Huntingdon County
Huntingdon County
Huntingdon County
FORMED September 20, 1787; named by Provost William Smith, of the University of Pennsylvania, in honor of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, a benefactress of the University; lies within the central mountainous region, being drained by the Juniata. Many fine farms are on the rich soil of the river flats. Juniata iron early became famous, and numerous iron works were erected; the old Bedford Furnace was near Orbisonia. Abundance, variety, and value of the ores; rich and convenient deposits of limestone; contiguity of the Broad Top, Allegheny and Cumberland coal fields, combine to indicate the importance of this country. Other industries are coal-mining, lumber, agriculture, and manufactories. Large water-power dams of the Pennsylvania Central, and Raystown Water Power Companies generate electric light and power.
Huntingdon, county seat; population 7051, largest town on the Juniata. The first white visitors to this region were traders, in traffic with Indians, exchanging goods for furs and skins. On incursions, made before the middle of the eighteenth century, they found a tribe, a branch of the Six Nations, located on the now southeast portion of this borough, their wigwams circling around a pillar of stone, 14 feet high and 6 inches square, covered with hieroglyphics supposed to be a record of their history and achievements. This tribe, besides hunting and fishing, had cleared land and cultivatedcorn. This stone was regarded with great veneration by the natives; here they had assembled for centuries to hold their grand councils; its conspicuous position and appearance led the white visitors to name the locality, “Standing Stone,” it stood above Second Street, on or near 208 Allegheny Street. Conrad Weiser, in 1748, and John Harris, in 1754, in accounts of their journeys to the Ohio River, both describe this stone.
The Proprietaries of this province, ever mindful of the rights of the Indians, would not grant lands, nor permit settlements to be made until the Indian title had been purchased; at a treaty held in Albany, in 1754, the Six Nations, consisting of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, and Tuscaroras, executed a deed to the Proprietaries for a large portion of the province, including the whole valley of the Juniata; soon after, the resident tribe migrated, and, it is supposed, carried the stone with them. The seal of the borough has, as its central figure, a Standing Stone. A second stone was erected by the settlers; and in 1896 a third, at Penn and Third Streets; as a memorial of the ancient standing stone of the Indians. Fort Standing Stone was built here at an early date; site about intersection of Penn and Second Streets, it was stockaded and provided with barracks, blockhouses, and magazines constructed of heavy hewn timber, and was the place of many important incidents during troublesome times following the defeat of General Braddock in 1755, and until peace was made with Great Britain in 1783.
Provost William Smith, D.D., obtained the land in 1766 from George Croghan, and numerous other tractsin the vicinity, and in 1767 caused the town of Huntingdon to be laid out, now on the William Penn Highway; the proprietor donating plots of ground for a public school, cemetery, and to each of six prominent religious denominations. About 1797 a post office was established here, and John Cadwallader was appointed postmaster; a weekly mail was carried between Harrisburg and Huntingdon. The most important public buildings, architecturally, are Juniata College, nine buildings, erected 1878-1916; the older buildings are colonial; Library, Gothic, red brick with terra-cotta trimmings, built, 1907; contains memorial windows; the Church of the Brethren on the college campus, Gothic; McGee sandstone; erected, 1910; members of this sect settled in this county in 1775; and the J. C. Blair Memorial Hospital, Spanish mission style, light buff brick and Indiana limestone trimmings, on a commanding position overlooking the town. E. L. Tilton, New York, architect, also of the College Library and Church of the Brethren.
Among the places of historic interest in the county are Fort Shirley, built, 1755, on bluff near site of Indian town of Aughwick, now Shirleysburg. McAlevey’s Fort, at the head of Standing Stone Creek Valley, named for Captain William McAlevey, afterwards general in the Revolutionary War. Warm Springs, five miles northeast of Huntingdon, known, in 1775, as a resort for invalids. Pulpit Rocks on the Warriors Ridge, on the old pike between Huntingdon and Alexandria. And Jack’s Narrows, where the Juniata River cuts through Jack’s Mountain, west of Mount Union. The Pennsylvania Canal extendedthrough this county from Shaver’s Aqueduct, below Mount Union, to line of Blair County, above Water Street; here in Indian times canoes came to receive supplies of lead. Two miles east isAlexandria, laid out, 1793; in 1800 the turnpike was completed to Alexandria, and stage service to Harrisburg began; fare charged travelers was six cents a mile; this town was the shipping point of grain for the rich Hart’s Log and Shaver’s Creek valleys.
