F Class^JI^ Gopyriglit]^° COPYRIGHT DEPOSIE jm. Yeabs of unparaueled Thrift 1/58 - 19O8 TTSBURGH p COMMITTEE W,B.LI SHED BY --KTSifimD'^HffS'' m07 COMMO NWEl^ufWl PITTSBURGH. AUL. RIGHTS RESERVED OW COVER DESIGN. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/150yearsofunpara01whit ffi- 150 W!fi!fi!fi!fi!fi!fi!fi!fi!fi!fi!fi!fiSS!fi!fi!fi!fi!fi ■ ^^^\ ■ ■ SfiffiffiSSififfiffiffiffiffiffiffiSffiffiffiffiffiS !fi g YKARS OF UNPARALLELED THRIFT I c Pittsburgh Sesqui-Centennial CHRONICLING A DEVELOPMENT FROM A FRONTIER CAMP TO A MIGHTY CITY Official History and Programme By EDWARD WHITE OfficialJEditor and Publislier for the Executive Committee Dk WITT B. LUCAS, Associate Editor Issued under Authoritj- of tie EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE SESyUI-CENTENNIAL COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY EDWARD WHITE two iiODies rtucu'vctf SEP 17 W08 V'f \f ^^ .yu' .'rr'*^- '-xUN^ .j-ll^^ wC-J«. ...ij^-_i.;^.-^ii>- '^^;-0->ibl D jl>fHfi>fi>fi!f!!f;sif;>i«;!fi!fiifiy;!f;s>f;ifi!fi!fi!fiif;s!fi!fi!fi£S£y;y;>f;>f;!f;if;!{;y;!f;!fi!i;!fi»^ 3ltt Ol0mttt^m0rattan ml|trl| gnu^rttpJi tl|? ^ arlg s^t- tUvB of Mfst^rn p? nnsglba- nta, th^ir maug Ji^fba of balor, nnh t\^t bmhrns m{)u^ t\^t^ BH li^rotrallg bavt m laying 11)p founbatton fnr on^ of tl|^ gr^atotitt&ustrtal nnh rotttttt^rrtal ritt^a of moiti^rn ttm^S :: :: :: :: - ^ g J laaffiffiffiffiaaaffiaajffiffigffiffiaggffiffijfiaaffiaffiffiffitfHfigffiffiifiifiBatfaiffiffiaatfiaaffiffiaufiaffiffiffiifiifiBiaifitfiri 13& 3-M ■° a u u Km •3? 01 o ■ -S bo I. 3 a ui a ■r^ O ±1 >• a>-" '^ 9-3 ■§ CO .^"S .5 3 - "^ o s ;- tfl, - « j: Si no" R o o S a o PITTSBURGH IN HISTORY ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF REMARKABLE GROWTH AND THRIFT ROM a government outpost in 1758 to a leading American city in 1908 is a rec- ord of material advancement which bears an ineffable charm to every stu- dent and every reader of modern history. It un- folds a story of intrepid pioneering, keen discern- ment, commercial capacity and true aestheticism that is virtually without a parallel. From a frontier camp to a city of over half a million in- habitants — known throughout the universe as the greatest of all industrial centers, as the third city in the world in banking capital and surplus, and as a city of beautiful homes, magnificent parks, boulevards, churches, schools and benevolent in- stitutions — is a transition of glory and of wonder. And yet through it all there is ever in evidence that sturdiness of character, that equipoise of mind and purpose, which characterized the little band of English, Scotch and Irish settlers who laid the foundation of such a city in the middle of the eighteenth century. Their breadth of vision enabled them to see that at this meeting of the waters — this entrepot to the great fertile West — would virtually command the situation in the settlement and development of that vast ter- ritory, and result in the upbuilding of a great city at the forks of the Ohio. The most difficult problem which confronted the settlers at the foot of the Western slope of the Allegheny Mountains was the Indian ques- tion. The reduction of the wilderness, as diffi- cult as it was in those days of crude development in the mechanical arts, was indeed an easy task compared to the settlement of the Indian ques- tion. The Indians would lend no assistance to the settlers in the work of developing the coun- try and making use of its resources, and they would not recede peaceably from the lands which could be made to yield so much under the touch of the white man. The white men soon learned, therefore, that they must fight if they would win in the struggle for civilization, and from the time of Braddock's defeat, a few miles eaGt of Pitts- burgh, 175s, until the erection of Fort Fayette, where is now Ninth street and Penn avenue, in 1792, there was an almost ceaseless conflict and numerous bloody battles between the whites and the Indians. The colonists of Pennsylvania and Virginia felt the effect of Braddock's defeat by the allied forces of French and Indians very keenly. They realized that life was no longer secure in any portion of the territory west of the Susquehanna river, and that relief of no kind was apparent.. The following year (1756) the British govern- ment formally declared war against France, but lack of thorough military training and skill on the part of the British troops first sent out led to almost sole dependence for protection upon the Colonial militia. For the next two j'ears the French and Indians were successful at nearly every turn, and the settlers were in a constant reign of terror. Pittsburgh's First Post Office, 1789 GENERAL FORBES BRINGS RELIEF In the spring of 1758 General John Forbes was placed in command of the army operating west of the Alleghany Mountains, and from that time the settlers saw their first real relief. With a force of about 6,200 experienced soldiers, and ac- companied by George Washington, General Forbes marched from the Susquehanna river to the Beaver river, stopping at a point near where New_jZast_le now stands. At Bedford he was joined by Colonel Bouquet, with a force of Colonial militia. Bouquet was sent forward to Fort Ligonier, with a force of 2,000 men, while General Forbes followed with the main body of PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. the army. These movements were striking ter- ror to French and their Indian allies, and the fall of Fort Duquesne was drawing nearer. Gen- eral Montcalm writing at this time to Chevalier de Bourlamque, gives the following description of conditions existing in the fort: "Mutiny among the Canadians, who want to go home; the officers busy making money, and steal- ing like mandarins. Their commander sets the example, and will come back with three or four hundred thousand francs. The pettiest ensign, who does not gamble, will have ten, twelve or fifteen hundred francs. The Indians do not like Ligneris, who is drunk every day." thirty, were burned. The French, who numbered about four hundred, besides several hundred Indian allies, withdrew, most of the French going down the Ohio river on rafts and barges. NAME CHANGED FORT PITT AND PITTSBURGH What remained of the fort was occupied by the English soldiers on the 26th of November, and Washington pointed to the meeting of the waters and predicted the building of an import- ant city on the site. After the raising of the British flag over the fort, it was named Fort Pitt, Pennsylvania Canal — Site of Union Station FALL OF FORT DUQUESNE An occasional success in a slight conflict would embolden the French and serve to keep their spirits up, but the policy of their government was wrong, and the time was near at hand when they must abandon it. Early in September, Major Grant, who had been sent to within a few miles of Fort Duquesne, was defeated, but the defeat was of no importance. A little later an attack was made upon Fort Ligonier by the French and Indians, but no permanent advantage was gained. The fall of Fort Frontenac, at the outlet of Lake Ontario, in August, had practical- ly sealed the doom of Fort Duquesne, and on the 24th of November, when the English were within a few miles of the fort, it was blown up and the surrounding buildings, to the number of about in honor of the Prime Minister of England, Wil- liam Pitt. At the suggestion of General Forbes the place was named Pittsburgh. The first re- corded use of the name is in a letter from Gen- eral Forbes to Governor Denny, dated the day after taking possession, from "Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburgh, the 26th November, 1758." The next recorded evidence is from the minutes of the conference held by Colonel Bouquet with the chiefs of the Delaware Indians, at "Pitts-Bourgh, 4th December, 1758." COMMERCIAL HISTORY When commerce reached the forks of the Ohio, it found little in the way of human habita- tion save the tepees of the Indians and Fort Du- quesne, occupied by French soldiers. The mili- PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. tary rule of the French stimulated trading be- tween the white frontiersmen and the Indians for the time, but when the English occupied tlie "forks" and built Fort Pitt, it was found that French hostility had so embittered the Indians against the newcomers that commercial relations with them were well nigh suspended. It was not until the close of the Revolution that mercantile trading was resumed to a noteworthy extent, and then was born the commerce of Pittsburgh. In 1784 more than sixty wagon loads of goods reached Pittsburgh from the East, and by 17S6 traffic on the Ohio river had become a feature of Western trading. In 1786 a healthy expansion of business is shown. Among the lirms were Craig, Bayard & Co., Daniel Britt & Co., Samuel Calhoun, Wilson & Wallace, John McDonald, William Hawting, William Fulton & Co., and Colonel John Gibson. Most of the stores advertised that their goods were exchangeable for cash, flour, whiskey, beef, pork, bacon, wheat, rye, oats, corn, candle-wick, tallow, etc. NEW STORES COMING IN The year 1787 found several new concerns add- ed to the list of the year previous, among them being general stores by John Wilkins & Co., David Kennedy, and John and William Irwin. The Gazette advertised that it kept for sale State laws, history of the Revolution, the New Testa- ment, Dilworth's Spelling Book, sealing wax, wafers, etc. In the year 1787 there was something of a de- pression in the business circles of Pittsburgh, lack of ready cash being especially noticeable, but in the year 1788 a complete revival was experi- enced, and all classes of business prospered. URGING STATE CO-OPERATION The following item from an issue of the Ga- zette of 1787 reflects the spirit which had posses- sion of the people at that early date: "It ought to be a great object with the State of Pennsylvania to encourage and cultivate the town of Pittsburgh. It will be a means which will bind the two extremes of the State together. A town of note at the confluence of these rivers must for ages secure the trade of the Western country to Pennsylvania." FARMING DID NOT PAY Agriculture was unprofitable west of the Alle- ghenies prior to the last decade of the eighteenth century. The cost of transportation across the mountains and competition with planters using slave labor in Virginia and the Carolinas, made it next to folly for the farmers of the Pittsburgh district to raise more produce than was necessary for home consumption. Flour reached the low price of $1 per hundredweight, and beef seldom brought more than $2 in cash per hundredweight. Commerce at the time meant simply barter, and very little money was used even in the settlement of balances. Home-made goods of all kinds were used as legal tender, and if the farmer got enough for his produce with which to pay his taxes, he was in- deed fortunate. The New Orleans market was not available because of the distance and the time MISFORTUNE TURNED TO FORTUNE It was such drawbacks to commerce as these that caused a turn in the affairs of Pittsburgh, shaped the destiny of the future great city and made it the center of the greatest industrial em- pire on the globe. It having become settled be- yond peradventure that Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania must turn their attention from agri- culture to manufacture if they would reach promi- nence in the business world, it became an easy step to a substantial start in the right direction. Ohio and Kentucky were just beginning their development, and the demand for building ma- terials and implements of all kinds from those sections became the OPPORTUNITY OF THE PITTSBURGH DISTRICT. Mills and forges and factories were started like hives along the banks of the Allegheny and the Monongahela rivers, while the transportation problem was readily and easily solved by the Ohio, and Pittsburgh itself began to grasp the great opportunity soon after the ball had been started. Prosperity came in great waves with the dawn of this change. The demand for implements in- creased to a demand for flour, cotton goods, glass, iron and coal, and Pittsburghers sprang to the work of supplying these demands. The time had come for the "town beyond the mountains" to take its place in the commercial world, and the manner of its assumption was indeed creditable. PITTSBURGH'S BEGINNING AS AN INDUSTRIAL CENTER. The glass industry in Pittsburgh had its be- ginning in 1797 in a factory started by General James O'Hara in a stone building on the south side of