USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > Bethlehem > A history of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1741-1892, with some account of its founders and their early activity in America > Part 32
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lady Juliana-was evidently thwarted by the opposition of William Parsons who strongly represented to Penn, the undesirability of permitting this tract or any part of the so-called "dry lands " falling into the hands of the Moravians, even though it was all for sale and hard to sell on account of the absurd supposition that it was worthless; and, much as he dis- liked the " Dutchmen " who were coming into the neighborhood to locate farms, the lesser prejudice gave way to the greater in his mind and he advocated selling it off to them in smaller parcels. The matter of the acquisition of land between Bethlehem and Nazareth to complete a connection between the domains, had been under consideration from 1743. In that year Zinzendorf, who had also gotten the current bad opinion of the " dry lands," writing in a letter about the practice of granting proprietary lands gratuitously for opening highways and about applying to Thomas Penn for a strip of this land for such purpose, observes that even if a strip of this " barren and worthless " land a mile in width were given for a road, it would be of little consequence to the Proprietary. This remark gave rise to the absurd statement which has been put into print as history, that Zinzendorf projected a road a mile wide, from Bethlehem to Nazareth. At a later time, patents held by the authorities at Beth- lehem, to certain parcels in this neighborhood, led to disagreeable complications with their conveyancer, John Okely, when he used his position to further his private plans to the detriment of the common interest. It led to litigation and Okely's removal from Bethlehem and severance of all connection with the Church, in 1788.
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
begins-this name being applied to the intended Zinzendorfian manor house the first time in the records on October 25, 1756.
A company of single men went up to Christiansbrunn, December 17, 1754, and, joined by a number of those who lived there, began to quarry stone and fell timber for the building. Ground was broken for the foundation on April 1, and, May 3, 1755, the corner-stone was laid with elaborate services, attended by all the people of Bethlehem and the Nazareth places who could be present. A lengthy document in Latin prepared by the learned Nazareth minister, the Rev. Francis Christian Lembke, was deposited in the stone, with various other manuscripts, the principal of which were the following: an ode by Bishop Matthew Hehl which embodied the names of all the Moravian congregations, missions and preaching-places in America ; hymns composed for the occasion-some of them sung-by Lembke, by John Michael Graff and John Ettwein who represented the department of work among the children, and by George Neisser, Christian Frederick Oerter and Anna Maria Beyer ; verses composed in Indian languages by missionaries representing this field of activity-by Bernhard Adam Grube, in the Delaware tongue, and by John Jacob Schmick and George Christian Fabricius, a student of Indian language at Gnaden- huetten, in Mohican. The copies deposited in the stone had inter- linear translations. Besides all this, there was a catalogue of 1034 persons, who on that date were counted as connected with the General Economy, wherever stationed or employed, including all the Indians then under the care of its missionaries and all the children, both of members and others, in the several institutions with their overseers and teachers; the offices of all who held positions being carefully noted. Not the least interesting feature of the occasion was the address of Bishop Peter Boehler at the lovefeast, held in the after- noon at the "stone house" (Whitefield House), in which he enter- tained the assembly with historical reminiscences of the locality, from the time when he led the first band of pioneers to the place in 1740. The walls of the new building were laid up to the top of the first story at the end of June and on August 31, the masonry was finished to the eaves of the roof. When Boehler left, on September 18, to sail from New York, he expressed his delight at seeing the frame-work of the roof raised, and being able to report the building as nearing completion when he reached Europe. But it was not finished until more than a year after this, and was first dedicated, November 13, 1756. The panic of the awful November of 1755, interrupted the
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1749-1755.
rapidly progressing work, and during the months of terror that ensued, it was entirely suspended.
