USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Warwick's Keystone commonwealth; a review of the history of the great state of Pennsylvania, and a brief record of the growth of its chief city, Philadelphia > Part 26
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The State House was at last reached, and Lafayette left his carriage to pass into the room where had sat the Fathers of the Republic when they adopted the Declaration of Independence. On behalf of the city, Mayor Wat- son, delivered an address of welcome, and General Lafayette replied in the fol- lowing touching and eloquent words: "My entrance through this fair and great city, amidst the most solemn and affectionate recollections, and under all the circumstances of a welcome which no expression could adequately acknowl- edge, has excited emotions in my heart in which are mingled the feelings of nearly fifty years.
"Here within these sacred walls, by a Council of wise and devoted pa- triots and in a style worthy of the deed itself, was boldly declared the indepen- dence of these vast United States, which while it anticipated the independence --- and I hope the Republican independence of the whole American hemisphere -- has begun in the civilized world the era of a new and of the only true social order, founded on the inalienable rights of man, the practicability and advant- ages of which are every day admirably demonstrated by the happiness and prosperity of your populous city. Here, sir, was planned the formation of our
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virtuous brave Revolutionary Army, and the Providential inspiration received that gave the command of it to our beloved, matchless Washington. But these and many other remembrances are mingled with a deep regret for the num- erous contemporaries in the great and good men whose loss we have remained to mourn. It is to their services, sir, to your regard for their memory, to your knowledge of the friendships I have enjoyed that I refer the greater part of the honors here and elsewhere received-much surpassing my individual merit.
"It is also under the auspices of their venerated names as well as under the impulse of my own sentiments that I beg you, Mr. Mayor, you, gentlemen of both Councils, and all the citizens of Philadelphia, to accept the tribute of my affectionate respect and profound gratitude."
Passing out of the State House at the south door and walking through the square to Walnut street, he was escorted to his barouche, which having en- tered, guarded by the First City Troop, he rode to his lodgings at the Mansion House on Third street, which had been specially prepared for his reception. Crowds every hour of the day and night gathered about the doors of the inn, and whenever he appeared at a window he was greeted with applause. Every comfort was provided for him, and every attention possible tendered him. The houses and all the public buildings were illuminated at night, and l'aul Beck's Shot Tower on the Schuylkill loomed up out of the darkness like a pillar of light. All the distinguished citizens vied with one another in entertaining and banqueting him. He dined with Judge Peters at Belmont, with the Masons in their Temple, as well as with his resident countrymen in Washington Ilall and with the City Corporation at the Mansion House. With a man of his ad- vanced years, the entertainments must have been a drain upon his strength, but he seems to have stood the ordeal without any ill-results, although upon one oc- casion he stood uncovered for nearly three hours while the ceremonies were in progress. Every institution, learned, scientific and religious, strove to do him honor, and at last a ball was given at the Chestnut Street Theatre on the even- ing of October fourth. The managers were John R. Ingersoll, Samuel Breck, James M. Barker, Benjamin Tilghman, George M. Dallas, Dr. Nathaniel Chap- man, General Robert Patterson, Louis Clapier, Andrew M. Prevost, Johm K. Kane, Nicholas Biddle and Joseph Mellvain. After a week's visit he left the city on the afternoon of Tuesday, October fifth, and was accompanied by Gov- ernor Shulze, and proceeded down the river to Chester. The wharves and shores were crowded with people, bidding him an affectionate farewell and it was not until he reached the Delaware line that Pennsylvania ceased her rever- ence.
He made a second visit, reaching the city on the evening of July sixteenth of the following year. He was dined and feted, but was not kept so actively em- ployed as upon the prior occasion. On July twenty-fifth, he made a visit to the battle ground of Brandywine and then proceeded on his way to Washington where he boarded the Frigate Brandywine which, under the command of Cap- tain Charles Morris, conveyed him to his native shores.
It has been a favorite saying in the mouths of many that Republics are un- grateful, but Lafayette was so honored by the people whose independence he had helped to secure that in this instance must be given contradiction to the statement.
