USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume I > Part 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54
The General Assembly of 1851 passed a savings bank bill, and through- out the State institutions of saving were established. On January 1, 1870, there was in deposits in Northampton county in five institutions of this char- acter nearly $700,000, distributed as follows: In the Northampton Savings Bank at Easton, $225,000; Dime Savings Bank of Easton, $50,000; Union Savings Bank of East Pennsylvania at Bath, $24,000; Dime Savings Bank at Bethlehem, $349,000 ;and E. P. Wilbur & Company, South Bethlehem, $34,000. When Jay Cooke failed in 1873, the financial affairs of the country
319
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
became much disturbed, and all savings banks became an object of suspicion. The pressure of the depositors became so great that all the saving institu- tions, with the exception of the Northampton Savings Bank, were obliged to close up their affairs. The Dime Savings Bank of Bethlehem went into the hands of a receiver, and about fifty per cent. was realized for the deposi- tors of the Union Savings Bank of East Pennsylvania. The shareholders held a meeting at Easton, January 17, 1882, and closed up the affairs of the institution. The bank paid a dividend of one dollar and forty-two cents on each share, the original cost of which was three dollars. The Dime Savings Bank at Easton, also the Union Savings Bank at Hellertown, went into liquidation. The editor of the Easton Weekly Argus in his paper in 1878 advanced the suggestion that savings banks were an idea of the past.
In the opening of 1877, business was at a standstill and the sheriff's sales of real estate were excessive. The Northampton Savings Bank was chartered by an act of legislature in 1867, and by the provisions of its charter Joseph Laubach, Henry Green, Colonel William H. Hutter and A. S. Knecht were named as commissioners. The act provided for the establishment of branches in the county, the first to be located at South Bethlehem, which was to have a capital stock of $50,000. On the organization of the bank, April 17, 1868, Joseph Laubach was elected president, and Colonel William H. Hutter, cashier. In August, 1877, steps were taken to convert the Northampton Savings Bank into a national bank, and the organization of the Northampton County National Bank was consummated the following year. Judge Laubach resigned the presidency and Cyrus Lavall was elected to the position. The Northampton County National Bank was opened for business May 27, 1878, and the deposits of the Northampton Savings Bank, amounting to $146,144.88, were transferred to the books of the new national bank. In the fall of 1885 Mr. Laubach and Colonel Hutter resigned their positions and were succeeded by Thomas T. Miller and Elijah J. Richards as president and cashier.
Thomas T. Miller was born in Hanover township, Monroe county, Penn- sylvania, November 27, 1824. He came to Easton in his boyhood days, entered mercantile life, and was engaged in the wholesale and retail hard- ware trade for twenty-five years. He became a stockholder of the North- ampton Savings Bank on its organization, and on the formation of the North- ampton County National Bank became one of its board of directors and was elected president in 1885, which position he filled at the time of his death, January 13, 1890.
The next president of the Northampton County National Bank was Elijah J. Richards. The word "county" was dropped from the title of the bank in 1902, and it became known as the Northampton National Bank. The building on the corner of Fourth and Northampton streets was demol- ished April 1, 1908, to make way for the construction of a new banking building for the Northampton National Bank, which was occupied for busi- ness July 3, 1909.
The era of Building Loan Associations commenced in the late sixties of the nineteenth century. In 1875 there were fourteen Building and Loan Asso- ciations in Northampton county. The Provident Building Association of Easton was organized in January, 1868; the Assistance Building Associa-
320
NORTHAMPTON COUNTY
tion of Easton commenced business in May, 1868; the West Ward Building Association of Easton was incorporated May 18, 1874; the Lehigh Building Association was chartered in January, 1871; the Glendon Building and Loan Association was organized in July, 1871 ; the Bethlehem Building and Savings Association was incorporated February 16, 1867; the Keystone Build- ing and Savings Association of Bethlehem commenced business in October. 1870; the Lehigh Valley Building and Loan Association of South Bethlehem was organized in February, 1871; the South Bethlehem Building and Sav- ing Funds Association was chartered in February, 1871 ; the Bangor Building and Loan Association was organized June 18, 1871 ; the Freemansburg Build- ing and Loan Association commenced business in November, 1872; the Bath Building and Loan Association was incorporated in October, 1869; the Delphs- burg Building and Loan Association was organized in June, 1873; and the Hellertown Building and Loan Association commenced business May 4, 1874. These building and loan associations had a varied career; some of them are still in existence, while others went into liquidation. The Provident Building Association resolved in March, 1878, to suspend payment until the properties of the association were sold.
