Source:Fleming-old-allegheny
George T. Fleming. "Old Allegheny families are honored: Pioneer rope makers' name given to prominent North Side street: Others on the list." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, July 2, 1916, sec. 5, p. 2. Newspapers.com 85766180.
THERE are many streets on the North Side, or in former Allegheny City, from whose names there can be evolved much interesting local history.
Some of this is biographical, relating to pioneers in the community and their business activities in the growing community of Pittsburgh. Of these pioneers Gen. William Robinson, the Rev. Joseph Stockton and Col. William Anderson and his son, Col. James Anderson, have been recently noted.
There are other names, most familiar ones, too, that are rich in historic interest. Ohio, Allegheny and Sandusky are of this class whose consideration involves a wide range, not only in history, but a delving into ethnological and philological subjects.
Much of this latter has long ago been printed and it is voluminous and of wide range. The Magazine of Western History some 25 years ago published exhaustive treatises on these names, and chief of the contributors was Russell Errett, in his life-time prominent in politics in Pennsylvania and in journalism, for many years connected with The Pittsburgh Gazette as proprietor and editor.
There are street names that are palpably family names, that suggest pioneers and every pioneer about Pittsburgh was identified with the growth of the city and made more or less history. Darragh, Lacock and Irwin are family names that have been applied to North Side streets for many years, suggesting Cornelius Darragh, an early legislator from Allegheny county; Gen. Abner Lacock, member of Congress, and Col. John Irwin, revolutionary soldier and pioneer manufacturer in Pittsburgh.
Famous Early Factory.
At the mere mention of a factory to be located at Western and Irwin avenues or in that vicinity many persons would now stand aghast, protesting that the locality was a fine residence section and should be immune from smoke and noise.
Contra this brings to mind the fact that this very locality was the site of a noted factory that was engaged in the manufacture of a necessity that helped much to make Pittsburgh, and this was rope; not only a commodity, but a necessity, when the rivers were the main and most common highways of commerce and the cheapest.
It will rather puzzle the younger element of this community to locate the rope factory at Water lane and the West Commons. Old-timers will have no difficulty in recalling the site, knowing that Water lane is now Western avenues and the street that bounds the West Commons on the west has long been known as Irwin avenue.
The Irwins owned the rope factory, and gave the family name to the street. They were business people, father, mother and son, and they prospered and also had reverses. They were pioneers in fact and in deeds and in the name, Irwin, applied to the street, we have a sample of just and fitting commemoration, that has been permitted to stand, none the less fitting than Stockton, Lacock, Robinson, Anderson and some others that will be mentioned.
The Irwins were pioneer ropemakers, and this industry antedates many others for which Pittsburgh subsequently became famous. One instance, for illustration, glass making—first carried on by Gen. James O'Hara and Maj. Isaac Craig at their factory on the South Side of the Monongahela River opposite the Point, on the present site of the old power house of the Pittsburgh Railways Company. The year of this venture was 1797.
First Rope Walk.
Three years before, Col. John Irwin and his wife erected the first rope walk west of the Allegheny Mountains, at Smithfield and Water streets, on the site of the Monongahela House.
Col. Irwin had been seriously wounded in the battle of Paloi [sic], Pa., during the Revolution, and suffering much from his wounds, was at the time incapacitated and finally was rendered completely incapable of attending to his business. Mrs. Irwin, a woman of rare business qualifications, and of indomitable courage and perseverance, took charge of the business in this contingency. Associated with her son, then a mere lad, she carried on the business successfully for many years.
Upon the death of Col. Irwin, May 5, 1808, Mrs. Irwin gave her son an interest in the firm and continued in the business under the name and style of Mary and John Irwin. Col. Iriwin [sic] was aged 50 years and a member of the Society of Cincinnati.
In 1795 the rope-walk was removed to the square bounded by Liberty, Third and Fourth street and Redoubt alley. These streets are now termed avenues and most of the square is occupied by the buildings and tracks of the Wabash–Pittsburgh Terminal Railway.
The Irwins continued the manufacture of rope on this square until 1812, 17 years in all.
Then the second war with Great Britain came, commonly called the War of 1812. Pittsburgh became a busy place—fitting out the small Western and Northern armies of the United States and the fleets on the Great Lakes.
