Wednesday, March 11, 2009

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WILKES-BARRE SIXTY YEARS AGO (1845)

Sixty years ago the old borough lines extended from North to South streets, and from the canal to the river, and the inhabitants numbered only three or four thousand. With very few exceptions there were no paved sidewalks and in general makeup it was like any other country village, with no street light at night except that furnished by the moon, and there were probably only about half a dozen brick buildings in the whole town. The canal on the south, west and northwest sides, with elevated bridges where the streets crossed, was the one feature that, like the railroads of today, gave the borough a businesslike appearance.

Main street and Market street in those days ran right through the Square, cutting it into four triangles, with a building in each corner. The old church, known as "Old Ship Zion," was on the west corner, the court house on the south, a stone fire proof building for the court records on the east, and the old Academy on the north corner.

Franklin street then ended at South street, and Washington street, north and south, was only partly open.

Canal street was mostly swampy ground, and south of the canal was a big bog pond, reaching from Northampton to North street. It was a great skating place in the winter and a good place to catch bullheads and sunfish in the summer. Market street and the Baltimore coal chutes was the only dry ground in that section for a distance of three blocks.

The canal furnished employment for many boatmen, and served as an outlet for coal and lumber, and brought in merchandise from the cities of Philadelphia and Baltimore in the summer. There being no railroads at that time, all the merchandise that came into the valley came either by stage or by canal.

There was a daily line of stages to Easton, sixty miles over the mountains, and it took about sixteen or seventeen hours to make the trip, and about two days to reach Philadelphia or New York. There was also a stage line running to Harrisburg and one to Towanda. and a line of packet boats to Northumberland during the summer, but most of the travel came over the Easton turnpike.

There were many large apple orchards in Wilkes-Barre in those days. Judge Ross on South Main street had one. with a cider press and a still house in it, located in the rear of the present G. A. R. Memorial Hall. There was also Dilley's orchard on South Franklin and River streets, while below, where Franklin street then ended, was a large orchard extending from South street clear below Ross, which was divided by the Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad running to South street, and and a large distillery was on the river bank. just below the present residence of William L. Conyngham. Squire Dyer also had an orchard just off Main street and Public Square, and there were others a little farther down, between Main and Washington streets, including Dr. Jones's, northeast of the old jail; Joseph Slocum's, north of Main street canal bridge, and Lew Worrell's, on North River street. In fact most of the vacant land was covered with apple and other fruit trees, and even at this late day I can pretty near tell how the apples tasted on every tree, for the small boy of that day had the run of all the orchards without fear of being molested. Judge Ross's elder press was a great resort for the boys of those days at elder making time.

The boys and men of those early days, as I remember them, were a pretty fair lot of fellows, and I will try and name some of them, leaving out the girls, as they did not count for much as they did not go fishing or swimming or skating with the boys, but they were just as bright, and smart, and pretty as the girls of to-day are.

The Dilley boys, sons of Jesse Dllley, lived on South River street below Northampton, and were Sylvester, Anning, Lyman, Urban, Butler, Friedland and Monroe.

Next above were Col. Wright's boys, Joseph and Richard.

Then came John L. Butler's sons, Frank and Chester.

Next, on the opposite corner, were Judge Edmund Taylor's sons, John, Tom and Edward;

then the Conyngham boys Butler, Tom. William L. and Charley;

then Harry Fuller's son, Harry;

then Peter McGilchrist's at the old Phoenix Hotel, Miller and Horton.

Further up the street was Samuel Holland, the pioneer coal operator of Wyoming Valley, with his two nephews,Holland Noles and Holland Merritt.

Then Judge Reichard's sons, George, Henry and John.

On Union street were Col. Beaumont's sons, John, Henry, Andrew and Col. "Gene," and Col. LeClerc's son, Ed.

Then came the "Gabtown" boys, Billy, George, Oliver and Clem Patterson;

the Speece boys, Sam and Lee, and their half brother, Charlie Stout.

The Emerson boys, Emmons, George and Byron;

the Leach boys, Oliver, George, Isaiah and Silas.

Farther up the street were Col. Hamilton Bowman's two sons, Charley and Tony.

About this time Oliver Hillard came from Charleston, S. C., with his two boys, Thad and Will, and built the Hillard block, corner of Main and Union streets, and a large mill in the rear of Union street.

Esquire Myers's sons were Lawrence, William, Henry and Charles.

The Farrel boys on North Main street were Lawrence, Johnny and Dennis.

Sammy Corcoran was also one of the boys of my time.

On Franklin street were Sharpe D. Lewis's sons, Arnold, Harry and Toby;

on River street were the Chapman boys, stepsons of Squire Carey, Charley, Isaac and Dave;

the sons of cashier Lynch of the Wyoming Bank, Samuel and Roll;

the sons of Judge Woodward, Stanley, George and John;

Rev. John Dorrance's sons, Ben, Jim, John and Charley;

"Daddy" Lynde the watchmaker, had one son Edward;

the sons of Thomas White, the wagonmaker at the end of Franklin street, Joe, John, Dan and Tom;

preacher Baker's son, Ed.

On the opposite side, on South street, lived Peter Shiveley, a tailor, with two sons, Sylvester and Peter;

Luke Moore, the blacksmith had one son, George, about my own age, and several younger ones.

On South Main street were Sterl Root, Jim Spencer, Johnny Laning, Arnold Henry and John Bertles, William and Rufus Marcy, Bill Bettle and the Cutler boys, Reuben, Richard, Stewart and Alpheus, known as "Bub;"

merchant C. B. Fisher's sons, Tom and Harry;

and Fell, the blacksmith's son, Eddy.

