Pittsburgh

Until all fear of Indian troubles had ceased, there was practically no social life in American pioneer communities. As long as marauding bands of Indians appeared on the outskirts of the settlements, the laws were but a loose net with large meshes, thrown out from the longer-settled country whence they emanated. In the numerous interstices the laws were ineffective. In this Pittsburgh was no exception. The nominal reign of the law had been inaugurated among the settlers in Western Pennsylvania as far back as 1750, when the Western country was no man’s land, and the rival claims set up by France and England were being subjected to the arbitrament of the sword. In that year Cumberland County was formed. It was the sixth county in the province, and comprised all the territory west of the Susquehanna River, and north and west of York County—limitless in its westerly extent—between the province of New York on one side, and the colony of Virginia and the province of Maryland on the other. The first county seat was at Shippinsburg, but the next year, when Carlisle was laid out, that place became the seat of justice.

After the conclusion of the French and Indian War, and the establishment of English supremacy, a further attempt was made to govern Western Pennsylvania by lawful methods, and in 1771 Bedford County was formed out of Cumberland County. It included nearly all of the western half of the province. With Bedford, the new county seat, almost a hundred miles away, the law had little force in and about Pittsburgh. To bring the law nearer home, Westmoreland County was formed in 1773, from Bedford County, and embraced all of the province west of “Laurel Hill.” The county seat was at Hannastown, three miles northeast of the present borough of Greensburg. But with Virginia and Pennsylvania each claiming jurisdiction over the territory an uncertainty prevailed which caused more disregard for the law. The Revolutionary War came on, with its attendant Indian troubles; and in 1794 the western counties revolted against the national government on account of the imposition of an excise on whisky. It was only after the last uprising had been suppressed that the laws became effective and society entered upon the formative stage.

Culture is the leading element in the formation and progress of society, and is the result of mental activity. The most potent agency in the production of culture is education. While Pittsburgh was a frontier village, suffering from the turbulence of the French and Indian War, the uncertainty of the Revolution, and the chaos of the Whisky Insurrection, education remained at a standstill. The men who had blazed trails through the trackless forests, and buried themselves in the woods or along the uncharted rivers, could usually read and write, but there were no means of transmitting these boons to their children. The laws of the province made no provision for schools on its frontiers. In December, 1761, the inhabitants of Pittsburgh subscribed sixty pounds and engaged a schoolmaster for the term of a year to instruct their children. Similar attempts followed, but, like the first effort, ended in failure. There was not a newspaper in all the Western country; the only books were the Bible and the almanac. The almanac was the one form of secular literature with which frontier families were ordinarily familiar.

In 1764, while Pittsburgh was a trading post, the military authorities caused a plan of the village to be made by Colonel John Campbell. It consisted of four blocks, and was bounded by Water Street, Second Street, now Second Avenue, Market and Ferry Streets, and was intersected by Chancery Lane. The lots faced in the direction of Water Street. In this plan most of the houses were built.

At the outbreak of the Revolution, the proprietors of the province were the cousins, John Penn, Jr., and John Penn, both grandsons of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. Being royalists, they had been divested of the title to all their lands in Pennsylvania, except to a few tracts which had been surveyed, called manors, one of them being “Pittsburgh,” in which was included the village of that name. In 1784 the Penns conceived the design of selling land in the village of Pittsburgh. The first sale was made in January, when an agreement to sell was entered into with Major Isaac Craig and Colonel Stephen Bayard, for about three acres, located “between Fort Pitt and the Allegheny River.” The Penns determined to lay out a town according to a plan of their own, and on April 22, 1784, Tench Francis, their agent, employed George Woods, an engineer living at Bedford, to do the work. The plan was completed in a few months, and included within its boundaries all the land in the triangle between the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, extending to Grant Street and Washington, now Eleventh, Street. Campbell’s plan was adopted unchanged; Tench Francis approved the new plan and began to sell lots. Major Craig and Colonel Bayard accepted, in lieu of the acreage purchased by them, a deed for thirty-two lots in this plan.

