Re: (erielack) Old Erie Stops from an 1899 Document

[Hhaines_@_aol.com]

Dear folks:

The book "Between the Ocean and the Lakes: The Story of Erie," by Edward 
Harold Wott, copyright 1899 to John S. Collins Publisher, 253 Broadway, New 
York, New York, is quite a reference book. I have not quite finished reading 
it. It is divided into chapters by each railroad presidents' term of office. 

The Gazetteer is an 11-page section (pages 500 to 511, with each page almost 
9X12 inches) toward the end of the book after a section on annual earnings, 
times tables, and a table of all the new trackage and growth (in number of 
locomotives) by year.  I find it interesting to see how the names have 
changed at several locations.  The Gazetteer in the original book cross 
references other pages in the book to give a better description of events and 
railroad points to the reader. The Gazetteer uses census counts for the towns 
along the old Erie Main (as it was considered in the original charter from 
New York/Piermont/City of Jersey to Lake Erie/Dunkirk/Buffalo) from 1890 with 
some references to 1900 (I have yet to figure out how a book copyrighted in 
1899 uses data from 1900).  

The 157-page Biographical section following the Gazetteer called "Men of Mark 
in Erie Towns" might be of more interest to modelers or local historians.  
The section contains names, biographies, photos and sketches of people, their 
houses, and industries in the towns along the Erie Railroad. Some of the 
industry descriptions summarize their innovations (e.g., first to do this or 
that), and their business with the Erie. This section includes pictures of 
buildings of the time including banks, creameries, tanneries, and other 
businesses.  (The main section of the book includes pictures of each railroad 
president and sketches of the trains and stations.)

Howard Haines
ELHS #1447

  

   

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