USA > Pennsylvania > Warren County > Warren > Warren centennial : an account of the celebration at Warren, Pennsylvania July 2d, 3d, and 4th in commeration of the first century after the laying out of the town of Warren > Part 2
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
Samuel P. Johnson arrived in 1834, and at once became a prominent figure. In that year also came Carlton B. Curtis, who was member of the Assembly in 1837-38. Lewis F. Watson came in 1835, a boy of 16, clerking, writing in the recorder's office, and finishing his education under Rasselas Brown at the academy. In IS41 he entered upon his business career which terminated so successfully. Between 1835 and 1843 Judge Nathaniel B. Eldred resided here, the first of the president judges to dwell in Warren. In 1837 the dream of Thomas Struthers, Dr. William A. Irvine, and some other visionaries, of a railroad from the tide-water at Philadelphia to the lakes at Erie, began to be real- ized. The Sunbury & Erie Railroad Company was incorporated. But it took more than twenty years of patient and persistent effort to bring the iron horse and his train into Warren.
In 1838, owing to causes over which the honor- able and high-principled president had no control, the Lumberman's Bank failed disastrously. Mr. Falconer, ruined in fortune and smarting under unjust criticism, retired from the world, his vigor- ous intellect impaired by anxiety. The picture of him which we insert is from an oil portrait by W. A. Greaves, presented to the Warren Library
30
WARREN CENTENNIAL
Association by W. T. Falconer, Esq., of Jamestown, N. Y.
In 1839 the first bridge over the Allegheny was built. It was located nearly in front of where the residence of Mrs. Rasselas Brown now stands, and some remains of the pier and approach on the southern side may still be seen.
In 1840 came Dr. D. V. Stranahan, followed by Dr. Gilbraith A. Irvine in 1842, two prominent figures in Warren during their lives.
Warren in those days was a depot of supplies for the lumbering camps located on all the streams. The Jacksons, Halls, Irvines, Meads, Mckinneys and Hooks were busy turning the noble pines into lumber, and our merchants were generally dealers in lumber as well. As the spring rains raised the streams the lumber floated to Warren from the upper Allegheny and the Conewango, and was here "coupled up" into the regulation " Allegheny Fleet." The eddy was a scene of noisy activity and the streets were filled with raftsmen, many of them somewhat more than "gentlemanly gay " with the whiskey which was plenty enough in those days. At times one could almost cross the river on the rafts moored side by side, and every eddy for miles above and below would be filled. Among the lumbermen a conspicuous figure was Guy C. Irvine, of Irvineburg, on the Conewango. "Old Guy," as his familiars called him, was one of the largest operators on the river, "rough and tough," like Joey B., but in his roughness and toughness much more dangerous than Dickens' amiable old soldier. The old resi-
31
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
dents are full of stories of the men of the river. It was James Olney, the noted Allegheny pilot, if our recollection be not in fault, who, after examin- ing with the eye of an expert the hull of the steam- boat which Jerome W. Wetmore built near Warren to test his idea of a walking boat, gave his opinion to this effect :
CARVER HOUSE.
"With a good ingine, 'n a good starn-wheel, 'n a good pilot, 'n plenty of beech wood, she-may- go-down stream, but she'll never come back --- never !"
The Germans organized the Evangelical Associa- tion as early as 1833, and the Baptists had a church organized in 1834. The first church building to follow the Presbyterian was, however, the Lutheran,
32
WARREN CENTENNIAL
built by the Germans in 1846-48. The Catholics built a church in 1850, the Evangelicals in 1852, and the Baptists in 1859.
In 1849 the building in which the first court was held, the Warren House, kept by " Commodore" John H. Hull, was pulled down, and the Carver House erected by Joseph Carver. This was the first brick building for private use in the town. The second was the "Tanner block," on the corner opposite the site of the old Jackson Tavern, which was built the same year by Archibald Tanner.
The Warren County Bank was chartered in 1852, with Joseph Y. James as president and Orrin Hook, Rufus P. King, Thomas Clemons, John N. Miles, Myron Waters and Lewis Arnett as directors. In 1859 the name was changed to Northwestern Bank. Its place of business was a small brick building built for it, between the Carver House and Trinity Memorial Church. After an honorable though brief career it failed in 1862, owing to mismanagement of its interests in New York.
In January, 1843, Glenni W. Scofield was admitted to the bar, and at once entered upon his distinguished career as a lawyer, statesman and jurist. In 1846 he was appointed district attorney of the county, and in 1849-50 he represented it in the assembly.