FORMED September 24, 1788; named from Delaware Indian word signifying “Fair Water.” Surface undulating, many elevations being precipitous. Is the center of one of the richest bituminous coal and natural gas districts in the world. Oil fields lie mainly in basins of Allegheny and Ohio Rivers. Staple manufactures are iron, steel and glass. The history of Allegheny County presents a greater variety of startling incidents than almost any other portion of the state. Mound builders were primeval inhabitants, site of ancient fortifications are on Chartier’s Creek, eight miles fromPittsburgh, county seat, second city in size in the state, on site of Shannopin’s Town, chief of about twenty families of Delawares; he attended councils with the Governor; his name is signed on several state archives. By it ran the main Indian path from east to west.
Washington first came to “The Forks,” in 1753, on way to Fort Le Boeuf. The French possessed it as Fort Duquesne 1754-58, when it was conquered by General Forbes; General Stanwix erected a stockade and named it Fort Pitt, for the British premier. In 1764, Colonel Bouquet built a redoubt on site of the Fort; old brick blockhouse is still standing, Penn Avenue near Second Street. First town of Pittsburgh built near the Fort in 1760, inhabitants enjoyed
Allegheny County
Allegheny County
Allegheny County
comparative quiet until 1763, when Pontiac’s War broke out and they were completely surrounded by savages, later rescued by Colonel Bouquet. In 1811 first steamboat ever run on western waters was launched at Pittsburgh, the “New Orleans.” In 1839 first iron steamboat made in the United States, the “Valley Forge,” was built here.
The sister city,Allegheny, north side, was incorporated with Pittsburgh in 1907, combined population 588,343. An art commission was organized, 1911, for an improvement in public works of art in Pittsburgh, and to educate public sentiment for civic beautification; in 1915, E. H. Bennett, City Planning Architect of Chicago, was engaged to make a thorough economic and æsthetic analysis of “The Point,” at junction of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers.
Close to the business center isSchenley Park, 440 acres, acquired by gift to the city in 1889, contains the Carnegie Institute; Carnegie Institute of Technology; Phipps Conservatory and Hall of Botany, given by Mr. Phipps in memory of his mother, with one of the most beautiful bronze statues in the world, “Mother and Child,” French sculptor; Hawkins Memorial, a bronze portrait figure, backed by wall of polished granite, base and floor marble, sculptor, Richard H. Couper, erected, 1904, in honor of Colonel Hawkins, Tenth Pennsylvania Regiment, in Spanish-American War; Panther Hollow, in which is an arch bridge, Beaver County sandstone, with panthers, sculptor, G. Moretti; and two other stone arch bridges built in 1892, architect, A. L. Schultz.
Near the Forbes Avenue entrance is the great centralbuilding of theCarnegie Institute, established by Andrew Carnegie with large annual fund, in perpetuity, for purchase of objects of art and scientific collections; built 1892-95, Italian Renaissance, sandstone, architects, Alden & Harlow, enlarged in 1904-07, contains Library, Music Hall, Department of Fine Arts, and the Natural History Museum, in which are large collections of ancient pottery, Chinese glass, and porcelains representing various eras; jades and crystals; valuable collections of coins and medals; illuminated manuscripts and early printed books, cut and uncut gems; one of the largest collections of carved ivory in the United States; and art metal work. The Library operates more than one hundred and seventy agencies for free distribution of literature, within “Greater Pittsburgh.”
