erected on the two hundredth anniversary, to mark the spot where William
Penn first landed in Pennsylvania; and near by, Lord Baltimore and
William Markham, in 1681, took observations to determine the fortieth
parallel of latitude, and location of boundary between Pennsylvania and
Maryland; also site of Essex House, home of Robert Wade, wherein was
held, in 1675, the first Friends meeting in Pennsylvania. Blue Anchor
Tavern and Steamboat Hotel, near Second and Market Streets, bear marks
of bombardment by the British frigate Augusta in 1777. Friends meeting
house, erected, 1736, modernized in 1882; Friends Burying Ground formed,
1692, contains graves of Chief Justice David Lloyd, who died in 1731,
and Grace Lloyd, his wife, who died in 1760, Justice Caleb Cowpland,
Judge Henry Hale Graham, and, in unmarked tombs, many of the founders
and pioneers of the commonwealth.
St. Paul’s graveyard, Third and Market Streets; tomb of John Morton, a
signer of the Declaration of Independence, who cast the deciding vote in
the Pennsylvania delegation; also of D. Paul Jackson, Burgess of
Chester, who was the first man to receive a degree from the University
of Pennsylvania; and a quaint old memorial cut in sandstone with oddly
carved figures and devices, dedicated to James Sandelands, who died,
1693, taken from the old church, erected in 1703. Chester Rural
Cemetery, burial place of General Edward F. Beale, pioneer of
California; has many interesting memorials.
Alfred O. Deshong Memorial Park of twenty-eight acres, in the heart of
the city, with white marble art gallery, late Italian Renaissance,
finished in 1916, designed by Brazer & Robb, New York, for Mr. Deshong’s
collection of about 200 paintings, bronzes, ivories, etc.; rare Japanese
bronze lanterns and figures are in the grounds, and two remarkable
bronze dogs with paws on cloisonné balls, at entrance; fine bronze doors
and grills; also his old mansion, all given to the city of Chester with
a large endowment, for public use forever. St. Paul’s Protestant
Episcopal Church, Broad and Madison Streets, founded in 1702, third
building of this congregation, erected, 1900; twelfth century English
Gothic, granite and limestone, architects, Nattress & Son; altar by
Nattress, white marble; mosaic reredos, “The Supper at Emmaus,” after
Rembrandt; chancel window by Tiffany, “Conversion of St. Paul,” after
Doré; memorial to Rev. Henry Brown, rector for thirty years; clerestory
windows, four Evangelists, by Nicola d’Ascenzo; chalice and salver given
by Sir Jeffry Jeffrys in 1705, chalice and salver given by Queen Anne,
in 1707, all of beautifully hammered silver, still in use; fine chime of
ten bells; large folio Bible given at founding of the church by the
Society in London, for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts,
to which St. Paul’s owed much in its early years.
St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church, Edgmont Avenue above Seventh
Street, granite, Gothic, fine altar and paintings. First Baptist Church,
Seventh and Fulton Streets, stone, Gothic, founded, 1850, third edifice
endowed by the Gartside and Crozer families. First Presbyterian Church,
Fourth and Welsh Streets, brick, stuccoed, erected in 1852, fine
memorial windows. Third Presbyterian Church, Broad and Potter Streets,
stone, fine windows and carvings in wood. Madison Street Methodist
Episcopal Church, Seventh and Madison Streets, organized in 1818 by John
Kelly in his home; afterward services were held in the Courthouse for
many years, where Bishop Asbury preached; present church erected, 1874,
green serpentine. High school, stone, with commanding tower, West Ninth
Street, modeled after Post Office Building at Washington.
Pennsylvania Military College, Fourteenth Street, handsome buildings
with complete military and academic equipment; incorporated as a
military university in 1862, by Colonel Theodore Hyatt; contributed many
officers to the nation’s service; present buildings erected in 1882,
after a fire which destroyed the original structures. Chester Park and
Crozer Park contain about 150 acres in valleys of Ridley and Chester
creeks. Chester is a port of entry and contains large shipyards, steel,
engineering, and textile industries.
UPLAND, founded by John P. Crozer in 1845 when he established cotton
mills there on the site of the old Chester Mills, on Chester Creek,
immediately adjoining the town of Chester; Chester Mills were built by
Caleb Pusey in 1683, at the first water power above tide on Chester
Creek; the mill, framed in England and brought over in the _Welcome_,
was owned by Pusey, William Penn, and Samuel Carpenter; house, erected
by Pusey in 1682, is probably the oldest structure in Pennsylvania.