the Monongahela river, nearly opposite the Point, William Eichbaum having been brought from the East to superintend the work. In a note found among General O'Hara's papers after his death, he said: "To-day we made the first bottle at a cost of $30,000." The enterprise proved successful and was really the beginning PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. of Pittsburgh's greatness in the manufacturing line. It was the first venture on anything like an extensive scale, and marked a new era for the commerce of the city. Associated with General Judge William Wilkins, first President of the Bank of Pittsburgh, United States Senator, Secretary of War and Minister to Russia. (Deceased) O'Hara in the enterprise was Isaac Craig, a sturdy pioneer business man of Pittsburgh, and the institution was known as the Pittsburgh Glass Works. OTHER MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES Hats were manufactured by Samuel Magee in 1798 at Front street and Chancery Lane. In the same year there were also in the city institutions manufacturing tobacco, wagons and chairs, and in 1799 a shoe factory was started. In 1800 an- other shoe factory was started by Hammond & Wells. MERCANTILE PURSUITS The principal articles of commerce in 1800 were pork, beef, flour, whiskey, bar iron, castings, Irish and country linens. At that time the borough supported a large number of prosperous stores, conducted by men with such familiar names as Ormsby, Mahon, Sharp, Jones, Dunlap, Scott, Stevenson and Hogg. Traffic on the Ohio river was heavy, the commandant of Fort Massac, near the mouth of the river, reporting that 276 boats laden with produce and manufactured articles passed that place from the 1st of March to the 31st of May. In 1801 the list of business men contained the names of Tarascon Brothers, Berthoud, Steele, McLaughlin, Davis, Christy, Willock, Barker, Hamsher, Gregg and others. The year 1802 the well-known names of Hanna, Denny, Woods and Mcllhenny were in the list. VOLUME OF TRADE IN 1803 Manufactures $266,000 Produce brought to market 92,000 Exports 180,000 Imports 250,000 The excess of imports over exports caused some of the cautious citizens to warn the people to import less and manufacture more. New Orleans continued to be the principal market for the products of Western Pennsylvania, and the opinion prevailed that the southern metropolis was destined to be the greatest city in the world. It was before the days of canals and railways, and when the chief dependence of commerce was upon the waterways. Pittsburgh's only access to the great markets of the world was by water via New Orleans, and its importance was therefore appar- ent to every discerning business man. BRANCH BANK IN 1803 The year 1803 found the city sufficiently ad- vanced in a commercial sense to require the aid of a bank. Scarcity of money had previously pre- vented the establishment of such an institution, and exchanges were effected by local merchants, aided by two or three brokers. Early in the year the directors of the Bank of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, made a formal proposition to the business men of Pittsburgh looking to the estab- lishment of a branch in the latter city, and soon afterward the following call for a meeting of the citizens appeared in the Gazette: "The freeholders and other inhabitants, house- holders, are hereby requested to attend a meet- ing of the Corporation at the Court House, on Saturday, the 26th of March, at 10 o'clock P.M., in order to take into consideration a proposition of the Directors of the Bank of Pennsylvania for establishing a branch within the borough, pro- viding it is approved by the Corporation. Wil- liam Christy, Town Clerk." PITTSBURGH'S FIRST BANK While the branch of the Philadelphia hank met the wants of the community for the time being, the development of the city made necessary the establishment of a home institution, and in 1810 a movement took definite form in the organiza- tion of the Bank of Pittsburgh. About a month later, however, the legislature passed an act amending the restrictive act of 1808 in such man- ner as to make it virtually prohibitive to new in- PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. stitutions, forbidding, under heavy penalties, the incorporated banks organized under the act of 1808, to lend money, to receive deposits, or to do anything which the chartered banks might law- fully do. The Bank of Pittsburgh immediately closed its operations, in compliance with the pro- visions of the act, and in everything submitted to the letter and spirit of the law. Later in the year 1810 the president and direc- tors memorialized the legislature to grant them a charter, couching their petition in such forcible terms as to make it one of the most noted docu- ments of record in the early history of the com- monwealth. It was the death knell to such sum- mary legislation as had for the time kept the Bank of Pittsburgh out of the commercial field, and opened the eyes of the people of the state to the commanding position which the new city at the head of the Ohio occupied. Even at that early date the city had a population of 5,000 in- habitants, and was engaged to a greater extent in useful manufactures, according to population, than any town in the United States. The petition plainly showed the urgent necessity for the legis- lature's fostering care for those industries. VOLUME OF TRADE INCREASING The volume of trade passing through Pitts- burgh in 1810 was estimated at $r, 000,000, and the sale of Pittsburgh manufactures reached a sum slightly in excess of $1,000,000, making the total for the year $2,000,000. Shipments by river par- tially enumerated were furniture, saddlery, boots and shoes, paper, glass and cabinet work, and the receipts included tobacco, sugar, cotton, furs, hemp, lead, etc. Pittsburgh had by this time be- come an excellent market, and its fame as an in- dustrial center was spreading over the land, bringing skilled workmen and shrewd business men to the new metropolis by scores. In 1812 an express post was established by the government from Washington, D. C, to Detroit, via Pittsburgh, a distance of SSO miles. Pitts- burgh was reached in three and a half days, and Detroit in five days. One authority estimated the number of frame and brick houses built in 1812 at 300, and the same authority stated that 7,000,000 feet of lum- ber passed inspection at Pittsburgh during that year, the product coming from the pine and hem- lock swamps up the Allegheny river. Among the leading establishments in the city in 1812-13 were those of H. J. Lewis & Co., David Logan & Co., G. & C. Anshutz, Isaac Harris, John Wilkins, N. Richardson, William McCandless, William Mason, John M. Snowden, Speer & Eich- baum, James Wiley, Jr., and R. Brown & Co. The war with England appeared to make prosper- ous conditions for Pittsburgh merchants, so great was the advance in prices. Purchases were made from eastern and foreign markets twice a year. December 31, 1813, the direct tax of the gov- ernment took effect, requiring the stamping of BENJAMIN FRANKUN JONES, Founder Jones & Laughlin Steel Company. (Deceased) notes, bills, bonds and commercial paper before using. EXPANSION DURING THE WAR OF 1S12 The growth of Pittsburgh's population during the war was considerable, and its commerce grew in proportion. Steam had become the motive power on the Ohio river, and had completely revolutionized transportation. The National In- telligencer, a paper published at Washington, D. C, contained a letter from a Pittsburgher on April 22, 1814, which contained the following paragraph: "It is difficult to repress the expression of feel- ings which arise toward the person to whom we owe it that this mode of navigation, so often be- fore attempted and laid aside in despair, has be- come practical, but it is unnecessary to give them vent. The obligation which the nation — I had almost said the world — owes to him will be freely acknowledged by history." COMMERCE OF 1813 The following boatloads and wagonloads were received at Pittsburgh in 1813: 350 boats loaded with 3,750 tons of saltpetre, salt, lead, belting. lO PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. sugar, cotton, etc.; 1,250 tons of hemp, 3,750 tons of hempen yarn, 4,000 wagonloads of dry goods, groceries, etc., and 1,000 wagonloads of iron. Pittsburgh's exports were also large in 1813, its manufacturing institutions running more than JOHN HARPER, President Bank of Pittsburgh, N. A., 1865 to 18',il. (Deceased) full time to fill orders. About this time the c:ty became known as the "Birmingham of America," and the prediction was made by the Niles Reg- ister that it would eventually become the GREATEST MANUFACTURING CENTER IN THE WORLD. In 1814 the ironmongery manufactured in Pittsburgh amounted in value to $300,000, and the whole value of iron products was in excess of $500,000. This was nearly double the value of the output of 1812. The boatbuilding industry, which was started in' 181 1, had grown to good proportions by the year 1814, and manufacturing in other lines was greatly stimulated by its suc- cess. There were' two steam engine manufac- tories, a rolling mill, puddling furnaces and a wire factory, besides smaller concerns, making locks, hinges, stoves, carding machines, shovels, tongs, cutting knives, etc. COAL MINING BEGINS Coal mining in quantity began during, the war of 1812-14, although at that early date nothing was thought of the important .figure which that product would eventually cut in the industrial history of the city. It was then unforseen that coal would yet be king of the great Pittsburgh empire, and it was not without value even at that period. The first mines were opened on the south side of the Monongahela river and was ferried to the city until the completion of the first bridge in 1816. Although the production was small, there was yet enough mined and used to demonstrate its value as a fuel, especially in iron manufacture, and by the year 1818, when the de- mand for coal came from Cincinnati, St. Louis, Louisville and New Orleans, it had become quite an important factor as a Pittsburgh industry. In Cincinnati it was used in the manufacture of glass and was sold there at twenty cents a bushel, delivered. The construction of the first bridge across the Allegheny was not begun until July, i8i8, the de- mand for the bridge across that stream not be- ing deemed as important as one across the Mo- nongahela. RIVER DIFFICULTIES IN 1818 The effects of low water were sometimes seri- ously experienced in early times. At one time in 1818 thre were thirty vessels, including keel boats and flat-bottoms, lying at the Monongahela wharves, loaded with $3,000,000 worth of mer- chandise destined for Ohio and Mississippi river points. A local paper summed up the situation as follows: "The embargo on our vessels is at length hap- pily raised, and $3,000,000 worth of merchandise has at length floated of? on the rapidly swelling bosom of the Ohio. It may appear somewhat paradoxical, but Pittsburgh is delighted to have her shores deserted. The large fleet of boats which has for some months been lying before our city might serve to give strangers a just con- ception of the immense importance of our situa- tion, yet its protracted detention gave a melan- choly feature to this proof of our greatness. We fear the effect of it will be severely felt in the cities of the West. However, in all cases of gloom where our country is concerned our motto is Sperate. The beautiful steamboat James Ross has weighed anchor for New Or- leans. She will take in freight at several places between this point and Louisville. May success attend 'this gallant vessel in her voyage across our immense continent." A DEPRESSION COMES During the spring and summer of 181S twenty- two steamboats were engaged in the Ohio river- traffic, and seven boats were in process of con- struction at Pittsburgh. Manufacturing in Pitts-- burgh had received a stetback from which 'it ap- parently could not recover, and conditions would PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. indeed have been alarming had it not been i:or the river trade which the city enjoyed. The chief trouble was that there was little or nothing manufactured for export trade, and the money stringency which was spreading over the land made domestic trade of little value. The depression thus begun reached its height in 1821, when prices of commodities reached the bottom. The gloom continued until 1823, and by the middle of 1824 the