Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens, Part 5

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing
Number of Pages: 1036

USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Altoona > Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens > Part 5

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0* on the obligors or signers therein and thereto. *

"A supplement to the foregoing Act was passed during the same session of the Legisla- ture and approved April 20, 1846, which pro- vided that the October term of court should begin the third Monday of the month, the July term was changed to the second Monday in June and it also provided that "the Governor shall, on or before the second Monday of June next, appoint three judicious persons as .com- missioners of said county, to serve until their successors shall be duly elected and qualified, who shall perform the usual duties of county commissioners, together with such duties in re- lation to jurors and a place for holding the courts as by said Act were imposed on the commissioners to be elected at the next general election."

"From the text of the foregoing Acts it is ap- parent that the county of Blair could not have a complete and separate existence until its boundaries were definitely ascertained and fixed by a commission to be appointed later. It is also apparent that the Act was framed with great care and with the view of outlining a

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

complete modus operandi for consummating the wishes of the people resident in the territory embraced. It is evident also that some over conservative people, fearing that taxes might be increased to provide for the new county buildings, had interposed such objections to the project that it became necessary for others more broad-minded and liberal to step into the breach and give their personal obligations, to the extent of a twenty-thousand dollar bond, that this would not occur. The names of James Gardner and Samuel Calvin were consequently incorporated in the Act, and for the deep devo- tion to the public welfare, denoted by their generous deed. have been thus immortalized. while the names of the petty objectors to a grand object are now buried in deserved ob- livion. All honor, then, to those noble spirits who have been found in every age and every clime ready to lay both life and fortune on their country's altar when occasion demands the sacrifice.

"Under the Act just recited the governor ap- pointed on the commission to run the county lines and determine the location of the seat of justice. Henry McBride, of Westmoreland county; General Orr. of Armstrong county ; and Judge Christy. of Juniata county, who acted promptly, established the county lines as they now are and chose Hollidaysburg as the county seat. The choice of Hollidaysburg was a fore- going conclusion. it being then the largest town in this part of the state and the residence of most of the active workers for the new county : the only other towns of importance in this vicinity were Frankstown. Martinsburg. Wil- liamsburg and Gaysport. Altoona and Tyrone. now so greatly exceeding it in population and importance. were undreamed of. The number of townships in the county at its formation was eleven, since then four more have been added by dividing the original ones. The townships are now Allegheny. Antes. Blair. Catharine. Frankstown. Freedom. Greenfield. Huston. Juniata. Logan. North Woodbury. Snyder, Taylor. Tyrone and Woodbury. of which the following have been formed since 1846, viz. :

Juniata in 1847, Logan in 1850, Taylor in IS55. Freedom in 1857.

"The territory thus segregated, separated from the other civil divisions of the Common- wealth and established as an independent county by the highest authority in the state, is well defined by natural boundary lines most of which are tops of mountain ranges, and Blair county is in fact a little empire by itself, though by no means a little county, surrounded on all sides by mountains of considerable elevation ; ingress and egress being had only through a few gaps or breaks in these ranges. Dry Gap, Kittan- ning Gap and Blair's Gap on the west, to Cam- bria county, the eastern limit of the Mississippi Valley: a narrow gap north of Tyrone up the Bald Eagle creek to Center county, and another east of the same town and down the Juniata river to Huntingdon county ; still another from Williamsburg eastward along the valley of the Frankstown branch of the Juniata to Peters- burg. in Huntingdon county-the route of the old canal-and two or three wagon roads south from Martinsburg and Claysburg into Bedford county. Its extreme width from east to west is about twenty miles and its length north and south thirty miles: area. 594 square miles or 380.160 acres. The entire county may be re- garded as one great valley containing numerous detached mountains and large hills. inter- spersed with many smaller fertile valleys and little streams, besides the larger valley and three branches of the Juniata river. Its geographical position is about thirty miles southwest of the center of the state. and it lies between the fortieth and forty-first degrees of north lati- tude and between the seventy-eighth and seventy-ninth degrees of longitude west of Greenwich.

"The geographical center of the county is in Frankstown township about three miles north- east of Hollidaysburg. The center of popula- tion. which at the formation of the county was not far from Hollidaysburg. is now within the limits of Altoona city and firmly anchored there.

