Lancaster's golden century, 1821-1921; a chronicle of men and women who planned and toiled to build a city strong and beautiful

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1492473

GENEALOGY COLLECTION

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LANCASTER'S''
GOLDEN

CENTURY

1821-1921

c/1 Chronicle of cMen and Women "who

Planned and Toiled to Build a City

Strong and beautiful

WRITTEN AND COMPILED BY

H. M. J. KLEIN

'KOFESSOR OF HISTORY IN FRANKLIN
AND MARSHALL COLLEGE

PUBLISHED BY

HAGER AND BRO,

TO COMMEMORATE

ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF THE HOUSE OF HAGER

APRIL, 192 I

ERECTED 1783-1785. TAKEN DOWN MAY, 1853.

OLD COURT HOUSE

COPYRIGHT, 192 I
HAGER & BROTHER

Wickersham Printing Company

Lancaster, Pa.

1921

1492473

CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER I
The First Hundred Years i

CHAPTER II
The Lancaster of 1 82 1 24

CHAPTER III
A Period of Development 46

CHAPTER IV
James Buchanan, the Citizen 62

CHAPTER V
Lancaster and the Civil War 80

CHAPTER VI
Notable Men and Women . 91

CHAPTER VII
Centenary Firms 105

CHAPTER VIII
The Spirit of Lancaster 122

TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH

LANCASTER'S

GOLDEN

CENTURY

CHAPTER I

THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS

HE story of Lancaster is the narrative of
the rise and growth of a quaint old in-
land colonial town, and of its develop-
ment into a prosperous American city. It is the
story of a community whose roots and springs
run deep into the soil of the past, whose influences
reach far and wide in the shaping of a larger life
for the Commonwealth and the Nation.

So far as is known the first white man to
set foot on Lancaster County soil was a young
Frenchman by the name of Brule who acted as
guide and interpreter of the great explorer,
Samuel Champlain. Early in the eighteenth cen-
tury, French traders came to what is now Lan-
caster County in order to carry on barter with the
Shawanese Indians, located near the mouth of
Pequea creek.

2 LANCASTER S GOLDEN CENTURY

In the days when there was trouble between the
French and English in America, the governor
of the province of Pennsylvania, John Evans,
made several visits to the Indian settlements in
Lancaster County in order to ascertain the loyalty
of the Shawanese to the province of Pennsylvania
and to the interest of Queen Anne.

In 1 709 a colony of Mennonites from the moun-
tain regions of Switzerland occupied the rich lands
along the Conestoga under the leadership of Hans
Herr and began to make Lancaster County the
richest agricultural region in the United States.
Then came the Huguenot families — the Ferree,
LeFevre, DuBois — strong men and women who
located in the Pequea valley and who became the
forebears of some of our most distinguished citi-
zens. They were speedily followed by the Scotch-
Irish and the Quaker, and still later by the
Palatine.

The three original counties of Pennsylvania
were Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester. By an
Act of May 10, 1729, Lancaster County was
separated from Chester, and was given its name
by John Wright, a native of Lancaster, England,
one of the first settlers in this region. When
originally formed, Lancaster County included a
very large area. It has since been gradually re-
duced to its present limits by the establishment of
York, Cumberland, Berks, Northumberland,
Dauphin and Lebanon counties. To-day it in-
cludes 928 square miles, its greatest length from

THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS 3

north to south being 40 miles, and from east to
west about 45 miles. There is perhaps no county
in Pennsylvania possessing such an amount and
variety of the sources of natural wealth. It is
indeed a land flowing with milk and honey.
There are no waste lands ; no worn-out fields. One
must travel far in order to find a more picturesque
spot or a region touched with such a diversity of
physical wealth and beauty or such rich historical
associations as are to be found in this Garden
Spot of the United States.

The radiant loveliness of the country immedi-
ately around Lancaster renders it the most de-
lightful of cities. The beauty of the past goes
with you at every step. Lancaster is a town that
has real claims to antiquity and yet space enough
for nature to flourish at ease. She has long borne
in the history of the State and of the Nation a
distinct position. On her streets has been heard
for well-nigh two centuries the busy hum of men.

Just when the first settlement on the site of
Lancaster City was made is not known. We do
know that Andrew Hamilton owned a large plot
of land which he divided into town lots and sold
on easy ground-rent terms to purchasers. We do
know that some of those who had taken up land
were living here in 1721 — two hundred years ago
— and formed an embryo village called " Hickory
Town " or " Gibson's Pasture ". It is said that
George Gibson kept a tavern in front of which
stood a large hickory tree — after which the town

4 Lancaster's golden century

was named. The town site was said to have been
covered with woods and two swamps known as
** Dark Hazel Swamp " and " Long Swamp " oc-
cupied the lowest ground.

When Andrew Hamilton laid out Lancaster in
1730 on the 500-acre tract of land he owned,
there were two hundred inhabitants in the town.
It was through his son, James Hamilton, that the
village was turned into a borough in i 742. James
Hamilton was a man of considerable prominence
in his day, a member of the provincial assembly,
mayor of Philadelphia, and governor of the
province. That he was wide-awake and liberal
is evidenced by the fact that he donated building
lots to at least eight religious organizations in
Lancaster.

Thomas Cookson, the first Chief Burgess came
from England. In the robing room of St. James'
Episcopal Church is a stone with the following in-
scription upon it : " Here are interred the Remains
of Thomas Cookson (Late of Richmond, in York-
shire, Great Britain), Esquire. He held and dis-
charged with integrity several of the first offices
in this county of Lancaster and thereby, and by
his generous Benefaction to this Church, as well
as many good offices to his Neighbors, he de-
servedly acquired the esteem of mankind. He
died the 20th day of March 1753 aged 43 years."

In the same year in which Lancaster was in-
corporated as a borough. Count Zinzendorf the
great Moravian missionary came to this vicinity

THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS 5

to help the Shawanese Indians. They at first
were alarmed when Zinzendorf and his little com-
pany set up their tents on the banks of the Sus-
quehanna. But his kindly manner and the ar-
rival of Conrad Weiser soon afterward won the
friendship and confidence of the Indians for the
great Zinzendorf.

A Treaty was made in 1744 at Lancaster be-
tween the Chiefs of the Six Nations and the
governors of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Mary-
land. It appears that a Delaware Indian Chief
who had murdered a certain John Armstrong and
his two servants, was arrested and imprisoned at
Lancaster. All disputes between the whites and
the Indians came up for discussion.

During the French and Indian War, Benjamin
Franklin was commissioned to secure hundreds of
wagons and pack horses in order to oppose the
French invasion of Pennsylvania. Many of these
wagons and pack horses were obtained in Lan-
caster and were sent to General Braddock at
Will's Creek. When after Braddock's defeat the
whole frontier was exposed to Indian molestation,
and the savages began to ravage both sides of the
Susquehanna, a block house or wooden fort was
built in Lancaster, and the cloisters of Ephrata
were used as shelter for the white settlers whom
the Indians drove from home.

So indignant were the people of Lancaster for
a time over the neglect of the Provincial As-
sembly to adopt measures which would put a stop

6 LANCASTER S GOLDEN CENTURY

to Indian outrages, that at a public meeting it
was resolved that " they would repair to Phila-
delphia and compel the provincial authorities to
pass proper laws to defend the country and oppose
the enemy." It is said that the dead bodies of
some of the victims of Indian massacre were sent
to that city and hauled about the streets with
placards announcing that these were victims of
the policy of non-resistance. A mob surrounded
the House of Assembly, placed the dead bodies in
the doorway and demanded immediate relief for
the people of the frontiers.

After a period of renewed Indian outrages. Gov-
ernor Denny of Pennsylvania held another Coun-
cil with the Indian Chiefs of the Six Nations at
Lancaster in 1757. During the general alarm
felt in the days of the French and Indian War
people from all parts of Lancaster rallied under
arms for the general defense and performed their
duty on the border, many serving as officers and
soldiers in the battalions which marched with
Forbes and Bouquet to the Ohio. In this list of
Lancaster County men who served in the French
and Indian War are found the names of Shippen,
Grubb, Atlee, Hambright, Reynolds, and a roll
of five Presbyterian clergymen serving as
chaplains.

The Scotch Irish settlers in the Paxton and
Donegal townships had suffered terribly from
Indian outrages during the whole period of the
French and Indian War. The Conestoga Indians

THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS 7

however had not been at war with the whites.
They were considered rather friendly. Bill Sock,
a well-known Conestoga Indian, was probably an
exception. In any case the Paxton boys after
vainly asking protection from the governor and
provincial authorities determined to strike terror
into all Indians by exterminating the Conestoga
tribe. On December 27, 1763 a band of sixty
men called the Paxton boys came into Lancaster,
stormed the jail and workhouse located at the
northeast corner of West King and Prince streets,
and mercilessly massacred the fourteen Indians
confined there for protection.

During the American Revolution Lancaster
took an earnest and patriotic part. With the en-
forcing of the Boston Port Bill which closed the
port of that city, the resentment of every colonist
in America was aroused. Among the first to take
concerted action in response to this outrage were
the people of the borough of Lancaster. A meet-
ing of the inhabitants of the borough took place
at the Court House on June 15, 1774. Though
still professing firm, allegiance to His Most
Gracious Majesty, George the Third, they passed
strong resolutions to unite with all the other
colonists to use the most effectual means to pro-
cure a repeal of the unjust acts of Parliament
against the town of Boston. A committee of
correspondence was appointed, consisting of
Edward Shippen, Esq., George Ross, Esq., Jasper
Yeates, Esq., Matthias Slough, Esq., James Webb,

8 Lancaster's golden century

Esq., William Atlee, Esq., Willianii Henry, Esq.,
Mr. Ludwig Lauman, Mr. William Bausman, and
Mr. Charles Hall.

At a later meeting held July 9, 1774 at which
George Ross presided, the right of Parliament to
tax the colonies without their consent was denied,
and a call was issued for a close union of all the
colonies to resist the oppressive acts of the British
Parliament. The sum of 153 pounds was col-
lected for the relief of the people of Boston.

The people of Lancaster were dead in earnest
in their determination to refuse importation of
British goods. When two merchants were
charged with violating the agreement made at
that meeting by bringing in tea on which the duty
had been paid, the committee at once began in-
vestigation and acquitted the men only after it
was proved that no duty had been paid on tea,
but that it had been seized at the Philadelphia
custom house.

On December 15, 1774 a Committee of Obser-
vation consisting of 76 members was elected at a
meeting of the Freeholders of the County held in
the Court House at Lancaster. The object of the
Committee was to see that the agreement not to
import or export British goods was fully observed.

Six days after the battle of Lexington, news of
the first bloodshed of the Revolution reached Lan-
caster. At once a meeting of the borough com-
mittee was called at the Grape Tavern. By May
I, 1775, it was resolved by the community that

THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS 9

military companies be formed to defend our rights
and liberties with our lives and fortunes. With-
in a week the formation of companies called
"Associators ", began. These troops fought
throughout the whole War of Independence, in
the battles of Long Island, White Plains, Trenton,
Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown and Mon-
mouth. Col. Thompson's Battalion of Riflemen
joined Washington's army at Cambridge, Mass.
in xA^ugust, 1775. In this Battalion were three
officers from Lancaster Borough, Colonel Edward
Hand, Lieuts. David Ziegler and Frederick
Hubley. Capt. Matthew Smith's Company of
Lancaster took part in the invasion of Canada in
1775. Many of Lancaster's troops endured the
hardships of the encampment at Valley Forge
during the winter of IJJJ-I'JJ^. Lieut.-Col.
Adam Hubley of Lancaster and the new nth
.Penna. Regiment formed part of Sullivan's fam-
ous expedition against the Indians in i 779.

On July 4, 1776 a military convention was held
at Lancaster composed of delegates from many
Pennsylvania battalions of Associators for the
purpose of forming a Flying Camp as directed
by the Continental Congress. When the defeat
of the Army of the Americans at Brandywine,
September ii, 1777 made it evident that General
Washington could not prevent the victorious
forces of Gen. Howe from occupying Phila-
delphia, Continental Congress and the Executive
Council of Pennsylvania took measures looking to

10 Lancaster's golden century

an immediate removal to a place of safety. The
British army under Gen. Howe entered Phila-
delphia on the 27th of September. The last
session of the Council prior to that event was
held on the 23rd. Its next meeting was on Wed-
nesday, October 1st at Lancaster where its ses-
sions continued to be held for nearly nine months,
during which time the President of the Council,
the Hon. Thomas Wharton, Jr. died. His body
was interred in the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

The Continental Congress remained in session
in Philadelphia after the battle of Brandy wine
until the 1 8th of September when it adjourned
upon receiving a letter from Col. Hamilton, one
of Gen. Washington's aids, which intimated the
necessity of Congress leaving their place of
deliberation. The members resolved at once to
come to Lancaster where they arrived on the 27th
of Septemlber, the very day on which Gen. Howe
entered Philadelphia. The records and treasury
were removed to Lancaster by way of Reading.
One session of Congress was held here but the
members believing that they might be interrupted
by the enemy resolved to remove Congress to
York.

Christopher Marshall's interesting diary gives
us a delightful picture of war conditions in Lan-
caster during Revolutionary Days. Under
August 24, 1777 he writes: " Wife and I stayed
at home to keep the boys out of the orchard.
(His home was on East Orange St.) After

THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS II

dinner I took a walk with Capt. Markoe to the
barracks; stayed there till the English, Scotch
and Irish prisoners, to the number of two hun-
dred, marched out under a strong guard to
Reading." August 25th: "To the barracks;
waited till our division of Hessian prisoners, con-
sisting of three hundred and forty-five, marched
out under a strong guard (with some women and
baggage wagons, as the prisoners yesterday had
done) for Lebanon. August 26th : " News that
Gen. Washington with half his army and light
horse, passed through Philadelphia on First Day
morning on their way to Wilmington, and that
Howe with his fleet was seen off Eagle Point, but
had not landed. On First Day morning the bell-
man went round this town, calling upon the in-
habitants that had Hessian prisoners, to take them
to the barracks and receive receipts for them, but
very few obeyed." September 12th: "I went
into town, an alarm being spread that some of
Howe's Light Horse had been seen at Pequea
Church, about 18 miles from Lancaster. This
set sundry people to pack up their goods and
some sent them out of town into the country.
Later we learned that the news of the morning
was the lie of the day." September 17th: "It
is said that James Rankin who ran away last week
from his habitation in York County on account
of his being accused of forming a scheme to
destroy all our magazines of ammunition, arms,
tents, baggage, provisions, etc. in Lancaster,

12 Lancaster's golden century

Carlisle, York, Reading, etc. was taken about six-
teen miles from our enemies' camp, and secured,
but where I could not learn." September 20th:
" We sat late conversing on these melancholy
times." September 25th: "Came into town
President Hancock, and some others of the Dele-
gates." September 29th : " Took leave of sundry
of the Congress, who were setting off for York-
town. Many of the inhabitants of Philadelphia
came (to Lancaster) to-day and yesterday, as did
our President or Governor, the Executive Council
and the members of Assembly, who' met here
this day in the Court House."

Many of the Hessians captured by Washing-
ton at Trenton, and many others made prisoners
by Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga were con-
fined at Lancaster. Among the prisoners here
was the unfortunate Major Andre. While here
he signed a parole which read : '' I John Andre,
being a prisoner in the United Colonies of
America do, upon the honor of a gentleman
promise that I will not go into or near any sea-
port town, nor farther than six miles distant from
Lancaster without leave of the Continental Con-
gress or the Committee of Safety of Pennsyl-
vania, and that I will carry on no political cor-
respondence whatever on the subject of the dis-
pute between Great Britain and the Colonies so
long as I remain a prisoner." On these condi-
tions he became a member of the household of
Caleb Cope, on North Lime St. on the north side
of Grant.

TPIE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS 13

Not only prisoners of war, but a great many
wounded American soldiers were brought to Lan-
caster from the battlefield of Brandywine. Over
500 were taken to Ephrata where 150 of them
died.

The story of Lancaster's part in the American
Revolution would not be complete without refer-
ence to Lancaster's signer of the Declaration of
Independence, George Ross. This son of an
Episcopal clergyman, born in New Castle, Dela-
ware, settled in Lancaster in 1751 and became
prosecutor for the King. He became a repre-
sentative in the Pennsylvania Assembly and later
was elected to the first Continental Congress. That
Lancaster appreciated the services of George
Ross is evidenced by the fact that at a public
meeting held in the borough it was resolved that
one hundred and fifty pounds be presented to
George Ross, and that he use the same to purchase
" a genteel piece of plate, ornamented as he thinks
proper, to remain with him as a testimony of the
esteem this county has for him, by reason of his
patriotic conduct in the great struggle for Ameri-
can liberty." Mr. Ross graciously and modestly
declined this liberal and honorable present. A
few months after he signed the Declaration of
Independence, ill health compelled him to leave
Congress. He died in Lancaster in 1779.

When the Ross farm, now known as Rossmere
was laid out into town lots, the old Ross mansion
was torn down. It stood on Ross street between

14 LANCASTER S GOLDEN CENTURY

Shippen and Plum streets. The site is marked
by a pillar and tablet erected by the pro-
prietors of Rossmere, and presented to the Lan-
caster County Historical Society on June 4, 1897.
The tablet bears the following inscription, ** Here
stood the house of George Ross, Signer of the
Declaration of Independence, born 1730, died
1779, Lawyer, Statesman, Patriot." A stained
glass window in St. James' Church also com-
memorates his memory.

Another son of Lancaster who brought dis-
tinction to his native soil in Revolutionary Days
was David Ramsay, the historian. Born in Lan-
caster County in 1749 he began the practice of
medicine in South Carolina, where he ardently
espoused the cause of the patriots, became active
in the provisional free government and when the
Revolutionary War broke out he became a sur-
geon in the military service. He was among the
prisoners captured in Charleston in 1780, and was
closely confined in the fort at St. Augustine. Dr.
Ramsay was a member of Congress from 1 782 to
I J^G and was president of that body for a year.
Both his *' History of the Revolution in South
Carolina " and his " History of the American
Revolution " were translated into the French lan-
guage and published in France. He also wrote
and published a " Life of Washington " and a
" History of the United States " to the close of
the colonial period. Dr. Ramsay because of his
intimate associations with General Green, Ben-

THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS t^

jamin Franklin, and George Washington pos-
sessed greater facilities for procuring materials
for the history of the Revolution than any other
individual in the United States. Dr. Ramsay
was shot in the back and slain by the bullet of
a maniac, within sight of his own door in Broad
Street, Philadelphia, in 1815.

William Henry was another of Lancaster's dis-
tinguished sons in Revolutionary Days. For
many years he conducted a gun factory at the
southeast corner of Centre Square. He became
one of the most active men of Lancaster to espouse
the cause of the colonies. He was engaged by the
general committee of safety to manufacture and
repair arms for the continental army. During
the Revolution the house of Mr. Henry was a
place of resort for men of culture and prominence.
While the British held Philadelphia, David
Rittenhouse, the philosopher, then State Treas-
urer, Thomas Paine, author of the '' Rights of
Man," John Hart, a member of the Executive
Council were guests at the house of Mr. Henry.
It was during the time that Thomas Paine was
stopping at the house of Mr. Henry that he wrote
No. 5 of his celebrated political treatises, the
" Crisis ". Mr. Henry was commissary of the
regiment of troops raised in Lancaster County
and was destined to reinforce Arnold at Boston.
He was a member of the Continental Congress
from 1784 to 1786. It was said of him that he
first recognized in the youthful Benjamin West a

i6 Lancaster's golden century

genius of high order, and that he suggested to
West his first masterpiece " The Death of So-
crates." When West confessed that he knew
nothing of Socrates, Mr. Henry went to his library
and took down a volume of the English trans-
lation of Plutarch and convinced the artist of the
fitness of the theme which afterwards made West
famous.

