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 19
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The Lehigh Valley Railroad, which has been a factor of vital importance in the life of Mauch Chunk was placed in operation between here and Easton in the fall of 1855. During the days of its infancy, the head- quarters of the road were located here, and for many years the work of important departments was centered in Mauch Chunk.
The same may be said of the Lehigh and Susque- hanna Railroad, which was built during the next de- cade by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, and later leased to the Central Railroad of New Jersey.
The interests of the town are now more closely cen- tered in the latter road than the former, since Mauch Chunk is an important division point of the Central Railroad of New Jersey.
Owing to the height and steepness which character- ize the mountains of the region, and the rapidity with which smaller streams pour their water into the river during periods of heavy rains or melting snows, the valley of the Lehigh is subject to sudden floods, which have at various times resulted in the destruction of many lives and much valuable property.
Mauch Chunk has suffered severely in a number of these floods. It has also had one costly fire.
The first of these floods was that of June 9, 1841, which was a disastrous one throughout the valley. Sev- eral residents of the town were drowned, among the number, Adam Beers and his family. Quite a number
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of buildings were also washed away, together with the bridge across the Lehigh at the Mansion House.
The fire alluded to occurred on July 15, 1849, and the business portion of the place was laid in ashes.
About thirty buildings including the court house and jail, were consumed, entailing a loss of one hun- dred thousand dollars.
When the flames attacked the jail, the prisoners were set free. The fire taking place during the day time, the county records were saved.
The freshet of 1862 was the most memorable event of its kind in the history of the Lehigh Valley. One hundred and fifty people were drowned, while the prop- erty loss was almost beyond calculation. A heavy and continuous rain, which commenced on the third of June, caused a rapid rise in the Lehigh and its tributary streams above Mauch Chunk. On the afternoon of the succeeding day, the force of the flood broke the booms in the vicinity of White Haven, thus casting adrift a large quantity of saw-logs and other timber to pursue an almost resistless course down the river. The dams on the Lehigh Canal were gradually battered down, and the pent up force thus released heightened the intensity of the flood.
The water attained its extreme height in the neigh- borhood of Mauch Chunk at about midnight. At the Mansion House it rose thirty feet above the usual low- water mark, reaching the second story of the building.
About half the buildings on the lower portion of Sus- quehanna street were washed away. Six lives were lost in this immediate vicinity during the continuance of the flood, while many thrilling escapes from death were recorded.
The most marvellous of these was that of Leonard Yeager, who yet lives in Mauch Chunk. He was caught
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at his place of business on Susquehanna street by a sudden rise of the flood, and surrounded by wreckage and drift-wood was swept away through the darkness. Near Packerton he succeeded in climbing aboard a floating canal boat upon which he rode over the town of Weissport and on to Parryville. At the latter place he escaped from his perilous position by grasping the limb of a tree overhanging the river, making his way back to land.
The canal between Mauch Chunk and White Haven was almost completely demolished by the flood, and was never rebuilt. It required the labor of between two and three thousand men and six hundred horses or mules during more than four months to repair the damages to the canal between Mauch Chunk and Al- lentown. The Lehigh Valley Railroad Company also sustained heavy losses as a result of the flood.
In recent years, Mauch Chunk, in common with other towns in the Lehigh Valley was several times devas- tated by disastrous floods.
The first of these occurred on August 24, 1901. On this occasion Mauch Chunk creek, which flows beneath Broadway burst its confines and engulfed Jesse Struthers, Harry Haggerty, William J. Morgan and Patrick Johnson, who were drowned.
Another freshet visited the region about the middle of December during the same year, destroying hun- dreds of thousands of dollars worth of property be- tween Mauch Chunk and Lehigh Gap.
On February 28, 1902, a veritable cloud burst raised the Lehigh several feet beyond the point attained in December. The bridge at the Mansion House was washed away by this flood, railroad traffic was par- alyzed for weeks, and the damage to property in all parts of the county was enormous.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
Among the institutions and utilities of Mauch Chunk, the postoffice, established in the year 1819, was the first. For years there were but two mails a week.
