USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > Wilkes-Barre (the "Diamond city") Luzerne County, Pennsylvania; its history, its natural resources, its industries, 1769-1906 > Part 7
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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
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FROM OSCAR J. HARVEY'S FORTHCOMING " HISTORY OF WILKES-BARRE.'' COPYRIGHTED.
GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH IN 1850. (South-east corner of Main and South Streets. )
COPYP. INTED
FAUM OSCAR J. MAPVEY'S FORTHC OMING " HISTORY OF WILKES-BARRE. ">
FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN 1850. (North Franklin Street )
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HARVEY'S FORTHCOMING " NISTO
Y OF WILKES . BARRE .!!
COPYRIGHTED
JEWISH SYNAGOGUE IN 1850. (South Washington Street.)
FROM OSCAR J. HARVEY'S FORTHCOMING " WIST DAY OF WILKES-BARRE. !! COPYRIGHTED
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN 1850. (West Northampton Street.) -
FROM OSCAR J. HARVEY'S FORINCOMING "HISTORY OF WILKES BARRE." COPYRENTED.
THE REV. ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER HODGE, D. D., LL. D. Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, 1861-'64.
ibald Alexander Hodge, pastor of the same Church from 1861 till 1864. Dr. Hodge was Professor of Didactic and Polemic Theology in Allegheny Seminary, Pennsylvania, from 1864 till 1877, and in 1878 succeeded his father, the Rev. Charles Hodge, D. D., LL. D., in the professorship of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. This position he held until his death, No- vember 11, 1SS6.
The Young Men's Christian Association and The Young Women's Christian Association are two organizations that are well sustained in this city. Each has a large membership and each owns its home-that of the former being a large and handsome building of modern style and appointments, furnished with library, reading-room, gymnasium and other facilities for mental, moral and physical improvement.
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YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION BUILDING.
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ST. STEPHEN'S PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
MEMORIAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
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ST. MARY'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. As it appeared before the cyclone of August, IS90, destroyed the tower. The latter is to be restored.
CENTRAL METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
ST. CLEMENT'S PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
ST. NICHOLAS (GERMAN) ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
JEWISH SYNAGOGUE-B'NAI B'RITH.
FROM OSCAR J. HARVEY'S FORTWOOM VS " HISTORY OF WILKES-BARRE. IS COPYRIGHTED. WILKES-BARRE. CITY HOSPITAL IN 1891.
Wilkes-Barre City Hospital, founded in 1872, and Mercy Hospital, founded in 1898, are two public institutions of which the citizens of Wyoming Valley may well feel proud. Each is housed in first-class buildings, and possesses a staff of skilled physicians and surgeons (who give their services without com- pensation) and a corps of competent nurses. These hospitals receive small annual appropriations from the Commonwealth, but are chiefly supported by endowment funds and yearly contributions given by the people of this com- munity. Hundreds of medical and surgical cases are cared for in each hospital every year, free of charge.
The Home for Friendless Children and the Home for Homeless Women are two other splendid benevolent establishments that have existed here, the one since 1862 and the other since 1892, doing much good. They, too, just as the hospitals, are supported almost entirely by voluntary gifts from the public. Each "Home" owns its building, fully paid for.
The Boys' Industrial Association is an organization of working boys -- chiefly newsboys, bootblacks, and boys employed at the collieries. This Associa- tion, which has been in existence for fourteen years, occupies a three-story brick building, erected by subscriptions from the public, on land owned by the city and leased to the Association for a long term of years. Various industrial
WILKES-BARRE CITY HOSPITAL.
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HOME FOR HOMELESS WOMEN.
MERCY HOSPITAL.
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FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
HOME FOR FRIENDLESS CHILDREN.
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branches of work are carried on here, resulting in much benefit to the large number of boys who are members of the Association. Classes for study, debate. singing, etc., are conducted, and entertainments are frequently given for the improvement and pleasure of the boys.
The United Charities Association of Wilkes-Barre is composed of a large number of philanthropic people whose chief object is to attend in a systematic and effectual mamer to the wants of the deserving poor in this community. The Association occupies a three-story building. is supported entirely by voluntary contributions of the public, and, through its authorized agents, accomplishes a vast amount of good. During the past three years the Association has annually expended more than $5,000. in cash, besides distributing thousands of garments and large quantities of food, fuel, etc.
