USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > History of Carbon County, Pennsylvania; also containing a separate account of the several boroughs and townships in the county, with biographical sketches > Part 15
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The postoffice here was established on December 1, 1873, under the name of Ashton, with Thomas W. Wil- liams as postmaster. It was thus designated until early in 1877, when the town was incorporated as a borough and the name changed to Lansford. Prior to this Lans- ford formed a part of Mauch Chunk township. The place is divided into three wards, named East, Middle and West, respectively.
Since 1897 the postoffice has been in charge of Nathan Tanner, a veteran of the Civil war. This office was designated as a postal savings bank during the summer of 1911. Free delivery of the mail was inaugurated in the fall of 1912.
As in other respects, the schools of the town were controlled by the township authorities until 1877.
The first school building to be put up under the au- thority of the borough was erected in the Middle ward in 1879. It is still in use, and is known as the "high school" building. Two buildings have since been erected in the East ward, and one in the West ward. The schools were but partially graded until 1878, when L. Huber was appointed to the principalship. He was followed by A. G. C. Smith, now superintendent of the schools of Delaware county. The position of borough
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
superintendent of schools was created in 1903, with A. A. Killian as the incumbent. Two years later he was succeeded by E. E. Kuntz, the present superintendent.
Under the requirements of the state department of public instruction, the high school of the place was raised to the first class in 1903. A good library is main- tained in connection with the school, and the physical and chemical departments are fairly well equipped.
The parochial schools of St. Michael's (Slovak) Catholic church were opened in 1906. They are at present taught by seven Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Several hundred children are in attendance.
The first attempt to light the streets by means of elec- tricity was made directly by the borough, but the serv- ice was unsatisfactory, while the cost was excessive, as is commonly the case under municipal management.
On nights when the moon shone, there were no lights at all, while at other times they were turned off at midnight. Yet the cost of each light per year was one hundred and fifty dollars.
After some years, the community grew impatient with this state of affairs, and disposed of its plant to the Panther Valley Heat, Power and Electric Light Company for ten thousand dollars. This company was chartered on February 20, 1893, and has since given the town good service at reasonable rates. Under its management incandescent lights were installed in the homes and business establishments of Lansford, and charges were based on the quantity of electricity fur- nished, as indicated by a meter. During the first ten years street lights, which were now kept burning dur- ing the whole of each night, were supplied at the rate of one hundred dollars each by the year. At the ex- piration of this period the price was reduced to ninety- five dollars for each light.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
By extending its system to other towns in the Pan- ther Creek Valley, the company has been enabled to give still cheaper service, and is now providing street lights at an annual cost of sixty-five dollars each. George M. Davies is the president of the company.
From the beginning Lansford has been supplied with water by the Panther Valley Water Company which is controlled by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company.
The town is protected from fire by the American Fire Company, organized in 1887, but not incorporated until 1894.
In 1894 a brick building costing twelve thousand dol- lars was erected by the borough. This is the home of the fire department and the meeting place of town council.
The municipality has always been liberal in its sup- port of the fire department, which is well organized and equipped with modern apparatus.
The sewer system has been extended from time to time in keeping with the growth of the town.
Much of the revenue required in the making of mu- nicipal improvements has been derived from taxing the underground wealth, a source of income which but few towns have.
The mammoth vein here is in some instances three hundred feet thick, while shafts have been sunk to the depth of a thousand feet without reaching the basin, or the bottom of the coal.
Among the important factors which have contributed to make Lansford a town of homes have been the build- ing and loan associations, the first of which, in this vicinity, was the Fidelity, of Summit Hill. A number of others have followed, and all have been honestly and successfully managed.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
The Panther Valley Building and Loan Association, now performing useful service, was organized in 1903.
The Miners' Bank, which had previously existed at Summit Hill, was removed to Lansford in 1880, and was the first monetary institution in the place. The bank failed in 1883.
The First National Bank of Lansford was chartered in 1899. Its capital in the beginning was fifty thousand dollars, which was doubled in 1909. The bank now has deposits of over a million dollars, and has a large sur- plus fund. The present building was erected in 1904. A. J. Thomas has been the president of the institution from the start, while W. H. Kohler and C. Fred Kline have served as cashiers.
