USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Braddock > The unwritten history of Braddock's Field (Pennsylvania) > Part 7
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 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
Byron Pierce and Herman Steiner were conductors on this line, David Bradford, J. E. Griffith and Christ Forney were motormen.
Herbert Delafield was a conductor on one of these early cars and the youngest street-car conductor in the country at that time, being but sixteen years of age.
The second invoice of cars obtained for service on this line was the product of the Braddock Union Planing Company, now the Braddock Lumber Company.
One of the noteworthy results of the coming of the electric cars to Braddock was the doing away with the old-time cobble-stone paving.
THE SECOND AVENUE PASSENGER COMPANY.
In the year 1893, the Braddock and Turtle Creek Railway was taken over by the Second Avenue Passenger Company, and the line extended as far as Glenwood. The latter company continued the line to East Pitt- burg in 1895, and to Wilmerding in 1896. Herbert. Delafield, the young man already mentioned, was conductor on the first car that went through to Pittsburg from Wilmerding.
The Corey Avenue line was built by the Second Avenue Passenger Company and the franchise was granted August 2, 1887. The object of
. 75
THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
this branch was perhaps to divert the traffic from the proposed line of the Monongahela Company through North Braddock to East Pittsburg.
THE BRADDOCK ELECTRIC.
Beginning in 1893 the Braddock Electric, with A. L. Saylor of Pittsburgh, President, and Charles Ellis of Swissvale, Superintendent, operated a strictly local line. Starting at the South Side of Braddock Avenue, the track led down Thirteenth Street, to Talbot Avenue; along Talbot to Second Street; up Second to Mills Street; along Mills to Fourth Street; up Fourth and across Pennsylvania railroad tracks at Copeland
HERBERT DELAFIELD,
The first Conductor to run a car from Wilmerding through Braddock to Pittsburgh.
HENRY FOYE,
Motorman on first Street Car operated in Braddock.
Station to Hawkins Avenue, and along Hawkins east, as far as Dookers Hollow; also from Talbot Avenue up Eighth Street to Braddock Avenue, up Library Street and Jones Avenue to Bell Avenue.
An effort was made to complete the circuit of this line at Thirteenth Street by crossing the tracks of the Pennsylvania railroad and connecting with the line in North Braddock. But this was met with strong opposi- tion at all times, and the opposition was so acrimonious and the through lines so advantageous that the Braddock Electric was forced out of business.
THE MONONGAHELA STREET RAILWAY COMPANY.
The Mellon Brothers, buying out the holdings of the Braddock Electric Company, began the development of street railway business upon a vastly larger scale, under the corporate name of The Monongahela Street
76
THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
Railway Company. The contract with the borough was signed November 10, 1896.
L. Wheeler, now deceased, was superintendent of this division and served until the summer of 1898, when Frank McCoy, who had been super- intendent of the Pittsburgh and Birmingham South Side lines, was elected, and served until the time of consolidation. During the incumbency of Mr. McCoy, the development of the street car service was amazingly rapid.
In the road-building series begun by this company, the first unit was completed July 5, 1897, when the first car operated between Braddock and Homestead over the West Braddock bridge.
This route had a decided advantage over the Second Avenue line, which took its serpentine course down the right bank of the Monongahela river to Highland Station, and there transferred its passengers across Brown's bridge to Homestead.
The Yellow Line, so called because of the color of its cars, operated its first cars from Thirteenth Street on Talbot Avenue over West Brad- dock bridge to Pittsburgh, December 4, 1898. Twelve cars were scheduled, and made the round trip in two hours. When it came to opening the road to Duquesne and Mckeesport, the first thought of the Mellon Brothers was to go up Talbot Avenue to Thirteenth Street and there cross the river on a bridge to what is now Kennywood Park. This of course met no opposition in borough council for the company had paid $5,000 for the franchise. To the surprise of all concerned the company began the construction of a line along the hill on the south side of the river, leaving Braddock on the other side of the river from the main traffic between the two principal cities of the county.
Thus the line was opened and the initial car operated between Du- quesne and Braddock over the West Braddock bridge, December 10, 1898.
Onward is the word that charms the willing powers of the ambitious, and the next line was opened to East Pittsburgh via Eighth Street across Braddock Avenue; up Library and Jones Avenue and out Bell Avenue, February 1, 1900. On the same date, the first car on the upper line from Wilkinsburg through North Braddock to East Pittsburgh, was operated.
