Chapter XIII

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.