USA > Pennsylvania > Schuylkill County > Pottsville > Historical sketch of Pottsville, Schuylkill County, Pa. > Part 1
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.802 $80 1141
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02221 4453
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https://archive.org/details/historicalsketch00cham_0
Historical Sketch
OF
POTTSVILLE
Schuylkill County, Pa.,
BY
GEORGE CHAMBERS, Esq.
SIT8428
READ AT UNION HALL, POTTSVILLE, JULY 4th, 1876.
POTTSVILLE, PA .: STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY PRINT, 1876.
F85485,2
1681141
CORRESPONDENCE.
The following correspondence discloses the circumstances under which this sketch was prepared:
POTTSVILLE, June 26th, 1876.
GEORGE CHAMBERS, Esq .- Dear Sir :- In- asmuch as the President of the United States, and the Governor of Pennsylvania, | have requested the citizens of each County to celebrate the Centennial of American Independence, on July 4th, next, by assem- bling in their respective towns and having read a historical sketch of the same, pre- pared by some competent person ; there- fore, the undersigned, your fellow-citizens, would respectfully ask you to prepare and read, at a place hereafter to be designated, such a sketch of this borough as will ac- cord with the recommendations of the President of the United States and the Governor of this Commonwealth.
Very respectfully,
P. W. Sheafer, John T. Werner, Jr.
Chas. H. Woltjen,
J. G. Lowrey,
W. S. Sheafer, James W. Nagle,
B. N. Hyde. Charles T. Bowen,
Joseph S. Harris. W. R. Cole,
Henry Pleasants, John Shippen,
Frank Carter,
G. H. Suyder.
C. H. Tyson. W. H. Lineaweaver,
C. H. Hazzard, L. F. Whitney,
L. F. Whitney, Jr. Jacob Belville,
D. W. Bland, H. C. Sheafer.
POTTSVILLE, June 27th, 1876. GENTLEMEN :- I have just received your communication in which you ask me to prepare and read on July Fourth, next. at a place hereafter to be designated. such a sketch of the borough of Pottsville as will accord with the recommendations of the President of the United States and the Governor of this Commonwealth. I am sensible of the responsibility involved in the undertaking proposed, but I also ap- preciate the honor you have conferred upon me, and I conclude to reply that while I regret that so short a time remains for the preparation of a historical sketch such as you describe, I shall comply with your request to the best of my ability.
Very respectfully,
GEORGE CHAMBERS. To P. W. Sheafer. Charles H Woltjen and L. F. Whitney, E-qs., Rer. Jacob
Belvilg. D. D. and others.
The following notice was afterwards pub- lishe 1 :
HISTORY OF THE BOROUGH OF POTTSVILLE. To the citizens of the Borough of Pottsville:
Complying with the request of the uil- dersigned, George Chambers, Esq., will read a history of the borough of Pottsville and viemity, such as has been advised by the President of the United States of America, and the Governor of the Com- monwealth of Pennsylvania, at Union Hall, at 10:30 A. M., July 4th, 1876. All are requested to attend.
POTTSVILLE. July 3d. 1876. Signed by P. W. Sheafer, Charles Baber,
John Shippen, Jlı. Reed,
.A. Prior, W. R. Cole,
Chas. H. Woltjen, J. A. M. Passmore,
Simon Derr, J. K. Sigfried,
C. M. Atkins, Geo. W. Kennedy,
Robt. C. Green, T. Garretson,
Wm. E. Boyer, J. C. Harper,
And others.
In pursuance of the notice a meeting was held at the time and place appointed, and on motion of Hon. Thomas H. Walker. Hon. Edward Owen Parry was elected President of the meeting, with Charles W. Clemens, Jeremiah Reed, Isaac Beck. and Joseph Bowen. Vice Presidents, and John P. Hobart and John M. Crosland, Secretaries.
The Historical Sketch was then read, and at the close of the reading, on motion of P. W. Sheafer, Esq., seconded by Hon. Lin Bartholomew, it was unanimously re- solved that the thanks of this meeting be tendered to George Chambers, E-q. for his able and interesting address, and tha a copy be requestel for publication.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
The geological history of the ground em- oraced within the limits of the borough of Potraville, woald till a large volu ne which only a geologist could write. To tell of the
tory of so young a nation ? But again the torsin of war is sounded, and Scott once more advances to the battle, this time npon the fields of Mexico, and among the first various theories that scientists have evolved | of Pennsylvania's troops come a company to explain the processes by which was formed the anthracite coal composing the · foundation of our Mountain City, and upon which her prosperity has been based, might appal the swiftest penman possessed of an ample leisure. And, therefore, when one week before the day on which our na- tion's first existence is to be celebrated in our Centennial year, I am honored by a request to prepare for reading, npon that day, a historical sketch of Pottsville, I well may shrink from the undertaking.