CHAPTER XX.
INTRODUCTION OF RAILROADS. PASSING OF THE STAGE COACH. DEATH OF STEPHEN GIRARD. GIRARD COLLEGE. WILLS' HOSPITAL.
W E have now reached that period when, in the history of the world, there is to be a great change in the matter of travel and transpor- tation. The stage coach, the pack horse and the Conestoga wagon are to be supplanted by the steam engine and railroads, and schedules are to be cut down to hours and days where they have hitherto covered weeks and months.
As a sample of the condition of the roads, prior to the Revolution and for many years subsequent thereto, the following is a good illustration: In 1766, Mr. Clarkson, who was a merchant of Philadelphia, and had served as Mayor of the city, set out on horseback, accompanied by a servant, on the sixth day of August, to make a journey to Pittsburgh. In giving his experience, he states that "on the first day he met wagons loaded with skins coming from the West, and overtook others loaded with pork, going for the King's use to Fort l'itt," the name of the settlement which the French called Duquesne, but which was afterwards changed to Pittsburgh. At nightfall of the first day he lodged at a tavern called "The Ship," thirty-five miles distant from Philadelphia, and the following day he reached Lancaster in the evening, putting up at "The Duke of Cumberland." On the eighth, he pressed on as rapidly as conditions would allow, and arrived at York that day, and on the ninth at Carlisle, where, to recover from the effects of the hard traveling, he remained until the twelfth, and then resumed his journey, finding the road nothing but hills, mountains and stones. Thus he got through in ten days, without counting stoppages, a journey which to-day we make in a night, sleeping on a couch as comfortably as in a bed at home.
The conditions at the beginning of the second quarter of the Nineteenth Century were as they had been even before the Revolution. Roads, to be sure, had been somewhat improved, but the methods of conveyance were the same, and it was no easy task to undertake a journey of a hundred miles in any direction. The stage coach was not a comfortable conveyance. It had no springs, but was swung on heavy straps and every rut in the road resulted in a bump or a jolt to the passengers. The windows had no sashes that could be lowered or raised but were closed by letting down a leathern shade or apron. This, in the summer season, kept out the rays of the sun, but only increased the temperature in the coach. It was sonte protection, however, at times against the rain. In dry weather the dust was raised in clouds; in wet weather the roads were transformed into ditches and the wheels of the wagons sank to their hubs in mud. The coach contained three seats running crosswise; each seat would accommodate three persons, and only those in the rear had a support for their backs. Accidents on the road were of frequent occurrence, and at
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times greatly delayed the progress, passengers often being compelled to alight and give a hand in pulling the wheels out of a ditch.
Even as late as 1832, Miss Fanny Kemble, in describing the stage coaches, said, "they were shaped something like boats." The one in which she rode from New York to Philadelphia, she described as "a nefarious black hole on wheels The horses trotted with their front and galloped with their hind legs, and away we went after them, bumping, thumping, jumping, jolting, shaking, toss- ing and tumbling, over the wickedest road, I do think the cruelest, hard-heart- edest road that ever wheel rumbled over." She further said that the ruts were "absolute abysses."
Before the introduction of railroads, steam, as a method of propulsion had made great progress in travel by water. Quoting again from Miss Fanny Kemble she states that the steamboats were better than the stage coaches. She found them "large and commodious." They were three stories in height, the roof unprotected by any covering, but the middle deck had chairs and benches, which the passengers could use without fear of being crowded, and where they could enjoy the breezes and view the landscape on both sides of the river. So much progress had there been. made in improvements in the construction of steam vessels, that in 1819 the American steamship "Savannah" made the first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean.
All this time internal improvements in the way of construction of turn- pikes and canals, were uniting the different sections of the country, but the use of steam as a power of locomotion on land, did not develop nor reach a prac- tical solution until nearly twenty years after the "Clermont" had made her memorable voyage up the Hudson against wind and current. Oliver Evans and other ingenious American mechanics were experimenting with steam wag- ons, but it remained for George Stevenson of England to solve practically the question by the construction of a locomotive which would draw a train of cars on a track at the rate of ten or fifteen miles an hour.
