Source:Fleming-hill-district/content
LAST week's story concerned Roberts street and its history. Incidentally mention was made of Reed and Colwell streets and their naming from Archibald Reed and Stephen Colwell, pioneer property owners in the neighborhood, each having laid out a plan of lots.
These plots were originally in Pitt township, in the territory annexed to the city in 1847, becoming the original Seventh Ward. In 1868 the designation was changed to the Eleventh, which lasted until the recent renumbering of the wards in 1909.
There are some other items pertaining to the vicinity of Roberts street that are of interest. Miller street is the street to the west and Overhill to the east, the latter name easily originating from the slope down into the ravine through which passed Lippincott's lane, the present Dinwiddie street.
For many years this was a bad road, almost impassable in winter, yet much used, for in the ante-bellum days coal was extensively mined in the Squirrel hill district and four-horse and four-mule teams hauling 100 bushels were common. The wagons resembled a conestoga without a top.
The route from the Four Mile Run pits lay along the road of that name, now Forward avenue, to the Braddock Fields plank road, now Second avenue, to Brady street, to Tustin street, to Seneca and the Fourth street road, now Fifth avenue, thence up the "Lane" to Center avenue and the hill district.
People of the "Hill."
These heavy loads naturally cut up the "Lane," and made going bad in the spring and in bad weather. Ice was then cut on the rivers and much hauling of that commodity done for the use of the well-to-do people of the hill district who had their own icehouses.
Lippincott's lane took its name from the Lippincott family. There were several brothers of them, the principal ones being James, William J. and John, who owned the ax and shovel factory on both sides of the "Lane" at Colwell street.
James' residence was on the Fourth street road, later called Pennsylvania avenue (now Fifth), just above the "Lane" which still stands. Of late years it has been occupied as a club house.
The "Lane" was also called Shaffer's lane, from John S. Shaffer, who early lived in the vicinity and carried on butchering. Subsequently he went into the manufacturing of carriages and had his works at the corner of Diamond and Decatur streets (now Delray). These were destroyed by fire in August, 1881. Mr. Shaffer was the father of Mrs. Henry Phipps.
Mr. Shaffer erected a mansion, built entirely of small stones, in the hollow between DeVilliers street and the "Lane," and cemented the outer walls. This dwelling still exists. Originally the Shaffer home was a large frame in this hollow at the point where Rose street now crosses. This mansion was torn down about the outbreak of the Civil War, or soon after.
For many years part of the springhouse stood, and the spring, one of the best that ever flowed, gushed its pure ice-cold water until about 1873, when the "Lane's" grade was raised and a sewer constructed. This sewer carried the waters of a small run that originated on Bedford avenue, about Moore's brickyard.
There was a burying ground known as the Methodist graveyard which took in the ground between Shipton street, formerly Warren, down nearly to Roberts street, the slope at the upper end into Shipton street.
Crossing Webster street (not an avenue until about 1873) the ravine continued to Duncan street, now Wylie avenue, the grade of which was then 10 or 12 feet lower than now, the run following the ravine, which was between Erin and Davis streets.
Course of Old Run.
It turned abruptly and flowed through the flat between Center avenue and Duncan street and turned again opposite the police station and No. 5 engine house on Center avenue, and continued down to the ax factory, where it was sewered. It passes under the engine house property at least 60 feet below the present grade.
A large button ball, or sycamore tree, grew in the hollow which extended about half its height above the grade of Center avenue.
When the basin at Central Park was cleaned annually in the spring the drainage came down this run, and numerous small boys were wont to follow the run picking up the many minnows and even larger fish that were stranded by the subsiding waters.
No one seemed to profit by this species of fishing, for though the catch was plentiful enough the piscatorial vitality was so much lowered by the flood and the many rough knocks that private aquariums and the frying pan never received any fish from the run. From what were found in the mud in the bottom of the basin there were better results.
When the run was sewered down the "Lane," several large manhole openings were erected which stood six and even eight feet above the grade, and remained for many years in that condition.
There were few houses and no lights in the "Lane," and it was customary for the boys of the "Bill Phillips" Engine Company (No. 5), then housed in Center avenue below Kirkpatrick street, to send a man ahead with a torch so as not to collide with these brick manhole towers. This was necessary with both carriage and steamer.
