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In 1905 there was still visible along the south side of St. Clair Avenue some evidence of farm life, for a few pear trees and apple trees blossomed there, and near them the remains of an old cider press stood, mute remin­ders of days long past

The Rhodes farm, was for the most part, on the hilltop, the dwelling and barn being in the vicinity of the present garbage incinerator. Until 1914 or thereabout, this land remained as naked fields, the one indication of industry: being west of Miller Avenue extension where a brick yard had once existed. The Monongahela Brick Company had as manager, a young man who was quite aggressive. When the St. Clair Furnace Company began building operations he secured the contract for all the red brick. Everywhere in the local plant where red brick are visible from the Pig Machine south, one may be sure they were made on Clairton Hill at this plant.

The Rhodes and Blair properties joined and Shaw Avenue marks the dividing line in part as Boundary Street marks that of the Blairs and Bradshaws. In the early part of the 19th century two brothers came up from Jamacia—Irish gentlemen who, for some reason, left their native Ireland and then later forsook the tropic country, came north and located here. If these facts were known it would make interesting reading in this record. They were educated and genteel, maintaining rather baronial establishments. The older mansion, built by Francis, surrounded with a grove of cedars, was erected where the Pennsylvania Industrial Chemical Corporation plant now stands and was named “Ravensdale.” The other, James, built his house on a hill and will be recalled by many, but which was razed to make way for the Blair Heights settlement. This house was erected in 1825-27. The land at the foot of Maple Avenue was on Blair property and was therefore named “Irish Point” by the river men. Long before the day of steamboats this point was famous, for there was a ford in the river and before the National Road was defined, pioneers wending their way to the western country traveled the Glades Trail from Bedford to Robbstown (West Newton), forded the Youghiogheny and coming down the valley on the east side (McClures), forded the Monongahela, then skirting the hill, followed what is now Wabash Avenue toward the tunnel, climbed the hill to the Ridge Road and on to Gastonville and the west. Blackburn’s Mill stood about where the original Wabash Station stood. The tale told for many years that this mill was built by the Blackburns and water to run it supplied by a race brought through a tunnel under the bill at the west end of the hollow, the tunnel dug by the Blackburns with the aid of dog teams. So ran the tale and was repeated until it became a legend. But this tale was not borne out by facts. From the diary of one Col. John May, one of a goodly number of New Englanders that passed this way as he went to Kentucky to take up lands he had acquired for service in the Continental Army, we quote the following entries:

The last item is from Pittsburgh and has no bearing on this account except to orient it by the death of the Indian and that of the man drowned.  Where, then was Kirkendall’s Mill? It will be noted that the land owned by Benjamin Kirkendall included all the bottom land of Peter’s Creek—the only place a mill could be erected—with water to operate it. To this we may add the following information supplied by Mr. Frank A. Large, dated March 20, 1947:

“The Large Flour Mill was located a short mile from the mouth of Peter’s Creek. It was built of stone and run by water power with a large ‘over-shot’ water wheel. The water was brought to the mill by a race which traveled part-way through a tunnel which is now used by the rail­road for its tracks. The tunnel of course had to be enlarged by the railroad to do so. The original tunnel was driven by my great-uncle, Isaac Large, who owned and built the mill, together with a commodious stone residence across the highway from the mill. I do not know how much land my great-uncle owned along the creek, but it must have been several hundred acres.”

Isaac Large, according to the record, was born December 15, 1800, his twin brother Abraham, dying in early youth. This would indicate that the Large Mill could not have been in operation in 1788, assuming that this was the Kirkendall Mill to which Col. May referred. This apparent discrep­ancy may however be explained in another way. Though no person has been found to describe it as yet, there was a saw mill and grist mill located near the intersection of the present Clairton Road with Route 51. This unit was also operated by water brought from Peters Creek in a race par­alleling the present highway and fed the mill in question, which was located on the site formerly occupied by the Dick Construction Company, and if there were any question remaining that a grist mill stood there, it would be dispelled by the fact that in recent years a man from down about Sewickley, who is proprietor of Battle Ridge Farm, and collects old mill stones as a hobby, came to Large, salvaged two stones from the swampy ground indicated, and added them to his collection. That there was a mill there at an early date may be assumed from the fact that Large’s Distillery was a going institution in 1796 and no doubt before that time, for only two years before this had occurred the stirring scenes of the Whiskey Insurrection, at which period every property holder with the means converted his excess grain into whiskey, the best and almost only medium of exchange. We may see what a very slender income it afforded when in 1788 it could be purchased at approximately sixty-five cents per gallon. So it would appear from the evidence we have that it was to Large that Col. May walked that May day in 1788. And there was more than just the mill, saw mill and distillery at Large. It was in truth a settlement, for in addition to the Larges, there were the Bedells, Mcllhaneys, Carrols, and several other families as well as the Ferrees, all of whose lands adjoined the Larges. There is one perplexity which should be explained in connection with the mill at Large It has been said that it was owned by Jonathan Large which may be true, but since Jonathan was born February 24, 1794, it is evident that to tie in with what has been related above, not only that he was but two years old when he “founded” the distillery, but that Col. May bought flour and whiskey there eight years before Jonathan Large was born. This may, however, be ex­plained by the existence of a Jonathan Large of a previous generation, of which the writer has not learned.

An incident without date, but which occurred many years ago, may be worth recording. A man named Mcllhaney, started to Large Mill with a wagon load of wheat to be ground. Unbeknown to the driver, a small child followed the wagon for some distance and becoming weary, the child stop­ped along the way to rest. When the mother discovered the child was missing, a search was begun and when the men came back from the mill, they and many neighbors joined in the search, but without success. The third evening following about dusk, one of the Ferree girls, who later married a Bedell, heard a child crying in the woods. Locating the sound as well as she could, she returned to her home and with torches and the aid of others~ soon located the child which was taken to the Ferree home where it remain­ed until properly nourished and in health when it was returned to its mother. The child grew to young womanhood, subsequently married and removed somewhere to the west.

Mention having been made of the Ferree family which was part of the Large settlement, this seems to be the appropriate point to record what is known of the family, of which there are descendants still in the community. In 1775 when the Colonies were becoming restive under British rule, a call from the Committee of Safety in Philadelphia was issued for gunsmiths who could be put to work on the assignment of muskets to be manufactured. To each county of the Colony of Pennsylvania a number of guns were to be made in proportion to the population. Accordingly on July 22, 1775, it was resolved to send a messenger to one Joel Ferree, of Lancaster County, requesting him to immediately complete the guns written for’ as patterns, and to learn how many he could furnish of the same kind and at what price. The samples referred to were of a new and improved type and it appears that Ferree was chosen as the most capable man to manufacture them.

From the plans submitted, his reply, copied from Pennsylvania Archives, follows

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