Source:Fleming-old-citizens/content
THERE are several street names in old Allegheny, now referred to as the North Side, that will on research bring to light much interesting local history.
Anderson street, a bridge street, is one. On the Pittsburgh, or old city, side it was first Hand street, named for Gen. Edward Hand, one of the Continental commanders at Pittsburgh during the Revolutionary War. Now both the old city end and the North Side portion have been given the name Anderson, but old Pittsburghers will invariably refer to it in the old city as Ninth street.
To write the story of Anderson street commemoration is to write the life story of James Anderson, iron manufacturer, philanthropist and the founder of the first public library in Allegheny city, and incidentally to bring to light the whole of our public library history from the days of Andrew Carnegie's boyhood.
James Anderson was of good Colonial stock. He was born in Shippensburg, Pa., August 3, 1785, the same year, it will be noted, as Gen. William Robinson, his neighbor. The Andersons were Ulster stock—Scotch-Irish, in more common saying.
William Anderson, father of James, served under Washington in the Revolutionary War and attained the rank of major. His service was active in the Pennsylvania line.
Maj. William Anderson came to Pittsburgh with his family in 1797. He built his first home at Penn and Hancock streets, now Penn avenue and Eighth street. In this locality James Anderson grew to manhood.
Maj. Anderson had established a milling business in the future great city, both a grist and saw mill run by steam, the first application of steam power west of the Alleghenies.
James Anderson succeeded his father in these enterprises and later went into brick making and contracting.
The business interests of James Anderson grew apace. He built in conjunction with Sylvanus Lothrop and Henry Blake the first rolling mill on the North Side. This was in 1826 and 1827. This mill was on a lot extending from the west side of Robinson street to the Allegheny River.
When the Pennsylvania Canal was completed in 1827 the outlet lock on the North Side was at this mill and was known as the Columbus Outlet.
The mill was called the Juniata rolling mill and James Anderson was identified with the enterprise until 1834.
Blake sold his interest to Capt. William Stewart, and Lothrop, Anderson and Stewart in 1834 to John Bissell, William Morrison and Edward W. Stephens.
The first use of this mill was the exclusive manufacture of Juniata blooms. When the new firm took charge a puddling department was added, and this, Judge Parke states, was the first boiling furnace erected in Allegheny county.
Another innovation was the installation of the first coffee-mill squeezer under the personal superintendence of the patnetee [sic], Burden.
Anderson's successors carried on the manufacture of merchant iron and nails here for many years. They also made a low grade of steel.
This mill was run until 1859, when, the site becoming too limited, it was dismantled and the machinery sold to Reis, Brown, Berger and Ward, who removed it to Niles, O. For 16 years the old Anderson mill was in charge of William S. Bissell.
Judge Parke knew James Anderson well, having been for many years a near neighbor. In his "Reminiscences of Seventy Years" Judge Parke gives a brief biography of Col. Anderson and also one of Richard Gray, Col. Anderson's brother-in-law.
We glean from these that Gray and Anderson were partners in the brick business and later in the iron business.
Col. Anderson engaged a second time in the iron business, purchasing a mill at what is now Etna and Thirteenth street, later the Zug Company's mill.
This mill, first erected by the Lippincott brothers, was purchased by King, Higby and Anderson, the latter the son of Col. Anderson, William G. Anderson.
Col. Anderson having indorsed largely for the firm, was compelled to buy the mill and did so, operating it for five years. In that time he made good the losses of the earlier firm. Satisfied with these results he sold the mill to Graff, Lindsay & Co. Subsequently Col. Anderson engaged in several unremunerative ventures, finally withdrawing from active business and devoting his remaining years to investments and philanthropic work.
James Anderson had been active in the management of several corporations, serving for many years in the directorate of the Allegheny Bridge (Federal street), the Monongahela Bridge (Smithfield street), the Exchange National Bank and the Manchester Savings Bank.
He had a lifelong career in works of philanthropy. He was early a director in the board of managers of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital and the House of Refuge at Woods Run, subsequently known as the Reform School and removed to Morganza.
He was for 23 years an inspector and for 15 years president of the board of managers of the Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania, when the buildings stodd [sic] on the West Common, now the West Park. He was first appointed an inspector in 1830.
James Anderson was familiarly called Col. Anderson by reason of his service in such rank in the War of 1812 under Gen. William Henry Harrison. His military career was highly commendable.