The money panic of 1873 was more disastrous to the business interests of the country than at any other period of its history. Fortunes were lost, real estate depreciated, industries were paralyzed. The banking institutions of Northampton county, on account of their conservative management, were able to stand the shock. The resources of the two national banks in Easton in 1872 were nearly $1,000,000, while the resources of the three national banks at Allentown only aggregated $700,000. Financial reports made Octo- ber 12, 1873, show that the total resources of the First National Bank of Bethlehem were $1,588,948; of the Lehigh Valley National Bank of Bethle- hem, $671,185.60; of the Easton National Bank, $1,562,884.09; and of the First National Bank of Easton, $1,375,166.76. This shows a total aggregate of over $5,000,000 of resources in the two banking centers of Northampton county. The assessors of Northampton county in 1879 assessed the shares of the Northampton County National Bank at its par value of $20; the Easton National Bank capital stock divided into shares of $50, each was assessed at $80. The First National Bank of Easton, with par value of $50 a share, was assessed at $63 a share. The First National Bank of Bethlehem was assessed at its par value of $100 a share, and the Lehigh Valley National Bank of Bethlehem, with a par value of $100 a share, was assessed at $108. The combined capital of the Easton banks and trust companies in 1919 is $1,250,000, the surplus and undivided profits $1,378,699.89, and deposits $15,979,105.80.
The First National Bank of Bethlehem was chartered in 1863 with a capital of $74,000; Charles A. Luckenbach was president, and Rudolph F. Rauch, cashier. The capital was afterwards increased to $500,000, but in April, 1876, was reduced to $300,000, the present amount. The bank has always done a conservative business, and beisdes paying dividends has added a substantial surplus to its assets. The office of the president of the bank was filled for nearly a score of years by George H. Meyers.
The Lehigh Valley National Bank of Bethlehem was chartered Septem-
32I
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
ber 14, 1872, the original capital stock being $200,000, which was afterwards increased to $300,000. The first president of the bank was Dr. D. B. Linder- man. Among those that have filled the office of the president we mention R. A. Linderman and Francis Weiss. The successful management of the bank is shown in the amount of surplus it has accumulated in the first quar- ter century of its existence, and though regular dividends were paid, the surplus amounted to $225,000.
The organization of a national bank at South Bethlehem was agitated in 1888, and the following year the First National Bank was chartered with a capital stock of $50,000. The Nazareth National Bank was organized Janu- ary 27, 1897, mainly through the efforts of M. T. Swartz, with a capital stock of $50,000, increased in 1903 to $100,000. The first officers were: J. H. Holt, president ; M. T. Swartz, cashier. Mr. Holt was succeeded in January, 1892, by Dr. Thomas Cope. The resources of the bank, May 10, 1918, amounted to $2,858,220.98, of which $2,416,362.01 were deposits, the surplus and profits amounting to $229,858.97. The Second National Bank of Nazareth was chartered January 18, 1901, with a capital stock of $50,000. R. F. Babp was elected president, and G. A. E. Frantz, cashier. The undivided surplus in 1908 was $32,150.
A national bank was organized in Bangor in the spring of 1882, under the title of the First National Bank, with a capital stock of $60,000, and commenced business August 1, 1882. The capital stock was increased August 28, 1883, to $90,000, and later to $170,000. The surplus and undivided profits in 1919 were $141,412.73; the total resources, $2,103,186.95. The First National Bank of Bangor is the oldest financial institution in the slate region. Its present up-to-date bank building was erected in 1898 at the cost of $30,000. The first president was J. E. Long, who conducted the affairs of the bank for many years. The present officials are: Oliver La Bar, presi- dent ; Dr. B. F. Dilliard, vice-president ; A. G. Abel, cashier. The Merchants' National Bank of Bangor was opened for business March 19, 1891. Its capi- tal stock was $50,000, which afterwards was increased to $100,000, and in 1919 its surplus is $100,000, the total resources being $1,499,453.40. The first president of the bank was Dr. John Buzzard, but since 1893 its executive officer has been William Bray. The following have filled the position of cashier : Andrew Eyre, William H. Reagle and I. L. Kressler. There are two national banks in Pen Argyl. The Pen Argyl National Bank, with a capital stock of $100,000, was organized in 1905, and occupied their present building the following year. Their first president and cashier were J. H. Werner and William H. Oyer. The officials in 1919 are David B. Heller, president ; and J. Symonds, cashier. The First National Bank, with a capital stock of $100,000 and total resources of $1,141,356.93, was organized in 1890. Their present bank building, devoted solely to their own use, was erected in 1907. Edward Werkheiser, William Turner and Richard Jackson have filled the office of president. Thomas Hewett is the present cashier. The Bath National Bank is located in the borough of Bath; its capital stock is $50,000, and its surplus and undivided profits in 1908 were $26,780. In the borough of Portland is located the Portland National Bank, with a capital stock of $50,000. The Cement National Bank, located in the borough of Northampton, NORTH .- 1-21.