Meanwhile another commodious structure, one of the most substantial in the group, had been erected at Bethlehem in 1754. This was the large stone house that stood until 1869 on the site of the present Moravian Publication Office and of the building adjoining it to the north. It was variously known at different periods as the "men's house," the "boys' institute," the "new children's house"-when the turreted building on Church Street was known as the old one-the "family house" and the "economy house." Originally it was intended to afford better quarters for a considerable number of married men who, under the make-shift necessities of that time, when dwelling apartments for separate families were yet very limited, had to be thus arranged in large room companies, while their wives occupied several rooms in another house. Part of the building was designed also for such separate family dwellings. It was, further- more, to contain more working room for the increased number needed of such artisans as shoe-makers and tailors, the work-shops in the Brethren's House being over-crowded. At the same time it was to enable the authorities to provide more satisfactory accom- modations for the large number of boys who were to take possession of the rooms before this occupied by the men. This is why this stone building was, at first, called simply the men's house.
The project of building such a house had been broached by Spangenberg already in March, 1753. A few weeks later it was discussed at a general meeting, when it was proposed to construct it with two main entrances, one for this body of men and for access to the workshops, the other to lead into the part designed for family dwellings. On April 2, the plans having been finished, the foundation lines were staked off. In June, when it appeared that it could not be proceeded with on account of the harvest and other pressing work, it was decided to merely lay up the walls of the cellar that had been excavated, so it should not cave in if left during the following winter. Thus it remained until the spring of 1754. Having been completed during the summer, it was formally taken possession of on September 30. A procession was formed at the Community House, headed by Bishops Spangenberg and David Nitschmann, with Father Nitschmann walking between them, and they were greeted by a band of music stationed on the balcony that extended along the east side of the new building. Matthew Schropp, as
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
begins-this name being applied to the intended Zinzendorfian manor house the first time in the records on October 25, 1756.
A company of single men went up to Christiansbrunn, December 17, 1754, and, joined by a number of those who lived there, began to quarry stone and fell timber for the building. Ground was broken for the foundation on April I, and, May 3, 1755, the corner-stone was laid with elaborate services, attended by all the people of Bethlehem and the Nazareth places who could be present. A lengthy document in Latin prepared by the learned Nazareth minister, the Rev. Francis Christian Lembke, was deposited in the stone, with various other manuscripts, the principal of which were the following: an ode by Bishop Matthew Hehl which embodied the names of all the Moravian congregations, missions and preaching-places in America ; hymns composed for the occasion-some of them sung-by Lembke, by John Michael Graff and John Ettwein who represented the department of work among the children, and by George Neisser, Christian Frederick Oerter and Anna Maria Beyer ; verses composed in Indian languages by missionaries representing this field of activity-by Bernhard Adam Grube, in the Delaware tongue, and by John Jacob Schmick and George Christian Fabricius, a student of Indian language at Gnaden- huetten, in Mohican. The copies deposited in the stone had inter- linear translations. Besides all this, there was a catalogue of 1034 persons, who on that date were counted as connected with the General Economy, wherever stationed or employed, including all the Indians then under the care of its missionaries and all the children, both of members and others, in the several institutions with their overseers and teachers; the offices of all who held positions being carefully noted. Not the least interesting feature of the occasion was the address of Bishop Peter Boehler at the lovefeast, held in the after- noon at the "stone house" (Whitefield House), in which he enter- tained the assembly with historical reminiscences of the locality, from the time when he led the first band of pioneers to the place in 1740. The walls of the new building were laid up to the top of the first story at the end of June and on August 31, the masonry was finished to the eaves of the roof. When Boehler left, on September 18, to sail from New York, he expressed his delight at seeing the frame-work of the roof raised, and being able to report the building as nearing completion when he reached Europe. But it was not finished until more than a year after this, and was first dedicated, November 13, 1756. The panic of the awful November of 1755, interrupted the
283
1749-1755.
rapidly progressing work, and during the months of terror that ensued, it was entirely suspended.