In 1811 Col. Anderson married Miss Ann Miller of Pittsburgh, daughter of one of the early settlers of the city. She survived until 1859, nearly the half century. Col. Anderson did not long survive her. He died at his North Side home in Pennsylvania avenue, between Manhattan and Chartiers streets.
Pennsylvania avenue was originally called Bank lane. Chartiers street has been "Frenchified" into Chateau, because Chartiers was a French name corrupted by the frontiersmen into "Shertet," and so written by George Washington.
We still have a street of that name in the Sheraden district, the township adjoining and the large creek that empties into the Ohio River at McKees Rocks.
Even the mention of an old time name will bring up a chain of history and cause a diversion from the main story.
Col. Anderson was a member of the United Presbyterian Church. To him and his wife there were born six children, three of whom died in infancy.
The three who survived to adult age were William G., who died in Canton, O., in 1870; Mrs. Isabella Burnett, who died in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1903, and Henry L. ,who died at Fair Oaks, Allegheny county, in 1902.
It was in 1850 that Col. Anderson conceived the idea of devoting his private library to the use of any who desired to avail themselves of the opportunity. Many did so, among them the boy Andrew Carnegie. Col. Anderson called his little library "The James Anderson Library Institute of Allegheny City."
He adopted a book plate which is shown today. The open book bears on its pages the fitting text:
"Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go," which he found in Proverbs, 4, 13.
When thus started the Anderson library contained about 1,500 books. It was sustained by a voluntary subscription of $2 a year. It was first located on the second floor of a building at the southeast corner of Federal street and the Diamond, on the site now occupied by the Second National Bank of Allegheny.
Col. Anderson had some prominent men rally to the support of his most creditable efforts. The first officers elected were Thomas M. Howe, president; John Fleming, vice president; George D. Riddle, secretary, and Robert H. Davis, treasurer.
The board of managers contained many noted men also, John Morrison, subsequently mayor of Allegheny; James Herron, Henry Ballman, Josiah King, David Clark Stockton, William Walker, Sylvanus Lothrop, Henry Irwin, Thomas Farley, William O'Hara Robinson, James Park, Jr., and William Boyd among them.
All of these were influential men in the already great manufacturing center—Pittsburgh—and their descendants are prominent and influential men in the great Pittsburgh of today.
James Marshall was one of the founders and the first president of the Farmers Deposit Bank of Pittsburgh, Henry Ballman one of the owners of the foundry that stood on the site of the Park Building, Josiah Kiny [sic] was long one of the proprietors of the Gazette and the Commercial Gazette, under the firm name, King, Reed & Co.; David C. Stockton as the son of the Rev. Joseph Stockton, Sylvanus Lothrop was one of Col. Anderson's first partners in the iron business, Henry Irwin of the family whose name has been given to Irwin avenue and whose rope walk was on that thoroughfare; Thomas Farley was a cabinet maker and postmaster in Allegheny in 1853–57, during Pierce's administration; William O'Hara Robinson, son of Gen. Robinson, and a prominent attorney; James Park, Jr., of the well-known steel firm, and William Boyd, a building contractor.
The library hours that were observed were not many. They were Tuesdays and Saturdays, 7 to 9:30 p. m., from March 1 to October 1; 6 to 9 p. m., from October 1 to March 1.
In 1853 the Anderson library was removed to the house of Robert Donaldson at 611 West Diamond street in which building was also the city treasurer's office, the treasurer then being Jonathan Rush.
The first librarian was Mathias McGonnigle, father of the late Robert D. McGonnigle. Among his assistants were William W. Tyson, Horatio K. Tyler, S. P. Dobbins, James R. Oxley and Robert J. Campbell.
Maj. W. W. Tyson was for many years commander of the Pennsylvania Soldiers and Sailors' Home at Erie; Maj. H. K. Tyler was more familiarly known as "Rush" Tyler, and R. J. Campbell was the son of Henry Campbell who succeeded Rush as treasurer of Allegheny in 1854.
Maj. Tyler was in charge when the library was in the Donaldson house. He was wont to recall the favorite books with the boys in those days which were Thompson's "Green Mountain Boys" and J. B. Jones' "Wild Western Scenes." And all the old fellows who have read them will remember them as thrillers.