"The principal mountains within the county, aside from the Alleghenies on the western

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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

boundary and Tussey's mountains and Bald Eagle ridge on the east are Brush mountain, Canoe, Dunning's, Short, Cove and Lock mountains.

"Of the valleys, Logan is the largest, ex- tending from Altoona to Tyrone, the western portion of this, in earlier years, was known as 'Tuckahoe"; Sinking Valley, in Tyrone town- ship, in which Sinking run, after a course of several miles, disappears in the earth; Scotch Valley, extending from Frankstown north- eastwardly and Morrison's Cove in the southern part of the county; Canoe Valley along Canoe creek; and many others not dignified with a name.

"The streams of the county are Frankstown branch of the Juniata, which is the largest and flows northeast from Greenfield township through Freedom, Blair and Frankstown town- ships and between Catharine and Woodbury, to Porter township, in Huntingdon county, where it empties into the main stream near Peters- burg, on the Penn'a R. R. Beaver Dam branch of the Juniata, which flows through Allegheny and Blair townships, separates Hollidaysburg from Gaysport, and empties into the Franks- town branch near the village of Frankstown; and the Little Juniata, the true stream, which rises in the Allegheny mountains, in Logan township and flows south to Juniata Borough, near Altoona, thence northeastward to Tyrone, thence southeastward through Huntingdon county and after being joined at Petersburg by the Frankstown branch and at Huntingdon by the Raystown branch, it flows on as a noble river to its confluence with the Susquehanna, fifteen miles west of Harrisburg. The other streams are Bald Eagle creek, coming in from Center county on the north, and emptying into the Juniata near Tyrone, Moore's run. Sink- ing runs in Tyrone township: Homers. Mill. ing run. Hutchison's run, Elk run and Three Springs run all in Snyder township: Taylor. Bells Gap, Laurel and Beaver Dam runs in Antes township; Elk, Arch Spring and Sink- Kittanning, Burgoons and Brush runs in Logan township; Blair creek, Sugar and Brush runs in Allegheny township; Oldtown and

Robinson's runs and Canoe creek in Franks- town township; Canoe creek, Fox, Roaring and Yellow Springs runs in Catharine town- ship; Clover and Piney creeks in North Wood- bury, Huston and Woodbury townships ; Haltar and Plum creeks in Taylor township; Poplar and Roaring runs in Blair township; Poplar, McDonald and Donaldson's, South Dry and Paw Paw runs in Freedom township; Bobb's creek, Blair creek, Blue Knob, Poplar and Dry runs in Juniata township; Beaver creek, Pole Cat, South Polar, Amelia's, Bobb's, Dia- mond, Queen Esther's, Pine, Smoky and Roar- ing Spring runs in Greenfield township. The water of all these numerous streams is dis- charged into one or the other branches of the Juniata.

"Retrospectively we note the development and growth of this territory. As a part of the great province given to William Penn in 1681 by King Charles the Second of England, it re- mained an unexplored forest inhabited only by roving Indian tribes, until about 1750. If any white man visited it prior to that date he left no permanent record of the fact and our earliest knowledge of it begins with the brief mention by Conrad Weiser. August 20. 1748. that he passed up the Juniata river and stopped at Frankstown.

"In 1750 it formed part of Cumberland to which it belonged until the formation of Bed- ford county in 1771. During this period it was opened up for settlement and clearings were made and settlers located in Morrison's Cove (about 1760) and at Hollidaysburg and vicinity (in 1768). Some of the early settlers were massacred by the Indians. In 1771 Bedford county was formed and included all of Blair until 1787, during which period occurred the Revolutionary war. the colonists gained their independence and began to be governed to some extent by laws of their own framing yet the great body of English law. as applicable to the business and social relations of the community, were retained and enforced until specially re- pealed by legislation that conflicted therewith. and to this day some English statutes, enacted

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

prior to the Revolution, are held to be in force in Pennsylvania.

"Some considerable improvements were made during this period, especially the cutting of a wagon road through the forest on the old Indian trail over the mountains, and some other local roads, but nothing like a town or village with shops and stores was founded in this re- gion until a later period.