Crozer Theological Seminary, endowed by John P. Crozer, and sons,
occupies buildings overlooking Chester, erected by John P. Crozer in
1858 for a normal school, used in Civil War as hospital, and occupied
for a time by the Pennsylvania Military Academy; Pearl Hall, the
seminary library, was built by William Bucknell, in memory of his wife;
green serpentine in form of a cross; contains many rare books and the
only known copies of many Baptist theological works; Crozer Hospital and
Home for Incurables, fine stone buildings, were endowed by J. Lewis
Crozer, who also left a large endowment for a free library in Chester.
An old house on Upland Dairy Farm, now much distorted by modernization,
built by Thomas Brazey in 1696, was for many years the home of the West
family, collateral descendants of Benjamin West.
On Providence Road, first highway to be laid out in Pennsylvania,
leading from Chester to the back townships, is LAPIDEA MANOR, residence
of Governor William C. Sproul, colonial house, erected by Thomas Leiper,
for his son James, enlarged in 1909 by Mr. Sproul, architect, W. L.
Price; contains notable library with collection of Pennsylvania and
local books and antiquities, paintings, and curios; interior wood
carvings by Maene; on the fine grounds is a clock-tower, containing a
bell cast in Bristol in 1741, for St. Paul’s Church, Chester, and for
125 years was the only church bell in the town; across the grounds is to
be seen the grade of the first railroad in America, built by Thomas
Leiper in 1809, to carry stone from his quarries at Avondale to
tidewater on Ridley Creek, where it was loaded in barges to be taken to
the Delaware breakwater.
MOYLAN, south of Media, art colony, residence of Charles H. Stephens and
Mrs. Charles H. Stephens (Alice Barber), contains valuable North
American Indian collection, the old stone building, remodeled for art
studios and dwellings, is among the most interesting in the county.
Southwest of MEDIA is the Williamson free school of mechanical trades;
generously endowed; built in 1888; includes twenty-four buildings on 230
acres; pupils between sixteen and eighteen years of age are received;
they live as families, twenty-four in a cottage with a matron;
preference to those born in Pennsylvania; benefits of school are
entirely free, including boarding, instruction, and clothing during the
entire course of three years.
MEDIA, county seat from 1851, population 4109; charter, with famous
provision against sale of intoxicants, still intact, was granted, 1850:
Courthouse with ample square, formed nucleus of the town; present
building, modified colonial, Avondale marble, architects, Brazer & Robb.
Old Providence Friends Meeting House, built, 1699; original Taylor log
cabin is on State Street, and the old Rowland mansion. Christ Protestant
Episcopal Church, stone, Gothic, has altar painting, “Murillo’s Holy
Family,” copied by P. McIlhenny. Presbyterian Church, modified classic.
Leiper Presbyterian Church, Gothic, Avondale marble, midway between
Leiperville and Swarthmore, built in 1800, Andrew Jackson, James
Buchanan, and Elisha Kent Kane, while guests of Judge George G. Leiper,
worshiped here, slates on the roof were brought from Scotland; near is
colonial residence of Perry Lukens on Fairview Road, hardware and other
materials were brought from England, has original latch string lock.
AVONDALE, old colonial residence of Thomas Leiper, near Crum Creek,
built on plan of his Scotch home.
WALLINGFORD, residence of late Dr. Horace Howard Furness, America’s
greatest Shakespearean scholar. He left a working library of several
thousand Shakespeare books, including “The Variorum” edited with his
son. SWARTHMORE, college, founded, 1864, by members of the Hicksite
Society of Friends, is located on a hill with a fine view of the
Delaware River, campus over 200 acres, includes large tract of woodland
and rocky valley of Crum Creek; buildings, mostly stone, French
Renaissance, include the Sproul Astronomical Observatory, built in 1911,
gift of William C. Sproul, contains one of the best telescopes in
America; Library, English collegiate Gothic, built, 1907, local stone,
with terra-cotta and Indiana limestone trimmings, architect, Edward L.
Tilton, New York; the reading room is open through two stories, height
twenty feet with gallery on three sides; Gothic beamed ceiling and
leaded ceiling lights, interior finished with dark oak. In fireproof
tower room is the Anson Lapham Friends’ Historical Library, one of the
largest collections of Quakeriana in America, contains original
manuscripts of John Woolman’s Journal.