!
L,)
But I know that it is not geology of which -J anı called upon to speak, for there are geologists among us who could treat of the subject intelligently. Then I remember that the history of Pottsville as a town embraces but a few short years, that upon the pages c which tell of the province of Pennsylva- c.nia, and of the wars which succeeded when * Pennsylvania had taken her place among the thirteen sister states, of the battles in which revolutionary heroes fought, and in which the men of 1812 engaged, we find no allusions to Pottsville. When on Pennsyl- Since that day more than fifteen years have vania's soil Washington led his Virginia , passed and new chapters have been added heroes in the defeat where Braddock to the fast growing legend. Then how much of this wonderful history must . be omitted from a hurried sketch like that : which may now be written ! fell, and long years afterwards when at Boston, Pennsylvanians sood shoulder to shoulder with the men who came "from the right bank of the Potomac," the county of Schuylkill was not yet npon the map. When afterwards at Lundy's Lane. Scott fought the Briton so well, and when the gallant Perry on Erie's ; reared by the hands of the white man upon waters shed new Ins're upon the American Navy, the site on which these compact, rows of buildings rest, was occupied outy by a few scattered honses, and the Indian war-whoop had scarcely died away from the hills through which the Upper Schuyl- I by the residence of Mr. George Lauer. The kill flowed. Then why should any man rude log walls were scarcely of sufficient desire much time in which to write the Astrength to shelter its occupants from the story of a towa s) vonus, even in the his- ! winter storm and formed no protection
who call Pottsville their home-and Potts- ville now is a thriving borough with a rapidly increasing population and a large coal trade. Yet a few pages would still cover its history and tell of the business which has built it np. Once more war's alarm is heard-the Government is shaken to its foundation. and now General Sentt is called upon to save the Capital. Will the men of the North arise ? Will they come to protect the nation ? Yes, they spring forward to the fray and the veteran chieftain knows that thousands are rushing to his aid. The flower of the coun- try are speeding to the front-but the first to meet his sight, the First Defenders ap- pear, and two of the five companies are from Pottsville! Should any ask what town is this whose men have passed all others in the race, he would learn of a peo- ple who have already made history enough to fill a folio, and the story of whose energetic career would be the story of the anthracite coal trade.
When the Nineteenth Century dawned upon the wilderness which covered the treasures of coal hid in the hills of Schuyl- kill county but a single dwelling had been . the ground now embraced within the limits of Pottsville. At least such is the state- ment which the earliest . traditions have given. This lonely home stood down in the valley very near the point now occupied
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
from the attack of the more merciless In- | ofacres forming the Physic tract, the May- dian foe. The savage warriors rushed upon field tract, the Moorfield tract and the Zoll tract. The Physic tract was that on which the settlement had been made. In 1806 John Pott Sr. sent up to this place his son John Pott Jr., and Daniel Focht (the father of Hon. James Focht of Pottsville) to superintend the property and to direct the building of a furnace and a forge and some dwelling houses. their victims and as the Neiman family sank down in death, the wooded hills around the tenantless house were surrender- ed to the wild animals who had before pos- sessed them. We are told that the murder of the Neiman family occurred after the revolutionary war, but there seems to be no further reliable information as to the date of the crime.
At length in the year 1800 the white man made another effort to possess this rocky territory, and we learn that the prize which lured him, was the same metal that has since given employment to so many men around us. Isaac Thomas, Lewis Morris and Lewis Reese had concluded to build a furnace and a forge here, and among the workmen whom they sent in advance to dig the race and make a dam, was John Reed, who brought his wife with him, and who built as a home a small log house two stories high. This primitive dwelling stood about fifty yards east of the place where the present residence of Mr. George Lauer has been erected, on what is now Mauch Chunk street. The ground at present occupied by Mauch Chunk street, was then a rough road leading to the mouth of Mill Creek. In that house Jeremiah Reed was born, December 19th, 1800. As far as tradition states, he was the first child born within the district, which has since formed the borough of Pottsville. His parents both had been born not more than five miles south of this place, and had passed their lives as residents of their native county. Thus the younger Reed had ample opportunity to learn from his relatives the early history of the neighbor- hood. To his patient recital the writer of this sketch is indebted for many valuable facts relative to that history.
