A NEW COUNTY AND A NEW BOROUGH
The constantly rising tide of immigration required more territorial
subdivisions in the western part of the State. Westmoreland County had
been reduced in size on March 28, 1781, by the creation of Washington
County, but was still inordinately large. The clamor of the inhabitants
of Pittsburgh for a separate county was heeded at last, and on
September 24, 1788, Allegheny County was formed out of Westmoreland and
Washington Counties. To the new county was added on September 17, 1789,
other territory taken from Washington County. In March, 1792, the State
purchased from the United States the tract of land adjoining Lake Erie,
consisting of two hundred and two thousand acres, which the national
government had recently acquired from the Indians. This was added to
Allegheny County on April 3, 1792. The county then extended northerly
to the line of the State of New York, and the border of Lake Erie,
and westerly to the present State of Ohio.[29] On March 12, 1800, the
county was reduced by the creation of Beaver, Butler, Mercer, Crawford,
Erie, Warren, Venango, and Armstrong Counties, the area of these
counties being practically all taken from Allegheny County. By Act
of the General Assembly of March 12, 1803, a small part of Allegheny
County was added to Indiana County, and Allegheny County was reduced to
its present form and dimensions.[30]
On the formation of Allegheny County, Pittsburgh became the county
seat. The county was divided into townships, Pittsburgh being located
in Pitt Township. Embraced in Pitt Township was all the territory
between the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers, as far east as Turtle
Creek on the Monongahela River, and Plum Creek on the Allegheny River,
and all of the county north of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers. With
the growth of prosperity in the county, petty offenses became more
numerous, and a movement was begun for the erection of a jail in
Pittsburgh.[31]
Next to the establishment of the _Pittsburgh Gazette_, the publication
and sale of books, and the opening of the post route to the eastern
country, the most important event in the early social advancement of
Pittsburgh was the passage of an Act by the General Assembly, on April
22, 1794, incorporating the place into a borough. The township laws
under which Pittsburgh had been administered were crude and intended
only for agricultural and wild lands, and were inapplicable to the
development of a town. Under the code of laws which it now obtained,
it possessed functions suitable to the character which it assumed, and
could perform acts leading to its material and social progress. It was
given the power to open streets, to regulate and keep streets in order,
to conduct markets, to abate nuisances, and to levy taxes.[32]
Before the incorporation of the borough, various steps had been
taken in anticipation of that event. The Pittsburgh Fire Company was
organized in 1793, with an engine house[33] and a hand engine brought
from Philadelphia. A new era in transportation was inaugurated on
Monday, October 21, 1793, by the establishment of a packet line on the
Ohio River, between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, with boats “sailing”
bi-weekly. The safety of the passengers from attacks by hostile Indians
infesting the Ohio Valley, was assured. The boats were bullet-proof,
and were armed with small cannon carrying pound balls; muskets and
ammunition were provided, and from convenient portholes, passengers and
crew could fire on the enemy.[34]
One of the first measures enacted after Pittsburgh was incorporated,
was that to prohibit hogs running at large.[35] The dissatisfaction
occasioned by the imposition of the excise on whisky, had caused a
spirit of lawlessness to spring up in the country about Pittsburgh.
When this element appeared in the town, they were disposed,
particularly when inflamed with whisky, to show their resentment
toward the inhabitants, whom they regarded as being unfriendly to the
Insurgent cause, by galloping armed through the streets, firing their
pieces as they sped by, to the terror of the townspeople. This was now
made an offense punishable by a fine of five shillings.[36]
Literary culture was hardly to be expected on the frontier, yet a
gentleman resided in Pittsburgh who made some pretension in that
direction. Hugh Henry Brackenridge was the leading lawyer of the town,
and in addition to his other activities, was an author of note. Before
coming to Pittsburgh he had, jointly with Philip Freneau, written a
volume of poetry entitled, _The Rising Glory of America_, and had
himself written a play called _The Battle of Bunker Hill_. While a
resident in Pittsburgh he contributed many articles to the _Pittsburgh
Gazette_. His title to literary fame, however, results mainly from the
political satire that he wrote, which in its day created a sensation.