The James Anderson Library Institute of Allegheny City did not long survive its founder. The great Civil War came on and disturbed many things, overshadowing every other public interest, especially small public libraries in small cities. Allegheny then had but four wards and much of the present North Side, especially the hills, were gardened and farmed, and the steep hillsides in many places tilled as vineyards by the frugal Germans who then made up a large percentage of the population on the North Side.
The monument erected to the memory of Col. Anderson at the corner of Ohio and Federal streets at the Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny, was dedicated June 15, 1904. It is the gift of Andrew Carnegie to the former North Side municipality, and is now one of the best-known monuments in Pittsburgh.
The monument was designed by the celebrated sculptor, Daniel Chester French. The bust of Col. Anderson and the browny blacksmith representing labor are of bronze and are exceptionally fine work.
The inscription on the bronze tablet reads:
To Col. James Anderson, founder of the libraries in Western Pennsylvania. He opened his library to working boys and upon Saturday afternoons acted as librarian, thus dedicating not only his books, but himself to the noble work. This monument is erected in grateful remembrance by Andrew Carnegie, one of the "working boys," to whom were thus opened the precious treasures of knowledge and imagination through which youth may ascend.
The monument proper is of Connecticut red granite, the table [sic] 33 by 13 inches.
The original library in Col. Anderson's home was much smaller than that formally opened in 1850. In one of his library speeches Mr. Carnegie said:
Our newspapers have recently quoted from a speech in which I referred to the fact that Col. Anderson—honored be his memory—Opened his 400 books to the young of Allegheny city and attended every Saturday to exchange them, and that to him I was indebted, as was Mr. Phipps, for admission to sources of knowledge and that I then resolved that if ever surplus wealth came to me—and nothing then seemed more unlikely, since my revenue was one dollar and twenty cents a week as a bobbin-boy in a cotton factory; still I had my dreams—it should be devoted to such work as Col. Anderson's.
Thoughts therefore of Anderson street lead to libraries, Andrew Carnegie and philanthropies of various kinds.
At the time of the formal unveiling of the Col. Anderson monument and its dedication an elaborate program was presented. Addresses were delivered by Samuel H. Church, Stephen G. Porter, now member of Congress; the Rev. Dr. J. Leonard Levy, L. L. Gilbert, the Rev. Francis P. Ward and Richard B. Scandrett.
There was a parade of which John A. Fairman was chief marshal and Dr. H. K. Beatty chief of staff. The monument was unveiled by Miss Louise Adele Anderson, granddaughter of Col. Anderson, the daughter of his youngest son, Henry.
Miss Anderson is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, as noted, the great-granddaughter of Maj. William Anderson, and her father was a soldier in the Civil War, 1861–65. These, with Col. Anderson's service during the War of 1812, furnish an object lesson in patriotism—three generations in succession—with service in three great wars in which our country was forced and from which, in these perilous times, one can draw new lessons of patriotism. And these can be readily suggested by a glance at Col. Anderson's monument or by a walk along any part of Anderson street.
Grandsire Maj. William Anderson deserves some notice also. He came to America about the opening of the Revolutionary War and soon after joined the patriot forces. He remained in the service throughout the war, and at its close settled in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. Here all his children were born except his youngest daughter, Clarissa.
There were three sons and four daughters, the others, Paul, James, William, Sarah, wife of Richard Gray; Letitia (Mrs. Caldwell) and Mary (Mrs. Way). Well-known Pittsburgh families are represented in these names whose descendents [sic] are prominent here today. Mrs. Way of Edgeworth was the last survivor of Maj. Anderson's children.
Clarissa, who became the wife of John Herron, one of the early mayors of Pittsburgh, was born at Bedford, Pa., while her father was en route to Pittsburgh with his family. He came here, Judge Parke says, about 1801 to superintend the erection of the first county buildings in Allegheny county, and did so at the request of his warm friend, Gen. James O'Hara, whom he had known in his revolutionary service. Judge Parke's date is too late by at least five years.
William Anderson's reputation as a mechanic had already spread. His ability as a builder was of the highest order. He erected the first presidential mansion in Washington, whch [sic] was destroyed by the British under Gen. Ross in his raid on our new Capitol in August, 1814.
On his way to Pittsburgh William Anderson was detained at Bedford. Upon arrival in Pittsburgh he became at once one of the leading men of the borough. He was a Presbyterian and joined the First Presbyterian Church on Wood street and was one of the principal contributors to the erection of the brick church that supplanted the original log church on that site, the first church edifice in Pittsburgh, at what is now Wood street and Oliver avenue.
