Source:Fleming-highway
George T. Fleming. "Old highway is now great avenue: Historic Fourth Street road plays prominent part in story of early Pittsburgh: Opened years ago." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Jan. 9, 1916, sec. 5, p. 2. Newspapers.com 85762432.
RECENT articles have dealt with the Fourth Street road, subsequently Pennsylvania avenue, and for many years part of Fifth avenue.
The name Fourth Street road came from that thoroughfare, now Fourth avenue, once leading into the road. The downtown numbered streets were changed to avenues in 1868.
Two roads only led out of Pittsburgh to the East in its early years. These were historic roads and had much to do with the Star of Empire that Westward took its way, for along these roads came the hardy pioneers to embark at Pittsburgh, or continue overland in the covered wagons later known as prairie schooners.
The one and most traveled road was the Philadelphia or Greensburg pike, now Penn avenue. The other was the Fourth Street road. It started at Liberty street and turned slightly at Grant street.
On the northeast corner of Grant street lived Jean Marie, a French gentleman who sold to Senator James Ross all his land to the south of Grant street. James Ross' mansion stood on the north side of Fourth street, east of Grant. This was on the lot on which the new city and county building is being erected.
Back of Ross' homestead his orchard stretched to the hollow wherein Suke's Run followed—about the line of the Panhandle Railroad tracks.
Grant Street the Boundary.
Much of Ross' holdings, it will be seen, are now owned by the county of Allegheny. But Ross' story was told in the history of Ross street. Yet with his mansion fronting on the Fourth Street road at the beginning of that road, it is pertinent to mention Ross in this story.
According to Woods' plan of lots, Grant street was the eastern boundary of Pittsburgh. The original name of the Fourth Street road was the Braddock's Field road.
We see Grant's Hill now comparatively level. In Ross' time it was a high hill. The road in its winding circled the base of the hill on the south until it struck the line of 'Squire Andrew Watson's farm.
This roadway became later known as Old avenue and is now the extension of Diamond street.
From the Watson line on the east the road proceeded on the present line of Fifth avenue due east until the "big bend" in Soho was made, from thence it was almost a straight line to a point in which is now Brushton, crossing the pike at Point Breeze, now the intersection of Fifth and Penn avenues.
From Brushton the road turned southwardly about the present line of Braddock avenue to Turtle Creek, just beyond the scene of Braddock's battle.
It was along this southern stretch that Lafayette was driven in state when he visited Pittsburgh in 1825.
In 1807 the Pittsburgh and Greensburg turnpike was built, following the old dirt road. The fork from Point Breeze into the town of Pittsburgh began to take the name of the Fourth street road and Braddock's Field road as a designation was dropped.
Between the boundary line of Pittsburgh and Point Breeze the road was legally known by its corporate name, the Farmers and Mechanics' turnpike. The road by that name reached the city line at Washington street. Old maps show this.
Old Name Sticks.
However, the convenient habit of calling it all the Fourth street road became firmly established and it was so called until after the Civil War, notwithstanding the fact that the city line had been extended in 1847 to Miltenberger street on one side of the road, and Jumonville on the other at Wyandotte lane, and the turnpike thoroughfare from thence into the city was designated Pennsylvania avenue.
About this time also the starting point in the city was changed from Fourth street, now avenue, to Fifth avenue, and it was not until the annexation of the East End district in 1867 that the whole road to Point Breeze was called Fifth avenue.
The extension of Fifth avenue beyond Point Breeze is quite modern in comparison and it has no part in the history of the old road.
Wood's plan of Pittsburgh was made in 1784 for the Penns, and in this survey he was assisted by Thomas Vickroy.
The name has been handed down to us in the designation of a street on Boyd's Hill in the original Eighth Ward of the city, subsequently from 1868, the Sixth, and now part of the First Ward.
George Wood, the surveyor, is also appropriately commemorated in one of our chief thoroughfares, Wood street.
The landholders along the Fourth street road haven [sic] been mentioned in recent articles, the Watsons, Stevensons, Prides, Reises, Miltenbergers, Prices, Tustins and Reeds. There are other families commemorated along this road in street names and there is much history yet to be evolved from these names.
There has been frequent mention of Soho and Reisville, the former named by James Tustin, and the latter, when a mere hamlet, from George Reis.
"Goosetown," fom [sic] Miltenberger street to Gist and from the "road" to the bluff, was a comparatively modern name within 50 years. Soho sticks—the others have gone.