city was again in a flour- ishino- condition. THE PITTSBURGH MANUFACTURING ASSOCIATION Organized effort for the betterment of trade conditions was one of the results of the hard times from 1818 to 1823. The Pittsburgh Manu- facturing Association, which was organized for commercial purposes in 1819, answered the ex- pectations of its founders in affording facilities for its interchange of commodities — supplying raw materials to the mechanic and manufactured articles to the farmer and country merchant in exchange for produce. The Legislature of 1819- 20 chartered the association, which greatly in- creased its facilities for benefiting the com- munity. The year 1826 proved a record breaker for the new city. Merchandise to the amount of 9,300 tons and valued at $2,219,000 was received from the East. The exports for the same year amounted to $2,881,276, showing a balance of trade in favor of Pittsburgh of $2,219,276. The exports were as follows: Iron $ 398,000 Nails 210,000 Glass 105,000 Paper 55, 000 Porter 18,000 Flour 10,500 Castings 88,000 Wire work 8,000 White lead 17,000 Steam engines 100,000 Tobacco and cigars 25,800 Bacon, 860,000 pounds 51,820 Cotton yarn and cloths 160,324 Axes, scythes, shovels, etc 49,000 Whiskey 29,832 Dry goods 480,000 Groceries and foreign liquors 625,000 Saddlery and leather products 236,000 Miscellaneous 214,000 Total $2,881,276 INCREASED PROSPERITY OF 1828-29 The Niles Register of February 23, 1828, says: "About 2,600 persons and $2,000,000 capital are employed in the factories of Pittsburgh. The FEWX R. BRUNOT, Prominent Business Man and Philanthropist. (Deceased) Senate of Pennsylvania has passed a bill permit- ting the Baltimore & Ohio railroad to enter that State providing a branch shall be made to Pitts- burgh, and it is important to Baltimore as well as Pittsburgh that these cities should be joined together, and we hope and trust that such an act passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature will be cheerfully accepted by the managers of this com- pany. Pittsburgh is, and must more and more become, the center of a vast and valuable busi- ness — the place of deposit for mighty quantities of produce of the soil and industry of Western Pennsylvania and of the rich southeastern sec- tion of Ohio, and enjoys many other natural ad- vantages. Pittsburgh is even now supplying iron for the navy of the United States. We wish every success to the industry of her enterprising people, and desire an extension of domestic com- petition." With the renewed impetus to business there came a rise in prices which greatly cheered the merchant and manufacturer. The construction of the Pennsylvania canal caused an extraordinary PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. growth in population and commerce, and upon the completion of the project in 1829 business took an upward movement which showed that Pittsburgh was on the map to stay. CHARI^ES LOCKHART, oil Merchant and Capitalist. (Deceased) ANOTHER PERIOD OF DEPRESSION Loss of trade and general depression again came upon Pittsburgh in 1830-31. There were no such disastrous failures as accompanied the former period, and the injurious effects were not so widespread. Business seemed to drift along without either advancement or retrogression, as if a feeling of lethargy had taken possession of the people. The President's war on the banking system of the country undoubtedly had much to do with the condition, capital being slow of in- vestment for fear of repudiation and bad faith. IMPROVED TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES The year 1831 witnessed a great improvement in Pittsburgh's transportation facilities to the East. The Pennsylvania turnpike passed into the hands of a stage company which improved it in many ways and placed on it three lines of stages to Philadelphia — two running daily and one every other day. One of the daily lines made the trip in two and a half days and the other in four days. In addition to these lines there was the northern line, by way of Blairsville, Huntingdon and Lewiston, which made the trip in less than four days. A line was also established this year (1831) between Pittsburgh and Wheeling, an- other between Pittsburgh and Steubenville, while the time of the stages between Pittsburgh and Cleveland and Pittsburgh and Erie was decreased The travel on all these lines was very heavy. A TURNPIKE CONVENTION Freight transportation was such an important question in the early thirties that the business in- terests were kept constantly alert for new schemes for its improvement. In 1833 a turn- pike convention was held in the city to take into consideration the improvement of the roads, the question of uniformity of tolls and other matters of common interest. The companies represented were: Washington & Williamsport, Somerset & Bedford, Summit & Mt. Pleasant, Robbstown & Mt. Pleasant, Huntingdon, Cambria & Indiana, New Alexandria & Conemaugh, Pittsburgh & Greensburg, Bedford & Stoystown, Mt. Pleasant & Pittsburgh, Pittsburg & Butler, and Chambers- burg and Bedford. The convention elicited con- siderable interest on the part of the public and resulted in good to all concerned. MANUFACTURING IN 1833 In 1833 J. & E. Greer, at the Tarriff Foundry, man- ufactured stoves, grates, gudgeons, sawmill irons, windmill irons, wagon boxes, sadirons, bake kettles, plow irons, hoUowware, etc. The following year they were forced to assign. Bemis, Kingsland, Lightner & Cuddy bought the interest of Lewis and Peter Peterson in their ma- chine shop and steam-engine factory, conducted by F. A. Bemis & Co., in February, 1834. F. A. Bemis & Co., the company being Lewis and Peter Peterson, had made steam engines and cotton and woolen ma- chinery here for some time. On November l, 1833, there were in operation in and near Pittsburgh 89 engines, with 2,111 hands employed therewith, and 154,250 bushels of coal con- sumed monthly. In the month of November, 1833, 2,337,580 pounds of iron were brought to Pittsburgh over the canal, as follows: Blooms, 1,658,326 pounds; pig-metal, 112,560 pounds; castings, 75,167 pounds; iron, 492- 527 pounds. There were shipped eastward over the canal during the same time 127,484 pounds of cast- ings. There were in the city of Pittsburgh sixteen foun- dries and lengine factories of the largest denomina- tion, besides numerous other establishments of less magnitude. There were nine rolling mills, cutting two tons of nails and rolling eight tons of iron per day on an average, and employing from seventy to ninety hands each. 1834-1836. Although there was a financial depression in Pittsburgh during the first two months of 1834, the volume of business for the year reached a total of $10,000,000 for the wholesale and retail Old Phipps Power Building. Joseph Home & Co. (Roof visible). McElvcen Building (Furniture). T. C. Jenkins (Wholesale Grocer. R ible). New Phipps Power Building. Sixth Street Bridge. Bessemer Building. Kerr & Snodgrass. Fulton Building. Sixth Street. Colonial Hotel. Hotel Annex. Penn Avenue. Bijou Building. Duquesne Theatre (Top). Anderson Hotel. H. J. Heinz Company (In distance). Century Building. Lutz & Schramm Co. (Pickles, etc.). Sixteenth Street Bridge, Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge over Allegheny Laird & Taylor (Shoes). P. Duff & Sons (Molasses). Allegheny River. McNaliy Building. Stewart Bros. & Co. (Wholesale Shoes). Hceren Building. Pittsburgh Dry Goods Company Building. Spear & Co. (House Furnishings). Penn Building. Young Men's Christian Association Building. Columbia Phonograph Company. Pittsburgh Life Building (Insurance). Westinghouse Building ((Corner visible). DOWNTOWN BUSINESS SECTION OF PITTSBURGH R. G. Dun & Company. Keenan Building and Chamber of Commerce (Headquarters Postal Telegraph Co.). Doublcday-Hill Electric Co. Pickerings (House Furnishings). Second National Bank (Corner visible). J. C, Lindsay Hardware Company. James B. Haines & Sons (Wholesale Dry Goods). Penn Inclined Plane. READING FROM LEFT TO RIGHT AND FROM TOP TO BOTTOM, THE FOLLOWING MAY BE PLAINLY SEEN Grant Boulevard. Liberty Avenue. Union Station (Pennsylvania R. R.), Monongahela National Bank. Cosmcpolitan National Bank. High School. Public Play Ground. Weisser-Low Co. (Department Store). A. Rosenbaum Co. (Department Store). Na lal Bank (Top of building Farmers Deposit National Bank Buildir visible). McCreery's Department Store. S. Hamilton Co. (Pianos). First Presbyterian Church (Rear visible). Trinity Episcopal Church (Rear visible). Nixon Theatre. Campbell's Department Store. Kleber's Music Store, (Uni ed Stat ;athcr First National Bank Building. Western Union Telegraph Co. Reymer & Brothers (Confectionery), Hotel Antler. Park Building. Hotel Henry. Fifth Avenue. u). Pittsburgh Coal Company. Carnegie Building. Frick Building. Friek Annex. Kaufmanns' Department Store (Top corner showing). Pittsburgh College. Curry Building. Solomon's Department Store. Goeltmann's Restaurant. J. R. Weldin & Co. (Stationery). Berger Building. Grand Opera House. Colonial Trust Company (Diamond street en Robinson Bros. (Brokers). Corner of Wood and Diamond Streets. Bailey-Farrell Building (Plumbing supplies). St. Nicholas Building. Jones & Laughlin (New building, just the cor- ner visible). Fidelity Title & Trust Company Building. Pittsburgh Bank for Savings, Post Office Building {Tower plainly visible). Pittsburgh Trust Co. (Vandergrift Building). Germania Savings Bank. The Mercantile Trust Co. (Top). Peoples Savings Bank. Ccmmonwealih Building (Upper left hand corner shown). People's National Bank (Top and rear of building). Arrotl Building (Sate Deposit & Trust Co). Union National Bank Building, Columbia National Bank Building. Pittsburgh Terminal Warehouses (In the dis- Guardian Trust Co. (Rear). Pittsburgh Stock Exchange Building (Rear), Hostetter Building (Rear). House Building (A corner visible). Machesney Building. Bank of Pittsburgh. National Association (Rear corner visible). Joseph Woodwell Co, (Hardware). Top of Smithfield Street Bridge (Above). Hartje Building. Panorama from Diamond National Bank Building. WIIvL,IAM PITT From an Original Painting in the Royal Academy, London Prime Minister of England in 1758, when Fort Pitt and Pittsburgb, were named in his honor. HE PITTSBURG PHOTO ENGRAVING CO. PRINTED BY MURDOCH, KERR 4 CO., INC. PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. 13 trade and $9,500,000 for the manufactures, mak- ing a grand total of $19,500,000. The total canal tolls collected at Pittsburgh for the year -svere $16,704.99, showing a good trade in that direc- tion. The commercial transactions are thus itemized for the year: Books and papers $ 450,000 Drugs, medicines, paints, etc 175,000 Hardware 400,000 White lead 150,000 Beer and porter So,ooo Lumber 350,000 Pork 300,000 Glass 250,000 Sales of foundries, etc 1,690,000 Cotton 360,000 Copper and tin 75,ooo Brushes 20,000 Groceries and liquors 2,000,000 Dry goods 2,800,000 Plows, wagons, etc 100,000 Coal 250,000 Furniture and leather 250,000 ^liscellaneous 300,000 Total $ro,ooo,ooo From March, 1834, to June, 1S35, 30,234,065 pounds of freight were received from the East by the canal, and 16,653,429 pounds were sent from Pittsburgh by the same means. It may be said here that Philadelphia and Pennsylvania both lost by not making the Pennsylvania canal the leading transportation scheme between the East and the West. The building of the Erie and the Ohio and Erie canals resulted in New York securing the larger portion of the trade of the great West, which should have gone by way of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh merchants and manufac- turers foresaw this, and urged the Legislature to take necessary action, but Philadelphians failed to support them, and the trade went to New York by way of Buffalo. Business in Pittsburgh in 1836 was in good condition, every institution being operated at its full capacity. A communication appearing in the Gazette November 10, 1836, and signed "Old Merchant," thus referred to the volume of busi- ness for the j'ear: "The manufactures and mechanical products and sales of all kinds of goods, foreign and do- mestic, by all our manufactories, wholesale and retail, and commission merchants, may be esti- mated at from $20,000,000 to $25,000,000. The value of every description of foreign and domes- tic goods received in transit from the Eastern cities and passing through the hands of our com- mission merchants for all parts of the West and South, may be estimated at from $60,000,000 to $70,000,000, and perhaps it will not exceed the truth to say that the whole of the goods manu- factured or imported and sold in our city, or passing through, amounts to the enormous sum of $100,000,000." CAPTAIN JACOB JAY VANDERGRIFT, Oil Merchant and Capitalist. (Deceased) THE PANIC OF 1837 Business in Pittsburgh suffered a serious col- lapse from the effects of the panic of 1837. Goods in large quantities had been sold in the West and South on a liberal credit, and when the de- pression came barely a dollar cold be collected. As early as February it was calculated that Pitts- burgh's outstanding accounts amounted to $10,- 000,000, and March found conditions worse and collections at a standstill. Pittsburgh manufac- tories began to shut down, and the merchants were forced to compromise with their Eastern creditors.