Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-22
REALTY ON THE JUMP.
Property Values All Over the County
Rapidly Increasing.
CHIEF ELLIOT ON POOR FARMS.
Agricultural Lands Being Gobbled Up for
Town Sites.
CARNEGIE INVESTING IN P1rTsBuRG

fICtsOurg properly anu, III lact, properly
all over Allegheny county, is away on the
boom. Inside the last year and o half the
fronts on all the three rivers have more than
doubled in value. This increase in value is
not local, but extends for at least 30 miles
in all directions .
Controller Morrow said yesterday that 1t
was surprising the jumps realty had been
taking lately. He said he had thought it
would come to an end, but Andrew Car
negie had said that anyone who held prop
erty on any Of the downtown streets had one
of the best Investments in the country.
'.In fact" continued the Controller, "Mr.
Carnegie ia quietly buying property all
over Pittsburg and holding it as an in
vestment He is even paying the high
values now asked in the belief that 1t will
in a few years greatly advance in price, and
Mr.. Carnegie seldom makes mistakes. Peo-
pie who only few years ago did the same
thing in New York have grown wealthy,
and the fact that men like Carnegie buy
real estate for investment here is great
compliment to the worth of the CITY,.
The Experience of Chief Elliot.
Chief Elliot, of the Department of Chari-
ties, touched on the same matter yesterday,
though more applicable to the county in
general. Speaking of the great increase in
values since ne started on his hunt for poor
FARMS, he said: 81 saw that real estate all
over the county was going up and if the
people who do not know anything about
poor farms had left the matter alone the
city would have had the benefit of
it, I don't know where we are to
get farm now and, in short,
am disguised. acted for the city's best
interests and was attacked from all sides. I
am willing to put up 81, 900 or 5000, to be
given to anyone who will prove crookedness
in any of the poor farm transactions. Talk
about 5000 or $500 an acre for the Stewart
farm, the finest piece of land in Western
Pennsylvania The city would not see it,
but private corporation did, and the
owners Of Kensington will make fortunes
out Of it. The big Chambers glass plant is
going up there, and anyone who would offer
$500 an acre for it now would be laughed at.
Just above the Stewart farm Patent Attor.
ney Bakeweu owned just 40 acres, and
short time ago he got a check from the Ken
sington people for $50, 900 for ito
A Good Real Estate Speculation.
IT tell you." continued the Chief, eff the
city had bought the Stewart farm it would
have made half million on it in 10 years.
knew the place was bound to become val
liable. Its value as q town site was appre-
ciated ten years ago by such men as Thomas
A. Scott, afterward President of the Penn
sylvania Railroad Company; Colonel Will
lam Phillips, President of the Allegheny
Valley; Edgar Thomson and John Scott.
land. 1t, with large part of Kensington,
was then known a. the Crawford farm. 1t
was refused them then at that price, and
anyone with good common sense could
see it was q bargain at $500. An
other fact that made 1t valuable was, that
when the Allegheny Valley road was given
the right of way through there it was stipu-
lated that every train run over the road
should stop there. This fact made it un-
usually valuable, but the city lost it all
because some people who did not know any
thing about it howled robbery
Good Sites for Manufacturers.
s'The next best place was the Wiley farm,
and the city lost it the same wav. 1t has
more than doubled in value. As an illus
tration, as have tramped all over the hills
and valleys hunting farms, people often
come to me to ask about the best manu-
sites One man asked me few |
days ago and I told him the Stewart farm |
was but that was now a part of Kensington. |
The next best place was the Wiley farm and |
l sent him to see William Glew. He re- |
ferred him to the present owners and this |
met the man and asked him if |
had found site. He replied, 4 offered |
s140, 900 for 80 acres of the Wiley farm and |
the man just laughed at me- That is the
way it goes, though. The city could have
had the entire farm for 5000 an acre.
Plenty of Coal for tho Poor.
"Now we are offered the Lee farm for $500 |
an acre. 1t is underlaid with coal, and yet
people say it is o big price. In the case of
the Hays estate, coal men, such as Stone &
Fawcett, testified in court that coal
lands here are worth $1,000 an
acre for the coal alone, yet here
we are offered surface and all for $500, 500
less than what the coal alone is worth. If /
The committee of Councils will 60 and look
over that farm they will be satisfied it is a
'.Away back in 1886, when the whole of
was confined to the portion of the
city below Grant street, it bought the Poor
Farm of 149 acres at Homestead for $11 900.
In 1890 it was sold for S466, 900. Now lots
are being sold there for $50 front foot If
The city needed 149 acres then it is nonsense
to say we need smaller farm now. Prop
erty is constantly on the rise. and it is not
likely farm will be offered as cheap again
unless it is land that is not suited. Some of
The farms I visited 1 would not take as a
gift and pay the taxes My experience has
been that the poorer the land the more e1-
orbitant the prices. don't know where we
will get Poor Farm now"