Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-01-05

PITTSBURG DISPATCH,
set to sparkling. A notable event it was,
and great crowds thronged to the place from
all Pittsburg and all Allegheny to see the
first stream thrown into the air. Cheers
| greeted its first upward leap, and the news
papers made much of the event, both before
and afterEard.
| And now behold statues and monuments
and fountains are everywhere. Beautiful
trees abound, and conservatories of rare
flowers offer abundant treasures. And only
| the other day a monument was unveiled
there in honor of man who, in the old time
have spoken of, was an unknown worker
in printing oficel Truly, time works last.
UNCHANGED AND CHANGED.
But one thing time has not changed to any
great extent, and that is the perplexing
maze of Pittsburg streets. The stranger in
1890 will have Just as much trouble In find
ing his way about as the stranger OF 1865
experienced. In the course of time he will
learn how it is that Wood street and Fifth
avenue, being at fight angles with each
other, can both form an angle with Liberty
street also; and he will learn the material
distinction between Sixth street and Sixth
avenue; perhaps will master the science of
the acute angles formed by sIreets running
parallel to the Monongahela river with
streets running parallel to the Allegheny
river. But when he attacks the problem of
the hill streets, he will solve it as the
stranger in 1865 solved it: By concluding
that some early settler tied tin pail to
dogs tail, and laid out street wherever the
dog made tracks in the mudi
And on many Of the streets the newcomer
will see the self same things the oldcomer
saw. The same houses, or others just like
them, are there; and scarcely hint is given
of the great wave of change which has so
altered the face of things in central locali-
ties that the old citizen, returning after years
of absence, feels that he is in strange city.
The wave will eddy into these hooks after a
time; but now there are some of them, with
in five minutes walk of the Court House,
where not ripple has been felt.
Where it has struck, what an altered
aspect it has brought to passl Looking at
Pittsburg now, and then looking back to
1865, it seems as though the old place must
have stood still before that time, and for
not so, but the recent leap has been so vigor-
Gus and so startling that it appears like the
first spring of newly-awakened athlete.
How long was it after the war before there
was any change in the business architecture
or the house architecture of the city? Stores
and dwellings were built in plenty, but they
were built solid and square and unornamen-
tai, just exactly as their predecessors had
been. "The Iron Front" on Fifth avenue
was show building in those good old times.
Now lookl Pittsburg seems intent, on
taking the lead, architecturally, as we'll as
manufactorily-if that is an allowable word.
Some of the new business blocks would SO
startle an Old-time ghost that he would
think he had surely mistaken the place.
AS for the new houses thet many of the
people are housing themselves in, there are
no words to describe the change from the
old style homes A visit to some of the
residence quarters of Pittsburg and Allie
gheny is bewildering to an old-timer. The
more modest houses, for people of very mod
crate means, are pretty and picturesque be-
yond the imaginings of the 1865 builders;
while the varied and artistic magnifcence
of some of the palaces prepared for wealth
is simply astonishing. Truly, if Pittsburg
did not move in the old days it moves
enough now to make up for lost time.
"wATcHMAN, TELL u.s."
Does it seem strange to any reader to be
told that policemen are a comparatively
recent innovation in Pittsburg? Well, they
are. Blue coats, brass buttons, belt and |
mace were all in the future, no longer ago
than 1865.
There were watchmen in those days and |
nights. and not so very many of them. |
Watch boxes they had for shelter at various |
points on the streets, and they would issue
forth from them at intervals and make their
rounds. None of them were assigned to
special duty at the corners of crowded
either, and people who wished
70 get across the street waited until there
was break in the line Of vehicles or else
,ook the chances
When the organized police force was in
'ontemplation--a police force that should
De hitting for city of such proportions as
was beginning to attain-there
vas much discussion about the matter. And
remember that one point of the discussion
truck me as being Enthusiastically Amer
can. Objection was made to the proposed
Informing of the men, because uniform
vas livery, and livery was badge of
ervitude, and consequently humiliation.
This objection was met by the'argument
hat a whole army of the best citizens OF the
ountrY had just been disbanded; and every
many in that army had worn uniform. Of
curse such discussion could end but in
ne way-the way it did end. The police
Vere uniformed, and no man of them found
ny humiliation in the fact.
For some time after 1865 the watchmen
.ept up the quaint old custom of crying the
our of the night: "Twelye o'clock at night,
nd all's wellP' 1t took some time to get
sed to hearing it, but one missed the call
ng when it was done away with.
JAMES C. PURDY,