Meanwhile another commodious structure, one of the most substantial in the group, had been erected at Bethlehem in 1754. This was the large stone house that stood until 1869 on the site of the present Moravian Publication Office and of the building adjoining it to the north. It was variously known at different periods as the "men's house," the "boys' institute," the "new children's house"-when the turreted building on Church Street was known as the old one-the "family house" and the "economy house." Originally it was intended to afford better quarters for a considerable number of married men who, under the make-shift necessities of that time, when dwelling apartments for separate families were yet very limited, had to be thus arranged in large room companies, while their wives occupied several rooms in another house. Part of the building was designed also for such separate family dwellings. It was, further- more, to contain more working room for the increased number needed of such artisans as shoe-makers and tailors, the work-shops in the Brethren's House being over-crowded. At the same time it was to enable the authorities to provide more satisfactory accom- modations for the large number of boys who were to take possession of the rooms before this occupied by the men. This is why this stone building was, at first, called simply the men's house.
The project of building such a house had been broached by Spangenberg already in March, 1753. A few weeks later it was discussed at a general meeting, when it was proposed to construct it with two main entrances, one for this body of men and for access to the workshops, the other to lead into the part designed for family dwellings. On April 2, the plans having been finished, the foundation lines were staked off. In June, when it appeared that it could not be proceeded with on account of the harvest and other pressing work, it was decided to merely lay up the walls of the cellar that had been excavated, so it should not cave in if left during the following winter. Thus it remained until the spring of 1754. Having been completed during the summer, it was formally taken possession of on September 30. A procession was formed at the Community House, headed by Bishops Spangenberg and David Nitschmann, with Father Nitschmann walking between them, and they were greeted by a band of music stationed on the balcony that extended along the east side of the new building. Matthew Schropp, as
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Warden of the house, met them at the door and escorted them in, and then a lovefeast was held. That building which had a history in connection with school-work and with the military occupation of Bethlehem during the Revolutionary War, is remembered by many as one of the plain, solid structures of the olden time which helped to give the place "a foreign look." The character of the work done by the old Bethlehem builders was tested in the hard labor it cost to
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THE FAMILY HOUSE, 1754-1869.
demolish the structure. It was sixty by thirty feet in dimensions and three stories high. The large attic floor was lighted by dormer windows. It had two front entrances with passages running through the house. There were corresponding passages in the second story with communication at the rear by means of the balcony on the east side, from which doors opened into the passages. On the first floor the entire north section was used as a shop by the cabinet- makers and joiners. The corresponding south section, front to rear, was the shoe-makers' shop. In the middle section were the Warden's room and a conference room. The second story, middle and north sections, was cut into four dwelling rooms and the south section was
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left in one large room for any purpose for which it might be needed. The third story was used as a dormitory, in sections and the attic floor contained clothing and store rooms. It had a cellar with massive vaulted masonry along the west side, towards the street, and the east half of the basement was used as the linen-weaving room. But a large part of it was soon turned to another use.
The home and school for boys needed more space. The room in the Brethren's House had to be vacated and the quarters in the log house, to the west of the Community House, then in use by them, were insuffi- cient. The other log house, west of that, at the end of which the water tower-familiar from extant pictures-was built, was uncomfortable and unsuitable for the purpose to which it was then being devoted- hospital quarters for women and rooms for the accommodation of mothers with infants. The men were ready at once to cheerfully surrender their commodious rooms in the new building, for the comfort of wives and children was in question. On February 20, 1755, it became the "boys' institute." The boys moved into the new stone house, the invalid women, the nursing mothers and the several widows who lived with them as nurses and attendants, were trans- ferred to the inner log house near the Community House which the boys had just left, and the company of men established their quarters in the less desirable outer log house-the water tower building. These changes which involved the moving of a hundred and sixty-five persons with their effects, including, in part, even beds, were accom- plished in twelve hours on February 20. A chain of incidents like these reveals the kind of system and arrangements that had to be resorted to under the circumstances of that time. It may be men- tioned, in connection with these references to institutional and private dwelling arrangements, that on May 2, 1755-the day before the corner-stone of Nazareth Hall was laid-the widows of the Economy who had to frequently shift their common quarters to accommodate themselves to changing arrangements, with the exception of several who filled special positions at Bethlehem, all removed to Nazareth and took possession of the better of the two original log houses built in 1740-that which is yet standing. This became the home for the widows of Bethlehem and Nazareth until the large stone building on Church Street was erected for this pur- pose in 1768.