Perhaps it is best to say at this point that . a number of other citizens of Pottsville, have kindly furnished information in re- lation to the subject of this paper.
Reese & Thomas built a very small char- coal furnace, prior to 1804, on the island and near where Atkins Bros'. furnaces have since been located. In 1804, John Pott, Sr., bought from Lewis Reese, Isaac Thomas and Sarah Morris the ground on which the settlement had been made; the whole purchase, including a large number
When John Pott, Sr., bought this land, the only bouses upon the ground now comprised within the limits of Pottsville were the Reed house before described, the Cook house near where John L. Pott's . Orchard Iron Works now stand; the Al- spach house, which was a log dwelling at the place where Charles Baber's resi- dence is located ; a house called the Swoyer house, which stood back in the woods on the ground now occupied by Mr. Asbury Mortimer's livery stable on Union street opposite the depot; the old Neiman house in which the Neiman family had been mur- dered ; a house occupied by a family by the name of Shutt, which was located on what is now called Lawton's Hill, and between fifty and one hundred yards west of the point where the residence of Hon. F. W. Hughes has been built; and the Nathan Taylor house near where the Philadelphia & Reading freight depot in Pottsville now stands.
In the year 1807, John Pott, Sr., through his managers John Pott, Jr., & Daniel Focht erected the old Greenwood Furnace and Forge. The furnace stood a little west of where Charles Baber's residence now is located, on what has since become Mauch Chunk street, and the forge was near the furnace. That furnace was run by the Pott family until about 1923, when the last blast was made by Ben- jamin Pott, a son of John Pott, Sr.
In 1810 John Pott, Sr. , removed to this land with his family, one of whom was Abrahan Pott his son who had been born . in 1799 at Oley Forge about eight miles southeast of Reading In Berks county. Abraham Pott was therefore about eleven years of age when he tir-t came to this region, and the many years he has lived here have made him familiar with its history. He was one of the most energetic and enterprising of the early pioneers of the coal trade of Schuylkill county, and a number of new devices and
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
appliances were introduced here by him. Mr. Abraham Pott is still living, now a res- ident of Port Carbon, and to him I am in- debted for much valuable information rel- ative to the subject of this sketch.
When Jobn Pott, Sr., arrived here with his family in 1810 he took possession of the Alspach House, (before described), as his residence and it became the "Mansion House" of the Pott family. He had it weatherboarded and it was afterwards painted red. In that honse was born Han- nab Pott who was the granddaughter of John Pott, Sr., and daughter of Benjamin Pott and now Mrs. Lawrence F. Whitney, of Pottsville, who was the first female child born within the limits of what is now Pottsville.
The same year in which he removed to the new settlement, John Pott, Sr , built the stone grist mill, now occupied by Stein & Trough, and he carried on the busi - ness at it together with his furnace and forge. During the years 1815 and 1816, he erected a stone mansion for his own use, and in which he resided, on what is now the site of the brick dwelling house on Mauch Chunk street, occupied by Mr. Thomas Shollenberger; and Mr. Abraham Pott thinks part of the old stone foundation still remains. He also in 1816 built a barn opposite the place where Lauer's Brewery now stands.
In the same year 1816 he laid out the town of Pottsville in lots. Henry Donell was the surveyor who made the survey and plot. The survey was com- menced at the corner of Centre street and Church Alley, and there the first stake was driven into the ground. From that point a line was run to the northeast corner of the square on which the Female Grammar School has since been located. The first plot embraced all the ground from Second street on the west to Railroad street on the east, and from Union street on the south to Laurel alley on the west side of Centre, and to High street on the east side of Cen- tre, and also west of Second street from Norwegian street on the north to Union street on the south, and extending to Fifth street on the west. The names of the streets given in this description are the present names now known to the commu- nity. At the time he laid out the town, Mr. Pott gave to the people of Pottsville
the ground of the square included between Centre street on the east and Second street on the west, and the two alleys now called High street and Laurel alley-for a burial ground and for a building for a school and for religious services to be held by any regularly ordained minister of any denon- ination.