Old Hardscrabble.
Across Sukes run back of Senator Ross' mansion and outside of the city line, there arose a hamlet of shanties that endured until the present line of Forbes street, from Shingiss street to the diamond, wiped out those on the upper side of the line. This shantytown was Hardscrabble.
The Duquesne Traction Company, in the early 90s, a trolley line that was built to compete with the Pittsburgh, Oakland and East Liberty line, then a cable line, was the first real break into the delectable precincts of Hardscribble [sic]. The rails crossed on a private right-of-way on a low trestle from Forbes street at Shingiss to Diamond street at the present morgue building.
In 1883, when the jail was erected, it took a slice off Hardscrabble—off the edge, however. The real "scrabble" was across the railroad but the name came to be applied to the neighborhood as far east as Boyd street.
The first garbage furnace used in incinerating the city's refuse was built in Hardscrabble and was operated for several years.
There is a legend that had not the neighborhood been a training ground for goats for many years previously the inhabitants would have resented the establishment of the furnace, but as between the aromas of garbage, furnace and beasts the homeopathic dictum, "like cures like" applied, and Hardscrabble was really purer and better from the sense of the olfactory if not otherwise.
However in a few years the Hardscrabble furnace became too small for the increasing quantity of garbage and a new furnace was erected at the north end of the South Tenth Street Bridge. This furnace became a public nuisance, especially to the people living on the bluff where goats were scarce. However it burned down one very cold night and was not rebuilt.
Two Characteristics.
Hardscrabble, it must be remembered, was distinguished for two things—a bad smell and a bad name, but its history is part of the history of the old Fourth street road.
William G. Johnston had vivid memories of "Scrabble" as it was often called for short. He says:
Just at the city line in those days (the early 40's), was what was known as "Hardscrabble," a name significant of the locality. Such of its shanties as had a frontage were on either side of what was then and is still called Try street. The denizens, as can readily be conjectured from their opulent surroundings, were brought up in luxury in the land of their birth, and their constant lament was in regard to their deprivations, "the convaynyances lift behoind in the ould counthry."
It was in this ravine and upon Try street that the second execution for murder in Allegheny county took place. An Irishman named John Tiernan employed in constructing the Greensburg pike had killed Patrick Campbell, a fellow countryman and sub-contractor who boarded with him in a shanty at Turtle Creek. Robbing the body and concealing it beneath the floor of the shanty, Tiernan came to Pittsburgh.
Detection was easy, a trial speedy, and the murderer dangling from the gallows was a sight which the entire population, without distinction of creed, color, or condition, was permitted to enjoy, and taking advantage of so inestimable a privilege a great multitude of the townspeople, and of the country round about witnessed the ghastly spectacle.
The slopes of Grant's Hill and Boyd's Hill formed a natural amphitheater for the accommodation of the spectators who exhibited this unseemly curiosity. This was in December, 1817, and there was but one public execution after that—a negro.
An Early Dairyman.
Mr. Johnston is wrong on his date; the murder of Campbell occurred December 7, 1817. The trial was in January, 1818, and the execution shortly afterwards. It will be noted, however, that Hardscrabble had a history.
Mr. Johnston describes Yost Ruch as "a German dairyman who supplied hosts of Pittsburghers with milk—and honest milk it was."
Mr. Johnston also testifies that he assisted when a boy in driving a cow belonging to his father to this farm for pasturage, but he neglects to mention how many it took to drive said cow.
However, when said cow got to Ruch's pasture fields it was not lonesome for several hundreds of cows browsed on the hillsides.
The old Ruch mansion of stone still stands, a sad reminder of past scenes before the pastoral beauty of Ruch's Hill had to fade away to satisfy the demands of a great, growing city.
Jumonville street, laid out over the hill toward Reed street, has never been put through, though all old maps and plans show it extended to Bedford street, now avenue, connecting with Devilliers street at Reed street.
Old directories in their street lists show likewise, but the name Devilliers, spelled De Villier, appears first in the directory of 1860–61 from "Center avenue to Webster between Granville and Minersville," which is very indefinite, even if it were not entirely wrong.
On Center avenue this street is between Green and Erin streets. It was opened through to Webster avenue in the late '60s, taking the residence of Capt. James Atkinson, father of George H. Atkinson, formerly United States inspector of steam vessels in Pittsburgh. It also took the one-story brick of John Beatty in the rear of Atkinson's, adjoining the property of Miss Sarah Ann Ford, aunt of former Mayor Henry P. Ford, who inherited from her.