Until this time, the title of the occupants of lands included in the plan had been by sufferance only. The earlier Penns were reputed to have treated the Indians, the original proprietors of Pennsylvania, with consideration. In the same manner John Penn, Jr., and John Penn dealt with the persons who made improvements on the lands to which they had no title. They permitted the settlement on the assumption that the settlers would afterwards buy the land; and they gave them a preference. Also when litigation arose, caused by the schemes of land speculators intent on securing the fruits of the enterprise and industry of squatters on the Penn lots, the courts generally intervened in favor of the occupants.1 The sale was advertised near and far, and immigrants and speculators flocked into the village. They came from Eastern Pennsylvania, from Virginia, from Maryland, from New York, and from distant New England. The pack trains carrying merchandise and household effects into Pittsburgh became ever longer and more numerous.

Once that the tide of emigration had set in toward the West, it grew constantly in volume. The roads over the Alleghany Mountains were improved, and wheeled conveyances no longer attracted the curious attention that greeted Dr. Johann David Schoepf when he arrived in Pittsburgh in 1783, in the cariole in which he had crossed the mountains, an achievement which until then had not been considered possible.2 The monotonous hoof-beats of the pack horses became less frequent, and great covered wagons, drawn by four horses, harnessed two abreast, came rumbling into the village. But not all the people or all the goods remained in Pittsburgh. There were still other and newer Eldorados, farther away to the west and the south, and these lands of milk and honey were the Meccas of many of the adventurers. Pittsburgh was the depository of the merchandise sent out from Philadelphia and Baltimore, intended for the western and southern country and for the numerous settlements that were springing up along the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers.3 From Pittsburgh trading boats laden with merchandise were floated down the Ohio River, stopping at the towns on its banks to vend the articles which they carried.4 Coal was cheap and emigrant and trading boats carried it as ballast.5 In Pittsburgh the immigrants lingered, purchasing supplies, and gathering information about the country beyond. Some proceeded overland. Others sold the vehicles in which they had come, and continued the journey down the Ohio River, in Kentucky flat or family boats, in keel boats, arks, and barges. The construction and equipping of boats became an industry of moment in Pittsburgh.

The last menace from the Indians who owned and occupied the country north of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers was removed on October 21, 1784, when the treaty with the Six Nations was concluded at Fort Stanwix, by which all the Indian lands in Pennsylvania except a tract bordering on Lake Erie were ceded to the State. This vast territory was now opened for settlement, and resulted in more immigrants passing through Pittsburgh. The northerly boundary of the village ceased to be the border line of civilization. The isolation of the place became less pronounced. The immigrants who remained in Pittsburgh were generally of a sturdy class, and were young and energetic. Among them were former Revolutionary officers and soldiers. They engaged in trade, and as an adjunct of this business speculated in lands in the county, or bought and sold town lots. A few took up tavern keeping. From the brief notes left by Lewis Brantz who stopped over in Pittsburgh in 1785, while on a journey from Baltimore to the Western country, it appears that at this time Fort Pitt was still garrisoned by a small force of soldiers; that the inhabitants lived chiefly by traffic, and by entertaining travellers; and that there were but few mechanics in the village.6 The extent of the population can be conjectured, when it is known that in 1786 there were in Pittsburgh only thirty-six log buildings, one of stone, and one of frame; and that there were six stores.7

Religion was long dormant on the frontier. In 1761 and 1762, when the first school was in operation in Pittsburgh, the schoolmaster conducted religious services on Sundays to a small congregation. Although under the direction of a Presbyterian, the services consisted in reading the Prayers and the Litany from the Book of Common Prayer.8 During the military occupation, a chaplain was occasionally stationed at Fort Pitt around which the houses clustered. From time to time missionaries came and tarried a few days or weeks, and went their way again. The long intervals between the religious services were periods of indifference. An awakening came at last, and the religious teachings of early life reasserted themselves, and the settlers sought means to re-establish a spiritual life in their midst. The Germans and Swiss-Germans of the Protestant Evangelical and Protestant Reformed faiths jointly organized a German church in 1782; and the Presbyterians formed a church organization two years later.