- All the banks in the city, with one exception — the Bank of Pittsburgh — suspended specie payment, and money became so scarce that prices of all commodities doubled and trebled in value. No influence could be exerted to give re- lief, and the people settled down to await the time when the panic should spend its force. REVIVAL OF TRADE Relief did not appear until late in the fail of 1837, when there was a slight revival of trade and money became easier. In 1838, the Pittsburgh Board of Trade, which had become a most useful and influential body. 14 PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. took a hand in business affairs which did much toward a trade revival. It opened headquarters in the Merchants' Exchange, brought the busi- ness men together at regular meetings, and se- JOSEPH HOKNE, For a I^ong Period Pittsburgh's Leading Merchant. (Deceased) cured for them information which enabled them to meet trade conditions and protect credits. There was nothing of a crude nature, and there was enough of the element of co-operation in it to make it successful. The freight shipped East over the canal in 1837 was 50,068,010 pounds, an enormous amount for a panic year. The tolls for the same year amounted to $48,807.97. An express line of boats was put on the canal in 1838, which made the trip to Philadelphia in three and one-half days. The Pittsburgh and Beaver canal was surveyed in 1838 and was finished in 1840. EXPANSION OF RIVER COMMERCE The river trade in 1838 was impeded to some extent by a shortage of water, but after the rise in the fall there was unusual activity, and a great business was inaugurated. The Advocate thus describes the scene on the river front: "The wharves present one of the most ani- mated scenes we have witnessed in a long time. Twenty steamboats lie at the landing taking in cargo for Louisville, St. Louis, Nashville, New Orleans and 'intermediate ports,' as the phrase goes. The whole of our broad levee, from the bridge to Ferry street, is closely dotted with drays and wagons, hurrying to the margin of the river from every point of access, burdened with the valuable products of our factories or with Eastern goods. Some half a dozen of the steam- ers are puffing away ready to start. The margin of the wharf is absolutely covered to the height of a man with freight in all its varieties, while higher up on the footwalks and streets the fronts of the great forwarding houses are blocked by piles of boxes, bales and barrels in beautiful dis- order. Shippers, porters, draymen and steamboat clerks blend their hurried vocies at once — one is actually deafened with their cheerful din and rush of business. Some idea may be formed of the magnitude of our manufactures from the fact that the larger iron houses have 800, some 1,000, and some as high as 1,200 tons each of iron and nails ready for shipment to the West." Fifty-five steamboats were laid up at Pitts- burgh during the winter of 1838-39, all of which cleared before the ist of March of the latter year. April 2, 1839, the steamboat Maine arrived from the Illinois river with 170 casks of bacon for ship- ment over the canal. This was the first cargo of Illinois river produce which was diverted from the New Orleans route. The costs of transporta- tion from Beardstown, Illinois, to Pittsburgh was 50 cents per hundred pounds. The cost from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia was 87 cents per hun- dred pounds. June 22, 1839, there were in port at Pittsburgh fifty-six steamboats, the largest number ever before seen here at one time. PROSPERITY AGAIN REIGNS The year 1840 witnessed a revival of trade in every line and the volume of business became un- usually large. The following figures show the in- crease in river traffic over the year 1839: 1839 1840 Steamboats arriving 652 1,393 Steamboats departing 662 1,413 Total 1,312 2,806 In October, 1840, three Pittsburgh banks re- ported deposits as follows: Bank of Pittsburgh $350,849.26 Exchange Bank 136,624.99 Merchants & Manufacturers Bank 197,145.82 THE COAL TRADE TAKES ON A BOOM The bituminous coal mines of Pennsylvania yielded about 500,000 tons in 1841, and shipments to distant parts of the country began to be heavy. The Intelligencer of January 5, 1842, said: "The coal trade of Pittsburgh and the imme- didate vicinity is very large and amounts in the PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. 15 course of a year to about $1,000,000. In 1837, ac- cording to Harris' directory, the trade was esti- mated at 11,304,000 bushels, which would be worth $565,200. A few days ago we went on the Minersville turnpike and were astonished to see the large number of carts and" two, three and four-horse teams constantly going and coming on that road alone; and this is only one of the many roads leading to the coal fields, to say noth- ing of the river traffic." TRADE FROM THE FAR WEST A noteworthy feature of the business of 1842 was the large number of traders from Santa Fe and other points in the West buying Pittsburgh goods. One buyer spent $5,000 in gold. The goods were shipped by steamboat to Fort Inde- pendence and thence across the unbroken prairie by prairie schooners to their destination. The tonnage of dry goods, groceries, drugs, oils, foreign liquors, furs window glass and whisky on the canal in 1841 amounted to 15,005. The City of Allegheny was incorporated in 1840, and soon began development in city fashion, although its manufacturing interests did not grow materially until many years later. A RAILROAD COMING In 1843 the city of Pittsburgh subscribed for 10,000 shares of the Pittsburgh & Connellsville (B. & O.) railroad, and immediately afterward business started on another great improvement. Buildings were erected at a rapid rate, manufac- turing enterprises came to this city to locate, and mercantile affairs took a long forward stride. In March, 1843, the Cleveland Herald printed the following item under the heading, "Pittsburgh and Cumberland": "The whistle of locomotives among the moun- tains within 100 miles of Pittsburgh makes the wealthy burghers prick up their ears, and al- ready the subject of a railroad from Pittsburgh to Cumberland is exciting no little interest. Build the road, Mr. Pittsburgher, and then we will see what can be done between Cleveland and the Iron City." To which the Pittsburgh American responded as follows: "We are going to build it, Mr. Her- ald, and that quick, too; and trust, if our life is spared but a few years, to take a locomotive trip to Cleveland on our way to Niagraga Falls, Green Bay, or some other summer resort on the great lakes. "We will give you a call then, Mr. Herald." Of the new railroads thus projected Pittsburgh had fully half a dozen under way. Railroads were being projected and built in every direction. Pittsburgh was becoming known as a city of opportunity. In- dustrial enterprises were being launched and the won- derful possibilities of the city at the head of the Ohio were claiming the attention of the general public as well as absorbing the local mind. The trains were carrying passengers to Philadelphia in less than a cal- WILI-IAM ANDERSON HEREON, I^eading Business Man and Banker. (Deceased) endar day, the lake at Cleveland could be reached in seventeen hours, and men with keen discernment could easily see the rise of an industrial empire. DISASTROUS FIRE IN 1845 April 10, 1845, a large portion of the business sec- tion of Pittsburgh was destroyed by fire, fully 1,100 buildings being wiped out of existence. The confla- gration started about noon at the corner of Ferry and Second streets, and in a few hours the district bounded by Ferry street, Diamond alley, Ross street and the Monongahela river was in ruins. The build- ings were made ready food for the flames by a drought which had existed for several weeks, and a high wind which prevailed at the time made the destruction quick and complete. The wind was blow- ing so furiously that burning timbers were . carried in some instances two and three blocks, causing new fires to be started and handicapping the firemen in their efforts to check the original rolling walls of flame. The entire fire equipment of both Pittsburgh and Allegheny was brought into action, but it was nearly powerless to impede even the progress of the fire. The heroic efforts of the firemen were re- warded at one point, however, by changing the course of the fire after it had reached Diamond i6 PITTSB URGH SESO UI-CENTENNIAL. alley, and causing it to finish its sweep in the direc- tion of the river. But for that circumstance there would have been little left of the business district for the resumption of commerce. As it was, the section covered embraced the best buildings in the GENERAI, JAMES KENNEDY MOORHEAD, Statesman and Business Man of the Highest Type. (Deceased) city, and the annihilation was complete enough to warrant the event being called "the destruction of Pittsburgh." LOSS NINE MILLION DOLLARS The burned district embraced warehouses, stores, dwellings, churches, schools, hotels and public build- ings, and the loss was estimated at $9,000,000. Two lives were lost, and great hardships were endured by many citizens, a large number of business men suffering complete loss. In siome respects, however, the disaster was a blessing in disguise, causing an influ.x of new capital, stimulating the people to re- newed energy, and the rebuilding of the city on a much more substantial scale than had previously existed. THE WORK OF RELIEF Fifty thousand dollars was appropriated by the State Legislature for the relief of the sufferers, and nearljr $150,000 more came from other sources, some even from Europe. The Legislature also passed an act exempting from taxation certain buildings erected within the fire limits, thus affording relief to all classes. An act was passed by the Legislature providing that "the whole amount of state and county tax, previously assessed and unpaid, upon persional prop- erty, and real estate upon which buildings had been destroyed, in the First and Second wards and in Kensington, should be returned to persons liable for the same, and upon such property no tax for state and county purposes should be levied for years 1846, 1847 and 1848. Persons whose merchandise had been destroyed were released from payment of licenses for the year 1845. MARVELOUS WORK OF REBUILDING The recovery of Pittsburgh from the great fire of 184s was one of the marvels of the time. The erec- tion of new buildings vpas begun early in the year 1846, and most of them were superior in design and construction to the ones which had been destroyed. Before the close of the year it was estimated that 2,500 buildings were either completed or were in pro- cess of construction. November 4, 184C, the Com- mercial Journal came out with these headlines in large t3'pe : "Two Thousand Five Hundred Houses in Nine Months." "Can Any Western City Beat This?" The building fever which had taken possession of the city did not stop with the year 1846. In Oc- tober, 1847, the Chronicle estimated that 2,000 new buildings had thus far been erected in the city that year. More than 600 of that number were in the burned district alone. Property at this time was rising rapidly in price, lots on Market street selling at from $3,000 to $4,000 each. The Smithfield street bridge, which was destroyed by the fire, was rebuilt and opened to the public in 1846. A movement was begun at this time to span the two rivers at their junction with a "tripartite" bridge. A subscription was started but the enterprise failed to materialize. CUTTING DOWN THE KNOB For many years the question of cutting away the top of Grant's Hill, known now as 'the knob," had been a vexed one with Pittsburghers. It had been discussed and threshed over by the city councils, besides being the object of many public meetings and business gatherings. In November, 1847, it was definitely settled to take several feet from the top of the hill and add two feet to the low ground along Smithfield street. It is an easy matter for the people of today to see wherein their forefathers would have conferred upon them an everlasting blessing if they had made the cut twenty-seven feet instead of seven feet. ANOTHER LOW WATER DEPRESSION Low water in the Ohio river again caused a de- pression of business in 1849. The story is well told PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. 