The Thomas Swoyer house before de- scribed was the only one within the plot, and was therefore the first house within the limits of what was then the town of Pottsville. Mr. John Pott, Sr., subse- quently extended the boundaries of the town by adding more ground to it,
and afterwards other persons who
had made real estate purchases adjoining, laid out additions, which have given local names to different portions of the borough. Among them may be men - tioned Morris' Addition, laid out by Israel W. Morris through his son Henry Morris and Greenwood Addition laid out by Brook Buckley who had bought the ground from Benjamin Pott a son of John Pott Sr.
The family of John Pott, Sr., consisted of his wife Maria and nine children-John, Magdalina, Benjamin, James, Abraham, Mary, Catherine, William and Jacob-the only survivors to-day are Abraham Pott and Catherine now Mrs. Whitney.
In earlier days the old Sunbury road from Reading to Sunbury had been made at Pottsville to wind around upon the hill near where the iron monument has since been erected in honor of Henry Clay. From there its course was westwardly to the lo- cations of the York Farin, Bull's Head and Minersville. What is now a considerable portion of Centre street was then a hemlock swamp, thickly covered with a laurel un- dergrowth; and a road for wagons could not be made through it until the turnpike company succeeded in establishing theirs.
The turnpike road was considered a very formidable undertaking and it was the opinion of many persons that the task which then seemed herculean was beyond the possibility of completion. During the years from 1807 to 1812 a great amount of work on the new road was done, in this neighborhood and we may say that the turnpike had been opened through in fol. But it was in a very imperfect state. Mans places where stones were needed were still covered only with the original ground and
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HISTORICAL SKETCHI.
not until 1816 or 1817 was the part of Centre ; was the first store established in Pottsville street, from Mahantongo street to where the except that the Pott family had kept a stock Female Grammar School now stands, regn- of goods for their workmen. The store in larly covered with stones. Prior to that time the Donell property was afterwards con- stones had been placed on it only at some tinned by John Pott, Jr., and Thomas Sil- liman. of the worst places. Those of oar citizens of 1876 who are inclined to find fault with the exceptionally large quantity of mud by which the streets of Pottsville are distin - guished from the streets of most other large towns, may comfort themselves with the knowledge that as late as 1830 a communi- cation, signed "several ladies, " was printed in the Miners' Journal, asking for plank
Between the years 1818 and 1829 the town of Pottsville increased gradually but with. out remarkable rapidity. During this time' , there had been erected some substantial houses, including the stone house on the west side of Centre street, opposite the site - of Charles M. Atkins' present residence, and now occupied by Mrs. John Strauch, which was built by Benjamin Pott; the frame building for the Old York Store, north-east corner of Mauch Chunk and Centre streets, where the Atkins residence now is; (this
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side walks and complaining that the mud on the streets was so deep that the ladies had been for several months unable to attend church.
In 1818 George Dengler erected a frame : store was also burned and rebuilt as a larger hotel two stories in height which was long structure between those years;) a brick house on the east side of Centre street, known as the White Horse Hotel. It was then considered a large building and it now above Union street, on the ground forms part of the Merchants' Hotel at the; now occupied by the Government National Bank, and which was the first brick house erected in this borough; and a large frame dwelling house on Norwegian street,
cornerof Mahantongo and Centre streets. Before the completion of Dengler's hotel however there had been erected within the limits of the town plot as it then was, an oil ; below Fourth street, where the residence of
mill built by John Pott, Jr., on the corner B. W. Cummings, Esq., now is situated ; houses on the south-east corner of Norve- gian and Centre streets; a double stoue house on the north-east corner of Mahan- tongo and Centre streets; the old double stone house built by David Phillips, on the west side of Centre street above Market street; two stone houses, near each other, of Norwegian and Railroad streets where ! a double stone structure forming two the STANDARD printing establishment now is-a log house built by William Cassley on | the present site of the Old Journal Building southeast corner of Church Alley and Cen- ; tre street-a log house built by Joseph Bleckley, ou the west sideof Centre street be- ! tween Church Alley ind Mahantongo street, and about where the present residence of ; on the east side of Centre street, between the Misses Silliman is located-a log house Norwegian and Mahantongo streets, one of which was occupied for a time by the Mi- nery' Bink until the present banking house was erected ; the frame Buckwalter tavern now part of the Northwestern Hotel, on Centre street; the present residence of Hon. Jacob Kline, built by him on the west side of Centre street below Union street, being the third house from Union street ; the second honse below the last named, now owned by Hou. O P. Bechtel, and which was built by Daniel Lindenminuth; the denmuth house, now owned an docenpied built by John Pott, Sr., on the lot now oc- cupied by the Episcopal Church, at the sonthwest corner of Church Alley and Cen- tre street-Henry Donell's house on Centre street where the Pennsylvania Hall now is, on the lot which was the first lot sold after the original town plot had been laid out. The Donell house was the first house erected within the town plot after the plot had been made. Perhaps a house near the present site of the old Town Hall had also been built prior to Dengler's Hotel-but Charles Storer house, next below the Lin- these were certainly all the house, within the plot when that hotel was built, and it by Peter Fallon.
