputable owners of fast horses. Where or in what part of the city the club's race track was located, we have no means of knowing. Enough has been shown, however, that it might have continued down to the early fifties when "The Manheim, Petersburg and Lancaster Plank Road Company" came to throw a halo of glory over the spirits of all owners of fast horses.
It was on September 13, 1852, that a committee was appointed by Councils to "ascertain on what terms a settlement could be made between said company and the city growing out of the condition of North Queen street over which the plank road extended to James."
The plank road! Of course, it was not a turn- pike, but it was built beside one, extending clear through to the old town of Manheim, pretty much as the trolley at the present day along other pikes.
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Most elderly people have no doubt heard the once familiar expression, "Two-forty on the Plank Road"! When it was first conceived, it was looked upon by some of the older members of the "Jockey Club" with unmixed pleasure. And now a word or two as to how it was constructed. Planks nine or ten feet long and two inches thick were laid on stringers with turnouts to avoid a collision. But, at last, as the planks began to flare up at their ends, the sporters' joys came to an untimely end. And so ended the "two-forty" on the plank road leading to the town of Manheim.
Years later came the electric car, to be followed by the automobile, the greatest champion for good roads the world has ever seen since the dawn of history. Their only disadvantages are the habit of stirring up the dust, and turning turtle occasionally after striking a trolley pole. Whether poles were planted to be struck, we have no means of knowing. That they are struck, all drivers of cars well know. They seem to have a peculiar fascination for striking poles in turning out in giving up the middle of the road to some obstreperous farmer in his dear- born. At times an automobile has been known to go tearing through a gate, and all for the saving, not the toll, but to see how far they can go with the least consumption of gasoline!
It used to be said that the man who rode in a sulky was always in danger of the axle breaking in the center, causing the two wheels to grasp the lone rider back of the ears. Again, even in ye olden times a stage coach was liable to overturn,
FRANKLIN COLLEGE
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spilling its passengers into a ditch. So, things have never been so bad but that they might not be worse! No! nothing can be worse than to be scared out of one's wits by the blowing of the abominable auto-horn!
It is at times pleasing to note how the proceedings of Councils have always something old yet new to suggest. And now, ye young students of Franklin and Marshall, give eye to what is to follow. It was on the 25th of July, 1854, that the Select and Com- mon Councils met by invitation to "join in pro- cession with the Trustees and patrons of the college to their new home in the Northwestern part of the city."
The old brick college from which the procession started stood on Lime Street opposite where stood the Schroeder mansion. At the time, more than sixty years ago, people wondered what had ever possessed the management to locate so far out in the country! And country it was to all intents and purposes. But not so today! By some it was intimated that the trustees wanted to get their students out of the hurly-burly of town-life. For a time the college stood almost alone on an extended plot. But it was not long until came residences with macadam roads and well-laid pavements along the thoroughfares. And who can predict what another six decades may have in store for Franklin and Marshall with its bathing resort during the summer and a skating rink during the winter. Known as "Buchanan Park," what a magnificent resort it has become, even if it did cost one hundred
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thousand dollars of the taxpayers' money! It might have gone for a less useful purpose!
In closing this chapter, the chronicler has a letter before him from a gentleman who was born in "Old Lancaster" in the year 1834, at present a resident of the Cumberland Valley. Never having met the writer, its contents at once reawakened an interest in the life and career of Mr. Stevens.
"Having read your 'Cherished Memories,' kindly loaned the writer by one of your city friends, it was after learning of your intention to write a narrative of the town of my birth, that prompted one of over four-score to relate an episode or two which are at your disposal, provided there is still room for what the relater has had stored in memory since a boy in his teens. And since your lady-readers seldom read a book without a love story woven therein, one shall be told occurring back in the middle forties. As it goes, there resided on Mulberry Street opposite Shreiner's graveyard, a most beautiful young lady with many admirers among the young men of the town. If all were persistent in their attentions, there was one among the number who persisted in outdoing his rivals for the hand and heart of one who shall be designated Miss Maggie Remson.
"For a fortnight the ardent young lover was always on hand, and at such an early evening hour as to turn all the rest of his rivals homeward bound. Having at last popped the question to Miss Maggie, with what he considered a favorable response, made . or implied, off one cold, snowy December evening,
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he ran his way, never stopping until he had reached the parsonage of the Rev. Glessner, favorably known at the time, beloved by all who knew him well and intimately.