Another unit was added to the numerous lines already in opera- tion when the Blue line, or the Swissvale and Rankin, on January 10, 1901, sent out its first car from Thirteenth Street on Talbot Avenue connecting with Rankin at West Braddock Bridge by extending the bridge over the B. & O. tracks. This line was believed to be the shortest and consequently
. 77
THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
the quickest route to the city. The road from Wilmerding to Pitcairn was opened in 1902 and continued to Trafford in 1903.
So engrossed was the company in the thought and work of putting their lines into speedy operation, that the housing of the cars seemed to have been lost sight of. When the matter was forced upon them, tempo- rary quarters were secured with the consolidated company in the Home- wood barns until the completion of their own barn at Rankin in 1900.
When the lines were completed and about to open, Superintendent McCoy, with other officials, took representatives of the Pittsburgh and local press over the road in two special cars. Returning from this tour of inspection a banquet was given in the assembly rooms of the new car barn on Talbot Avenue, Rankin.
THE PITTSBURGH RAILWAYS COMPANY.
The Monongahela Street Railway Company in building their roads and operating their rolling stock had rendered a service to this community better than they knew.
The climax in the development of street railway service was reached when, on the first day of January, 1902, the Monongahela Street Railway Company, the Consolidated Traction Company and the United Traction were merged into the Pittsburgh Railways Company.
Mr. Fred. R. Wilhelm, who came here in April, 1899, as dispatcher, was made superintendent of the Monongahela Division No. 4 at the time of consolidation, and has been the efficient executive ever since.
The street car industry has worked to the development of Brad- dock as a residence section for working-men in the mills. A five cent fare will carry a man from Braddock to any of the important works of the Monongahela Valley, including Homestead, Munhall, Duquesne, across the river; the enormous furnaces and machine shops in Rankin; tlie immense Switch and Signal Company's works in Swissvale; the Westinghouse in East Pittsburg ; and the entire Edgar Thomson Works in North Braddock. Or a five cent fare will carry a resident in any of the communities named to any of the Braddock industries. Thus through the instrumentality of the street car lines above described more than 40,000 men are carried daily from home to work and from the mills back home for a nickel fare.
The traffic on these lines is enormous, having increased from those three small cars and one mile of track in 1891 to one hundred large cars, 65 miles of track and serving approximately 100,000 people.
CAMP COPELAND AND THE CIVIL WAR.
BY MRS. JENNIE S. LAPSLEY
Braddock's Field was a small town in 1861 when the call came for men and means to help preserve this Union of ours. Small though she was, she was patriotic and gave of her best. Men were soon enlisting and hurrying to the front, at first in the three months' service and then for three years.
A fife and drum corp was formed and with martial music helped to keep up the courage both of those who left and of those who remained at home.
A familiar sight in those days was the red shirts of the Home Guard as they went back and forth to their drill grounds, which were where the Carnegie School now stands. Their guns were mostly home made, shaped out of a piece of wood; but what matter, they answered the purpose of the drill. As there was not much work to be had, the men had plenty of time on their hands and the drill was a daily occur- rence. From this organization many went into the army.
The other day while talking with a dear old lady about the Civil war, she told me how she had climbed the hill to the Pennsylvania rail- road and as the train, crowded with its cheering men went by, she had held up her baby boy that its father might see it again. The old lady, Mrs. Nathaniel Lowry, and her son, Mr. John S. Lowry, now one of the substantial and most highly respected citizens of Braddock, prominent in industrial, fraternal, civic and church work, are still living in Braddock, but the father fell at Fair Oaks. As she told the tale I thought of the many sad stories that have been related of those days, and feared that our nation may soon be again living through such scenes.
Some of those who enlisted from Braddock's Field were: George F. House, Samuel T. Guthrie, John P. Guthrie, William H. Furlong, James McCauley, George Petty, Thomas Kinney, David McCune, Isaac Mills, J. A. Young, William Smith, Charles Harrison, Daniel Oskin, Alexander Law. Zacharia Oskin, William Ford, William Sarver, Eli R. Dowler, John W. Adams, Charles Adams, Frank Dunbar, William Redman, Hiram Baugh- man, C. C. Lobingier, J. T. Getty, John Strathern, A. R. Adams, W. H. Morrow, James Strathern, Nathaniel Lowry, Alex. McCauly, Wm. Mc- Combs, Wm. Sherwin, John Soles, David Perry, Thomas Hadden, George
-
ยท 79
.
THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
Gibson, Lester Gibson, Augustus Schultz, Conrad Speidel, John Mc- Cracken, James A. Russel, Frank Russel, John Kolb, Jack James and two brothers, George Smith, David Bradford, Robert Forsythe, Samuel Hart, James Johnson, Patrick McGreevy.
This list is probably incomplete.
Of this number nine are still living-four of them in Braddock.
Captain William Smith, Charles Adams, John Strathern, Nathaniel Lowry, David Perry, and John McCracken never returned home.
According to a circular issued by the War Department, Washing- ton, D. C., July 3, 1863, three rendezvous for drafted men were established in Pennsylvania. One was to be at Pittsburgh and the site selected was a portion of the Mill's farm near the Pennsylvania railroad at Braddock's Field.
These depots were for the purpose of receiving and conducting to their several regiments the men of the draft, who were assigned to fill them. The commandants of the rendezvous were informed of the num- ber of drafted men to be sent to each regiment, and they prepared the detachments and sent them as soon as the requisite number could be made up.
Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Kane was appointed in charge of this camp, July 4, 1863. He was relieved July 18, 1863 by Brig. Gen. Joseph T. Cope- land. Gen. Copeland had charge until March 26, 1864 when he was relieved by Col. M. D. Hardin.
At first the camp was composed of tents, but later, lumber was obtained and buildings were erected, the work being done by the men in the camp.
In the picture reproduced here, may be seen the hospital in the foreground close to the railroad. In the entreme left is the Commandants' house, and next to it are the officers' quarters. The other buildings are the barracks for the troops.
The original picture was obtained from Mr. Walter Collins, who had it taken in 1864, while he was located at Camp Copeland with his com- pany under Capt. James L. McFeeters, who was for many years after the war a resident of Braddock.
This insert is a picture of Mr. Collins who served three years. He saw much service under Pope and Burnside being in the battles of second Bull Run and Fredericksburg; then was under Grant when Vicksburg fell. Later he spent about a year at Camp Copeland helping to drill the men and taking charge of squads that were sent out to fill up regiments. Mr. Collins is now living on Washington street in Braddock.
CAMP COPELAND,
WALTER COLLINS, One of the men who Instructed the Recruits at Camp Copeland.
81
THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
This camp's location so close to the town kept the people con- stantly in touch with the soldiers. At times there were as many as six or seven thousand men in camp. It is said by those who lived in Braddock's Field at that time, that these men were generally orderly and well behaved, giving the people little occasion for complaint. They were rather fond of stopping at the different homes to chat with the people, and never were above accepting a pie or cake when offered them, though they were not always careful to return the plates.
Sometimes the citizens would clash with the authorities in camp. Mrs. Nathaniel Lowry tells the following story: Many of the fences hav- ing been taken down and used for firewood, the animals of the surround- ing farms sometimes went astray. One day a prominent citizen lost a pig and, going to the camp, blamed the soldiers for taking it. An argu- ment arose and later a soldier went to the man's home and asked his wife to send a dinner to the gentleman. They had placed him in the guard house, and they kept him there until four o'clock that afternoon.
The camp was called "Camp Copeland" in Honor of Gen. Copeland while he was in charge. When Col. Hardin took command he named it "Camp Reynolds" for Gen. Reynolds, who had fallen at Gettysburg. Later, however, the name first given was again taken and we now always speak of it as Camp Copeland.
During the year 1864 there was much sickness in the camp. Many of the men died and were buried in the Robinson graveyard, but their bodies were afterwards raised and transferred by the government to the Soldiers' plot in the Allegheny Cemetery. There was at least one case of. small-pox at this time.
A sad accident happened at the Camp when one of the Mills boys, while handling a gun, was accidently shot. He died shortly afterwards.
Religious services were held at Camp on Sabbath afternoons and were attended by the townspeople.
Soon those that remember Camp Copeland will have passed beyond and it will be only a small matter of history. During the time of its ex- istence, however, it was woven very closely into the life of the people of Braddock's Field.
An order April 29, 1865 closed the camp, but the name still remains, that portion of Braddock being still called Copeland as is the station on the Pennsylvania Railroad at that place.
A SURVEY OF INDUSTRIAL BRADDOCK AND BRIEF HISTORY OF THE EDGAR THOMSON STEEL WORKS.
BY HUGH P. MEESE.
FOREWORD.
A history is not evolved from some historian's inner consciousness. It is, on the contrary, the result of a vast amount of digging and refining, the value of the history depending upon the patience with which the his- torian has delved and the clarity and judgment of his presentation.
It will be readily apparent to the reasonable man that in the odd moments of six weeks lapse of time no very exhaustive history can be both assembled and written out.
