Pittsburgh

by Charles W. Dahlinger

The Freemasons must be credited with a movement, inaugurated at this time, which was to have a far-reaching effect. The meetings of Lodge No. 45 in the taverns had been conducive of almost everything except sobriety. The effects were degrading, and in many cases injurious, not only to the persons affected but to their dependents as well. Also the evil was growing, and was contrary to the expressed ideals of the order. Practically all the leaders in the village, whether in public or private life, had been or were still members of the lodge. Among the older members were General Richard Butler and his brother, Colonel William Butler, General John Neville, Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge, Captain Joseph Ashton, John Ormsby, Colonel James O’Hara, Captain Michael Hufnagle, Major Isaac Craig, Senator James Ross, Samuel Ewalt, and Captain John Irwin. Younger members were Dr. Andrew Richardson, Dr. Hugh Scott, William Wusthoff, Anthony Beelen, Thomas Baird, James Riddle, Tarleton Bates, Rev. Robert Steele, and Henry Baldwin. It is not surprising that such men should sooner or later realize the calamity which confronted the members of the lodge, and decide upon eliminating the cause. The change was effected upon the completion of William Irwin’s brick house, at the southwest corner of Market Street and the West Diamond, just prior to the opening of the new century. Thenceforth the meetings of the lodge were held in a room on the third floor of this building, and the temptation to excessive drinking was at least farther removed than when the sessions were being held in the “Sign of the Green Tree.” This was the first practical temperance movement in Pittsburgh.

Market Street was one of the narrowest streets in the town, but was the principal commercial thoroughfare. Coincidentally it was called “Main Street.” It received the name by which it has been known for more than a century and a quarter, from the fact that the first market house, erected in 1787, was located at the northwest corner of this street and Second Street. In 1800 the street was bustling with life. More drays and carts and wagons were moving over at least a portion of the thoroughfare than is the case to-day. Intermingled with the other vehicles were wagons from the country, drawn by oxen. In wet weather the roadway was ground into mud and thin mire. The merchants generally lived with their families in the houses where their business was conducted. The street was noisy with children. Trees grew on the outer edges of the foot-walks, and in the summer grass and weeds sprang up, watered by the street wells and pumps that supplied the residents with water.

Most of the prominent people lived on Market Street. Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge, although often absent from Pittsburgh in the performance of his judicial duties, maintained his residence on the street, until August 24, 1801, when he removed with his family to Carlisle.[146] All but one of the physicians were located there. Here the leading mercantile establishments were concentrated. Open spaces still intervened between the houses, and there were gardens, inclosed with fences painted white, in which flowers bloomed and vegetables flourished, but the spaces were rapidly being built upon. Everywhere the sounds of hammer and saw greeted the ear, and heaps of brick and beds of mortar encumbered the street.

Public improvements were commenced: Market and Wood streets were being paved, as was Chancery Lane from the Monongahela River to Second Street. Front and Third streets were being graveled from Market to Wood Street, as was also Diamond Alley.[147] The price of land was advancing. The Penns had sold most of the lots fronting on Market Street, in 1785, at the average price of ten pounds each in Pennsylvania currency, a pound being equal to two dollars and sixty-six and two-thirds cents in United States money of the present value. The lots were of varying dimensions: some had a front on Market Street of one hundred and sixty feet, and a depth of eighty feet, while others had fronts of from fifty-six to eighty feet, and were of different depths. In 1789 and 1790, respectively, two lots were sold for fifty pounds each. In 1791, two others were sold for one hundred and twenty pounds each. In 1793, a lot on the East Diamond, where values had not appreciated to the same extent as on Market Street, was sold for one hundred pounds. After 1800, the lots began to be subdivided, and still higher prices prevailed, and they continued to advance year by year.