The rope industry as conducted by the Irvins [sic], mother and son, had so prospered that a new location became necessary by 1812. This was secured on the bank of the Allegheny River, between Marbury street and the Point. At Duquesne way and Barbean [sic] street we would say now; Third and Duquesne way is another way to state it. On this site the entire rigging was manufactured for Commodore O. H. Perry's fleet on Lake Erie.
Naval Battle Recalled.
Hence when in the neighborhood of the Exposition buildings think of the Irwins, rope-making, Perry's victory, September 10, 1814, Put-in-Bay and Perry's magnificent monument on that island. Same chain of thought when at Western and Irwin avenues on the North Side.
Increasing demands for the excellent quality of rope turned out by the Irwins induced the son to look around for a site on which the industry could be carried on much more extensively.
Mrs. Irwin was now aging. Her health had become impaired and she considered it an act of wisdom to retire from business. Therefore she disposed of her interest to her son, who in accordance with the plans he had matured, removed the works to the site on the west side of the West common on the edge of Alleghenytown, a mere hamlet in those years.
It was in 1813 that John Irwin, the younger, erected in Allegheny one of the most extensive rope works in the West. By metes and bounds it is described as "on the 10-acre outlot known and designated as No. 276 in the Reserve Tract opposite Pittsburgh and bounded by the West Common, Water Lane and Outlots Nos. 275, 29 and 30." William Dilworth, Sr., was the contractor who erected the buildings, the same Dilworth who built the first court house on Grant street, burned May 7, 1882.
John Irwin, Jr., carried on the business on the above-mentioned site until January 1, 1835, or for 22 years, when he took his son Henry into partnership under the style of John Irwin & Son. Needing more room they leased the adjoining outlot, No. 275, from Harmar Denny for a long term of years, and extended the rope walk to within 100 feet of the present line of Allegheny avenue, crossing Grant avenue, not then laid out and now called Galveston avenue. In 1847 the Irwins purchased outlot No. 275.
Some Costly Fires.
But the pushing and enterprising firm had had several serious reverses, due to the "fire fiend" principally. In 1836 the works were entirely destroyed. Immediately rebuilt they were again entirely destroyed within one month after work was resumed, but again rebuilt and business carried on as before until 1858, when rope manufacturing on this site was abandoned.
John Irwin had a son, John, who was known as John Irwin, Jr. The junior applied to the father in this article is to distinguish him from his father, Col. John Irwin, the original ropemaker. When the third John was admitted to the firm in 1847 the firm name was changed to John Irwin & Sons.
The elder Irwin had other business interests. He was a member of the firm Fulton, Bollman & Co., which dealt largely in rope. In 1862 this firm succeeded the firm of John Irwin & Co., and commenced the erection of new works on what was left of Smoky Island above the present approaches to the new Point Bridge to the North Side, known as the Manchester Bridge.
To this site the machinery from the Irwin avenue works was removed. The new works had a brief existence. They were hardly well under operation when they were entirely destroyed by fire, and with this calamity John Irwin, the senior, retired from the business.
Subsequently A. M. Marshall, for many years prominent in the manufacture of flour in Pittsburgh, became associated with Messrs. Fulton and Bollman, and the works under their control were removed to McKeesport.
Hand-Power Machines.
The new works were on a much more extensive scale than in Allegheny, and they were operated profitably until fire again devastated them, and then they were not rebuilt.
It is evident that during the early operations of rope-making in Pittsburgh the machinery was of a primitive pattern, and, such as it was, operated by hand. Labor horse power was substituted, a notable improvement. Modern machinery and steam power tended to the successful operation of a really great industry here for a long term of years by one family.
The manufacture of cordage in Pittsburgh was prompted by the best of reasons. Easy accessibility to the hemp-growing regions and the facilities for obtaining raw materials, the same facilities for distributing the manufactured product, the necessity of this product on the rivers and Great Lakes, were prime incentives. It was a progressive industry and a profitable one despite the numerous fires, yet today rope-making, although still carried on by one firm, is not considered as of much moment among Pittsburgh's diversified industries.
John Irwin, the son of Col. John Irwin, married Miss Hannah Taylor, daughter of the Rev. John Taylor, pastor of the "Round Church," the original Episcopal church of Pittsburgh, the building on the triangular lot at Liberty, Sixth and Wood street. The Rev. Joseph Stockton performed the ceremony sometime in 1810. Mrs. Irwin died in 1844.