"In 1787 Huntingdon county was erected and included all of Blair except North Wood- bury and Greenfield townships, continuing thus until 1846. During this period Frankstown, Hollidaysburg, Gaysport, Williamsburg, Mar- tinsburg and several other small places were laid out, and some of them incorporated as boroughs, the pike road, from Huntingdon to Blairsville, passing through the county on the line of the old state road, was constructed and a few years later the canal and Allegheny Port- age railroad, and Hollidaysburg became a place of considerable importance, so much so, in fact, that the people were averse to paying tribute to Huntingdon by taking their suits there for trial and aspired to become independent of the mother county. The formation of the new county of Blair was agitated and having been successfully achieved in 1846, the next great improvement was the building of the Pennsyl- vania railroad and the founding of a great city -Altoona.

"The commissioners appointed by the gov- ernor, to run the boundary lines, performed the duties imposed on them so expeditiously that by the first of June, 1846, all had been con- cluded and the governor appointed county of- ficers as follows, to serve until their successors should be duly elected and qualified, viz .: Val- entine Lingenfelter, William Bell and William C. McCormick, county commissioners ; Benja- min Betts, sheriff; George R. McFarlane and Daniel McConnell, associate judges; Jeremiah Cunningham, prothonotary and clerk of the courts; John M. Gibboney, register and re- corder and John Cresswell, district attorney.

"On the eighth day of June, 1846, the county commissioners were sworn into office by Ephraim Galbraith, a justice of the peace, and

held their first session. The next day they agreed on a plan for a court house and put up notices to contractors to bid for its construc- tion. H. A. Caldwell was employed as clerk to the commissioners at a salary of $150 per year, and Robert H. McCormick was appointed county treasurer, to serve until the next elec- tion. Rooms were also rented to use for county offices until the court house should be erected. On the fourth day of July, 1846, the contract for the first court house was let to Daniel K. Ramey, and the stone house of John Mahoney was leased for a temporary jail. On Monday, the 27th day of July, 1846, the first court in the county was held in the Methodist Episcopal church of Hollidaysburg; Hon. Jeremiah Black presiding. Judge Black held twelve terms of court in the county, when the judicial districts of the state were reorganized, and Blair county, with Huntingdon and Cambria was made the twenty-fourth district and Governor Johnston appointed George Taylor, of Huntingdon, president judge.

"The first suit brought originally in the common pleas court of Blair county was for divorce, Mary Armstrong vs. John Armstrong, subpoena issued June 23, 1846.

"Perhaps the most remarkable thing in con- nection with the first court in the county was the number of lawyers admitted to practice therein. On the first day of the term, July 27, 1846, no less than forty-nine attorneys were sworn in and the following day three more. Evidently it was thought that Blair county was destined to be one of the most important in the state.

"The county officers, appointed by the gov- ernor, only held their offices until the end of that year as their successors were elected at the first general election after the formation of the county, and this occurred October 13, 1846, re- sulting in the election of Samuel J. Royer for high sheriff; Joseph Smith, prothonotary and clerk of the courts ; Louis H. Williams, register and recorder ; John K. Neff, Edward McGraw and William Bell, county commissioners; Charles E. Kinkead ; Wm. P. Dysart and James

68396

CASINO, LAKEMOUNT PARK, ALTOONA

LAKEMOUNT PARK, ALTOONA, SHOWING LAKE AND CASINO

RUSTIC BRIDGE, LAKEMOUNT PARK, ALTOONA

P. W. FINN'S RESIDENCE AT ANT HILLS, NEAR ALTOONA

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

Wilson, auditors; Joseph Morrow, treasurer and Capt. Joseph C. Morgan, coroner."

ERECTION OF COURT HOUSE AND JAIL.

After the organization of the county it be- came the duty of the commissioners to pro- vide the necessary buildings for the new county officers. Accordingly on the 9th day of June, 1846, they entered into a contract with Major William Williams for rooms in his buildings to be used temporarily until the necessary build- ings could be erected. These buildings were situated on lot 61 of the original plot of Holli- daysburg on the northeast corner of Allegheny and Wayne streets. The officers of the prothonotary and register and recorder were established in a building formerly owned and occupied by Christian Garber, then deceased, while the commissioners' office was located in a structure then termed the Episcopal meeting- house, but which had been built by William Mc- Farland about 1833 and occupied by him some five or six years as a cabinet shop and ware- house. The first courts were held in the Methodist Episcopal church, while the stone house of John Mahoney was improvised as a jail. The occupancy of the buildings contin- ued about one year.

