Source:Fleming-center
George T. Fleming. "Center avenue is a famous old road: Quiet thoroughfare known in Pittsburgh history as home of prominent men: Short route to east." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Oct. 31, 1915, sec. 6, p. 2. Newspapers.com 85899943.
CENTER avenue extending from Fulton street, now called Fullerton, to Penn avenue in the former village of East Liberty is the shortest route to that district. Before the Civil War this thoroughfare was known as the Seventh street road. It began at Liberty and Seventh street, since called Seventh avenue. The old Eagle Hotel, a stage emporium, was on the lower corner.
The road went up Seventh to Coal Lane, now Webster avenue, turned at Washington street, thence to Wylie, to Fulton and Center avenue.
The name Seventh street road came from the downtown terminus, just as Fifth avenue beyond Grant street was formerly called the Fourth street road. Both are to be distinguished thus from the "Pike," the present Penn avenue, locally known as the Greensburg Pike, and sometimes called the Philadelphia Pike, the old pack horse and conestaga [sic] wagon road into Pittsburgh.
The Seventh street road prior to 1837, was a township road from Washington street out. With the city limits extended in 1847 to Devilliers street on one side of Center avenue, and Kirkpatrick street on the other, the township jurisdiction was shortened.
Rutty Old Road.
The portion from Devilliers to Kirkpatrick, to be cared for by both Pitt township and the city, got scant notice from either, and with the single track of the horse-car line on stringers in the middle of the road, teamsters had to be content with the roadway on either side of the tracks, mud or ruts as the season decreed. Of course in summer it was fairly good, hence the street name.
With the annexation of the East End districts in 1868, the first necessity of the annexed district was good main roads. Hence the city paved Center avenue from Dinwiddie street to Kirkpatrick.
This was in 1869. Cobble stones were used, the sand and gravel hauled from barges that lay inside of the first pier of the Pan Handle Railroad Bridge at Try street. The road bed of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad now occupies this part of the old river bed.
While the street was being paved, the horse cars stopped at Dinwiddie street, or Lippincott's Lane as it was then called. Minersvillians in those years were thus given a chance to practice pedestrianism, and they did.
The grade of the street was raised a foot or more, and when the paving was completed, the denizens of that section were very proud of their street.
At Kirkpatrick street previous to the war, there was a toll gate, and when the Minersville district became the Thirteenth Ward of Pittsburgh in the sharp angle made by Mahon avenue, there was erected a watchman's box or shanty. This contained a stove and a chair, and a nail or two in the walls provided means to hang the watchman's rubber coat and extra clothing.
Old Watchmans' Box.
This box stood for many years. The only other box of this kind in the upper hill district was opposite Barckley's store at Webster avenue and Arthurs street. Into these boxes the watchman repaired to eat lunch, or if near enough it was a refuge in case of storms.
The boxes were reminders of the days when "the watch" called the hour and informed the citizens who were awake to hear the cry, the state of the weather and the condition of the sky. This watch cry was abolished by Mayor William C. McCarthy during his first term, 1866.
The custom gave rise to the familiar lines.
Watchman tell us of the night,
What its signs of promise are.
It was an ancient custom that lasted here long after it had ceased in other cities.
It would be possible to count on your fingers the old timers who heard the cry in the district beyond Fulton street, and also to count the times in the same manner that a watchman was met at night. The beat extended from Fulton street to Kirkpatrick, and one could meander at will at night and seldom meet a "watch." There were no day police in those days except a few downtown.
With the annexation of the Minersville section the watchman's beat was extended to the car barns on Herron avenue, in order to give the district some police protection without which it had struggled along for almost a century.
Vast changes have taken place on Center avenue. The little Trinity Roman Catholic Church remains at the foot of the street. The new edifice, erected about 1894, at the corner of Crawford street, took away some dwellings, the best known that of Mrs. J. S. Hartupee, next to the corner. For a decade or more she conducted a private school for girls in her home.
Some Well Known Names.