Lansing D. Wetmore began his legal career in 1845, in which year our oldest merchant, O. H. Hun- ter, came to town. With a short interregnum of absence, the latter has been continuously in busi- ness here ever since, now more than half a century.
The honor of seniority may, however, well be dis-
33
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
puted by Christian Smith, who began in the boot and shoe business in 1846, and has continued with- out interruption to this day.
In 1857 came Chapin Hall, to begin private bank- ing. William D. Brown, who had been previously a student at the Warren Academy under Rasselas Brown, came as a law student about IS45, and was ad- mitted in 1847.
From 1851 to 1855 Carlton B. Curtis represented the dis- trict in Congress, and after his re- moval from Warren he also represented the Erie district in that body.
The senior mem- ber of the bar resi- O. H. HUNTER. dent in Warren, since the death of Gen. J. Y. James, is Lothrop T. Parmlee, whose admission dates from 1842.
In 1857 the railroad project was revived in good earnest, Thomas Struthers throwing himself into it with his characteristic energy. In December, 1859, the line was completed from Erie to Warren, and the advent of the first train was celebrated by bonfires, speeches, and a general jollification.
Among the engineers who were drawn to Warren by the railroad building were Hugh W. McNeil,
3
34
WARREN CENTENNIAL
afterwards distinguished in the army, and A. D. Wood, who possessed a literary faculty which would have given him a wide reputation had he sought it. At this time Chapin Hall was in Congress and Glenni WV. Scofield in the State Senate.
In this year, also, began the oil excitement on Oil Creek and at Tidioute. The first flowing well was drilled by Watson, Tanner, D. M. Williams and others, and since then the production and refining of petro- leum has been an important factor in Warren business circles. D. M. Williams and Ben- jamin Nesmith had a small refinery in King's Hollow as early as 1864.
At a very early day Archibald Tan- FIRST FIRE- ENGINE. ner, first in so many enterprises, brought a small hand fire-engine to town. The queer little machine is now in the possession of his grandson, Archibald Tanner Sco- field, and was one of the most interesting exhibits at the Centennial. The borough owned a fire- engine and a few feet of hose as early as 1848, but there was no fire company until Vulcan No. 1 was organized in 1853. Rufus P. King, Julius B. Hall and Marvin D. Waters are survivors of the original members. In 1859 the German resi-
35
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
dents organized Rescue No. 1, which existed for ten years.
From 1854 to 1856 the absorbing topic was free schools. Like all improvements, they encountered at first considerable opposition, but at last the sys- tem was established, and the union school building, which still stands on Third street, was erected and opened in January, 1857. The Faculty consisted of Prof. Charles Twinning, Principal; Miss Maria C. Shattuck, of Groton, Mass. (now Mrs. L. D. Wet- more); Miss S. E. A. Stebbins, of Clinton, N. Y. (afterwards Mrs. Rufus P. King) ; Miss Kate Miller, of Sugar Grove, Pa., and Miss S. O. Randall, of Warren (later Mrs. Starrett), as assistants. The opening of this school was the death-blow to the old academy. The building was sold in 1866, and demolished when the residences which now occupy the old " diamond " were erected, about IS68.
In the fall of 1860 occurred the last muster of the ante bellum militia of the county. The " general training " was at Youngsville, and Brigadier-General Rasselas Brown, with G. V. N. Yates, of Columbus, Leroy L. Lowry and Harrison Allen among his staff officers, was in command. It is to be feared that the evolutions were not very scientific, for at the December term of court, at which Judge Johnson first presided, the grand jury presented the military law as a public nuisance.
In 1860 the borough had 1742 inhabitants, occu- pying 308 houses ; 417 were of foreign birth, 9 had estates valued at $30,000 and over, 19 over $20,000, and 29 over $10,000.
36
WARREN CENTENNIAL
Until 1854 there was no public hall in town except a small one in the James block, below the Carver House, used occasionally for dancing. Lectures and public meetings went to the court-house or one of the churches.
The erection by Judge Johnson of the fine three- story brick block still known as Johnson's Exchange gave the town a place for the travelling exhibition and for the display of its amateur talent, which was always considerable.
The business panic which preceded the breaking out of the war was severely felt, but the railroad construction went on, and in 1864 the Philadelphia and Erie was completed through to its eastern ter- minus, Thomas Struthers and his partner, Charles C. Wetmore, a business man of extraordinary activity and ability, building a large section of the road east of Warren.
