CITIES, AMERICAN. (ALTOONA, ANNAPOLIS.) 



101 



histories of American churches which should 

 give .1 dear, succinct, and unbiased story of the 

 TIM' and growth of the more important denomi- 

 nations in i ! land. Tin- nuinrs of ll{ scholars, 

 represent ini, r as many church organizations, 

 were i^ivcn who had been engaged to write the 

 histories of their several denominations; and 

 arrange meats were making for securing histo- 

 rians of other denominations. Papers were read 

 on " The Religious Motives of Columbus," by 

 Prof. W. K. Gillett; "The Heads of Agreement, 

 and the Union of Congregationalists and Presby- 

 terians based on them in London, 1691," by 

 Prof. Williston Walker; "Christian Unity and 

 the Kingdom of Heaven," by Mr. Thomas Da- 

 vidson ; " Papal Bulls distributing America," 

 by Prof. .John Gordon ; "The Confessional His- 

 tory of the Lutheran Church in America" by 

 the Rev. John Nicum ; "Recent Researches 

 Concerning Mediajval Sects," by Prof. A. H. 

 Newman (read by the secretary) ; " Calvin and 

 Melanchthon," bv the Rev. Dr. Philip Schaff ; 

 and "Christian Thought in Architecture," by 

 Mr. Barr Ferree. The Rev. Dr. Philip Schaff was 

 re-elected president of the society. 



CITIES, AMERICAN, RECENT GROWTH 

 OF. This subject has been treated in every vol- 

 ume of the "Annual Cyclopaedia" since 1886, 

 the total number of cities described in the six 

 volumes preceding the present one being 360. 

 Tl n e that are here set forth increase the number 

 to 397. 



Altoona, a city of Pennsylvania, in Blair 

 County, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, at the 

 eastern base of the Alleghany mountains, 11? 

 miles from Pittsburg, 132 from Harrisburg, 

 and 237 from Philadelphia; latitude 40 30', 

 longitude 78 25'. So steep is the ascent of the 

 mountain at this point that two locomotives are 

 attached to each train, and the famous " horse- 

 shoe curve " is one of the marvels of engineering 

 achievement. At the ton of the mountain is a 

 tunnel 3,500 feet long, through which the rail- 

 road passes. A branch railroad runs south to 

 Henrietta. The city was laid out in 1849, had 

 2,000 inhabitants in' 1854, 10,610 in 1870, 19,710 

 in 1880. and 30,337 by the census of 1890. As 

 supplied by the city post office, there were 40,000 

 in 1892. Altoona, originally built in a valley, 

 has extended over the eastern and western slopes 

 of the surrounding hills, and has an elevation of 

 1,192 feet above sea level. The surrounding 

 scenery is grand. In 1854 the first incorpora- 

 tion as a borough took place, and in 1868 it re- 

 ceived its city charter. The assessed valuation 

 of property in 1888-'89 was $11,500,000. Two 

 thirds of the 7,000 homes in the city are owned 

 by workingmen, and there are 37 building asso- 

 ciations, capitalized at $36,400.000. Two elec- 

 tric-light companies, with capital of $106,000, 

 are equipped for running- 5,750 incandescent and 

 400 arc lights. In addition there is a gas plant, 

 valued at $150,000. Six miles of electric street 

 railway are in operation, with a capital of 

 $180.000. Six miles of streets have been paved, 

 at a cost of $302,000. Much work in the way 

 of paving, new sewers, etc., is going on, and an 

 investment of $220.000 to increase the water 

 supply is contemplated. There are 9 volunteer 

 fire companies. The bonded debt of the city is 

 $404.000. The value of school property in- 



creased from $234,000 in 1887 to $420,486 in 

 1892. There are 15 public-school buildings ; 

 125 teachers are employed, and there are 4,530 

 pupils. Four Catholic parochial institutions 

 nave a total attendance of 3,000. The church 

 property is estimated at $1,040,000. Of the 39 

 churches, 8 are Methodist, 6 Lutheran, 5 Bap- 

 tist, 4 Catholic, 4 Presbyterian. 2 Reformed, 2 

 United Brethren, and 1 Episcopalian. Ten 

 newspapers are published, of which 5 are daily 

 and 1 German. There are 2 theatres, and 2 

 public libraries, that of the Mechanics' hav- 

 ing 16,000 volumes. The hospital, built from 

 equal contributions of the State and city ($15.000 

 each) on ground given by the railroad company, 

 is valued at $40,000, and received during 1891 

 $27,500. Including the shops of the Pennsyl- 

 vania Railroad, which employ 6,500 men, the 

 industries of Altoona aggregate $15,000,000, and 

 pay out yearly $4,000,000 in wages. These shops 

 were in fact the origin of the city, and remain 

 its leading feature. There is also a machine and 

 car manufactory, employing 200 men. an iron 

 rolling mill employing 160, with annual capacity 

 of 15,000 tons; 2 brick works, turning out 

 5,000,000 bricks yearly, and 1 fire-clay works, 

 with output of 4,000,000 bricks. A silk mill 

 employs 200 girls, and there is an ice plant with 

 capacity of 22,000 tons. Other establishments 

 include 13 planing mills, 10 wagon and carriage 

 factories, 5 breweries, 2 bottling works, 4 marble 

 yards, and 2 candy factories, and $500,000 are 

 invested in shipping and mining coal. The re- 

 ceipts at the post office in 1891 were $34,000, 

 and the expenditures $20,500 ; the profits were 

 $13,500. 



Annapolis, a city and the capital of Mary- 

 land, county seat of Anne Arundel County, on 

 its south bank of Severn river, two miles above 

 the entrance into Chesapeake Bay, 87 miles from 

 Washington, and 30 miles from Baltimore. It is 

 the terminus of the Annapolis, Washington and 

 Baltimore, and the Annapolis and Baltimore 

 Short Line Railroads, and has a fine harbor. In 

 1870 the population was 5,744; in 1880,6,642; 

 and in 1890, 7,604. The first settlement, known 

 as Providence, was made by Puritans fleeing 

 from the Commonwealth of Virginia on account 

 of persecution, who were at first welcomed by 

 the Governor of Maryland, whose appointment 

 to office depended upon his bringing 500 settlers 

 into the province. Later, on account of their 

 independence, an attempt was made to subdue 

 them and capture their women for wives, and a 

 battle was fought on the present site of the city, 

 March 25, 1655, resulting in the victory of the 

 Puritans, who, however, were merged subse- 

 quently in the Catholic colony of Lord Balti- 

 more. In 1694 the place was given a town gov- 

 ernment as Anne Arundel town (in honor of 

 Lady Baltimore), and the capital was removed 

 thither from St. Mary's. A year later its name 

 was changed to Annapolis, in honor of Queen 

 Anne, who in 1708 bestowed its city charter, the 

 original of which is still preserved, conveying all 

 the privileges of an English city. As chief port 

 of the province it exported its large tobacco crop, 

 and prior to the Revolution was known as the 

 "Social Athens," its clubs drawing to their 

 midst tha wit and wealth of the day, and num- 

 bering historical characters among their members. 