In 1847 John Irwin remarried his second wife, Mrs. Abagail Paul, being the daughter of the Rev. Elisha McCurdy.
John Irwin was a man of fine personal appearance. He was born in Pittsburgh in 1787 and died at his home in Sewickley, Pa., June 30, 1863. He was a man of strict integrity, courteous and affable, a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Allegheny for many years.
Original Street Names.
The original street names on the North Side had a rural significance. Western avenue we have noted as Water lane. There are several well-known streets that were once designated lanes and several whose original names have long since been dropped for the present designations.
Irwin avenue was first known as Pasture lane and reasonably enough. It marked the western boundary of the common pasturage on the "Commons" distinctly set apart in the survey of the Reserve Tract, opposite Pittsburgh, for that purpose.
Bank lane has long since been South avenue. Washington avenue was originally Island lane. This was in Manchester, the street later called Washington avenue, now Columbus avenue. It was called Island lane because it came out on the Ohio opposite Brunots Island, first known as Chartiers Island and then as Aliquippa Island.
Beaver avenue that we know today was once Ferry lane. Then there was East lane in another part of the city, now East street. Ohio street was Ohio lane.
Arch street was once Beaver street; Greenwood street, Manchester, later in the old Sixth Ward of Allegheny, was once Walnut street, the change being made necessary because of a Walnut street in the old Fourth Ward.
Sherman avenue's first designation was Webster street. Later there was a Webster street in the old Second Ward. Park way was first called Water alley.
North Side street nomenclature has its quota of names deriving from the Civil War celebrities—Lincoln avenue, Sherman, Grant avenues, Sedgwick street, etc. It had also its share of names commemorating the great men of the republic—Webster, Marion, Madison, Adams, Jackson, etc.
Like all American municipalities, it drafted the names of trees and some of the best known thoroughfares were thus designated. Thus Locust, now Liverpool street; Chestnut, the bridge street at the north end of the Sixteenth Street Bridge, the name retained; Hemlock street, in the old Third Ward, and so others could be instanced, notably Cedar avenue.
Names of Pioneers.
Pioneers were remembered in O'Hara street, Craig, Walker, Darragh, Lacock, Robinson and Anderson streets and Stockton avenue. Pioneers of another type than landholders have been commemorated. Of these we have instances in the names of the early officials of the city of Allegheny.
At the organization of the borough, created such by act of the Legislature, April 14, 1828, John Irwin was elected burgess and served from 1829 until 1834. Two burgesses succeeded, Hugh Davis and John Morrison, Davis serving three years and Morrison one. All three have been commemorated in street names. John Irwin declined further political honors.
Of the 47 councilmen who served the borough during those 11 years the street nomenclature reveals but three names, William Robinson, Jr., James Corry and Nicholas Voeghtly. Henry Irwin served as councilman, but his father must be considered as having been the commemorated one in the name, Irwin avenue.
Hugh Davis, William Robinson, Jr., and John Morrison served as treasurer of the borough and Mr. MOrrison as clerk of Council from 1829 to 1833. He was mayor of Allegheny City, 1859–60 and 1865–67.
The organization of the city was by act of the Legislature April 13, 1840, in the quaint phraseology of the day, declaring that it "was enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly met, that the inhabitants of the borough of Allegheny, in the county of Allegheny, be constituted a body politic under the name and style of the 'mayor, aldermen and citizens of Allegheny.'"
Note that it is 76 years since Allegheny City was created. Few can remember the time.
First Allegheny Mayor.
Gen. William Robinson was the first mayor, serving one year, followed by Thomas Sample one year, and he by William B. Foster, father of Stephen C. Foster. Mr. Foster served during 1842 and 1843. Hezekiah Nixon came next for two years, succeeded by Robert S. Cassatt in 1846, followed by Henry Campbell, two years; Jonathan Rush in 1849, and Hugh S. Fleming, 1850 to 1852.
Of these old Alleghenians will recall Nixon street, Rush street and Fleming avenue as instances of local commemoration in street names.
Mayor Cassatt was the father of the late Alexander J. Cassatt, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He was a banker in Pittsburgh and removed to the Pittsburgh side in 1848, locating at Penn and Marbury streets, now Penn avenue and Barbeau street.
Later he removed to Philadelphia and from thence to Europe, remaining six years abroad for the purpose of educating his children. On his return he located in Philadelphia. Here his distinguished son began his career.