Space having only been accorded me for one full history, I have as- signed that honor, correctly I believe, to the Edgar Thomson plant, in which a vastly greater number of Braddock's citizens have been employed than in any other establishment, and which is also the most famous of her industries.
To the many friends and associates who gave me such kind as- sistance and advice in the scramble for facts and dates, I wish to extend my deepest thanks. HUGH P. MEESE.
Swissvale, April 7, 1917.
EDGAR THOMSON OPEN HEARTH PLANT.
-
EDGAR THOMSON WORKS-VIEW FROM HILL ABOVE BESSEMER STATION.
84
THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
SURVEY OF INDUSTRIAL BRADDOCK.
In 1850 the Monongahela at Braddock's Field rolled through a quiet scene of sylvan beauty. Thickly wooded hills shaded her peaceful waters on the south, while on the Braddock side long grassy swards dipped to the river's brim.
The low land along the river, now filled in with cinder, ash, and slag, and usurped by belching steel plants, was the home of the bullfrog and the meadowlark, while on a summer's night a thousand glow worms swung their lanterns in the swamp land and gave the first faint prophesy of the myriad electric arcs that later were to change night into day upon that ground. Not clouds of smoke, but flocks of white-winged pigeons hung beneath the clear, unsullied sky, and in quiet hickory groves the oriole swung his nest where now the operator's cage scurries back and forth on the Edgar Thomson cranes. The robin and the woodthrush called, and no steam siren split the air, nor was the busy tapping of the woodpecker yet transformed into the clamor of the pneumatic riveter. The rail-saw not yet challenged the nightly supremacy of the screech-owl and the bat, and no sudden clang of steel startled the sleeper's ear. Truly a golden age.
But not for Braddock was the lure of green fields and running waters. Hers was to be a life of action and achievement, hers was no Lotus land of dreams. Already the faint tapping of a hammer and musi- cal song of a distant saw-mill come at intervals on the quiet air: her in- dustrial history is beginning.
As in so brief a survey only a few of the more important industries can be mentioned, we will waive consideration of the countless little en- terprises that Braddock must have mothered between the days of Frazier's cabin and the middle of the last century, and assuine our story with the barrel and furniture factory of seventy years ago.
This barrel factory, which also made chairs and furniture of the rougher type, seems to have been founded shortly before 1850 by a Mr. Soles and others of Scotch descent, who originally hailed from Massa- chusetts. The exact date of its commencement is shrouded in obscurity, but we know that about 1850 John and Daniel Richardson purchased the business and started the Braddock Saw Mill and Boat Yard, located on the present site of the city's water plant. This firm, in turn, was later bought out by Lazear, Sollinger, and Patton, and was doing business as late as 1878, when the property was purchased by the Borough of Braddock as a site for the city's water plant.(1)
(1) The data on this subject is the result of investigations by Mr. C. S. Marks.
-----
. 85
THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
In 1861, shortly after the inauguration of the great Civil War, the Mc Vay-Walker Foundry was built at Braddock, and during the re- bellion made many supplies for the Federal Government. Later this firm did much of the small casting work for the Edgar Thomson plant, and has really been the mother of all Braddock's steel and iron industries. It is still doing business today at the age of 57 years, although during 1916 the firm suffered a disastrous fire. It is undoubtedly the oldest of Braddock's larger industries.
Among the numerous lumber companies that followed the early planing mill were the Grannis Brothers and the Dowler Lumber Company. The Dowler Lumber Company was established in 1866, according to Mr. Thos. J. Dowler, and went out of business in 1912.
1872 saw the commencement of the world-famous Edgar Thomson Steel Works, and likewise the start of the famous local plant of McCrady Brothers, who now do such an extensive business in hauling and in sand, coal, lime, stone, etc. James McCrady did much of the hauling work for the new plant, and McCrady Bros. have grown steadily ever since, until at the present time it has over 60 teams and 11 motor trucks, and is well known for reliability and promptness all over Allegheny County. The firm today consists of J. H. McCrady, J. H. McCrady, Jr., Ed. McCrady, W. F. McCrady, H. C. McCrady, J. F. Baldwin, and W. L. Bender.(1)
Late in 1875 the Edgar Thomson Steel Works (which are treated at length later in this article) got into operation. and no industrial develop- ments of major importance appear in this district until 1882. In that year the famous "Duquesne Forge" to which reference is so frequently made by old inhabitants, was built at Rankin on the ground now occupied by the McClintic Marshall Construction Company.