Then there were the Brower Boys, Halsey and Johnny;

the Hay boys, William, Dan, Tom and John;

the Connor boys at the top of "Nigger Hill", William, Wilsey, Hughey,Dave, Tom and John;

the Kidney boys, on the hill, Sam, Tom, Joe and James;

preacher Melster's sons, John and Isaac, and Johnny Wykoff.

Then there were the colored families, the Tillmans, Browns, Tennants and Rexes, with large families of boys, and in those days the color line was not drawn, but the white and the colored boys played together indiscriminately. "Nigger Hill" was a famous place for coasting in the winter and the boys kept it as smooth as glass as long as the snow lasted.

Going back into the town we find lots of more boys that I knew:

Tommy Robinson's boys George and "Doc"; postmaster Collings's sons, Samuel, Eleazar. "Quaker" and Tom;

George P. Steele's son, Ed;

cabinetmaker Helm's sons William, Ben and Tom;

the Fell boys, Charley, Theodore and Sam.

On East Union street was Alexander Gray, superintendent of the Baltimore Coal Co and his three boys, John, Alex and Jim;

Dr Jones's sons, James and Ed, son, George;

Lord Butler's sons, Joe, Zeb. Ziba and Ed;

Judge Kidder's son, Scott.

Then there were deacon Fell, who lived at Joe Slocum's;

Billy Freas, who lived at Steele's;

and the Loop boys, Sterling, Miller and "Judge."

On Northampton street were Tom and Alpheus Dennis, and Billy Cook, John Fell and Eddy Birmingham.

On Washington street, Port Hart, Tom Smith and Eddy Gore.

On Franklin Street, C. E. Butler;

At the old river bridge, Bill. Harry and George Kutz.

Below town lived George and Billy McLean, Charley Dana and Bill Stephens, and many other good fellows whose names I have forgotten.

On South Main street lived William, Tom and John Butler, and on West Ross street the Miller boys, John, "Rodge," Tom and Wesley, and Joe Swayze, and many others, large and small.

On the Square was Old Ship Zion, used by the Methodists, whose resident pastor was Father Roger Melster, with itinerant preachers, who changed every year.

At the Episcopal Church on South Franklin street Rev. R. R. Claxton was the rector. The Presbyterian Church stood where the Osterhout Library now stands, and the pastor was the Rev. John Dorrance. I attended Sunday school in the old class house on North Franklin street, when Daddy Claxton taught there. The above were the only churches at that time.

There were no free schools in those days. The Perry girls had a private school, as did Mrs. Hannum in the old court house. Mrs. Jane Miner and Nathan Barney, the old Academy on the Square, Deacon Dana's preparatory school on Academy street and Miss Bixby's school for young ladles.

The judges were John N. Conyngham, P. J., ex-judges Scott and Kidder, judges George W. Woodward and Warren J. Woodward, and several associate judges, among whom were Ziba Bennett, William S. Ross and others.

The leading lawyers were Harry M. Fuller, Col. H. B. Harrison and Caleb Wright, Charles Denison, Voiney L. Maxwell. Lyman Hakes, Lazzy Shoemaker, Jonathan Slocum and several others whose names I have forgotten. Squire Dyer and a Mr. Burrows were justices of the peace.

The principal hotels were the old Phoenix, on River street, where the
Wyoming Valley Hotel now is, of which Peter McGilchrist was the proprietor;

Steele's Hotel, on the site of the Bennett Building, on the corner of the Square and North Main street;

the present Exchange Hotel, then kept by Samuel Puterbaugh;

the Black Horse, that stood where the Osterhout Block now is, kept by Archiphus Parrish and his sons, Bradly, George, Gould and Charley;

the White Horse, on West Market street, kept by Petit and Belsel,

and the Wyoming Hotel, on South Main street, on the site of the Christel Block, kept by Capt. Jacob Bertels.

Then there were the four-horse Concord coaches, driven by the old time stage drivers, Jeff Swainbank. Elijah Knox, John Teets, Stewart Rainow, Erastus Cox and others, who were men of importance on those days, and on the Harrisburg route was George Root, and on the Towanda line George Pruner. Old Miller Horton owned most of the stage lines, with his two sons, John and Miller.

The prominent merchants of that early day, as 1 remember them, were: George M. Hollenback, Isaac Wood, John B. Wood, Abram Wood and Matty Wood, Reynolds & Slocum, Henry Pettebone, C. B. Fish, Martin Long. Marx Long, Lynch & Nicholson, Sinton & Tracy, Camp Gildersleeve, Ziba Bennett, J. Constine, Eno & Teller, Charley Reels, Reuben Flick, Isaac M. Osterhout, Jacob Anhelser, with his four sons, Ed, Charley, Henry and Bill.

Bakers, F. C. Wait, Thomas Robinson and Zacky Gray;

Hatters, J. Snow and Ed Pierson;

Tinners, Mr. Howe and J. Wilson;

Butchers, Jessy Dilley and Bill Davis, and Mosey Wood;

Doctors, Thomas Miner, Dr. Jones, Dr. Boyd and Dr. Smith;

Prominent carpenters and builders, John T. Bennett, Hiram Dennis and Mr. Barnes, with his four sons, and Ira Marcy;

Blacksmiths, Dan Bennett, Harry Wilson, John G. Fell, Thomas White, Hugh and Ed Fell, Mr. Drake and Dan Hay;

Millinery, Mrs. Nancy Drake;

Druggists, Charles Streator and William Tuck;

Wagon makers, William Dean, Thomas White, L. LeGrand

Shoemakers. Daddy Hoffman, Mr. Davage, Hart Alkins, C. Klipple;

Harness makers, Edward Taylor, E. B. Loomis;

Tailors Gray, Everett, Shively, Brower.

These are about all I recollect, so I will leave the completion of this chapter for some other historian with a better memory.

Yours, J. Bennett Smith.
[Dally Record, Dec. 28, 1905]