On the opposite side of the street there resided many men prominent in the affairs of the city and county. Dr. A. G. McCandless, his son the late Dr. J. Guy McCandless.
Benjamin F. Kennedy better known as "Doc" Kennedy, prothonotary of Allegheny county 1873–79, was succeeded in office and in the occupation of the former A. G. McCandless home by Joseph O. Brown.
Some well known steamboat men lived on this side, boat owners and operators, among them the McCallams, the father Albert C. and two sons George ;W. and Albert C. McCallam, Jr., and the Brickell brothers, Capt. David Z. and William B, the former the father of William D. Brickell, for many years editor and proprietor of the Columbus (O.) Dispatch.
On the corner of Vine street there was a steep bank perhaps 15 feet above the pavement, and right at the angle of the bluff for years there stood overhanging the pavement, a locust tree that always threatened to fall but never did.
Back from this bluff stood a frame house occupied by "the Widow" Woods, a winding path leading up to it.
Vine street was not put through to Wylie in a straight line but went around the old chapel of the Tannehill Street Orphan Asylum, now abandoned.
The bluff was cut away partly by Contractor Peter O'Neil for the late Charles C. Dickey, who had acquired the corner property. Rumor had it at the time that Mr. Dickey gave O'Neil one lot for grading the two. It was some job of grading.
Mr. Dickey built on the corner and lived there with his mother and sister, and after his mother's death until his own in 1912.
Above Vine street there were no buildings of special note until beyond Roberts street on the left, and the first was the once handsome home of Capt. Egbert S. Ward.
Some Fine Homes.
Next above were two fine bricks, first occupied by the late Maj. William J. Moorhead and Theodore Tack, respectively, the latter residence was later for a decade occupied by Maj. Edward A. Montooth, his father, brother Charles, and his two sisters.
Above Overhill street came the very imposing row that stood back from the street. The first residence that of Maxwell K. Moorhead, was later occupied by Judge Thomas Ewing. Then came his father, Gen. James Kennedy Moorhead, our Civil War time congressman; then the home of William McCutcheon, later of Judge Jacob E. Slagle, then William B. Hays, Sr., father of Ex-Mayor Hays, then Capt. Christ L. Brennan, who gave way to Harry W. Oliver, who sold to Alexander W. Rook, and last the corner house at Green street. Mr. Rook built the present mansion on the Brennan property.
A row of tall aspens lined the pavements in front of the row.
Across the street some well known Pittsburghers had their residences. William E. Frazer, Capt. George W. McCallam, William W. Wattles, the Rev. Dr. W. A. Passavant, Samuel Allinder, city treasurer; Prof. D. C. Holmes, Robert Donaldson and Robert and William Patrick, bankers. These were not all in the same years.
Above Green street on that side were the homes of Ex-Sheriff Samuel B. Cluley, Geter C. Shidle coming after him, and at the corner of Dinwiddie street, resided the Misses Sarah and Sophia Shaffer, aunts of Mrs. Henry Phipps.
Opposite Dinwiddie street John F. Cluley had his home in the old Layng homestead, and his widow still resides there after more than 50 years occupancy.
The cutting through of Devilliers street in 1872, took away the home of Capt. James Atkinson, one of our early steamboatmen and father of Capt. George H. Atkinson, United States Inspector of Boilers, now retired.
Early Brick Mansions.
Two doors above was the large brick mansion of Dr. Andrew Patrick, which in 1868, became the home of C. Hanson Love, a leading drygoods merchant, and after him, Edward Oxnard.
No pretentions [sic] dwellings came until one arrived at Center avenue and Reed street, when the Brackenridge mansion was passed on the right, now and for many years occupied by Samuel Ewart.
Across on the hill was the home of Willis Boothe, with an orchard stretching back to the present line of Wylie avenue.
Above this was the Matthew Lawton home and next above the spacious ground and mansion of Isaiah Dickey, father of Charles C. Dickey.
Across the street on the hillside resided Ralph Bagaley and above him his father-in-law Robert Arthurs. The Arthurs holdings included a fine peach orchard reaching to the top of the hill.