The breaking out of war quieted in a measure the partisan strife which had preceded it. Rasselas Brown, who was appointed president judge by the last ante bellum Democratic Governor, and who had been defeated for that office by his brother-in-law and partner, S. P. Johnson, presided at the first war meeting, at which J. Dennis James and other Demo- crats made speeches, as well as Struthers, L. D. Wetmore, Scofield and William D. Brown, the Republican leaders. The first company of volun- teers was raised by Roy Stone, but he resigned the command to raise a company of picked ritlemen from among the Allegheny raftsmen, and Harrison Allen was chosen its captain.
37
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
During the civil war citizens of Warren served in the following Pennsylvania regiments, so far as known: 39th, 10th Reserves; 42d (Bucktails) ; 58th ; S3d: 111th ; 145th; 159th; 182d; 193d; 211th; also in Independent Company C, and another independent company of militia. Space will not permit the mention of the names of these patriotic men, but among them were Brigadier-Generals George A. Cobham, who was killed at Peach Tree Creek, and Roy Stone of the Bucktails, now a dis- tinguished engineer and United States Commis- sioner of Roads and Highways; Colonels Harrison Allen, who was brevetted Brigadier-General after the close of the war, and was afterwards Auditor- General of the State; Hugh W. McNeil of the Bucktails, killed at Antietam, and Carlton B. Curtis, member of Congress both before and after the war ; Major Darius Titus, who was taken prisoner; and Captains D. W. C. James, brevetted Major at the close of the war, Sylvester H. Davis, and Elias M. Pierce.
The women were active and devoted during the struggle, and the Ladies' Aid Society uniformed and fitted out the first two companies raised in the town.
Warren, as it appeared to the writer of this sketch on his arrival before daylight one December morning in 1865, was a most interesting little place. Tumbling out of the train, half-awake, at the old shanty which answered for a station, he found himself in the arms of a good-natured Irish omnibus driver, Ed. Dugan, to wit, for many years one of the characters of the
38
WARREN CENTENNIAL
town. It was court week, and the Carver House was swarming with men in high jack-boots, who looked like the pictures on the covers of the dime novels of the period, but were, in fact, only oil operators from Tidioute. Going out for a walk, the view of the river curving gracefully in front of the principal street, with the wooded flats and slopes of the hills beyond, was attractive and novel, even in winter. Below the Carver House ran a straggling row of wooden buildings to the little flat-iron park where, fifteen or sixteen years before, George N. Parmlee and Rufus P. King had planted the maples which now shade it so charmingly. To the east stood the Tanner block, three new brick stores, and then came a rambling row of wooden structures bending up Second street and ending with the Russell (formerly the Hackney) House, and the Ludlow building. Opposite stood Johnson's Ex- change, and along Second street on the south side another row of mean little frame buildings terminat- ing at the Watson & Davis brick block, finishing the triangle. At the foot of Liberty street were the mills and the ferry, which was the only means of crossing the river since the fall of the bridge. Further to the west, on Water street, the Old Ex- change, a wooden row full of business houses. Then, as now, the little one-story Tanner building stood solitary on the river bank, but its rear over- hung the water and the bull-wheel of boating days still hung in place. On the "island" Ballard & Co.'s barrel-factory, James Clark & Co.'s planing- mill and Kirberger's paint-shop were in opera-
CLOTHING
HARDW
Siquebett reizen
.
OID WARREN STREETS.
41
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
tion, and across the river a few gleams of white marble among the trees revealed the new Oakland Cemetery.
A few of the merchants only can be recalled- Beecher & Coleman and J. H. Mitchell & Co. in hardware ; Parmlee and Henry, Hunter and Mathews and J. B. Brown in dry goods ; William Messner, George L. Friday & Co., Seneca Burgess and P. J. Trushel in groceries; George Ball in clothing; C. Smith, Jr. & Philip Byseker, boots and shoes; B. Nesmith, Arnett & Valentine, general stores ; Variety Hall, with E. T. Hazeltine already making Piso's cure ; Dr. F. A. Randall's drug and variety store ; and last, but not least in the estima- tion of the youngsters, Mrs. Weaver's queer little shop with its unique unclassifiable stock.
It was court week, and the Tidioute oil excite- ment was at its height. The town and the court were crowded. Johnson was on the bench and Scofield in Congress, but Col. Curtis, with W. W. Wilbur, Rasselas Brown, with H. A. Jamieson, just beginning to desert law for business, L. D. Wetmore and Junius R. Clark, William D. Brown and David McKelvy, Charles Dinsmoor, Joseph A. Neill, L. T. Parmlee, Major Darius Titus, and perhaps others, managed to take care of the flood of business brought by the oil excitment.