The engine company then answered every box between Elm street and Craft avenue, and with conditions mentioned it can be seen that not much speed could be made. However, the speed was attained when Fifth avenue was reached.
Famous Torch Bearers.
Old timers will recall that "Billy" White, a Civil War veteran (now dead), quite fleet of foot, was the torch bearer for the hose carriage, and John McAleese, then stoker, performed the same duty for the engine crew. This system lasted from 1873 until about 1880, when the "Lane," under the name of Dinwiddie street, was paved.
In the fall of 1879 much of the shovel department, saw works and warehouses of the Lippincott plant was burned. The firm was then Hubbard, Lippencott [sic], Bakewell & Co., the senior partner being Charles W. Hubbard, the father of the Director of Public Safety.
It is an old-time Hill boy who is telling about it now. He said:
The ax department was on the lower side of the "Lane." Hundreds of men worked here for years, and during the Civil War days the works were kept busy making axes, shovels, picks, mattocks and saws for the government.
Best known of the axmakers of those days were "Big Jack" Wilson, "Johnny" Small and James Taylor, who died but a few years ago. William Birch, Sr., was a mattock maker, "Bob" Layton and "Billy" Ekey, afterward captain of No. 5 Engine Company, and "Al" Denning were shovel handle fitters.
There was a hum of industry for many years in the old "Lane," and it lasted until conditions became such that every plant must have a railroad connection, and then the Lippencott [sic] factory was sold and the property purchased by the late Charles Lockhart, who built the 50 stone front houses that now stand on the site about 1890.
The Passavant Hospital grounds sloped down to the rear of the ax factory.
Scene of Many Battles.
This ground was fighting ground for the boys of the Roberts street section, who were accustomed in the spring and fall to fight stone fights. The same was true of the hill on the other side, the present Wick street section, and all of the Ruchs Hill adjoining. The enemy was the same in both cases, the "Pitts" or "Pitters," who dwelt along Fifth avenue and its cross streets. If the police appeared all that was necessary was to go across the line of De Villiers street and get into Pitt township, where the city police had no jurisdiction.
Of course, there was a truce as long as an officer was in sight. He had the power of making an information before a squire.
Until the section became part of the city in 1868 there was no restraint and the boys fought it out. It was a steep hill and the police were few and not any more given to hard work than necessary. Anyhow, they had indulged in stone fighting in their own boyhood days and rather winked at the warfare.
Hostilities ceased during the summers. The Hill boys and the "Pitts" had to play ball together, "match games," they were called, and then the way to the river for swimming purposes lay through Pitt territory. No Hill boys patronized the Allegheny; it was too far and too much of a hill to climb coming back. Then, too, it was full of floating crude oil and when you went home after a dip in that river it was necessary to take a bath. It's different now.
The route to the river from the Center avenue district was down the "Lane" and across "Goosetown Park" to the bluff and down the steps at Miltenberger street. There was a sawmill just above the dam, about Brady street, and rafts sometimes extended half way across the river.
"Goosetown Park is now the site of the Fifth Avenue High School, but in the days immediately after the Civil War there were no houses on the upper side of Miltenberger street. The oil refinery of the Miltenbergers was on the upper corner of Miltenberger and Bluff streets. It was burned and for years parts of old stills lay on the vacant lot.
Every Boy a Swimmer.
Nearly every boy could swim in those days and without teachers. He began "dog fashion" and just swam. Among the best swimmers in the "Hill gang" was John P. Moore, better known then as "Jack," recently nominated for County Controller.
It was not unusual for the boys to swim across the river and be stoned by the Birmingham fellows (the South Side now) and have to swim back without landing. I guess it was natural, in a political sense anyhow, for "Jack" to "go in a swimmin'."
Any of our fellows ever drowned? Naw. They were all aquarious, I reckon.
The reporter suggested amphibious:
Well, yes, sort of water dogs, as they call them. Couldn't drown them fellows.
