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i "I 0 0 H z 4 0 0 7 p4 E-4 0 A POLITICAL PROCESS OF URBAN GROWTH: CONSOLIDATION OF THE SOUTH SIDE WITH THE CITY OF PITTSBURGH, 1872 BY BERNARD J. SAUERS' T HIS is a study of urban growth through the political process of consolidation. The region studied consisted of eleven boroughs on the south side of the Monongahela River, an area of 4.20 square miles, with a population of 38,685. According to Kenneth T. Jackson, annexation and consolidation constitute different processes. Consolidation is the absorbing of one municipal government by another, while annexation is the absorbing of unincorporated land next to the city.' Jack- son states that much of the urban growth in the nineteenth century occurred when cities reached out and swallowed up adjunct areas. Kingsley Davis, however, states that annexation is not an important factor in the study of urban demography. Ac- cording to Davis, the expansion of boundaries by political annexation tended to approximate the physical spread of the city; thus, the city changed its political boundaries to encompass the new areas of growth.' This paper, following Jackson's approach, argues that Pittsburgh grew in the nineteenth century because it forcefully consolidated adjunct areas which were already in- corporated boroughs. Mid-nineteenth century Pittsburgh witnessed a change in its demographic pattern with the development of rail transportation and the building of an improved system of intracity travel. High population densities in the city caused the greatest rate of population growth to occur on the urban periphery. The growth in population and industry caused Pittsburgh businessmen and other civic boosters to attempt to consolidate these areas with 'The author is Chairman of the Department of History, Shady Side Academy, Pittsburgh, Pa. l Kenneth T. Jackson, "The Significance of Annexation in the Nineteenth Century" (Paper presented to the American Historical Association, De- cember 28, 1970), 5. 2Ibid., 131-132. 265 266 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY Pittsburgh. The process of consolidation was not unique to the Pittsburgh area. During the years from 1850 to 1860, 75 percent of the fifty principal cities in the United States consolidated territory.' Pittsburgh civic leaders were concerned with the growth of rival cities, as compared to the lack of growth in Pittsburgh. Civic boosters, businessmen, and newspapermen, prime motiva- tors behind the consolidation movement, argued that larger cities attracted more people and new industries. 4 The newspapermen played a major role as they promoted the image of Pittsburgh as a city of dynamic growth. The businessmen of the area supported the papers, and the decisions of the boosters influenced the politics of consolidation.' In 1872 the eleven boroughs located on the south side of the Monongahela River consolidated with the city of Pittsburgh. This 4.20 square-mile area was located at the foot of the escarp- ment along the river plain. The south side underwent intensive industrial development between 1850 and 1870, and much of the pattern of development was established by the time consolidation took place. During the westward movement of the post-Revolutionary War period, the low plain along the banks of the Monongahela River attracted new settlers and new development. As early as 1797, a glass factory owned by O'Hara and Craig began pro- ducing plate glass for the westward moving pioneers. By 1807 the value of the glass manufactured was $18,000, and by 1860 there was $30,000 worth of flint glass produced with another $40,000 in bottles and windows.' The south side was a dynamic area, growing in industry and population. A comparison between the population growth of the two largest boroughs on the south side, Birmingham and East Birmingham, and the city of Pittsburgh, for the time period of 1850 to 1860, reveals a changing demographic pattern. In the de- cade of the 1850s East Birmingham's population increased 110 SJames Holmberg, "The Process of Growth in the Nineteenth Century Community: Pittsburgh 1850-1890" (Unpublished paper, Universitv of Pittsburgh, 1971), 4. 'Jackson, "The Significance of Annexation," 5. 'The Pittsburgh Gazette, July 29, 1876. 6George H. Thurston, Allegheny County's Hundred Years (Pittsburgh, 1888), 190. URBAN GROWTH AND PITTSBURGH, 1872 267 percent and Birmingham grew 62 percent while Pittsburgh increased only 5.1 percent. Pittsburgh had the smallest percentage of population increase in Allegheny County. The 1870 statistics for the south side indicate that the population of the eleven boroughs was 38,685. The south side had a minimal number of blacks, but it did have a higher percentage of people with a foreign background than did the city of Pittsburgh. 