The old Presbyterian church, with its queer belfry and lofty pulpit, which has gone and left no trace except " Deb" Page's rude drawing, still stood in its place, and was to stand until the Rev. W. A. Rankin had come and preached his trial sermon
42
WARREN CENTENNIAL
therein. The old academy stood vacant and forlorn on the east side of the " diamond," deserted, out- ranked by the new school-house, and condemned by the grand jury as a nuisance. There stood the old stone jail, the brick building in which were the county offices, and the old court-house, a plain red brick building, much like a church, of which, un- fortunately, no picture remains except the glimpse in an old photograph reproduced on page 16.
How simple and delightful was Warren society in those days! Whether it was the Odd Fellows' grand annual ball, a sleigh-ride to Sugar Grove, a dance in the Carver House dining-room or a church " sociable," everybody was there, for the town was too small for cliques. At the gatherings of young people the old-fashioned country games were in vogue, and the etiquette of the time was of the heart. and not a mere varnish.
What a day was New Year's in the Warren of the '6os, when every house, from Augustus Wetmore's in the west to William D. Brown's temporary abiding- place at Market and Fifth, was open, and every man of any pretensions was calling, on foot, in cutters, omnibus-sleighs, and even ox-sleds-all the ladies in their Sunday best, all the tables groaning, and, alas, too often, all the decanters filled and tempting !
When spring opened and the ice went out of the river of a moonlight night. what a sight it was to see the gleaming cakes mount the pier of the vanished bridge and rattle down the boulders, with which it was filled, with a shower of sparks! Then the banks were piled high with grubs and skiffs and oar
43
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
stems, and as the water rose the rafts came down the rivers until the eddy was solid lumber, and the town was filled with noisy and obstreperons rafts- men. The great flood of 1865, the highest ever known, which covered the Irvine flats and scattered Ballard & Co.'s oil barrels from Warren to Pitts-
RAFTS COMING DOWN RIVER.
burg, was a fresh wonder. And who does not remember the long freshet of 1866, when the con- course of raftsmen, delayed by high water. enabled Rouse's company of actors to play in Johnson's Hall for a whole month to good houses, changing the bill nightly, and exhausting the whole range of dramatic literature from Hamlet and Macbeth to the " Ticket- of-Leave Man " and " Toodles " ? But the travelling
44
WARREN CENTENNIAL
entertainment was rare. Lectures by eminent per- sons, and some not so eminent, there were, espe- cially after Stone and James G. Marsh and their kind became active forces in Warren. And there were amateur entertainments galore-tableaux vivans, waxworks and mistletoe boughs ; and, when "Joe "
GROCERY & BAKERY
GREAT FLOOD OF 1865.
Wells came to town, concerts and cantatas, and even operas and plays. And the temper of the people seemed to be joyous and merry. The merchants and grave doctors and lawyers were never too busy for a joke. It was a dull day, indeed, which did not furnish the town with a laugh. One restrains with an effort the inclination to set up for a humorist on
45
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
borrowed capital, as the quips and pranks of the local wags rise in memory. But all these little comedies and tragedies, the rich tide of human in- terest flowing through this secluded stream, must be left to the future Dickens or Barrie of Warren. Is he now learning to spell in the school-house yonder ?
Since the war, Warren, though never really "booming." except during temporary oil excite- ments, has kept well up with the times, and far in advance of most towns of its size. In 1871 the suspension bridge was erected and the public library finally established, largely through the efforts of the Rev. W. A. Rankin. Illuminating gas and lighted streets came in 1872, and in the same year the steamer "R. P. King." which did good service at fires when water was attainable, but has been little used since the introduction of water-works in 1882. In 1869 the Keystone block was erected, and in this Orris Hall fitted up a public hall, naming it Roscoe Hall, after a son killed in the war. It was furnished with scenery and a drop curtain ornamented with an imaginative painting in which the Rocky Mount- ains and the Allegheny river, Indians and raftsmen were curiously mingled. The Hickory street addi- tion to the school-house was built in 1870. In 1868 or 1869 the "diamond" disappeared, the land being sold for dwelling-house sites ; and in 1871 the Dunkirk and Warren Railroad was constructed, and the extension to Titusville the following year, the consolidated companies taking the present name of Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley and Pittsburg.