In 1829, the postal facilities had been so far im- proved that the number of mails arriving at and dis- patched from the town numbered thirty-eight each week. During this year the company controlling the Union line of mail coaches established connections be- tween this place and Philadelphia. Another route, ex- tending from Mauch Chunk to Pottsville, was opened in 1831.
Erskine Hazard was the first postmaster, he being succeeded by Josiah White. Many other prominent citizens have held the office since their day. John Leisenring, Sr., who was the incumbent from 1831 until 1847, and Mrs. Jane F. Righter, who was post- mistress from 1860 until 1880, served the longest terms.
The free delivery of the mail was instituted in the borough in 1906, and during the following year a postal sub-station was opened in Upper Mauch Chunk. At the same time a rural route, running through Beaver Run and Bloomingdale Valleys was started. This office was designated as a postal savings bank in 1911.
Asa Packer secured the charter for the Mauch Chunk Water Company in 1849. The source of supply is the valley of Mauch Chunk creek, and the water furnished the town is excellent for its purity and health giving properties.
The Upper Mauch Chunk Water Company was or- ganized in the spring of 1872, the prime movers in the enterprise being E. F. Luckenbach and James Ross.
James I. Blakslee was the leader in the establish- ment of the Mauch Chunk Gas Company. The com- pany was chartered in 1854. Its capital stock now is $45,000, and its president is H. A. Butler.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
The Mauch Chunk Heat, Power, and Electric Light Company was incorporated in 1889. E. B. Leisenring was the first president, while William O. Lentz is now the head of the company. The generating plant is run by water power, but a steam equipment is also main- tained for emergency purposes.
The pioneer monetary institution of Mauch Chunk was the private bank of Rockwood, Hazard and Com- pany. The bank was established in 1852 with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, and was in existence for five years.
The Mauch Chunk State Bank was chartered in 1855, Hiram Wolf being its president, and A. W. Leisenring, cashier. Its successor was the First National Bank of Mauch Chunk, which was organized in 1863, beginning with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars. Two years later its capital was quadrupled. William Lilly and A. W. Butler originally served as president and cashier, respectively.
Early in 1903 this bank was consolidated with the Linderman National Bank, forming the Mauch Chunk National Bank of to-day. This bank is a depositary of the United States and of the State of Pennsylvania. It has a capital stock of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and has accumulated a large surplus. M. S. Kemmerer is its president, while Ira G. Ross holds the position of cashier. S. S. Smith is the assistant cashier.
The Second National Bank of Mauch Chunk was chartered in 1864, continuing for a period of thirty- eight years. Charles Albright served as president of the institution until his death, in 1880, being succeeded by Thomas L. Foster, who had previously been the cashier.
With the expiration of its charter, at the close of the year 1902, this bank was succeeded by the Mauch
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Chunk Trust Company, the only institution of its kind in the county. The capital of the company is one hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars, and its surplus is equal to half that amount. J. M. Dreisbach, who was the last president of the Second National Bank, has been at the head of the trust company since its organi- zation. His son, George Dreisbach, is its secretary and treasurer.
The banking house of G. B. Linderman and Company was established in 1867, conducting business prosper- ously under that title until 1882, when the Linderman National Bank was chartered. As has been shown, this bank was merged with the present national bank.
The first newspaper issued here was the Lehigh Pioneer and Mauch Chunk Courier, which was estab- lished by Asa Lansford Foster in 1829. Its editor and publisher was Amos Sisty, who came to this place from Berwick. This was the forerunner of the Mauch Chunk Daily Times and was for years the only newspaper in the Lehigh coal region.
It had many owners, and was successively known as the Mauch Chunk Courier, the Carbon County Transit, the Mauch Chunk Gazette, and the Mauch Chunk Coal Gazette.
During the Rebellion, its equipment was for a time used by H. V. Morthimer in the publication of the Union Flag.
The Mauch Chunk Daily Times was started by O. B. Sigley in 1883. In 1908 the property was acquired by James J. Boyle, the present editor and proprietor, who also publishes the Mauch Chunk Coal Gazette.
Enos Tolen, in 1847, founded the Carbon Democrat, which after many changes and vicissitudes gave birth to the Mauch Chunk Daily News.