The first pastor of the German church was the Rev. Johann Wilhelm Weber, who was sent out by the German Reformed Synod at Reading.9 He had left his charge in Eastern Pennsylvania because the congregation which he served had not been as enthusiastic in its support of the Revolution as he deemed proper.10 The services were held in a log building situated at what is now the corner of Wood Street and Diamond Alley.11 Besides ministering to the wants of the Pittsburgh church, there were three other congregations on Weber’s circuit, which extended fifty miles east of Pittsburgh. When he came West in September, 1782, the Revolutionary War was still in progress; Hannastown had been burned by the British and Indians in the preceding July; hostile Indians and white outlaws continually beset his path. He was a soldier of the Cross, but he was also ready to fight worldly battles. He went about the country armed not only with the Bible, but with a loaded rifle,12 and was prepared to battle with physical enemies, as well as with the devil.

Hardly had the churches come into existence when another organization was formed whose origin is claimed to be shrouded in the mists of antiquity. In the American history of the order, the membership included many of the greatest and best known men in the country. On December 27, 1785, the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, Free and Accepted Masons, granted a charter to certain freemasons resident in Pittsburgh, which was designated as “Lodge No. 45 of Ancient York Masons.” It was not only the first masonic lodge in Pittsburgh, but the first in the Western country.13 Almost from the beginning, Lodge No. 45 was the most influential social organization in the village. Nearly all the leading citizens were members. Toward the close of the eighteenth century the place of meeting was in the tavern of William Morrow, at the “Sign of the Green Tree,” on Water Street, two doors above Market Street.14 Although not a strictly religious organization, the order carefully observed certain Church holidays. St. John the Baptist’s day and St. John the Evangelist’s day were never allowed to pass without a celebration. Every year in June, on St. John the Baptist’s day, Lodge No. 45 met at 10 o’clock in the morning and, after the services in the lodge were over, paraded the streets. The members walked two abreast. Dressed in their best clothes, with cocked hats, long coats, knee-breeches, and buckled shoes, wearing the aprons of the craft, they marched “in ancient order.” The sword bearer was in advance; the officers wore embroidered collars, from which depended their emblems of office; the wardens carried their truncheons; the deacons, their staves. The Bible, surmounted by a compass and a square, on a velvet cushion, was borne along. When the Rev. Robert Steele came to preach in the Presbyterian Meeting House, the march was from the lodge room to the church. Here Mr. Steele preached a sermon to the brethren, after which they dined together at Thomas Ferree’s tavern at the “Sign of the Black Bear,”15 or at the “Sign of the Green Tree.”16 St. John the Evangelist’s day was observed with no less circumstance. In the morning the officers of the lodge were installed. Addresses of a semi-religious or philosophic character, eulogistic of masonry, were delivered by competent members or visitors. This ceremony was followed in the afternoon by a dinner either at some tavern or at the home of a member. Dinners seemed to be a concomitant part of all masonic ceremonies.

By the time that the last quarter of the eighteenth century was well under way, the hunters and trappers had left for more prolific hunting grounds. The Indian traders with their lax morals17 had disappeared forever in the direction of the setting sun, along with the Indians with whom they bartered. If any traders remained, they conformed to the precepts of a higher civilization. Only a scattered few of the red men continued to dwell in the hills surrounding the village, or along the rivers, eking out a scant livelihood by selling game in the town.18

A different moral atmosphere appeared: schools of a permanent character were established; the German church conducted a school which was taught by the pastor. Secular books were now in the households of the more intelligent; a few of the wealthier families had small libraries, and books were sold in the town. On August 26, 1786, Wilson and Wallace advertised “testaments, Bibles, spelling books, and primers” for sale.19 Copies of the Philadelphia and Baltimore newspapers were brought by travellers, and received by private arrangement.