The Citizens' National Bank was chartered in 1903, having a capital of fifty thousand dollars. It did busi- ness in rented quarters until 1909, when a splendid building, costing forty thousand dollars was built and occupied. A surplus of over thirty thousand dollars has been earned by the bank. T. J. Nusbaum and M. A. Whetstone originally served as president and cash- ier, respectively. Andrew Brislin is now the president, while W. J. Davis is cashier.
A number of private bankers, dealing principally with foreigners, also do a thriving business, while a dime savings bank has recently been established.
The Carbon Telephone Company, having numerous subscribers in Lansford, Summit Hill and Coal Dale, had its inception nearly twenty years ago. Originally it was termed the Summit Hill and Lansford Tele- phone Company. The present company, the stock of which is held locally, was formed in 1899. William Schneider was the first president. The company's lines connect with those of the Consolidated and the American Union telephone companies.
CITIZENS NATIONAL BANK
TLE
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CITIZENS' NATIONAL BANK, LANSFORD.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
-717. LENOX AND DE ICRE.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
The first newspaper to be published here was the Summit Hill and Lansford Record, first issued from Summit Hill. It had been in existence less than five years, when, in 1880, its owner and editor, the late J. W. Malloy established himself in Lansford. He was one of the best known among Carbon county's news- paper men, and wielded a trenchant pen. His death occurred in 1910, since which time the active manage- ment of the paper has devolved upon William Gormley. It was formerly Democratic, but in recent years it has manifested independent tendencies. It is issued weekly.
The Lansford Leader, which is also a weekly, began its career under its present proprietor and editor, Lin- coln Davis, in the spring of 1893. This is an inde- pendent Republican journal. Both papers maintain large job printing establishments.
Lansford is connected with the neighboring towns by means of an excellent electric railway system. This road was placed in operation between here and Tamaqua, Schuylkill county, on October 25, 1897.
The pioneer hotel man of Lansford was George Evans, who opened the Lansford House. He was the father of Thomas Evans, now conducting that popular hostelry. George H. Holvey built the Mansion House, while the American House was built by John B. Jones.
The religious history of Lansford begins with the Welsh Congregational church. This congregation was organized in 1848. The church edifice, built in 1850, was dedicated on Christmas Day. The most in- fluential person in the establishment of the church was David Williams, who has already been refered to in connection with the early development of the mines hereabouts. He was a man of good moral character and organized the first Sunday school in the place.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
This preceded the church, of which it was the fore-run- ner, by about ten years. From the beginning, services in this church have been conducted in the Welsh tongue. For nearly a generation there was no other church in the town, and people of other denominations worshipped here or attended services at Summit Hill and elsewhere. The original building, which has several times been remodeled and improved, is still standing. The first regular pastor of the congrega- tion was Rev. William Thomas. Rev. F. Tilo Evans has been stationed here for more than twenty years.
The English Congregational church was organized in 1872 in response to the demands of those who wished to hear preaching in the English language, and who had formerly attended the Welsh church.
The present building was dedicated in 1881 by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, the famous Brooklyn divine.
Many of the Lansford churches were established as missions by the churches of Summit Hill. First among the number was the First Baptist church, founded about 1872. Its first building stood where the West Ward school house now stands. In 1888 the church was torn down and rebuilt on the present location. Rev. Allen J. Morton was the first pastor.
In 1880 Rev. Robert H. Kline, rector of St. Philip's church at Summit Hill, began holding services here. The mission thus established resulted in the organiza- tion of Trinity Episcopal church, the cornerstone of which was laid on Trinity Sunday, 1896. The building was not consecrated until 1899.
Members of the Evangelical Association held ser- vices at this place as early as 1872.
A church building put up in 1887 was later sold. The United Evangelical church was built in 1895.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
St. Michael's (Slovak) Roman Catholic congrega- tion was started by Rev. William Heinan, of East Mauch Chunk, in 1891. The building which was then begun was destroyed by fire in 1907. Preparations were at once made by the pastor, Rev. Joseph Kas- parek, and his people to erect a more substantial structure. This new building, costing one-hundred and fifty thousand dollars, was dedicated with pomp and pageantry by Archbishop Edmund F. Prendergast on Thanksgiving Day, 1911.