Joseph Lynn became the owner of this paper in 1870, changing its name to the Mauch Chunk Democrat. In
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1878 E. H. Rauch started a rival paper known as the Carbon County Democrat. After a few years the papers were merged under the name of the former. Mr. Rauch soon acquiring the ownership. He and his son, Lawrence, the present owner of the Mauch Chunk Daily News started that journal in 1893, and under the latter, the Mauch Chunk Democrat was published until 1911, when it was suspended.
The first regularly organized school in Mauch Chunk was opened in 1821 in a log-house owned by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. It was taught by Margaret Saunders, a native of New Jersey. Two years after this, a second school was opened, which, in later years, was presided over by James Nowlins "The Irish School Master," who had many eccentricities, and who was one of the most picturesque characters in the early annals of the town. The "Slab School House" was built in 1824, being subsequently lathed and pebble- dashed. In addition to Nowlins, Amos Singley and Joseph H. Siewers were prominent teachers prior to the organization of the borough. In 1840, the "Valley School House" which occupied the site of the present high school building was erected, being then consid- ered as a model of its kind. The pioneer school of Upper Mauch Chunk was established about 1842.
The high school of the borough was founded in 1855, being originally located in a building which had form- erly belonged to Park Seminary, a private school, which, after a short career was closed owing to a lack of patronage. The expense of maintaining the high school was at first equally apportioned between the borough and those attending the school.
During the winter of 1858, a new schoolhouse was built at the Northern Liberties, just north of the point where the bridge crosses the river to East Mauchi
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Chunk. This was afterwards known as the "Fort Sumpter School."
At the time of the Rebellion this little settlement con- tained fourteen homes and two boarding houses, and more than forty-five volunteers went forth from here in defense of the Union. Most of these were of Irish birth or extraction. Strangely enough, the same lo- cality also furnished one soldier for the Confederate army.
The first principal of the schools of the borough upon whom supervisory powers were conferred was Laird H. Barber, in 1877.
Among those still living who as instructors contrib- uted notably to the success of the schools of Mauch Chunk, is James W. Swank, famous as a penman, now of Washington, D. C.
The high school building now in use was completed in 1885, costing nearly forty thousand dollars. In 1905 the Asa Packer School, in Upper Mauch Chunk was dedicated, being furnished, equipped and decorated by Mary Packer Cummings, the daughter of him in whose honor the building is named.
She was the most liberal friend of the cause of popular education in the history of the town, regularly contributing several thousand dollars annually toward the maintenance of the schools, besides making many additional contributions.
The excellent equipment and the high standard of efficiency of the educational system of the borough has largely been made possible through her generosity. Her death occurred in 1912.
The parochial schools conducted by the church of the Immaculate Conception were established in 1884, dur- ing the rectorship of Rev. M. A. Bunce.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
Mauch Chunk has a very thorough fire-fighting or- ganization consisting of three well equipped and dis- ciplined companies, the nucleus of which was formed in 1833.
The oldest of these organizations is Marion Hose Company No. 1, formed in 1853. After a short period the company disbanded, and the citizens of the town did fire duty without organization until 1866, when the company was re-organized.
The Phoenix Hose Company had its inception in 1868. After some years this company also disbanded, being re-organized in 1872.
In 1874 the Diligent Fire Company of Upper Mauch Chunk was founded. Asa P. Blakslee is the present chief of the fire department of the borough.
The oldest hotel in the place is the Mansion House, which was first known as the Mauch Chunk Inn. Va- rious additions have been built to the stone structure which comprised the original building. Edward Kim- ball was the first regularly installed landlord of this famous hostelry, which in the days of its splendor was frequented by the wealth and beauty of America.
Formerly, too, it was the anthracite coal exchange, the operators from all parts of the hard coal regions gathering here periodically in the conduct of their busi- ness and for the adjustment of their affairs.
Mr. Kimball was succeeded by John Leisenring, Sr., who was a very popular landlord. The building was owned by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company until 1873, when the title was vested in the Mansion House Hotel Company. It is now the property of D. E. Purcell and William Dods.
Cornelius Connor, in 1833, erected the White Swan Hotel on the site now occupied by the American House. This was a frame structure, and was destroyed by the
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fire of 1849, after which event the present building, which has since been enlarged, was put up.