In July, 1786, John Scull and Joseph Hall, two young men of more than ordinary daring, came from Philadelphia and established a weekly newspaper called the Pittsburgh Gazette, which was the first newspaper published in the country west of the Alleghany Mountains. The partnership lasted only a few months, Hall dying on November 10, 1786, at the early age of twenty-two years;20 and in the following month, John Boyd, also of Philadelphia, purchased Hall’s interest and became the partner of Scull.21 For many years money was scarcely seen in Pittsburgh in commercial transactions, everything being consummated in trade. A few months after its establishment, the Pittsburgh Gazette gave notice to all persons residing in the country that it would receive country produce in payment of subscriptions to the paper.22

The next year there were printed, and kept for sale at the office of the Pittsburgh Gazette, spelling books, and The A.B.C. with the Shorter Catechism, to which are Added Some Short and Easy Questions for Children; secular instruction was combined with religious.23 The Pittsburgh Gazette also conducted an emporium where other reading matter might be purchased. In the issue for June 16, 1787, an illuminating notice appeared: “At the printing office, Pittsburgh, may be had the laws of this State, passed between the thirtieth of September, 1775, and the Revolution; New Testaments; Dilworth’s Spelling Books; New England Primers, with Catechism; Westminster Shorter Catechism; Journey from Philadelphia to New York by Way of Burlington and South Amboy, by Robert Slenner, Stocking Weaver; ... also a few books for the learner of the French language.”

In November, 1787, there was announced as being in press at the office of the Pittsburgh Gazette the Pittsburgh Almanac or Western Ephemeris for 1788.24 The same year that the almanac appeared, John Boyd attempted the establishment of a circulating library. In his announcement on July 26th,25 he declared that the library would be opened as soon as a hundred subscribers were secured; and that it would consist of five hundred well chosen books. Subscriptions were to be received at the office of the Pittsburgh Gazette. Boyd committed suicide in the early part of August by hanging himself to a tree on the hill in the town, which has ever since borne his name, and Scull became the sole owner of the Pittsburgh Gazette. This act of self-destruction, and the fact that Boyd’s name as owner appeared in the Pittsburgh Gazette for the last time on August 2d, would indicate that the library was never established. Perhaps it was the anticipated failure of the enterprise that prompted Boyd to commit suicide.

The door to higher education was opened on February 28, 1787, when the Pittsburgh Academy was incorporated by an Act of the General Assembly. This was the germ which has since developed into the University of Pittsburgh. Another step which tended to the material and mental advancement of the place, was the inauguration of a movement for communicating regularly with the outside world. On September 30, 1786, a post route was established with Philadelphia,26 and the next year the general government entered into a contract for carrying the mails between Pittsburgh and that city.27 Almost immediately afterward a post office was established in Pittsburgh with Scull as postmaster, and a regular post between the village and Philadelphia and the East was opened on July 19, 1788.28 These events constituted another milestone in the progress of Pittsburgh.

Another instrument in the advancement of the infant community was the Mechanical Society which came into existence in 1788. On the twenty-second of March, the following unique advertisement appeared in the Pittsburgh Gazette: “Society was the primeval desire of our first and great ancestor Adam; the same order for that blessing seems to inhabit more or less the whole race. To encourage this it seems to be the earnest wish of a few of the mechanics in Pittsburgh, to have a general meeting on Monday the 24th inst., at six P.M., at the house of Andrew Watson, tavern keeper, to settle on a plan for a well regulated society for the purpose. This public method is taken to invite the reputable tradesmen of this place to be punctual to their assignation.”

Andrew Watson’s tavern was in the log building, at the northeast corner of Market and Front Streets. Front Street was afterward called First Street, and is now First Avenue. At that time all the highways running parallel with the Monongahela River were designated as streets, as they are now called avenues. The object of the Mechanical Society was the improvement of the condition of the workpeople, to induce workpeople to settle in the town, and to procure manufactories to be established there.

The society was more than local in character, similar societies being in existence in New York, Philadelphia, and in the neighboring village of Washington. At a later day the Mechanical Society of Pittsburgh produced plays, some of which were given in the grand-jury room in the upper story of the new court house. The society also had connected with it a circulating library, a cabinet of curiosities, and a chemical laboratory.