Near the Library stands a house with gambrel roof, built in 1724,
marked, with tablet, by Delaware County Historical Society, “Birthplace
of Benjamin West, born in 1738, first great American painter, founder
and second President of the Royal Academy, London”; exterior unchanged,
now residence of college professors; the college owns, and is still
collecting original paintings and drawings by West. Meeting house
built, 1881, follows the traditions of early colonial style. Parrish
Hall, the main building, erected 1864-69, rebuilt after the fire in
1881, contains a portrait of George Fox by Sir Peter Lely, and other
interesting portraits of early Friends and later benefactors of the
college. Wharton Hall, men’s dormitories, built in form of Oxford
quadrangle, architects, Buntley & Sprigley. Stone gateway, north
entrance, designed by Frederick B. Pyle.
[Illustration: LYCOMING COUNTY]
XXII
LYCOMING COUNTY
Formed April 13, 1795; named for creek called by Delaware Indians
Legani-hanna (Sandy Stream) or Lycaumic; mountainous with rolling hills;
North Mountain, highest land, 2550 feet above sea level. Formerly a
lumber region, now chief industries are agriculture and manufacturing.
WILLIAMSPORT, county seat, founded, 1796, population 36,198, has a
system of well kept roads; the Grampian and Vallamont drives wind over
the hills north of the city, giving a view, over the West Branch Valley,
that is remarkable for extent and beauty. Courthouse built in 1860, city
hall, and post office are mid-Victorian. Masonic buildings include the
Masonic Temple, Scottish Rites Building, Acacia Club, and Howard Club.
Franklin School, Mulberry Street, North of East Fourth Street, has mural
decorations of local scenery, “A Sweep of the Susquehanna Near Jersey
Shore,” artist, J. Wesley Little.
Christ Protestant Episcopal Church, East Fourth and Mulberry Streets,
has windows from England, also by Tiffany and Lamb. “The James V. Brown
Public Library,” East Fourth Street, French Renaissance, Pennsylvania
white marble, built in 1907, architect, Edgar V. Seeler, Philadelphia;
contains a small permanent collection of paintings and an original
portrait of Washington, by Rembrandt Peale, painted in 1795; art
exhibitions are held here. Central Presbyterian Church, opposite Park
Hotel, has windows by J. & R. Lamb. Covenant Presbyterian, West Fourth
and Center Streets, has large windows by Tiffany and Lamb. Trinity
Protestant Episcopal, West Fourth Street and Trinity Place, modern
parish house, used as a community center. Opposite is Way’s Garden, two
and one-half acres, with fine old elm trees. Annunciation, Roman
Catholic Church, West Fourth and Walnut Streets, Tiffany window, “The
Ascension.” St. John’s Protestant Episcopal, architects, Duhring, Okie &
Ziegler, windows by Nicola d’Ascenzo.
Brandon Park, beautiful with fine shrubbery, trees, and winding paths,
has a band shell, playgrounds, swimming pool. Monument erected by
Daughters of the American Revolution, Fourth and Cemetery Streets, on
site of massacre of white settlers by Indians. Site of French Margaret’s
Village, niece of Madame Montour, noted on Scull’s map, in 1759, is now
within limits of the seventh ward; she was a notable character and
enforced prohibition in her town; four miles east of Williamsport, on
west side, mouth of Loyalsock Creek, near Montoursville, is site of
Ostonwakin or Otsuagy, home of Madame Montour, famous French halfbreed,
who lived there from 1727, and was still there in 1742, when Count
Zinzendorf came to the village. The great Indian Trail from Muncy led up
the Susquehanna River, on line of the present highway, through
Ostonwakin, to East Third Street, Williamsport, then north of Third and
Penn Streets to Park Street, there turned to West Fourth Street and to
Lycoming Creek, French Margaret’s town.
MUNCY, population 2054, on site of Fort Wallis, in
[Illustration: LYCOMING CREEK NEAR WILLIAMSPORT]
1778, commanded by Colonel Thomas Hartley. St. James’ Protestant
Episcopal Church, built, 1859, English Gothic, architect, Richard
Upjohn, New York, who first used principles of Gothic architecture in
America; has Tiffany memorial window to Rev. Edwin Lightener. In Muncy
Cemetery is monument to John Brady, famous Indian fighter, granite shaft
of excellent proportions; his grave is in the old Hall’s burial ground
at Hall’s Station. Site of Fort Brady; south side of Muncy, residence of
Captain John Brady, fortified by stockade, was place of refuge,
continuing so after his death; burned with Fort Muncy in 1779, when
Muncy Valley was overrun. Another on the frontier was Fort Minigar,
built, 1774, at White Deer Mills, north bank of White Deer Creek,
probably stockade, included both fort and mills, burned, 1779. Picture
Rocks village, founded, 1848, here Indian picture writings formerly
decorated walls of rocks, rising from Big Muncy Creek. Studio of the
late J. Wesley Little. Fort Antes, opposite Jersey Shore, marked by
Daughters of the American Revolution.