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is even in dispute whether the William fassley house bad yet been created. Henry houses had been built in different parts of Donell kept store in his house where the the town -one of them stood at the corner Penestvania Hall now is, and that store of Second and Mahantmgo streets, on the
Between ISEI and 1821 a number of log
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HISTORICAL SKETCHI.
ground on which Samuel Sillyman, the day they could form an independent cor- enterprising coal operator and the man to ; poration. whose efforts Pottsville owes the Henry In 1829 the great fever of speculation in Schuylkill county began to rage, aud meu flocked in hundreds to Pottsville. Clay monument, afterwards erccted the large dwelling now occupied by Robert Weaver.
In 1825 the Schuylkill Canal had been opened to Mount Carbon. It is worthy of note that that internal improvement had been projected, not for the purpose of car- rying coal, but with a hope of profit from the transportation of lumber from this region, and farm products lower down the river and of merchandise from Philadelphia in return.
The Miners' Journal of May 2, 1-29, said : "Pottsville-Great preparations are making in this place for the purpose of putting up a large number of buildings during the present season. The ten build- ings situated on Coal street, and ten situ- ated on Mahantongo street, and styled "Clinton Row" which was put up by Mr. Jacob Alter, an enterprising citizen of Philadelphia, will be ready for the recep- tion of families in the course of the present mouth. We are pleased to state that a number of substantial brick buildings will be erected. This is as it should be, as they will greatly add to the beauty and appear- ance of the town.
The Mortimer House, at one timne called the Mt. Carbon House, was built by Jacob Seitzinger, (finished in 1826) as a hotel. It was the same size as when pulled down except the southern side room and part of the back building, and that it was at first only two stories high. This hotel was "Rents here are very high, a two story first kept by Col. George Shoemaker, who : building on the main street will command afterwards kept the Pennsylvania Hall, and who was the same man who had pre- viously made successful endeavors to in- troduce anthracice coal as a fuel for practi- cal use. The Moyer Hotel was built and kept by Daniel Mover, before 1826, on the south-west corner of Market and Centre streets.
a rent of between $200 and $300 per annum. Capitalists could not lay out their money to better advantage than by purchasing lots and building upon them, as at the rate of rents above stated, they would realize an interest of from 12 to 15 per cent on the capital stock invested, without taking into consideration the increase in value the property undoubtedly would undergo."'
Prior to 1827, John White, afterwards well known as President of the Delaware Coal The hotels were filled with guests, and many new comers were compelled to sleep Company, and President of the Mount Carbon Railroad Company, had erected at at night on such a favored location of the Mount Carbon the row of stone houses which the Mansion House now adjoins, and also the Kleinert house on the corner oppo- site, and the store-house between it and the river-and a few smaller houses had appeared in the same locality.
floor as the host could offer. A new im- petus to house building was the conse- quence and before the end of the year 1530 a large number of new buildings had been erected ; more than in any three years since that time. Among them were the present In that year an earnest dispute arose be- tween the inhabitants of Mount Carbon and the inhabitants of Pottsville. The cause of banking house of the Miners' Bink. on Centre street; a row of ten frame houses on Coal street, below Callowhill street; the the difference was that the Pottsville people : ten frame houses called Clinton Row, on the desired to have their town incorporated ; north side of Mahantongo street between under the name of Pottsville, but their . Centre and Second streets; (these two r)wx Mount Carbon neighbors desired to be in- having been commenced in 1828 and butit eluded in the new borough, and also that : by Mr. Jacob Alter of Philadelphia ;) Pleasant Row, on tire north side of Mahan- tongo street between Sixth and Seventh streets; two stone honses, still standing, on
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