Devilliers street ended at Ruch's fence along Reed street—or began there—but there was no gate and none at Grove street above, or at Kirkpatrick street still farther out. Cow-drivers had to go around by the gate at Jumonville street.
Mr. Johnston's Story.
Mr. Johnston, in his rides in and out the Fourth Street road, knew all the dwellings and places. Referring to one of them he says:
On the opposite of the road and enclosed by a high fence was the farm of Alexander Miller—his residence, a large double brick house was considered fine in those days, but is now in a dreary condition, with its face close up to Forbes street (since laid out) with no room left for its ancient porch or even for steps to the door, which is perched high above the sidewalk.
The Miller house, up on a clay bank, was razed for the present row of small brick tenements on the site, which is below Jumonville street on the south side of Forbes.
This property was sliced off James Tustin's farm and adjoined George Miltenberger's land to the west, or towards Miltenberger street.
Alexander Miller was a good type of a man and has left numerous descendants. A granddaughter, Mrs. William H. Bosmyer, resides close to the ancestral home. Her sister, Mrs. John M. Dodds, formerly of Confluence, Pa., removed to Southern California a few years ago.
The Miller mansion was a center hall brick, a type common in early days. The Miller farm extended from Gist to Seneca street and from the present Fifth avenue to the river, taking in the former Tustin orchards on that side of the Fourth Street road. The house was torn down about 1903.
The Black Home.
George Black of the old firm of Lloyd & Black, owner of the Kensington Iron Works in Pipetown, Second avenue, above the canal or Try street, was a son-in-law of Alexander Miller and resided at the corner of Jumonville street and the "road."
This building was remodeled by the Elks and was known as the Elks Home. It was recently abandoned by the lodge for its new building at Seventh street and Duquesne way. Mrs. Black's name was Jane Miller.
Samuel Rea, now president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, married Mary M. Black, a daughter of George Black, in Pittsburgh in 1879. William H. Black, son of George Black, lives on Western avenue, North Side. George Black died about 1870.
John Miller, son of Squire Miller, was the father of Addison and William C. Miller and Mrs. Bosmyer and Mrs. Dodds. Although the Miller farm was in Pitt township, the Miller children attended the old Eighth Ward School in Ann street, between Magee and Stevenson streets, where Prof. L. H. Eaton was principal for many years.
The Fourth Street road history "from Oakland to town" would not be complete without some mention of the Gazzams and Gazzam's Hill, involving the Simpsons in a collateral line and in an ancestral line the Beelens and the Murphys and taking us back to Colonial Pittsburgh.
Then we once had Murphy street, part still existing as Maurice street, such as it is, and we yet have Beelen street and Gazzam street on Gazzam Hill, such as it is.
The original ancestors in this genealogy, as far as Pittsburgh history is connected, were Patrick and Mary Murphy, pioneers about Fort Pitt.
Mr. Johnston, telling of riding in the Fourth Street road (coming in), says:
Then on past the colony (Third Presbyterian Church members) to the left and overlooking the Monongahela was "Buena Vista," the extensive country seat of James S. Craft, Esq. Following the bend of the road as it swept toward the river and just where taking another turn, it makes the descent to Soho Run, was Mrs. Murray's tavern, commanding a fine view far up and down the river.
Immediately beyond and extending all the way to Soho were the rural seats of the Simpsons on the left and Dr. E. D. Gazzam on the right. By a rude bridge the run was crossed; but ere reaching this, the demands of the keeper of the tollgate here placed had to be met. The road was noted as being good so long as the sun had a chance to dry it up; but in winter and in rainy seasons, when the theory was that tolls made it passable, those who paid complained that the money gathered instead of being used to buy stone, went to line the pockets of those comprising the turnpike company, who, moreover, it was said, were too wise to live on or near the road.
A mere kick—you notice.
The level of the old road above Soho Run, which is marked Two Mile Run on old maps and was known as Yellow Run in the Minersville section of Pitt township, can be estimated by observing the basement entrances of the Soho School.
By Mrs. Murray's Tavern he probably meant Mrs. Murphy's Tavern, although it is probable a matron named Murray may have kept there later. The original Molly Murphy, vivandiere of the Fort Pitt garrison, died in 1826, and she and her husband years before had taken title to much land in the vicinity—all of the Tustin farm was once theirs, and the Simpson and Gazzam tracts above referred to.
