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LITITZ 1756 - 1956
1756
THE PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK IS TO PICTURE LITITZ AS IT HAS BEEN IN THE PAST AND AS IT IS NOW.
IT SEEMS LIKELY THAT OUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE AS CURIOUS ABOUT THE LITITZ OF 1956 AS WE ARE ABOUT THE LITITZ OF 1756.
IT IS THUS HOPED THAT THE BOOK WILL BE ENJOYED NOT ONLY BY BICENTEN- NIAL VISITORS BUT BY FUTURE GENERA- TIONS AS WELL.
1956
2888
First House in Lititz. Built in 1754.
THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO TWO GROUPS OF PEOPLE, SEPARATED IN EARTHLY TIME, BUT UNITED IN THEIR BELIEF IN HUMAN FREEDOM AND DIGNITY.
FIRST, IT IS DEDICATED TO THOSE PIONEERS WHOSE COURAGE AND INITIATIVE LED THEM TO SETTLE THE COMMUNITY WHICH BECAME LITITZ.
SECOND, THE BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE CITIZENS OF LITITZ WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES IN MILITARY SERVICE. WITHOUT THEIR SACRIFICE IT IS UNLIKELY THAT THE PRINCIPLES OF INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM SO EARNESTLY SOUGHT BY LITITZ' FOUNDERS WOULD RE- MAIN AS PART OF OUR LIVES TODAY.
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السيد
HISTORY
OF LITITZ
Early Settlement
The earliest known settler in the region of Lititz, which celebrates its Bi-Centennial in 1956, was Christian Bomberger. In 1722 he lived in a dugout about a mile northwest of the Lititz Springs. The dugout, the cavity of which still shows, was against the northern bank of the trail, which later became the New- port road; 60 yards west of the stream, later called the San Domingo creek, which crosses that road. Traditionally Christian Bomberger was the first settler in that part of Conestoga, Chester County, which in 1729 became War- wick township, Lancaster County.
The next known settler in the region, against the present town at its south, was John George Kiesel (1680-1762) , who came there in 1729. Kissel Hill, named for him, is older than Lititz.
Richard Carter, of Warwickshire, England, was a prominent figure in the early life of the region. For many years the Lititz creek was known as Carter's run. In 1729 he named War- wick township. He was buried in 1750 in the Millport graveyard, which, from its hill, over-
looks Carter's run.
The Indians still in Conestoga, when Bom- berger settled there, were small groups of Shawanese, near Conejohela (now Washington Borough) ; Ganowese or Conoys, at Conoy In- diantown (now Bainbridge) ; Conestogas, at Conestoga Indiantown, in Manor township; Nanticokes at Nanticoke Indiantown, two miles northeast of what is now Clay. The last of these Indians definitely recorded at Lititz were several with whom Valentine Huhn (1723- 1808) , of nearby Owl Hill, as he told it to John Beck in 1806, traded horses at the big springhead.
These Indians were probably Nanticokes, the nearest tribe. Huhn said he was a very young man when he made the trade. The year was about 1742.
The lands adjoining the big springhead had been Indian camp sites for thousands of years. Most of the stone spearheads found there had been made, according to recent archaeological research, between 1500 and 6000 B. C. The region has been occupied by human life for at least 10,000 years.
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1756
200th ANNIVERSARY
John George Klein Donates His Land to the Moravians
John George Klein acquired 296 acres of land around Carter's spring in 1741. He farmed much of the land. In December 1742 Count Zinzendorf, of Saxony, the leader and organizer of the modern Moravian Church, stopped and preached at the tavern of Jacob Huber, which was on the Newport road, a mile north of what is now Main Street, Lititz.
COUNT ZINZENDORF
17 00
1760
FOUNDER OF
THE MODERN MORAVIAN CHURCH
ITS INDIAN MISSIONS AND
THE SETTLEMENT OF LITITZ
PREACHED IN THIS HOUSE THEN
JACOB HOOBER'S TAVERN ON THE
NEWPORT ROAD DECEMBER 1742
NARLED BY THE
LANCASTER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
145G
The Huber tavern is still there, marked by the Lancaster County Historical Society. Klein, not attending the service at his neighbor's house, followed Zinzendorf to Lancaster, where he preached the next day. At that time Zin- zendorf was searching for a tract of land for the establishment of a religious community, similar to those at Bethlehem and Nazareth, Pennsylvania. At Lancaster, won over to Zin- zendorf's cause, Klein soon made arrangements to turn his lands over to the community which the Count planned. Klein's total holdings were 510 acres, for in 1747 he had added 32 acres, and in 1755, 182 acres to his lands; but when the deed of transfer to the Moravian Congregation was written (August 20, 1755) , this tract had been reduced to 491 acres. Klein received an annuity during his lifetime from the Moravians.