Judge John Joseph Henry was the son of Wil-
liam Henry. In the fall of 1775 he secretly
joined a regiment raised in Lancaster County for
the purpose of joining Arnold, who at that time
was stationed at Boston. When the boy was but
seventeen years of age, his regiment entered
Canada and endured hardships there which young
Henry has immortalized in his history of the cam-
paign against Quebec. He was later appointed
by Governor Mifflin Judge of the Second
Judicial District of Pennsylvania, and held the
position for seventeen years.

The greatest military hero of Lancaster during
the Revolution, however, was General Edward
Hand. This native of Ireland, surgeon in the Royal
Irish regiment, sailed with his regiment from Cork
in 1767 and arrived at Philadelphia. In 1774
he came with a recommendation to Lancaster in
order to practice his profession. In 1775 he en-
tered the Continental service. In 1777 he was
chosen Colonel of the first regiment of Pennsyl-
vania riflemen, famous for its exploits during the
Revolution. He was raised to the grade of

THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS 17

Brigadier General and subsequently to that of
Adjutant General. He fought in the Battles of
Trenton and Long Island. He succeeded Gen-
eral Stark in command at Albany in 1778 and
accompanied General Sullivan in the expedition
against the Six Nations in I 780. He was a mem-
ber of Continental Congress in 1784 and lyS^.
A man of soldierly presence, a fine horseman, an
able commander. General Hand was a distin-
guished figure. His home " Rockford " still
stands on the Conestoga river in the southeastern
part of the city. Under the roof of this hospitable
mansion, many of the soldiers and civilians fam-
ous in the early annals of our nation found shelter
and congenial companionship.

Edward Hand was elected chief burgess of
Lancaster in 1 789. It is from a famous letter
that he wrote during this period tliat we get our
real light on the status of Lancaster at the time
our national government came into existence. He
put forth the claims of Lancaster for the honor
of the nation's capital. It must be born in mind
that Lancaster in 1789 was the largest inland
town in the United States.

General Hand wrote to Congress, " Should the
general interests of the Union point out an inland,
central situation as preferable to a seaport for the
future residence of your Honorable Body, We
humbly offer ourselves as candidates for that dis-
tinguished honor. As an inland town, we do not
consider ourselves inferior to any within the

iS Lancaster's golden centurV

Dominion of the United States. The Borough
of Lancaster is a square encompassing a portion
of ground one mile in length from the centre
(the court house) by the main streets which inter-
sect at right angles. We have five public build-
ings, including an elegant court house, fifty by
forty-eight feet. There are several places of wor-
ship besides a temporary synagogue, belonging
to the respective societies of Episcopalian, Pres-
byterian, Lutherans, Reformed Church of Heidel-
berg, Moravian, Quakers and Catholics. Within
the compass of the borough an enumeration of
dwellings was actually taken in 1786 and the
number then built was 678. Many of the houses
are large and elegant, and would in our idea, ac-
commodate Congress and their suite at this period
without inconvenience. Boarding and lodging
are to be had at very easy rates. According to
the best computation we can make there are with-
in this borough about 4200 souls."

''The industries of the town are (1789) — 14
hatters, 36 shoemakers, 4 tanners, 17 saddlers, 25
tailors, 22 butchers, 25 weavers, 25 blacksmiths,
12 public bakers, 30 carpenters, 11 coopers, 6
dyers, 7 gunsmiths, 5 ropemakers, 5 tinners, 2
brass founders, 3 skindressers, I brushmaker, 7
turners, 7 nailors, 5 silversmiths, 3 potters, 3 cop-
persmiths, 3 breweries, 3 brickyards, 3 printing
presses, and 40 houses of public entertainment
within the borough."

The close of the Revolution marked the be-

THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS IQ

ginning of numerous institutions of higher learn-
ing. In this movement Lancaster shared in the
founding of Franklin College. Twelve men of
national prominence took the initiative in found-
ing a College in Lancaster because of the central
and healthy situation of the place, the character
of its inhabitants, the convenience with which
students of every description might be accommo-
dated with board and lodging and the probability
that the necessary buildings might be secured at
a moderate expense.

From the profound respect for the character
of His Excellency the President of the State, the
institution was called Franklin College. The
petition was signed by Thomas McKean, a
signer of the Declaration of Independence, Chief
Justice of Pennsylvania from 1777 to 1799 and
governor of the state from 1799 to 1808 ; by Peter
Muhlenberg, the soldier preacher of the Revolu-
tion, a major general in the American Army and
later a noted United States Senator; by Benjamin
Rush, one of the most eminent men of the Revolu-
tion and of the generation following, a signer
of the Declaration of Independence, a surgeon in
the American Army, a writer and philanthropist
of wide renown; and by other men of equal dis-
tinction. That the petitioners were justified in
their statement that they had prospects of obtain-
ing funds to carry out their designs is seen in the
first subscription list of Franklin College which
is headed by his Excellency Benjamin Franklin,

:S6 Lancaster's golden centurV

Esq. with a subscription of 200 pounds, followed
by the names of Robert Morris, Peter Muhlenberg
and others. The Legislature of Pennsylvania
granted a charter to Franklin College on the lOth
of March, 1787.

Among the first trustees of Franklin College,
four. Rush, McKean, Clymer and Morris had
been signers of the Declaration of Independence,
a number of them, Muhlenberg, Mifflin, Daniel
and Joseph Hiester, Chambers, Farmer, Craw-
ford, had been officers in the Revolutionary War.
Mifflin, McKean and Joseph Hiester became gov-
ernors of Pennsylvania. Several of the trustees
became senators of the United States. A number
were prominent citizens of Lancaster, Casper
Schaffner, Jasper Yeates and others.

Almost all the members of the Board of Trus-
tees of Franklin College were present at the first
meeting, a long line of carriages bringing many
of them over 66 miles of road from Philadelphia.
Benjamin Franklin then 81 years of age left his
activities as a member of the Constitutional Con-
vention meeting in Philadelphia, to be present at
the dedication of the college to be named in his
honor. The first faculty of Franklin College was
composed of men concerning whom Benjamin
Rush said that a cluster of more learned or better
qualified masters had not met in any university.

In the spring of 1791 George Washington then
President of the new union of the United States
left his home in Philadelphia to make a tour

THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS 21

through all the Southern states. On his return
he stopped at Lancaster. His visit fell on the
fifteenth anniversary of American Independence,
so, on July 4, I 791, he joined with our city fathers
in the celebration of that important event. Al-
though much feted and elaborately entertained
by public demonstrations, Washington found time
in the afternoon to visit his old friends, General
and Mrs. Hand, at their home ** Rockford."

On the 14th of December, 1799 when George
Washington died, there was a solemn procession
through the streets of Lancaster as soon as the
news arrived here. While the entire nation was
mourning the loss of Washington, the State of
Pennsylvania was called upon to lament the death
of its first governor, Thomas Mifflin. This
splendid ex-governor and Quaker General of the
Revolutionary Army died in Lancaster, while
serving as a member of the Legislature, this city
being then the capital of the state. Mifflin was
buried on the 22d of January, 1800, just out-
side the west wall of Trinity Church, beneath
the humble tablet placed there, at a later date,
to transmit his memory and mark his resting place.

Lancaster was the capital of Pennsylvania from
1799 to 1 812 when the state capital was removed
to Harrisburg. The State Legislature met in the
Court House, which at that time was also known
as the State House. The present Court House
at the corner of East King and Duke Streets is
the third Court House Lancaster has had. Even

22 Lancaster's golden century

before the first one was built the courts were held
at different taverns. The first court house was
begun in 1736 and finished in 1 739. It was a
two-story brick structure and stood in the centre
of the square where the Soldier's Monument now
stands. The floor was laid with brick. There
was a steeple on it and about 1756 a clock was
placed in the belfry. This Court House was de-
stroyed by fire in I 784. A new and more impos-
ing structure was at once built on the site of the
one destroyed. It was in this second Court House
that the State Legislature met. The third and
present Court House was built in 1852 and com-
pleted in 1854.

During the War of 181 2 a large number of sol-
diers from Lancaster County entered the service.
When there was a general apprehension that the
British were preparing to invade Maryland and
Delaware, a Lancaster County battalion of several
companies marched to Elkton, Maryland. Among
the troops on that expedition was the Lancaster
Phalanx commanded by Captain James Humes.
Captain John Hubley also commanded a company
from Lancaster. During the British invasion of
Maryland and attack on Baltimore, Governor
Simon Snyder called out the militia of Lancaster
and neighboring counties to the number of 5,000
men. The capture and burning of Washington
brought out many volunteers from Lancaster
County, but the services of many of the troops
were not required for actual fighting.

THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS

23

On petition of the citizens, Lancaster after a
period of seventy-six years under burgess rule,
was incorporated as a city by a charter granted
by Act of the State Legislature in 181 8. The
meeting of the burgesses which for three quarters
of a century had been held at the house of one
Jacob Frey, forthwith ceased. Fifteen members
of Common Council and nine members of Select
Council were elected, and John Passmore became
the first mayor of the newly incorporated city of
Lancaster. The Old had passed away and there
was great promise for the New. Such is the story
from Brule to Passmore — a period of exactly two
hundred years.

GENERAL HANp'S HOUSE;

OLD HOUSES ON MIDDLE STREET

CHAPTER II

THE LANCASTER OF 1 82 I

OR Americans, the noteworthy events
of the year 1821 seem to have been
the inauguration of President Monroe,
and the admission of Missouri to state-
hood. The United States had 10,000,000 inhabi-
tants, of which more than one-tenth lived in the
State of Pennsylvania. The State of Illinois had
only 55,000. The list of taxables in Lancaster
County was 13,560 whites, and 14 slaves. James
Buchanan was our represenative in Congress,
Joseph Hiester was Governor of the State, and
Samuel Carpenter, Mayor of the City of Lancaster.
The sheriff of course was an important county
official in those days. He took the duties of his
office very seriously. It is recorded that a certain

THE LANCASTER OF 1 82 1 25

John Lechler tried and found guilty of murder
was executed by authority of the sheriff on the
commons west of the city of Lancaster. The poor
fellow w^as walked on foot in dress parade from
the jail to the place of execution escorted by the
City Guards, the Lancaster Phalanx, the Lan-
caster Greens, and accompanied by the City Band.
Two troops of cavalry and the Leacock Phalanx
from the county attended on the ground and
formed a guard round the gallows before the
criminal arrived. It is estimated that at least
15,000 people were present. Truly the sheriff
must have been in his glory on that day. Fifteen
thousand people ! Lancaster City at the time
had but 1600 taxables, and a population of 8,000
souls.

The central feature of Lancaster in 1821 was
the Court House in Centre Square. From this
Court House there radiated the several streets
as one still finds them to-day. At the north-
east corner of West King and Prince Streets
was the branch Bank of Philadelphia which had
been opened in 1803. On East King Street
was to be found the Farmers Bank of Lan-
caster. This property at the corner of Duke
and East King streets had been purchased from
Mr. Philip Reigart in 1814. The Demuth
Tobacco Store, the oldest of its kind in the United
States, had been doing business at 114 East King
street since 1770. Just a few doors west of the
Farmers Bank, J. F. Heinitsh was advertising

26 Lancaster's golden century

" Fresh and Genuine Drugs and Medicines, Dye
Stuffs." John Frederick Steinman was conduct-"
ing the hardware store on West King street, which
had been opened as far back as 1 744, and which is
still in existence. Across the street C. Hager
and Co. was advertising " Fresh Fall Goods,
Queensware and Groceries." On West King street
the Lancaster Journal was printed by John
Reynolds. On East King street, the Pennsylvania
Gazette was published every Tuesday by Hugh
Maxwell. Books and stationery were also for
sale at the Gazette office. The Lancaster Intelli-
gencer was published weekly on North Queen
street by William Dickson. Books, pamphlets and
handbills were to be had at the Lancaster Journal
office, sign of Franklin's Head, West King street
The most pretentious building in the community
was probably the four-story stone house com-
monly called. The Lancaster Cotton Factory,
seventy by forty feet on the Conestoga Creek one
mile from the centre of the city. George Hoff
advertised himself as clock and watch maker on
East King street while his wife sold an assortment
of leghorn and straw bonnets for ladies in the
same store. Hats and shoes could be bought on
West King street next door to the Sign of the
Lamb. On the northeast corner of Centre Square
next door to the Post Office, John Getz the Cop-
persmith, Sheet Iron and Tin Plate Worker, sold
stills, copper and brass kettles. A Starch Factory
had been started by John W, Field just arrived

THE LANCASTER OF 1 82 1 27

from England. This factory was opened in the
house next to that formerly occupied by Dr. Daly.
John Riddle had a barber and hairdressing es-
tablishment next door but one west of Mr. Slay-
maker's Inn on East King street. Hoffnagle and
Hubley commission merchants were to be found
on North Queen street near the Court House.
John Moderwel, coach and harness maker, was
located at King and Lime streets. At the south-
east corner of Centre Square, Ober and Kline
were selling fresh juniper berries and dyestuffs.
John Doersh, bookbinder and paperhanger, was
located on South Queen street directly opposite
Robert Wilson's Tavern. George Bomberger's
store was to be found on East King street three
doors below the sign of the Ship, nearly opposite
the house of Dr. Abraham Carpenter. Mr.
McMillan on North Queen street near the Court
House was handling spectacles and whips.
Augustus J. Kuhn informed the citizens of Lan-
caster that he had just procured machinery for
preparing seltzer and soda waters. The principal
improvement " consists in extracting the atmos-
pheric air from the water, rendering it more
salubrious and pleasant." Soda with syrup, 6j4
cents, soda plain 3 cents.

Another ambitious business man informed the
inhabitants of Lancaster that he has just returned
from Philadelphia with the latest fashions, and
that he could make a suit of clothes in five hours,
if required. One of the stores advertised superior

2S LANCASTER'S GOLDEN CENTURY

quills and neat small pewter inkstands. Thus it
is seen that there were a goodly number of stores
in Lancaster in 1821.

A number of private schools were in existence
in Lancaster during this period. Many of them
were of a rather primitive nature. A self-
appointed teacher would advertise for example
that " he proposed to teach the young ladies and
gentlemen of the community the polite art of
writing." Another offered to teach the art of pen-
manship in verse, and English Grammar to be
imparted in verse. John Webb opened his school
April 3rd on South Queen street, and offered to
teach reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar,
bookkeeping, geography. Terms of tuition per
quarter were two and three dollars. Edward
Clarke, long a teacher in Philadelphia, opened a
school in September on North Prince street. Mr.
Williams had a Penmanship and Drawing
Academy on North Queen street. A Mr. and
Mrs. Quinan opened an English and French
school. A special school for young ladies was
conducted by Sarah Armstrong on Queen street,
second square north of the Court House. The
Thomas school for young children was to be
found " half a square east of Metzgar's Tavern."
A circulating library was conducted by Miss
Jordan in the house formerly occupied by Mr.
Joseph Smith coachmaker, East King street. The
library fee was three dollars a year. Franklin
College seems at this period to have been in a, rnore

THE LANCASTER OF 1 82 1 29

or less moribund condition. Within a few years
however the Lancaster County Academy was
founded which once more gave Lancaster a classi-
cal school. A lot of ground was procured at the
northeast corner of Orange and Lime streets on
which the Academy Building was erected. The
Lancaster County Academy was later merged in
Franklin College.

In speaking of the early schools of Lancaster
of course mention must be made of the Moravian
Schools of Lititz, of the Seventh Day Advent
Schools of Ephrata, of the Episcopal Church
School at Caernarvon, of the Presbyterian Classi-
cal Schools in Salisbury, Donegal and Drumore,
and of the parochial schools of other denomin-
ations. A public school on what was known as
the Lancastrian plan was opened in the city of
Lancaster in 1823. It was considered an institu-
tion of high repute in its day. General Lafayette
visited it when he w^as lionized in Lancaster in
1825. The building is still used to-day for
School Administrative purposes. It stands at the
corner of West Chestnut and Prince streets.

Young people seem to have had plenty of
amusement in Lancaster in 1821. There were al-
ways the simple games that our forefathers knew,
corner ball, rail pitching, sledge tossing and
quoits. Then there were the singing schools dur-
ing winter. For those who were more frivolously
inclined there were the balls and., the cotillion
parties. Then there was the Annual Festival of

30 Lancaster's golden century

Harvest Home " where the sons and daughters of
freedom and those who are friendly to innocent
pleasure and festive gaity are invited. The
tavern-keepers," so reads the notice, *' have pro-
vided themselves with everything that can ren-
der the hilarity of the day agreeable." Or there
was what was known as the Yearly Market, when
long rooms were cleared for the lightsome dance,
and a goodly assortment of gingerbread, raisins,
figs and pickled oysters were served to festive
guests. Or one could attend the Lancaster
Theatre on Orange street. One of the plays given
in the Lancaster Theatre was called " Point of
Honor " or a " School for Soldiers." In the
third act there was a military procession prepara-
tory to the execution of a deserter. After the
three acts of this melodrama, there was a musical
farce in two acts called '' Lock and Key " with
songs and duets. Two songs that were sung were
entitled '* When Freedom on the foaming main,"
and '* When left to themselves, girls are mischiev-
ous elves." The doors opened at 6.30 and the
curtain rose at 7.00.

Or if the devotee of pleasure in the second
and third decade of the nineteenth centuiy in
Lancaster wanted to see something even more
exciting he could go to the Lancaster Museum, and
see the " Wonders of Nature and Art." This
institution was brilliantly illuminated on Tues-
day and Friday nights, the nights of illumination.
There for twelve cents and a half, he could see

THE LANCASTER OF 1821 Jt

shells from the West Indies, and a number col-
lected by the Proprietor John Landis * on his late
visit to the sea-shore.' Aquatic and other birds,
fish * well worth the attention of the curious ',
insects some of which were singularly interesting,
a large elk, a wild cat, an African ape and a bear
added to the value of the museum. There were
also a number of wax figures depicting Biblical
scenes. The fatal duel between Decatur and
Barron was staged in wax, the group representing
the parties immediately after they had fired,
Decatur mortally wounded in the arms of his
friend Col. Bainbridge, and Barron danger-
ously wounded in the arms of Captain Elliott.
In place of " movies " they had a magic lantern
show, advertised as a *' Phantasmagoria."
Opposite the Lancaster Museum was Allen's
Lottery and Exchange Office. Here tickets could
be bought and shares in a variety of numbers of
the Grand State Lottery. On Washington's
Birthday the lottery distributed the sum of
$250,000, including a first prize of $100,000.
The means of transportation was by stage
coach. A line connected Chambersburg, Carlisle,
Harrisburg, Lancaster and Philadelphia. The
stage left Red Lion Market House, Philadelphia
at half past six in the morning for Lancaster, and
another left Mr. Cooper's sign of the Red Lion
for Philadelphia every morning at half past six.
Three times a week the stage left Mr. Cooper's for
Harrisburg and the following days left Mr.

3^ Lancaster's golden century

Schock's Harrisburg for Lancaster at seven in
the morning. The fare from Philadelphia to
Lancaster was three dollars and from Lancaster
to Harrisburg was two dollars.

The winter of 1821 was considered a hard
winter. One citizen writes '* That the times are
hard, the taxes heavy, money scarce and that the
improvement of the city ought not to stand still
are truths which we admit." The Lancaster
Benevolent Society in acknowledging a rather
modest contribution in November, 182 1 says "At
a time like the present when we are surrounded
with so much sickness and distress, and such re-
peated applications are made to charitable citizens,
the society felt a delicacy in obtruding themselves
upon the notice of the public, and they almost be-
gan to despair of being able to provide any flannel
or wood for the approaching winter."