On top of the building are four bronze groups, representing Science, Art, Literature, and Music. Bronze statues, Michelangelo and Galileo, are at entrance to Art Gallery. Entrance to Music Hall is through exquisitely designed bronze doors, wrought in relief, with bronze statues, Bach and Shakespeare, at either side. These bronzes were designed and modeled in the studio of J. Massey Rhind, and cast in Naples. Foyer to the Music Hall is considered the most beautiful portion of the Institute; here are twenty-four huge columns of Tinos marble, with gilded Corinthian capitals; and one of the finest organs in the world, on which the greatest organists obtainable give concerts of highly classical music, which are free, every Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. The great Archer, Queen Victoria’s Jubilee organist, held this position for many
GALLERY OF THE SCULPTURE HALL, CARNEGIE INSTITUTE, PITTSBURGH
GALLERY OF THE SCULPTURE HALL, CARNEGIE INSTITUTE, PITTSBURGH
GALLERY OF THE SCULPTURE HALL, CARNEGIE INSTITUTE, PITTSBURGH
years. The Hall of Sculpture, designed on lines of the Parthenon, is two stories high, around the first story is a Greek Doric colonnade; above this is a row of Ionic columns, all of the most flawless, milk-white, Pantelicon marble, dug out of the quarries from which the marble of the Parthenon itself was obtained; collections of sculpture represent, chronologically, its history from early Egyptian to the Renaissance of the sixteenth century.
Among the artists represented in the permanent collection of paintings are Dagnan Bouveret, “Disciples at Emmaus”; Winslow Homer, “Wreck”; Whistler, “Sarasate”; E. A. Abbey, “The Penance of Eleanor”; George Innes, “The Clouded Sun”; also Anton Mauve, Bastien Le Page, Raffaelli, Gari Melchers, Jules Simon, and Childe Hassam. Annual exhibitions of international modern art are held in May and June, and many others by different art societies during the year. In the Entrance Hall are mural decorations by the late John W. Alexander, a native of Pittsburgh, typifying “The Apotheosis of Pittsburgh”; they surround the staircase and galleries to the third floor. Art societies holding annual exhibitions at the Carnegie Institute are, Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, organized, 1910; Art Society of Pittsburgh, organized, 1873, supported the Pittsburgh Orchestra for fifteen years, and gives excellent free exhibitions and lectures; Duquesne Ceramic Club, organized, 1891; Pittsburgh Architectural Club, Chapter Architectural League of America, organized, 1897. Pittsburgh Etching Club, organized, 1909, held exhibition of Whistler’s etchings in 1914.
In the park, west of this building, is the Christopher Magee memorial fountain, made in 1907, granite, sculptor, Augustus Saint Gaudens. In front is Industry Statue, marble, after model in the Louvre, Paris. The Technical School, brick, built, 1905, architect, Henry Hornbostel, includes, in the art course, day and evening classes in applied design, and department of architecture. The Pittsburgh Athletic Association, architects, Janssen & Abbott, has interior decorations by Alfred Herter, and collection of paintings. Drinking fountain, Fifth Avenue, front of Montefiore Hall, placed in 1912, granite, with carved profile of an Indian; inscription, “Catahecassa, Black Hoof, war chief of the Shawnees,” was present at Braddock’s defeat in 1754, a friend and ally of the United States.
InSchenley Farms, directly opposite the entrance to Schenley Park, is the University of Pittsburgh, on a natural amphitheater. The buildings stand out very effectively against the sky line; founded in 1887, architect, Henry Hornbostel; landscape architect, Cass Gilbert; has departments of fine and industrial arts. Memorial Hall to Soldiers and Sailors of the Civil and Spanish Wars contains historic flags, statues, trophies and historical portraits.