[Illustration: SOMERSET COUNTY]
XXIII
SOMERSET COUNTY
Formed April 17, 1795; named for Somerset, England. Chief industries are
agriculture and mining. A mountain country of remarkable beauty, largely
forests, although glades, or natural meadows, about the headwaters of
streams are numerous and extensive enough to have the name, “The
Glades,” applied to the whole county; standing on the summit of either
mountain range that bounds it, east and west, one gets a view of
unsurpassed beauty; at distance of twenty miles the other stands out in
bold outline, with intervening country of hill, valley, forest, glade,
and numerous watercourses, which find their way to the Ohio,
Susquehanna, and Potomac rivers; immortalized in James Whitcomb Riley’s
“’Mongst the Hills of Somerset.”
Nearly all this country, between the crests of the Allegheny Mountains
and Laurel Hills, is one vast coal field, extending over the entire
length, from Maryland to Cambria County, every vein of coal from the
great Pittsburgh seam down being represented. Traditions of Indian
villages are in the famous Turkey Foot, Casselman River forms middle toe
at town of Confluence; also in Elk Lick township, Indian arrowheads and
stone implements are found. In 1749, Christopher Gist, agent of the Ohio
Company, was the first white man known to have crossed Somerset County;
his route, along Nemacolin’s trail, a Delaware Indian chief, led him
through Addison Township and to the, later known, Great Crossing; again
passing through in 1750, he kept a diary.
George Washington in 1753, crossed through Addison Township, with four
frontiersmen, one as Indian interpreter, one French interpreter; every
spot of earth that Washington trod in the line of duty is sacred soil
for all true Americans; he passed through Somerset eleven times; on
Braddock’s ill-fated expedition in 1755, he lay for ten days at Great
Crossing, on a bed of sickness, exempt by order of General Braddock.
First road cut in 1754 was under Washington’s direction, afterwards
substantially the Braddock Road, following Nemacolin’s trail, the chief
who guided him; it began at Cumberland, Maryland, then a fort, and
reached the Youghiogheny River, south of present village of Somerfield,
at the Great Crossing; marked, only historic marker in the county.
The National Turnpike, commenced in 1811, has the same general course,
occasionally using the same roadbed, crosses the Youghiogheny at
Somerfield over a great stone bridge, still in good repair, completed
July 4, 1818, and turned over to the United States on that day.
President James Monroe and members of his Cabinet attended the opening
of the bridge; this road became a great highway, over which passed a
vast commerce, both east and west, wayside inns were nearly every mile,
now none exist; the “Endsley,” stone house, in Somerfield, built, 1818,
long a noted tavern, is now a private residence.
Next great road in the county was the Forbes, or Bouquet Road, cut by
Colonel Bouquet in 1758, it
[Illustration: STEPPING STONES, KIMBERLY RIVER]
traversed the county from east to west, and like the Braddock Road, was
purely military, constructed under protection of a strong army; over it
passed the army of General Forbes on way to conquer Fort Duquesne;
George Washington was with this expedition in command of the first
Virginia regiment. The road started at Bedford and followed an Indian
trail, it was improved between 1785-95 and became known as “The Great
Road”; afterwards about 1806 as the Stoyestown and Bedford Turnpike;
later taken by the State Highway Department, it is now a great speedway,
“The Lincoln Highway,” entering the county at BUCKSTOWN, crossing Stoney
Creek at KANTNER, one mile west is Stoyestown over one hundred years
old; six miles farther west is JENNERSTOWN, laid out in 1822 by General
James Wells, who, in 1771, was wounded by Indians.
On Laurel Hills, three miles west of URSINA, is the Jersey Baptist
Church, with ancient burial ground, has written record since 1775, first
log church built, 1788, twice rebuilt; fine mountain scenery all along
the route, and several places of historic interest, here, and in other
parts of the county, sites of forts which date back to French and Indian
wars and the Revolution, unmarked; few are now living who can point out
the locality of these historic places with any degree of certainty. The
Glades Road, laid out in 1772 from four miles west of Bedford to the
Youghiogheny, via Stoney Creek, was made turnpike in 1816; along this
road in 1810, on a farm nine miles east of Somerset, was born Judge
Jeremiah Sullivan Black, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania; United States
Attorney General; and Secretary of State. First railroad through
Somerset county was the Pittsburgh division of the picturesque Baltimore
& Ohio, opened in 1871, with its famous tunnels. At Mason & Dixon’s line
Negro Mount is about 2825 feet above sea.
