"Manchester Rivaled Birmingham" by William M. Rimmel, © Carnegie Magazine (October 1969): 267-271.
Back in 1832, John Sampson, C. L. Armstrong, Thomas Haiglton, Samuel Hall, and Thomas Barlow (nephew of Joel Barlow, United States Minister to France) saw a great future in the rolling woodlands just west of the young borough of Allegheny.
After plans were made, the founders went about finding a name for the new community. The outlying districts of Pittsburgh were at that time competing with those of Allegheny Town. People on the South Side of Pittsburgh had founded the town of Birmingham, naming it for the city in England. To offset this prestige, the founders of the new village decided to call it "Manchester," after the English industrial rival. They pointed out that, situated as it was on a rolling plain near the confluence of the rivers, Manchester was bound to become an important center of industry as well as a port of sorts. The name "Manchester" was not ill chosen, and it soon became an industrial beehive.
The village was settled rapidly by English people. Beautiful homes were built, and the community became restricted to a group of middle-class business men who lived in Manchester but had offices in Pittsburgh or Allegheny. Eleven years later, on November 2, 1843, Manchester was incorporated as a borough.
The Harris Pittsburgh Business Directory of 1847 called it a "new and flourishing town." The Directory described the borough as "pleasantly situated on the Beaver Road and on the bank of the Ohio River, about two miles from Pittsburgh. It contains 500 inhabitants, the great mass of whom, like every person in and about Pittsburgh, are industrially occupied. It has a number of good dwellings, a small market house, a school house with a Day and Sabbath School, two stores, three taverns, and the following establishments; Marlatt's and Hall's Plough Manufacturing employs 20 hands and makes a large quantity of wagons and carts annually. The Union paper mill belongs to Messrs. Hind and Howard, employs 36 hands, 11 males and 25 females. They use about 300,000 pounds of rags, manufacture about $30,000 worth of excellent paper and consume about 30,000 bushels of coal annually. Several of our rich and respectable citizens have their dwellings in the neighborhood of Manchester, and as there is considerable level and beautifully located land above, below and around it, Manchester must increase rapidly in population and business."
During the next twenty-five years new people came to the town. More houses were built and factories and manufacturing interests established. Manchester continued to grow, and it wasn't long until the expansion of Manchester and of Allegheny overlapped. The interest of both towns were similar. They joined on projects.
Upon fully recognizing the similarity of their interests, the towns decided to merge into one big town of Allegheny. By this, both would benefit through lower taxes and closer friendship. After full consideration, a bill was drawn up and passed through the State Legislature, and on March 12, 1867 the two towns were merged.
By 1872 the manufacturing and population had increased with the Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works, La Belle Steel & Iron Works, the Union Salt Works, McCloy Nail and Keg factory, Benson Pump Company, and the Hutchinson Oil Works handling the Pennsylvania petroleum shipped down the Allegheny from Oil City.
By 1901 Manchester was a center of industrial power. The place roared with activity, and clouds of smoke became more dense as new factories opened. Plants like the Pittsburgh Clay Pot Company, Crucible Steel, Rosedale Foundry and Machine Works, Kiefer and Stifel Tannery, Pittsburgh Brass, Liggett Spring and Axle, and the Consumers Ice Company had been added to the manufacturers. It was not long before the industries that relied on wood for manufacturing were gone. Steel and iron had taken their place. The advent of the cast-iron bathtub brought Standard Manufacturing to Preble Avenue.
And the waterfront was soon active. The Manchester Docks operated by Isaac Reed were the scene of much activity in the repairing of marine craft and machinery, and steamboats built by Richie Smith and Company were being sold in South America.
The foot of Liverpool Street at the Ohio River resembled the waterfront of a third English town, for which it was named. Besides the activity at the boatbuilding docks, the river was filled with houseboats.
In the 1890's, Chartiers Avenue (now Chateau Street) was a favorite for cyclists. And close at hand was the Old Hippodrome of vaudeville days and the Princess Rink featuring Saturday night cakewalks. On Liverpool Street was Newton Lowrie's, where you could rent a horse and buggy for courting your best girl on Sundays. The rise and fall of horses' hooves clip-clopped all the time along the streets, while from the rivers, mills, and railroad rose the constant sound of bell and whistle.
Manchester was the home of many of the area's industrial giants. One of these was Anson Bidwell, who came from New England (representing the Hudson's Bay Company) in 1830. After looking over the land he decided to build a home at Water Lane, now Bidwell Street. When ready to build the house, he personally went to the Chautauqua County forests of New York State to select timber. The Indians cut logs to his order and floated them down the Allegheny River. The house when completed was two and a half stories with a three-story addition in the rear. It had a wide porch and pillars on the first and second floors. Bidwell loved to garden around the spacious house. He held lavish parties and entertained notables like Oliver Wendell Holmes, Julia Ward Howe, and the famed scientists Langley, Keeler, and Brashear.
Another showplace of the district was the home of Jon T. Logan (Logan Gregg Hardware) at Water and Allegheny Avenues, built about 1835 in a four-acre grove of oak trees. Later the plain, two-storied, square house was transformed into a baronial hall by additional wings and third story.
Another home, fortunately still standing, is that of Colonel James Anderson, an iron merchant who opened his own collection of books for the public to read. It was in this library that Andrew Carnegie, then a bobbin boy in one of Allegheny's cotton mills, studied in his spare time. As is well known, from thence came the Carnegie dream of libraries for the people, among them the Carnegie Library for Old Allegheny at Ohio and Federal Streets. Colonel Anderson's home, built for his young bride back in 1827 on a tract of land on the north side of Ohio Lane, is now in use as the Christian Home for Women.
Manchester continued to keep its name when it joined with Allegheny and also when it became a part of Pittsburgh following consolidation back in 1907.
But Manchester, like its sister city of Allegheny, was forgotten by the city fathers and planners. The factories moved to other places, and many owners and residents soon followed. It wasn't long until decay began setting in. The fine homes of yesteryear fell into utter disrepair. Even the streets became rubbish-filled and neglected.
In 1961 the Urban Redevelopment authorities moved into the district and leveled 164 acres. Construction of a small shopping center and transformation of the district below Chateau Street into a light industrial complex was completed three years ago. Outside of a high-rise apartment complex, however, little change has been made in the once fine residential section of Manchester. But planners say the district is marked for a face lifting. We hope they don't forget. For Manchester has been neglected too long!