The accounts of the Treasurer of the City of
Lancaster, George Weizel show that from Janu-
ary, 1 82 1 to January, 1822 he received a total of
$3,600.92 of which sum, $12 was received for
licenses granted for exhibiting strange animals,
$118 for butchers on account of shamble rent,
$6.08 from clerk of market, for butter under-
weight seized and sold. The expenditures con-
sisted of pay for night watchmen, rattles for use of
night watchmen, lamp-posts, wicks, torch yarn,
fuel for watch boxes, paving gutters and foot-
walks, painting and lettering index boards.

What was known as the American System of

The LANCASTER OF l82t 3^

Henry Clay was making itself felt all over the
nation just one hundred years ago. It was a
demand for home manufacture. That demand
was echoed in Lancaster in the following state-
ment found in one of the Lancaster newspapers
of that period : " We continue to purchase manu-
factures from Europe because we think we can
buy them cheaper than make them. This policy
cannot last. The period is rapidly hastening
when we will be obliged to abridge our wants or
supply them from our own resources. We will
have to work our own iron mines, grow and
manufacture our own wool and flax and by these
means create employment for our citizens and a
home market for our agricultural products."
This demand for home manufactured products
made itself strongly felt in Lancaster at an
early date.

There was another way in which patriotism
manifested itself a hundred years ago. That
was by the public demonstrations of the military
companies. Throughout the city and the county
there were to be found many military organiza-
tions, frequent parades, and annual election of
captain and lieutenants. There was the Leacock
Phalanx, the City Guards, the Lancaster Greens,
the volunteers and enrolled militia composing the
First Brigade of the Fourth Division of Penn-
sylvania, the Strasburg Independent Blues, the
Lancaster County Light Dragoons, the Volunteer
Troop of Cavalry formed in the bounds of the

34 Lancaster's golden cfiNTURV

35th Regiment, and the Union Troop. These
state and local military companies were neces-
sary. For in January, 1820 the whole United
States Army consisted of only 8,184 men.

The Fourth of July celebrations were the oc-
casion for wonderful demonstrations and en-
thusiastic banquets in those days. In George
Washington's Diary there is an interesting ac-
count of a 4th of July which he spent in Lan-
caster 130 years ago. He arrived here from York
at 6 o'clock on the evening of July 3rd escorted
from Wright's Ferry by General Hand and many
of the principal characters of Lancaster. It was
a rare honor for Lancaster to entertain His Ex-
cellency, The President of the United States on
the Anniversary of American Independence.
Washington wrote in his diary: "At Lancaster:
July 4, 1 791. This being the Anniversary of
American Independence and being kindly re-
quested to do it, I agreed to halt here this day
and partake of the entertainment which was pre-
paring for the celebration of it. In the forenoon
I walked about the town. At half past 2 o'clock
I received and answered an address from the Cor-
poration and the Compliments of the Clergy of
different denominations — dined between 3 and 4
o'clock — drank tea with Mrs. Hand." According
to Claypoole's Daily Advertiser ''At three o'clock
President Washington and a very large number of
citizens, sat down to an elegant entertainment,
provided for the occasion, in the court-house."

i

THE LANCASTER OF 1 82 1 35

The following are a few records of Independence
Day celebrations one hundred years ago. The
*' Paradise Hornet " — strange to find a hornet
in Paradise — records that the " Union Troop of
Cavalry commanded by Captain J. Moore met at
the house of Mr. Isaac Smoker on the turnpike
for the purpose of celebrating the birthday of
American Independence where they partook of
an elegant repast. After the cloth was removed
toasts accompanied by cheers and plaudits of the
company were drank, when the members of the
company returned to their respective homes in
perfect harmony." 1 4-924-^3

The toasts drank on theFourtli 01 July of each
year were generally considered as indication of
popular feeling on political subjects. One of the
cleverest toasts ran something like this : ** The army
which never pulled a trigger or pushed a bayonet
against the rights of man — the Army of the
United States." Another to the Fair Sex ran :
*' Let them give us their affections, and we will
protect them with our arms." Among the toasts
given at the Fourth of July banquet of the Lan-
caster County Light Dragoons commanded by
Captain Diller was one to the Legislature of
Pennsylvania which was worded thus : " While
taking care of themselves may they not forget
to take care of volunteers and militia. Lexing-
ton and New Orleans have proved their worth."
Two other toasts ran as follows : *' Lancaster
County, The Garden of America, May her agri-

36 Lancaster's golden century

culturalists reap the benefit of their labors."
" Kosciusko of Poland, De La Fayette of France
and Washington of America, a trio of freemen
engaged in the cause of American Independence."

Fourth of July was really the great day of the
year. When the clock struck seven a merry peal
from the Cotton Factory bell proclaimed the
breakfast hour. In a little time, discharge of
cannon and volleys of musketry followed. Then
came martial music and the parades. At one
o'clock dinner with copious libations.

These dinners were usually held at some of the
numerous taverns which had helped to give Lan-
caster a far spread fame for hospitality. There
was the Indian Queen, the Black Horse, the Sign
of the Fox Chase, Cross Keys, Rising Sun, Sign
of the Lamb, Sign of the Wagon, The Swan, the
Leopard, the Grape, Sign of the Anchor. Lan-
caster had many famous hostelries in the olden
days. The landlords and innkeepers were often
men of prominence and intelligence. During the
Revolution the Supreme Executive Council of
Pennsylvania and the Committee of Correspond-
ence and Observation met at '* The Grape Inn."
Tradition also says that Washington was a guest
at the '' Grape " when in Lancaster. Buchanan
always made it his headquarters. The " Cross
Keys " was the resort of the Quakers. Lafayette
stopped at the '* State Arms " of which Henry
Slaymaker was proprietor.

In 182 1, Lancaster had a number of churches,

THE LANCASTER OF 1 82 I

37

representing a diversity of religious views, and
yet in spite of all this, the community has always
been wonderfully free from religious controversy.
The Mennonites, who were among the very first
to come to the county, under the leadership of
Hans Herr, and who became the first regularly
organized denomination in the county, had thous-
ands of members scattered through the city and
county of Lancaster, one hundred years ago. The
Amish, then as now, met in private houses. The
Friends or Quakers had at least a half dozen
meeting houses.

The Lutherans had come to Lancaster prior to
1 730. The year of Lancaster's incorporation was
the year of the Founding of Trinity Lutheran
Church. The first church started in 1734 and
dedicated in 1738 stood on the site now occupied
by Trinity Chapel. When the Church of the
Holy Trinity was rebuilt in 1766, Dr. Henry
Melchior Muhlenberg preached the sermon. In
this old church, the pipe organ, the frame of which
is still one of the ornaments, was considered one
of the magnificent instruments of the time. Con-
cerning it a British prisoner in Lancaster in 1778
wrote " The largest pipe organ in America is now
in use at the Lutheran Church." Some of the
officers went to see this wonderful piece of me-
chanism, and sent descriptions of it to their
homes. The manufacturer had made every part
of it with his own hands. It is in this church
that Thomas Wharton, President of the Su-

38 Lancaster's golden century

preme Executive Council of Pennsylvania was
buried with military honors in 1778; the pas-
tor of this church, Dr. G. H. E. Muhlenberg
was the first President of Franklin College
in 1787; here Thomas Mifflin, the first Gov-
ernor of Pennsylvania, was buried in 1800. In
1 82 1 the Rev. C. L. F. Endress was pastor.
He was a man of fine literary culture, a fin-
ished classical scholar, an author of no mean
ability and a preacher of rare power. In 191 1,
Trinity celebrated the 150th anniversary of the
laying of the corner stone of its present hand-
some house of worship. Old Trinity church has
been one of Lancaster's central landmarks for
generations past.

The people of the Reformed Church had come
into Lancaster early in the eighteenth century.
The Ferrees, members of the Reformed Walloon
Church settled in Lancaster County in 1712.
With the Ferrees came Isaac Le Fever and
brought with him his French Bible. In 1727
a number of Palatines came. As early as 1730
a congregation was organized at Lancaster and
several other parts of the county. Before long
Rev. Michael Schlatter of St. Gall, Switzerland
came to America, and visited among other
churches, those in Lancaster city and county. The
first church edifice was dedicated in 1736. The
earliest extant records are entitled : " Church Pro-
tocol of the newly built Reformed church, here in
the island of Pennsylvania, in Cannastoken, in the

THE LANCASTER OF 1 82 1 39

new town named Lancaster." The record says,
'' Now as regards the building of this, our church,
the beginning was made in the year 1736, and it
was so far completed that on the 20th of June,
1736 upon the festival of Whitsuntide we held
divine worship in it for the first time. This
first church was a log building. It stood on
the rear of the lot, near what is now the
corner of Grant and Christian streets. The
old log church was displaced by a second edifice
in 1753. There is a tradition that the bell
of the church when it was first procured hung for
sometime upon a hickory tree in the neighborhood
of Centre Square (probably the famed hickory
tree where the Indians are said to have held their
council), and was rung there until the steeple
was built for it. In 1821 the pastor of the First
Reformed church was the Reverend John Henry
Hoffmeier. It is an interesting fact that there is
still living in Lancaster a woman 97 years of age,
who was baptized by Father Hoflfmeier. He was
a man of fine spirit, serving here in Lancaster for
25 years, from 1806 to 1 83 1. A marble panel
in his memory is one of the ornaments of the
present First Reformed church. The present
church building with its handsome twin spires was
erected in 1852.

The Moravians were already settled in Lan-
caster in 1 742, when Count Zinzendorf then head
of the church, on his visit to America came to this
city and preached in the old Lancaster Court

40 Lancaster's golden century

House, '' where he made such an impression that
many people asked him to send them a regular
preacher of his denomination." Bishop Spangen-
berg presided at a meeting in the Lancaster Court
House in 1745, after which the Moravians of
Lancaster organized themselves into a congrega-
tion and planned to build their own house of
worship. They owned a large tract of valuable
land on Prince street which they turned into a
cemetery, and purchased additional lots from the
original Hamilton estate on the south side of
Orange street from Market street westward, on
which they erected a plain stone building. A
new brick structure was built in 1820. The ori-
ginal cornerstone of the first building is still to
be seen on the southeastern upper corner of the
present structure. In fact the old stone build-
ing is still standing and is " the oldest church
building left standing in the city, one of the few
old landmarks that have not succumbed to the
ravages of time, nor been defaced by the ruthless
hand of so-called improvement." Dr. J. Max
Hark in his History of the Old Moravian Chapel
says *' Here, that gentle missionary hero, old John
Heckewelder, more than once delighted the
scholars of the school with his interesting talks
to them about his own experiences with the In-
dians. Here David Zeisberger addressed our
fathers and thrilled them with his own zeal and
love for his " dear brown hearts," and once at
least there came with him that knight errant of

THE LANCASTER OF 1 82 1 4 1

the mission field Frederick Post. It was in Au-
gust, 1762 when a great Indian Treaty was be-
ing held in this city. Our two missionaries came
at the head of no less than 30 Indians, while 300
more, from all parts of the Province, were gath-
ered together in an encampment just west of the
town, and nightly terrified the inhabitants by the
hideous noise of their drunken carousals. One
evening these savages startled the little congre-
gation exceedingly by appearing during the even-
ing service and filling all the windows with their
swarthy faces, some of them having large knives
in their hands." In 1821 the Rev. Samuel Renike
was pastor here.

St. James Parish of the Episcopal Church, or-
ganized in 1744 built its first structure in 1750,
and erected a new church building in 1820, the
southeast corner of the new building resting on
the old foundation. It is said that when Bishop
White dedicated the church on Sunday, October
15, 1820 he wore the attire of an English Bishop,
black silk stockings and silver shoe buckles. The
name of William Augustus Muhlenberg, Rector
of St. James Parish, will always be linked with all
that is best in the life of old Lancaster. It was
largely through his efforts that a better school
system was introduced into the city. The story goes
too that in St. James' churchyard lie tu^o sisters
who died in early womanhood, both noted for
their beauty and character, one of whom might
have become the wife of James Buchanan, the

42 Lancaster's golden century

other of William A. Muhlenberg, but for the un-
willingness of their father, whose displeasure had
been incurred by Mr. Muhlenberg because of the
institution of an evening service. There is a record
to the effect that when the Orphan Asylum in
Philadelphia burned to the ground, the Episcopal
Church of Lancaster raised 300 dollars on Janu-
ary 31, 1822 to rebuild the institution.

The Presbyterians had organized their congre-
gation in Lancaster as early as 1763, and while
their meeting house was being built on East
Orange street on land granted by James Hamil-
ton, the congregation met in the Court House.
Rev. Mr. Sample was pastor for forty years, from
1780 to 1820, dividing his ministrations between
the Presbyterian churches of Leacock, Lancaster
and Middle Octorara. In 1820 the church was
enlarged and improved. A newspaper of April
20, 1820 reports that " Divine Service may be ex-
pected in the English Presbyterian meeting house
in this city (the enlargement and alteration of
which is now nearly completed) on the first
Sabbath in May next at the usual hours." In
1 82 1 Rev. Wm. Ashmead was pastor.

The first regular mission of the Roman Catholic
Church in Lancaster was established by Jesuit
Missionaries from Maryland, who visited an
Indian trading post in this county, as early as
1 730. The first church they erected in Lancaster
was a log chapel. The church at Lancaster was first
called " The Mission of St. John Nepomucene."

THE LANCASTER OF 1 821 43

It is not known just when the name was changed
to *'St. Mary's of the Assumption." In 1821
Father Holland was one of the two priests serving
the parish. This man has an interesting history.
Robert J. Thompson living on South Queen street
had an attack of yellow fever. When scarcely any
body would attend to his wants during his brief
illness, the Rev. J.J. Holland, pastor of St. Mary's
church, ministered to his wants, also contracted
the disease, and died universally lamented. In
St. Mary's cemetery a time-worn marble tomb
marks the resting place of this young martyr-
priest of St. Mary's, who at the age of 37 laid
down his life for another. He was succeeded
by Rev. Bernard Keenan who served St. Mary's
Parish for a period of fifty-four years, and who
according to an authoritative historian, ''endeared
himself to all classes, both Catholics and Protes-
tants, by his actions and languages, and by a
beautiful charity."

Methodist ministers first came to Lancaster
County in 178 1 and formed the Lancaster Circuit
a year later, under the appointment of Rev.
William Partridge. In the city of Lancaster the
Rev. Jacob Gruber preached occasionally about
1805. The first regular service held in town was
at the house of Philip Benedict by Rev. Henry
Boehm in 1807. A number of circuit preachers
followed. In 182 1 the Methodists had no regu-
lar church home in Lancaster. For a time they
held service in a room over the market house,
in the public square on Market street.

44 LANCASTER'S GOLDEN CENTlTRY

The Hebrew congregation in Lancaster has a
history that is older than is commonly supposed.
They had a society here prior to 1747. In that
year the borough of Lancaster conveyed a half
acre of land in the township of Lancaster " in trust
for the Society of Jews settled in and about Lan-
caster, to have and use the same as a burying-
ground." This society is said to be the third in
point of antiquity in the United States, the first
having been in Newport, R. L and the second
in New York City. One of the trustees to whom
this lot was given was Joseph Simons, one of the
richest and most prominent Indian traders in the
province of Pennsylvania. For a time he had a
store, about 1 740, at the southeast corner of Penn
Square. He made frequent trips to the Ohio and
Illinois country. He died in Lancaster in 1804
and on his tombstone in the old Hebrew burial
ground, is this beautiful inscription

" And Joseph gave up the Ghost,
And died in a good old age.
An old man and full of years
And was gathered to his people."

Joseph Simon, departed this life the 12th day of the month
Shebot, in the year 5565, corresponding with the 24th of Jan.
1804, aged 92 years, in a good old age.

" And he walked with God, and he was not ; for God took
him."

At the Portraiture Loan Exhibit in Lancaster
in 191 2 there was exhibited a miniature of
Rebecca Gratz, the granddaughter of Joseph

THE LANCASTER OF 1 821 45

Simons. She was often in Lancaster, and tradi-
tion says that she was the inspiration of Sir Walter
Scott's heroine, Rebecca in " Ivanhoe."

There was an interesting attempt made at the
establishment of a Union church in Lancaster
about a hundred years ago. John Eliot an
Englishman came to this country and settled in
Lancaster about i8i6. For several years he
preached in the old Friend's meeting house, then
he decided to erect a church called the Union
church. He purchased a lot on Chestnut street
between Duke and Queen and erected a church.
In May, 1822 the following notice appears in a
Lancaster paper: " The building recently erected
in the city by Christians of all denominations will,
with Divine permission, be dedicated to the public
worship of Almighty God on the second Sabbath
of this month." It was a splendid dream of inter-
denominational fellowship, but it failed.

Thus we see some of the elements entering into
the Lancaster of 1821. "A map of busy life, its
fluctuations and its vast concerns." This was the
motto of a newspaper in those comparatively quiet
times. Life was neither busy, nor were the con-
cerns vast. And yet men laid solid foundations
in those earlier days in business, education, reli-
gion and government for the development of in-
fluential cities and great Commonwealths.

CHAPTER III

A PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT

ITHIN a few
years after Lan-
caster became a
city there were marked signs of public improve-
ment. In 1 823 the following ordinance was passed :
" From and after July ist it shall be the duty of
the inhabitants of the city of Lancaster to pave
their sidewalks with brick." From this time on
there are frequent records of the building of
bridges and grading, turnpiking, paving and the
extension of streets. The streets of course kept
their English names, relics of royalty, King,
Queen, Prince, Duke. It is an interesting fact
that in 1 846 a resolution was adopted by Councils
" to consider the propriety of altering the names
of the streets of the city so as to give them more
of an American or republican stamp." But the
change was never made.

A PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT 47

The beginning to secure a regular water system
for the city was made in 1822. Efforts were made
for several years to discover a water supply. A
committee was appointed to " search for water."
In 1829 the Lancaster Water Co. was incorpor-
ated, and in 1831 a number of progressive and
public-spirited citizens seeing that nothing was
being accomplished urged the formation of a new
company and the trial of a new plan. A town
meeting was held and the appointment of an
engineer urged, but still nothing was definitely ac-
complished until 1836, when the mayor was au-
thorized to borrow seventy thousand dollars in
order to carry the project into effect. Eight acres
of land at the east end of King street were bought
as a site for a reservoir, contracts were entered
into for building a dam, trenches were dug in the
streets, pipes laid, and by February 1837 water
was brought into the city. In 1851 another
reservoir was built, in 1882 a standpipe was
erected for serving the higher parts of the city,
and since then continuous improvements in the
way of pumping stations and filtering plant have
made the Lancaster Water Works a credit to the
city and adequate to its needs.

In days of yore a man's loyalty to his Fire
Company was one of his chief sources of interest.
There is a reference as far back as 1 744 to the use
of ladders, hooks and buckets in the extinguishing
of fires. In 1761 an engine house stood on West
King street between Water and Mulberry streets.

48 Lancaster's golden century

In 1 765 the burgesses agreed that a house be
erected to contain three fire engines on the north-
west corner of the market house. At the sugges-
tion of the committees of the three fire companies,
the Sun, Union and Friendship, an engine was im-
ported from England. Active and public-spirited
citizens did their best to defend the town from
fire, in spite of crude and ineffective implements.
Volunteer fire companies were in existence for
over a century and formed the centre of a great
deal of the social and political life of the citizens
of the community. There was great rivalry as to
the honor of priority between them. The quar-
terly banquets which after 1830 were changed into
yearly banquets were fixed institutions in Lancas-
ter for many years. In 1820 the Washington
Company was organized, in 1836 the American,
in 1839 the Humane, in 1852 the Shiffler, in 1856
the Empire. In 1882 a paid city fire department
was substituted for the volunteer system, and has
since kept pace in equipment and efficiency with
the development of the city and the needs of
modern life.