There was once a Cassatt street along the hillside above the Pennsylvania tracks in the old Tenth and Eleventh Wards, presumably so named yet. It is regretable [sic] that commemoration could not have been otherwise bestowed upon the Cassatt family and upon the North Side.
Robert S. Cassatt was born in Wheeling, W. VA., in 1805, and came to Pittsburgh with his widowed mother in 1907. In 1847 and 1848 Mr. Cassatt served as president of the Select Council of Allegheny.
This brief sketch of him is presented, not because of the commemoration above noted, but as an example of a better one that might have been, and eminently fitting and proper, too.
Hezekiah Nixon was the predecessor of Mr. Cassatt in the mayoralty chair and preceded him five years as the presiding officer of Select Council. We have at hand a brief biography of Mr. Nixon and recall that Nixon street is an old thoroughfare in the Manchester district of the North Side.
Well-Known Builder.
Mr. Nixon was born in what is now Scott township, Allegheny county, in 1802. His father, Thomas Nixon, was a blacksmith, who married Jane Lea, daughter of Col. Richard Lea of the family that has given its name to Leasdale, Allegheny county.
When young Nixon was 9 years old his father died and he went to live with Robert Bell, a neighboring farmer. When sufficiently old he was apprenticed to his uncle, Robert Lea, and learned the trade of a carpenter, working for several years in his home neighborhood. In 1824 he removed to Allegheny.
It was as a builder that Hezekiah Nixon was best known in his years. He built the rolling mill established by Cowan & Brown at the northwest corner of Penn avenue and Cecil alley, now way, the site later of the old North, or Fourth Ward school.
His next important contract was the erection of the mill of Sylvanus Lothrop, James Anderson and Henry Blake, spoken of last week as the first rolling mill on the North Side, built in 1826–1827. This was at the outlet of the canal at Darragh street on the river bank.
He built also the paper mill for Hurd & Howard on the bank of the Ohio River, in 1831, in lower Allegheny. This was a pioneer plant, that was completely destroyed by fire in 1854 and partially in 1857, was rebuilt each time and was conducted until 1871, when the third fire totally destroyed it. This time the firm did not rebuild.
The "Outlet" Saw Mill.
Mr. Nixon was associated for a number of years with Richard Dewhurst in the firm of Nixon & Dewhurst. Old-timers will remember the saw mill of this firm on the west side of the canal outlet on the land of Neville B. Craig. This was called the "Outlet" saw mill and after 10 years service was destroyed by fire.
Mr. Nixon served nine years in Councils and from 1848–1851 was recorder of deeds for Allegheny county. Upon the expiration of his term he became interested in steam boating and was prominent in river traffic hereabouts.
In 1856, after a gradual failure of sight, he became totally blind and remained so until his death, in December, 1858.
When a young man Mr. Nixon was interested in military matters and joined that crack company of Pittsburgh, the Jackson Independent Blues, serving some years later as captain. In politics Mr. Nixon was first a Federalist, then a Whig and lastly a Republican.
He was a temperance man and strongly opposed to slavery. He was a modest and unassuming man, yet energetic and fearless and a faithful member of the Rev. John T. Pressley's First United Presbyterian Church of Allegheny. In 1851 he was one of the founders of the Third United Presbyterian Church of the North Side.
Mr. Nixon was the father of seven children. His oldest daughter, Harriet, was the first wife of the late Col. Levi Bird Duff. Most of the Nixon family removed to the West, the son, Thomas L. Nixon, becoming prominent as a surveyor and civil engineer in Wichita, Kan. Two children died in infancy. One daughter Agnes, wife of the Rev. Cyrus B. Hatch, lived for many years at Irwin, Pa.
Judge's Recollections.
Judge John E. Parke, who has given us his recollections of a long life spent in Pittsburgh where he was born in 1806, has included in his reminiscences bits of biography of his contemporaries and associates in business. To him we are indebted for much of the above biography.
Judge Parke served as an associate judge, or one not learned in the law, on the common pleas bench of Allegheny county in the early 50s. He lived for many years in the Manchester district, engaged in the manufacture of wagons under the firm name of Phelps, Parke & Co. He was the father of Fred A. Parke and Maj. Frank H. Parke, Fourth Pennsylvania Cavalry.