The Central Poor District of Luzerne County-within the bounds of which our city is located-conducts at Retreat, a few miles below Wilkes-Barre, a commodious and comfortably appointed ahnshouse, a large, productive farm, and a spacious hospital for the insane ( erected only a few years ago) which is re- puted to be one of the best constructed, best equipped and best managed insti- itions of that character in the country. The expenses of the Poor District are inet by public taxation, at a low annual rate.
Two large, well-appointed theaters-the Nesbitt and the Grand Opera House --- are occupied ahnost continually during amusement seasons by the best theat-
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WESTMORELAND CLUB HOUSE.
WYOMING VALLEY COUNTRY CLUB HOUSE.
rical and musical companies that travel ; while vocal and instrumental concerts by professional and amateur singers and musicians of a high order of merit, as well as various other public entertainments, are frequently given in the 9th Reg- iment Armory and in the auditorium of the Young Men's Christian Association. These entertainments are all liberally patronized by our people, and Wilkes- Barré is considered by managers of "road" amusement companies as one of the best "show" towns in Pennsylvania.
The Westmoreland Club is a social organization, legally incorporated, num- bering several hundred resident and non-resident members. The large house which it owns and occupies was especially built for it, and is considered to be one of the handsomest and most up-to-date club-houses (particularly in furnishings and fittings) in Pennsylvania.
The Wyoming Valley Country Club owns a very attractive club-house, sur- rounded by extensive grounds, in a picturesque and charming locality a few miles south of Wilkes-Barre, on one of the lines of the W-B. and W. V. Traction Company. This is a flourishing club of large membership -- men and women.
The Commercial Club, Franklin Club, Press Club, and a number of others similar in character are popular and successful, and some of them occupy very
FRANKLIN CLUB HOUSE.
comfortable quarters-the home of the Franklin, in particular, being a hand- some building.
Nearly every secret fraternity, beneficial organization and patriotic society of any standing in this country is represented by a lodge or branch in Wilkes- Barré. Each of these appears to fionrish, but in particular the lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Order of Elks and the Knights of Col- umbus and the various bodies having a connection with Free Masonry. Lodges of Free Masons and Odd Fellows have existed here for many years, and their present memberships are large and influential.
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FROM USCAN J. HARVEY'S FORTHCOMING "" HISTORY OF WILKES-HARRY, '! COPYRIGHTED.
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GOOD WILL FIRE-COMPANY. NO. 2, AND DRUM CORPS, OF THE WILKES-BARRE FIRE DEPARTMENT OF FORTY YEARS AGO. East Side of Public Square, Firemen's Day, June 4, 1866.
The Fire Department of Wilkes-Barre, one of the most important depart- ments of the municipality, is the pride of our people, and is reputed to be one of the best equipped and most efficient possessed by any town of equal size in the country. Compared with the facilities afforded by the "town pump" of early days, the "bucket brigade" of eighty years ago, and the small hand-engines manned by red-shirted volunteer firemen of a later period, the appliances and methods used for fighting fires in these twentieth century days seem to be almost superhuman. The appropriation made by the City Government for the main- tenance of the Fire Department during the fiscal year 1905-'06 amounted to $44,871.50; and for the current year it is $46,196.50.
Wilkes-Barre, as well as Wyoming Valley, is now bountifully supplied with good water, collected into capacious reservoirs from various mountain streams outside the valley, by the Spring Brook Water Supply Company, capitalized at $5,000,000.
According to a report of the Wilkes-Barre Board of Revision and Appeals recently made to the Councils, the total assessed valuation of real estate, salaries. etc., in the city for the current year is $38,404,069. The estimates and appro- priations for operating the various departments of the city (except the public schools) during the current fiscal year, beginning in April, 1906, amount to $383,251.1S. Of this amount $218,903.1S will be raised by general taxation ; $55,200. will be received from liquor licenses, and the balance of the needed in- come will be derived from various sources.
Crear Gamy
PUBLIC SQUARE, VIEWED FROM THE WEST SIDE.
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FIREDEPT .:
CCC QCC CCC
ENGINE HOUSE NO. 7, WILKES-BARRE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
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ENGINE HOUSE NO. 5. WILKES-BARRE FIRE DEPARTMENT. .
Industrial Wilkes-Barre.
Compiled by
George A. Edwards.
"In every rank, or great, or small, 'Tis industry supports us all."