At the same date, June 9, 1846, when these buildings were leased, the commissioners also determined upon the size and issued a notice calling for bids for the erection of a new court house and jail. A site was secured, on which the present house now stands, and on the 4th day of July, 1846, upon a bid of $11,998.50, the contract was awarded to Daniel K. Reamy. So rapidly did he proceed with the work that both were completed and occupied in June, 1847. There were some changes and additions to the original plan which swelled the entire cost of both court house and jail to $14,576.18 and it has been given as a fact that he cleared in the contract about $5,000.

The buildings were constructed of brick and the court house was two stories in height, and was a good substantial building. However, the growth of the new county made both in- sufficient for the volume of business that was

still increasing at a rapid rate. In 1868 the plans for a new stone jail on the most ap- proved style of prison architecture was com- pleted and bids called for its erection. In the same year the contract was awarded to Jona- than Rhule, a native of the county. The cost was about $100,000.

The plans were drawn by Edward Havelan and were considered almost perfect as to light, ventilation, general sanitary conditions and security. Robert Waring, John C. Biddle, Robert R. Hamilton, Joshua Roller and David Henshey were appointed by the commissioners to supervise the work .. Sheriff H. B. Huff was the first keeper.

However, the legislature on the 10th day of April, 1873, enacted a special law authorizing the commissioners to appoint a warden annually subject to the approval of the court. A. Baird was the first keeper appointed under this new regulation. He was succeeded the following year by John McClure, who continued up to his death. John B. Kephart took charge on the first of April, 1880, serving for ten years when Martin Baird was appointed, the latter serving for ten years, or until 1900, when Cal- vin Lang was appointed. Mr. Lang was suc- ceeded on January 1, 1910, by John B. Riddle, the present warden.

In the early seventies the opinion became prevalent that the old court house was too small for the amount of business transacted and an unsafe place for the keeping of the records and documents necessary to be preserved. It was, therefore, after some preliminaries, recom- mended by the grand jury at the April session of court, 1875, to build a new house "for the reception and safe-keeping of the records, as may be necessary for the proper use of said county."

The commissioners adopted a plan designed by David S. Gendel, an architect of Phila- delphia. It was to be constructed of cut sand- stone in the most approved style of modern architecture on the site of the old one. Accord- ingly, on the IIth day of August, 1875, adver- tisements for proposals to erect the new build- ing were published. Twenty-three bids were

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

received, varying from $100,003 to $100,068. John Schreiner of Pittsburg, Pa., was the lowest bidder and the contract was awarded to him. After having decided to erect a new house the commissioners on the 26th day of May, 1875, entered into a contract with Andrew Myers to superintend the removal of the old court house and jail, and also contracted with Michael Walls for the necessary excava- tions for the new building. Mr. Walls died while the work was in progress, but his con- tract was faithfully carried out by his friends.

DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW COURT HOUSE.

The new building is erected upon a nearly level terrace formed by raising the entire lot of ground to an average height of over three feet above sidewalk of the two streets. The ter- race is surrounded by low stone walls and pro- vided with a wrought iron railing. The ascent from the sidewalk is by a broad flight of steps on each street, the entrance on Allegheny street being thirty-four feet broad. At each corner of the wall, and at each entrance, are large stone posts, surmounted by ornamental wrought-iron gas-standards.

The terrace has broad landings and foot walks, laid with large flagstones. The spaces between the footwalks and the walls are laid out in grass and shrubbery. The designs and color of the stone work connected with the ter- race being the same as the building, giving to the whole a unity of expression, and materially adding to the dignity of the building.

The building is in the modern Gothic style of architecture with the Italian treatment. This style, while it is directly founded upon medieval Gothic, omits many details of the latter, or adapts them to modern requirements.

The exterior walls of the building are of stone. The facing is of cut stone (the greater portion of which is from the Massilien quar- ries ). The color of the main body of the work is a warm, sunny buff, while alternate arch- stones, with the hood-mouldings over the arches, the string courses, cornices and many of the other ornamental portions of the work, are of a beautiful peach bloom color. The two

colors present a sufficiently strong and yet a very agreeable contrast. While the different parts are thus sufficiently emphasized the effect of the whole is exceedingly harmonious and pleasing and free from that "patch work" ap- pearance which is the bane of much modern architecture where stones of two or more colors are employed. Inside the exterior stone walls are four and one-half inch brick walls, erected separately from the stone work, to which they are tied with wrought iron anchors. There is an air space of one and one-half inches between the stone walls and the brick lining. Thus free- dom from dampness is secured.