Most of our gang attended the old Green Street School. John Taggart was the principal. We had six rooms, two teachers in some of them and the afternoon recess was at 2:30. When the warm days came in May we just naturally hankered for a swim and often we played hook the rest of the afternoon and went to the river.
There was an oil refinery in the "Lane" just below where Rose street now crosses, owned by Buffum, Kehew & Co. It was in operation then and we were accustomed to play about it and the stone barrelling and store house that stood for many years afterward. There were some trees left, too, of the old Shaffer orchard.
"Goosetown Park" was a great ball ground. There were no houses on the other side of Forbes street and none on the left up to the Excelsior Glass House at Gist street. We would have two or three games going at once. The more runs you made the better game it was, and scores of 60 and 70 were common.
Old "Gang" Gone.
I often wonder where all the old gang have gone to. A good many have died, of course, but some disappeared and we never heard of them again. There was "Sam," Bell and Jay Watson and "Ed" Tower and the McWilliams boys, and John Freiberger, for instance.
Lou Hoffer I remember, was killed while at work by falling from the top of the south wing of the Granville Street School to the joists below. He was the crack catcher of the old Lookout Baseball Club. Oh, I could tell you of many more, but what's the use?
The Lookout, Social, Surprise, Liberty and other crack clubs played in Cokain's fields, as we called all the open ground between Erin street and Kirkpatrick street except a brick block of four houses on the latter street and an old frame at Wylie and Porter streets. The ball grounds were about the present line of Porter street and extended below Wooster street.
A brickyard came on these premises and spoiled the grounds. They made "steam brick," that is by machinery. Previously all bricks were made by hand. Four streets now go through Cokain's old fields, Trent, Wooster, Porter and Perry.
There was a good spring, about the middle of the "fields" and some nice shade trees. The brickyard dug up the whole plot and left a big hole that filled with water. When the streets were put through this hole had to be filled up, and many thousands loads of dirt were hauled there. It was a dump for years, not totally filled until 1892.
The brickyard came in 1868 and when all the clay available was used up the works were moved to Wylie and Francis streets in the Thirteenth Ward and a big hole dug there, also. John S. Shaffer built many houses on this site of Cokain's fields.
The Porter mansion stood just above Kirkpatrick street across from Seminary Church; the orchard was back of the house. Some of the trees were standing as late as 1892.
Another ball ground was back of Alexander H. Miller's mansion on Center avenue. George Smith, who afterwards became a famous ball player, got his first training here.
Ball Player's Start.
He was known to the profession as "Lots" Smith, a nickname he had when a small boy.
We went up Addison street to this ball ground. It was a sloping hillside with many of the stumps of the old trees left. We rooted them out, grubbed and worked at them and got them all out.
I pity the poor kids nowadays. They don't have the fun or the chances we had. We roamed from Fulton street to Craig, and from Ruch's Hill to the cliff overlooking the Pennsylvania Railroad. Lots of room there.
A great place to loaf on Sunday was Power House Hill, about all cut away now by the fireproofing works on Bedford avenue, above Kirkpatrick street.
William Porter, who gave his name to Porter street in the old Eleventh Ward, was a noted man in the Hill district even four score years ago. He was appointed an associate judge, "not learned in the law" on the Common Pleas bench in 1849 and served the five-year term.
He was also prominent in the affairs of the city for many years and was chairman of the committee in 1845 appointed by the citizens meeting to memorialize the Legislature to take measures for the relief of the sufferers from the fire of April 10, 1845, generally referred to as the "big fire." He was the first ruling elder in the Sixth Presbyterian Church. Its first church building at Franklin and Townsend streets is now the Synagogue Beth Jacob.
William Porter was the father of Capt. "Bob" Porter of the "Irish Greens," a Pittsburgh company that went to the Mexican War and became Company I of the Second Pennsylvania Volunteers in that war. It was enlisted in Pittsburgh December, 1846. William Rankin was first lieutenant, James Kane second and William P. Skelly junior second lieutenant. Robert H. Kelly, for many years a school principal in Pittsburgh and a veteran of Knap's Battery in the Civil War, was the musician in "Bob" Porter's "Irish Greens" in Mexico.
Tales of "Bob" Porter.