One of the landmarks of Mauch Chunk in by-gone days was the Broadway House, which stood on the spot where the building of the Young Men's Christian As- sociation has since been erected. It was surrounded by towering pines, while the great rocks protruding from the ground around its base gave it a wild and picturesque appearance. This hotel was built by Daniel Bertsch in 1833. It was while seated within its hospitable portals, gazing at the terraced gardens on the opposite side of the street, that a traveling man once remarked : "Well, I have seen places before hav- ing eleven-story buildings, but this is the only town with eleven-story gardens that I have ever visited !"
The Central Hotel, which is owned by Peter Schwei- binz, was built in 1889.
The first religious services held in Mauch Chunk, aside from the meetings of the Friends, or Quakers, who were among the earliest settlers, were conducted in the wheel-wright shop of James McCrea at the "Bear Trap," where the opera house now stands.
The locality was thus designated by the pioneers of the town, after the waggish remark of one of Josiah White's workmen, who, being questioned by some curious strangers concerning the purpose of an experi- mental contrivance that was being tested in the creek at this point, replied: "We are making a bear trap."
The organization which had its meeting place here was known as a Lord's Day school, of which James Biggers was superintendent. From this source sprang a neat frame church, the pulpit of which was open to all denominations. It eventually became the property of the Methodists, who, in the autumn of 1828, effected
THEN PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR. LENOX AND TILDER FOUNDATIONS.
..
INTERIOR ST. MARK'S CHURCH, MAAUCH CHUNK. SHOWING PACKER MEMORIAL ALTAR AND REREDOS.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
a church organization. William Coder, a local preacher, was the father of this congregation. Origi- nally the church formed a part of a six weeks' circuit, embracing the country between the boundaries indi- cated by the Delaware river, Stroudsburg, the Broad mountain and Pottsville. In 1838 Mauch Chunk be- came for the first time a station. The present build- ing, the third that has been owned by this congrega- tion was dedicated early in 1874 by the late Bishop Simpson.
St. Mark's Protestant Episcopal parish, the mother of nearly all the churches of this denomination in the Lehigh Valley, was organized in May, 1835. The con- gregation had its inception in the year 1829, when Wil- liam H. Sayre, who had come to Mauch Chunk from Columbia county, began its upbuilding. He served as lay reader until a clergyman was called.
In 1836 the parish was admitted into union with the Diocese of Pennsylvania, while three years thereafter the Sunday school was organized. The first church edifice was begun in 1840, completed in 1845, and con- secrated in 1852. The present building, which is de- signed with special reference to the surrounding scen- ery and which is one of the most beautiful and impos- ing structures of its kind in Pennsylvania, was begun in 1867, being consecrated two years later.
The Packer memorial altar and reredos, a costly work of art, and the crowning feature of the interior of the church, was erected by the family of the late Asa Packer, one of the founders, and for many years a vestryman and warden of St. Mark's.
The parish building, adjoining the church, which is a model of its kind, was also built as a memorial to Asa Packer, the donor being his widow, Sarah M. Packer.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
This parish has always taken an active part in diocesan affairs, and has manifested a lively interest in the general work of the church.
Various affluent members of the church have left it liberal bequests, and it now is richly endowed.
The First Presbyterian church was organized in No- vember, 1835. During that year, Rev. Richard Web- ster, then located at Easton, and engaged in mission- ary work far and near, began preaching here once a month. Nominally he was the founder of the church, and he served as its pastor until 1856.
The first church building of the congregation was dedicated in 1837. It was small and was built of stone, being soon outgrown. The present fine building was begun in 1855, and was completed and dedicated four years later.
Like St. Mark's, this congregation has had many prominent and wealthy families on its rolls, and they have given freely and largely to the church and its benevolences.
The land upon which the first church of the Immacu- late Conception was built was acquired by Rev. Pat- rick J. Hennegan in 1849; the erection of the church building was begun during the following year.
The history of Mauch Chunk as an independent parish begins with the pastorate of Rev. P. J. Coffey, who came here in April, 1853. It was during his time that the Asiatic cholera desolated the region. The good priest was assisted in giving the last rites of the church to the victims of this dread scourge by the ven- erable Bishop Neuman, of Philadelphia, the only Amer- ican whose name has yet been invested with the honors of sainthood under the authority of the Catholic church.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
The cornerstone of the magnificent new church was laid during the rectorship of the present pastor, Rev. T. J. Larkin, on June 24, 1906; and the building was dedicated on October 4, 1908.