The sons of William Anderson—Paul, James and William—all served in the War of 1812. Mrs. Clarissa Herron was the mother of the late William Anderson Herron and his brothers, Gen. Frank J. Herron and Col. Richard G. Herron. The family name is perpetuated in Herron Hill and Herron avenue.
Sarah Anderson, eldest daughter of William Anderson, was married to Richard Gray in 1807. In 1810 he removed to Allegheny, then a mere hamlet of log houses. It was then that he and James Anderson engaged in the brick business.
Richard Gray was a native of County Donegal, Ireland, of the town of Drumgumberland. He came to the United States in 1799 at the age of 18 and soon afterward came to Pittsburgh. He first resided on the present North Side at the corner of Anderson street and River avenue, where he established a ferry, which was discontinued upon the completion of the first bridge at Anderson street, known by the name of the Hand Street Bridge.
This bridge was erected in 1838. Its name was first the Pittsburgh and Allegheny Bridge, in distinction to the St. Clair or Sixth Street Bridge opened for travel in 1820. The Hand Street Bridge was not opened until early in 1839.
After several years Richard Gray moved to Cedar avenue, between Avery and Liberty streets. Here he erected the third brick house on the North Side, and here he resided during his latter days. On this Gray property there was later erected the row known as Gray's row.
Mr. Gray was one of the first councilmen in the borough of Allegheny, serving from 1828 to 1831, and again in 1836.
The Hand Street Bridge, connecting at the north end with Anderson street, furnishes some history in connection with that of both ends of the street. Hand street, or former Ninth street, has been written of.
The original wooden bridge here was constructed on the arch principle, a graceful arch extending from bank to bank. On the roof was a promenade which became a fashionable resort, until it had to be abandoned.
The original contractors were William LeBarron, woodwork; Pagan & Alston, stonework; Sylvanus Lothrop, architect. The latter was one of Col. Anderson's partners in the iron business.
The first officers elected were John Tassey, president; Alexander Breckenridge, treasurer, and William Fitzsimmons, secretary. The directors were William Larimer, Jr., Richard Gray, Sylvanus Lothrop, William Robinson, Malcolm Leech, Charles Avery, Robert Galway, F. G. Bailey, George Ogden and John Grier.
There are prominent Pittsburgh names on this list. Gen. William Robinson, already written of, and president of the company "for the erection of a bridge over the Allegheny"—the Federal Street Bridge—above mentioned as the Allegheny Bridge; Charles Avery, founder of Avery College, Avery street named in his honor, philanthropist and a leading merchant and manufacturer in Pittsburgh, and Malcolm Leech, a pioneer canal boat owner and operator, are three that will be readily recalled by students of Pittsburgh history.
The Hand Street Bridge promenade figured in a ludicrous sell, of which many thousands of expectant people, young and old, were the victims. Judge Parke gives the date about 1852.
However, when this event is mentioned invariably discussions ensue fixing the date anywhere in the 10 years preceding. There is no doubt, however, about the hoax.
Hand bills were liberally distributed throughout the community announcing that on the day set a man would fly from the roof of the Hand Street Bridge over the St. Clair Street Bridge below and thence to the south side of the Monongahela.
There was an immense outpouring of the masses; the banks on each side of the river were lined with people. Every available water craft was put in use. The St. Clair Street Bridge was a jam.
The flyer and his attendants showed up at the exact hour. They bore a mysterious looking package. The assembled thousands broke out in a loud roar.
The men on the bridge roof slowly opened their package and let out a large gray goose which took flight down the river.
Tableaux!
Next day it turned out that nobody was there, at least there were none willing to admit the fact. And some were not willing to for years later.
There are some old residents who can remember this event as one of the greatest outpourings of the people seen in Pittsburgh up to that time and also that it was one of the most quickly dispersed.
Of the children of Richard Gray, James A. and Richard C. Gray were the best known, the latter especially in river circles as the proprietor of Gray's Iron Line of boats towing Pittsburgh manufactures in model barges with well-kept steamers, the Iron Duke, Ironsides, Iron Age, etc.
Sarah Gray, the youngest and second daughter of Richard Gray, became the wife of James Park, Jr.
The pictures today are pertinent to the Col. James Anderson story. It may be remarked his father was known better as Col. William Anderson, although the official program issued at the time of the dedication of the Anderson monument refers to him as Maj. Anderson.