The plan of the structure bears some re- semblance to the letter T. In width it is seventy feet in the front, eighty-three and one-half feet at the rear and fifty-five feet across the narrow part. Its total depth is 1321/2 feet. The front portion of the building is two stories in height, surmounted with a high slated roof.

When the new court house was completed Judge John Dean issued the following order :

"And now, 3rd of May, 1877, in open court on the second Monday of April term, it appearing to the court that the new court house, the erection of which was commenced at April term, 1875, will be completed and ready for occupancy on the 2nd of July, 1877, at argu- ment court, and that in view of the magnitude of the undertaking, the character of the building, its im- portance to the county, in view of the increasing popu- lation and its largely increasing judicial business, the completion of so important a public work should be marked by proper notice; therefore, it is ordered that A. S. Landis, Samuel Calvin, Thad Banks, B. L. Hewit, Daniel J. Neff, H. H. Herr and A. A. Stevens, esqs., be a committee to prepare a suitable programme of cere- monies, and make such arrangements for dedicating the building to public use on the day aforesaid as may be proper.

By the court, JOHN DEAN, Presiding Judge.

The committee prepared the following order of exercises :

Court called at II a. m. Adjourned session. Adjournment of court on motion of Hon. S. S. Blair.

Meeting of the bars of the district, organized with Hon. Thaddeus Banks, president.

Prayer by Rev. D. H. Barron, D. D. Music.

Historical address by Hon. John Dean, presi- dent judge. Music.

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

Address, Hon. Samuel Calvin.

Address, Hon. Jeremiah S. Black. Music.

Addresses by Col. R. A. McMurtrie and others.

Court convened at II o'clock, promptly. The judges took their seats and the voice of the crier was heard for the first time in the new temple of justice. Then Hon. S. S. Blair arose and in a fitting and appropriate way referred to the important things that were to follow and moved the adjournment of the court.

Mr. Landis, chairman of the committee of arrangements, announced the appointment of officers for the occasion. President, Hon. Thaddeus Banks; vice presidents, Geenral John Williamson of Huntingdon; John Felon, Esq., of Cambria county.

Mr. Landis in a short address congratulated the assembly on the auspicious occasion that had called them together.

Hon. Thaddeus Banks, as chairman, gave thanks for the honor conferred upon him and made very complimentary allusions to the three judges who occupied the bench in Blair county, Black, Taylor and Dean.

After prayer by the Rev. Dr. Barron and music by the band, Hon. John Dean was intro- duced by the chairman and delivered the his- toric address. Judge Dean spoke in part as follows :

"Of Judge Black, in presence of this audi- ence, as a lawyer and a judge, I need not speak at length. Whether as an advocate at the bar, presiding in the common pleas, judge and chief justice of the supreme court, attorney general of the United States, delegate at large to the constitutional convention of 1873, everywhere he has honored himself and has reflected honor on the people who honored him. His legal opinions and arguments are the delight of lawyers, for it may be said of him, as Coke said of Littleton, 'He cites not many authori- ties, yet he holdeth no opinion but is approved by these two faithful witnesses in matters of law, authority and reason.' While his name and fame are national, we claim the distinction of saying he held our first court, he was our first judge.

"As we have seen, on the 5th day of April, 1849, the twenty-fourth district was created. George Taylor, then a young but able lawyer of the Huntingdon bar, was appointed by Gov- ernor Johnston, president judge. He held his first court in this county on the second Monday of July, 1849, the summer term having been changed back from June to July. Under this appointment he continued to hold court until the October term of 1851. In the mean time the amendment to the constitution had been adopted, called amendment of 1850, which pro- vided for the election of the judges of all the courts ; that their terms should be for ten years; that the term of all judges then in office should expire on the first Monday of December follow- ing the adoption of the amendment; and that the terms of those elected should commence at the same time.

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Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens, Part 5

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872- Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing Number of Pages: 1036

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing
Number of Pages: 1036