The Church of the Sacred Heart at Nesquehoning forms a part of this parish.
St. John's Evangelical Lutheran church was organ- ized in 1857 by Rev. E. A. Bauer. Services of this de- nomination were conducted in Mauch Chunk as early as 1835 by Rev. F. W. Meendson. The first house of worship owned by the congregation was the old stone church which had formerly belonged to the Presby- terians. Its present building in Upper Mauch Chunk was dedicated in 1879.
Ebenezer United Evangelical church was built in 1895, the congregation being the offspring of the church of the Evangelical Association, which was founded in Upper Mauch Chunk in 1857.
Henry H. Webster, son of the founder of the First Presbyterian church, was the leading spirit in the establishment of the local branch of the Young Men's Christian Association.
The present society originated in a Railroad Men's Christian Association which was formed by Mr. Webster in Upper Mauch Chunk in the Spring of 1878. This organization was succeeded by that which is now in existence in 1889. The home of the associa- tion at the time of its dedication, in 1894, was one of the finest in the United States. The building, together with the location, cost nearly seventy-thousand dol- lars, which sum was raised by popular subscription.
Concert Hall, or the Opera House, owned by the mu- nicipality, and opened in 1882, was built jointly by the borough and a number of public-spirited citizens. It
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stands upon ground formerly occupied by the market house and town hall.
The Dimmick Memorial Library, which contains about twelve thousand volumes, was built from a fund bequeathed to the town by Milton M., son of Milo M. Dimmick, a prominent Mauch Chunk lawyer and for- mer congressman, whose name it commemorates. The giver died in 1886, while the library was completed in 1890. The original fund amounted to forty-five thou- sand dollars, which sum, by judicious handling, has now been increased to fifty thousand dollars.
Mauch Chunk Lodge, No. 76, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is the oldest among the secret societies of the town. It was instituted in 1842.
There are three bodies of the time honored Masonic fraternity in the place. Carbon Lodge, No. 242, was chartered on December 27, 1849. Lilly Chapter, No. 181, Royal Arch Masons, was constituted on December 6, 1855, being named in honor of General William Lilly. Packer Commandery, No. 23, Knights Templar, the namesake of R. A. Packer, was instituted Septem- ber 28, 1866. The majority of the best men of the town have been identified with the fraternity, and their in- fluence and stability have rendered it prominent and prosperous.
Manch Chunk Lodge, No. 193, Knights of Pythias, was organized on October 19, 1869.
Most of the patriotic and beneficial societies com- mon to the region have also been established here.
Chapman Post, No. 61, Grand Army of the Republic, was named for Major Lansford F. Chapman, one of the many intrepid officers contributed to the cause of the Union by Carbon county. He was killed at the battle of Chancellorsville.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
It was under the auspices of Chapman Post that the Carbon County Soldiers' Monument, standing near the court house, was erected. It was dedicated in 1886. General Daniel E. Sickles, one of the heroes of Gettys- burg, was the orator of the occasion.
The cemetery in Upper Mauch Chunk was laid out in 1823 by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. It is the only burying ground in the town, and it con- tains the remains of most of the men whose enterprise and influence, together with the lavish gifts of nature, gave to Mauch Chunk a celebrity out of all proportion to her population. The cemetery is graced by several notable examples of memorial architecture.
Mauch Chunk and its surroundings hold a perennial charm for tourists and excursionists, who annually visit the locality with increasing numbers. The Switchback Railway, extending from here to Summit Hill, continues to be one of the chief attractions. It is operated chiefly for the accommodation of sight- seers from May to November of each year.
Flagstaff Park, reached by the line of the Carbon Transit Company, has in recent years become a popu- lar resort. The name Flagstaff came into vogue about half a century ago. At that time, upon the very sum- mit of the mountain stood a hemlock tree, in all its stately grandeur, until one day during a severe storm it was struck by lightning, which divested it of its bark and branches, leaving the trunk uninjured.
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