Other parks areAllegheny, north side, ninety acres, with monuments in honor of Washington, equestrian, made 1891, sculptor, Frederick Mayer; Baron von Humboldt, made 1869; Thomas A. Armstrong; and the Hampton Monument, made 1871, granite shaft, surmounted by bronze figure of a gunner, commemorates the bravery of Hampton’s Battery in the Civil War. Within east entrance of Allegheny Cemeteryis the Arsenal Explosion Monument in honor of those who lost their lives September 17, 1862. Monument to General Alexander Hays, who was killed in the battle of the Wilderness, in 1864, by soldiers of his command. Gothic receiving vault. The Bindley mausoleum, replica of Napoleon’s tomb in Paris, pure example of the Renaissance, has window by William and Annie Lee Willet. The Porter Angel and Cross, imported from Italy, fine example of marble carving. The Byers mausoleum, imitation of Temple of Minerva at Athens, white granite. Near by is the United States Arsenal, in ornamental grounds.Riverside Park, on Perrysville Avenue, 217 acres purchased by popular subscription in 1894, has beautiful drives and footpaths; contains the observatory, connected with Allegheny University, in which the telescope was made by Mr. and Mrs. Tillinghast, in their home workshop opposite.
Highland Park, 300 acres, northeast limit of city, acquired, 1872, has main water reservoirs and the Zoological Gardens; main gateway is 56 feet high with Doric columns, surmounted by bronze groups representing “Welcome,” and bronze figures at base; Stanton Avenue entrance has two granite pedestals surmounted by equestrian statues, sculptor, G. Moretti, made 1897; in the park is Robert Burns statue, sculptor, J. Massey Rhind; and heroic bronze group, portrait statue, sculptor, G. Moretti, of Stephen C. Foster, 1826-64, standing pen in hand, beside a negro who is seated and playing a banjo; Foster wrote “Old Uncle Ned” and “Old Folks at Home”; was native of Pittsburgh; his grave is in Allegheny Cemetery. The viewfrom Highland Park is very beautiful. Highland and Schenley Parks are connected by Highland Avenue and the Boulevard, making a continuous drive which forms the Carnegie promenade. The Soldiers’ Monument is on Monument Hill, erected in 1871, to four thousand men of Allegheny County killed in the Civil War. Wayside Fountain, Fifth Avenue near Woodland Road.
Churches with notable architecture and windows:Rodef ShalomSynagogue, Fifth Avenue and Morewood Street, architect, Henry Hornbostel, is said to have the finest tile dome in this country; windows, antique glass, from original drawings, made by William and Annie Lee Willet.St. Paul’sRoman Catholic Cathedral, Fifth Avenue, corner of Craig Street, stone, fourteenth century Gothic, built, 1907, architects, Egan & Prindeville; has beautiful altar of carved Carrara marble; pews and pulpit made of bog oak from Ireland; bronze stations, by Seibel, said to be largest and most artistic in the world; the great west window transepts, clerestories, ornamental and heraldic glass made by Willet, in the later delicate French Gothic spirit; also there is here much modern German and English glass.First Baptist, Bellefield Avenue and Bayard Street, pure Gothic, fourteenth century, stone, built, 1902, architects, Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson.
Third Presbyterian, Fifth Avenue and South Negley Street, one of the most beautiful Gothic churches in the United States for spontaneity of design, warmth, and golden tints of stone; architect, Theophilus P. Chandler; windows by Willet are “The
THE CROWNING OF LABORFragment from the Apotheosis of Pittsburgh, Mural in the Carnegie Institute, PittsburghPainted by John W. Alexander
THE CROWNING OF LABORFragment from the Apotheosis of Pittsburgh, Mural in the Carnegie Institute, PittsburghPainted by John W. Alexander
THE CROWNING OF LABOR
Fragment from the Apotheosis of Pittsburgh, Mural in the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh
Painted by John W. Alexander
Ten Virgins,” made, 1904, “The Holy City,” 1905, of great beauty and color; and fine ornamental windows in clear glass with heraldic ornaments, in medieval hand-wrought lead; transept windows by Tiffany, American opalescent glass; east aisle window by Kenyon Cox; west aisle by McCausland, Toronto; this is an excellent church in which to study the different schools of glass.
