When Samuel and Mary Haller in 1906 moved to a Pennsylvania township south of Pittsburgh, the landscape largely was rolling farmland. By joining the revenues from Samuel’s successful Pittsburgh liquor business with Mary’s civic activism, the couple, shown below, are credited with playing an essential role in creating the vibrant community of Mt. Lebanon, today boasting a population of more than 34,000.
According to the 1900 federal census, each partner was born in 1864. In 1891, when they both would have been about 27, Samuel Peter Haller and Mary Anna Stumbililg were married in a Roman Catholic ceremony in Pittsburgh. At the time the groom likely was employed in one of the city’s many wholesale liquor houses. Marriage may have impelled Samuel to move out on his own. With a Pittsburgh local named T. J. Blackmore he added a new enterprise to the city’s liquor trade, “Haller and Blackmore,” located at 172-174 First Avenue.
The partnership was not destined to be a lengthy one and in 1896 Samuel, likely with Mary’s encouragement, is recorded having moved out as a solo operator, opening a new enterprise on First Street at numbers 416-418. He called it “Sam’l P. Haller, Wholesale Dealer in Pure Rye Whiskies.” With a year, for reasons unknown, Samuel moved to 111 Smithfield Street, stayed four years, and in 1902 apparently requiring larger quarters moved to Liberty Street. At two addresses there this major Pittsburgh commercial thoroughfare would be home to the Haller liquor house for the next 18 years.
Haller was not a distiller but rather a “rectifier,” someone blending whiskies received from other sources and sold under proprietary labels. Among Haller’s brands were "Belle of Morgantown,” "Cobweb Mills,” "County Fair,” "Gold Nugget Pure Rye,” ”Haller's Eighty - Nine,” "Haller's Rye Nugget,” “Haller’s Private Stock,” “Haller’s Crystallized Rock and Rye,” ”Keystone Medallion,” and “Trotter Whiskey.” Trotter, openly advertised as a blend, was the only label Sam’l trademarked, registering the name in 1907.
Given the highly competitive Pittsburgh whiskey trade, Haller also had a line of giveaway items that advertised his business. Among them was a ceramic give-away mini-jug, likely presented to retail customers at Christmas. While such mini-jugs were common in the trade, Haller’s offering was distinctive by its shape and gold Japanese-like decoration. He also offered a line of advertising shot glasses. Those would have been presented to the saloons, restaurants and hotels carrying his lines of alcohol.
Grown prosperous, Samuel and Mary in 1906 looked for a salutary environment to raise their six children, sons Joseph, Fred, Gus, John and Leo, and daughter, Leona. They settled on a farming community in an Allegheny County township south of the city. With the arrival of a streetcar line and the development of the first real estate subdivision, both in 1901, Mt. Lebanon was on the way to becoming a suburb, allowing residents an easy commute to downtown Pittsburgh. The Hallers bought a spacious house on a large plot of land on Washington Road, shown here. It would be only the first of many purchases of Mt. Lebanon properties over ensuing years — financed by the flow of revenues from Samuel’s lucrative liquor business.
Mary Haller appears to have spearheaded this effort. Shown here with a no nonsense look on her face, Mary was hailed as “The First Lady” of Mt. Lebanon. While her husband attended to the liquor trade, Mary was busy spearheading the effort to turn the rural environment into a vibrant community, all the while mothering a household of six children. She invested extensively in Mt. Lebanon real estate. The local press reported: “In the 1820’s, she laid out the Hoodridge Plan of homes and was active in developing the Washington Park Plan in the Vernon Drive area…She built one of the first apartments, the nine-family Haller Apartments at 28 Academy Ave.” Mary’s energies extended to public benefits. She donated land to allow widening of streets and was a strong advocate for other Mt. Lebanon civic improvements.
Mary may best be remembered for her church-related efforts. An active Roman Catholic, she was concerned about the lack of a place of worship for the faithful in Mt. Lebanon. Working with a local priest, she opened a barn on the Haller homestead for services, as shown above. Mass was held there for two years while the impressive St. Bernard’s Church was built on land donated by the Hallers.
Meanwhile Samuel was experiencing some setbacks in his liquor business. Not only were prohibitionary pressures increasing in Pennsylvania, cutting off sales, but in 1914 he also faced Federal action under the Food and Drug Act. The government target was a proprietary nostrum called “Dr. Johnson’s Wild Cherry Pepsin.” Labeled as the “Greatest Tonic in the World,” Samuel P. Haller Co. sold it as a “positive cure for dyspepsia, indigestion, colic, colds, diarrhea, and all other diseases.”
Hauling Haller into court for violations of the food and drug laws, officials charged that the nostrum held virtually no pepsin and little, if any, wild cherry. Instead it contained benzaldehyde, a food and flavoring additive, and artificial coloring. Unlike many other nostrums, it did not contain alcohol, but advertised that it could be mixed with “good” port or sherry wine. Five cases of Dr. Johnson’s tonic had been confiscated, to be returned to Haller upon payment of a $500 fine (equivalent to about $11,000 in today’s dollar). Samuel paid up.
As her husband aged, Mary increasingly took over the family business interests.Upon Samuel’s death in 1920, she became head of the liquor house, shifting quickly into selling other merchandise when National Prohibition was imposed. Seeing the multiple opportunities opened by the automobile, with a son she organized the Mt. Lebanon Garage Company. Honored in 1948 by friends and relatives on her 83rd birthday, Mary was still serving as company president.
Not long after the celebration, this remarkable woman died and was buried next to her husband in Pittsburgh’s St. Martin’s Cemetery. Their plot is marked by a monument bearing a large cross. Samuel’s stone bears a simple inscription “Not Forgotten.” That same sentiment would also apply to Mary, whose contribution to Mt. Lebanon’s development has made her an enduring local legend.
Note: This post was derived from a number of Internet sources. Notable among them were photos assembled on the Internet with comments and entitled “People — Haller Family” by Joe Polk, dated July 24, 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment