Oakmont

By Vince Gagetta, Paula A. Calabrese, Cheryl Zentgraf and Gary Rogers

Long before the Hulton Bridge, Hulton's Ferry carried locals across the Allegheny River to the road to Pittsburgh and the world beyond. The ferry helped transform a sparsely populated outpost in the early 1800s into a thriving settlement a few decades later and thus earns recognition as the first bookmark in the history of Oakmont. Others followed: the Allegheny Valley Railroad; a lake that covered part of what now is one of the town's busiest streets; Civil War and World War I army encampments; the Willows nightclub and its huge swimming pool; and boat clubs, yacht clubs, and a world-famous country club. Oakmont captures the history of these places and times-along with many others-through nearly two hundred vintage photographs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781439628799

Vince Gagetta

Vince Gagetta is the author of several books on the history of the Pittsburgh area. With Paula A. Calabrese, Cheryl Zentgraf, and Gary Rogers, Gagetta has compiled this stunning photographic history from the collections of the Oakmont Carnegie Library and several generous residents. All royalties from the sale of this book will benefit the library.

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organizations.

INTRODUCTION

The history of Oakmont dates back to April 1, 1889. That is the day the area covered by what had been Verona’s second ward was incorporated into a new borough, and Oakmont was born. But the story of Oakmont precedes the date of its incorporation as a borough.

The story of Oakmont had its beginnings on April 2, 1816, when Robert Elliott, a land speculator, sold a 234-acre tract of land bordering the Allegheny River to Michael Bright, a farmer, for $2,808. The tract Bright purchased extended from the foot of what now is Delaware Avenue along the river to about 1,000 feet beyond where Hulton Road is now and eastward to almost Sixth Street.

Bright is credited with being the first true settler of the land that was to become Oakmont. He earned that distinction because his land purchase marked the beginning of the establishment of an organized community here. He and those who followed him—notably Jonathan Hulton, Caleb Lee, and David Grier—interacted with each other, built roads linking their properties, and even had a rudimentary map of the area drawn up. They did not merely occupy the land as renters or squatters, as had some earlier inhabitants. They owned their land, and more importantly, they developed it. They and their children and grandchildren not only cleared the land and farmed it, they also established the area’s first businesses, supported the area’s first schools, and founded the area’s first churches. They were true settlers.

The settlers put down roots, which most others before them had not done. Bright built a home, farmed, and operated a pottery at about where Riverview High School now stands. With his wife and several of his heirs, he is buried here in the small cemetery on Fourth Street next to St. Irenaeus School. Hulton was the area’s first postmaster (in fact, the first post office was named the Hulton post office). His son James operated a ferry across the Allegheny River from the family’s property near the present Hulton Road and Hulton Bridge. Lee was a prosperous tailor who, when it was feared that the Confederate army might attack Pittsburgh in 1863, was put in charge of erecting fortifications in Highland Park as part of the city’s defenses. Grier was a wealthy Pittsburgher who cleared and developed 154 acres of land along Plum Creek. His grandson founded the Dexter Spring Company in town.

Bright, Hulton, Lee, and Grier were the pioneers. Those who followed them built on the foundations they laid by fostering growth, creating employment opportunities, and helping to bring prosperity to the area. The early industrialists and business owners, who moved here because they recognized the opportunities the area afforded them, certainly made their contributions. Among them were J.C. Agnew, Charles Scaife, William Grier, Jacob W. Paul, Harry W. Armstrong, James B.D. Meeds, William A. Tomlinson, William A. Diamond, Richard T. Crain, George Best, M.S. Verner, and James Verner.

There were others who helped smooth the area’s rough edges, people like Abraham Greenwood, who operated what was likely the area’s first hotel; Stephen Rodnok and a man known only as Mr. Smith, who brought motion pictures to Oakmont; Edward Reinhold, whose company made ice cream here; Harry C. Fownes, who founded the Oakmont Country Club; Leander Morris, who convinced his cousin, Andrew Carnegie, to provide the money to start Oakmont’s library; William A. Wade, who conducted a young ladies’ finishing school in his Hulton Road home; Rev. J.D. Irons, who instructed the most famous pupil of Wade’s school, Helen Keller; and Elizabeth Bradley, whose large house on Hulton Road became the site of the Bradley Children’s Home.

Early merchants John Hastings and Obadiah M. Bossert played vital supporting roles in the story of Oakmont, as did B.F. Reynolds, the area’s first physician; C.M. Campbell, a physician and Oakmont’s first mayor; William H. Cooper, a physician and the Oakmont postmaster for many years; and Thomas R. Kerr, a physician and very influential early resident.

Those mentioned above are among the most recognized and most recognizable names on the list of early Oakmonters who sparked the early growth and development of the town and whose influence is still felt today. They are on the list because they either cleared and settled a wilderness area and laid the earliest foundations for what was to come, or later brought order to the area, helped it blossom into a recognizable municipality, and shaped it into the vibrant community that exists here today. Although they were not alone in doing so (thousands have contributed to the growth and development of the town over the years and hundreds more continue to do so today), they were the ones who over many years shaped this town and brought it stability and a measure of prideful prominence.

They helped write Oakmont’s history by becoming the principal characters of the Oakmont story. This book is a pictorial celebration of their strength of character, their work and dedication, their sacrifices and accomplishments, and their visions and dreams.

One

A TOWN IS BORN

In 1768, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased most of the land east of the Allegheny River as far north as Kittanning from various Native American tribes and, to encourage development, offered it for sale for as little as 13¢ an acre. The offer attracted more land speculators than developers, however, and little in the way of permanent settlement happened in what became Oakmont until April 2, 1816. That is when a speculator named Robert Eliott sold a 234-acre tract bordering the Allegheny River from Plum Creek north to a little beyond where the Hulton Bridge now stands to a 53-year-old farmer named Michael Bright.

Thus began the process