During the summer of 1754 plans began to take definite shape for adding another important building, a tavern on the north
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side of the river, "not too near to Bethlehem nor yet too far away." This need began to be spoken of as early as 1747, when the frequent difficulty experienced in conveying travelers across to the Crown Inn at night in bad weather, or when the water was high, led to the consideration of the subject. On July 10, 1754, it was first formally discussed by a general meeting of men. This difficulty was again spoken of, and it was remarked that the prevalent ideas of hos- pitality to strangers required that courtesies should be shown to trav- elers who wished to pass the night at Bethlehem, and that this was often a very difficult and perplexing matter under existing arrange- ments, because there were hardly any private family homes that could offer such accommodation. It was observed also that one of their neighbors, "a man of some standing," had declared his inten- tion to open a tavern quite near the Bethlehem line, if one was not soon erected by the authorities of the place. This was probably their neighbor eastward, John Jones, who had been appointed constable of the township to succeed Anton Albrecht, who removed to Phillips- burg. A committee of six was appointed to select a site. On July 16, they reported to the Church Council a site "on the road to the brick sheds, opposite the stone quarry at the Monocacy." It was proposed "to open the road to Easton right across the field, so that it would lead to the tavern, and to vacate the road hitherto running across the Bethlehem line and forming an elbow ; this to be presented to Court for approval." The report was adopted. Further steps were then postponed. It was decided to proceed first with the erec- tion of Nazareth Hall. Besides this, in February, 1755, when this conclusion was reached, the necessity of enlarging the grain-growing area at Bethlehem by grubbing and cleaning fifty acres of new land south of the Lehigh in time for spring ploughing, called for a num- ber of laborers. The great scarcity of grain was being felt. A thousand bushels had been bought during the winter in addition to what had been raised on all the farms, and much more was needed before the next harvest. Thus the building of the Inn was delayed, and when it might otherwise have been begun, the demoralizing ordeal of the Indian war occasioned further postponement, so that it was not proceeded with until 1758. It will be referred to again in another chapter.
At the time when this enterprise was first being seriously consid- ered, the increase of travel through Bethlehem, and of visitors from all parts, in consequence of the establishment of the county-seat at
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Easton and of highways from there to different points in the country that were being opened up and developed, led to the more frequent consideration of various matters involved in relations to the public by the Bethlehem authorities. Thus in the autumn of 1754, two inci- dents, in connection with the growth of communication and traffic by land and water, occurred that deserve mention. The first was of some importance in the topography of the region; the second was interesting merely as an episode of local enterprise. On September 26, the records refer to the order of the Provincial Council to the authorities of Northampton County to lay out a road from Easton to Reading, in the new County of Berks; and to an inquiry on the part of the county authorities addressed to the board at Bethlehem in regard to their preference in the matter of its course past the town. It was not deemed desirable to have the highway pass near the cen- tral establishments, even so near as along the line on which the store stood-the present Market Street. Therefore, two propositions were favored and referred to a committee to be formulated. One was to direct its course, in approaching Bethlehem from the east, so that it would pass along the foot of the hill, south towards the river, where the Indian cabins of Friedenshuetten had stood, and thence to the ferry. The other was to run it along the northern line beyond the site chosen for the projected tavern, there turning southward-the present Main Street-to the ferry, and to adapt the proposed change of roads intended to suit the establishment of the public house at that point, to the larger plan of this new highway. The latter proposi- tion was adopted and on October 15, 1755, it is stated that Justice Horsfield went to Easton to help lay out "the King's Road to Read- ing." The dire events that caused a long suspension of this enter- prise, as well as of the tavern building, opened, like the burst of a tornado, a little more than a month after this beginning was made.