The first railroad constructed in England was in 1826, and ran from Stockton to Darlington, a distance of twelve miles, the run being made in twelve hours. The building of railroads, however, called forth much opposition from certain quarters. Old fogies came out in force and contended that the air would be poisoned with gases, that barns, houses, stacks of hay and straw, and even crops of standing grain would be set on fire from sparks issuing out of the smoke stacks, that boilers would burst and spread destruction in all direc- tions, that horses on the highways would be frightened by the noise of the steam monster, that crossing the railroads at grade would be fraught with peril, and the peace and quiet of the community disturbed by the whistle of the en- gine and the rumbling of the train. In fact, so strong was the opposition in Parliament, that a bill providing for the construction of a railroad from Liver- pool to Manchester was defeated in the committee, and it required the greatest effort and the expenditure, subsequently, of a large sum of money to secure its passage.
In this country, the innkeepers, who were an influential body of men, and who saw that their occupation would be gone if turnpike travel was discon- tinued, used every effort to defeat the granting of charters and the building of
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railroads ; one veteran Boniface declaring that "no railroad could carry the freight that the old Conestogas do nor at so cheap a figure."
In 1828 the venerable Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Maryland, the only person living who had signed the Declaration of Independence, broke ground for the construction of a railroad from Baltimore to Ellicott's Mills, and after throwing up the first spadeful of dirt, he exclaimed, "I consider this among the most important acts of my life, second only to that of signing of the Declara- tion of Independence, if second even to that."
In 1830, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company sent over its tracks for the distance of fourteen miles, the first locomotive ever used in this country. The locomotive was built in Baltimore by the celebrated Peter Cooper. It was a rude affair as compared with the locomotive of modern times and drew a train of cars which in appearance resembled in every particular the stage coaches of that day. It was some time before the modern passenger car was introduced. The distance was covered in little less than an hour and the story goes that on the return the engine had a race with a spirited gray horse belonging to one of the Baltimore stage coach lines. The race for a short distance was neck and neck, but the little engine putting forth all her strength, at length passed her competitor, the whistle blew and the passengers cheered and from that little incident may be dated the passing of the stage coach. Short tracks were now laid in every section of the country, and the system proved so much superior to the prior methods of transportation that all opposition faded away.
Movements were early set on foot to build a fine extending from Philadel- phia to Pittsburgh, and on March thirty-first, 1823, the Legislature of this State granted a charter to the "President, Directors and Company of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company." Among the incorporators were named Horace Bin- ney and Stephen Girard. Subscriptions to the stock came in slowly, because the projectors were not able to show that the enterprise would make sufficient re- turns to pay a dividend upon the capital invested.
The building of a railroad, so long as it was at grade, was comparatively an easy proposition, but when it came to the crossing of rivers, the construction of bridges, or the tunneling of mountains, that was a different question and required the skill of trained and experienced engineers, but these difficulties were soon overcome by time.
The Lancaster, Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad Company was char- tered in 1826, but its building proceeded very slowly, every step being met with opposition and it was not until April, 1834, that one track was ready for use. The company owned but one locomotive called the "Black Hawk," named after the well known Indian chief. After leaving Lancaster, Philadelphia was reached in eight and one half hours. This included all the stops to take on water for the engine, and, as the report states, to refresh the passengers. At last, however, the road succeeded in securing an entrance to the city, having the right of way over Pennsylvania avenue to Broad street and Callowhill in Spring Garden. It then proceeded south on Broad street to Vine street, where it touched the northern limits of the city, and from this point lines were continued on Broad street as far as South, and a branch on Market street ran to the ware-
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houses at the foot of Dock street. The cars within the limits of the city were drawn to their destination by long teams of horses.
