The case of the missing Scull

You may not realize it, but in addition to being one of America's Great Newspapers, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ranks as the oldest newspaper west of the Allegheny Mountains. The first edition of our direct antecedent, The Pittsburgh Gazette, was published on July 29, 1786, by two 21-year-old printers, John Scull and Joseph Hall. They had been enticed by Hugh Henry Brackenridge to leave the comforts and civilization of Philadelphia for the frontier. Brackenridge, a foresighted lawyer, had written the pair about his belief that the tiny hamlet of 40 log cabins built around the moldering fort at junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers "would one day be a town of note." Scull and Hall loaded a small, wooden hand press into a wagon, crossed the wild mountains, and set up shop in a two-story log cabin several hundred yards from the old fort. They started producing -- with some difficulty -- a four-page weekly edition. Printing materials were hard to come by on the frontier. Scull wrote that he had to procure from the fort's commandant "twenty-seven quires of cartridge paper" on which to publish his journal. The erstwhile publishing enterprise took another blow when Hall took sick that fall and died on Nov. 18. But Scull persisted. The following January, he took on another partner, John Boyd of Philadelphia. In addition to regularly producing the Gazette, the two printed several publications, including the newly adopted U.S. Constitution and the "Pittsburg Almanac: or Western Ephemeris For the Year of Our Lord, 1788." Unfortunately, Scull's second partnership ended abruptly when, for unknown reasons, Boyd hanged himself in November of that year. John Scull was not to be deterred. In 1789, he was named Pittsburgh's first postmaster, conducting business for seven years out of the same log cabin, which also served as his home and printing shop. For 220 years, the newspaper started by Scull has documented life in the city, state, country and world. The Pittsburgh Gazette edition for Saturday, Dec. 13, 1794 (a copy of which is on permanent display in a case by our executive editorial offices), includes an exchange of correspondence between Vice President John Adams and President George Washington, legal writs, notices of new shops and rewards posted for stray horses. In this wilderness community, Scull helped infuse a broad sense of civic responsibility. In 1799, he printed the entire body of U.S. law on the last two pages of each issue, taking six months to complete the operation. With the growth of westward expansion, Scull's printing business and civic standing prospered. He served on the city council in 1804. After he retired in 1816, his son, John Irwin Scull, and Morgan Neville continued running the business four more years, until they sold it in 1820. Scull died on Feb. 8, 1828, at the age of 62, having been a resident of Pittsburgh for 41 years. In 1958, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission commemorated John Scull's contribution to the area with one of its Blue Historical Markers, which it planted at the site of his log cabin on the busy thoroughfare now known as the Boulevard of the Allies, just west of Market Street. It read: John Scull His home and printing shop were in this block. The Pittsburgh Gazette was printed here in 1786, first newspaper west of the Alleghenies; also the first book in 1793. The first Post Office of Pittsburgh was here. Like the other 1,800 markers the commission has placed around the Keystone State since 1946, this one provided passers-by with a meaningful connection with a small piece of the area's past. The problem is, Scull's marker is missing. The 5-foot-high blue marker with gold lettering disappeared last fall, about the time a bus shelter was erected on the Boulevard at the southwest corner of Market Street. I'd intended to use it as an example in a column on historical markers around the state, but when I searched the location, it was nowhere to be found. I made a few calls to see if I could find out what had happened. The museum commission wasn't aware it was missing and had no record of it having been moved. Other sources produced no leads, and my trail went cold. A year later, the mystery of the missing John Scull still has not been solved. People have been walking by that corner unaware of the important historical events that took place there two centuries ago. Ditto for the dedicated, young pioneering publisher who made it happen. Unless someone out there can shed some light on the missing marker's whereabouts, we'll have to do something about getting a replacement -- at a cost of about $1,200. Suggestions, anyone?
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