Pitcairn High School - Retrospect Yearbook (Pitcairn, PA)

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in width from John McGinnis in 1850, began construction work about the same time. The building of the Railroad through the McGin- nis farm 94 years ago was without doubt the most important event in our 200 years. We could truly say that the greatest happening in the first hundred years was the going of the Indians in 1763, while the most important movement in the second hundred years was thc coming of the railroads in 1851. The first trip made by a Pennsylvania Railroad train from Pittsburgh was an excursion to Turtle Creek December 10, 1851. Regular passenger service was inaugurated the following day and continuous service from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia was made avail- able November 29, 1852. The road was first chartered as the Ohio and Pennsylvania Rail- road in 1848, and the first locomotive in Pitts- burgh had its trial run on July 4, 1851. Prior to the coming of the railroad, commerce was carried on with the east over the Pennsyl- vania state owned system consisting of a com- bination of canal, portage railway, and rail- way. In addition to the State system of transportation, the greater part of passenger and freight service between Pittsburgh and the east was by stage coach and Conestoga wag- ons over the privately owned turnpike roads. For almost 40 years after the beginning of railroad service in 1851, the tracks continued to run along the bank of Turtle Creek ad- joining the present Borough of Wall. The railroad was built long before the era of machinery, which meant that the cuts and fills were made by human hands using picks, shovels, and wheelbarrows. It is said that the first roadbed of the P.R.R. is a monument to those sturdy Irish emigrants who sweat and toiled in the long ago that we may now ride in comfort and ease. Someone has stated that the greatest gain brought about by the railroad was the em- ancipation of commerce from the tyranny of the weather. About ten years after the coming of the railroad the Civil War broke out. Pittsburgh, being then as now, the Iron City, was called upon to produce the heavy cannon needed for the war. After the cannon had been made in the mills and factories, it was necessary to test them by actual firing, before their shipment to the Army and Navy in the South. This place of testing of all Pittsburgh made cannon was called the Proving Grounds and was established on the banks of the Turtle Creek a short distance east of the present Moss Side Bridge. Here a camp of expert artillery men load- ed and fired all guns into the steep bank on tl1e South Side of the creek. During all the years of the Civil YVar, this camp was maintained and it is 11ot strange that a deep caver11 was drilled into the side of the hill by the incessant firing of cannon balls. Many of the older residents of our town remember well this cannon ball cave in the hill from which flowed a good sized spring of ice cold water. This place of Civil VVar artillery testing became so well known throughout the nation, that this section was for many years there- after called The Proving Grounds. After. the close of tl1e war, life in our valley moved on in much tl1e same old way. The McGinnis and Toohill families contin- ued to till their farms, while the families in McGinnisville earned their livelihood by hard work. The old Glew Blacksmith Shop at the Cross- roads was for many years a place of exchange of community news, as the farmers came in to have their horses shod and their farm ma- chinery repaired. In this uneventful way moved the current of life from the Civil NVar days down to lat- ter years of the 1880's. The terminal yards and shops of the railroad, having been estab- lished in Pittsburgh at tl1e beginning of the system, were in need of expansion, but space for such enlargements could not be found in the city. To meet this pressing need the offi- cials of the road, largely through the efforts of the superintendent, Robert Pitcairn, de- cided to build new yards, a new transfer, and engine house in the vicinity of the then Wall Station. An immense acreage of land including al- most the Whole of the Turtle Creek Valley, between Wilmerding and Stewart Station was taken over by the Railroad. These extensive plans called for the re-location of Turtle Creek from the Wall side to the opposite side of the Valley. These closing years of the eighties marked a definite end of the quiet uneventful days of McGinnisville and of the McGinnis and Toohill farms. As might be expected, news of this vast program of improvements, with its need for workers, spread throughout all of the coun- CContinued on page 235 tfwcnty-one

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ties in the western and central part of the State. Soon a genuine boom town was in the mak- ing and families flocked to this new railroad town in an endless stream. That they might find homes in which to live, several plans of lots were laid out, the largest being the VVall's Improvement Co. Plan, which included practically the whole of the McGinnis farm from Broadway to Ninth street, while the lron City Land Co. plan included that part of the town north of Ninth Street. As the village grew. it was given the name of XValurba, which, liter- ally speaking, means a suburb of NVall. The old records disclose that our first churches and lodges, as well as our first news- paper, bore the name of VValurba. ln our early years we were a part of Plum Township, but when the new railroad town took form we were under the government of Patton Township. The first school building in the town was built by the Township School District on Eighth Street. Perhaps the last identity of the old McGinnis farm was the orchard which stood just south of the old farm buildings covering the land now known as Second and Third Street, west of VVall Avenue. In the early years of the town, this old orchard was used as a park and picnic ground. On any warm day men gathered in the shade of the old apple trees to enjoy the out- doors and to meet their friends. Oftentimes a half dozen games of cards were being play- ed under as many different trees. The first meeting place in the town was a hall built on Brinton Avenue across from Sec- ond Street. This was known as Maddox llall. llere many of the first lodges of the town were organized and at least one of our churches held its first services within the walls of this old hall. Broadway in the early days was looked upon with disfavor as a place for buildings, largely because it was considered to be a muddy swamp. The choice location for business was Brin- ton Avenue and the east end of Broadway. Here were found Liggett's, Tilbrook's, and l lack's grocery stores, and Salyard's Hard- ware Store, as well as Maddox Hall. While Broadway was not deemed desirable for real business it was considered fit for a livery stable which was built on the corner of Broadway and Center Avenue, the present site of Jake 's Clothing Store. Sixth and Seventh Streets were thought to be the best location for dwelling houses, be- cause these streets were high and dry. Our first R. R. Station was an old frame structure moved by the company from 1Vall. lt was placed several hundred feet west of the present station and was connected with Broad- way by a bridge spanning the creek at a point almost directly across from the Keystone Car- age. From 1890 to 1894 the sound of the carpen- ter's hammer could be heard on every street of the town as buildings and rows of build- ings became homes for the new citizens. As the town grew larger, the matters of public schools, street improvements, building laws. as well, as numerous other problems were con- tinually brought before the new home owners. and they found no solution through the gov- ernment of Patton Township. To meet the needs of the rapidly growing community the citizens in 1893 were practic- ally unanimous in laying their plans for a new borough government. VVith the close of tl1e year of 1893 one hun- dred and fifty years had passed since the moc- casin of the Indian began to give way to the rough boots of the white men. During the century and a half, this community has had many names. Oldest of all was the Dirty Camp Tract. Next came McKay's Planta- tion and then the Village of McGinnis- ville took its place on the early maps. Mc- Ginnisville lost its identity as the name of The Proving Groundsi' was applied to this segment of the valley. The last of the almost legendary and forgotten names under which we and our former pioneer owners lived was the Village of VValurba. In our next and last Chapter we shall meet with those men and women who laid the solid foundations for our borough almost fifty years ago to a day. Chapter IV-1894-1944 We have now traced our history down through a century and a half of slow but steady development. We have seen our present town emerge from a condition of savagry in 1744 to a well planned tow11 in 1894. In this, the closing chapter, we shall tell first of how Pitcairn be- came the name of our Borough, and then write of the early years of development from the fContinued on page 255 twenty-three