17 by the Commercial Journal of November 2 of that year, as follows : "The past year has been the most trying and severe upon all classes of our business men that has ever been known. The panic of 1S32-33 and the commer- cial revulsions of 1836-37 and 1841-42, although more fruitful of disaster in the crushing of business estab- lishments and business men, were infinitely less in- jurious to our mercantile and manufacturing interests than the quieter but searching and exhausting diffi- culties of the period embracing the past spring, sum- mer and the first month of autumn. The wonder is that there has been so little breaking up of large houses — indeed there has been none — and that cir- cumstance is highly honorable to the punctuality and integrity of our business men, as it is creditable to their reputation as substantial, stable and responsible dealers. First, while our rivers were in fine naviga- ble condition — our large packet boats plying and our transient steamers running everywhere — they were overtaken by the cholera panic, the pestilence then raging along Ohio and Mississippi river points with fearful violence. The alarm flew, and, almost as if by magic, travel was banished from the rivers, and our boats, from absolute want of employment, one by one dropped in home and were laid up. The river trade was then suspended out oi season, and the great source of demand for our manufactures was shut off. Then, designing demagogues having ex- cited false fears about our city and county scrip, which was our chief circulating medium, filling the channels of business, and having denounced it as worthless, illegal and likely to be repudiated, down it went. The sudden discredit which overtook it left our business men minus the great part of their active cash capital, and commerce received another stunning blow in the want of circulating medium. This was distress upon distress. There seemed to be no money at all. But the mischief did not stop there, for the cry then arose that cholera was in our midst, and it soon appeared that we had sporadic cases of the pestilence, yet enough to create a panic. If business were at a standstill as before, this made the prostration complete. So wore on the summer. When the cholera disappeared and men were dis- posed to engage in active pursuits and push their business enterprises to returns of profit, we found ourselves shut in — cut off from the market. The Ohio river, lower than it had been for twenty years, was shut up — cutting us off from the West. The Pennsylvania canal, too low for freight boats, cut us off from, the East. Produce that should have piid ■our merchants' and our manufacturers' debts already due was excluded from our market. Manufactures and stocks of goods on hand here, representing heavy investments of cash, were locked up without buyers. So passed July, August and September, and a part of October. Such a state of things — such a combina- tion of disasters — never happened, we dare say, to any community in so brief a space of time. The loss has been monstrous. Millions would be required to replace the aggregate losses to the various business and industrial interests of this city. Yet, to the honor of our business men, we repeat, not an im- portant failure occurred. And now they breathe free. The rivers are up, all the avenues of trade are open and pouring in their tribute to the common THOMAS M. HOWE, Eminent Business Man. (Beceased) prosperity. We have learned, and, as the case may be, how disastrously dependent we are on the Ohio river and the Pennsylvania canal for our importance and prosperity in manufactures and trade. We have learned that we may lose more money in a single season than would complete our Pennsylvania rail- road to Beaver, securing us Tron Rivers' East and West, open and navigable at all seasons. The mil- lions of dollars the people of Pittsburgh lost this year by low water and the prostration of business would build the railroad to Beaver and pay all the subscriptions to the Central Railroad asked for by that company." RESTORATION IN 1851 Although business began to improve early in 1850, a normal condition was not reached until 1851. The volume of business transacted by the canal indicates this fact. The tonnage from, the opening to June I of each year is shown in the following table: 1847 75,555,386 1848 63,661,278 1849 68,429,521 1850 69,094,143 1857 92,303,833 Lumber which came down the Allegheny river in 1851 sold for $9, common, and $iS, clear, the highest i8 PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. prices which had ever prevailed in the Pittsburgh market. VOLUME OF CANAL BUSINESS IN 1850 AND 1851 The following statement of leading articles re- ceived at and shipped from Pittsburgh by the canal for the years 1850 and 1851 was published in the Commercial Journal, November 6', 1851 : IMPORTS Articles. 1850. 1851. Agricultural products, pounds.. 737,250 441,117 Leather. . . 120,564 524,500 Chinaware 2,444,093 2,121,200 Coffee 9,382,595 11.374.315 Drugs and medicines 865,300 1,436,600 Dry goods 27,270,543 32,918,351 Groceries 9,162,336 11,830,621 Hardware and cutlery 13,506,835 11,935,335 Liquors, foreign, gallons 30,525 2,701 Paints, pounds 387,964 293,703 Hats and shoes 3,948,850 4,693,363 Iron in pigs 21,136,768 14,960,212 Iron castings 154,600 865,163 Bar and sheet iron 1,147,176 1,693,000 Nails and spikes 1,126,747 137,600 Steel 85,600 626,700 Tin 708,600 884,800 Fish, barrels 17,362 21,302 Slate for roofing, pounds 625,600 833,000 Tobacco, manufactured 2,439,289 1,609,600 Tobacco, leaf 129,800 257,900 Blooms, etc 12,463,300 12,403,535 Marble 641,300 1,026,060 Oils, gallons 18,940 386,578 Tar and rosin, pounds 1,014,900 2,342,700 EXPORTS Articles. 1850. 1851. Hemp ; 7,755,728 1,357,644 Tobacco, not manufactured. . . .15,204,194 18,191,932 'Feathers 481,831 424,745 Wool 4,108,432 3,268,088 Hogs' hair 634,400 607,792 Seeds, bushels 874 904 Chinaware, pounds 11,800 1.750 Earthenware 278,232 355.280 Glassware 1,193,908 1,068,611 Groceries 2,411,617 1,478,628 Whisky, gallons 384,887 446.275 Coal, tons 15,604 7,611 Iron castings, pounds 574,992 806,914 Bar and sheet iron 4,031,450 4,437,913 Nails and spikes 2,269,000 1,853,412 Bacon 38,495,265 32,520,000 Beef and pork 5,600 6,949 Butter 619,659 378,898 Cheese 1,501,185 156.383 Flour, barrels 72,072 200,538 Lard, pounds 4,641,362 6,506,831 Cotton 1,084,600 703,080 Dressed hides 98,130 201,282 Leather 440,587 7i5,9,38 Furs and feathers 183,137 274,289 German clay 87,406 416,000 Dry Goods 265,839 532,158 Rags 628.307 677,066 No. of boats cleared 3.643 4.384 Tolls $ 102,308 $ 112,528 A RAILROAD BOOM The first train on the Chartiers coal railroad was run in September, 1851, an excursion being given to McKces Rocks. The same year the Pittsburgh & Steubenville rail- road was projected and leading citizens agreed to promote the enterprise. The first ground was broken for the Ohio & Penn- sylvania railroad July 1, 1850, it having been incor- porated by act of April 11, 1848. In June, 1851, hand cars ran west from Allegheny as far as Rochester. The Allegheny Valley Railroad Company placed its shares on the market in 1851. The first locomotive, the "Indiana," arrived at the outer station at Pittsburgh November 22, 1851. On December 11, 1851, "an express train was scheduled to leave Liberty street depot every morning at 6:30, bound eastward, run twelve miles to Turtle Creek, there to connect with stages ; thence to Beatty's Sta- tion, twenty-eight miles away; thence by rail to Phil- adelphia; all for $11." Regular express trains began to leave Allegheny for Enon Valley, 44 miles, November 24, 1851. From Enon Valley passengers were conveyed by stage to Salem, and thence to Cleveland by rail. In April, 1853, the Dispatch said : "At the last session of the Legislature thirty-one new railroad companies were chartered and seventy- eight new supplements to other railroad companies and ninety more for incorporating plank roads were passed." MANUFACTURING IN 1856 The year 1856 was a notable one in the manufac- turing history of Pittsburgh, it being the date of the introduction of the Bessemer process of making mal- leable iron without fuel. Although the importance of the discovery was at once conceded, there were many who were skeptical of its genuineness, and it simply had to "prove" its way into public confidence. The manufacturers of Pittsburgh in 1856 may be enumerated and classified as follows : Anvils, Axes and Shovels — Forster, Garbutt & Co., Holmes & Co., Lippincott & Co., Postley, Nelson & Co., William Day, Newmeyer & Grafif, and Stuart, Sauer & Co. (New Brighton). Boilers— Willia-m Barnhill & Co., J. Blair & Co., Joseph Douglass, Thomas Douglass, Douglass & Eng- lish, and Robert Walker. Brass and Bell Founders — Andrew Fulton, A. & S. McKenna, Phillips & Co., and James Weldon. Coppersmiths — Fitzsimmons & Morrow, Howard & Rogers, Vean & Veller, James T. Kincaid, W. B. Scaife, and J. B. Sheriff. Cultivator Teeth — D. B. Rogers & Co. Engines— W. W. Wallace, F. & W. M. Faber, Haigh, Hartupee & Co., Irwin & Co., Cyprian Pres- ton, Cridge, Wadsworth & Co., and J. B. Marden & Son. Founders — John Anderson & Co., Bollman & Gar- rison, Alexander Bradley, S. S. Fowler & Co., Graff, Reisinger & Graff, Knapp & Wade, Livingston, Cope- land & Co., Daniel McCurdy, Marshall, McGeary & Co., Mitchell, Herron & Co., J. C. Parry, Paine, Lee & Co., Pennock & Hart, William Price, Robinson, PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. 19 Minis & Miller, Smith & Co., and Warwick, At- tenbury & Co. Nails, Sheet and Bar Iron — Bailey, Brown & Co., Brown, Floyd & Co., Coleman, Hailman & Co., Everson, Preston & Co., Graff, Bennett & Co., Jones & Lauth, Lewis, Dalzell & Co., Lorenz, Stewart & Co., Lyon, Schorb & Co., Lloyd & Black, McKnight & Brother, Schoen- berger, Spang & Co., James Woods & Co., Woods, Moorhead & Co., and Zug & Painter. Nuts and Washers — Knapp & Carter. Railroad Spikes — Porter, Rolfe & Swett. Revolvers — Josiah Ellis. Rivets — W. P. Townsend & Co. Scales — Livingston, Copeland & Co., Joseph Dilworth & Co., Isaac Jones, and Singer, Hart- man & Co. Safes — Burke & Barnes, Lippincott & Barr, and W. T. McClurg. Sheet Copper — C. G. Hussey & Co. Spikes — L. Severance. Tacks — Chess, Wilson & Co. Wire Manufacturers and Workers — Francis Clu- ley, J. R. Taylor & Co., and R. Townsend & Co. Wrought Nails and Gas Pipes — John Fitzsim- nions and William Pick. LARGE OUTPUT FOR 1857 The output of Pittsburgh manufacturing insti- tutions in the year 1857 amounted in the aggre- gate to $39,022,435, the principal concerns and their products being as follows: Value Industries. of products. 25 Rolling mills $10,730,562 26 Foundries , 1,248,300 1 Common foundry 40,000 16 Machine shops 836,300 7 Boiler yards 305,000 4 Shovel and axe factories 823,742 2 Forges 224,500 7 Chain factories 261,000 1 Railroad spike factory 250,000 3 Safe factories 116,000 3 Cutlery factories 30,000 2 Smut machine factories 40,000 I File factory 12,000 I Boiler rivet factory 40,000 I Sickle factory 30,000 6 Saddlery hardware factories 40,000 1 Rivet mill 20,000 2 Gun barrel factories 28,875 I Gun and rifle factory 40,000 1 Repeating pistol factory 15,000 2 Domestic hardware factories 450,000 3 Plow factories 192,000 I Copper rolling mill 200,000 28 Copper and tinsmiths 192,000 10 Brass foundries 75,ooo 3 Key factories 166,000 3 Agricultural implement factories... 