CalvaryProtestant Episcopal, Shady Avenue and Walnut Street, Bedford limestone, thirteenth century Gothic, copy of Netley Abbey, architect, Ralph Adams Cram; the windows by William and Annie Lee Willet are among the most notable contributions to stained-glass art in this country, recalling those of the great Chartres Cathedral, with amount of painting reduced to a minimum, and lead treated as respectfully as the glass; also a Tiffany window, and some excellent English glass.EpiphanyRoman Catholic, Washington and Franklin Streets, Romanesque, with Byzantine details, contains some beautiful art work, including “The Twelve Apostles,” by Taber Sears.First Presbyterian, Sixth Avenue and Wood Street, site deeded by John Penn in 1787; stone, French Gothic, erected in 1905, architect, T. P. Chandler, Philadelphia, has fine echo organ and chimes; windows by Tiffany, Lamb, and Clayton & Bell, London; medallion window and ornamental work by Willet. InLutheranChurch, Sixth Avenue, sanctuary window by Clayton & Bell, purely flat decoration, also window by Frederick Wilson.Mount AlverniaChapel, Order of St. Francis, contains mural decorations by William Willet.
Methodist, Beech Avenue,North Side, stained glass window by Tiffany. Near by is the Carnegie Free Library, Federal and Ohio Streets, Romanesque; Fox Island granite with red granite trimmings; built, 1890; architect, H. H. Richardson; contains Library, Art Gallery, and Music Hall; in front is monument to Colonel James Anderson, red granite with bronze portrait bust, 1785-1861, sculptor, Daniel Chester French. Allegheny Post Office, French Renaissance, built, 1898, noted for gold dome; near by is colossal statue of “Labor.”
Allegheny County Courthouse, Fifth Avenue and Grant Street, Romanesque, Worcester granite and marble, tower 425 feet high, built, 1888, the masterpiece of the great architect, H. H. Richardson; its interiors are equally imposing, the proportions of the corridors and especially the fan lancet, and convex-shaped ceiling, with its thousands of interlacing arches, twenty-one of which can be seen at one glance from the base of one of the stairways, excites the admiration of all beholders; it is without any other decoration but the beauty of its lines and shadows. Gaol is connected by facsimile of Bridge of Sighs. Frick building, built in 1902, Fifth Avenue and Grant Street, architects, D. H. Burnham & Co., a granite office structure twenty stories high, of the Greek Doric order; erected to express grace and beauty; batters from stylobate to cornice, three feet narrower at top than base; basement and entrance halls lined with Carrara marble; panels of Pavonazzo marble in ceiling; offices decorated with frescoes of the old Italian school; restaurant, medieval German; the Club story, Louis XIV style, is in stucco,
THE BLOCK HOUSE, PITTSBURGH
THE BLOCK HOUSE, PITTSBURGH
THE BLOCK HOUSE, PITTSBURGH
marble, bronze, and frescoes; two large bronze lions by Phimister Proctor are in entrance hall.
Bank of Pittsburgh, Fourth Avenue near Wood Street, classic, Alden & Harlow, architects, has mural decorations, allegorical of Pittsburgh, by Edwin H. Blashfield and the late Francis D. Millet. Iron City Bank, Westinghouse Building, mural decorations by William Willet. Farmer’s Deposit Bank, sculptured frieze by J. Massey Rhind. Chamber of Commerce contains portraits of many prominent citizens. Friendship School, Friendship and Graham Streets, historical paintings of Penn, Washington, and Lincoln, by William Willet. View of the city seen from Mount Washington, with rivers and encircling hills, is more or less enveloped in smoke, excepting Sunday. Seventy-five per cent of the smoke nuisance in Pittsburgh has been abated.
Braddock, population 20,879, on Monongahela River, twelve miles below Pittsburgh, famous, first as battle ground, General Braddock’s defeat by French and Indians, 1754, when General Washington won his spurs, now is home of the Carnegie Steel Company. St. Mary’s Protestant Episcopal Church, windows and mural decorations by William and Annie Lee Willet, Philadelphia. At mouth of the Youghiogheny River, so named by early explorers from hearing Indians calling to each other across its width, something that sounded like it, and meaning “Come again.”McKeesport, home of the National Tube Company, producing more wrought iron pipes than any other plant in the world; St. Peter’s Church, altar window by William and Annie Lee Willet.