The Duquesne Forge(2) was originally constructed on Duquesne Way, Pittsburgh, by Joseph Heigh, William Miller later becoming a part- ner in the firm, and the name being changed to "Miller's Forge." The Pittsburgh plant was torn down and rebuilt at Braddock in 1882 under the old name, "Duquesne Forge," Miller and Alexander McKim (now of Swissvale, Pa.) being partners in the enterprise. The river industry was of great importance in those days, and the forge made all sorts of boat and ship supplies, such as stanchions, shanks, shafts. chains, gears, etc., some of the forgings running as high as 100,000 pounds weight. The original firm had done work for Government torpedo boats during the Civil War, and
(1) Data on McCrady Bros. secured from the office of that firm.
(2) Data on the Duquesne Forge secured from Mr. Alexander McKim of Swiss- vale.
85
THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
when the Spanish War broke out the Rankin firm made some 300 cannon for the Government, weighing on an average 25,000 pounds apiece. The firm employed about 200 men, and was one of the large industries of its day. In 1905 McClintic Marshall absorbed the property.
The success of the Lucy, Isabella, and Edgar Thomson Blast Fur- naces was very alluring to other steel men in the early 80's, and in 1883 we find William Clark Sons and Company building the first of what is now known as the Carrie Furnaces(1) at Rankin, on 35 acres of ground pur- chased from John Adams. The first blast furnace produced about 100 tons of iron a day, under the supervision of Superintendent Martin H. Thomp- son. The original furnace was removed from Port Washington, Ohio, and blown in February 29, 1884. They are each 100 feet high, with 23-foot bosh and 15-foot hearth. Subsequent superintendents of the plant have been :
William Rotthof,
Harry Watt,
George K. Hamfeldt,
Jacob A. Mohr.
The Carrie Furnace Company erected a second furnace in 1900, and the Carnegie Steel Company, which later took control, has built the following additional furnaces :-
Two furnaces in 1900.
One furnace in 1903.
Two furnaces in 1907.
The acreage has been increased from 35 to 66 acres, and the pro- duction from 35,000 to 894,000 tons of pig iron annually.
The plant now employs about 1,000 men, and is under the super- vision of Mr. A. A. Corey, Jr., General Superintendent of the Homestead Steel Works. It is, of course, a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation.
The present operating staff of the plant consists of the follow- ing officials :-
Jacob A. Mohr, Superintendent,
H. A. Berg, Assistant Superintendent,
T. E. Kenney, Pay Clerk,
Michael Ryan, General Operating Foreman,
(1) Data on the Carrie Furnaces secured from J. A. Mohr, Superintendent, and a book entitled "The Inside History of the Carnegie Steel Company."
. 87
THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
Chas. L. Davis, Assistant Master Mechanic,
Wm. Jackson, Assistant Superintendent Electrical Department.
In May, 1884, the Braddock Tannery, operated by Owen Sheekey and James Callery, commenced operations in Rankin on the site of the present Wire Mill. It covers 17 acres and originally employed about 60 men, and in its best days did a business of from $150,000 to $200,000 an- nually. The plant, however, was burned out in 1886, and thereafter did business on a somewhat smaller scale, employing only about 35 men. A second disastrous fire occurred August 28, 1893, upon which the firm went out of business, selling out to the Braddock Wire Company. On the oc- casion of the first fire they had sold about 12 acres to the wire company, and they now sold the remainder of their ground to the same concern. Information on this subject was secured from the sons of Mr. Owen Sheekey, and from the Superintendent of the Rankin Wire Mill, Mr. E. H. Broden.
In 1885 the W. R. McCloy Glass Works were erected at Rankin Station, on a 5-acre tract of land fronting on the Union Siding of the P. McK. & Y. and B. & O. Railroads, and extending back to the Mononga- hela river, the property adjoining the ground of the Duquesne Forge on the south. Here one of the first tank furnaces ever built in the Pittsburgh district for making crystal blown glass was constructed. The product chiefly consisted of lantern globes, fruit and candy jars. In the year 1887 The Braddock Glass Company, Ltd. was organized and incorporated, and the capacity of the plant enlarged by the installation of one 10-pot fur- nace. This company employed about 150 men, and in addition to the former product, also turned out a complete line of lamp chimneys. In March, 1892, the plant was totally destroyed by fire, which is said to have originated from sparks emitted by a passing switching locomotive. The whole country was at that time entering a period of depression, and the works were consequently not rebuilt.(1)
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.