80,000 I Wire cloth factory 10,000 Miscellaneous 22,982,156 Total $39,022,435 In addition to those enumerated above there were in the city in 1857 29 wagon factories, 13 tanneries, 27 breweries, 6 cracker factories, 6 marble works, 16 cabinet factories, 8 candle fac- tories, 7 sawmills, 17 lumber yards, 8 sash and door factories and 9 planing mills. THE PANIC OF 1857 Notwithstanding the apparent prosperity of its manufacturing institutions in 1857, Pitts- burgh suffered greatly from the effects of the "Great Western Blizzard" panic of the latter part of that year. The failure of the Ohio Life and Trust Co., of Cincinnati, resulted in many banks and business houses in other parts of the country going down with it. This was m Au- gust, and by the middle of September the situa- tion was indeed alarming. Hundreds of banks and commercial institutions in different parts of the country were crumbling like so many toy blocks, and specie payments were virtually sus- pended throughout the country. One Pittsburgh institution, however, stood valiantly by its guns and its honor, and kept on meeting its obliga- tions with coin. That was the Bank of Pitts- burgh, which earned the reputation of being the only bank in any of the large cities in the United States which never for one hour suspended specie payments. On the 26th of September, 1857, the board of directors of the Bank of Pitts- burgh unanimously resolved to meet all the bank's liabilities in coin, and the resolution was faithfully adhered to, in spite of the fact that other banks in the city met in convention and resolved to suspend specie payments for the time being. "On November 3, 1857, the banks of Pitts- burgh held their annual meetings. All of the suspended banks accepted the provisions of the relief law passed by the Pennsylvania Legisla- ture. The Bank of Pittsburgh and the Exchange Bank each declared a dividend for the last six months of three per cent. The new law pro- hibited the latter bank from declaring more." — Wilson's History of Pittsburgh. The establishment of a clearing house for Pittsburgh was urged in 1857. So far Philadel- phia had not had one, but the necessities of the hour became so apparent in Pittsburgh that con- certed action and general protection was de- manded. Early in January, 1858, the banks of Pitts- burgh had all resumed specie payments, although confidence was not yet restored. Money became more plentiful but the holders of it became very 20 PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. careful. The statements of the Pittsburgh banks proved them to be in a more healthy condition than those of other cities, "^hey took the lead in resumption, and they did it without flourish or ostentation. No city in the country came out of the panic with as much to its credit and with as little noise as Pittsburgh. It resumption oc- curred three months before the requirements provided by the State law. Not a bank in Pitts- burgh suspended during the entire panic, and the year following the close of the depression found every institution in the city with its stock quoted above par. THE IRON INDUSTRY IN i860 The manufacture of iron and steel had become an important factor in Pittsburgh in i860, and the place was already known as the "Iron City." There were 26 steel rolling mills in operation, employing about 3,000 hands, and connected with them were 80 puddling furnaces. The number of heating furnaces was 130 and there were also 260 mill machines. Eighteen foundries employed 1,800 men. The total amount of iron consumed exceeded 110,000 tons. THE FIRST STREET RAILROAD In March, 1859, the Citizens Passenger Rail- way Company, of Pittsburgh, was incorporated by an act of the Legislature. It was authorized to start from the intersection of Market and Fifth streets, thence passing to Libertjf, thence across Liberty to Cecil alley, thence to Penn avenue, thence to the Greensburg and Pittsburgh turnpike road and thence to the suburbs. The company was incorporated with 2,000 shares of $50 each, and among the incorporators were James Verner, Alexander Speer, Richard Hays, William Darlington, Joshua Rhodes and Nath- aniel Holmes. The road was built, and became an important feature of the city's industrial life. RAILROAD BOND TROUBLES The financial depression of l8s7 had the effect of causing the collapse of several railroad enter- prises in which the community was interested. In i860 the railway indebtedness of Pittsburgh was $1,800,000; Allegheny, $400,000; Allegheny county, $2,300,000; total, $4,500,000. At that date the total assessed valuation of the county out- side of the city was $12,500,000; Pittsburgh, $10,- 500,000; Allegheny, $3,000,000; total, $26,000,000. It will thus be seen that the railroad indebted- ness was 17 per cent, of the total assessed valua- tion of the county. In June, 1859, a mass meet- ing of the citizens was held and resolutions were adopted instructing the commissioners not to levy a tax for the payment of interest on the rail- road bonds. The commissioners did as request- ed. In March, i860, another mass meeting was held, which severely strictured the supreme court for deciding against the county certain suits on the bonds. The course taken by the commis- sioners was approved, and the meeting even went so far as to openly encourage resistance to the mandates of the court. PITTSBURGH IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION Upon the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency the patriotic citizens of Pittsburgh took on a feeling of security over the threatened disruption of the Union which had been flaunted in their faces for several months. On the 22d of December, i860, a convention held in Charles- ton, South Carolina, declared for secession by adopting a "declaration of independence." This act renewed former apprehensions and taught loyalists that something must be done. The United States government was even then remov- ing muskets and other munitions of war from the Allegheny arsenal to the southern points, un- der the implied approval of President Buchanan. The excitement over the removal of the guns from the arsenal was intense, but, with the ex- ception of five guns which were surreptitiously loaded on a southbound train, the arsenal was permitted to hold its cannon. Early in January, 1861, Secretary of War Floyd countermanded the order, which created a feeling of great satis- faction throughout the city. LINCOLN IN PITTSBURGH In February President-elect Lincoln passed through the city enroute to Washington. He was greeted by a large crowd of people and delivered a speech from the balcony of the Monongahela House at 8 o'clock in the morning. THE FIRST TROOPS Within a few hours after the receipt of the news of the firing on Fort Sumter the Pittsburgh Zouaves voted unanimously to tender their serv- ices to the Governor of Pennsylvania. Two other companies, however, preceded it, they hav- ing offered their services at the time of the at- tempted removal of the cannon to the South. These were the Jackson Independent Blues and the Pennsylvania Zouaves. Other companies followed, and fully 2,000 volunteers were either under arms or in readiness for entering the serv- ice at the end of two weeks. PATRIOTIC OUTPOURING On the night of April 15, nearly 5,000 people met in the City Hall, and stirred the feeling of patriotism to the highest pitch. Judge Wilkins PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. 21 presided, and Thomas M. Marshall delivered aii impassioned address, which was followed by the band playing "The Star Spangled Banner" with thrilling effect. The following committee on public safety was announced on the 17th: William Wilkins, Chairman. Wm. J. Morrison, James P. Barr, Wm. F. Johnson, Dr. Geo. McCook, John Marshall, T. J. Bigham, Joseph Dilworth, Charles Barnes, David Fitzsimmons, C. L. Magee, John Harper, Andrew Miller, James Park, Jr., C. H. Paulson, J. H. Foster, Charles McKnight, William Neeb, John D. Bailey, John W. Riddell, Jas. A. Sewell, William M. Lyon, Thomas Bakewell, W. J. Howard,' Sol. Schoyer, Jr., J. P. Pears, R. Miller, Jr., H. L. Ringwalt, Geo. W. Wilson, ' James Reese, J. W. Barker, Wm. Caldwell, Ed. Simpson, Dr. Jas. King, John J. Dravo, Jos. R. Hunter, W. M. Hersh, C. B. Bostwick, Nat. Holmes, Jr., Samuel Riddle, Francis Sellers, D. S. Stewart, R. H. Hartley, J. R. Murphy, Geo. W. Irwin, E. P. Jones, P. C. Shannon, E. D. Gazzam, Geo. P.. Hamilton, Thos. M. Marshall, J. R. T. Nobb, Henry McCullough, Jas. A. Hutchinson, Joshua Rhodes, James Verner, Jno. N. Tiernnn, Thos. S. Blair. Samuel McKelvy, Jno. N. McClowry, G. L. B. Fetterman, Max K. Moorhead, Alexander Nimick, N. P. Fetterman, John D. Scully, Dr. Geo. S. Hays, Benjamin Coursin, John Mackin, A. G. Lloyd, John J. Muse, W. Bagaley, T. M. Howe, C. W. Ricketson, Joseph Kaye, J. B. Poor, T. S. Rowley, James Herdman, Andrew Scott, S. H. Keller, David E. Bayard, J. R. McClintock, James Kelly, James Saulsbury, William Martin, Wm. Robinson, Jr., William Bishop, H. A. Weaver, Wm. H. Magee, T. J. Gallagher, Thomas Steel, Russell Errett, R. H. Patterson, W. K. Nimick, George Gallup, A. Nicholson, David F. Magee, William Phillips, William M. Edgar, Dr. L. Oldshue, Dr. Geo. I. McCook, Robert McElhern, Frederick Collier, Thos. B. Hamilton, Archibald McBride, Andrew Fulton, William Simpson, Alexander Hilands, George A. Berry, Wm. Carr, Jas. Benny, Jr., J. B. Canfield, H. L. Bollman, Wm. B. Holmes, D. D. Bruce, Will A. Lare, Robt. Finney, Alex. L. Russell, N. P. Sawyer, W. S. Lavely, John M. Irwin, Wm. C. Barr, Jas. Floyd, Alex. Moore, Samuel Rodgers, Alfred Slack, Christian Zug, John Birmingham, John Wright, John McDonald, ' Wm. Barnhill, Jr., Wm. Owens, The names of many well-known business men are recognized in the above list. It was the city's "best" of nearly half a century ago. Harry Wainwright, J. M. Brush, Robt. Morrow, J. M. Killen, C. Magee, Col. Leopold Sahl, Dr. Wm. M. Simcox, Alexander Speer, Henry Hays, Adam Getty, Edward Gregg, John Dunlap, John C, Dunn, John Brown, John E. Parke, B. F. Jones, George W. Cass, Walter H. Lowrie, Dr. S. Dilworth, David Irwin, And. Burke, Jas. R. Hartley, W. G. McCartney, John Atwell, M. I. Stewart, Robt. B. Guthrie, Hugh McAfee, Hugh Kane, Samuel Cameron, R. J. Grace, Joseph Woodwell, Jno. McDevitt, James B. Murray, Jas. McAuley, John Graham, Wm. Holmes, Daniel Negley, Wm. Woods, Geo. H. Thurston, Edw. Campbell, Jr., Wm. H. Smith, A. W. Loomis, Wm. Wade, J. P. Penny. Latter day development of Pittsburgh may be found in the display pages which follow this history. PHOTO BY DEWITT B. LUCAS COPYRtGHT, 1908, BV EDWARD WHITE Modern Pittsburgh— View of Liberty Avenue from the Roof of the Diamond National Bank Building. PHOTO BY DeWITT B. LUCAS Modern Pittsburgh — Night View of I^iberty Avenue VIEW OF PITTSBURGH FROI (Photograph taken 7 A. M. Sun e ROOF OF UNION STATION une 7, 1908, by DeWitt B. I,ucas) COPYRIGHT, 1803, BY EDWARD WHITE niMMaMMMMaMMMMaiMMMMMMaMMM l' Pittsburgh's Payroll is Larger than the Combined Payrolls of the States of IOWA NEBRASKA MICHIGAN MI550URI MINNESOTA NORTH DAKOTA KAN5A5 WI5CON5IN 50UTH DAKOTA 500 Manufacturing Lstablishments Average Annual Wage Per Man $660.00 Average Annual Wage Per Man in United States (All Industries) $475.00 Average Daily Payroll in Pittsburgh $1,250,000.00 Aggregate Yearly Payroll in Pittsburgh $400,000,000.00 Aggregate Yearly Payroll in State of Massachusetts $250,000,000.00 Deposits in Pittsburgh Savings Banks $170,000,000.00 0; I H TheWage Earners of ^ the City of Pittsburgh Men Employed in Mills and Fadories . . 85,000 Average Annual Wages Per Man .... $660.00 Average Annual Wages Per Man injhe United States, all industries 475.00 Deposits in Pittsburgh Savings Banks ^ Trust Companies $170,000,000 (Chiefly Savings of Wage Earners) Pittsburgh Workers Among the Most J] Prosperous of Any in the World [ ' ^ ^ PHOTO BY DEWITT B. LUCAS COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY EDWARD WHITE I^i^hts and Shadows on Fifth Avenue from the Roof of the Diamond National Bank Building PHOTO BY DEWITT B. LUCAS Day and Night V^iews from a Window in the Commonwealth Building. m Ihe --*€ Pittsburgh District The National Industrial Center Manufacturing Establishments 5,000 Employes 350,000 Value of Product $ ?50,000,000 Capital Invested 1,000,000,000 Pay Rolls (annual) 500,000,000 Leads the World in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel Steel Cars Glass ^ Tin Plate Electrical Machinery Air Brakes Cork Fire Brick Pickles White Lead m E3: }R m m m }R }R Hi }R s m m }R \R iR m iR }R }R }R m iR iR }R iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR PtttHburglf SiBtrtrt The World's Greatest Wealth-Producing Region POPULATION OF THE PITTSBURGH DISTRICT— 2.250,000— TWO AND A QUARTER MILLIONS iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR Annual Tonnage of Pittsburgh Distrid ^ 1 40,000,000, or Ten Per Cent, of the Tonnage of the Entire Country, Including all Freight Carried Annually b y Rail, River and Lake Banking in Pittsburgh Distrid; Capital and surplus, $2 1 0,000,000, which is thirty- one million dollars more than the capital and sur- plus of all the banks in the States of Illinois and Indiana, including Chicago, with a total population of over 8,000,000 or nearly four times greater than the population of the Pittsburgh Districit. $ $ $ Capital and Surplus of the Pittsburgh District, one- fifteenth of the total capital and surplus of all the banks in the United States, and one twenty-fourth of the capital and surplus of all the organized banks in the world. $$$$$$$ Capitalized strength of Pittsburgh Banks five million dollars more than the combined capital of the Bank of England, all the organized ^ banks of Scotland and Ireland, the Imperial Bank of Germany and S the Imperial Bank of Russia. "" iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR !fi iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR iR ffi!fi!fiffiffiififfiififfiffiaiififfi!fiffiffiffiaiffiffiffiffiffi!fi!fiffiffiffiffiffiaiffiifiififfiffiffi^^ PHOTO BY DEWITT B. LUCAS Wood Street, from Second Avenue PITTSBURGH SESOUI-CENTENNIAL. 