Among the great events of historical note in
Lancaster in early days was the visit of General
Lafayette. The citizens of Lancaster, not behind
the rest of the nation in the expression of their
gratitude toward this illustrious defender of
liberty, invited him when he came to the United
States in 1824-25 to honor their city by a visit.
On July 27, 1825, he came to Lancaster and was

A PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT 49

elaborately entertained by the people. In the
morning of the halcyon day General Lafayette was
met in Chester county by a committee of citizens
from Lancaster. '' Three elegant barouches, each
drawn by four fine horses, had been secured for
conducting the General and his suite to Lancas-
ter." As he entered Lancaster county he was re-
ceived by an escort of cavalry and formally wel-
comed as the guest of the county. Two miles
east of Lancaster city a battalion of city infantry
and the " Strasburg Blues" received him. Young
men with sashes and badges and cockades
ranged under separate banners, troops of citizens
on horseback, farmers with ears of wheat in their
hats as emblems of plenty, thousands of citizens of
all ages, joined in the welcome. There was a
salute of thirteen guns as he entered the city and
the band played " Hail Columbia."

On King street an immense floral arch had
been erected. At the corner of King and
Duke streets, Lafayette was saluted by fifty
veterans of the Revolution, lined up on a
platform in front of the Farmer's Bank. The
historian says, ''As the General gazed on the
veterans he said, ' These are the wrecks of that
gallant band that in the vigor of youth and
full strength of manhood, stood by me, side by
side in the hour of their country's peril: That
country — that grateful country — will smooth the
pillow of their declining years.' " On another
arch on King street was inscribed, " Hail, Friend

50 Lancaster's golden century

of Liberty " and " Brandywine, 1776 — Yorktown
1 781." There were a number of arches on West
King street, some of them decorated with portraits
of Washington, Wayne, Hand, Montgomery and
Franklin. The procession then moved to Frank-
lin College on the west side of North Queen street,
between Lemon and James, the same building
formerly known as " The Old Store House," built
by the State of Pennsylvania early in the Revolu-
tionary period for the housing of military sup-
plies. From there Lafayette went to the hotel
where he was welcomed by Mayor Lightner and
given a dinner prepared by the ladies of Lancas-
ter. In the evening a complimentary ball was
given in his honor in Masonic Hall. He left the
ball to attend a dinner given to him by the
veterans of 1776 at the house of Leonard Eich-
holtz. There Lafayette drank a toast to the
memory of General Washington and then to the
memory of Generals Warren, Montgomery,
Mercer, Nash, Greene, Hand, Wayne, Gates,
St. Clair, Morgan and *' our departed female
patriots." Next morning Lafayette visited the
Lancastrian School at Prince and Chestnut streets
and was greeted by several hundred boys and
girls, who arose and sang as he entered the door,

" Hero Hail ! all hail to thee
Champion of our liberty."

Later Lafayette dined with George Ross, son
of the Signer of the Declaration of Independence,

A PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT 51

who lived at the northwest corner of Prince and
Prague streets. At four o'clock he went to the
Court House and was given another banquet by a
hundred citizens " in the same room in which
General Washington dined on his visit to the city."
After a number of toasts to Lancaster and a
variety of patriotic themes, Lafayette concluded
with a classic toast to " Our Fair Countrywomen."

" Woman, the happiest pledge of Heaven's good will,
Woman, the perfect picture of its skill ;
Woman, who all our noblest thoughts employs,
Woman, the center of all earthly joys."

The next day he left for Baltimore on an ele-
gant traveling carriage drawn by four gray
horses, after which he went to Washington where
he was the guest of the President of the United
States. When the death of Lafayette occurred in
1834, no community felt the loss more keenly than
did Lancaster. City councils ordered its halls to
be draped in mourning for a period of six months.

It was during the period under consideration
that rapid improvements were made in transpor-
tation which finally ended in bringing the railroad
to Lancaster. In very early days of course pack
horses were used as a means of transportation.
The bridle paths were usually Indian trails.
These were soon superseded by the King's High-
ways, one of the most important of which was the
"great road" from Philadelphia to Lancaster.
Then came the turnpike period with the incorpor-

52 Lancaster's golden century

ation in 1792 of the Philadelphia and Lancaster
Turnpike Road Co., and for a time the travel by
stage line became enormous. This turnpike to
Philadelphia, 62 miles long was one of the earliest
and most important enterprises in the state, and
was the first road of the kind made in the United
States. There were sixty taxerns on the route be-
tween Lancaster and Philadelphia, almost one for
every mile.

This too was the period of the Conestoga
wagon. It is not known who first made a
Conestoga wagon, but it is given to Lancaster
county to claim the honor. The wonderful breed
of horses raised here, powerful draught horses,
and the unique canvas-covered wagons were the
special pride of the owners. The Conestoga
wagon of the Revolution and post-Revolution
period, known as, *' The Ship of Inland Com-
merce " was said to be far superior to anything
of that date in England. Witmer's bridge, which
was erected in 1799, and spans the Conestoga a
short distance east of the city, was on the direct
wagon route from Philadelphia to the western
part of Pennsylvania. The ponderous Cones-

toga team was superseded by the canal boat and
railway car. Previous to this change, the turn-
pike presented a busy scene — an almost unbroken
procession of these wagons, " each of them drawn
by six strong large horses, and many of the teams
having a row of bells hanging over the collar of
rach horse," After the loss of their occupation^

A PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT 53

because of the inroads of canals and railroads, the
wagoners got up a song which ran as follows :

" Oh, it's once I made money by driving my team,
But now all is hauled on the railroad by steam,
May the devil catch the man that invented the plan,
For its ruined us poor wagoners, and every other man."

Then came the experiment of the Conestoga
Navigation Company, a canal scheme to use the
waters of the Conestoga for receiving and send-
ing goods to Baltimore and Philadelphia. By
means of nine locks and slackwater pools, com-
munication 1 8 miles in length was secured from
Lancaster to Safe Harbor on the Susquehanna at
the mouth of the Conestoga. By means of the tide-
water canal to Port Deposit a navigable communi-
cation was opened to Baltimore. This work was
completed in 1829. Reigart's landing was a busy
place in those days. Pleasure and packet boats,
some sixty and seventy feet long, drawn by horses,
conveyed passengers and merchandise to and fro
from lock to lock.

The slow and safe transportation by packet
boat was soon displaced b}' the coming of the
railroad.

As early as 1826 the State Legislature granted
a charter for the Columbia, Lancaster and Phila-
delphia Railroad. Preliminary surveys were
made by Major Wilson and Joshua Scott, of Lan-
caster, who was considered one of the best civil
engineers and firaughtsmen in the state, By

54 LANCASTER S GOLDEN CENTURY

1828 the engineers reported they had located
twenty miles of the road east from Columbia,
running in an almost straight line from Little
Conestoga to Big Conestoga Creek, by way of
what is now known as the " Cut-off." Progressive
citizens protested, obtained an appropriation of
sixty thousand dollars from the state and had the
survey changed so as to have the railroad run
through Lancaster. The change necessitated the
building of several important bridges. On the last
day of March, 1834 three passenger coaches
drawn by horses arrived at Columbia from Lan-
caster, and three days thereafter the locomotive
made its first trip. On the day appointed for the
opening of the road from Columbia to Philadel-
phia, Governor Wolf, members of the Legislature
and other distinguished guests arrived at Colum-
bia by way of canal from Harrisburg. *' The
cars were in waiting " says the historian, " with
locomotive attached and steam up. The cars were
taken to Lancaster in one hour. When the dis-
tinguished party passed over the road from Lan-
caster to Philadelphia on April 16, 1834, they
were met at every station with crowds of people
who came from their farms and workshops to see
the novel sight." W. B. Wilson in his history of
the Pennsylvania Railroad says that the first two
locomotives commissioned on the same day were
called the " Lancaster " and the '* Columbia."
The weight of the " Lancaster " was 8 tons and
was capable of drawing 56 tons. It took eight

A PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT 55

hours to run from Columbia to Philadelphia, the
expenses for the trip being $14.60, of which the
engineer and his attendants received $4. In 1835
an act was passed authorizing the company to ex-
tend the road to Mt. Joy and Harrisburg. In
1857 the Reading and Columbia Railroad was in-
corporated.

In the war with Mexico Lancaster county fur-
nished a number of soldiers for the armies of
General Scott and General Taylor. Many of the
men served under Taylor at Palo Alto, Reseca de
la Palma and Monterey, and under Scott at Vera
Cruz and the campaign which led to the capture
of Mexico City. Lieut. Luther and Lieut, (later
Captain) Roland won honors and promotion in
this war. A Lancaster writer describes among
his memories a visit made to Lancaster by
General Taylor, the twelfth President of the
United States. It appears that he stopped here
on his way to Washington.

Around 1850 a group of municipal public
buildings were erected in Lancaster including the
present Court House, the prison at the east end
of the city, Odd Fellows Hall, Fulton Hall and
Franklin and Marshall College. It seems to have
been a period of rapid growth for the city. It is
said that a thousand residences were erected within
a few years. By the inevitable march of progress
the venerable historic Court House in Centre
Square was outgrown, and in 1852 a site was se-
cured at Duke and East King streets, contracts

56 Lancaster's golden century

made and the present structure completed at a
cost of $166,000. The Odd Fellows had been
meeting in a room rented in the old Museum
building corner of Chestnut and North Queen
streets, until 1846 when lots were purchased from
ex-Judge Ellis Lewis one of which was occupied
by the old Quaker church and the other used as
a burial ground by the same society. Here a
handsome building was dedicated in 1852 by the
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. At that time there
were 2500 members of that fraternity in the city.

In speaking of lodges of olden times it is well
to recall that Lodge No. 43 F. and A. M. ranks
as one of the oldest Masonic organizations in
America. When Major Andre was held here as
a prisoner in 1775 he was known as a Mason.
In 1798 it was agreed that the borough of Lan-
caster was to build the first story and the lodge the
second story of the building now known as City
Hall, From 1800 to the present time the mem-
bers have continued holding their meetings in the
old hall. Some time prior to the building of the
hall, the lodge was visited by George Washington,
and later by Lafayette. In the hall to this day
there is a set of implements in a case the frame
of which was made from cedar wood growing over
the grave of Washington at Mount Vernon.

The building of the present Fulton Hall in 1852
on the site of the old Lancaster Jail on Prince
street was an event of great significance in the
development of Lancaster. The Lancaster County

A PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT 57

Commissioners sold the site to Peter G. Eberman
and Christopher Hager for $8,400. Later Chris-
topher Hager became the sole owner. He at once
began tearing down the old prison, and procured
Samuel Sloane as architect, and John Sener as
builder of Fulton Hall. Later Christopher Hager
sold his interest to the Fulton Hall Association.
The Examiner and Herald of May 5, 1852 says,
" The new opera house to be erected is to be
called Fulton Hall in honor of Robert Fulton the
discoverer of the power of steam as applied to
navigation, a native of Lancaster County. The
proprietor has evinced a laudable pride in the com-
memoration of one whom Lancaster county may
feel pride in claiming as one of her most distin-
guished sons." Fulton Hall was formally opened
to the public on October 14, 1852, the principal
address of the occasion being made by Judge
Hayes. The speaker referred to the fact that
new life was being infused into the city of Lan-
caster by the erection of many buildings and that
5000 inhabitants had been recently added to the
population. The wooden image of Robert Fulton
which still stands above the doorway was carved
by a Mr. Cannon of Philadelphia, and is an inter-
esting if not highly artistic piece of work. In
Fulton Hall a long line of distinguished actors,
orators and musicians have appeared in the past
seventy years. Ole Bull wdth his matchless violin,
Joe Jefferson, Booth, Barrett, Madame Modjeska,
Horace Greeley, Wendell Phillips, Henry Ward

58 Lancaster's golden century

Beecher, John B. Gough, Adelina Patti, Woodrow
Wilson, Sarah Bernhardt, Nazimova, and a host
of other notables have appeared in this historic
old structure.

The formal opening of Franklin and Marshall
College was held in Fulton Hall on the 7th of
June, 1853. This college was the result of the
union of Franklin College of Lancaster and Mar-
shall College of Mercersburg, Pa. At the open-
ing of the new institution addresses were deliv-
ered by Judge Hayes, Dr. J. W. Nevin and Bishop
Potter. Until the new buildings were erected on
" College Hill," the students met in Franklin Col-
lege on North Lime Street. At first there appear
to have been frequent troubles between town and
gown, due to the rivalry of the fire companies. It
appears the students " ran with the Union." Dr.
E. V. Gerhart was the first president of the col-
lege. Twenty-two acres were bought in the north-
western part of the city and buildings erected.
When the corner stone of the main building was
laid on 24th of July, 1854 a procession marched
from the old Franklin College to the new site and
listened to an address by Dr. Henry Harbaugh.
The new college was formally dedicated on the
1 6th of May, 1856. At the same time with the
erection of the main building two literary society
halls were built, at great sacrifice on the part of
the students themselves. Since then numerous
buildings have been erected, including the J. Watts
de Peyster Library, and a handsome and

A PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT 59

thoroughly equipped science building, an astron-
omical observatory and an academy building.
The area of the college grounds is now fifty-eight
acres. Franklin and Marshall College does not
pretend to do the work of a university or a techni-
cal school. Its claim for patronage is that it is
a thoroughly first-class American college, in which
a careful foundation can be laid that will prepare
young men for an intelligent pursuit of profes-
sional studies, for the work of higher education
and the business pursuits of life. The college has
been in full sympathy with the progress of the
age in art, science, literature and business under
the leadership of its several presidents, Dr. E. V.
Gerhart, Dr. J. W. Nevin, Dr. Thos. G. Apple,
Dr. John S. Stahr and Dr. H. H. Apple. Frank-
lin and Marshall College stands under the general
care of the Reformed Church in the United States,
but students of all faiths and creeds are found in
its halls.

The Yeates Institute of Lancaster was incor-
porated in 1857. It had for its object the edu-
cation of young men in all branches of academic
courses of learning. The corporation was liber-
ally endowed by Miss Catharine Yeates from
whom it takes its name.

Franklin and Marshall Academy continued in
connection with the College until 1872 when the
first building was erected for its own use. It is in
the best sense a training school for boys who
desire to go to college.

6o Lancaster's golden century

The first State Normal School was erected at
Millersville, Lancaster County in 1859.

The Theological Seminary of the Reformed
Church did not come to Lancaster until 1871, and
therefore belongs to a later period. The person-
ality and work of John Williamson Nevin, how-
ever, belong to the period now under considera-
tion. This distinguished theologian of Scotch-
Irish ancestry came to Lancaster shortly after the
removal of Marshall College of which he had
been president. After residing in the city for a
year, and making his home at Windsor Forge,
near Churchtown for two years, he settled per-
manently at Caernarvon Place. In the fall of 1861
he became professor of History and Aesthetics in
Franklin and Marshall College, and in 1866 presi-
dent of the institution, a position which he held
for ten years. From 1876 to 1886 he continued
to reside at Caernarvon Place. Dr. Nevin occu-
pied high rank among the most distinguished men
of his age. An eminent scholar, a profound theo-
logian recognized on two continents, an independ-
ent thinker, a vigorous writer, he exerted a 2>ower-
ful influence.

Another distinguished son of Lancaster of the
pre- Civil War period was the Right Reverend
Samuel Bowman, pastor of St. James' church from
1827 to 1858 when he was chosen Bishop of the
Diocese of Pennsylvania. The whole community
begged him to remain in Lancaster, and induced
him to keep his residence here while performing

A PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT

6i

his episcopal duties in the western part of the
state. The Bishop Bowman Home was incor-
porated in 1857 as an institution for the aged and
infirm designed to provide for Christian people a
comfortable home in the evening of life. The
Home for Friendless Children was likewise estab-
lished in 1859 by the efforts and contributions of
Miss Mary Bowman and a number of citizens who
were impressed with the necessity of rescuing
from degradation and idleness children who were
left without a proper protector.

It is thus evident that along every line, material,
intellectual, social and industrial, Lancaster made
commendable progress in the period leading up
to the Civil War.

OLD BREW HOUSE

CHAPTER IV

JAMES BUCHANAN — THE CITIZEN

AMES BUCHANAN, the fifteenth
President of the United States, was
Lancaster's most distinguished citizen
during a period of years that embraced
some of the most significant and tragic events in
the nation's history. In that wonderful year
1809, the year in which Alfred Tennyson, the most
gifted poet who has used the English language
since Wordsworth, was born, the year in which
William Gladstone, the most powerful, versatile,
and high-minded statesman of the nineteenth cen-
tury, was born, the year in which Charles Darwin,
the greatest naturalist, and the chief scientific dis-
coverer of modern times, was born, the year in
which Abraham Lincoln, the most picturesque and
stimulating figure that America has given to the
world's history, was born — in that same year a
young Dickinson College graduate, only eighteen
years of age, came into this community for the
purpose of studying law, little conscious of the
fact that the legal principles which he was to learn
here were destined to be applied by him during
the coming years in the attempted solution of some

z2/9n^

,o^^:zy^^^€^^^Z^

JAMES BUCHANAN, THE CITIZEN 63

of the most difficult national and international
problems of the century. That he made good use
of the three years during which he was a law
student in this city, previous to his admittance to
the Bar, is evidenced by the fact that later in life
when he wrote his autobiography, he said concern-
ing this period, " I came to Lancaster to study
law with the late Mr. Hopkins, in the month of
December, 1809, and was admitted to practice in
November, 181 2. I determined that if severe
application would make me a good lawyer, I
should not fail in this particular; and I can say,
with truth, that I have never known a harder
student than I was at that period of my life. I
studied law, and nothing but law, or what was
essentially connected with it. I almost every
evening took a lonely walk and embodied the ideas
which I had acquired during the day in my own
language. This gave me a habit of extempore
speaking."

In 1 810, young Buchanan's father in a letter
wrote to him, " I am very glad to hear that you
are so well pleased with Lancaster and with the
study of the law." It was in the year that saw
the commencement of the War of 181 2, under the
Madison Administration, that James Buchanan
was admitted to the practice of law at the Lan-
caster County Bar — a Bar, which according to
James Ford Rhodes, America's foremost historian,
" has always been noted for its excellent lawyers."
He soon became a public figure in the community

64 Lancaster's golden century

which he had chosen for permanent residence. He
came into prominence in 1814 through a speech
that he delivered at a public meeting in Lancaster,
after the City of Washington had been captured
by the British. As a Federalist in politics, he had
disapproved of the war, but when the capture of
Washington had sent a flame of patriotism
through the state, and every patriot was called
upon to defend the country against an invading
enemy, and a public meeting was called in Lan-
caster for the purpose of obtaining volunteers to
march to the defense of Baltimore, James
Buchanan, then twenty-three years of age, ad-
dressed the people of the community in public and
was among the first to register his name as a
volunteer. With a company of dragoons he
marched to Baltimore and served until he was
honorably discharged. Upon his return, the
County of Lancaster elected him a member of the
House of Representatives in the Legislature of
Pennsylvania, where he served with rare ability
to the end of the session. From 1816 to 1820 his
law practice in this community increased rapidly.
He writes, " My practice in Lancaster and some of
the adjoining counties is extensive, laborious and
lucrative." It was during this period that he de-
livered before the Washington Society of Lancas-
ter a speech which subjected him for the time to
much criticism because of his antagonistic attitude
to the administration at Washington in regard to
its methods of conducting the War of 181 2,

JAMES BUCHANAN, THE CITIZEN 65

When Buchanan's writings were collected and
edited by John Basset Moore, only the concluding
part of this oration could be found. It was
printed in the first volume of Buchanan's works.
The late W. U. Hensel, however, discovered by
accident the opening part of the speech in time
to have it inserted in the closing volume. The
circumstances of this discovery probably gave as
much durable satisfaction to the ardent historical
spirit of Mr. Hensel as any event in his life.

