Often in the pursuit of solving the “mysteries” of local history, this author will pour over photographs with a magnifying glass, viewing each building and open space in order to answer a question that has been thrown my way. Maps and directories are also consulted. Many times an issue might not be resolved until clues are stumbled upon accidentally when researching a subsequent topic.
It is unfortunate but it sometimes seems that the first two generations of Tyrone residents who authored the ephemera that we now use as research material operated on the assumption that all inhabitants would pass on information to the subsequent generation verbally. Our ancestors did not anticipate changes of street names and house numbering. And when a building was named for an individual or a business, they assumed that it would stand for all eternity. Consequently, references such as “near the depot” or “two doors from Mr. Jones’s Cigar Emporium” leave a researcher frustrated and shaking his head.
The 1881 Panorama
One fantastic piece of reference material that would have helped to illustrate the neighborhood as it was in the 1860s was an 1881 panoramic compilation of photographic views entitled Tyrone and Altoona 1881. The compilation contains vignettes of these two communities and emphasizes their common bond, the great Pennsylvania Railroad. Schriver Photo Studio of Tyrone is given credit for a town view taken from Cemetery Hill used in the photographic compilation. Mr. Schriver’s photograph was turned over to a sketch artist to make a lithograph of the photo for the printing process.
The artist’s job was to recreate as much as he could without losing the integrity of the photographer’s original work. Major objects were given intense study, while others were simply lined in or eliminated. It was never intended that the art would be enlarged. The results of this wonderfully skilled process give the illusion that one is viewing the original photograph. It would not be until almost the turn of the century that actual photographs could be used as print medium.
An astounding thing happens when the views are scanned into a computer. With each degree of enlarging, the entire neighborhood begins to open up with a high level of detail. It is with this process that we begin to see the Methodist Church in the center with Saint Matthew Catholic church down the block. Also in this enlarged view, we can make out the Logan School in the distance on 14th Street and Logan Avenue, and the Seegar mansion at 1400 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The Caldwell House
The large house down front in the enlarged image is the Caldwell House at Tenth Street and South Lincoln Avenue. This private residence was a showplace in the early 1870s and was described in national magazines of the period. Mr. D. T. Caldwell headed a Lloyd Bank in Tyrone, which failed in the financial panic of 1873. (In 1874, the Blair County Bank was organized in the wake of this failure.) As can be seen, there were only two buildings on the entire length of what would soon become Lincoln Avenue. It had not yet been opened up or surveyed for building lots. The avenue would become terraced with fine homes on the west side. The Logan Valley street rail would follow this route to the Athletic Park.
The second building on Lincoln Avenue, just directly to the rear of the Catholic Church, is the Mathias house. John T. Mathias was the original surveyor of building lots for Lyon, Shorb and Company when Tyrone was first laid out in 1851. He chose a prime spot for his family.
St. Matthew Parish
A few points of common interest tie in much of the property mentioned in the preceding paragraphs. The Catholic Church laid its cornerstone May 29, 1853 taking on the name of Saint Matthew Parish. The land was deeded to the congregation by Lyon, Shorb and Company for the consideration of $1.00. By the 1860s, membership was over 500 and the need for a school became an issue. In 1869, near the Caldwell house a 15-by-35-foot one-room building was constructed.
The cattle shown in the view were not a way of the artist simply dressing up his finished product. Church records note that a cow barn was on the Caldwell property. The enrollment at the school grew quickly, and after occupying the Elliot building on 10th Street (soon to become Citizens Fire Company), the classes relocated to the Mathias house in 1869, utilizing all rooms, including a rear washhouse.
Shortly after this view was published, Tyrone began to change drastically. Tyrone Depot began to receive groups of German and Italian families. The Bavarian Germans and Italians became part of the Catholic Parish. The Germans from other districts attended the two Lutheran churches in town. The limits of this small city started to climb the western hill, pushing the boundary toward Sixth Street and was filling in the map connecting Tyrone proper with East Tyrone Borough. In 1881, Saint Matthew Parish purchased land on what would become Cameron Avenue. Soon a new and appropriate school building was constructed followed by a spectacular eastward facing house of worship.
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