The cars, in their formation, resembled closely, as we have already stated, the stage coaches, and in fact the only improvement was in the matter of speed and the avoidance of jolting over a rough road. The cars were frequently overcrowded, the windows were without sashes and the locomotive which burned wood as a fuel threw out great showers of sparks, especially when it put forth extra effort to climb a hill, which sparks fell upon the clothes of the passengers and burned holes in the ladies' dresses. 'One lady tourist, in describ- ing her experience, says that "the wind was ahead and sparks were flying as thick as hail stones." She further states that "it required the greatest activity to prevent the sparks from burning our dresses, indeed they were riddled." Travel must have been anything but a pleasure under such conditions, but grad- ually improvements were made, and now it became the fashion for the citizens to make up parties for railroad excursions-as we do to-day for trolley rides- to visit the interior of the State. One passenger on such a trip, in giving his experience says that he was delighted with the scenery, "many miles being studded with rich and imposing mansions, delightful villas, substantial farm- houses and capacious barns and granaries" presenting to the traveller's "enrap- tured gaze the appearance of an extensive and continuous village, the abode of health, industry and content, the home of the happy, the virtuous and frugal." Murray, another tourist, speaking enthusiastically of his experience while trav- elling into the interior of Pennsylvania, says: "At this season ( May) it was one continuous sea of waving rye, clover and wheat. The farmhouses were always whitewashed, with a neat garden in front, and on one or each side stood a large orchard, the trees of which were planted with the utmost regularity, and their fragrant bonghs teeming with blossoms."
A movement was set on foot in 1830 to connect Philadelphia with Norris- town, which settlement had now a population of about a thousand people, and in 1831, the Legislature granted a charter to the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad Company. In about a year the tracks were laid as far as Germantown, and from this point the work was pushed forward steadily. The main station was located at Ninth and Green streets, and a branch in Main street near the center of Germantown. After the building of the road between Philadelphia and Germantown, the following announcement was made in the newspapers: "The locomotive engine built by Matthias W. Baldwin of this city will depart daily with a train of passenger cars, commencing on Monday, the twenty-sixth of November." There were three trains from Philadelpha and the same number from Germantown.
In 1831, the Legislature chartered the Philadelphia and Delaware County Railroad Company, and in 1836 the name of the company was changed to the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad.
Engineers and ingenious mechanics found an open field for their skill and were giving attention to all the details in relation to the construction of lo- comotive engines, passenger cars and laying of tracks.
William Norris established machine works at Bush Hill, which were sub- sequently conducted under the management of Richard Norris and Son. The
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firm soon built up an international reputation and shipped a number of loco- motives to the English Government. Subsequently they discontinued their business in this city and entered into a contract with Russia to build and equip railways for that country. After a sojourn there for a number of years, they reaped a fortune and returned to their native country to enjoy it.
In the meantime, Matthias W. Baldwin had established his plant which became, as it were, almost an institution of the city. He was born in New Jer- sey and came to this city about 1817. He was apprenticed to a jeweler under whom he learned his trade, but he soon abandoned the manufacture of the finer metals into female trinkets, and entered into a co-partnership with a skilled mechanic named David Mason, and together they opened a shop in the neigh- borhood of Fourth and Walnut streets. Mason subsequently retired from the firm, and Baldwin then conducted the business alone. In November, 1832, he constructed an engine called the "Ironsides," which was given a trial trip and amazed the beholders by travelling at the rate of twenty-eight miles an hour, for a distance of six miles. The locomotive, however, was not taken out on rainy days for fear its wheels would not clutch the tracks, but would slip and be uncontrollable in wet weather. These difficulties, however, were gradually overcome and travel and transportation by steam became an assured fact.
Coal was used as fuel, cabins were annexed to the engine for the protection of the engineer and fireman, and a tender was attached for the holding of fuel instead of an open wagon containing barrels of fagots, as originally had been the case. The passenger coach, with eight wheels instead of four, was soon changed in its appearance to resemble that of a more modern type, and the whole method of transportation was gradually improved. The system has grown to such dimensions that the railroads hold today in their iron grip every section of the country and have done more to unite us as a people and to bring us in closer proximity to each other than anything else that could have been devised by the wit and ingenuity of man. What would our forefathers have thought if someone had made the prediction that we would travel from Philadelphia to New York in less than two hours, to Atlantic City in sixty min- utes, or to Pittsburgh in a night, or that a voyage could be made from the new world to the old, across the ocean in less than six days?