268 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY The south side experienced twenty years of industrial growth prior to the consolidation of 1872. In 1872 the Pittsburgh area had thirty-six glass factories which produced half of the glass in the United States and employed 4,259 people. The glass factories had a capital investment of $4,660,880 which produced products worth $5,832,492.7 In 1872, twenty-six of the thirty-six glass factories were located in the boroughs of Birmingham and East Birmingham on the south side of the Monongahela River. These two boroughs represented only a part of the industrial area consolidated that year. The population increase and the industrial development not only gave the south side a particular sense of community, but it also made the area desirable to Pittsburgh's civic boosters who wanted to expand the city boundaries. A comparison of the population growth of Pittsburgh with Cincinnati and St. Louis from 1800 to 1850 reveals that Pittsburgh, which had earlier advantages in population growth, soon lost its top position to rivals down the Ohio2` Concerned over the city's possible stagnation, the civic boosters observed rapid population growth in the peripheral regions. Although the population for Pittsburgh for the years 1850 to 1860 increased only 5.6 percent, the eight boroughs bordering the city increased by 18,779 people, or 82 percent. The glass industry increased its production 400 percent between 1840 and 1857." The iron and steel industry in Allegheny County increased its blast furnaces by eleven between 1850 and 1876, and the number of rolling mills more than doubled.," None of these statistics indicates stagnation for the Pittsburgh region. They do indicate a changing pattern of growth (see table 1). The oldest wards of the city, wards 1-4, had a population density of 66.9 people per acre in 1850; ward 5 recorded 74.6. Downtown 'Pennsylvania, Bureau of Industrial Statistics, Annual Report 1872-1873 (Harrisburg, 1874), 51. ' U. S., Census Office, A Compendium of the 7th Census, 1850, by J. D. B. DeBow (Washington, 1854), 192. For the early rivalry among these cities see Richard Wade, The Urban Frontier: Pioneer Life in Early Pitts- burgh, Cincinnati, Lexington, Louisville, and St. Louis (1959, reprint, Chicago, 1964). 'William J. Bening, "The Glass Industry of Western Pennsylvania, 1797- 1860" (Master's Thesis, University of Pittsburgh, 1936), 115. " James Swank, Introduction to a History of Ironmaking and Coal Mining in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1878), 105. URBAN GROWTH AND PITTSBURGH, 1872 269 TABLE 1 CHANGES IN POPULATION DENSITY PITTSBURGH 1850-1860 (People per acre) 1850 Density 1860 Density Ward 1-4 320 Acres 21,439 66.9 20,758 64.8 Ward 5 110 Acres 8,211 74.6 8,734 79.4 Annexed 1837 Ward 6-9 700 Acres 16,951 24.2 19,735 28 Annexed 1845-46 Total 1,130 Acres 46,601 41.2 49,217 43.6 Taken from U. S. Census Office, 7th and 8th Census 1860-1860 (Wash- ington, D. C., 1861). Pittsburgh had a dense population. The housing, constructed before the use of structural steel, consisted of rowhouses and low one- and two-story buildings built of wood, brick, and stone. The areas of least density, wards 6, 7, 8, and 9, were the outlying wards that had been annexed in 1845-1846. The density of the population in the downtown wards and the development in the outlying, sparsely populated regions indicate that growth, not stagnation, took place. By 1850 the city of Pittsburgh occupied most of the low river plain, and its population had spread outwards from the center of the city into the hill area. Fertile lowland accessible by both ferryboat and bridge lay just across the Monongahela and Alle- gheny rivers. Into these areas came people and industry. The civic leaders of Pittsburgh observed these demographic trends and attempted to bring about consolidation. The consolidation of Philadelphia in 1854 provided a major stimulus for the city of Pittsburgh to attempt the same action. With one political act, Philadelphia added 127 square miles. In terms of area, it became the largest city in the world. Pittsburgh eyed Philadelphia's new position with envy, and the Philadelphia press had a comment for Pittsburgh. In December, 1853, The North American stated that consolidation required more effort than Pittsburgh seemed inclined to make. It claimed that Pitts- 270 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY burghers neglected to take the steps necessary to secure for their city the importance to which it was entitled."1 Pittsburgh civic leaders wanted to consolidate a large region including Allegheny City and nine other boroughs, four of which were on the south side. Consolidation involved a population of nearly 40,000. This addition would provide Pittsburgh with new status among American cities and new wealth in the form of an expanded tax base. Table two indicates how the proposed consolidation would have affected Pittsburgh's population and tax base."2 TABLE 2 PITTSBURGH CONSOLIDATED 1850 PITTSBURGH Population 46,601 84,108 Percent of County Population 27.5% 44.7% County Tax Assessment $31,182 $48,567 Percent of Total County Tax Assessment 39.7% 61.7% The Pittsburgh newspapers played a major role in gaining support for a bigger and better city.

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