It was on the 491 acres along Carter's run that Lititz began. John George Klein was the actual founder of the town.
Early Churches
In 1744 a church was built on Klein's 296 acre tract. It was called the St. James Church, and it was used by Moravians, Lutherans and Mennonites. It stood in the rear of the lot, now 128 S. Broad Street, to the east of the cemetery, which is still there. 182 persons are buried here. Their names may be found in
LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA
19563
"Moravian Graveyards of Lititz", by Abraham R. Beck, 1905.
In 1746 a meeting of the Warwick Morav- ians was held at Klein's house to consider the building of a "Gemeinhaus", which was to be a church, parsonage and school in one. In November of that year, work was started on the "Gemeinhaus" on a tract of three and three-quarter acres, which Klein donated for the purpose. Two years later the building was completed. It stood on a bluff on the south bank of Carter's run, between what are now Locust and Oak Streets, East Lititz.
In 1749 the Warwick Country Congregation of the Unitas Fratrum, or Moravian Church, was organized. The members lived on farms of the neighborhood, and were widely scat- tered.
Founding of Lititz, Its Government and Economy
In 1756 word came from Count Zinzendorf that the religious community, which he plan- ned on Klein's 491 acre tract, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was to be called Lititz; this to commemorate the three hundreth an- niversary of the year (1456) when Feudal King Podiebrad befriended the persecuted followers of John Hus (The Unitas Fratrum) at his castle of Lidice in Moravia. The Czech Lidice is pronounced Lititz.
In 1757 the town was surveyed and laid into lots. Main Street got its direction (not exactly east and west) from John George Klein's house, which stood at what is now 125- 129 East Main Street. The chart of the town of 1757 shows what is now Broad Street as "Road to Tulpehocken," with a ford at Car- ter's run.
The administration and supervision of the Community of Lititz were entirely by the Moravian Congregation, which owned the property. Everything of the village life, relig- ious, social and economic, was under the su- pervision and control of an administrative committee of the Congregation. The charter of the Lititz Moravian Congregation, granted by an agent of the Crown, allowed the Con- gregation to conduct business interests. The "Town Regulations of 1759", which had to be signed by all, indicate the rigid control of Community life. Thus: "No dancing matches, Taverning (except for the necessary entertain- ment of Strangers and 'Travellers), beer-tap- ings, feasting at Weddings, Christenings or burials, common Sports and pastimes, nor the playing of the children in the streets, shall be so much as heard of amongst the Inhabitants. They that have inclinations that way cannot live at Lititz." No guest could be entertained,
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1756
200th ANNIVERSARY
or any journey attempted, without the War- den's permission. Again: "No marriage shall be contracted or made without the Privity & appropriation of the Elders and of the Con- gregation and Choirs. Nor shall anyone at- tempt to promote or make secret Matches."
As a matter of fact, in the latter regulations, until the year 1819, all marriage in Lititz was by lot. The young brother drew from a cocoa- nut shell the inscribed name of a sister, from those of six eligible ones placed on scrolls writ- ten with goose-quills. The girls he drew was the one Divine Providence selected for his wife. He always married this girl. In 1819, John Beck, village schoolmaster, was the first to depart from this regulation and choose his own wife.
The business interests, which the Congrega- tion, as a corporation, conducted, were a general store, a tavern (the Zum Anker Inn) , a pharmacy (the first in Lancaster County) , a potash factory, a grist and saw mill, and several farms. These all had to make their annual reports to the Aufseher Collegium, as the controlling body in secular affairs was called.
The young people of the village were seg- regated for vocational and educational train- ing in the Sisters' House and the Brethren's House. Both were "Economics" of their own. Both had their own farms. The sisters were schooled in sewing, embroidery, hosiery and confectionary; the Economy doing some busi- ness in the neighborhood.
In the rear of the Brethren's House there was a quadrangle of buildings in which the trades of shoemaker, tailor, weaver, nailsmith, carpenter, baker, hatter, chandler and butcher were taught. The Brethren's House Economy also conducted a mill for carding wool, on Carter's run, immediately east of the village. The account books of the Brethren's House Economy show that much business was done on the outside. The name of Heinrich Wil- helm Stiegel, glassmaker of nearby Manheim, frequently appears on these records. The "Baron" had his bootmaking and weaving done here.
