1 piece.
Manuscript Document. Survey & Town Plan of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [Pittsburgh], [1784]. 1 p., folio, 13 1/2 x 17 1/4 inches (343 x 438 mm), parchment. Some darkening & creasing.
The only surviving copy of the original survey & town plan of Pittsburgh, executed by Colonel George Woods under the direction of Tench Francis, agent for the Penn Proprietaries [the Penn family], who owned the land.
Three copies of the original document are recorded, two were lost in the Great Fire of 1845, which destroyed nearly half of Pittsburgh. The third, the copy described above, was held in Senator James Ross's residence, outside the city.
Senator James Ross, in his recorded 1841 deposition relating to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania's Commonwealth vs. McDonald case, states, "I had it sent to me by the Proprietaries' agent at the trial of the Commonwealth vs. John McDonald. This parchment draft I saw in said office of Proprietaries 40 years ago." A two line attest of authenticity, dated Dec. 29, 1841 & signed by James Ross on the document above states, "This is the parchment draft referred to in my deposition." Countersigned by M.B. Lowrie.
An Allegheny County clerk's notation "Recorded in the office for recording deeds...," dated Feb. 19, 1842 is present on the verso of this document. A copy of the document (complete with Ross's attest of authenticity) is present in the Allegheny County plat book.
This document stands as the Penns' charter of Pittsburgh. Every deed issued by Penns' Philadelphia Land Office referred to it. All subsequent real estate ownership in Pittsburgh's "Triangle" is based on this document, & it (and its facsimiles) have been presented as evidence in many court boundary disputes in the 19th-century.
Ross, James (1762-1847). U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, served as a commissioner to treat with the rebels during the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794.