The Act of Congress of July 6, 1785, established a national currency, the unit being a dollar, equal in value to the Spanish milled dollar. The Spanish milled dollar had been in circulation in this country for many years, and was the expressed unit in the paper money and other obligations, authorized by Congress since the first year of the Revolution. The United States mint, however, was not authorized until the passage of the Act of Congress of April 2, 1792, and the first coinage of silver and gold did not take place until two years later. During this interval the circulating medium was mainly Spanish silver money and the consideration mentioned in conveyances was usually in the Spanish milled dollar. In 1801, a lot having a front on Market Street of thirty feet and a depth of seventy feet, was sold for six hundred and twelve dollars and fifty cents; in 1803, a lot having a front of forty-six feet and a depth of seventy feet was sold for thirteen hundred dollars. In 1804, an undivided fourth interest in a lot having a front of fifty-six feet, and a depth of one hundred and seventy-five feet, was sold for eight hundred and seventy-five dollars. In 1805, a half interest in a lot also having a front of fifty-six feet, and a depth of one hundred and seventy-five feet was sold for twelve hundred dollars. In 1806, an eighth interest in a lot having a front of fifty-six feet, and a depth of one hundred and seventy-five feet, was sold for two hundred and seventy-five dollars. In 1807, a sixth interest in a lot having a front of fifty-six feet, and a depth of one hundred and seventy-five feet, was sold for six hundred and sixty-six dollars and sixty-six cents.

Most of the houses were built on land leased from the owners, or on lots subject to the payment of ground rents, which accounted to some extent for the inferior quality of the improvements. The number of brick houses on Market Street was still so limited that the merchants were fond of referring to the fact that the establishments conducted by them were located in a “brick house” or “next door to,” or “across the street from,” a “brick house.”

A majority of the merchants and professional men on the street were young, or at least had not arrived at middle age. Like all the men in new communities, they were possessed of unbounded energy, which found vent in their business affairs, in a desire for pleasure, and in an inordinate ambition for political preferment. Perhaps it was owing to this cause, that the number of town and other offices were so numerous. The town officers were a chief burgess, a burgess and four assistant burgesses, a town clerk, a high constable, two assessors, and two supervisors. The duties of the assistant burgesses were to assist the chief burgess and the burgess in the performance of their duties.[148] The justices of the peace were even more plentiful than the town officers. They were appointed by the governor and held office during good behavior, which was practically for life. Appointments were constantly made, usually as a reward for party fealty, and there being a dearth of deaths among those in office, the number of justices of the peace had become inordinately large. There was also a cause peculiar to Pittsburgh, for the craving for office. The legislative acts of the borough were performed at Town Meetings held in the court house by the “Burgesses, Freeholders, and Inhabitants, householders,” at which all the male adults whether citizens or aliens[149] who had resided in the place for a year, had a voice. In 1800, there were nearly two hundred qualified electors who had a right to participate in the Town Meetings,[150] and practically the entire number were politicians. A desire for the glare of public life developed, and the creation of offices resulted.

Considering the extent of the town and the number of the inhabitants, the stores were numerous, there being, in 1803, forty-nine stores and shops.[151] The explanation was that much of the trade of Pittsburgh was with travelers passing through the place, and with settlements farther west and south. The travelers were frequently delayed for long periods. Owing to the lack of a sufficient stage of water in the rivers, as high as a hundred boats, each carrying an average of twelve emigrants, were sometimes tied up along the Monongahela River between Pittsburgh and New Geneva, and as many more along the Allegheny.[152] The various supplies required while there and for the further journey were furnished by the merchants of the town.

The stores were usually what is termed “general stores,” where everything necessary for the use of pioneer families could be purchased. Only a few establishments dealt in special lines. On the shelves were articles that at present are suggestive of the day in which they were sold. Taken in connection with the dress of the people, the food they ate, their churches, their societies, their work, and their amusements, they form a more or less complete outline picture of the time. Items which stand out in relief are Franklin stoves, chimney hooks, window weights, brass and stock locks, brass and iron candlesticks, snuffers, horse fleams, iron combs, iron buttons, knee buckles, powder flasks, American and German gunpowder, bar lead and shot, wallowers for Dutch fans, and cards.[153] The sale of cards was an industry of importance in agricultural communities. At present the name is confusing. The civilization of the day had not developed business or visiting cards, and if playing cards were intended they would have been so designated. The cards sold in Pittsburgh were brushes with wire teeth used in disentangling fibers of wool, cotton, and hemp, and laying them parallel to one another preparatory to spinning. In 1794, the advertisement of Adgate & Co., “at the card manufactory, corner of Market and Water Streets,” appeared in the Pittsburgh Gazette.[154]

The occupancy of Market Street began at Water Street. Some of the early settlers were still living in the houses where they began their business life. Samuel Ewalt was among the earliest merchants on the street. His store was at the northeast corner of Market and Water streets. He owned the entire block on the easterly side of Market Street, between Water and Front streets, his land extending eastwardly a considerable distance.