With the approbation of the Aufseher Col- legium there was a number of individually conducted business interests in the Commun- ity. Notable individual trades were those of David Tanneberger, pipe organ builder, whose organs were famous, as early as 1770, from Albany, New York, to Salem, North Carolina; John Henry Rauch (1729-1796) , spurrier and blacksmitlı, who, following a pattern designed by William Henry, of Lancaster, made the first screw augers; Andrew Albright (1718- 1802), gunsmith and rifle-maker; Matthias
LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA
1956
Tshudy (1771-1852), weaver, who carried on very extensively, the manufacture of chip hats and bonnets, made nowhere else in America; Jacob Geitner (1791-1865), who conducted, on a large scale, the trade of tanner; and John William Rauch (1790-1863), baker and con- fectioner, who, about 1820, made the first pretzels. That the economy of the early Lititz community flourished is evidenced by an entry in the church diary in 1779. In that year there was a great rise in the price of provisions and labor. The diary says: "Still we have not only had a sufficiency but have been able to give to others.
For a century Lititz was a Moravian Com- munity, exclusive of others. The land was all owned by the Church, and lots were leased to householders. In 1855 the charter of the congregation was changed, with a withdrawal of the business interests. The lease system was abolished and the lots were sold to occupants. The Lititz of the century prior to 1855 passed into the Lititz of today.
Lititz During the Revolution
The first appearance of the Move to Inde- pendence in Lititz, most of whose pious inhab- itants still felt they owed allegiance to the Crown, was August 5, 1775, when the military company of Warwick township selected Lititz as its drill site. They performed in good order on the road to Lancaster, near the town. These drills were continued until October 14, when an entry in the Church Diary states: "The Warwick .company, after their drills, made such a disturbance that further drills were forbidden." Evidently the drill ground was too close to the Zum Anker Inn.
The most momentous event Lititz ever knew came when Washington commandeered the Brethren's House as a military hospital. The first of the wounded, from Brandywine and Germantown battlefields, arrived here Decem- ber 19, 1777; and soon many others followed. Altogether, until August 28, 1778, when the remaining sick were transported to Yellow Springs, Chester County, upwards of 1,000 wounded soldiers of the Continental Army, and a few Hessian prisoners of war, were in the Brethren's House hospital. Camp fever broke out and spread over the town. One hundred twenty soldiers died, all privates; as is evidenced by the fact that none was buried in the Moravian Graveyard. The Church Diary says, "In the event of an officer's death we should be expected to give him a more hon- orable burial place than that where all are huddled indiscriminately underground." The latter part of this entry tells the sinister truth. In October, 1932, excavations for a cellar were made on the east side of South Locust Street
7
1756
200th ANNIVERSARY
300 yards from East Main Street. Here the skeletons of the revolutionary dead were found "huddled" shoulder to shoulder, as in the emergency trenches of a battlefield. After more than a century of doubt as to the exact position of the "corner of our lowermost field" which the Church Diary of December 21, 1777, designates as the burial place, the honored site was at last found. The one and a half story building, built in 1932 for Jacob Hertz- ler, in the cellar of which the skeletons were found, is the actual site of the revolutionary graveyard, 325 yards southwest of the formal memorial plot. This plot, on East Main Street, was honored by a Congressional grant of $2,500 for the erection of the monument which stands there.
The remains of all of the skele-
tons found, about twenty, were placed in a casket which was interred in the memorial plot, exactly 125 feet south of the middle of its entrance. All of the skull-caps unearthed had the open sutures of youth. No buttons were found. Of the 120 who died in the Mili tary Hospital, 110 were buried in the "corner of our lowermost field." The great majority, about 90, still lie there." The two doctors who had charge of the Military Hospital at Lititz were Dr. Allison, who was quartered at the
LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA 1956
Christian Blickensderfer house (house adjoin- ing the northwest corner Cedar and East Main Street) , and Dr. William Brown, who was quartered with David Tanneberger, who lived in the John George Klein house. (Now 125- 129 East Main Street) . It was doubtless in this house that Dr. Brown compiled a classic in the literature of American Pharmacy. It was the first American Pharmacopeia. (Drugs as applied to medicine.) It was written in Latin, published in Philadelphia by Charles Cist, and marked in its preface "Lititz, March 12, 1778."
Early Buildings
The· 18th century buildings of Lititz are re- corded in a "Partial Chart Residential of Lititz," compiled and made by Abraham R. Beck, Archivist of the Moravian Congregation, in 1905. This chart may be seen in the Ar- chive Museum of the Church. It shows the dates of the buildings and the names of their early occupants.
The first building in the new town was the Warden's House, started in 1757 and occupied in 1759. It adjoined the John George Klein House (1754) to the west. It is still standing, essentially as built, now as 121 East Main Street. The cornerstone of the Sisters' House, now the Castle at Linden Hall, was laid in 1758. That of the Brethren's House, later the Military Hospital, in 1759. Both of these buildings are today essentially as built. The other large building of Linden Hall was built in 1769. The present parsonage of the Morav- ian Church, adjoining the Church, was dedi- cated in 1763 as the second Gemeinhaus. It was used as a church until 1787. The Morav- ian Church was dedicated in 1787. The Leich- enkappelchen (Corpse House) , in the rear of the Church, was built in 1786, while the workmen were awaiting the arrival of the Bishop to lay the cornerstone of the Church. Today the Leichenkappelchen is the architec- tural gem of 18th century Lancaster County.
Other old buildings of the town, which are still standing, are the general store, original storekeeper Jasper Paine, on the south side of East Main Street, directly across from the original Klein house, built in 1762. House adjoining the store to the west, 1796. One and a half story house, now 66 East Main Street, 1762. Pharmacy, now 79 East Main Street, 1762. House adjoining this to the west, 1762. One and a half story building, now 53 East Main Street, 1782. Second house from north east corner of Cedar and East Main Street, 1759. Three one and a half story buildings, East Main Street, now 137, 139 and 145; 1793. Sturgis Pretzel House, East Main Street, 1788.
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The Moravian Leichen Kappelchen (Corpse House) 1786
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The Warden's House-begun in 1757
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1756
200th ANNIVERSARY
=
John George Klein's barn is still standing at the southwest corner of North Water and Front Streets. All of the limestone structure, of the building there today, is that of the original Klein barn.
The original building of the carding mill, of the Brethren's House Economy, stands to- day on the Lititz creek, immediately below its confluence with the San Domingo.
Schools
Lititz has always been an educational center. Dating back to 1746, when the foundations were laid for the Gemeinhaus School for boys and girls, school was carried on there until 1766, when the school was divided, the girls being taught in the Sisters' House, and the boys continuing for a time, in the original building. This Gemeinhaus, built of logs, was taken down and removed to what is now the northeast corner of East Main and Water Streets, where it was continued as a boys' school. Students of the girls' school in the Sisters' House, later Linden Hall, began to come from outside the local area after Mar- garet Marvel, of Baltimore, was admitted to the school in 1794. Since that time more than 8,500 girls, from over the nation and beyond, have been educated at Linden Hall. Dating back to 1746, it is the second oldest girls' school in the United States; second only to the Moravian College for Women at Bethle- hem, Pennsylvania, which was started in 1742.
In 1815 John Beck (1791-1873) was asked to take charge of the village school for boys. It was held in what had been the blacksmtih shop and potash factory, which stood in the western side of the Moravian Church Square. Suddenly boys from Baltimore began to arrive at this humble school. In 1822 the dingy shop was replaced by a commodious building. A few years later the Brethren's House, which had been discontinued from its original pur-
LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA 1956
pose, was added to the John Beck Academy. The boys of the Academy, which had become famous over the nation, boarded nad lodged at private homes of the village. Between 1815 and 1865, 2,326 boys from the United States and Canada, a few from Europe, were educat- ed at the John Beck Academy.
Following 1865, when John Beck retired, the school was continued in a smaller way until 1881, bv Rickert and Hepp.
In 1865 John Beck's son, Abraham R. Beck (1833-1928) , started the Beck Family School for boys.
Its building, the large mansion, now 125 S. Broad Street, still stands. The name of the property had been Audubon Villa. The Beck Family School for Boys was continued until 1895. Limited to fifteen boys each year, its total enrollment was 219. The list included many of the socially prominent people of Eastern United States.
About 1867 a girls' school was built and conducted by Julius Theodore Beckler (1814- 1875), at what is now 125-129 East Main Street. Facing the winter sun, as it did, the place was called "Sunnyside College." It was continued for only a few years. The building, now divided into separate homes, is still there today.
The public school system in Lititz started in 1852, only as a primary school. The tuition of the older pupils, who went to Linden Hall and the John Beck Academy, was paid by the District. A building for a High School was erected in 1870. Both this and the Primary School buildings were enlarged from time to
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1756
200th ANNIVERSARY
time. The present school at the northwest corner of Orange and South Cedar Streets was built in 1918. It was enlarged into its present elaborate form in 1940.
Lititz As An Early Musical Center
Eighteenth century Lititz was the musical center of Lancaster County. This was caused by the fact that among the young brethren of the intensively religious community, to whom simple games like fig-mill, chess, checkers and even skating were barred, music was the only diversion; and the fact that into this restrict- ed group came a pastor, Bernhard Adam Grube; who was an accomplished versatile musician. In 1765 Grube organized the Breth- ren's House orchestra; teaching the use of all the intruments. This orchestra had its full sections of string, woodwind and brass. It was a complete orchestra, lacking only a percus- sion section. Drums were too military to be countenanced by the religious leaders. This orchestra, which played many of the leading symphonic compositions of its day, came to the height of its local fame about 1791, when it contained many of Grube's well trained musicians, and it was conducted by George Godfry Mueller, a capable musician and an excellent violinist. In that year, May 29, the Hon. John Randolph, Ex-Governor of Vir- ginia and Attorney General of the United States, on his way to Philadelphia, stopped at Lititz, putting up at the Zum Anker Inn. He expressed a desire to hear the famous music of the Brethren. Brother Mueller was in Lan- caster at the time; but to disappoint so dis- tinguished a visitor was unthinkable. A mes- senger was sent post-haste for the conductor and tlie complimentary concert came off in the evening. Following the Brethren's House orchestra, which was continued into the early nineteenth century, there was the Philharmon- ic Society, which was active between 1815 and 1845. It had in its ranks many good musicians and in its concerts such works as Haydn's "Creation" and "The Seasons", Haydn sym- phonies, and various overtures by superior composers like Mozart and Rossini.
The first village band was organized in 1810. It was still drumless. The next band, after 1820, appears to have had considerable reputation away from home. So rare at that time were such organizations that Lancaster engaged the Lititz band when Lafayette visit- ed that city in 1825. This band also furnished the music for the formal opening of the Phila- delphia and Columbia Railroad in 1834.
Specimens of all the instruments used by the Brethren's House orchestra, and by the carly bands, restored to their original form,
LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA 1956
are in the Archive Museum of the Moravian Church. This collection of 18th century instru- ments is notable, possibly unique, in America today. In the same museum, which is in the Brethren's House, are shown relics of the re- ligious, social and economic life of the early Moravian Community. The museum displays the character of that community.
The Streams of Lititz
The Lititz Springs has always been the fea- ture of the town. Its first recorded use for pleasure dates to the summer of 1778, when Tobias Hirte, with a small orchestra, gave evening concerts there. Hirte's evident disre- gard of the Town Regulations was overlooked because Dr. Allison and some of the conval- escent soldiers were entertained by his orches- tra. In 1780 the basin was shut in with a rough stone wall. Previously the ground on the north side had been covered with several acres of water. In 1805 a pond of considerable size, with boats in it, was still there. Tree planting, beyond the primevals still there, was started in 1810. In 1838 the eastern limit of the grounds was a fence crossing the stream, where the arched bridge now is, and joining a fenced field to the south. The pathway around the springhead rose to a height of six feet above its present level. To get a drink one had to go down stone steps on the north side. The entrance to the grounds was then from what is now West Main Street. In 1842 the fence at the arched bridge was removed allowing the main path to continue eastward to Broad Street. In 1855 the high bank around the springhead was graded to its present form. This operation uncovered the three additional springs, which now flow from the wall. At the same time the brownstone copings, presented by the Colemans of Cornwall, were placed around the basin. The lion's head was carved on the rock outcrop at the springhead by J. Augustus Beck in 1859.
LABSC'
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1756
200th ANNIVERSARY
The first regular 4th
of July celebration at the Springs was 1822. The Lititz band was there. (2 oboes, 2 clari- nets, 3 key-bugles, 1 flute, 1 trumpet, 2 valve- less French horns, 2 bassoons, 2 tenor and 2 bass slide trombones, 1 serpent and drums) . There was a banquet with toasts and gun salutes. In 1843 there was the first general illumination of the grounds, with 500 candles distributed at the head of the Springs, along the fences, on pyramids, and patriotic arches. John Beck made the address and read, from a Lancaster German Newspaper of July 9, 1776, the Declaration of Independence in Ger- man. This event of 1843 started the candle celebration which has been continued ever since. The first fireworks came in 1846. Charles Getz, of the Lancaster Museum, made the rockets and other pieces himself. Prior to 1890 the baseball field, on which the "Lilacs of Lititz" regularly played, was in the Springs Grounds, south of the stream. The right-fielder stood against the hill, south of the basin. In 1937 the band shell, dedicated to the memory of Paul E. Beck, band and orchestra leader, was erected about where the right - fielder stood.
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