Some Early Titles.
Simpson and Gazzam became vested in the rights of their respective wives, grand-daughters of the Murphys. James Tustin's title was only a perpetual lease, with an annual ground rent of $120, payable annually, with the usual rights of entry and distraint.
This ground rent Tustin did not extinguish until a month before he died in 1853.
The property transfers of this section of the city are specially interesting and reveal much family history in the research among musty tomes, reading over old wills and sundry deeds.
The phraseology of these old records is explicit, and the chain of title in the deeds and the various devises through the family line for many years is also interesting.
Outlot No. 20 in the original plan of the Manor of Pittsburgh, as surveyed by George Wood, was conveyed by John Penn and John Penn, Jr., the late proprietors of Pennsylvania, to Francis de Beyerle September 29, 1785, a year and four months after Wood finished the survey.
Outlots 17, 18 and 19 of the same plan were conveyed by the Penns to Patrick Murphy, October 3, 1785. These deeds, as was Beyerle's, were special warranty deeds. The same day Murphy purchased Outlot No. 20 from De Beyerle.
Patrick Murphy died, leaving a widow, Mary or "Mollie" Murphy, erstwhile vivandiere of Ft. Pitt, who, with her daughter, Elizabeth Beelen, and her husband, Anthony Beelen, conveyed Outlots 19 and 20 to James Tustin by deed of perpetual lease, June 24, 1808, the deed reading:
To have and to hold the same, yielding and paying thereout every year thereafter to the said Anthony Beelen and wife, the yearly rent of 120 Spanish milled dollars, payable the first day of January of each and every year thereafter.
Ground Rent Paid.
There was no default and Tustin made his Soho estate one of the finest around Pittsburgh, as has been told in his recently published history in these columns.
Elizabeth Beelen, in whom the ground rent was vested, died before her husband, leaving two children, Elizabeth A. and Mary. The first became the wife of E. D. Gazzam, the other married William A. Simpson.
The ground rent of the Tustin holdings shifted from one heir to the other. Mrs. Simpson died before her husband leaving to survive her also a daughter, Elizabeth Simpson, and this vested the ground rent in Mrs. Gazzam and Elizabeth subject to the life estate of Anthony Beelen in the whole and William A. Simpson in the interest of Elizabeth Simpson, his daughter.
Beelen conveyed his interest to Mary Murphy who died "seized thereof," in the language of the law—that is to say owning it, and by her will devised it in trust for Elizabeth A. Gazzam and Elizabeth Simpson, subject to the life estate vested in Gazzam and Elizabeth Simpson.
The above recital, however, shows only how an incorporeal hereditament came to be handed down for a few generations.
The story of "Buena Vista" and James S. Craft belongs to Oakland. The Murphy tavern also. It stood about opposite Robinson street. Soho is supposed to end in the big bend and Oakland to begin there.
Dr. Edward D. Gazzam was a noted man in Pittsburgh for years. He was a Representative and State Senator and owned old Philo Hall in Third avenue. He was the father of Dr. Joseph and Maj. Audley W. Gazzam, and of the wife of Dr. A. G. Walters. He retired from active business and removed to Philadelphia where he died February 20, 1878, aged 75 years.
His old mansion at the corner of Soho street and Fifth avenue was long the home of the late Christopher L. Magee.
Some Miller History.
Florence C. Miller writes that 'Squire Alexander Miller—no relative—was a friend of his father's, Alexander H. Miller, and that Miller street on the hill was named for the 'squire. The grand-daughters, Mrs. Bosmyer and Mrs. Dodds, do not know of their grandfather ever living in that neighborhood or owning land there.
The mention of 'Squire Thomas Daft should come in the history of the Fourth street road. He was the father of Sergt. Simpson H. Daft of Company M, One Hundred and Second Pennsylvania Volunteers, in the Civil War, and one of the early school directors of the Ann street school.
He was the author of the saying that was patent in the early years of the free school system in Pennsylvania: "The rich should be educated; the poor must be." The Daft home was on Stevenson street.
The plan of Pittsburgh, printed today, is from Gen. Collot's "Voyage Through North America" in the early days of Pittsburgh, the book and plates published in Paris in 1826. That was the year Molly Murphy died, and the plan will give an adequate idea of Pittsburgh in the first part of the nineteenth century.