It was during this period, too, that Mr.
Buchanan, when only twenty-five years of age,
undertook alone to defend Judge Franklin on
articles of impeachment which had been inspired
against him largely by political bias and party
asperity.

It was during this period, too, that there came
into his life in this community one of the saddest
romances that cruel fate ever inflicted upon a
youth. As a distraction from his great grief, he
plunged into public life again, accepted the nomin-
ation to Congress, was elected on the Federalist
ticket, and took his seat as the representative from
this district when he was barely twenty-nine years
of age. To this high office he was reelected every
two years until 1830. It was his intention to re-
tire from public life at the close of Congress,
March, 1831. He was spoken of for the vice-
presidency, but discouraged the idea by saying,
" I shall retire to private life after the close of the
present session, withoiit casting one lingering loolv

66 Lancaster's golden century

behind. As a private citizen I shall always re-
member with the deepest sensibility the many
favors I have received from the people of the dis-
trict, whom I have so long represented." But
circumstances willed otherwise. President Jack-
son appointed him Minister to Russia just at the
time he was contemplating renewing the practice
of law, for which he was so well fitted because
of his competent learning, industry, ready address,
reasoning power, and high integrity. In his diary
for March 21, 1832, he has this significant
paragraph :

" I left Lancaster in the stage early in the morn-
ing for Washington and arrived in Baltimore the
same evening. Although my feelings are not very
easily excited, yet my impressions on this day
were solemn and sad. I was leaving a city where
I had spent the best years of my life, where I had
been uniformly the popular favorite, and, above
all, where I had many good and true friends who
had never abandoned me under the most trying
circumstances. Among these people I had ac-
quired a competence for a man of moderate
wishes, and I think I may say without vanity, my
professional and personal character stood very

high."

In a letter from Russia, written during October
of the same year, he speaks of the good city of
Lancaster, and of his interest in all the little news
of the town. From 1830 to 1848 it was possible
for him to spend comparatively little of his time

JAMES BUCHANAN, THE CITIZEN 6"]

in this community because of his wide-spread pub-
lic duties ; for upon his return from Russia he was
chosen United States Senator and continued to
fill that office ten years, after which he became
Secretary of State under President Polk. These
were years of strenuous labor for Lancaster's fore-
most citizen. In one letter he writes, *' nearly half
of my time is now occupied in writing answers to
mass, county, township and association meetings."
During this period up to 1848, Mr. Buchanan,
when at home in Lancaster, resided in a bachelor
establishment, a spacious brick house on East King
street.

From 1849, when he retired to private life,
after having been President Polk's Secretary of
State, until 1853, when President Pierce appointed
him as United States Minister to England, he
spent a great deal of his time in this community.
He left office March 4, 1849, with the fixed pur-
pose of not entering public life again. With this
in view he purchased that beautiful ideal of a
statesman's abode known as '' Wheatland " situ-
ated half a mile west of Lancaster. This sub-
stantial old mansion had for some years been occu-
pied as a summer residence by the Honorable Wil-
liam M. Meredith, an eminent lawyer who became
Secretary of the Treasury under President Taylor.
Nothing shows the character of Mr. Buchanan in a
higher light than the honorable way in which the
purchase of '' Wheatland " was conducted. From
Mr. Buchanan's correspondence it appears that

68 Lancaster's golden century

after the agreement for purchase had been made
and part of the purchase money paid, Mr.
Buchanan learned indirectly that Mr. Meredith
regretted the bargain, upon which he sat down
and wrote the following letter, which is a model
of old-time courtesy. . . .
"My dear Sir:

I have seen Mr. Fordney since I came here,
who read me a part of your second letter. From
this I infer that j^ou regret that you have parted
with Wheatland. Now, my dear sir, if you have
the least inclination to retain it, speak the word,
and our bargain shall be as if it never had been.
It will not put me to the least inconvenience, as I
have an excellent house in Lancaster. Indeed I
feel a personal interest in having you in the midst
of our society, and if you should retain Wheatland
I know that after you shall be satisfied with fame
and fortune you will make this beautiful residence
your place of permanent abode."

To which Mr. Meredith replied with equal
courtesy in the following words :

" I had to express to you my deep sense of the
courtesy and consideration which induced you to
make me the offer which your letter contained.
I cannot accept it, because to do so would be to
take advantage of your friendly impulses, which
I ought not and cannot do."

That was a fine example of the square deal. Mr.
Puchan^n bought the propertjr and remov^4 to it

JAMES BUCHANAN, THE CITIZEN 69

the furniture which he had hitherto used in Wash-
ington and Lancaster, establishing in his new
home a residence noted for its comfort, dignity,
repose, respectability, and hospitality.

Though he had retired to private life during
this short period, his life was by no means one of
ease. He w^rites in 1851 from Wheatland, " My
correspondence is now so heavy as to occupy my
whole time from early morning until late at night.
My life is now one of great labor, but I am
philosopher enough not to be very anxious. The
mass of letters before me is prodigious." At an-
other time he writes, " I now receive about fifty
letters a day. Last Saturday there were sixty-
nine, and the cry is ' still they come '. I labor
day and night."

And yet he found time to do a great many
things for the higher life of the community. This
was the period in which Franklin College, of Lan-
caster, was united with Marshall College, of
Mercersburg, and the present institution, known
as Franklin and Marshall College, was established
by a union of the two. In bringing about that
union Mr. Buchanan was of great service. He
had been interested in Franklin College from an
early date, and wrote the deed of transfer by
means of which the real and personal estate of
Franklin College was transferred to the new
Franklin and Marshall College. He is described
at that time as a man of portly form, with head
inclined to one side, a peculiar top-I^not of white

70 Lancaster's golden century

hair that made him look older than the sixty-two
years that he had actually lived. One writer says
that courtesy had become his second nature and
he spoke to boys on the street as if they had been
princes of the blood. Naturally this foremost
citizen of Lancaster was elected the first president
of the newly constituted Board of Trustees of
Franklin and Marshall College, an ofhce which he
held for twelve years. He was a faithful friend
of the college. As far back as 1827 his name ap-
peared on the subscription list of old Franklin
College, and when old Marshall College was still
at Mercersburg Mr. Buchanan gave it a scholar-
ship of $500.00, and when the new institution was
formed in Lancaster he contributed $1,000.00 to
the fund which was then raised for the erection of
buildings. He helped to direct the policy of the
college, and when he was in Lancaster he was
always present at its public exercises. At the
literary society anniversaries he had a kind word
for each youthful speaker, which the recipient was
sure to bear away as a precious remembrance.

When a new college building was to be erected
at the time of the union of Franklin and Marshall
College, the citizens of Lancaster contributed
$25,000.00. Then came the question where should
the new building be erected. Some suggested a
tract on West Orange street; others suggested a
location at the eastern end of the city. When this
site was proposed. President Buchanan said, " I
do not think the best location for a literary in-

I

James buchanan, the citizen "ji

stitution is between a court house and a jail."
One day Mr. Buchanan and the other members of
the board went to the northwestern part of Lan-
caster in carriages and unanimously decided to
erect the buildings on what is now known as
College Hill, the highest ground in Lancaster.
" Thank God," said Dr. Harbaugh at the laying
of the corner-stone, '' the college stands higher
than the jail. Education must be lifted up, and
crime let sink to its lowest depths."

During these years, Mr. Buchanan enjoyed the
fullest confidence of the community and found
great satisfaction in the hours that he spent at
Wheatland, He writes to a friend, " The birds
are now singing around the house, and we are en-
joying the luxury of a fine day in the opening
spring."

In 1853 he was again thrown into active public
life by being appointed United States Minister
to England under the administration of President
Pierce. Before he left for London, he wrote a
letter to the citizens of the community in answer
to an invitation which he had received to be
present at a public dinner to be given in his honor.
In this letter he opens his heart to the citizens of
Lancaster. Among other things he says,

*' No event of my past life has afforded me
greater satisfaction than this invitation, proceed-
ing as it does, without distinction of part}^, from
those who have known me the longest and known
me the best.

'j'l Lancaster's golden century

" Born in a neighboring county, I cast my lot
among you when little more than eighteen years
of age, and have now enjoyed a happy home with
you for more than forty-three years, except the
intervals which I have passed in the public service.
During this long period I have experienced more
personal kindness, both from yourselves and from
your fathers, than has, perhaps, ever been ex-
tended to any other man in Pennsylvania who has
taken so active a part, as I have done, in the ex-
citing political struggles which have so peculiarly
marked this portion of our history.

'' It was both my purpose and desire to pass the
remainder of my days in kind and friendly social
intercourse with the friends of my youth and of
my riper years, when invited by the President of
my choice, under circumstances which a sense of
duty rendered irresistible, to accept the mission to
London. This purpose is now postponed, not
changed. It is my intention to carry it into exe-
cution, should a kind Providence prolong my days
and restore me to my native land."

From London he wrote, *' Everything about
home is dear to me. You give me information
concerning my neighbors in Lancaster, which I
highly prize." While in England, this Lancaster
citizen had the degree of Doctor of Civil Law
conferred on him by Oxford University along with
the poet, Alfred Tenn3^son. He returned from
London to America, arriving at Wheatland in
April, 1856. Within two months he was asked to

JAMES BUCHANAN, THE CITIZEN ?3

accept the Democratic nomination for the presi-
dency. Dr. Dubbs tells us in his history of Frank-
lin and Marshall College that when Mr. Buchanan
was nominated for the presidency by the Cincin-
nati convention, the college boys became intensely
excited. A number of them were among the first
to hear the news, and they all immediately started
on a run to inform Mr. Buchanan of his nomin-
ation. In this race, William A. Duncan, after-
wards a member of Congress, is said to have won
the prize. Very soon, however, a large number
of people gathered on the lawn at Wheatland, and
Mr. Buchanan made an appropriate speech, a part
of which was afterwards used against him in the
campaign.

After his election, and before his inauguration
for the presidency, Wheatland became a storm
center or a shrine, if you wish to call it by that
name, for the politicians and prominent men of
the country. When the time came to leave Wheat-
land for the Capitol, just before the inauguration,
Mr. Buchanan and the members of his bachelor
household drove into Lancaster in a carriage, on
a bleak winter morning, escorted all the way to
the railroad station by an enthusiastic crowd of
citizens. At the station he was received, his bio-
grapher tells us, *' into a special car, built for the
occasion, the windows of which were in colors that
represented familiar scenes of and about Wheat-
land."

His immediate escort to the Capitol consisted

5^4 Lancaster's golden centurV

of the local military company, the Fencibles, com-
mittees of councils, representatives of Franklin
and Marshall College, and of the Board of Trus-
tees of that institution, together with a number
of personal friends and loyal citizens of Lancaster.
Upon his return from Washington in 1861,
after living in the fierce light that beats upon the
throne, during one of the most disheartening and
tragic periods of our Nation's history, he turned
once more to Wheatland in the good old town
which was bound up with every fibre of his heart.
For he loved Lancaster with that intensity of
local affection and lofty pride which are peculiar
to her citizens. A committee of citizens went to
Washington to escort him back to the native soil.
At the gates of his own county he was welcomed
by one hundred and fifty citizens of Lancaster
when his foot first fell upon the soil of the district
which claimed him j^eculiarly as its own. The
late Mr. Hensel has described the scene with
these words, *'As the train which carried Mr.
Buchanan and his friends and the popular escort
now swelled to many hundreds, neared the city
there was firing of cannon, pealing of bells, and
the formation of a procession to escort the party
through the streets of the city. The cars were
stopped at the city limits, and Mr. Buchanan was
conducted into an open barouche drawn by four
gray horses, and with a great civic and military
display he entered the city." The band played
" Home Again," the mayor welcomed Lancaster's

JAMES BUCHANAN, THE CITIZEN 75

most distinguished citizen in a fitting speech, to
which Mr. Buchanan responded in words that
ought to live in the heart and memory of gener-
ations to come. This is what he said,
'' Mr. Mayor, my old Neighbors, Friends and

Fellow-Citizens:

I have not language to express the feelings
which swell in my heart on this occasion; but I
do most cordially thank you for this demonstra-
tion of your personal kindness to an old man,
who comes back to you ere long to go to his final
rest. And here let me say that, having visited
many foreign climes, my heart has ever turned to
Lancaster as the spot where I would wish to live
and die. When yet a young man, in far remote
Russia, my heart was still with friends and
neighbors in good old Lancaster. (Applause.)

"Although I have always been true to you, I
have not been so true to you as you have been
to me. Your fathers took me up when a young
man, fostered and cherished me through many
long years. All of them have passed away, and
I stand before you to-day in the midst of a new
generation. (A voice in the crowd — ' I saw you
mount your horse when you marched to Balti-
more in the War of 1812.') The friendship of
the fathers for myself has descended on their
children. Generations of mortal men rise, and
sink, and are forgotten, but the kindness of the
past generation to me, now so conspicuous in the
present, can never be forgotten.

"^6 Lancaster's golden century

" I have come to lay my bones among you, and
during the brief, intermediate period which
Heaven may allot me, I shall endeavor to per-
form the duties of a good citizen, and a kind
friend and neighbor. My advice shall be cheer-
fully extended to all who may seek it, and my
sympathy and support shall never be withheld
from the widow and the orphan. (Loud Ap-
plause.) All political aspirations have departed.
What I have done, during a somewhat protracted
public life, has passed into history. If, at any
time, I have done aught to offend a single citizen,
I now sincerely ask his pardon, while from my
heart I declare that I have no feeling but that of
kindness to any individual in this county.

" I came to this city in 1809, more than half a
•century ago, and am, therefore, I may say, among
your oldest citizens. When I parted from Presi-
dent Lincoln, on introducing him to the Execu-
tive Mansion, according to custom, I said to
him : * If you are as happy, my dear sir, on enter-
ing this house as I am in leaving it and return-
ing home, you are the happiest man in this
country ! ' "

At the conclusion of the speech, the procession
moved toward Wheatland under an arch span-
ning the street. He ascended the portico to the
music of " Home, Sweet Home," and reentered
upon the scenes of that tranquility in which it
was his desire to spend the rest of his days. He
always regarded that day as one of the proudest of
his life.

JAMES BUCHANAN, THE CITIZEN 7^

To the end of his days he remained the vener-
able sage of Wheatland. To his home hundreds
made pilgrimage. For all he had words of wel-
come and counsel. Those who knew him still
speak of the affluence of his kindly humor, of his
grace and urbanity, of his personal integrity, of
the purity of his mind, the honor of his spirit,
the beauty of his character, the loveliness of his
charity. A friend says, *' On one occasion when
I was on a visit to Wheatland, I saw Mr. Buchanan
go anxiously to the window and look upon the
night which was cold and stormy with sleet and
snow, and I heard him say, ' God help the poor
to-night.' The very next day he sent quite a
large sum of money to the mayor of Lancaster to
buy fuel for the poor." He carried out the same
idea, when in his Will he made provision for a
coal fund which has proved to be a blessing to
many needy families in this community for well-
nigh fifty years. His deeds of charity were thick
as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks in
Vallambrosa.

Those who knew him best speak constantly of
his delightful social qualities. He was always
the life and soul of every dinner party to which
he was invited. Says one, '' When he was in a
vein of conversation and felt in the humor a
whole room of people would sit all evening listen-
ing with delight, no one daring to interrupt ex-
cept in order by some leading question or remark
to draw him out to talk more freely."

j^ Lancaster's golden century

No one can study the life of James Buchanan,
especially in his later years, without having a
high regard for his religious sincerity. When
he was a mere boy studying Coke and Blackstone
here in Lancaster, his father wrote to him these
words, *' Endeavor, my boy, to merit the esteem
of Heaven." He never forgot that sentence.
Later in life he wrote to his niece, Harriet Lane,
in a very interesting letter penned at Wheat-
land, " If I believed it necessary, I would advise
you to be constant in your devotion to your God.
He is a friend who will never desert you." He
was a regular attendant upon church services both
at Washington and in Lancaster, connecting him-
self in this city with the Presbyterian church.

John Motley says of William of Orange, that
he went through life bearing the load of a people's
sorrows upon his shoulders with a smiling face.
That not all the clouds which calumny could col-
lect ever dimmed to the eyes of a grateful and
affectionate people the radiance of that lofty
mind to which they were accustomed in their
darkest calamities to look for light. "As long as
he lived," says Motley, '' he was the guiding
star of a whole brave nation, and when he died
the little children cried in the streets." So we
may say that as far as this community is con-
cerned James Buchanan was its guiding star and
most illustrious citizen for half a century. li
good citizenship consists, as a great living states-
man recently said in an impressive tribute to

JAMES BUCHANAN, THE CITIZEN 79

Richard Watson Gilder, by no means in the hold-
ing of public office, but in the wholesomeness and
purity of one's life and in the quiet influence
which radiates from one's life upon his neighbors
and the community, in culture and acquaintance
with the best, then we may well say that James
Buchanan was a citizen of whom any commun-
ity may be proud, a highly gifted, large-hearted,
devoted citizen, a man plain and simple, yet
crowned with the knightly virtues of truth, honor,
purity and high-minded integrity.

The fine old colonial mansion known as
" Wheatland," built on a knoll within the grounds
of a small landed estate and surrounded by trees
several centuries old, is still standing. Few per-
sons visit Lancaster for the first time without
making a pilgrimage to this historic spot, which
in the hands of its present owner has lost none
of its generous hospitality. In Woodward Hill
on the slopes that reach down to the Conestoga,
at a point from which may be seen some of the
loveliest views of that lovely stream as it meanders
among the flower-decked hills of Lancaster county,
rest the remains of James Buchanan, Fifteenth
President of the United States.

ARCHED SPRING AT GEO. ROSS HOUSE

CHAPTER V

LANCASTER AND THE CIVIL WAR

HE Legislature of Pennsylvania passed an
Act in 1 780 declaring that all servitude
for life or slavery of children in con-
sequence of the slavery of their mothers should
be abolished forever. There was considerable
evasion of the law. The Quakers were active in
their opposition to slavery, but some of the
Scotch- Irish settlers in the Lancaster Townships
continued to hold slaves. A number of fugitive
slaves fled from the South into Pennsylvania.
They were followed by their masters. There were
many hairbreadth escapes and captures at Colum-
bia where runaway slaves crossed the river.

In the newspapers of Lancaster of a hundred
years ago one finds the following notices :
^' Thirty PoUars reward for negro maUj John

LANCASTER AND THE CIVIL WAR 8 1

Turner, ran away." " Twelve and a half cents
reward. Ran away on April 20, 1822, a servant
boy named James Crawford." " Six and a fourth
cents reward. Ran away from Peter Esbenshade
a servant girl. Had on and took with her one
new calico and one good linsey frock." " For
sale, the unexpired term of six years of a young
healthy black girl." While these may not all
have been slaves, yet it is evident that there was
a strong underground railroad system in Lancas-
ter county, helping negroes to escape from slavery
in the South to freedom in the North. There
were a number of stations along the route where
the friends of the escaped slaves passed the fugi-
tives on from one point to another.

The passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of
1850 made this whole system not only hazardous
but illegal. The first bloodshed in the United
States caused by the Fugitive Slave Law occurred
in Christiana, Lancaster county. Three runaway
slaves came to the house of William Parker, near
Christiana. They were claimed by Edward
Gorsuch, a Maryland slave holder who obtained
a warrant from the United States commissioners
in Philadelphia for their arrest. When the
marshal, Gorsuch, his son and several others
came to Parker's house before daylight on Sep-
tember II, 185 1 and tried to take away the
runaway slaves by force, they met with opposi-
tion. Gorsuch approaching the house cried:
•* I will have my property dead or alive/' He

82 Lancaster's golden century

was fired upon and mortally wounded. The son
was likewise seriously wounded. The affair
created great excitement. The state was in the
midst of a political campaign, and it is thought
that the incident caused the defeat of Wm. F.
Johnston for governor. The negro who shot his
master was smuggled through to Canada; the
others were indicted and tried for treason in
the United States Court at Philadelphia. Han-
way was first tried and acquitted. The others
were never brought to trial. It is thought now
that under the excitement of the times it would
not have been possible to get a jury in the State
of Pennsylvania to convict the men for asserting
their freedom. The " Christiana Riot " is scarcely
less known or less significant than John Brown's
raid and the Harper's Ferry riot. It was the oc-
casion of one of the opening battles in the cease-
less conflict between Law and Liberty which
reached a climax in the stirring days of the
Civil War.

The heaviest vote ever given for any candidate
in Lancaster county up to i860 was cast for Abra-
ham Lincoln in November of that year. Out of
nineteen thousand votes cast by Lancaster county
for the presidency in i860, Abraham Lincoln
received over thirteen thousand. It was there-
fore of more than usual interest when the citizens
of Lancaster were informed on February 20, 1861,
'' It is now certain that Mr. Lincoln will be in
Lancaster on Friday next. He will arrive about

LANCASTER AND TPIE CIVIL WAR 83

noon and remain but a short time, but probably
long enough to make a speech to the citizens of
the Old Guard."

On his way from the White House from
Springfield the President-elect passed through
New York, Trenton, Philadelphia, Lancaster and
Harrisburg. From the Examiner and Herald of
Wednesday, February 27, 1861, we take the fol-
lowing account of Mr. Lincoln's stay in Lancaster.

" Previous to leaving Philadelphia the com-
mittee appointed on behalf of the citizens of
Lancaster had an interview with Mr. Lincoln and
were supplied Vvith tickets which enabled them
to travel on the special train. The committee con-
sisted of Messrs. O. J. Dickey, Bartram A.
Shaeffer, C. M. Howell, Robert H. Long, John
F. Huber, H. W. Hager, Dr. T. Ellmaker, A. H.
Hood, J. M. W. Geist, D. Fellenbaum, and E. J.
Zahm. At all the stations large crow^ds had as-
sembled to look at the President-elect. As the
train neared Lancaster a national salute was fired
from cannon stationed near the locomotive works.
The train arrived at about noon. The crowd in
attendance was immense and had it not been for
the arrangements made by Captain Hambright
it would have been impossible for Mr. Lincoln to
have made his way to the Caldwell House (The
Brunswick)." Mr. Lincoln passed from the cars
to the balcony of the Caldwell House where he
was introduced to the crowd by Mr. Dickey and
made the following brief and characteristic speech.

84 Lancaster's golden century

He said : " Ladies and Gentlemen of Old Lan-
caster: I appear not to make a speech. I have
not time to make a speech at length, and not
strength to make them on every occasion, and
worse than all, I have none to make. I come be-
fore you to see and be seen, and as regards the
ladies I have the best of the bargain, but as to
the gentlemen, I cannot say as much. There is
plenty of matter to speak about in these times,
but it is well known that the more a man speaks
the less he is understood, — the more he says one
thing his adversaries contend he meant something
else. I shall soon have occasion to speak officially,
and then I will endeavor to put my thoughts just
as plain as I can express myself, — true to the
constitution and union of all the states, and to
the perpetual liberty of all the people. Until I
so speak there is no need to enter upon details.
In conclusion, I greet you most heartily, and bid
you an affectionate farewell."

It was indeed Lincoln's farewell to Lancaster,
for when he passed through here again on April
21, 1865, his body rested in a heavily draped
funeral car, and the sorrowing crowds stood with
uncovered heads while the train passed. But
between these two events Lancaster showed its
loyalty to Lincoln and his cause by a remarkable
response to the call of the Union for troops in
the war of the rebellion. When Sumter was
fired on, and Lincoln called for 75,000 volun-
teers, the enrollment jn Lancaster commenced at

LANCASTER AND THE CIVIL WAR 85

once. Within less than a week the Lancaster
Fencibles and the Jackson Rifles went to Harris-
burg and were made a part of the First Regiment.
Within a month thirty-two companies were
formed in the city and county. All through the
war at every call there was a ready response.
The well known 79th Regiment commanded by
Col. Hambright was composed wholly of volun-
teers and took part in the battle of Chickamauga,
and in Sherman's march. Soldiers from Lancas-
ter county were found in sixty other regiments
from Pennsylvania. They were found also in
the militia regiments called during the Confeder-
ate invasions of INIaryland and Pennsylvania.

The greatest excitement prevailed in 1863 just
before the battle of Gettysburg. On the 27th of
June, General Early reached York with a force
of Confederate soldiers and the next day a brigade
was sent to hold the bridge at Columbia. Several
companies from Columbia crossed to Wrights-
ville, but having no artillery they were compelled
to come back. Col. Prick set the bridge on fire
in order to prevent it from falling into the hands
of the southern army. Great alarm was felt.
Detachments of the southern army had reached
the Susquehanna and no one could tell how soon
they might enter Lancaster. Long lines of
refugees passed through the city, leading horses
which they sought to save from the invaders.

Then came Gettysburg and men breathed easier.
But alas the news came that at Gettysburg, Lan-

S6 Lancaster's golden century

caster's great war hero Major General John
Fulton Reynolds was killed. This worthy son
of Lancaster was educated in the schools of his
native city, graduated with honors from West
Point, was breveted captain for bravery at
Monterey, and advanced to the position of major
for gallantry at Buena Vista in the Mexican War.
At the outbreak of the Civil War he was ap-
pointed Brigadier-General of volunteers and was
given the command of the First Brigade of the
Pennsylvania Reserves. General Pope said of
him in his report: "Brigadier General John F.
Reynolds commanding the Pennsylvania Reserx'^s,
merits the highest commendation at my hands.
Prompt, active, and energetic, he commanded his
division with distinguished ability and performed
his duties in all situations with zeal and fidelity."
He was called to Harrisburg to organize the
75,000 men called out by Governor Curtin in
1862. After joining the Army of Virginia, he
fought at the battle of Fredericksburg. On the
opening day of the battle of Gettysburg he was
in command of the left wing of the army. He
knew that General Meade wanted to fight a de-
cisive battle, so he pushed forward to secure an
advantageous position. This brought on pre-
maturely perhaps the great battle of Gettysburg.
General Reynolds' riding at the head of Wads-
worth's division, at the head of the column to
direct and encourage the troops proved to be a
conspicuous mark for the bullets of skirmishers.

LANCASTER AND THE CIVIL WAR 87

He was shot through the neck, fell mortally
wounded and died before he could be removed
from the field. His biographer says, " General
Reynolds was one of America's greatest soldiers ;
the men he commanded loved him dearly; he
shared with them the hardships, toil and danger
of the camp, the march and the field. He nobly
laid down his life a sacrifice on his country's altar,
at the head of his brave troops that victory might
crown the efforts of those who followed him to
fight the great battle of the Nation." His body
was carried to Lancaster and buried in the
family enclosure in the Lancaster Cemetery on
the 4th of July, 1 863, where a handsome monu-
ment was later erected to commemorate his
patriotic services. Every visitor to Gettysburg
knows of the handsome statue erected to the
memory of General Reynolds on that immortal
battle field.

Would that it were possible to pay just tribute
to the many noble sons of Lancaster county who
fought for the Union in the days of the Rebellion.
The blood of the sons of Lancaster is found on
every battlefield of the great war. The follow-
ing are just a few of the regiments in which they
served, the First Penna., 2nd, 5th, loth, 15th,
23rd, 30th, 31st, 34th, 45th, 50th, 59th, 77th,
79th (called the Lancaster County Regiment),
92nd, 99th, 107th, 113th, 122nd, 135th, 162nd,
178th, 179th, 182nd, 195th, 197th, 203rd, 207th,
214th, 215th, Independent Battery I 3rd U. S.

S8 LANCASTER'S GOLDEN CENTURA

(colored), 2nd militia, 47th militia, 50th emer-
gency, and a number of others.

And as to the citizens at home, they gave their
moral support to the army in the field with won-
derful enthusiasm. To the women of Lancaster
belongs the honor of organizing the first society
to help in the relief of the soldiers during the
period of the Civil War. Similar societies later
came into existence in all parts of the country,
but so far as is known, none preceded the one
formed here on the 22nd of April, 1861, only ten
days after the attack on Fort Sumter. On this
date a meeting of the women of Lancaster was
held in the Court House, at which it was re-
solved, '' that an association of ladies be formed
under the style and title of ' The Patriotic
Daughters of Lancaster ' for the purpose of min-
istering to the wants of our heroic volunteers from
Lancaster City and County." The necessary com-
mittees were appointed at once, all details ar-
ranged for the successful carrying out of the plans
of the association, and without delay the bene-
volent w^ork of the patriotic girls and women be-
gan, which continued steadily throughout the war
to provide the soldiers in the field and the sick in
distant hospitals with those comforts which the
government was unable to furnish.

For a time too the government used the build-
ings of Franklin and Marshall College and the
Halls of the Goethean and Diagnothian Literary
Societies as hospitals for the wounded.

LANCASTER AND THE CIVIL WAR ^9

The name and fame of Major-General S. P.
Heintzelman and his services in the Union army
during the Civil War also belong to the credit
of Lancaster. Upon the recommendation of
James Buchanan, this young Manheim boy was
admitted to West Point and was graduated with
honors in 1826. He served with distinction in
the Mexican War. In the Civil War he took part
in the Battle of Bull Run, and commanded the
Third and Fourth Army corps in the Seven Days'
Battle before Richmond. He held high and im-
portant positions throughout the war, attaining
the rank of Major-General of Volunteers and
Brevet Major-General of the Regular Army.

The veterans of the Union army upon their re-
turn from the Civil War, already found a project
on foot among the citizens for the erection of a
monument in honor of the soldiers and sailors of
Lancaster county who fell in the service of their
country. The Patriotic Daughters of Lancaster
took the lead in this project. It was not how-
ever until 1874 that the Soldiers and Sailors
Monument of Lancaster County now standing in
Centre Square was dedicated. On the four
pedestals of the monument are four statues repre-
senting the several branches of the service — the
infantry, artillery, cavalry and navy. The names
of the following battle fields are carved in high
relief: Gettysburg, Antietam, Malvern Hill,
Vicksburg, Wilderness, Chaplin Hills, Chicka-
mauga, Petersburg. The shaft is surmounted by

90

Lancaster's golden century

a figure representing the genius of liberty, with
a shield of victory, bearing the arms of the
United States and grasping a drawn sword. The
inscription reads : '* Erected by the people of Lan-
caster County to the memory of their fellow-
citizens who fell in the defense of the Union in
the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865."

CHAPTER VI

NOTABLE MEN AND WOMEN

EN and women who have risen to the
rank of distinction have never been
w^anting in Lancaster. The Bench
and Bar of Lancaster County have
been conspicuous throughout the Commonwealth
and the Nation for ability, eloquence and success.
From here Buchanan went to the presidency and
Thaddeus Stevens to the leadership in Congress.
From Lancaster County, Jasper Yeates, William
Augustus Atlee, Molton C. Rogers, Ellis Lewis
and J. Hay Brown became Justices of the Supreme
Court, the last named having just finished a long
term as Chief Justice. Amos Ellmaker, Thomas
E. Franklin, Benjamin Champneys and W. U.
Hensel were Attorney-Generals of the Common-
wealth. From here Captain Wm. Frazer was
sent by President Jackson to be one of the Su-
preme Court Judges for the new territory of Wis-
consin, and Colonel Reah Frazer became a potent
factor in the national conventions for a gener-
ation. The Lancaster Bar has filled the position
of Deputy Attorney-General of the State accept-
ably at least thirteen times from the days of Wm.
Jenkins in 1808 to the appointment of B. J. Myers,
Esq., of our own time. At present Lancaster

gi LANCASTER'S GOLDEN CENTURA

County is also making its contribution to the State
in the services of Wm. H. Keller, Esq., Justice
of the Superior Court.

Two sons of Lancaster County have graced the
office of Governor of the State, Simon Snyder in
1808 and our present Governor, William C.
Sproul, who was born at Octoraro. The Hon.
Frank B. McClain filled the positions of Speaker
of the House and of Lieutenant-Governor of the
State. Amos H. Mylin was Auditor- General.
The Hon. W. W. Griest was Secretary of the
Commonwealth and is serving on important Com-
mittees in Congress. Worthy of mention, too, is
the name of Simon Cameron, born in Maytown,
elected United States Senator in 1856, appointed
Secretary of War by President Lincoln, and later
selected as Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia.

To medicine Lancaster County has contributed
Dr. John Light Atlee, one of the founders of the
Pennsylvania Medical Society in 1848 and presi-
dent thereof in 1857, o^^ of the organizers of the
American Medical Association and president
thereof in 1882, professor of Anatomy and
Physiology in Franklin and Marshall College, a
man who for sixty-five years practised successfully
in surgery. Another of the most widely known
surgeons in the United States, also a son of Lan-
caster County w^as Dr. Daniel Hayes Agnew,
founder of the School of Operative Surgery in
Philadelphia. Dr. Agnew received his prepara-
tory course in medicine under his father who was

NOTABLE MEN AND WOMEKf 93

then a physician of high repute in Lancaster
County. Few men have received higher distinc-
tion than he in the medical world. He was one
of the surgeons who attended President Garfield,
after he was shot. Then there was Dr. Frederick
Augusus Muhlenberg, who in earlier days was a
student under Dr. Benjamin Rush and later be-
came one of Lancaster's noted physicians; also
Dr. B. S. Barton who succeeded Dr. Rush. Dr.
John H. Musser, of Philadelphia, noted specialist
and Dr. John B. Deaver, of the University of
Pennsylvania, one of the greatest living authori-
ties in certain lines of surgery, trace their im-
mediate ancestry to Lancaster County.

In contributions to theology, Lancaster has
maintained a leading place through the labors
and printed contributions of men who have in-
fluenced thought in a wide area, notably Dr. John
W. Nevin, Dr. E. V. Gerhart, Dr. Thomas G.
Apple, Dr. F. C. Gast, Dr. Wm. Rupp, in a
former generation. Their work is being con-
tinued by Dr. George W. Richards, president of
the Theological Seminary in Lancaster and by his
colleagues. All these men have made recognized
contributions to the literature of American
Theology.

To education, Lancaster has given the services
of three State Superintendents of Public Schools,
James P. Wickersham, E. E. Higbee, and Nathan
C. Schaeffer; of Thomas H. Burrowes, the father
of the free school system of Pennsylvania; of

94 Lancaster's golden century

Dr. John S. Stalir, for many years president of
Franklin and Marshall College; of Dr. Henry
H. Apple, president of the college since 1 910, a
member of the College and University Council of
Pennsylvania, former president of the Association
of College Presidents of the State; of John Beck,
pioneer educator and of his grandson. Professor
H. H. Beck, whose articles on ornithology have
been reprinted by the Smithsonian Institute ; of
Dr. H. J. Roddy, who has written an illuminating
work on the physical and industrial geography of
Lancaster County ; of Miss Emma Bolenius, whose
text-books on English are used throughout the
nation; of Dr. R. K. Buehrle, for many years city
superintendent of education, and of Dr. J. P.
McCaskey, editor for many years of the Penn-
sylvania School Journal and principal of the
Boy's High School.

To scientific scholarship Lancaster has also
given in the line of National History the services
of David Ramsay, one of the first American
Historians, and in the development of the History
of the Commonwealth, Dr. J. H. Dubbs, Frank
R. Diffenderfer, Litt.D., the Hon. W. U. Hensel,
and the Hon. Charles L Landis. Other notable
names in scholarship are those of Lindley Murray,
the English grammarian, whose grammar of the
English language was for years the best authority
on the subject; of F. V. Melsheimer, the father of
American Entomology; of S. S. Rathfon, whose
researches in Entomology extended through-

NOTABLE MEN AND WOMEN 95

out the world, and who was recognized by numer-
ous foreign societies for his attainments as a
naturalist; of S. S. Haldeman, noted naturalist
and linguist, author of 150 different works, one
of which on " Species and their Distribution " was
favorably commented upon by Charles Darwin in
the preface of his work " The Origin of Species " ;
of John K. Small head Curator of the Herbarium
of New York Botanical Gardens, author of a
number of books and hundreds of monographs on
Botany, one of which, '' The Flora of Lancaster
County " is of especial interest to this community.

In the field of literature we are proud to men-
tion that Lloyd Mifflin, one of the masters of
American song, acknowledged by two continents
as the foremost living writer of sonnets, is a native
and resident of Lancaster County. In fiction
there belong to the credit of Lancaster County
the realistic and popular novels of Reginald
Wright Kauffman, the stories of Mary Brecht
Pulver and John W. Appel's charming narrative
of " The Light of Parnell." It is also worth not-
ing that Llelen Reimensnyder Martin, one of
whose works has been dramatised and played by
Mrs. Fiske, is a native of Lancaster.

To hymnology Lancaster has given the songs
of Henry Harbaugh, notably, " Jesus, I live to
Thee " ; Muhlenburg's, " I would not Live Al-
way " ; Higbee's Ascension Hymn " Jesus O'er the
grave Victorious ", and Miss Alice Nevin's stir-
ring hymn tune to the words, " The Lord of
Life is Risen ".

g6 Lancaster's golden century

To art, Lancaster has contributed the portrait
painter Jacob Eichholtz, who was a student under
Gilbert Stuart and who painted more than 250
portraits. Among his subjects were Chief Justices
Marshall and Gibson and many of the foremost
people of his day. Then there was Lewis Rein-
gruber, a distinguished fresco painter and decor-
ator; and Leon Von Ossko, who had a studio in
Lancaster for twenty years; and J. Augustus Beck,
who is represented in the Pennsylvania Historical
Society Galleries by over fifty portraits of promi-
nent people of the state and in the Washington
Monument by a group of sculptured figures repre-
senting " Hippocrates Refusing the Bribe."
Among the living representatives of Lancaster
County in the field of art we note Miss Blanche
Nevin, sculptress of the statue of Muhlenburg at
the Capitol in Washington, D. C, Helen Mason
Grose and Helen Thurlow whose delightful il-
lustrations in leading American magazines were
largely produced on the soil of Lancaster County.

Associated with business of a decidedly more
than local nature are the names of a long list of
men connected either by birth, training or resi-
dence with this community. Among those whose
influence has reached over the widest area are
Frank W. Woolworth, founder of the Woolworth
chain of stores, Edwin M. Herr, the head of the
Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co.,
and Joseph H. Appel, head of the Wanamaker
store of New York. Worthy of note, too, is the

NOTABLE MEN AND WOMEN 97

fact that Mr. J. W. B. Bausman has served as
president of the Pennsylvania Bankers' Associa-
tion and that Mr. Eugene L. Herr as president of
the American Booksellers' Association and the
late Isaac H. Weaver as President of the Ameri-
can Cigar Leaf Tobacco Association.

To journalism Lancaster has given Colonel J.
W. Forney, founder of the Philadelphia Press and
the charmingly intimate essays of *' Bob " Risk.
To military affairs she has given a legion of
gallant men from the days when John Joseph
Henry started out for Quebec and gave us the
most interesting account written of Arnold's ex-
pedition to the days of Major-General William
Murray Black, Chief of the Engineers of the
U. S. Army, senior member of the board charged
with raising the wreck of the U. S. S. Maine from
Havana Harbor, awarded the D. S. M. for es-
pecially meritorious and conspicuous service in
planning and administering the engineering and
military railway services during the recent great
war.