"Telling him of his mission, away together they went through the storm to the young lady's residence. Reaching the knob of the door, to the lover's surprise, he found it locked to all outside intruders. Rap, rap! No response came from within. Moments followed as they stood shivering from the cold wind with the temperature near the zero-point.
"At last, kneeling and placing his lips to the key hole, he called in pitiful tone, 'Maggie! Maggie, why don't you open the door? Don't you know the parson is here to tie the marriage knot?' As no reply came, with the light burning brightly within, and the parson shivering without, he continued his pleadings, 'Oh, you cruel Maggie, You'll repent of this sooner or later!' With this threat falling on the ears of Miss Maggie, at last the door flew wide open. Entering the parlor, it was found deserted with no prospective bride in evidence. At last, in she stepped, and as the ceremony was about to be performed, turning on her heel she haughtily exclaimed, 'I-am-not-going-to-get-married-this-eve- ning. I have changed my mind, so I have!'
"What followed is a scene indescribable, as the disconcerted young lover, on bent knee, implored her to change her mind. This, after some pleading, she did, still manifesting her former haughty de- meanor.
"Stepping forward, the Rev. Glessner exclaimed
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in low, sympathetic tone, 'Since you, Miss Maggie, have changed your own mind so suddenly, I have also changed mine. The reason I have to give is, that after the wedding ceremony you may want to change it again in seeking a divorce. But listen to reason. Dry your tears. Calm yourselves. If two weeks hence both are of the same mind, come to my parsonage, and I will perform the marriage ceremony.'"
As the Rev. Glessner was later overheard to say: "At the appointed hour they came as happy as two children; and so, happily they went their way, not by any means forgetting the marriage-fee." But the sequel is to follow: For some years they lived together, when the end came; both being laid to rest in Shreiner's graveyard.
"And now to the sequel: Later, after returning from the war, it was my pleasure in visiting the city of my nativity, to go strolling through this almost abandoned graveyard in looking up the tombs of the departed Maggie and her husband when my eyes took in the monument of another I had seen many a time in the Penn Square court house. Re- calling as it did pleasing reminiscences of other days, homeward I went my way almost forgetful of my visit to Shreiner's graveyard. And it was not until reading in a Lancaster paper later of an attempt to exhibit on canvas a scene reflecting on one with whom father had been so intimately acquainted, that the thought occurred of giving your readers a short sketch of the great 'Commoner.'-
"This 'emancipationist,' as he was known even
FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL COLLEGE, BUILT 1854
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before his advent into your city during the middle forties, had already achieved fame not conferred upon him by either chance or favor. Long years as a plodder, first with Blackstone, later with other law- books, had placed him above asking favors from any of the town's practitioners with whom he was to measure swords not only in his adopted city and county, but in the higher courts as well.
"Having purchased a house wherein he could dwell among his law books, not to be found in any of the taverns, what he needed most was a house- keeper to look after his bachelor wants. In a certain town the name of which has escaped my memory, he had known one of color respected by all who knew her, but having married, another of equal character was recommended. This colored woman had two sons by her marriage. But no sooner had she installed herself and sons in a frame house in the rear of the bachelor's residence than the tongues of gossip began to wabble that this fifty-year-old attorney was living on perfect equality with a negro woman, which meant a failure to observe the well- established system of social ethics which prevailed among all classes of the town's social life.
"As father would frequently say, this was the opportunity his political enemies were awaiting, and among the first to charge him with the buying up of votes were those most jealous of his political ascendency. Apart from this, who, it may be asked, was this colored woman? As a boy we had seen her on the streets as a dignified, high-minded lady of color, in no way pronounced, and yet with colored
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blood in her veins. Of medium height, if not prepossessing in the eyes of her defamers, as a conversationalist she was exceedingly entertaining. Knowing well the position she had assumed, she at all times went her way as a consistent Catholic, and who later was buried in St. Mary's cemetery, of the church of which she was a member.
"Of one thing to her credit, this much can be said, without fear of successful contradiction, that, down to the close of the great Commoner's career, covering nearly thirty years, Lydia attended him with all the tenderness of a true woman!
"But what was the attitude of this great lawyer and statesman as history shows? Did he drag his vilifiers into Court? No! He spurned them as he gradually overreached the great majority.