Down the Ohio River, about six miles from Pittsburgh, begins Seven Mile Island, a garden spot, one time home of the famous Queen Alliquippa. Six miles farther isSewickley(Sweetwater), population 4955, named by Indians on account of its maple trees, on Lincoln Highway, a beautiful residence section with country estates which rival those about Philadelphia and New York. St. James’ Church, window by William Willet.Wilkinsburg, population 24,403, within fifteen minutes of Carnegie Institute, has Wilkensburg Bank, classic, marble, built, 1909, architects, Moubly & Ussinger; and Rowland Theatre, built, 1912, Corinthian, architect, Hodgkinson.
FORMED September 19, 1789; named for General Thomas Mifflin, then President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, 1788-90, and first Governor under the Constitution of 1790. Scenery throughout is very beautiful; the twelve mile stretch of State highway through the famous long Lewistown Narrows, gives glimpses of the Juniata, the peerless little river of more song and romance than any other in America, made famous by Mrs. Sullivan’s song, “The Beautiful Blue Juniata,” telling the love story of Alfarata, the roving Indian girl; the space between the mountains is barely wide enough to contain the highway, canal, river, and railroad. Mountains slope one thousand feet and are popular hunting grounds for bear and wild turkeys; quite a number of caves are found in the limestone formations of this county, though not easily accessible; Alexander’s, in Kishacoquillas Valley, abounds in stalactites and stalagmites, preserving in midsummer ice formed in winter; Naginey’s Cave, near Milroy, is most spacious; Hanawalt’s Cave, near McVeytown, is of vast dimensions and contains calcareous concretions; crude saltpetre has been obtained here; McVeytown is birthplace of Joseph Trimble Rothrock, M.D.
Celebrated springs are Mifflin, near Painterville Station, has medicinal waters; and Logan’s, six miles from Lewistown, near Reedsville, on left of the old
Mifflin County
Mifflin County
Mifflin County
stage road between Lewistown and Bellefonte, Center County; here the Mingo Chief, Logan, friend of white man, Shikellimy’s son, had his cabin, prior to 1771, when he left this region; he made the famous speech sent to Lord Dunmore in 1774, considered, among American classics, as a rare specimen of Indian oratory: “I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan’s cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if he ever came cold and naked, and he clothed him not; during the course of the last long bloody war Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites that my countrymen pointed at me as they passed, and said: ‘Logan is the friend of white men.’ I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man, Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not sparing even my women and children; there runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature; this called on me for revenge; I have sought it; I have killed many; I have glutted my vengeance; for my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace, but do not think that mine is the joy of fear; Logan never felt fear. Logan will not turn on his heel to save his life; who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one!” (Colonel Michael Cresap was not responsible for the murder of Logan’s family; some white men, led by a liquor dealer, murdered them.)
First settlers, Scotch-Irish, in 1754, were not molested by Indians until 1756. Fort Granville was built, one mile northwest of Lewistown, on the old turnpike, site to be marked by the PennsylvaniaState Historical Society; it was destroyed when the canal was constructed. In 1829 the Pennsylvania Canal was opened and first packet boat run from Lewistown to Mifflintown. Chief industries are agriculture, and iron and steel works. Iron ore of the best quality abounds; two furnaces, belonging to the Glamorgan Iron Company, were destroyed in July, 1874, by a tornado that left scarcely a property without damage; the bridge over the Juniata was also destroyed, rebuilt, and again destroyed by ice freshets in December, 1874, and February, 1875. In Limestone Ridge, extending from Kishacoquillas Creek, is found hard, white sandstone, almost pure silicon, used in glass manufacture.