Next to President Buchanan, probably the most
widely known names associated with Lancaster
County are those of Baron Steigel, Robert Fulton,
and Thaddeus Stevens. We feel that a more de-
tailed discussion of these characters is justifiable.

Henry William Steigel came to this country in
1750 and brought about forty thousand pounds
with him. He travelled for a time over Penn's
province in search for a suitable location and of a

98 Lancaster's golden century

favorable opportunity for the profitable invest-
ment of his money. For a time he lived in Phila-
delphia and while there married the daughter of
an ironmaster. Then he came to Lancaster county
and built an iron furnace which he named Eliza-
beth in honor of his wife. He entered upon the
manufacture of stoves. Some of them are still
found with his name upon them. A thriving
settlement grew up around his furnace. In i 762
he founded the town of Manheim. Shortly there-
after he built an imposing structure with brick
imported from England. This was perhaps the
most costly residence in Lancaster County at the
time. The interior of this nobleman's castle was
elaborately decorated with colored tiles and woven
tapestries. Over the old-fashioned fireplace were
square plates of delf set in cement representing
landscapes. Upon the top of the chateau was a
balcony upon which a band of musicians would
be placed to play favorite airs as soon as the
Baron's return home would be announced by the
firing of a cannon. In one of the upper rooms
of the castle, it is said, the Baron would preach
to his laboring hands on Sunday. About this time
he established a glass factory of large dimensions,
also built of imported brick. The purpose of this
factory was to encourage men to locate in his new
town. It was the only one in America at the
time and the wares made in Steigel's glass works
were considered very superior. Many of these
wares are still in existence and are highly cher-

NOTABLE MEN AND WOMEN 99

ished by antiquarians. After a while, however,
the limits of his financial ability were reached,
he lost all his fortune, and was thrown into prison
for debt. He died in poverty at the age of fifty-
three. His grave is unknown, but the fame of
Steigel glass still exists.

Concerning Robert Fulton, one of the foremost
living masters of English verse has written the
following lines :

" A child of Lancaster, upon this land,

Here was he born, by Conowingo's shade ;
Along these banks our youthful Fulton strayed,

Dreaming of Art. Then Science touched his hand,
Leading him onward, when, beneath her wand.

Wonders appeared that now shall never fade :
He triumphed o'er the winds and swiftly made

The Giant, Steam, subservient to command."

Robert Fulton was indeed a child of Lancaster.
He was born in the southern part of Lancaster
County. Robert Fulton was indebted for the
rudiments of a common English education to the
town of Lancaster. He early bent his energies
in the direction of drawing and painting. At the
age of seventeen he was practising that profession
in Philadelphia. Later he sailed for England,
continued his study of painting under Benjamin
West with whom he lived. Even while in Eng-
land he became interested in the improvement of
inland navigation and transportation. Then he
went to Paris to study modern lg.nguages, math^-

100 Lancaster's golden century

matics and natural philosophy. There he di-
rected his attention to the application of steam
for purposes of navigation and was the first who
successfully applied a powerful engine to this
branch of human industry. He invented a tor-
pedo which was rejected by the French and
English governments. He came to Washington
and the American government appropriated five
thousand dollars to enable him to experiment with
the torpedo. Fulton regarded the torpedo at the
time as a greater invention than steam navigation
for he believed it would establish the " liberty of
the seas." In 1807 he perfected his steamboat for
navigating the Hudson and in September of that
year the Clermont made a successful voyage at
the rate of five miles an hour from New York
to Albany and back. The triumph of his genius
was complete and from that day forward the name
of Fulton was destined to stand enrolled among
the benefactors of mankind.

On September 21, 1909, the Lancaster County
Historical Society arranged a celebration at the
birthplace of Robert Fulton to Commemorate the
centenary of the trip up the Hudson River of
" The Clermont ". On the old stone house in
which Fulton was born have been placed two
tablets, the one of dark bronze, bearing a mural
bust in low relief of Fulton, the other in the
form of. a conventional shield representing the
Clermont under which is the following inscription :

NOTABLE MEN AND WOMEN lOI

Clermont Robert Fulton 1807

Here, on November 14, 1765, was born
ROBERT FULTON
Inventor,
Who on the waters of the Hudson,
August II, 1807, first successfully-
applied steam to the purposes
of navigation. At this place he spent
the first years of his life.
Without a monument, future generations would know him.
Erected by the Lancaster County Historical Society,
At the Centenary celebration of his Achievement, September, 1909.

Thaddeus Stevens, " The Great Commoner," as
men delighted to call him, lived in the city of
Lancaster during the greater portion of his life.
He came here in 1842 in the vigor of his intellect
and manhood, because he desired a larger field of
operation than was possible in Gettysburg, where
he had begun his career as a young lawyer. His
reputation as a brilliant leader had preceded him.
He had already been a member of the lower
House of the State legislature and by his elo-
quence at a critical point in the struggle for the
common school law of 1834 had won the victory
for free schools in what he later considered the
most effective speech he ever made and the
crowning utility of his life. In Lancaster he was
nominated by the Whig party and elected to
Congress in 1848 and at once threw himself into
the arena as the aggressive foe of slavery. In
1850 he made his first great speech against the
slave curse and proved himself a foeman worthy

102 LANCASTER S GOLDEN CENTURY

of the steel of the most prominent men of the
anti-slavery party. He followed his profession
as lawyer in Lancaster from 1853 to 1859, and
was then elected by the Republican party to
Congress, where he immediately became the
leader of his party. Throughout the Civil War
he was chairman of the Committee of Ways and
Means and one of the most strenuous advocates of
emancipation. From the beginning of the war
to the end of his life he was scarcely absent a
day from his seat in Congress and for most of
that time his labors were herculean. He was an
able counselor of President Lincoln and an ardent
opponent of the reconstruction policy of President
Johnson. It was Thaddeus Stevens who pre-
sented in Congress a resolution declaring that
Andrew Johnson, President of the United States,
be impeached of high crime and misdemeanors in
office. After tliree days of debate the resolution
passed, but Stevens was broken down in health.
A month after Congress adjourned in the summer
of 1868 Stevens was dead. A noted historian
recently said, " In the Congress of the United
States from the time of its first officer, Frederick
Augustus Muhlenburg, to this day, there was just
one man who when he occupied a seat in that body
held more power than any man in the government,
and that man was a citizen of Lancaster county,
Thaddeus Stevens."

In the Lancaster County District the primary
election for Congressman had been fi^^d for thg

NOTABLE MEN AND WOMEN 103

end of the week at whose beginning Thaddeus
Stevens had died. At the election although all
the voters knew that their representative in Con-
gress was dead, every vote as a tribute of respect
was cast for Thaddeus Stevens. A eulogy on the
dead statesman was pronounced before the Senate
by Charles Sumner in which the Massachusetts
Senator said, " Not a child, conning his spelling-
book, beneath the humble rafters of a village
school, who does not owe him gratitude."
Sumner further said, *' It is as a defender of
human rights, that Thaddeus Stevens deserves our
homage. Already he takes his place among il-
lustrious names, which are the common property
of mankind."

On a monument in a cemetery in the heart of
Lancaster City at the corner of West Chestnut and
Mulberry streets, where his body was laid, is the
inscription composed by the Great Commoner
himself,

*' I repose in this quiet, secluded spot, not from
any natural preference for solitude, but, finding
other cemeteries limited by charter rules as to race,
I have chosen it that I might be enabled to il-
lustrate in my death the principles which I have
advocated through a long life — the Equality of
Man before his Creator ".

In an address in the House of Representatives
Stevens had expressed the following wish which
throws a light on his motives and character: "I

t04 t ANC ASTER* S GOLDEN CENTtTllV

will be satisfied if my epitaph shall be written
thus : * Here lies one who never rose to any emi-
nence, and who only courted the low ambition to
have it said that he had striven to ameliorate the
condition of the poor, the lowly, the downtrodden
of every race and language and color.' I shall
be content with such an inscription on my humble
grave."

In his will, Thaddeus Stevens left money to
erect, establish and endow an institution for the
relief of homeless indigent orphans, in which
needy and ambitious boys should be carefully
educated in the various branches of English, and
in all industrial trades and pursuits. With this
bequest as a nucleus and with later additional
subscriptions and state grants there was erected as
a memorial to his distinguished services, the
Thaddeus Stevens Industrial School, located on
East King street, Lancaster, Pa.

CHRISTOPHER HAGER

CHAPTER VII

CENTENARY BUSINESS FIRMS

N no direction has Lancaster made
greater progress than in the size and
character of her business houses. The
city has the unique distinction of hav-
ing a number of firms that have been in continuous
existence for over One Hundred Years. Of these,
at least three or four have been doing business
under the same family name, at practically the
same location for a century or more.

The most recent Lancaster addition to the
" Centenary Firms and Corporations of the United
States " is the Department Store of Hager and
Brother. Founded in 1821, the Hager Store
enjoys the distinct honor of being the oldest
Department Store in America, under the same
family name, ownership and management, con-
ducting business on the same site throughout the
whole period of its history.

io6 Lancaster's golden century

Just One Hundred Years ago, there appeared
in the Lancaster Gazette and Farmers' Register,
issue of Tuesday, October 9, 182 1, the following
notice :

" Fresh Fall Goods
C. Hager & Co.
Respectfully inform their friends and the public
that they have lately received

A general and extensive assortment of Dr}^
Goods,

Adapted to the approaching season, which, to-
gether with a good assortment of

Queensware and Groceries,
They are now offering at the most reduced
price, at their store, corner of the market, form-
erly occupied by David R. Barton."

On the basis of this documentary evidence, the
Hager Store celebrates in this year 192 1 the One
Hundredth Anniversary of its Founding. The
story of the origin and growth of the Hager Store
is typical of the substantial and remarkable com-
mercial growth and development of Lancaster.
This unbroken record of One Hundred Years,
through a half dozen periods of panic and de-
pression, through the Mexican, Civil, Spanish-
American and World Wars, is a remarkable tri-
bute to the ability, industry and integrity of the
four generations of men who have successively

CENTENARY FIRMS 107

had in charge the development of this successful
commercial enterprise.

The Hager family has been one of the most
honored and respected in Lancaster for a period
of one hundred and fifty years. Christopher
Hager, senior, the founder of the family in
America, came from Hesse-Darmstadt, and sailed
from Rotterdam, September 22, 1764, in the ship
" Britannia," Captain Thomas Arnot, carrying
260 passengers. He at once settled in Lancaster,
where he resided until his death. Here he
married Caroline Biehl, daughter of Philip Biehl.
The records show that he owned considerable land
in and about Lancaster. From 1778 until 1807,
he resided at the northeast corner of East King
and Christian streets, which property was then
sold to Robert Coleman, and later became the
home of James Buchanan. Mr. Hager was a
member of Trinity Lutheran Church, and is buried
in the old graveyard, in the rear of the church, on
Mifflin street.

The youngest son, named after his father
Christopher Hager, was the founder of the Hager
Store. Christopher Hager was so closely identi-
fied with every phase of the advancing life of
Lancaster up to the time of his death in 1868, that
it is well worth while to enumerate some of the
activities in which he was engaged. He was al-
together a remarkably sagacious and progressive
merchant, banker and citizen, noted for his in-
tegrity and public spirit.

toS LANCASTER'S GOLDEN CENttJRV

Just One Hundred Years ago, under the sign
of C. Hager & Co., he opened the doors of his
place of business in a store room twenty by
twenty- five feet, located on the corner of West
King and Market streets, in the upper south-
eastern portion of the present Hager Building.
There was a small warehouse in the rear for stor-
age purposes. Four times a year he went to the
Philadelphia market. As auction sales were fre-
quent in those days, he often bought quantity lots
of merchandise. Two purchases of this kind are
worthy of mention : the one, a hundred hogs-
heads of molasses, was strung around the curb of
West King street for half a square, in lieu of a
better place for storage. The other a full cargo
of coffee, which had become drenched, though not
damaged by sea water, was quickly bought in by
the good housewives, who appreciated a bargain
a hundred years ago, even as they do now. Up
to 1834 goods were brought from Philadelphia
over the King's Highway in the famous Cones-
toga Wagons, with their blue-painted bodies,
white tops and teams of sturdy horses equipped
with bells. Lancaster was a stage town, which
meant in those days great bustle and activity.

The business of Christopher Hager flourished
and became a recognized store, especially on the
first day of April, the great settlement day in Lan-
caster County. Banks were few in those days, and
actual money was used for adjusting accounts.
The Hager Store was one of the principal meeting

CENtENARY FIRMS 160

places for people making their settlements, and
became somewhat of a private banking establish-
ment. As the young merchant developed a reputa-
tion for probity, the substantial farmers loaned
their surplus cash to him, realizing that it would
be secure. Purchase terms of credit then prevail-
ing were six months, with the privilege of an
additional six months. Gold payments were al-
vv^ays made by C. Hager, and this fact, particularly
during the era of " shinplasters " gave his house
unlimited credit. In 1846 Christopher Hager took
his son, John C. Hager, into partnership, under
the firm name of C. Hager and Son. After this
the store was much enlarged, and the business was
confined to the selling of dry goods and men's
clothing.

In 1848 Christopher Hager was chosen presi-
dent of the Farmers' Bank, and in consequence,
retired from the mercantile firm. He was presi-
dent of the Farmers' Bank during the trying
financial period of the Civil War, and his patriotic
services in raising the National Loan were con-
sidered invaluable. In 1856 he changed his resi-
dence to Abbeville, west of Lancaster. He was
largely interested in real estate in the southern
and western parts of the city. It was also largely
through his instrumentality that the cotton mill
industries were located in Lancaster, and the Lan-
caster Locomotive Works. It was because of his
interest that the Fulton Opera House was first
built. He was for many years a trustee of Frank-

no LANCASTER S GOLDEN CENTURY

lin and Marshall College, and was a member of
the Building Committee when the first college
buildings were erected in Lancaster. He was
Treasurer of Lancaster County, elected on the
Whig Ticket. He was so enthusiastic for the
election of Henry Clay to the presidency that tra-
dition says he bet his whole store on the election
of Clay and lost. The winner, however, returned
the store out of pure joy in the satisfaction of
winning. At the dissolution of the Whig party,
his sympathies carried him into the Republican
ranks.

Christopher Hager was in every respect a
representative of the highest and finest type of
business man that Lancaster has produced. He
not only prospered in his own business, but he
was ever willing and ready to give his time and
energy to public interests. He had a wide ac-
quaintance. He was on intimate terms with Gov-
ernor Curtin during and following the Civil War.
He was a warm personal friend to President
James Buchanan, and was on the same intimate
terms with Thaddeus Stevens. When Christopher
Hager died in 1868, the Philadelphia Press said,
'' The announcement of the death of Christopher
Hager at Abbeville, Lancaster, will be received
with regret throughout the state. One of the
oldest and most substantial citizens of Lancaster
county, intimately connected with all its public
movements, his business relations were extended
generally throughout the Commonwealth. Many

CENTENARY FIRMS III

of the chief local improvements of his native city
are mainly attributed to his enterprise and public
spirit. During the struggle for national exist-
ence, he was at all times, in his county, one of the
first men looked to for counsel or aid in every
emergency."

In 1853, the first, second and third sons of
Christopher Hager formed a partnership, and
the firm name was changed to Hager and Broth-
ers, and finally, upon the death of Henry W.
Hager, to Hager and Brother.

John C. Hager, the eldest son of Christopher
Hager, after having worked in his father's em-
ploy for half a dozen years, was, in 1846 at the
age of twenty, given a partnership interest in the
business, later assuming for several years entire
management, and after 1853, continuing as the
head of the firm until his death in 1897. After
the death of Christopher Hager, the eldest son
John was asked to accept the presidency of the
Farmers' National Bank, which position he de-
clined, owing to the pressing nature of his other
business interests. He was largely interested in
real estate in Lancaster City, and township.
The development of the western part of Lancaster
is largely due to his activity. His public interests
were many and varied. He took a prominent part
in all those practical interests that made for the
good of the community, in church, education
and business affairs. He was one of the organ-
isers ^nd prmdmt of the Lancaster Board of

112 Lancaster's golden century

Trade. He was a trustee of Franklin and Mar-
shall College, and of Trinity Lutheran Church.
He was one of the pioneers of the street railway
system in and about Lancaster. In every sense
of the word, he was a good type of Christian
gentleman, representative citizen and active busi-
ness man, the soul of integrity.

Charles F. Hager, the second son of Christopher
Hager, became a partner of the firm in 1853. As
a boy, after a preliminary education in the local
schools, he entered the Conestoga Cotton Mills,
and helped in putting through the pickers the
first bale of cotton, manufactured in Lancaster.
After becoming a partner of the firm of Hager
& Brothers he became the buyer for the store.
He constantly visited the metropolitan wholesale
markets, and his business ability, integrity and
genial disposition made him a host of friends at
home and abroad, which proved an important
factor in the expansion of the business. He was
also a director of the Farmers' National Bank, and
one of the organizers of the Stevens House Hotel
Co. After the death of his father, he purchased
the family homestead at Abbeville.

Henry W. Hager, the third son of Christopher
Hager, received his business training in his fath-
er's store, and was a member of the firm from
1853 until the time of his enlistment during the
Civil War, when he served as First Lieutenant
in Company B, Second Pennsylvania State Volun-
teers, After the war he returned to his place in

CENTENARY FIRMS 113

the firm. He died at the age of 34, while serv-
ing as Postmaster of Lancaster City.

The fourth son of Christopher Hager, Edward
F., while not a member of the firm of Hager and
Brother, was connected with the firm of W. L.
Strong & Co., New York. Colonel Strong was
afterwards made mayor of New York. Edward
F. Hager had a splendid record in the Civil War,
serving as First Lieutenant Co. B 122nd P. V. L,
and seeing active service at Chancellorsville and
elsewhere during the trying days of the rebellion.
He also recruited, and was Captain of Co. A,
50th Regiment, Pa. Militia.

Then comes the third generation, linking hands
with the second, and furthering the work estab-
lished by the first. Such is the privilege of the
present senior members of the Hager Store.
They worked hand in hand with their fathers, and
in their own day assumed the responsibilities
themselves. During the Seventies and Eighties
under progressive management the business pros-
pered and grew. In 1885, partnership interests
were given to John C. and Walter C, sons of
John C. and Charles F. Hager, and in 1889 to
William H., son of John C. Hager.

At the time Walter C. Hager entered the firm
of Hager and Bro., Christopher Hager, son of
Henry W. Hager and John C. Hager, Jr., son of
John C. Hager, were also given a partnership
interest, but later they left the partnership to en-
gage in other lines of business. In 1897 upon the

114 Lancaster's golden century

death of the senior partners, John C. and Charles
F. Hager, sole control and ownership was assumed
by Walter C. and William H. Hager, who con-
stituted the firm of Hager and Brother up to
recent times, when the two sons of William H.
Hager were added to the firm.

The personnel of the firm of Hager and Brother
now is Walter C. Hager, William H. Hager, and
his two sons Edward T. and William H. Hager,
Jr., the sons representing the fourth generation
of the business.