St. John's Greek Catholic congregation was organ- ized in 1892, when a frame building was put up. A large brick edifice erected in 1906 was destroyed by fire three years later. Under Rev. Gabriel Martyak, the pastor in charge, the present magnificent building of buff brick was completed, the corner-stone having been laid in 1910.
The first Methodist church here stood in the woods east of the town, later being removed to the site of the present building, which was dedicated in 1890 by Chaplain C. C. McCabe.
Emmanuel's Reformed church was started as a mis- sion of St. Paul's, of Summit Hill, by Rev. A. P. Horn in 1894. Services were first held in the Lansford Ly- ceum.
Trinity Evangelical Lutheran church came into being during the same year, belonging to the charge at Summit Hill, and being organized by Rev. H. D. Sie- bott. The present building was erected in 1895.
A Sunday school which was started by Nathan Pat- terson in 1851, and of which Andrew Weir was the first superintendent, was the forerunner of the First Pres- byterian church, organized in 1896. A church building was not put up until 1901, while Rev. Alexander D. Bateman was the first regular pastor. Both the Sun-
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
day school and the church have always been self-sup- porting.
St. John's (Slovak) Evangelical Lutheran church was started as a mission in 1903, and St. Peter's and St. Paul's Roman Catholic church was begun four years later.
St. Ann's Roman Catholic church was attended as a mission of St. Joseph's, of Summit Hill, until early in 1909, when St. Ann's was constituted a separate parish, and the present pastor, Rev. H. J. Bowen, appointed. Ground was broken for the new church building in Sep- tember, 1911, while the corner-stone was laid by Arch- bishop Prendergast on Thanksgiving Day, of the same year. The style of the new church, which is not yet completed, is Romanesque. It is built of buff brick, with terra cotta trimmings.
Most of the fraternal and beneficial societies com- mon to this portion of the state have been established here. In 1884 the Lansford Beneficial Fund was insti- tuted by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company ; any of the employes of the company participate in its benefits if they are so unfortunate as to be injured at their work. The company annually contributes a cer- tain sum to this fund, based on the production of coal; the men also contribute their just proportion. Hun- dreds of thousands of dollars have been raised and dis- tributed under the rules governing this fund, which in its practical workings has proven to be one of the most worthy institutions.
There is, of course, little industrial activity in Lans- ford aside from that connected with the mining and shipping of coal. Several hundred men are employed in the repair shops of the company, and an immense power plant generates electricity sufficient for the needs of the whole Panther Creek Valley. The manu-
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ST. ANN'S CHURCH, LANSFORD.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
facture of coal briquettes, composed of a mixture of coal dirt and tar, intended for fuel, has also been be- gun. During recent years the town has been benefited by the concentration of the company's offices here, while the opening of the line of the Lehigh and New England Railroad to this point will further improve conditions.
The Century Throwing Company, operating a silk mill, located its plant here in 1904. Alexander Mc- Lane has been the local head.
In 1906 the Lansford Shirt Factory was opened by Wallace Drumheller and Charles K. Walton. These are the only independent industries of consequence.
When the first separate census of the place was taken, in 1880, the population was a little over two thousand. It now amounts to about ten thousand. These figures indicate the healthy growth which the town has had. But there is promise of still greater development, and Lansford looks confidently into the future from her fortunate position over the richest bed of anthracite in the world.
LAUSANNE TOWNSHIP.
Lausanne township may be likened to a fond and over-indulgent father, who, originally rich in the pos- session of a princely estate, has given away so much of his substance to his children as to be himself re- duced to comparative poverty in his old age.