Across Morgan street, back of the school house, was the apple orchard of Jacob Ewart, which was purchased and laid out in lots by C. H. Love about 1870.
The Horton property across from the schoolhouse on the hill above Francis street, now presents a sorry appearance, the old house tumbled down and woe begone. Francis street was originally known as Dickey's Lane.
George Ewart's home was above Herron avenue and was, with one exception, the only house on that side.
On the lower corner of Herron resided Robert Inder. Then came the George Wandless home and next, the Siemon home. All were pioneer Minersville people; old Mrs. Siemon for many years keeping the Siemon village store.
Relics of Rustic Charm.
From the Booth orchard the hillside sloped down to the hollow called Chauncey street. Some trees, the remnant of Farrow's woods stood on this hillside, were silent reminders of bygone days of rustic beauty.
On the corner of Chauncey there was a small brewery called the Keystone, and a stone quarry down to where Soho street now crosses.
In the triangle formed by Soho and Reed streets and Center avenue, was the Red Pond, so called from the reddish-yellow sulphur water, the drainage of the coalpits.
The first dam at Soho street broke in 1866, and for years the run flowed through, but when Soho street was filled in to Center avenue, a sewer was put under the fill which clogged in 1889, forming the pond.
Capt. Isaac Williams, now United States inspector of hulls, and his brother "Jack" hauled up the big yawl of the steamer Joseph B. Williams, and there are many people who enjoyed a boat ride on a city plot where now stand blocks of houses.
When the lake formed, six fire engines were sent to pump it dry. After the Philadelphia Company pipe line gang had piped the run in an eight-inch line down Center avenue and into the hollow below Soho street, and the engines were fit for the repair shop, "Mart" Lowry came along with a big pump and did the trick in a few weeks, pumping night and day.
But old Center avenue never had a real thrill until the "Bill" Phillips Engine Company came.
This company, now known as Engine Company No. 5, was put into service April 8, 1872. David Warden was foreman, John J. Freyvogel, engineer; John Little, driver; James J. Lloyd, stoker, John McAleese, John W. Parker, Frank R. Hutchinson and Alonzo Earley, hosemen.
Lloyd was transferred to the hook and ladder company on Highland avenue, July 1, 1872, and William J. White took his place. Little quit in August and William Luther came in his stead.
All of these men are dead except Mr. Freyvogel and Mr. McAleese, and all in the picture of the company in 1886 except the same two.
Both Mr. McAleese and Mr. Hutchinson were later captain of the company, the title being changed from foreman.
Mr. White was no relative of the chief of the same name, better known as the "Big Chief," a former warden of the Allegheny County Jail, and later in life a well-known deputy sheriff.
Popular Meeting Place.
The engine company from its location soon became a rendezvous for politicians and political aspirants in the old Eleventh and Thirteenth Wards.
It also became a news center, and the reporters of those days who followed set routes made it a regular stopping place. It was a very inconsequential hill item that did not take place "near the Phillips Engine House." The exact locality mattered not.
There were no sliding poles in use until 1879. The men came down a long stairway with a turn near the bottom. There were no hanging harness until about the same time, and the horses backed out and turned to run to their places. They were harnessed all the time.
Two men were on watch each night, the foreman taking his turn with the rest. Until 1878 or '79, a single hose carriage was in use with heavy rubber hose.
From the institution of the company until the completion of the new house at Center avenue and Devilliers street, the captains or foremen in order were David Warden, till 1877; John McAleese, to 1879; John Wrigley, to 1882, John McAleese, to 1888; John Lennix, to 1889; Frank R. Hutchinson, to 1903, and then William B. Ekey, two years, succeeded by John F. Irwin.
There came a time when the "Bill" Phillip's [sic] engine house became a meeting place for well informed men to talk over the affairs of the day. During the exciting mayoralty elections, the Beecher–Tilton trial in 1875, the thrilling days of the contested presidential election of 1876, and its ultimate settlement, and in all the happenings of the nation, state and city, there were always present men who could discuss any phase of any subject, and especially the subject uppermost in the public mind.
