PITTSBURGH IN 1817

From a sketch made by Mrs. E. C. Gibson, wife of James Gibson ofthe Philadelphia bar, while on their wedding tour.

PITTSBURGH
IN 1816

Compiled by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
on the OneHundredth Anniversary of the
Granting of the City Charter

181

PITTSBURGH
CARNEGIE LIBRARY
1916

Preface

This little book will interest the Pittsburgher of 1916 chieflybecause the parts and pieces of which it is made were written by menwho were living here or who passed this way in 1816.

The three newspapers of the day—the Gazette, the Mercury, and theCommonwealth—have furnished, though somewhat sparingly, the items oflocal news. They have also furnished advertisements—these in greaterabundance and variety.

The men who were the tourists of the day in America, traveling bystage, wagon, boat, or on horseback, often made Pittsburgh a stoppingplace in their journey. Many of them wrote books, in which may befound two or three pages, or a chapter, on the city as it appeared atthat time. It is from these books that the section "Impressions ofearly travelers" has been gathered. The date given with these extractsis the date of publication, but the period referred to in every caseis between 1815 and 1817.

In addition to these gleanings from contemporaries, a number ofparagraphs from various histories of the city have been included.

The sketches that have thus been bought together do not form asystematic or well proportioned description of the city; yet they mayhelp, through their vivid pictures and first-hand impressions, to givesome idea of life in Pittsburgh a century ago.

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