The other incident alluded to was an experiment in river naviga- tion from Bethlehem to Philadelphia made in 1754. On July 10, the same day on which the building of the tavern was discussed, the project was broached in the general Church Council, of building a boat to run down the river with products for the Philadelphia market and return with wares for the store and other purchases. Two sailors from the Irene, Andrew Schoute and Peter Brink, with the negroes, Anthony and Thomas, were appointed to explore the channel from Bethlehem to Philadelphia when the water was low, noting obstruc- tions and tracing a course over the falls. A flat-boat was built, pro-
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
vided with two masts to carry what was thought would be adequate sail. The rigging was constructed by Schoute and Brink, with the assistance of two other sailors of the Irene, Peter Drews and Lam- bert Garrison. The launch at the Bethlehem boat-yard, where the several ferry flats had been built, took place on September 27. The school boys were given a holiday, and they helped to haul it on roll- ers to the water. When it was floated, some of the officials of Beth- lehem were taken a little way down the river on a trial trip. The record states that seven men and seven women, accompanied by seven boat-builders and sailors, were on board. Meanwhile, Father Nitschmann served a luncheon on shore to the boys who had helped to tug at the ropes. He and they all then boarded the boat-fifty- six boys and eleven men-and sailed up and down the stream, sing- ing hymns. The record states that with the first load, the boat drew nine, and with the second load, eleven inches of water. At the sug- gestion of Bishop Spangenberg, the favorite name Irene was given this Delaware boat, and she was then referred to as the "Little Irene," in distinction from the larger Moravian ship that ploughed the Atlantic. This gala-day was closed with the harvest-home ban- quet held on the square between the Community House and the Sis- ters' House. Instrumental music was rendered from the balcony in front of the turreted building in which the boarding-school for girls was then domiciled, and the smaller girls gathered in the doorway and passage and sang hymns. The history of the Little Irene is brief. On November 6, she started down the Lehigh on her first trip to Philadelphia with a load of linseed oil, in command of Schoute, with several assistants. They reached the city and delivered their cargo, but on November 16, they returned to Bethlehem without the boat. It was too broad to be gotten up stream past the falls, and was left at the city to be sold. They reported officially and recommended the purchase of a Delaware flat that was for sale not far from Beth- lehem. It was prudently decided first to hire one on trial, and con- sider the question of purchasing later.
Another enterprise that engaged the thought and skill of Bethle- hem mechanics in 1754, more distinctly marked an epoch in the pro- gress of the town. This was the successful experiment that gives the credit to Bethlehem of constructing the first water-works in Pennsylvania. The problem of finding an easier way to bring the water of the spring up the hill and distributing it where needed, than by means of a cart and buckets, had been officially discussed and had
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engaged the thought of the ingenious Hans Christiansen, the new mill-wright of Bethlehem. There was the water-power that ran the oil and bark mill. That wheel might be made to do more work. A water tower above, and one or more tanks were easily constructed. The matter of pipes to convey the water to the tanks, especially the question of material, was important. Yet more serious a problem was the construction of the necessary pump. John Boehner, the West India missionary, one of the pioneers of Bethlehem, was on a visit at the place. He was an ingenious man, had some knowledge of such mechanism which he had seen success- fully operated and was interested in the subject. He made a model of a pump and connections. He and Christiansen discussed it together and the latter set about the task. Carefully selected trunks of hemlock were rafted down the Lehigh from Gnadenhuetten in March, 1754, from which water-pipes were to be made. While Christiansen worked at his pump, a building was erected near the oil- mill where the power was to be supplied for his first experiments, and already on the evening of June 21, he demonstrated the feasibility of his plan by forcing water as high as the houses around the square in the town above, to the astonishment and joy of all. Then the machinery was perfected, a separate water-wheel was built, the pipes were laid, the water tower was gotten ready, at the end of the outer- most of the two log houses west of the Community House, a large. tank was constructed in the square in front of the girls' school, between the Community House and the Sisters' House. On May 27, 1755, the water was successfully forced up the water tower and on June 27, the flow into the tank in the square began. The regular operation of the Bethlehem water-works was commenced and the occupation of the water carriers trudging up the hill from "the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate" was at an end. The value of the spring and the importance of properly guarding it were appreciated more highly than ever.34
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