Lewistown, population 9849, made county seat, 1790, was at first Kishacoquillas’ Village, a chief of the Shawnees, with a population in 1731, of twenty families, located at the mouth of the stream. Courthouse, facing the square, brick, colonial with Ionic portico, and cupola, built, 1843, enlarged in the rear. Granite monument, dedicated, 1906, in honor of Mifflin County soldiers and sailors, is in the square. One block away on South Main Street is the Kishacoquillas Creek bridge, stone and concrete, built, 1902, a reconstruction of the old two-arch stone bridge built in 1807, the first was wood, in 1794; on the left is an old stone building, erected about 1794, a historic landmark that has served for many uses, once the “Seven Stars Inn,” 1828-29; also a Masonic hall, 1830-39, it has two cellars, one beneath the other. At a point along the creek, just above the old building, is where Commodore David Conner, as a boy, made little boats and pitted
OLD STONE ARCH ON JACK’S CREEKBuilt over one hundred years ago
OLD STONE ARCH ON JACK’S CREEKBuilt over one hundred years ago
OLD STONE ARCH ON JACK’S CREEK
Built over one hundred years ago
them against each other in mimic warfare, thus foreshadowing his brilliant naval career in the War of 1812 and the Mexican War. Just above, on the high bank, fronting on Water and Brown Streets, is Lewistown’s oldest burial grounds. Here are the graves of the Buchanan family, first settlers and owners of the land on which Lewistown is built. One mile east of Lewistown, on the oldest wagon and stage road running parallel with the present state highway, is an old stone arch bridge, over one hundred years old, a favorite subject for artists; it is near the bridge crossing Jacks Creek, on the state highway through Lewistown Narrows.Mount Union, on southern boundary, lies at entrance to Jacks Narrows, made by the river forcing its way through Jacks Mountain.
Delaware County
Delaware County
Delaware County
Formed from Chester County, September 26, 1789; named for Delaware River. Automobile Trip to Chester, return by Media and Swarthmore
From Thirty-second and Market Streets, Philadelphia, out Woodland Avenue (Darby Road), laid out in 1687, the old King’s Road, passUniversity of Pennsylvaniabuildings, toWoodlands Cemetery, between Thirty-ninth to Forty-second Streets, seventy-five acres, acquired in 1840, contains colonial homestead, residence of William Hamilton, English Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania, under grant from William Penn, built, 1747-50, stone and brick; has portico, with pediment supported by six columns; considered by architects best specimen of colonial architecture in Philadelphia; many rare trees are there, sent by Mr. Hamilton in his trips abroad; to him Philadelphia owes the gingko tree of Japan and many varieties of magnolia.
Bartram’s Garden, 28 acres, open free to the public, one quarter mile south on Fifty-fourth Street, first botanical garden of international importance in United States; ground purchased by John Bartram, in 1728; from here he traveled long distances to Florida, the Adirondacks, everywhere collecting rare plants that he brought home in his saddlebags; he wrote down the results of his explorations, and sent to Europebotanical specimens of great interest, also painted sheets of illustrations, sending one set to the South Kensington Museum, London, which are still there in perfect condition; Linnæus proclaimed him the greatest natural botanist in the world, and sent him books and apparatus; his quaint old stone house is still standing, built by himself in 1731; his son, William Bartram, botanist and ornithologist, published the most complete list of American birds, previous to Alexander Wilson, whom he greatly assisted. Wilson lived at the corner of Fifty-first Street and Woodland Avenue, in a log house with an immense stone chimney. Near Bartram’s Garden, on the Schuylkill River bank, at the western end of Gray’s Ferry Bridge, is site of Gray’s Garden, pleasure resort, time of Washington, reached from Philadelphia by a floating bridge, replaced by wooden telescope drawbridge built in 1808, by the P., W. & B. R. R.; stone monument, still standing, covered with most interesting and historically valuable inscriptions, marks opening of the first railroad to the South.