In the period from 1830 to 1840 the western territory was developing fast and the merchants and manufacturers of Philadelphia were suffering ma- terially by reason of the slow and imperfect means of transportation. By the system of inclined planes and canals then in vogue it took about ninety hours to reach Pittsburgh from Philadelphia. The freight and passenger rates were almost prohibitive and trade was diverted to New York by the opening of the Erie Canal which afforded closer and cheaper communication. To remedy these conditions the Pennsylvania Railroad Company was organized and char- tered by the Legislature, April 13, 1846. It had a capital of $10,000,000 and was originally created to build a line from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, the work being made possible by contributions in money from the city of Philadelphia amounting to $4,000,000. The first division from Harrisburg to Lewistown was opened in 1849 and in 1850 it was extended to Hollidaysburg. The build- ers were at the same time working from Pittsburgh eastward and by 1851 the
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section was completed to within twenty-eight miles of Johnstown and in 1852 the remaining trackage was completed and through trains were run between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh by way of the Portage Railroad. In 1854 the com- pany completed its own line over the mountains and the Portage Railroad was discontinued. In 1857 the company purchased all the State works, railroads and canals and commenced its system of extension which has made it one of the great trunk lines of the country. It absorbed the Central Railroads of New Jersey in 1871 which gave direct communication with New York and gradu- ally acquired other lines and eventually became the most comprehensive rail- road system in the United States, connecting as it does, the chief ports and cities of the North Atlantic Seaboard with those of the Great Lakes and the Ohio and Mississippi valleys by a network of railways of the best and most modern con- struction and efficiency. It spreads from the Mississippi River to the extremity
THE "JOHN BULL," FIRST TRAIN RUN OVER THE P. R. R.
of Long Island and from beyond the Potomac and Ohio rivers to the Canadian border. Some idea of the magnitude of the growth of this great corporation can be gleaned from the fact that its original capital has been increased from $10,000,000 to $500,000,000 and its lines extended from the original 224 miles to 11,644 miles, with a total trackage of 25.605 miles. The care of passengers and the rapid movement of freight has always been given first consideration and millions of dollars have been spent in straightening lines and tunneling mountains to save a fraction of time while as many millions more have been used in improving the rolling stock. The expenditure of nearly $100,000,000 in providing a direct entry into New York City, by tunneling the Hudson River, is an illustration of the company's progressive spirit. . It has always been a pio- neer in improvement movements. It was the first to use steel rails in 1864 and Bessemer steel rails in 1865, first to utilize the air brake in 1866, the track tank in 1872, the block signal system in 1873, the "limited" train in 1881, to estab- lish an eighteen-hour service between New York and Chicago, to organize a Tourist Department and to organize a cab service in connection with its terminal in the large cities. The story of the company's achievement in perfected means of travel can be no better illustrated than by a comparison of the "John Bull" train, with that of the "Broadway Limited," the latest creation in railway lux . ury. The men, who as executive heads of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.
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aided in its development are: Samuel Vaughn Merrick, President from 1847 to 1849; William Chamberlain Patterson, 1849 to 1852; John Edgar Thomson, 1852 to 1874; Thomas Alexander Scott, 1874 to 1880; George Brooks Roberts, 1880 to 1807; Frank Thomson, 1897 to 1809: Alexander Johnson Cassatt, 1899 to 1906; James McCrea, 1907 to 1912, and Samuel Rea, who became president in 1912.
On December twenty-sixth, 1831, occurred the death of Stephen Girard. He had reached the ripe age of eighty-one, and his later years were stricken with sorrow. Ile had but few intimate associates, for he had devoted his ef- forts to the accumulation of wealth, and not to the fostering of friendships. He
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