Short History of Pittsburgh — Historical - Chapter 13
[Illustration: View of Old Pittsburgh, 1817] In 1784 the town was laid out and settlers, among whom were many Scotch and Irish, came rapidly.
The town was made the county seat in 1791, incorporated as a borough in 1794, the charter was revived in 1804, and the borough was chartered as a city in 1816. The first charter granted to Pittsburgh in 1816 vested the more important powers of the city government in a common council of fifteen members and a select council of nine members.
In 1887 a new charter was adopted giving to the mayor the power to appoint the heads of departments who were formerly elected by the councils.
On March 7, 1901, a new charter, known as "The Ripper," was adopted, under the operations of which the elected mayor (William J. Diehl) was removed from his office, and a new chief executive officer (A. M.
Brown) appointed in his place by the governor, under the title of recorder.
By an act of April 23, 1903, the title of mayor was restored, and under the changes then made the appointing power rests with the mayor, with the consent of the select council.
The following is a list of the mayors of Pittsburgh: 1816-1817, Ebenezer Denny 1817-1825, John Darragh 1825-1828, John M. Snowden 1828-1830, Magnus M. Murray 1830-1831, Matthew B. Lowrie 1831-1832, Magnus M. Murray 1832-1836, Samuel Pettigrew 1836-1839, Jonas R. McClintock 1839-1840, William Little 1840-1841, William W. Irwin 1841-1842, James Thomson 1842-1845, Alexander Hay 1845-1846, William J. Howard 1846-1847, William Kerr 1847-1849, Gabriel Adams 1849-1850, John Herron 1850-1851, Joseph Barker 1851-1853, John B. Guthrie 1853-1854, Robert M. Riddle 1854-1856, Ferdinand E. Volz 1856-1857, William Bingham 1857-1860, Henry A. Weaver 1860-1862, George Wilson 1862-1864, B.
C.
Sawyer 1864-1866, James Lowry 1866-1868, W.
S.
McCarthy 1868-1869, James Blackmore 1869-1872, Jared M. Brush 1872-1875, James Blackmore 1875-1878, William C. McCarthy 1878-1881, Robert Liddell 1881-1884, Robert W. Lyon 1884-1887, Andrew Fulton 1887-1890, William McCallin 1890-1893, Henry I. Gourley 1893-1896, Bernard McKenna 1896-1899, Henry P. Ford 1899-1901, William J. Diehl 1901, A.
M.
Brown (Title changed to Recorder) 1901-1903, J.
O.
Brown (Recorder) 1903, W.
B.
Hays (Recorder; served about one week under that title) 1903-1906, W.
B.
Hays (Mayor again) 1906-1909, George W. Guthrie A movement to consolidate the cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny together with some adjacent boroughs, was begun in 1853-54. It failed entirely that year, but in 1867 Lawrenceville, Peebles, Collins, Liberty, Pitt, and Oakland, all lying between the two rivers, were annexed to Pittsburgh, and in 1872 there was a further annexation of a district embracing twenty-seven square miles south of the Monongahela River, while in 1906 Allegheny was also annexed; and, as there was litigation to test the validity of the consolidation, the Supreme Court of the United States on December 6, 1907, declared in favor of the constitutionality of the act.