On the other hand there were men of talent and good business training who were wont to gather at the Phillips house and spend the summer evenings in the alley at the upper side, subsequently fenced in and later built over with an addition to the original house. These men were well informed and good story tellers. Most of them have passed away.
Among them were Henry Metzgar, Mayor McCarthy's clerk, later assistant city controller; Charles P. Duff, Clarence W. Shannon, better known as "Doc;" Martin Lowry, brother of Joseph L. Lowry who built the first engines at Brilliant pumping station; John Magann, the leading Democrat of the Thirteenth Ward, way back into the township days, dubbed "Statesman Magann;" James W. Breen, editor and proprietor of the Sunday Globe, formerly on the Evening Telegraph, when the late Ralph Bagaley owned the paper, and a score of lesser lights.
Indeed, it was a rare day when "Jeems" Breen didn't come around hinting that he had two or three sensations up his sleeve that would rend the old town asunder.
The chairs the Phillips boys and their visitors lounged in were arm chairs of pine. They were some of those discarded from the Council chambers on the third floor of the Market House recently razed, and were most comfortable. The last one, presented to the writer hereof, went to sticks a decade ago.
In front of the engine house was a switch, a passing point for the horse cars. Another was out at Chauncey street. This was before Center avenue was paved from Kirkpatrick street out.
In pulling out of the engine house with the apparatus it was necessary to drive carefully over the switch else the hind wheels might take the other side in a swing and throw the men off. This happened once to the carriage.
Center for Election News.
Capt. Jack Wrigley was an old-time riverman and a well-known character. He was a veteran of the Civil War and a volunteer fireman from his youth and the first foreman of Number 4 company, leaving that position to become market constable where he served a number of years. He died in 1908.
The Phillips engine house, with the installation of telephone in 1879, became the chief source of information on election nights, and in the many hardfought local contests in the two wards, and the various municipal contests, was gradually sought by those interested. Finally, under the first Director of Public Safety Joseph O. Brown, a system of gathering returns by the police was instituted, phoned in from the nearest engine house.
Until then on election nights the Phillips house was filled to overflowing. A select crowd was admitted upstairs where the figuring was done. Eminent citizens did not disdain to resort to the engine house for reliable news and the crowd was thoroughly democratic.
The system of safety in case of an election night alarm adopted was for two men to keep close in front of the apparatus where rope lines worked on pulleys hung from the ceiling which pulled open the front doors. The crowd if an alarm came in rushed out on the doors being opened. The automatic release arrangement for the horses was connected and it was necessary for a man to be ready to put it in place.
Little time was lost, and when occasionally an alarm came in, it was but rarely a "go" for the company.
Old House Still Stands.
The engine house is still standing, having been purchased in December, 1902, by John Newell for $9,500. An auction sale failed to bring a bid over $6,500, which J. O. Brown, then "Recorder" of Pittsburgh, rejected.
When the present house was erected it was made to include the police station and patrol wagon quarters, and this did away with No. 3 police station that had been in use from Mayor Blackmore's day. This stood between Miller and Roberts streets and was used for many years as a polling place. It also had its coterie of statesmen.
Center avenue at the corner of Kirkpatrick was honored with a police call box when Director of Public Safety J. O. Brown put the wagon service in use. This was a great jumping off place in the horse car days. When the wagon was called the populace turned out enmasse from childhood to old age, and when the culprit was hauled away a rousing cheer arose.
It was an innovation strictly modern and held the board for several years before the novelty wore away. Even babes in arms were accorded the privilege of viewing the "pinch" and wagon call.
In the corner at this angle lived almost all of her long life, Mrs. Mary Ewing, a relative of the fighting McCooks, mother of Capt. Chatham C. Ewing, who commanded Battery G, West Virginia Light Artillery, in the Civil War, a Pittsburgh organization almost entirely.