"Bob" Porter was an attorney and an effective stump speaker, and was much in demand in the counsels [sic] of the Democratic party then in power in Pennsylvania and the nation. Many anecdotes are told of "Bob" Porter, some rich and all racy.
His brother Frank moved to Rockford, Ill., and remained there the rest of his life. An unmarried sister, Miss Martha Porter, lived alone in the old mansion until her death, about 1890, when the property was sold and the old orchard also. Another sister, Cornelia, was the wife of Prof. Barber of the faculty of the old Western University of Pennsylvania, now the University of Pittsburgh.
Green street is a short street extending from Center avenue to Wylie, the part which was formerly Duncan street. The Carnegie branch library faces the street. The old school building still stands at the corner and the old frame house where the janitress, Mrs. Houston, resided.
Across from the school was the one-story mansion of Miss Ann Ford, after her death the home of her nephew, former Mayor Henry P. Ford, who resided there until his death in 1905.
He was better and more familiarly known and always called "Harry." He was a well-loved man in his neighborhood and prominent in the affairs of the city for many years.
The property has been sold by his heirs and the new Hebrew college is being erected on the site.
Dr. A. G. McCandless was an old-time hill physician, the father of the late Dr. Josiah Guy McCandless. The elder doctor before moving to the house he built at the corner of Green street and Center avenue resided in the old Sixth Ward on Center avenue in the house occupied for many years by Joseph O. Brown, whose unhappy end is still remembered.
Brown's White House.
This property Mr. Brown kept painted as pure a white as was possible.
Next below Dr. A. G. McCandless' was the home of Capt. C. L. Brennan, who sold the property to Henry W. Oliver, Jr., who resided there for about five years before moving to Allegheny.
Alexander W. Rook then purchased the property and erected the mansion that now stands there.
"Harry" Oliver served in Common Council from the Eleventh Ward and was president of that body. His colleagues were Nelson P. Reed of The Gazette, who lived in the Robb mansion on Granville street opposite the Moorhead school, and Maj. William J. Moorehad, son of Gen. J. K. Moorhead, M. C., Dr. A. G. McCandless and William C. McCarthy were the Select councilmen.
This was after 1868. There was but one district in the ward and the elections were held in the old school which was also headquarters for the Eleventh Ward Grant and Colfax Marching Club in 1868. The new school was opened that year or in 1869.
William C. McCarthy was for his lifetime a noted man in Pittsburgh. He was many terms in Council, twice mayor, 1866–68 and 1875–78, and after his second term was controller of Pittsburgh, from 1878 to 1881. He lived on Center avenue opposite the J. K. Moorhead mansion and later on Miller street. He was mayor at the time of the railroad riots in 1877, and in his earlier years a newspaper pressman.
This brings us to Miller street, extending now from Center avenue to Colwell steet [sic]. On this street was erected the first negro school building owned by the city before the negroes were enfranchised. This was later used by the normal department of the high school, and upon the completion of the Fifth Avenue High School was sold to the Moorhead school district or the Eleventh Ward.
An Old School.
It was unroofed in a terrific hurricane in May, 1899, repaired and finally torn down for the large school building now on the site and on several lots adjoining known as the Miller school.
An invitation reads:
The Board of Directors of the Moorhead School District requests you to be present at the formal naming of the Everett School on Friday, Sept. 24, 1897.
The exercises will be held at the school building on Miller street, formerly known as the Normal School, at half-past one in the afternoon.
The query has arisen: "What did Edward Everett ever do to warrant our new school board in taking his name from this building for which it was selected by Miss Nannie Mackrell, then principal of the district."
Miller street was named for an early land holder in the vicinity, a good citizen, but not especially prominent in school matters.
About 1872 the clamor for another market house led councils to erect the building known as the Fifth avenue market on the site of "Goosetown Park." It stood until 1894 when the Fifth Avenue High School was erected.
The market never paid. At the last it was used as winter quarters for Pittsburgh's first zoo which consisted of an elephant, presented by Jacob M. Gusky and called for him and some monkeys and other small animals.
"Goosetown Park" was more modern than Lacyville by a decade or two, but now it is quite as potent as a memory.