46
WARREN CENTENNIAL
About 1872 Mr. Struthers constructed a street railway from the railway stations eastward across the Conewango, and started the building boom in East Warren; but horse-cars did not pay, and the rails were taken up and sent to Bradford.
In 1873 the Commissioners appointed by the State to locate the new hospital for the insane visited Warren, and selected the farm of E. B. Eldred, about two miles up the Conewango. This beautiful farm had long been the residence of Mr. Patrick
STATE HOSPITAL.
Falconer, and the charming scenery, smooth mead- ows, substantial stone mansion and long avenue of trees leading from the stone lodge at the gate suggested the old world taste of the builder. In April, 1874, the ground was broken for the new building, Mr. Falconer's daughter using the spade. and September 10, 1874, the corner-stone was laid with great ceremony, Governor Hartranft and staff and many other distinguished persons being present. This event brought to Warren the largest crowd of people ever assembled there before the Centennial. Dr. John Curwen, one of the commission who
DAVID BENTY.
49
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
superintended the erection of the hospital, and among the foremost alienists in the country, has been the head of the institution almost from the opening, and under the wise direction of its faithful Board of Trustees it has developed and improved year by year.
About 1865 began the immigration of Scandina - vians, who now form an important element in the population of Warren. Before that date the Green- lund brothers had come from Denmark, and by 1871 the Scandinavian Lutherans were numerous enough to pur- chase the German Lutheran church which had been abandoned by that congregation on the comple- tion of their new church in 1869.
In 1876 David Beaty, who had acquired a for- tune in oil produc- tion elsewhere, bought Thomas Clemons' farm, across the Cone- wango from War- OH. WELL AFTER A " SHOP." ren, and built a fine mansion there. Having been accustomed to natural gas for fuel, and having, moreover, an itch
4
50
WARREN CENTENNIAL
for drilling wells, he drilled behind his house, hoping to get enough gas for his own use. Like Dow, in Bret Harte's poem, "his luck made him cer- tain to miss," and he struck oil. A booming oil excitement followed, extending to North Warren and the lands owned by the State Hospital. This was the first of a number of such fevers which have swept over the town ; but having plenty of substan- tial business buildings and a wise fire ordinance, "shanties" were kept out, and much was gained and nothing lost in these flurries except the demor- alization which resulted from the kiting speculations fostered by the Oil Exchange, which was maintained from the opening of the Cherry Grove field until some time after its close. A borough ordinance forbids the drilling of wells in the borough limits, and has prevented the ruin of the town, surrounded as it is by producing wells.
In 1879 the Warren Savings Bank, in which Col. L. F. Watson was the largest stockholder, and the Citizens' Savings Bank, which afterwards became the Citizens' National, with Mr. Myron Waters as its largest owner, were both established.
The Struthers Library Building was completed in 1 SS4, the site being purchased by subscription and the building donated by Thomas Struthers. Its cost was about $So,000.
In 1883 natural gas was introduced for fuel and lights. No public improvement has contributed more than this to the comfort of the inhabitants, and, from its situation, Warren's supply seems to be assured for many years to come. Electricity for
-
1
GROUP OF CONGRESSMEN.
C. W. STONE.
G. W. SCOFIELD.
C. B. CURTIS.
CHAPIN HALL.
L. F. WATSON.
53
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
light and power came in 1890. Paved streets were begun in 1891. In 1893 an electric railway was constructed along the route of the abandoned horse- car track, and it now extends to Glade Run on the east, and is reaching out to the north to connect the State Hospital with the town.
It is painful to conclude this bony sketch without some mention of many men and women whose marked individuality and characteristics have given the town its character and peculiarities. It would be pleasant to clothe these dry bones with flesh and blood, to make the ancients and the elders live again, and paint a picture which might convey some notion, however inadequate, of the life and manners of the Warren of the first century.
The men and women who made up life in Warren moved, with few exceptions, in a narrow sphere, but this was an accident of environment. Among them have been men fit for any dignity, women qualified by natural endowment and culture for any station. The atmosphere of the town is still charged with the electric wit of Hackney and Tanner, of Curtis and Scofield, the somewhat grim humor of Johnson, and the more recent spark, so prematurely quenched, of A. D. Wood. We have passed over the last thirty years of the century almost with a glance, scarcely noticing those who have figured so prominently in the recent life of the town. But to this, want of space and time con- strain us.
We mention below some of the residents of the borough who have held important national or State
54
WARREN CENTENNIAL
offices, conscious that many who have held no office, or filled positions lower in rank, have not been less deserving, and may have even left a deeper impres- sion upon the life of their town.
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.