It is now the most sparsely populated township in the county, while its area is but a small fraction of that which it contained in 1808, the year of its organiza- tion. Anterior to that time it was a part of Penn township, which embraced all that portion of North- ampton county lying north of the Blue Ridge and west of the Lehigh river.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
In 1808 Penn township was divided into East Penn, West Penn and Lausanne, the last named being the northern part of that portion now in Carbon county. In 1827, a small portion of the southern part of the township was taken off to form Mauch Chunk town- ship. In 1842 another limb was lopped off to form Banks township, while Packer township was carved from the dwindling territory of Lausanne in 1847. In 1863 it was further dismembered by the erection of the borough of Weatherly, while the final slice was taken from it in 1875, when Lehigh township was formed.
Lausanne township is bounded on the north by Lu- zerne county, on the east by Lehigh township, on the south by Lehigh and the borough of Weatherly, and on the west by Banks township. It is about six miles in length, and averages nearly two and one-half miles in breadth. It is watered by Laurel and Hazle creeks and by Spruce run. The character of the land is mountain- ous and is but little cultivated. The first permanent settlement of any consequence made within the present limits of the township was made by the Buck Mountain Coal Company, which was chartered June 16, 1836. Samuel L. Shober, Jacob F. Bunting, Benjamin Kug- ler, William Richardson, and Asa Lansford Foster, all Philadelphians, excepting the latter, who was from Carbon county, formed the company. Operations were begun three years later, while in the month of November, 1840, the first coal was shipped.
The mines were located on the summit of the Spring mountain, while the breaker was erected at Rockport, five miles distant from the mines. A rail- road, connecting the two points, was built, and the loaded cars ran down to Rockport by gravity. Mules were at first employed to haul the empty cars back to the mines; but, in the course of time, these were re-
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
placed by a four-wheeled, wood-burning locomotive. This locomotive was built at Philadelphia, and was shipped by rail from there to Tamaqua. There it was loaded upon a heavy wagon, owned by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, and hauled through Quakake Valley to Rockport by teams. To secure the wagon from getting beyond control while descending the hills along the route, a cable was fastened to it, and one end was snubbed about a convenient tree. In many in- stances, while paying out slack to allow the wagon to proceed down the hills, the bark was worn from the trees around which the cable was fastened, and years afterwards, encircled by the rings thus formed, they stood as mute reminders of this interesting feat in transportation.
The breaker stood on the banks of Laurel creek, while its machinery was driven by an ordinary, twenty- five-foot, overshot water-wheel. With one exception, this was the only breaker in the anthracite region, so far as can be ascertained, that was operated in this manner. The coal was shipped to market from Rock- port on the Lehigh Canal.
The flood of 1841 swept away the canal, and it was necessary to suspend operations until it had been re- paired.
Rockport remained the shipping point for the com- pany until 1862, when the canal was again destroyed by flood.
Following the freshet of that year, the Hazleton Coal Company built a railroad to the mines at Buck Moun- tain, and it was by this route that the coal there pro- duced was thereafter shipped. This road connected with what is now the Lehigh Valley Railroad, at Hazle Creek Junction, about two miles from Weatherly.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
The coal company built a hotel at Buck Mountain in 1843, which was successively kept by William Koons, James McGinty, and William Boyle. A postoffice was established at about the time of the building of the rail- road to the mines. A store, two schoolhouses and an office building were also erected.
The coal produced at Buck Mountain was of the very finest grade, and was largely used by the United States Navy during the Civil War, because of its excellent steaming qualities and the almost total absence of smoke attendant upon its use. This rendered vessels supplied with fuel from Buck Mountain less conspicu- ous as targets for an enemy's guns than would other- wise have been the case, also facilitating secrecy in the movements of the ships.
Erricson's Monitor, in her crucial battle with the re- doubtable Merrimac, carried Buck Mountain coal in her bunkers.
The mines at Buck Mountain were abandoned on November 28, 1883, it being the belief at that time that the supply of available coal had been about exhausted. The property was subsequently purchased by the firm of Coxe, Brothers & Company for the sum of twenty- two thousand dollars, but the mines were allowed to remain idle, and what had previously been a thriving town became a deserted village.
The total number of tons of coal shipped from this place from 1841 to the time when operations were sus- pended was three million, four hundred and sixty-five thousand. The company at various times employed from three to six-hundred men.
