Old Pictures Recall 1876 Celebration Here…

Centennial Arch from taken facing down Chestnut Street from Diamond Park.

Centennial Arch from taken facing up Chestnut Street towards Diamond Park.

D. C. Butchart, a Meadville photographer of the late 1870s, took pictures of this community’s preparations in 1876 for the centennial celebration of the United States. They show an archway-photographed from either side-constructed at the south end of Diamond Park to mark the centenary. In the upper picture is the archway as photographed from the eastern side. Stone Methodist Church looking almost exactly as it does today is at the left. A corner of the Henderson building-reportedly soon to be razed- (in 1953) is at right., A group of citizens, including one man on horseback and another in a horse-drawn “buggy,” stand underneath the arch. The historic old rail-type fence around the park also may be noted at right. In the bottom picture, “shot” from the west side, the Unitarian Church-as it still stands-is at right. The old Crawford Hotel, later torn down to make a site for the First Baptist Church, is at the left. Pictures of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Andrew Jackson, were mounted in the archway. Photographer Butchart’s son, later of Toronto, Can., made the pictures available to The Tribune Newspapers through courtesy of The Meadville Local, I.B.E.W. Union.

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Meadville still had 12 years to wait for its own 100th birthday when it joined in celebrating the centennial of the United States in the summer of 1876. The city took an impressive part in that celebration as pictures made at the time prove. Reproduced above, two of these pictures show the USA Centennial Archway constructed at the south end of Diamond Park.

The top picture was made from the archway’s eastern side. The bottom picture was made from the western side. The photos were taken by Photographer D. C. Butchart, who only a short time earlier had purchased the Roddy “gallery” located on Chestnut Street above the post office. In the upper picture Stone Methodist Church is at left, almost exactly as it stands today. The church interior was wrecked by a fire in 1927, but the original walls shown in this picture withstood the flames, and the church was rebuilt around them. Further down the street, at left, are frame and brick buildings which later were replaced by the Masonic Building and the present post office. On the right is the large frame building now owned by Miss Grace Van W. Henderson, Jake Gurewitz and Warren C. Smith which may be razed this spring (1953). The old-style rail-type fence around the Diamond may be seen at right.

The lower picture shows the Unitarian Church, as it stands to-day, at right, with the cupola of the old Colter house- the (former building of the) Y. M. C. A. — just beyond it. The Crawford Hotel is at left. (It later was torn down to make a site for the First Baptist Church.)

Old Feud Recalled

Pictures of the old fence around the park recalled to one local historian a longtime feud between the City of Meadville and Crawford County. He recalled that in 1844 the city took steps to beautify the park which originally had been given by David Mead “for public use.” But for many years farmers from all parts of Crawford County had used it as a “parking lot” for their oxen. Sometimes they brought fowls and chickens to town to sell, and they, too, were placed in the park. The militia used it for a training field, and one record says that Diamond Park was “a sea of dust” as the men drilled. Trees to beautify the park were planted by Meadville citizens, and farmers from outside town were thoroughly resentful, The said the park belonged to the county, so they brought their oxen in and tore up the trees. The beautification move was stalemated until 1865, when it again was taken up. Evidence that a fence protected the park from being overrun by oxen is found in the pictures.

Bought Roddy’s ‘Gallery’

(The late) Walter A. Butchart of Toronto, a son of the photographer, made these pictures available to The Tribune Newspapers through Meadville Local of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Ralph Mount of Mercer, is (was at the time) the local’s publicity secretary. Walter Butchart, now (at the time of this article) 89, resides at 116 Beresford Ave., Toronto, 3, Canada. He reported to Mr. Mount that, his father purchased the Roddy “gallery” here in the early 1870s. The photographer died in Meadville in October of 1876, and Mrs. Butchart and the then 6-year-old Walter returned to Toronto.