Part 19

best part of their militia to serve in Washington’s army, so with a company of his own rangers, a regiment of Johnson’s Greens, and a band of Indians, in all about 1200 men, he took the warpath from Niagara; they journeyed down the Susquehanna in bark canoes, landed above the settlement, and began their work of murder and plunder, harrowing incidents are made known by Campbell in his “Gertrude of Wyoming.” The women and children were placed in the fort. At the junction of Fort and River Streets, in the borough of FORTY FORT; a conglomerate boulder with bronze tablet, marks the site of “Forty Fort,” erected by the Connecticut settlers in 1772. From this fort, on July 3, 1778, the Wyoming Militia, numbering about 300, mostly old men and boys, marched forth to oppose the invading British troops and Indians, fight the Battle of Wyoming, and meet with complete defeat and atrocious massacre, in which the British officers were unable to set any bounds in the butchery of their savage allies; next day the fort was taken; the Indians burned all the houses; the inhabitants fled to the woods, and the valley was abandoned; a hundred women and children perished of fatigue and starvation. On Wyoming Avenue in the borough of Wyoming is the “Wyoming Monument,” marking the burial place of many of the patriots who were slain in the battle and massacre; dedicated July, 1846.

On Susquehanna Avenue near Seventh Street is “Queen Esther’s Rock,” a half-breed queen of the Senecas, on which she tomahawked fourteen prisoners; marked by a tablet, placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution, bearing this inscription, “Upon this rock the Indian queen Esther slaughtered the brave patriots taken in the battle of July 3, 1778.” On the bank of the river, near the Pittston Ferry bridge, in the borough of WEST PITTSTON, is a small monument marking site of Jenkins’ Fort, destroyed by the British and Indians July, 1778. The Battle of Wyoming, with the subsequent massacre, was one of the important events of the Revolutionary War, as it led to the sending of the Sullivan Expedition in 1779 into the country of the Six Nations, whereby the power of their confederacy was forever broken. WHITE HAVEN Township was the place of Sullivan’s army encampment, in 1779.

The oldest church in the county is in Forty Fort, not far from the site of the old fort, interior of the building remains as it was when erected in 1808; in the burial ground are many old graves, with headstones bearing quaint inscriptions. Other historic places marked by tablet or monument are, site of a bridge built by the engineers of General John Sullivan’s army in the spring of 1779, on the banks of Ten Mile Run, northwest of Bear Creek Village, marked by boulder with tablet. Place where two commissioned officers, and three others of General Sullivan’s army were ambushed and slain by Indians, April, 1779; marked by boulder with tablet. In the Public Square, WILKES-BARRE, is a monument marking site of Fort Wilkes-Barre, erected in 1776-77 by the inhabitants of the town; destroyed by the British and Indians July, 1778. On the river common, at the foot of Northampton Street, a boulder, with tablet, marks the site of Fort Wyoming, erected, 1771, demolished in 1774 or 1775. And at the foot of South Street a boulder, with tablet, is erected near the site of Fort Durkee, built in 1769 by first settlers from Connecticut, named for their leader, Major John Durkee, who founded and named Wilkes-Barre in honor of John Wilkes and Colonel Barre; this fort fell into decay prior to 1776, it was located near site of a village occupied from 1758-63 by a band of Delaware Indians under “King” Tedyuscung.

WILKES-BARRE, county seat, was settled, 1772, population, 73,833. Places of modern interest, containing historical collections, portraits, and paintings, open free to the public, are the Courthouse, modified adaptation of classic, the façade, with Ionic porch, is very dignified, surmounted by a Gustavino dome; architects, Osterling, McCormick & French; said to be one of the handsomest and most elaborately decorated courthouses in this country; contains mural paintings by E. H. Blashfield, Kenyon Cox, Will H. Low, William T. Smedley, C. D. Hinton, and others. Irem Temple, Moorish design, with tall slender minarets at each corner. Osterhout Free Library, Gothic. Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. The Second National Bank, with interesting Ionic porch at entrance, steel frame, faced with brick and concrete, architects, McCormick & French. First Presbyterian Church and St. Stephen’s Protestant Episcopal Church contain handsome memorial tablets and stained glass windows; a fine bronze relief, by J. Massey Rhind, is in St. Stephen’s. In the Coal Exchange Building is the Atherton Atelier, T. H. Atherton, Jr., Superintendent, Architecture, in coöperation with Society of Beaux Arts. Particular care has been given to improving the public parks located in different parts of the city. Public square in center, and the river commons, stretching along the bank of the Susquehanna for a considerable distance, are attractive and noteworthy. Opposite the city, across the river, is Riverside Park, chiefly a natural grove of old trees.

The principal educational institution is Wyoming Seminary, co-ed, at KINGSTON, founded in 1844, conducted under auspices of the Wyoming Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, ranks high as a college preparatory school and has an academic art course. There are many places of scenic beauty; notably the Conyngham dairy and stock farms at Hillside, just outside Wyoming Valley, on the road from Kingston to Harvey’s Lake, which is 1226 feet above sea level; one of the largest stock farms in the state, covering 651 acres. Sugarloaf Valley, not far from HAZLETON. The Hazleton Country Club. Glen Summit Springs and the neighboring country, Bear Creek Village, and Wyoming Valley, viewed either from Campbell’s Ledge, Mount Lookout, or Prospect Rock.

The principal roads are maintained in good order, and there are no toll roads in the county. For many years the chief industry has been the mining of anthracite coal, discovered here in 1762; for a considerable period it stood first among the counties in annual output; first development of this coal for shipping to market from the Wyoming region was in 1776, when two Durham boats purchased cargoes from a mine operated by R. Greer, near Wyoming. There are many large manufactories. Within a ten mile circle, having Wilkes-Barre public square as its center, there were, according to the United States census of 1910, thirty-three smaller municipalities, cities, boroughs, and hamlets, having a total population, including Wilkes-Barre, of 266,951. The other principal towns of this county are Hazleton, population 32,277; Nanticoke, 22,614; Plymouth, 16,500; Pittston, 18,497; West Pittston, 6968; Kingston, 8952. Peter Frederick Rothermel, prominent historical painter, was born in Nescopeck, this county, in 1817.

XVIII

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 cultivated corn. 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 tracts in 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 extended through 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 is ALEXANDRIA, 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.

XIX

ALLEGHENY COUNTY

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 from PITTSBURGH, 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

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 is SCHENLEY 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 central building of the CARNEGIE 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

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.

In SCHENLEY 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 are ALLEGHENY, 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 Cemetery is 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 view from 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 SHALOM Synagogue, 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’S Roman 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

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.