It was called _Modern Chivalry_, and as originally published was a
small affair. Only one of the four volumes into which it was divided
was printed in Pittsburgh, the first, second, and fourth being
published in Philadelphia. The third volume came out in Pittsburgh,
in 1793, and was printed by Scull, and was the first book published
west of the Alleghany Mountains. The work, as afterward rewritten and
enlarged, ran through more than half a dozen editions.
The interest in books increased. In 1793, William Semple began
selling “quarto pocket and school Bibles, spelling books, primers,
dictionaries, English and Dutch almanacs, with an assortment of
religious, historical, and novel books.”[37] “Novel books” was no doubt
meant to indicate novels. In 1798 the town became possessed of a store
devoted exclusively to literature. It was conducted in a wing of the
house owned and partially occupied by Brackenridge on Market Street.
John C. Gilkison had been a law student in Brackenridge’s office, and
had tutored his son. Abandoning the idea of becoming a lawyer, he
began with the aid of Brackenridge, to sell books as a business.[38]
In his announcement to the public his plans were outlined:[39] “John
C. Gilkison has just opened a small book and stationery store.... He
has a variety of books for sale, school books especially, an assortment
of which he means to increase, and keep up as encouragement may enable
him; he has also some books of general instruction and amusement,
which he will sell or lend out for a reasonable time, at a reasonable
price.”
Changes were made in the lines of the townships at an early day. When
the new century dawned, Pitt Township adjoined Pittsburgh on the east.
East of Pitt Township and between the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers
were the Townships of Plum, Versailles, and Elizabeth. On the south
side of the Monongahela River, extending from the westerly line of
the county to Chartiers Creek, was Moon Township. East of Chartiers
Creek, and between that stream and Streets Run was St. Clair Township,
and east of Streets Run, extending along the Monongahela River, was
Mifflin Township, which ran to the county line. Back of Moon Township
was Fayette Township. North of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers were the
Townships of Pine and Deer. They were almost equal in area, Pine being
in the west, and Deer in the east, the dividing line being near the
mouth of Pine Creek in the present borough of Etna.
The merchants and manufacturers of Pittsburgh had been accumulating
money for a decade. In the East money was the medium of exchange,
and it was brought to the village by immigrants and travelers, and
began to circulate more freely than before. In addition to the money
put into circulation by the immigrants, the United States Government
had expended nearly eight hundred thousand dollars on the expedition
which was sent out to suppress the Whisky Insurrection. At least half
of this sum was spent in Pittsburgh and its immediate vicinity, partly
for supplies and partly by the men composing the army. The expedition
was also the means of advertising the Western country in the East,
and created a new interest in the town. A considerable influx of new
immigrants resulted. With the growth in population, the number of the
mercantile establishments increased. Pittsburgh became more than ever
the metropolis of the surrounding country.
Ferries made intercourse with the districts across the rivers from
Pittsburgh easy, except perhaps in winter when ice was in the streams.
Three ferries were in operation on the Monongahela River. That of
Ephraim Jones at the foot of Liberty Street[40] was called the Lower
Ferry. A short distance above the mouth of Wood Street was Robert
Henderson’s Ferry, formerly conducted by Jacob Bausman. This was known
as the Middle Ferry. Isaac Gregg’s Ferry, at this time operated by
Samuel Emmett,[41] also called the Upper Ferry, was located a quarter
of a mile above the town, at the head of the Sand Bar. Over the
Allegheny River, connecting St. Clair Street with the Franklin Road,
now Federal Street, was James Robinson’s Ferry. As an inducement to
settle on the north side of the Allegheny River, Robinson advertised
that “All persons going to and returning from sermon, and all funerals,
ferriage free.”[42]
The aspect of the town was changing. It was no longer the village which
Lewis Brantz saw on his visit in 1790, when he painted the sketch which
is the first pictorial representation of the place extant.[43] In the
old Military Plan the ground was compactly built upon. Outside of this
plan the houses were sparse and few in number, and cultivated grounds
intervened. Thomas Chapman who visited Pittsburgh in 1795, reported
that out of the two hundred houses in the village, one hundred and
fifty were built of logs.[44] They were mainly of rough-hewn logs, only
an occasional house being of sawed logs. The construction of log houses
was discontinued, the new houses being generally frame. Houses of brick
began to be erected, the brick sold at the dismantling of Fort Pitt
supplying the first material for the purpose. The houses built of brick
taken from Fort Pitt were characterized by the whiteness of the brick
of which they were constructed.[45] Brickyards were established. When
Chapman was in Pittsburgh, there were two brickyards in operation in
the vicinity of the town.[46] With their advent brick houses increased
rapidly.