SOMERSET, county seat, population 3121; laid out in 1795, elevation
above sea level 2180 feet, has had three consuming fires, and has been
rebuilt with greater beauty. Courthouse built, 1906, French Renaissance,
Indiana limestone, architect, J. H. Fuller, Uniontown; Soldiers’
Monument in grounds, pedestal with names of more than 400 Somerset
County men who died in war for the Union, 1861-65; Somerset Trust
Company, Indiana limestone, built, 1916, architects, Mowbray & Company,
New York, Renaissance, beautiful proportions. Churches, built by E. H.
Walker, Somerset; all with memorial windows, mostly made by Pittsburgh
firms; are, Grace United Evangelical, brick, 1914; the Christian Church
and parsonage, Doric, brick, 1910; St. Paul’s Reformed, Gothic, brick,
remodeled, 1915; also Trinity Lutheran, Corinthian, built, 1877, brick,
architect, M. Simon, Harrisburg. Throughout the county are many
churches; in some places where there is not even the semblance of a
village there are churches that would be a credit to any town.
XXIV
GREENE COUNTY
Formed February 9, 1796; named for General Nathanael Greene. Surface,
fertile valleys, hills, and rolling uplands, making a region of natural
beauty, well watered from the tributaries of the Monongahela River and
Wheeling Creek. There are still a number of covered wooden bridges
throughout the county, from fifty to a hundred years old, a very old
double bridge crosses Ten Mile Creek, one mile east of Waynesburg;
formerly an old forge and furnace were on this creek. Many Indian
village sites that were occupied long before the advent of the whites
are here; their age is indicated by large old trees growing on their
mounds; three distinct forms of ancient burial are found here, showing
that three waves of population swept over this land before the coming of
the Europeans; the two principal Indian mounds now in the county, are at
Crows Mills. Two great Indian trails crossed the southern part of the
state, the Warrior Branch passing through this county to the Ohio River.
A chain of forts crossed Greene Co., ending at Fort Zane, now Wheeling;
three are especially well known--Fort Ryserson and Block House at
western end of county; Fort Jackson west of Waynesburg; and Fort Garard
on Whitely Creek; seven miles west of GREENSBORO, the birthplace of
Robert J. Burdette, and his eminent sister Mary G. Burdette.
[Illustration: GREENE COUNTY]
The earliest glass works were established by Albert Gallatin, on the
Monongahela in 1785; they were the forerunner of the vast business at
Pittsburgh and vicinity. First settlers were Scotch-Irish. Chief
industries, agriculture and the mining of bituminous coal; the
Pittsburgh vein of rich depth and highest coking value, and three other
veins, almost as rich, namely, the Waynesburg, Freeport, and Mapletown.
Oil and gas production is very valuable, there are a number of
gas-pumping stations within the county. The Philadelphia Gas Company has
one at Brave, said to be the largest in the world; near Brave is
JOLLYTOWN, with a monument to Jesse Taylor, first Greene County soldier
to fall in the Civil War.
County seat, WAYNESBURG, population 3332; laid out in 1796; named for
General Anthony Wayne, who with his troops proved most successful in
ridding this section of the Indians. A chain of parks with formal
gardening goes through the center of the town, divided by streets; in
the center of one is the Soldiers’ Monument; erected in 1899; Waynesburg
College, empowered by the Legislature to confer honorary degrees, faces
College Park; portrait of Dr. A. B. Miller, a former president, is in
Alumni Hall. Courthouse, colonial, with cupola, surmounted by wooden
statue of General Greene; was erected in 1852; brick, painted gray, has
six lofty Corinthian columns supporting the front porch. Jail on same
ground.
First Methodist Church, Romanesque, Cleveland stone, has memorial
windows. The public schools are liberally provided with the Elson
photogravures, reproductions of great masterpieces, mostly in sepia.
Five miles southeast of Waynesburg is Gordon Ridge; Nettle Hill sixteen
miles southwest, both notable places of particularly beautiful scenery.
CARMICHAELS, originally New Lisbon, one of the oldest towns, beautifully
located, has Greene Academy, incorporated, 1810; Senator Albert Cummins
was born near here.
XXV
WAYNE COUNTY