Sixty-fifth Street and Woodland Avenue, St. James’ Protestant Episcopal Church, Kingsessing, built by the Swedes, 1762, building practically unchanged, has interesting burial ground. Sixty-ninth Street and Paschall Avenue is an old yellow mansion, built about 1723, home of the Paschalls, General Howe’s headquarters after the Battle of Brandywine. Seventieth Street and Woodland Avenue, quaint old building, the Bannaker School, built in 1789, said to be oldest public-school building in Philadelphia, now used in connection with the school garden. Seventy-thirdStreet, Blue Bell Tavern, opposite, was terminus of the great trading path of the Minquas Indians leading from the Susquehanna; Island Road leads to “Cannon Ball” farmhouse, below Penrose Ferry, struck during bombardment of Fort Mifflin in 1777.
Crossing Cobb’s Creek, the southern boundary of the city, and county of Philadelphia, we enterDelaware County, the oldest settled section of Pennsylvania.Darby, an ancient town, birthplace of John Bartram, contains many old houses, and a Friends’ meeting house, dating from the eighteenth century, with picturesque burying ground, where many colonial notables lie in unmarked graves;Sharon Hill, residential suburb, Convent of Holy Child Jesus, occupies buildings erected for John Jackson’s Quaker School, famous in the middle of the last century; new decorated Gothic chapel of stone. BeyondNorwoodis the old White Horse Hotel, now abandoned, built, 1720.
One and one-half miles to left, atEssington, on Tinicum Island, first permanent European settlement in Pennsylvania made by Swedes under Governor John Printz, 1643; fort built, named “New Gottenburg”; and government established.Ridley Park, residential suburb; fine view to left, of Tinicum and the Delaware River, old quarantine station known as the Lazaretto; the Corinthian and Philadelphia Yacht Clubs are on the river front.Leiperville, McIlvain house, stone, opposite Colonial Hotel; Washington spent the night here after the Battle of Brandywine, and troops were encamped on slopes to the right. Hendrixson house, very ancient, built by Swedish settlers. Pass Baldwin Locomotive Works and great munition factories intoChester, population 58,030, settled by Swedes about 1644, the oldest town in Pennsylvania, known as Upland until 1682, when Penn, landing here on October 28, named it Chester after the home of his companion, Pearson, in England. Penn convened here, in November, 1682, the first Assembly of the Province, at which was passed the “Great Law”; the Upland court was held here from 1668 to 1682; the courts of Chester County from 1682 until their removal to West Chester in 1786, and the courts of Delaware County from 1789 to 1851; Chester has grown from an ancient country town to a bustling industrial city, but many antiquities are preserved; principal among these are the old City Hall, stone, with pent roof projection and quaint clock tower, erected in 1724; the oldest public building in Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest in America; used as Chester County courthouse for sixty-two years, Delaware County courthouse for sixty-one years, and as hall of Chester borough and city since 1851; now being restored by the Pennsylvania Historical Commission and Honorable William C. Sproul, under contract that the city will maintain it for public uses forever.
Opposite on Market Street is the Washington House, erected and licensed as the “Pennsylvania Arms” in 1747, still maintained as a tavern; in this house, at midnight on September 11, 1777, Washington wrote his report to Congress of the Battle of Brandywine. Hope’s Anchor Tavern, Fourth and Market Streets, built by David Cowpland prior to 1746. Group of old houses at Second and Edgmont Streets, Logan house, 1700, where Lafayette’s wounds were dressed after the
ALFRED O. DESHING MEMORIAL ART GALLERY, CHESTERFrazer and Robert, Architects
ALFRED O. DESHING MEMORIAL ART GALLERY, CHESTERFrazer and Robert, Architects
ALFRED O. DESHING MEMORIAL ART GALLERY, CHESTER
Frazer and Robert, Architects
Battle of Brandywine, and Lloyd house, built in 1703 by David Lloyd, chief justice of Pennsylvania; here also stood the first courthouse, or “House of Defense,” and first Quaker meeting.
Across Chester Creek, at the foot of Penn Street, is a memorial stone, 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, Seventhand 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 theWelcome, was owned by Pusey, William Penn, and Samuel Carpenter; house, erectedby 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, isLapidea 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 ofMediais 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 werebrought 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 collectingoriginal 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.