33 Manufacturing District Along the Alleghens'. PHOTCS BY DeWITT B. LUCAS The Monongahela Water Front. NUMBER OF ESTABLISHMENTS IN THE DIFFERENT LINES ARE Aluminum and Wares 5 Arc Lamps and Lights 2 Architectural Iron Work 6 Art Goods (exclusive) 16 Asbestos Material 13 Automobiles (dealers & m'f't'rs.) .... 45 Automobile Supplies 4 Awnings, Tents and Flags 8 Bakers' Supplies 10 Barbers' Supplies : 5 Belting 14 Blank Books 9 Boiler Makers and Dealers 33 Bolts and Nuts 12 Brass Signs 14 Brewers 8 Brewers' Supplies 5 Brick Manufacturers 49 Brooms 10 Builders' Supplies and Material 28 Butchers' Supplies and Tools 3 Butter 10 Carpets 4 Clothing 3 Confectioners 22 Distillers 12 Druggists 4 Dry Goods 8 Electrical Supplies 2 Feed 2 Flour 33 Fruit II Furniture 2 Glass (dealers) 14 Grocers 40 Hardware 6 Hats and Caps 6 Jewelers 25 Lumber 27 Men's Furnishings 12 Millinery 6 Paper 12 Piano and Musical Instruments 28 Pickles and Preserves 6 Plumbers' Supplies 20 Roofing Materials 17 Rubber Goods 16 Rubber Hose 8 Sand and Gravel 21 Sewer Pipe 28 Shoes 16 Steel (manufacturers) 37 Stoves 13 Structural Steel 13 Teas and Coffees 8 Tinware 5 Tobacco and Cigars 14 Wall Paper 3 Volume of Wholesale Business One Billion Dollars Annually PHOTO BY DEWITT B. LUCAS View of Wholesale District— Penn Avenue Capitalized Strength oi Banks m tne PittsDurgn District CAPITAL AND SURPLUS $210,000,000.00 Wtucli IS Tkirty-One Million Dollars More Than tKe Capital and Surplus of all the Banks in the States of Indiana and Illinois Including Chicago, with a Total Population of over 8,000,000, or Nearly Four Times Greater than the Population ol the Pittsburgh District. Capital and Surplus of the Pittsburgk District One Fifteenth Of the total Capital and Surplus of all the Banks in the United States, and One Twenty-Fourtk Of the Capital and Surplus of all the Organized Banks in the World. (Comptroller of the Currency of the United States) Or Five Million Dollars M ore Than the Combined Capital of the Bank of England Imperial Bank of Germany Imperial Bank of Russia And all the Organized Banks of Scotland and Ireland. Copyrlalit 1908 by EJwarJ While PITTSBURGH SESOUI-CENTENNIAL. 37 Making Crucible Steel in a Piltsburgh Steel Plant PHOTOS BY DEWITT B. LUCAS Maiiufadluring Districfl — South Side I<^ Bank Deposits Per Capita Pittsburgh's Position Second among the large cities of the United States Deposits Per Capita Boston $907 Greater Pittsburgh (including Allegheny) . .704 Cleveland 511 Greater New York 500 Baltimore 381 Philadelphia 371 St. Louis 358 Chicago 325 Detroit . 318 (Compiled from official statements of deposits for 1 907, and from census of States for 1 905) Individual Deposits, Per Capita United States, $ 1 5 2 ♦ COPYRIGHT 1908, BY EDWARD WHITE ^<^- PITTSBURGH SESOUI-CENTENNIAL. 39 Where the Waters Jleet— Confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers, Forrainy the Ohio. PHOTOS BY DEWITT B. LUCAS City Hall Park, North Side Bird's-eye View of Scheiiley Park, Carneg:ie Institute. Carnegie 'J PHOTOS BY OeWITT B. LUCAS Panorama Showing Carnegie Technical ' ^tS^S^^^^^pfa^S^^^t^K^^^^Siii cal Schools, Boulevard, Phipps Conservatory, and Schenlej Oval. Is and Phipps Conser\'atory. Schenley Park. km I Number o{ Churches and Synagogues 397 Value of Property (estimated) $17,000,000 Contributions, 1 906 ; (estimated) 3,500,000 Number of Hospitals 22 Capacity (beds estimated) 3,000 Number of Asylums and Infirmaries 62 Number of Beneficiaries (estimated) 5,000 © © ® For the Relief of Poor and Distressed 26 Carnegie Hero Fund Endowment $ 5,000,000 Carnegie Relief Fund Endowment 4,000,000 Value of Real Estate and Endowments of Charitable Institutions in the Two Cities (estimated) 22,000,000 Expended by Foregoing Benevolent Organizations, 1 906 (not including churches) 3,000,000 km i PHOTO BY DEWITT B. LUCAS Allegheny Observatorj' in Riven-'iew Park PHOTO BY DeWITT B. LUCAS In Highland Park PHOTO, 190S, BY DEWITT B. LUCAS Lights and Shadows in Highland Park COPYRIGHT, 190B, BY EDWARD WHITE PHOTO BY DEWITT B. LUCAS Rustic Steps in Romantic Glen, Schenley Park COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY EDWARD WHITE Educational In^itutions of Greater Pittsburgh CHAMBER OF COMMERCE REPORT One University Faculty, 1 54 Students, 964 Alumni, 2,570 Plans under way for 40 buildings on a site comprising 43 acres, which will place it in the front rank of educational institutions of the United States. DENOMINATIONAL Colleges ----- 2 In^ructors - - - - 33 Students 419 PRIVATE THEOLOGICAL Seminaries Instru(5tors Students 3 20 157 Schools - Instructors Students 13 275 3,982 PUBLIC SCHOOLS Buildings Instructors Students 119 1,690 73,734 High Schools Buildings, 4 Instructors, 1 00 Students, 2,950 Carnegie Technical Schools Built and Endowed by Andrew Carnegie (partially completed) The City of Pittsburgh donated a site of 32 acres. Schools planned to accommodate 4,000 students. Four separate schools: School of Applied Science, School of Apprentices and Journey- men, Technical School for Women, School of Applied Design. Special Building, Machinery Hall. Day and Night Courses in all Schools. PITTSBURGH SESQUl-CENTENNIAL. 49 The Union Ststion PHOTOS BY DeWITT B. LUCAS Coal Fleet on the :\Ionongahela River PHOTO BY DEWITT B. LUCAS Path l,eading to the Bear Pit, Riverview Park tf 8 THE Chamber of Commerce of Pittsburgh CHARTERED JULY 8, 1876 PITTSBURGH'S principal development has been within the life of the Chamber, and it has been instrumental in placing the city in its proper position in the world of achievement. It has aggressively led in all movements which have advanced the city and its interests and has maintained An Unparalleled Record of Usefulness f rtatJifntH of tl|f OII|ambpr nf (Bammnt^ Thomas M. Howe — i 874-1 877 James K. Moorhead — 1878-1883 John F. Dravo— 1884-1886 William E. Schmertz — 1887-1891 George A. Kelly — 1 892-1 894 John B. Jackson — 1895 John Bindley — 1896-1901 Albert J. Logan — 1902-1903 John Eaton — 1904- 1 90 5 H. D. W. English — 1906- 1907 Lee S. Smith — 1908 PrpH^ttt Wffmrs LEE S. SMITH President R. BABCOCK First Vice President , H. STEVENSON Second Vice President H. M. LANDIS Treasurer LOGAN McKEE Secretary IRA S. BASSETT Traffic Manager P. C. WILLIAMS Assistant Secretary i i i i PHOTO BY DEWITT B. LUCAS Nature's Refreshment Stand, Highland Park COPyRIGHT 1908, BY EDWARD WHITE THE CARNEGIE TECHNICAL SCHOOLS F UNIQUE and unusual interest to Pittsburgh's Sesqui-Centennial guests will be the Carnegie Technical Schools. These modern educational buildings, designed to ultimately cover thirty-two acres of ground, and the adjacent massive Carnegie Insti- tute, with its six acres of science and art treas- ures, tell the story of Andrew Carnegie's splendid gifts to the city of Pittsburgh. During the week from September 27th to Oc- tober 3rd, the schools will make special arrange- a small frame house will be under process of electric-wiring, plumbing and drainage installa- tion; in a third, a group of girls will be studying the nutritive values of diiTerent foods; and so on. AN IDEAL ENVIRONMENT The Technical Schools, which Mr. Carnegie has endowed to date with four million dollars, and in which he is especially interested, enjoy one of the finest locations in all Pittsburgh. They are PHOTO BY R. W. JOHNSTON The Carnegie Technical Schools. Showing the .School for Apprentices and Journeyman and the School of Applied Design. ments for visitors, throwing open for inspection, with guides, the many interesting departments of the institution. Opportunities will be given to witness in operation everything pertaining to a model technical university. The two thousand students can be seen at work in class-room, laboratory, shop, forge and foundry, and the nature of their tasks will vary from the young man making some delicate electrical test to the young woman being trained in the household arts. In one room a class will be engaged in the clay modeling of architectural details; in another situated on high land in Schenley Park, a beauti- ful and diversified stretch of 420 acres, compar- able to Central Park, in New York, and Fair- mount Park, in Philadelphia. Being geographic- ally central, they are readily accessible from both the residential and the business sections. With a world-wide reputation as the greatest of indus- trial centers, Pittsburgh furnishes an ideal en- vironment for such an institution. Her people and activities are in accord with its aims, her commercial prestige appeals to the imagination of those seeking an industrial education, and her 54 PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. colossal steel, iron electric and other manufac- turing plants, to which frequent inspection visits are made, provide unrivalled opportunities for acquainting the student with the ictual working conditions of the vocation he is in training to enter. DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDINGS The buildings so far erected and in use are the School for Apprentices and Journeymen and the Margaret Morrison Carnegie School for Women. Two large structures in the group for the School of Applied Science are practically completed and "Commons," the social hall, athletic quarters and other collegiate structures. THE FOUR SCHOOLS The Carnegie Technical Schools consist cf four separate schools, the School of Applied Science, the School for Apprentices and Journeymen, the School of Applied Design and the Margaret Mor- rison School, in all of which both day and night courses are given. A student enters whichever school offers instruction for the particular pro- fession he has chosen. Detailed information in regard to this instruction in the different schools. The Carnegie Technical Schools. The Margaret Morrison Carnegie Technical School for Women. Photograph by R. W. Johnston will be ready for occupancy in October of this year. In the near future the School of Applied Design, which is temporarily quartered in the School for Apprentices and Journeymen, as well as many other buildings, will be erected. The total floor space now available is about 360,000 square feet, the style of architecture is simple, dignified and essentially serviceable, while the construction throughout is absolutely fireproof and in accordance with the most modern practice. The schools to date have cost approximately $2,- 500,000, and at the present stage of their growth are about one-sixth of their eventual size; on completion an imposing educational institution will be the result, with a terraced campus in the center, surrounded by the different schools, dormitories, the administration building, the and also in regard to tuition fees and living ex- penses, is given in the catalogue, a copy of which may be secured by writing to the Secretary. The School of Applied Science, which, with en- larged equipment and increased corps of instruc- tors will be established in its new buildings this fall, is for the training of students who wish to become chemists, civil, electrical, mechanical, metallurgical or mining engineers. The School for Apprentices and Journeymen furnishes an industrial or trade education; its in- struction is designed to prepare mechanics for more advanced positions in their chosen lines. The courses in this school are grouped under four main heads — mechanical drafting, station- ary engineering, machinery trades and building trades. The advantage of being a skilled me- PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. 