W II.KES-BARRÉ in this year of grace, 1906, is celebrating with much enthusiasm the hundredth anniversary of its creation as a munic- ipality, but its establishment on the banks of the Susquehanna as a town dates farther back to the year 1769. The general history of this. the oldest town of north-eastern Pennsylvania, is one of romantic interest. In this connection it may be said that the history of Wyoming Valley abounds with scenes and tales inci- dent to most trading posts and pioneer settlements of the middle of the 18th century. The beautiful vale of Wyoming has furnished the theme as well as the field of action for many a romancist since Campbell, the Scotch writer, penned his charming descriptive poem, "Gertrude of Wyoming."
Wilkes-Barre, with all its beautiful surroundings, would seareely have reached its present prominence in the industrial world but for the fact of the discovery of coal-anthracite --- in the latter part of the 18th century.
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A COAL BREAKER
AN OLD ONINOVO
Bisruery of Qual.
The fact that Wilkes-Barre is un- questionably the birth-place of anthra- cite coal mining gives it a unique place in the history of coal mining of the United States. It was here the dis- covery was made that there existed on this continent such a mineral as anthra- cite-or stone coal, as it was first called. It was here that the "black stone" was hewn from the mountain side from the outerop- ping, and was used in blacksmith shops in this neighborhood for up- wards of twenty years before its existence was known in any part of Penn- sylvania outside the Wyoming Valley. Here anthracite was first used as a
fuel for domestic purposes. The story is told that Judge Jesse Fell, in con- junction with his nephew, Edward Fell, set up an iron grate, which he had in- vented, in a fireplace in his house, on the corner of Washington and North- ' ampton Streets, February 11th, 1808, and made the successful experiment of burning anthracite coal thereon, and found it to answer the purpose of fuel. making a clearer and better fire at less cost than burning wood in the common way. That grate is still in existence. Within the present limits of Wilkes- Barre lay some of the coal lands owned by one of the first companies ever or- ganized in this country to mine and ship anthracite. It is worth noting here that in 1803, five years before the first practical use of anthracite was demon- strated, a poem entitled the "Foresters," was published. This descriptive poem was written by Alexander Wilson, the eminent ornithologist, after he had made a journey on foot from Philadelphia to Niagara Falls, in 1803. Ilis first glimpse-from Prospect Rock-of Wilkes-Barre and our historie vale is described in these words :
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"And now WYOMI opened on our view, And, far beyond, the Allegheny blue Immensely stretched, upon the plain below The painted roofs with gandy colors glow, And Susquehanna's glittering stream is seen Winding its stately pomp, through valleys green.
"Hail charming river ! pure transparent flood ! Unstained by noxious swamps or choking mnd.
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"Thy pine-brown'd cliff, thy deep romantic vales, Where wolves now wander, and the panther wails. In future times ( nor distant far the day ) Shall glow with crowded towns and villas gay."
The prophecy contained in the last two lines has been literally fulfilled, demonstrating that Wilson possessed to a large degree the Scottish sense of "second sight."
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VIEW WEST FROM COURT HOUSE TOWER.
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A Memorable Date.
Industrial Wilkes-Barre may be said to have begun when Judge Fell made his famous experiment of burning anthracite coal, February 11, 1808, and from that date on-slowly at the start and for many years afterwards, but nevertheless with a steady upward trend-the industrial growth of Wilkes- Barré has been sure and substantial. Conservatism and not speculation has guided its people. Avoiding all the methods that now characterize western development, fictitious booms and exaggerated advertising, the people of Wilkes- Barre have, by sheer industry, and close attention to the work that lay before them, built up a city of which, to-day, they may well be proud. Possibly many opportunities have been lost through ultra conservatism, but it is worth recording that the city, ever since its incorporation on the seventeenth of March, 1806, has never once stood still or engaged in marking time, but has continued to march forward until now the pace is rapidly accelerating so that the citizens of to-day are inspired to believe that the dawn of a new and a Greater Wilkes- Barré is at hand.
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Extraordinary Growth.
The amount of anthracite mined in the Wyoming coal field from 1808 to 1859 was 10,593,376 tons; while from 1860 to 1865 inclusive 9,209,768 tons were shipped to market. In the year 1903 the total reached 20,572,539 tons and last year, 1905, the tonnage amounted to over 21,405,579 tons, with about 47,500 men employed, as set forth in the reports of the following districts :
Tons.
Fourth district.
.5,407,571
Sixth district
4,321,298
Seventh district. . 5,445,992
Ninth district 6,230,718
This is a remarkable showing, as it exceeds the phenomenal output of 1903. the year after the great strike.