With the evolution in the construction of the houses, came another
advance conducive to both the health and comfort of the occupants.
While window glass was being brought from the East, and was subject to
the hazard of the long and rough haul over the Alleghany Mountains, the
windows in the houses were few, and the panes of small dimensions; six
inches in width by eight inches in length was an ordinary size. The
interior of the houses was dark, cheerless, and damp. In the spring of
1797, Albert Gallatin, in conjunction with his brother-in-law, James
W. Nicholson, and two Germans, Christian Kramer and Baltzer Kramer,
who were experienced glass-blowers, began making window glass at a
manufactory which they had established on the Monongahela River at New
Geneva in Fayette County.[47] The same year that window glass was first
produced at New Geneva, Colonel James O’Hara and Major Isaac Craig
commenced the construction of a glass manufactory on the south side of
the Monongahela River, opposite Pittsburgh, and made their first window
glass in 1800. Both manufactories produced window glass larger in size
than that brought from the East, O’Hara and Craig’s glass measuring as
high as eighteen by twenty-four inches.[48] The price of the Western
glass was lower than that brought across the mountains. With cheaper
glass, windows became larger and more numerous, and a more cheerful
atmosphere prevailed in the houses.
All that remained of Pittsburgh’s former military importance were the
dry ditch and old ramparts of Fort Pitt,[49] in the westerly extremity
of the town, together with some of the barracks and the stone powder
magazine, and Fort Fayette near the northeasterly limits, now used
solely as a military storehouse.[50] Not a trace of architectural
beauty was evident in the houses. They were built without regularity
and were low and plain. In one block were one- and two-story log and
frame houses, some with their sides, others with their gable ends,
facing the street. In the next square there was a brick building of two
or possibly three stories in height; the rest of the area was covered
with wooden buildings of every size and description. The Lombardy
poplars and weeping willows which grew along the streets[51] softened
the aspect of the houses before which they were planted. The scattered
houses on the sides of the hills which commanded the town on the
east[52] were more attractive.
It was forty years before houses, even on the leading streets, were
numbered.[53] The taverns and many of the stores, instead of being
known by the number of their location on the street, or by the name
of the owner, were recognized by their signs, which contained
characteristic pictures or emblems. The signs were selected because
associated with them was some well-known sentiment; or the picture
represented a popular hero. In the latter category was the “Sign of
General Washington,” conducted by Robert Campbell, at the northeast
corner of Wood Street and Diamond Alley. Sometimes the signs were of
a humorous character, as the “Whale and the Monkey” with the added
doggerel:
“Here the weary may rest,
The hungry feed,
And those who thirst,
May quaff the best,”
displayed by D. McLane[54] when he conducted the tavern on Water
Street, afterward known as the “Sign of the Green Tree.” The sign
was hung either on the front of the house, or on a board attached to
a wooden or iron arm projecting from the building, or from a post
standing before it. The last was the manner in which most of the tavern
signs were displayed. This continued until 1816, when all projecting
or hanging signs were prohibited, except to taverns where stabling
and other accommodations for travelers could be obtained. Only
taverns located at street corners were thereafter permitted to have
signposts.[55]
Not a street was paved, not even the footwalks, except for such
irregular slabs of stone, or brick, or planks as had been laid down
by the owners of adjoining houses. Major Thomas S. Forman who passed
through Pittsburgh in December, 1789, related that the town was
the muddiest place he was ever in.[56] In 1800, there was little
improvement. Samuel Jones was the first Register and Recorder of
Allegheny County, and held those offices almost continuously well into
the nineteenth century. He resided in Pittsburgh during the entire
period, and his opportunities for observation were unexcelled. His
picture of the borough in 1800 is far from attractive. “The streets,”
he wrote, were “filled with hogs, dogs, drays, and noisy children.”[57]
At night the streets were unlighted. “A solitary lamp twinkled here and
there, over the door of a tavern, or on a signpost, whenever the moon
was in its first or last quarter. The rest of the town was involved in
primeval darkness.”
REFERENCES