Allegheny City: A History of Pittsburgh’s North Side

Chapter 1. Beginnings in Wilderness: The Colonial Era to 1840

sub chapter title recto 1 1 CHA P TER 1 Beginnings in Wilderness The Colonial ra to 1840 I n 1783, at the close of the American Revolution, the area that later became Allegheny City—and even later Pittsburgh’s North Side—was a wilderness , home to perhaps a few hardy white squatters and an uncertain number of American Indians. Within view, just across the junction of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, the village of Pittsburgh bustled with commerce. It was already known as the “Gateway to the West,” and its population was growing steadily. While its population was sparse, the area that would one day be Pittsburgh ’s North Side had long been home to Seneca Indians, one of fi e tribes of the League of the Iroquois, who by 1748had established a village near the river, at a location between present-day Allegheny Avenue and Federal Street. By 1783a dirt path—a former Indian trail—cut through the land north of the rivers. From an Allegheny River crossing at Herr’s Island, this path ran along present-day East Ohio Street, West Ohio Street, Western Avenue, and Beaver Avenue. In 1799,Allegheny County would take charge of this path and designate it the route to the town of Beaver, in Beaver County. During the colonial era, George Washington and Christopher Gist were among the travelers who used this dirt path. In 1753, Virginia sent the twentyone -year-old Washington, with Gist as his guide, to warn the French away from the Forks of the Ohio, land that England (and Virginia) claimed. Gist accompanied Washington on his almost-fatal crossing of the Allegheny River, near the present-day Fortieth Street Bridge. TheFrench ignored Washington’s message, and Washington returned in 1754,his journey eventually leading to the world’s first global conflict, known as the French and Indian War in the United States and the Seven Years’ War in Europe. Washington confronted the French, first at Jumonville’s Glen, where he prevailed over a small French force, then at Fort Necessity, where he surrendered. 2 beginnings in wilderness Now, in 1783,at the end of the Revolution, wishing to benefit the young country’s veterans and anticipating further development at this confluence where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio, the Pennsylvania General Assembly created the three-thousand-acre Reserve Tract from the wilderness opposite Pittsburgh from a larger area called the The eserve tract of land opposite Pittsburgh and the original plan for Allegheny City. Darlington Digital Library Maps Collection, Digital Research Library, University Library System, University of Pittsburgh 3 the colonial era to 1840 Depreciation Lands. The tract stretched along the north bank of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, its northern boundary extending in a nearly straight line from the mouth of Woods Run, an Ohio River tributary near the present State Correctional Institution at Pittsburgh, to the mouth of Girty’s Run, on the Allegheny River at what is now Millvale. The general assembly wanted Revolutionary War veterans to receive land in the Reserve Tract as compensation for their services. David Redick, the commonwealth’s surveyor, laid out the Reserve Tract in 1787, envisioning a rectangular town called Allegheny, with its center at the present intersection of Federal and Ohio streets. Allegheny Town would contain one hundred “in lots,” measuring 60 by 240 feet, with four blocks dedicated to public use at its center. The town plan imposed streets and lot lines upon uneven terrain, abundant hardwood trees, and small bodies of water. A common area for grazing, now East and West parks, surrounded the town on all sides, with Federal and Ohio streets, but no lesser streets, cutting through this common . Federal Street was the southernmost section of the Franklin Road, which ran from Pittsburgh north to present Venango County. Beyond the common area, Redick created “out lots,” many of ten acres, with the idea that landowners would combine them for farming. Each purchaser of a town lot was to receive an out lot at no additional cost. In 1788,the commonwealth auctioned both Allegheny’s in lots and the out lots beyond the town. The newly platted Allegheny Town was originally within Pitt Township, which straddled the Allegheny River and took in much of present Pittsburgh. Then, as Allegheny County’s population and commerce increased, new 4 beginnings in wilderness town­ ships formed. Allegheny Town was included in Pine...