"Rather a singular coincidence, say you not, my author friend, that these two episodes should follow one the other? And yet, follow they have from a man well past his four-score with memory, however, undimmed by age. And now, before bringing this long letter to a close, I was an intimate friend of Charlie Wise, and recall the time his father took him to a city in North Carolina where, after making an ascension himself, Charlie entered the balloon. Reaching terra firma in safety, he was presented with a fawn deer by the girls, which he brought home to Lancaster with him. Over this, we boys had much pleasure.
"One other thrilling occurrence yet to be men- tioned-the murder of the Melchor Fortney family, that took place Saturday, October 20, 1845. The
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whole town seemed to have gathered nearly opposite where Woodward Hill Cemetery since has been located. Everywhere the cry went out, 'Hang him, hang him!' And hung Haggarty was, in the yard of the old stone jail at the corner of Prince and West King."
With this ends my octogenarian's letter-the man whom it has never been the narrator's pleasure to meet. However, it would seem that surprises are sure to follow, one the other, for no sooner had the Stevens episode been quoted than came an invitation from Blue Lodge No. 43 to attend the celebration of James Buchanan's hundredth year as a member of said Lodge.
Recalling both James Buchanan and Thaddeus Stevens, never were two statesmen, residing in the same city, so different in their personal and political proclivities. Neither was to the manor-born. James Buchanan, while a native of Pennsylvania, was born in 1791, and died in Lancaster in 1868, at the age of seventy-seven. Thaddeus Stevens, born in New England in 1792, died in Lancaster, the same year, 1868, at the age of seventy-six.
Mr. Buchanan entered the United States Senate in 1844; Mr. Stevens, Congress, along about the same time. It has been said that they only spoke on one occasion-over a law suit. And why, it may be asked, came I, as a boy to like Mr. Stevens, and dislike Mr. Buchanan? For the reason that my father, being a Whig, liked the one and disliked the other, politically speaking. And how could it be otherwise after hearing Mr. Buchanan spoken of
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in the campaign of '56, as "Ten-cent Jimmy"! The moral-never speak disparagingly of any one in presence of your children. It is sure to leave a deep, lasting impression, not so easily to be elimi- nated in after years! More men have been swayed in their political proclivities through prejudice than from conviction. It is cruel, heartless! Give every boy a chance to form conclusions of his own without prejudicing his young nature in favor of opinions ofttimes based on prejudice or political availability !
CHAPTER XXI
CHANGES IN CITY LIFE ARE LIKE THE CHANGES OF THE SEASONS
IT has been a long endless search and research among the records in finding the names of those who for one hundred and seventy-six years were engaged in building Lancaster as we find it almost to the present day. Of the number, including the burgesses and their assistants, the great majority have passed over the River of Time, leaving the work for other hands to finish. To finish? No city has ever been finished-it is forever undergoing change, sometimes by repair, at others by extension. With most municipalities, more time has been given to undoing what has been done amiss than to have built up an entirely new city from start to finish. Few men live long enough to see the error of their way of doing things. Their own judgment, they think, is never to be questioned by incoming gener- ations.
In the building of the market house in 1798, when the burgesses gave the right in perpetuity to Blue Lodge, No. 43, to erect a hall over it, they thought their action could never be questioned. And yet, mark what happened. The Councils had hardly more than entered city hall in 1855, than the question arose as "to the ownership of the whole
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of the market house including the lodge rooms." Finding on due examination that the city's title to it was faulty, a committee was appointed to confer with a similar committee of the lodge. The purpose was to ascertain on what terms they would be willing to vacate, provided that "nothing shall be construed to impair the title which the city already has to a room 'always to be at the disposal of the city.'"'
The reply was such as might have been expected on the principle that "possession is nine points of the law." Shown the deed of agreement entered into between the burgesses and lodge, what redress had councils? And as for the room to be at the disposal of the Corporation, and later the city, it has remained in undisputed possession of Lodge No. 43 ever since, with no disposition on the part of the city to lay claim to it.
This is the story of the market house, substantiated by the actions of burgesses as far back as 1798. With city hall, the councilmanic minutes make it clear that its title rests in possession of the city of Lancaster. Of course, the legal mind may have recourse to data setting aside all that the council records show.
Adjoining the market house on the West King Street side stood a vacant space formerly called "Union Court," embracing along said street 16 feet, and extending back 40 feet; this Lodge No. 43 bought from the city for the sum of $2,685.31. On this the lodge erected a "plain, substantial three-story building, the first story for store rooms, the second and third stories for Lodge purposes.
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