Buck Mountain, in the day of its prosperity, was one of the best villages in the coal fields, and those of its former inhabitants who still remain cherish the mem- ory of the old spot in their hearts.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
The Lehigh Valley Coal Company now controls the property at Buck Mountain and preparations are in progress for the resumption of mining there on an important scale. It has developed that the mines there, so far from being exhausted, contain deposits of coal that will last for many years.
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CHAPTER XV.
LEHIGH TOWNSHIP.
A large portion of Lehigh township was originally covered by dense forests of evergreen trees. Its terri- tory was embraced within Lausanne township from 1808 until 1875, when it was organized as a separate division of the county.
The Quakake creek, flowing eastwardly through the township, empties into the Lehigh at Penn Haven. Spruce, Laurel and Indian runs form a stream which flows southeastwardly and empties into the Lehigh be- low Rockport. Leslies run rises near the Luzerne county line, and joins the Lehigh at Leslie's Run Sta- tion, in the northern part of the township. The Broad mountain constitutes the southern portion of the town- ship, while the Laurytown Valley passes between it and the Bald Ridge, which reaches across the township from east to west.
A state road, which ran from the Spring Mountain Hotel, in Packer township, through Weatherly, and thence to White Haven, was the first highway of any consequence. The next in importance was the White Haven and Lausanne turnpike which was begun in 1840. The Central Railroad of New Jersey, fromerly the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad, and the Le- high Valley Railroad follow the Lehigh river along the eastern border of the township, while the Beaver Meadow and Hazleton and the Mahanoy divisions of the Lehigh Valley system run through the township on the banks of Quakake creek, connecting with the main line at Penn Haven Junction.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
The Moravians at one time owned a tract of timber land where Rockport is now located. The timber on this tract was purchased by the Lehigh Coal and Navi- gation Company in 1824. The company erected several saw-mills and a number of dwellings for laborers at this point. The settlement, which was situated on a high bluff, was called Laurytown. The timber was slid down the mountain side to the mills, and after being sawed was rafted down the Lehigh to Mauch Chunk and other places.
The raftsmen returned to the mills on foot, traveling the "Indian Path," which led from Gnadenhütten to Wyoming. Much of the timber that was cut in this vicinity was used in the construction of canal boats and other improvements incident to the operations of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company.
The Buck Mountain Coal Company began the build- ing of a railroad from Rockport to its mines, about five miles distant, in the fall of 1839. A tunnel, two hun- dred yards in length, from the foot of an inclined plane, through the mountain to the river, was driven by Asa L. Foster. The work of constructing the tunnel and the railroad was completed in 1840, and, in November of that year, the Buck Mountain Coal Company shipped its first boat load of coal to Philadelphia on the Lehigh Canal.
Rockport was once popularly known as "Grog Hol- low," which unregenerate designation was applied to the place in consequence of the bibulous proclivities and general carousing of the laborers who were sta- tioned there during the building of the canal in the late thirties. Lumbering operations ceased here a short time prior to the opening of the mines at Buck Moun- tain.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
After the completion of the railroad to the mines, one hundred thousand tons of coal were annually shipped from this point until 1862.
The memorable flood of that year washed away the canal, and the coal mined at Buck Mountain was there- after shipped to market by rail.
The postoffice at Rockport was established about the year 1830, Samuel Wolf, who was also a tavern-keeper on the line of the Lehigh and Susquehanna turnpike, being the first postmaster. In 1836 he was succeeded in the postoffice by Asa Packer, who in turn was suc- ceeded by R. Q. Butler, two years later. It was during the term of Mr. Butler that the name of the postoffice was changed from Laurytown to Rockport. The pres- ent postmaster is H. H. Sloat, who has held the office for many years. It was during his administration that the free delivery of mail throughout the township was begun by the government.
Samuel Wolf kept a store at Rockport from 1830 to 1836, when he disposed of the business to Asa and R. W. Packer, who conducted the establishment until the completion of their canal contract. A. L. Foster also kept this store for a short time. J. G. Eadie, now, and for many years past, a resident of Weatherly, kept a store at Rockport from 1866 until 1869.
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