Although the mining of coal has been going on in the Wyoming Valley for upwards of one hundred years, and the output has amounted to scores of mil- lions of tons, there are still thousands of acres of land in the valley wholly underlaid with numerous strata, or veins, of anthracite from which not a pound of the mineral has been taken, thus insuring prosperity for the city for many years to come. Besides all this there are scattered throughout the valley scores of culm banks, many of them veritable hills -- which have grown up from steady ac- cretions of condemned coal, coal screenings and coal dust or dirt, as well as of the finest of coal thrown aside in the early years of mining operations. From this culin, by mechanical processes, thousands of tons of good marketable fuel are now being daily produced, thus utilizing what for a generation were looked upon as unsightly, useless and valueless piles of mine-refuse.
The early workings of the mines were naturally crude and wasteful because the pioneers of the coal industry little dreamed of selling what is known to-day
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as the smallest size of coal, Buckwheat, No. 2, slightly larger than actual dust. Only the broken coal-that is the lump coal --- was first sold, but step by step coal crushing and coal screening was introduced, the coal breakers growing slowly from the one-story frame structures to the modern mammoth breakers now towering skyward.
The anthracite was first dug out of the mountain sides by means of drifts or levels, loaded into rnde cars and afterwards dumped on to platforms, and thence was shipped in boats or wagons. There was no tipple or screen used. as only one size of coal-the lump-was sold, the smaller coal being left behind in the mine. Later on as coal rose in value owing to the increased demand. the smaller sizes were broken by hand with a hammer and dropped into primi- tive cast iron screens. After a while the first breaker with a new method of screening was introduced, about the time of the war in the sixties, and from it sprung the present ingenious methods for crushing, cleaning and separating coal, thereby utilizing nearly every pound of coal passing through the rolls. In- deed, there is no more interesting sight for visitors to this section than to pass through one of these gigantic breakers now dotting the surface of the Wyoming Valley and witnessing the process in vogue.
Anthraritr as a Chrap Furl.
Those who have given the subject attention can have no conception of how large a figure fuel cuts in the cost of manufacture where steani power is used or furnace work requisite. While it is true bituminous coal can be had at lower figures than anthracite, the consumption per horse power is much greater when the expenses for extra stokage, cartage, etc., are considered.
If the figures of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce are correct, SOc buck- wheat coal, combined with the Producer Gas System, is cheaper than water power. From the report of the Chamber for 1889 the following extract is made: "It appeared that great mills in Lowell, Lawrence and many of the New England cities used, say 3,000 horse power, costing about $35,000 per year, while the same power here would cost. $105,000." In Wilkes-Barre the fuel for 3,000 horse power would cost $16,080, or with Producer Gas, $8.040. There is no room, in the face of all these facts and figures, for disputing the position we take, that we have the cheapest fuel in the world ( without reference to our eulm) and that, with the practically inexhaustible supply thereof. with our six great transportation lines, our nominal city taxes and the beauty of our surroundings, and the salubrity of the climate, we have the best place for manufactures in America.
Unal's First Bonm.
A well known citizen, writing of the city in the forties, has this to say of the carly development of the coal business :
"And about this time a small frame foundry was located on North Main Street, and owned by Jonathan Moore, who made ploughs mostly. He sold out to the firm of Baird & Mccullough.
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MALTBY BREAKER, LEHIGH VALLEY CC.MI, CO.
"The coal business was beginning to pick up, the price was one dollar per ton and a breaker was being erected about the site of Lee's planing mill, a little beyond. It was all a swampy place and the canal and basins took up all that space running beyond the present railroads. The boats running between Wilkes- Barre and Baltimore were all loaded there and the shipping superintended by Alex. Gray.
"About this time, 1852, David Levi. of Plymouth, was doing a large coal shipping business by boats. I built for him the first coal chutes at the mines. and we supplied all the iron grating, etc .. from the Baird & MeCullough foundry, at which I was then employed."
Early Mandirap.
For several decades Wilkes-Barre was handicapped by the fact that it lay within the bosom of high hills and its only access to the markets was by means of arks sailing down the river to Dauphin County, or by narrow roads over the tops of the surrounding mountains. The Easton and Wilkes-Barre Turn- pike-built in the years between 1802-08 -- was the first available road to Easton, which was for many years the chief market town for the merchant- and farmers of the Wyoming Valley. This road starts from the river bank at the foot of Northampton Street and runs right through to Easton and for years it was popularly known as the longest "street" in the Commonwealth.