55 chanic over an unskilled one is convincingly shown by some recent statistics compiled by the United States Bureau of Commerce and Labor. They bring out the fact that in the building trades unskilled labor earns on an average of $10.45 per week, while skilled labor earns $22.37. In the machinery trades it is the difference be- The Carnegie Technical Schools. Two new buildings in the group for the School of Applied Science. To be ready in October. Photograph by S. I. Haas. tween $9.69 a week and $17.70. It will thus be seen that to be a skilled artisan in these days of industrial opportunities, is to receive consider- ably higher wages than those paid to clerks, bookkeepers, stenographers, etc. In the School of Applied Design the two courses offered at the present time are those in architecture and interior decoration. In the last national competition of the Beaux Arts Society of New York 49 out of the 55 drawings submitted by Carnegie Tech students received honorable mention, two receiving first mentions. Students in these courses are exceptionally fortunate in having access to the fine collection of books, architectural models, and paintings in the Car- negie Institute. The international exhibitions of paintings and architectural drawings held at the Institute offer the student the further unusual ad- vantage of becoming familiar with the best cur- rent achievements in his line of work. A short distance from the School of Applied Science and the School for Apprentices and Journeymen, but located so as to become one of the units in the future quadrangular arrangement of the buildings, is the Margaret Morrison School for Women, named after Mr. Carnegie's mother. It is the first of a proposed group to be devoted to the education and training of v/omen for the home, wifehood and motherhood, as well as along technical and industrial lines. The attention of visitors is especially directed to the words on the cornice of the entrance court, which read as follows: "To make and inspire the home; To lessen suffering and increase happiness; To aid mankind in its upward struggles; To ennoble and adorn life's work, however humble — These are woman's high prerogatives." This motto finely expresses the ideals and the purpose of the Margaret Morrison School. To develop character, and to train young women to earn a livelihood in the best lines of work which are open to them to-day, are the two primary aims of the many courses of instruction offered. The school is completely and attractively pro- vided not only with the usual class, lecture and laboratory rooms, but with a gymnasium, studio, rest and lunch rooms, and a library. The sub- jects taught are grouped under the four main heads of household arts, dressmaking, costume design and secretarial work. Forming sub-di- visions of these general departments are many courses for day and night students, among the most interesting of which are millinery, interior decoration, sketching, banking and bookkeeping, card indexing, social ethics, English, history and hygiene. The students in these four schools are placed under the immediate training of an able faculty I«*t4 T . _ 1 ^ 1 1 -^^msiMi -^^^- ]^ P^pp^sp 1 1 One of the Day Classes in the School of Applied Science. Photograph by E. H. W. McKee. of IIS professors, assistant professors and in- structors, men and women who have had not only an academic and scientific education, but also practical experience in the industrial world, that has made them conversant with the actual methods that prevail in the modern practice of their professions. U U} O CJ o o 2^ ^1 H 3 £8 THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH HE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH is the legal descendant of the Pitts- burgh Academ3', incorporated in 17S7. In 1819 the Academy was reincor- porated and the name changed to the Western ty were men of high ability and leaders in the pioneer work of establishing education in Pitts- burgh. Dr. Black was a minister in the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Father Maguire was a Roman Catholic and the founder of St. Paul's The Academy THE UNIVERSITY IN 1825, The President's House The University The rniyersity Building. 18d4-18S2 University of Pennsylvania. In the spring of Cathedral. Dr. Bruce was a member of the As- 1822 the first faculty was inaugurated in the First sociate Reformed Church, and Dr. Swift and Dr. Presbyterian church. The members of this facul- McElroy were Presbyterians. 58 PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. The first Board of Trustees included such men as Robert Bruce, William Wilkins, United States Minister to Russia, Walter Forward, at one time Secretary of the Treasury of the United States; way, which also was destroyed by fire in 1849. In 1854 the University property on Duquesne way was sold and a lot purchased at the corner of Ross and Diamond streets, and a building ^ ■/ ^ ^Ifet'l .,, , 4 , r .■■ ^to M ,^dM K^ii ■::^^- -'.^ J^JM , a a a A K* - .-. - \ ._ ;*^ ''. f:^ ijSi ■<■ 111; m ) m ■'■■-W iwili^^^^ '-■- '^■^-M:^fi ife*' 4^^ T»uD .■•„,•. --■.'■ h;~-;~ ^W^'^' ^I^^H^^^ l^B ' ■■ . ■ :'.' ,■' ■. ■ ■:■-;.■■■■■■■ : Kj^;-;> '^ laJtSif^^t il L''^33^^l^aB P .i SHI ^ ,_J| ■'^^irrm J F" ""^':?'-' "^'4' ., The Present Buildings of the Universitj- Science Hall The Main Building John Scull, Ebenezer Denny, Rev. Joseph Stock- ton and James Allison. The first building of the University was located at the corner of Third avenue and Cherry alley. erected which continued to be the home of the University until 1882, when the Allegheny County Court House was burned and the county pur- chased the University building to be used as the The Allegheny Observatory, Riverview Park, North Side and was erected with $12,000 received from the Court House during the erection of the new edi- State. The cut of this building is shown in this fice. program. The building was burned in 1845, and In 1890 the present buildings, consisting of the the second building was erected on Duquesne main University building and Science Hall, w:ere PITTSBURGH SESQUI-CENTENNIAL. 59 erected on Perrysville avenue on the grounds of the Allegheny Observatory, which was a part of the University. These buildings are shown. In 1892 the Medical Department was added, and in 1895 the Law.. School and the Collegg^ of the campus a magnificent view can be obtained of Schenley Park and also the splendid East End district. In July work was begun on the first building to be erected on the new campus, the building School of Mines Building (First buildinu to be erected on the new site) Pharmacy. In i8g6 the Dental College was es- tablished. Thus the institution became a real university with seven distinct departments. For a number of years the question of a new location for the University was considered, and finally in December, 1907, a site was selected, comprising for the School of Mines, the cornerstone of which will be laid on Friday of the Sesqui-Centennial week. It is hoped that work in the new location can begin in the fall of 1909. During the past year the total enrollment in all departments of the University was 1,158 with The Proposed Group of Buildings for the New University forty-three acres, located in Oakland, the larger part being a portion of the historic Schenley Farms. This location is in the midst of the edu- cational and institutional center of Pittsburgh, and from the crest of the hill forming a part of a faculty numbering over 150. The University with its College and Engineering School and professional schools offers unexcelled opportuni- ties to the thousands of young people in Pitts- burgh and vicinity who wish higher education. =><= Programme Pittsburgh Sesqui-Centennial SEPTEMBER 27 TO OCTOBER 3 1908 W) ^ Official Programme: Certified to by the Executive Committee of the Pittsburgh Sesqui-Centennial COPYRIGHT. 1908. BY EDWARD WHITE :: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iXi Official Programme Pittsburgh Sesqui-Centennial ...1908... SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 27: Special services in all Churches. SUNDAY AFTERNOON : Union religious meeting in Nixon Theater. SUNDAY EVENING: Union neighborhood services in many churches. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 3 P. M.: Unveiling Tablet, by Daughters of the American Revolution at Old Block House. Evening : Official reception by the Mayor and Councils at Duquesne Garden. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29: Sesqui^Centennial Day at the Western Pennsylvania Exposition, the musical programme including works of Pittsburgh composers. NA^EDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30: Marine historical pageant and parade on rivers. PKOGPvAMME CONTINUED ON FOLLOWING PAGE . . . OFFICIAL PROGRAMME . . . Certified to by the Executive Committee of the Pittsburgh Sesqui'Centennial Copyright, 1908, by Edward White. :: All Rights Reserved Official Programme Pittsburgh Sesqui-Centennial ...1908... THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1: Greater Pittsburgh Day. His^ torical pageant and commercial, manufaduring and mili' tary parade. FRIDAY, OCTOBEPv 2 : Laying of cornerstones of Soldiers' Memorial Hall and University of Pittsburgh building. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3: Races at Schenley Oval, and music, etc., at the parks. ALL WEEK : Exhibits of Colonial and Revolutionary paint' ings, books and relics at Carnegie Institute. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25— Anniversary Day: Meet- ing and concert in Exposition building, on sites of Forts Duquesne and Pitt. The Independence Day Celebration in the Parks on July Fourth was also under the auspices of the Sesqui'Centennial Committee. . . . OFFICIAL PROGRAMME . . . Certified to by the Executive Committee of the Pittsburgh Sesqui'Centennial Copyright, 1908, by Edward White. All Rights Reserved Pittsburgh Sesqui-Centennial (Beneral Committee Mayor George W. Guthrie, Chairman James W. Brown, First Vice Chairman H. J. Heinz, Second Vice Chairman Allerton, O. H. Armstrong, Richard Babcock, F. R. Barr, Albert J. Barbour, John B., Jr. Baum, George yV. Bigelow, E. M. Black D. P. Blanchard, C. A. Boggs, R. H. Bonneville, E. E. Bope, Col. H. P. Brand, Wm. Brashear, John A. Buchanan, James I. Burchfield, A. P. Cochrane, R. K. Connelly, W. C, Jr. Davis, W. H. Mrs. S. A. Ammon, Third Vice Chairman John B. Jackson, Treasurer Burd S. Patterson, Secretary Dimling. John English, H. D. W. Ferguson. Hugh Flinn, Wm. Frew, W. N. Garwood, C. H. Graham, Chas. J. GufFey, J. M. Gulland, Chas. Guthrie, R. W. Hamilton, Wm. M. Hamilton. W. T. Hamerschlag, Dr. A. A. Harding, Miss Julia M. Hawkins, T. J. Hershman, Oliver S. Ireland, A. E. Jamison, S. C. Jones, W. L. Jones, B. F. Jr. Kambach, Geo. J. Keenan, Thos. J. Kelly, A. J., Jr. Kennedy, M. W. Kohne, Chas" C. Lambing, Rev. A. / Lang. E. J, Lewin, Dr. Adolph Lloyd. D. McK. Logan, Geo. B. Long. S. C. Manion, P. A. McCormick, Rev. McCook, Willis F McElroy, Samuel Moore, A. P. Oliver, Geo. T. Penney, John P. S. B. Price, C. B. Rees, Thos. M. Reizenstein, Isadorc P-ipley, D. C. Rook, C. A. Scaife, W. L. Shepherd, A. B, Shiras, W. K. Smith, A. Y. Smith, Charles O. SofFel, Jacob, Jr. Stevenson, W. H. Tilley J. Frank Torrance F. J. Walters. Dr. E. Ward, R. B. Wasson, J. C. Weil A. Leo Wilson, Adam R. jeyecuttve Committee W, H. Stevenson, Chairman Hon. James W. Brown A. J. Kelly, Jr., Vice Chairman H. J. Heinz Burd S. Patterson, Secretary Mrs. S. A. Ammon Hon. Geo. W. Guthrie John B. Jackson dbairmen of Sub=(Iommittees Col. J. M. Guffey, Finance S. C. Long, Railroad and Transportation W. K. Shiras, Invitation Dr. S. B. McCormick, Clergy T. J. Fitzpatrick, Exposition J. W. Beatty, Art Exhibit J. P. McCoUum, Music Major W. H. Davis, JHCilitary and Parade Capt. ]as. A. Henderson, Marine Displa}) T. J. Hawkins, Decorations H. D. W. English, Greater Pittsburgh Day A. J. Kelly, Jr., Anniversary Day Miss Julia M. Harding, Women's Auxiliary E. M. Bigelow, Electrical Display^ Wm. N. Frew, Carnegie Institute John A. Brashear, T^eception E. E. Bonneville, Hotel A. B. Shepherd, Independence Day H. W. Neely, Merchants' Jluxiliary W. H. Stevenson, Councils Col. H. P. Bope, Boys' Brigade C. B. Price, Soldiers' Memorial Hall Dr. S. B. McCormick, University of Pgh. George W. Baum, Matinee Races Official Programme Certified to by Executive Committee of the Pittsburgh Sesqui-Centennial oLr x/ fyuo PHOTO BY OEWITT B. LUCAS The Financial Canon of Pittsburgh— Fourth Avenue COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY EDWARD WHITE I I