Walter C. Hager, son of Charles F. Hager,
entered the employ of Hager & Son in 1876.
About 1884, he was given a partnership interest,
and upon reorganization in 1898, he continued
a member of the firm, and is to-day the senior
member of the business. In local affairs Walter
C. Hager has been active in many public enter-
prises. For a number of years he served as
Treasurer of the Lancaster Charity Society, now
the Community Service Association. He also
served for some time as a director in the Young
Men's Christian Association. From the start, he
was an interested and active member of the Lan-
caster Historical Society. He has prepared and
read several valuable papers before the Histori-
cal Society, dealing with subjects of an artistic
nature. He was vice-chairman of the committee
under whose auspices the Loan Exhibition of
Historical and Contemporary Portraits illustrat-
ing the EyQlwtion of Portraiture in Lancaster

CENTENARY FIRMS Il5

County, was made possible in 1 91 2. He has been
interested in promoting a number of benevolent,
educational and artistic projects in the community.

The second member of the present firm of
Hager and Brother, is William Henderson Hager,
son of John Christopher Hager, and Margaret
Henderson Hager. He graduated from Franklin
and Marshall College in 1885, and entered the em-
ploy of Hager and Brother as clerk in the autumn
of that same year. Under the teaching of his
father, he gained a thorough knowledge of the dry
goods business, merchandising, finance and man-
agement. In 1890 he was given a partnership in
the firm. In 1896 he was practically the manag-
ing head of the business, owing to his father's ill
health. In 1898 (his father John C. Hager and
uncle Charles F. Hager having died during the
year 1897) the firm was reorganized, and he con-
tinued business in partnership with his cousin,
Walter C. Hager, the firm name of Hager and
Brother being continued.

William H. Hager has taken an active part in
community interests, including the business, civic,
social, educational and benevolent enterprises of
his city. In 1899 he served two years as president
of the Lancaster Board of Trade, and served for
a number of years as Director of the Lancaster
Chamber of Commerce. In 1920 he was elected
president of the newly-organized Pennsylvania
Retail Dry Goods Association. In February
192 1 he was elected a director of the National

ii6 Lancaster's golden century

Retail Dry Goods Association. He is a trustee
of Franklin and Marshall College, and is the third
generation of his family serving on the Buildings
and Grounds Committee of that institution. He
is a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, of the
Board of Trustees of the Lutheran Theological
Seminary at Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, and of the
Executive Board of the United Lutheran Church
of America. He is also an incorporator of the
Lancaster Law and Order Society; an independ-
ent Republican in local and national affairs.

At a '' welcome home " party, given by the
Hager Beneficial Association of the Hager Store
at the Iris Club in the Spring of 1920, for Mr.
Walter C. Hager, who had just returned from an
extended visit to California, it was announced that
Edward T. Hager, son of William H. Hager had
been given a partnership interest in the firm of
Hager and Brother.

It is worth noting that this marked the entrance
of the fourth generation into the business manage-
ment of this well-known department store.

Edward T. Hager is a graduate of Franklin
and Marshall College, class of 19 14. After spend-
ing more than a year in the employ of Hager and
Brother, he was engaged in active service on the
Mexican border, as First Lieutenant in the 4th
Infantry, of the Pennsylvania National Guard.
After another brief period with Hager and
Brother he entered the service of the United States
Government as a member of the Pennsylvania

CENTENARY FIRMS 1^7

National Guard, and went overseas with the 28th
Division, as First Lieutenant of the 107th Machine
Gun Battalion. He took part in the major en-
agements fought by the Iron Division, up to the
day of the armistice, and returned with his divis-
ion from France in May, 1 919, when he was
given an honorable discharge from the service.
He again took up his position with Hager and
Brother. He is Vice-Commander of the Ameri-
can Legion, Post No. 34.

In the month of February, 1921, announce-
ment was made to the employees of Hager and
Brother by William H. Hager that his second
son, William H. Hager, Jr. had been given an
interest in the partnership of Hager and Brother.
William H. Hager, Jr., of the class of 191 8,
Franklin and Marshall College, left college near
the close of his junior year, in order to enter the
Students' Military Training Camp at Fort
Niagara, there receiving his commission as second
lieutenant. He went overseas with the 316th In-
fantry of the 79th Division, American Expedi-
tionary Force, and saw active service in the
Argonne-Meuse Sector. Later, physical disabil-
ity incapacitated him for further service with his
regiment. He returned to the United States late
in December 191 8, and was given an honorable
discharge from the army on January 10, 1919.
He is a member of the American Legion. His
son William H. represents the fifth generation.

With each advancing generation, the Hager

ii8 Lancaster's golden century

Store has kept pace with the growth and the needs
of the community it serves. In 1903, the firm
erected a three-story building with basement, add-
ing about 18,000 feet of floor space. In 1906 a
fourth story was built to the main back building,
adding 7,000 square feet of floor space. In 1910
the front building was torn down, the firm con-
tinuing to do business (growing all the while)
during the period in which the present modern
handsome structure was erected. The present
store building has a frontage of 63J/2 feet by 230
feet in depth, is five stories high in front, and has
four stories in the rear. There is a large ware-
house adjoining, a part of which is used by the
business. The store is thoroughly equipped with
up-to-date fixtures, tube cash system and sprinkler
system. The business is run under an efficient
department plan, having thirty-eight departments.

The personnel of the Hager Store is made up
of 23 executives, including a corps of 16 buyers,
with a force of people numbering 250 at the
maximum. An educational director devotes all
her time to the various duties of her position. The
store presents an atmosphere of congeniality and
refinement, an unmistakable quality of good taste
and well-ordered arrangement.

Group insurance is part of the store's system.
Policies varying from $500.00 to $1,000.00 are
given to the workers, after they have been in the
employ of the store one year. The amount is
based upon their term of service. A bonus com-

CENTENARY FIRMS 119

mission plan is in force, and is additional to the
salaries of the workers.

The Hager and Brother Beneficial Association
is a thriving organization, supported by the work-
ers of the store and the firm. The association
pays both sick and death benefits.

The Hager Store is a member of an efficient
buying organization in New York City, the Dry
Goods Alliance.

The Hager Store is a public institution, typical
of all that is best in Lancaster. Like the City of
Lancaster, it is full of shadows of the great figures
of the past, yet it has the bloom of an eternal
youth. The power and vigor of the men who
were the originators and the inspiring soul of the
enterprise abides in those who are carrying for-
ward the work. The celebration of the looth
Anniversary of the Hager Store, and its entrance
into the *' Centenary Firms and Corporations of
the United States " is an event of truly historical
significance for the city and county of Lancaster.

The Demuth Tobacco Shop on East King street,
is another Centenary Firm. Established in 1770,
it is the oldest tobacco shop in the United States.
It was started in the Province of Pennsylvania by
Christopher Demuth, the paternal great-grand-
father of the present proprietor, Henry C.
Demuth. This store has been for a hundred and
fifty years a place where men were wont to gather
and discuss matters of large and small concern.
" Years ago," says the historian, " the aristocrats

120 LANCASTER'S GOLDEN CENTURV

of an early day, soldiers and statesmen, wits and
beaux, lawyers, doctors and parsons, gathered
there to discuss affairs of state and of society, of
funds and finance, law, literature, picnics and
politics." The Demuth store is one of Lancaster's
most interesting and characteristic establishments.
It has kept pace with the growing spirit of every
generation, but it has lost little of its ancient flavor.

The oldest continuous business firm in Lan-
caster is the Steinman Hardware Company, estab-
lished in 1744, and still doing business at the
original location. It is undoubtedly the oldest
hardware store in the United States. Among the
list of names taken from one of the old ledgers of
patrons of the store, prior to i "jGo, is the name of
George Ross, and of other men well known in
their day. Many of the articles sold in the store
prior to 1760 were manufactured in a shop lo-
cated in the rear thereof, and practically all were
handmade. In 1760, according to the Steinman
records, two horseshoes cost as much as thirty
shoes now, and " sundry nails " as much as one
half keg now. A cord of hickory wood cost $2.00,
while a quart of rum cost 32c. It is said that the
present ledger of the company contains the names
of many whose ancestors dealt with the firm more
than one hundred and fifty years ago. Until the
death of George Steinman, a member of that
family had always been connected with this firm.

Another business house continuing for over a
centuiy, practically under the same name, though

CENTENARY FIRMS t^t

not on the exact location throughout its whole
history, is the Heinitsh Drug Store. This firm
started business in 1780, importing drugs and
medicines from London and Amsterdam. The
business was moved to its present stand, 16 East
King street, in 1 841, The store enjoys the repu-
tation of having been in one family longer than
any other drug store in the United States.

The first among the banking houses of Lan-
caster to pass the century mark is the Farmers'
Trust Company. It was founded as the Farmers'
Bank of Lancaster in 18 10, chartered as the
Farmers' National Bank of Lancaster in 1864,
and incorporated under its present title in 1904.
For more than 100 years it has maintained in un-
broken succession the confidence of the commun-
ity and served the best business and professional
interests of the city and county of Lancaster.

At least two of Lancaster's newspapers have
been in existence for over a hundred years, and
the third is running not far from the centenary
line. The Journal was established in 1794, and
the Intelligencer in 1 799. These two later merged
under the name of the latter, but to-day again
exist as distinct newspapers. The Examiner-
New Era recently celebrated the 90th Anniversary
of the founding of the Lancaster Examiner in
1830, which in 1834 became the Examiner and
Herald. The founding and the development of
these old newspapers forms one of the most inter-
esting pages in the Golden Book of Lancaster.

CHAPTER VIII

THE SPIRIT OF LANCASTER

HE story of Lancaster relates not only to
the seven generations of men and women
who for the past two hundred years have
tilled the fields, turned the wheels of industry, es-
tablished the arts, founded institutions of learning,
made laws, planted churches and developed suc-
cessful building enterprises. It is the story also
of the 55,000 men and women who live in Lan-
caster City to-day, of the 175,000 who inhabit the
county, who are planning greater things for the
Lancaster of to-morrow.

That they have the spirit of industry is evi-
denced by the fact that for fifty years Lancaster
County has led the 3000 counties of the United
States in the value of its cereal products, raised
on the 11,000 farms into which the county is
divided. The aggregate value of crops for the
county represents the enormous sum of 30 millions.
The total volume of business in live-stock in Lan-
caster, which is considered the largest market for
the sale of cattle for feeding purposes east of
Chicago, amounted in one year to over 22 million ;

THE SPIRIT OF LANCASTER 123

more than 213,000 head of live-stock having been
sold in the Lancaster market in one year. Lan-
caster County too has been noted for the fact
that it raises nine-tenths of the state production
of tobacco, the crops running over 10 million.

The spirit of industry is also seen in the rapid
strides made by the 200 manufacturing industries
of the city, shipping over 100 million dollars
worth of Lancaster manufactured goods annually,
paying over 16 million in wages every year to the
thousands of employees, 96 per cent of whom
are American born.

The home of the famous Hamilton Watch is in
Lancaster. This firm with its 750 employees
builds 400 high-grade timepieces per day for 280
days a year, giving it an output of two million
dollars a year, which represents a production of
more high-grade watches than are issued by any
other factory in the United States. Lancaster
has also the largest linoleum plant in America,
and the longest silk mill in the world. It is the
centre of the umbrella industry of America. It
has great cotton mills that produce the well-
known " Lancaster Ginghams." It would be pos-
sible to name a hundred diversified industries for
which the city and county are noted, including
asbestos products, ball-bearings, forges, locks,
druggist preparations, electrical apparatus, boxes,
soaps, structural and ornamental steel and iron,
woodwork, motor trucks and great quantities of
cigars and candy.

1^4 LANCASTER'S GOLDEN CENTtfRV

These industries are made possible largely by
two factors, the Holtwood dam, and excellent
transportation facilities. The Holtwood dam is
probably Lancaster County's greatest achievement
in applied science. By harnessing the Susque-
hanna more power is produced than by any other
single plant east of the Mississippi and south of
Niagara. As far as transportation facilities are
concerned, Lancaster is located on the line of
two railroads, has the Lincoln Highway passing
through it, and is the center of a network of 1 80
miles of trolley lines which extend to every part
of the county, and connect with Philadelphia,
Reading, Harrisburg and Lebanon.

That Lancaster has the spirit of thrift as well as
that of industry is seen in the fact that the actual
bank assets show the banking wealth of Lancaster
to be greater than that of 14 sovereign states of
the United States, taken separately. The city
has six national banks and seven trust companies.
The bank clearings of the fifty banks for the entire
county show that over 137 million passed over the
counter last year.

The spirit of patriotism in Lancaster evidenced
in America's Seven Wars, was never more fully
revealed than in the part that the present gener-
ation of Lancastrians have taken in the Spanish-
American War and in the Great World War.
Lancaster County gave 5,787 men to the service
in the recent Great War among whom were so
many volunteers that Lancaster's quota was filled

THE SPIRIT OF LANCASTER ISg

before the first draft went into effect. 240 Lan-
caster City and County boys laid down their lives
in the world conflict. 48 physicians of the city
and county served in the war, and 27 others made
application for admission to the Medical Corps
but were rejected. Major General William
Murray Black, Brigadier General W. H. Rose and
Lieut.-Col. John H. Wickersham saw the light of
day in Lancaster County and all forged their way
to high eminence as engineers.

Brigadier General Robert C. Davis, also a
native of Lancaster, rose to be Chief of Staff to
General Pershing and Adjutant of the American
Expeditionary Forces. Among the many others
who were honored by high commissions were
Brigadier General E. C. Shannon, Col. F. S. Foltz,
of Fort Oglethorpe, Col. Wm. S. McCaskey,
Lieut.-Col. Theodore B. Appel and Lieut-Col.
J. H. Steinman. Among those who led Lan-
caster troops were Captain W. C. Rehm, Cap-
tain J. N. Lightner and Captain C. P. Stahr.
Among the many brave lads of Lancaster who
gave their lives in the world war notable and
typical are the names of Captain H. H. Worth-
ington and Lieut. Daniel S. Keller. Worthy of
record too is the fact that Boone Bowman, a Lan-
caster boy in the French Army, carried the first
American flag across the German lines in the
Great War. In the navy we were represented
by Lieut-Commander E. E. Skeen, Lieut. H. N.
Howell, Lieut. D. H. Frantz and a number of

126 Lancaster's golden century

ensigns. Lancaster County contributed over 43
million dollars in support of the great struggle,
a per capita equivalent of $260 for every man,
woman and child. The treasure in blood and
money given by the citizens of Lancaster will some
day be written in the records of a great war
memorial building. Would that one could speak
of the magnificent work of the Red Cross under
the leadership of Mr. H. W. Hartman, and his
army of helpers; and of the many services of our
''War Mayor " the late H. L. Trout and of those
whom he called to his assistance.

Lancaster has the spirit of good will and hos-
pitality. Nowhere is there a more energetic re-
sponse to every worthy appeal for the help of
humanity. The charity of the people of Lan-
caster County is proverbial. Public spirit and
philanthropy is manifest in such gifts as those of
Mr. H. S. Williamson, a prince of good will,
whose name will live as long as Lancaster exists,
in the names '' Williamson Field " and '' William-
son Park." Then there is the name of Catharine
H. Long, associated with what is destined to be-
come one of the most beautiful parks in the state,
and with a home for the aged which has already
proved a blessing to many.

There is to be found in Lancaster a love of
education and a spirit of culture that is the result
of generations of growth. Besides 22 school build-
ings and 4 parochial schools we have in the city,
Franklin and Marshall College, a Theological

THE SPIRIT OF LANCASTER 1 2/

Seminary, Franklin and Marshall Academy,
Shippen School for Girls, Thaddeus Stevens
Industrial School and Yeates School. The
Bowman Technical School of Watchmaking, En-
graving and Jewelry is 32 years old, has 115
students and over 2000 graduates. It has given
vocational training to a large number of disabled
soldiers. Lancaster has two handsome high
school buildings of modern construction. In the
county is to be found Linden Hall Seminary
located at Lititz, Pa., one of the very oldest
girls' schools in America.

From the days when the old Juliana Library
in Lancaster was named after the wife of Thomas
Penn to our own time, a taste for books has pre-
vailed among all orders and ranks of people in
Lancaster. There are in the city at present the A.
Herr Smith Memorial Library, The John Watts
DePeyster Library, and the library of the Theo-
logical Seminary. These three contain at least
100,000 volumes. The printing establishments of
Lancaster turn out more books and magazines of
a scientific nature than those of any other city
of her size in the country.

In the social and literary life of Lancaster there
are a number of organizations of interest and
permanent value, such as the Cliosophic Society,
which for forty-two years has promoted congenial
literary study and refined social intercourse be-
tween a number of persons of kindred tastes. The
Travel Club, the Fortnightly Club, the Present

128 Lancaster's golden century

Day Club, the Liberal Club, the Musical Art
Society are other organizations of similar char-
acter. The Iris Club has for twenty-five years
been of great value to the higher life of
Lancaster. More recent additions to the cul-
tural life of Lancaster are the Association of
Organists and the Lancaster Municipal Orchestra.

The Lancaster Chamber of Commerce has re-
cently been reorganized with over a thousand
members. The Rotary, Kiwanis and Quota Clubs
have rendered great service to the community.
The Manufacturers' Association has undertaken
a program of Americanization.

Lancaster has to-day 6^ churches, representing
practically every denomination. The city has two
hospitals, equipped with modern appliances,
maintaining a high record of efficiency. There
are homes and asylums which provide for young
and old who need assistance. The charities of
the city are organized under the leadership of
Dr. A. V. Hiester, president of the Lancaster
Community Service Association. The Y. M. C. A.
and the Y. W. C. A. have large and beautiful
buildings. They are both bee-hives of activity.
The Y. M. C. A. celebrated a year ago its
golden jubilee. The efficiency of the organi-
zation owes a great deal to the services of the
late James Shand who for many years was the
president of the Board of Trustees as well as to
the fine enthusiasm of its present secretary, Mr.
E. B. Searles. Throughout the great war the

THE SPIRIT OF LANCASTER 1 29

Y. M. C. A. building in Lancaster was the civic
center and rallying point of the community. On
the site of the old historic Shippen home on East
Orange street the citizens of Lancaster erected a
few years ago a handsome building for the use
of the Y. W. C. A. This organization under the
leadership of Miss Pratt has proved one of the
most valuable assets to the higher and better life
of the community.

Lancaster has many beautiful residences and
many handsome suburban homes. A large per
cent of the population own the houses in which
they live. There are also a number of handsome
apartments in the city. Among the hotels are to
be noted the Brunswick on the site of the former
Caldwell House, the Stevens, named after the
great Commoner, the Wheatland and the new
Weber. In the corridor of the Brunswick is a
tablet presented by the late W. U. Hensel and
unveiled by the Lancaster Historical Society to
commemorate the fact that from the balcony of
the former hotels on the same site Abraham
Lincoln, Horace Greeley, James Buchanan, Win-
field Scott Hancock and Theodore Roosevelt had
delivered addresses. It appears that Lancaster
has entertained seven men who at the time of their
visit here or shortly thereafter became President
of the United States, and at least three others who
were nominated for that high office but failed of
election.

The city owes much of unalloyed joy to its five

I30 Lancaster's golden century

beautiful parks. These breathing places provide
air, sunshine and the enjoyment of nature for the
people of Lancaster.

This quaint old town of two hundred years
standing is indeed an interesting and beautifully
located spot. As you walk the streets of Lan-
caster, a thousand busy thoughts rush on the mind,
a thousand images of the past come up before you.
Whatever faults the community has — and like all
other types, it is irregular in its development —
the stranger will find here no lack of the atmos-
phere of friendliness, the visitor will feel the
pervasive influence of hearty cordiality. There
is a mingling here of the old and of the new,
of the yesterday and of the to-morrow; there is a
softness in the sky in May, a mellowness in the air
in October. If you will look into the soul of
this old city, you will find there a spirit of hos-
pitality and brotherliness which will make you
feel at home at the ends of the earth. There
are handsomer, cleaner, richer, and more intellec-
tual cities than Lancaster, but there is none which
has more thoroughly developed the resources of
simple and genuine friendliness.

4bs^

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