The North Brauch Canal.
The first important opportunity for shipping mine product came with the advent of the North Branch Canal in 1834, by means of which Wilkes-Barre was connected with other towns along the Pennsylvania System of Canals.
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FLASH-LICHT VIEW OF A MINER'S CHAMBER.
The canal entered the city limits from the north by means of a lock and basin at Mill Creek, where coal was loaded, and the first city basin was located near where the new Court House is now being erected and passed along the route of the present Laurel Line to Canal Street. Near Washington and Canal Streets was another basin and the Bennett warehouse ; next came a basin and a ware- house owned by George Hollenback at East Market Street : then there came a timber basin and lower down Parrish's warehouse and basin near South Street. The canal is now filled in and along the line of the old bed there is a large sewer controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.
The canal system rendered a fairly good service for about twenty-five years. but the construction of the first railroad in 1848 soon rendered the old system obsolete and it was finally abandoned when the Lehigh Valley Railroad bought up the state rights. It is now only a memory.
The first railroad started from a point located near W. L. Conynghan's home, facing the river common, running thence to Ashley-the cars being drawn by horses-connecting with the Ashley planes, from the top of which locomotives took the cars to White Haven. Passengers, freight and mails were intermixed and the journey was both tedious and dangerous.
It was not until 1866-7 that the Lehigh Valley R. R. and Central R. R. of New Jersey made their appearance and the old road to Ashley was quickly dis- pensed with. It was in 1856 that the Bloomsburg branch of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western was completed. connecting this section of the world with the Pennsylvania road at Northumberland. These facilities quickly added to the importance of Wilkes-Barre, and from that time on her growth has had one unbroken, steady success. . Now nine railroads connect with the city, conveying passengers and exchanging freight -- four of them trunk lines.
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MAXWELL BREAKER, L. & W-B. COAL CO.
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MATHESON MOTOR-CAR WORKS.
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Manufacturing Establishments.
In 1900, as shown by the Twelfth Census, there were in Wilkes-Barre 43S manufacturing and mechanical industries with $10,501,537 of invested capital -considerably added to during the last six years-over 6,000 wage earners be- ing the average employed in these industries, and the value of the yearly pro- ducts thereof amounting to over $11,000,000.
Among the 133 cities and boroughs of the state in 1900 Wilkes-Barre ranked sixteenth with respect to capital invested in mechanical indus- tries, and twentieth with respect to the value of the products of those industries. For the years intervening between the Eleventh and Twelfth censuses, Wilkes-Barre showed an increase of 62.2 per cent in the number of its industrial establishments-only four towns in the State surpassing this per- centage; while in the amount of its capital invested it showed an increase of 87.6 per cent .- this percentage being exceeded by only eight other towns in the State.
The citizens can justly point with pride to the fact that many of Wilkes- Barré's manufacturing and mechanical industries are of considerable import- ance and some of them are among the largest of their kind in the country. Many of these establishments were begun in a small way and have been en- larged and built up in a gradual and, to the bulk of the citizens, in an almost imperceptible way.
This story of Wilkes-Barre's industrial growth is not intended to be a history of all the various plants in the city and we have only space to refer to a few of the most important.
The First Manufacturing flant.
One of the first attempts at manufacturing merchant iron, etc., in close proximity to the mines, was started near the present Stanton breaker. It was a rolling mill for puddling and making bar iron during the early forties. It was a very creditable effort but owing to the fact that ore was not found in pay- ing quantities, and the absence of lime stone, together with the difficulties at- tending transportation, the works were removed to Danville and have since de- veloped into an important industry. The name of Rolling Mill still attaches to the locality where the works were situated, for it is now known as "Rolling Mill Hill."
LANING & MARSHALL.
J. R. Perry, the pioneer manufacturer of pianos, in writing his reminis- censes for the Times, has this to say of industries in Wilkes-Barre fifty years ago:
"As to manufactures they were very limited. On the west side of the Public Square was a large foundry and machine shops owned and operated by Mr. Laning, and, of course, all the buildings around the Square were old-fashioned
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frames. Mr. Laning soon after built the large and commodious shops on Canal Street and they were conducted under the firm name of Laning & Marshall. What was peculiar about that copartnership was that it was formed with the express purpose of building steam canal packet boats to ply upon the North Branch Canal, then under construction, to the State of New York.
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