322
NORTHAMPTON COUNTY
was organized in 1900. The executive officers are: Elmer O. Reyer, presi- dent; Edgar J. Koltz, vice-president; Alfred P. Laubach, cashier.
The Eastern Trust Company was organized April 7, 1890, and incor- porated March 13 of that year. The first president was John T. Knight. He was born in East Thompson, Connecticut, in June, 1822. In his boyhood days his father removed to Poughkeepsie, New York. On arriving at the age of twenty-one years he became identified with mercantile life in New York City, and came to Easton in 1844 with his brother Samuel, and they engaged in the hardware business. On the organization of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank he occupied a position in that institution, but resigned to become secre- tary of the Thomas Iron Company, which office he filled until 1891, when he became president of that corporation. He died at Easton, December 15, 1892. The capital stock of the Easton Trust Company is $250,000, divided into 2,500 shares, at a par value of $100 a share, with $50 paid on each share. The book value of the stock in 1918 was $271.28, the surplus funds being at that time $400,000. The present banking building was constructed in 1892. The executive officers are: Edward J. Fox, president ; B. F. Frankenthal, Jr., vice-president; and Charles E. Hoch, treasurer.
The Northampton Trust Company was incorporated April 3, 1902, with a capital stock of $125,000 fully paid. The surplus fund in 1918 was $150,000. The officers are: H. J. Skell, president; Fred R. Drake and S. H. Bush, vice-presidents ; Chester Snyder, treasurer.
The E. P. Wilbur Trust Company of Bethlehem was incorporated May 23, 1887, and the accounts of E. P. Wilbur & Company, bankers, were trans- ferred to it October 1, 1887. The capital stock was $500,000, and the surplus fund in 1918 was $500,000, with undivided profits of $174,685.27, making the book value per share $234.93. The founder of the original banking firm, Elisha Packer Wilbur, was president until his death in 1887, when he was succeeded by his son, Warren A. Wilbur. The Bethlehem Trust Company was incorporated September 25, 1906, with a capital stock fully subscribed and paid in, $125,000. At the close of business December 11, 1917, the surplus fund and undivided profits aggregated $65,890.47. The officers were: H. A. Foering, president ; A. W. Radley, vice-president; and F. Nathan Fitch, act- ing treasurer.
The Bangor Trust Company was incorporated March 30, 1906, with a capital stock of $125,000, and was the first financial institution in the slate region to offer four per cent. on savings. The resources of the company were, at the beginning of 1918, $826,240.30, the divided profits and surplus, $40,739.79. E. P. Buzzard is president; Luther Shock, vice-president; George H. Wise, treasurer. The Allen Trust Company of Northampton was incor- porated January 5, 1911, with a capital stock of $125,000, fully subscribed and paid. At the commencement of 1918 it had a surplus fund of $40,000 and divided profits of $14,237.88. The officers are: P. N. Remmal, presi- dent; Charles H. Benner, treasurer.
The People's Trust Company of Bethlehem was incorporated April 29, 1915, with a capital stock of $125,000. The officers in 1918 were: Elmer F. Eberts, president ; Frank P. Mckibben and Otto Tachovsky, vice-presidents ; George T. Haskell, secretary and treasurer. The Citizens' Bank of Wind
323
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
Gap was incorporated August 23, 1915, with a fully paid stock of $50,000. The officers in 1918 were: O. H. Greenzweig, president; George F. Kem- merer, vice-president ; R. C. Solt, cashier.
The Easton Clearing House Association, composed of the Easton Na- tional Bank, the First National Bank, the Northampton National Bank, the Easton Trust Company, and the Northampton Trust Company, was formed in November, 1907, and it was voted to issue scrip of the denominations from one dollar to fifty dollars. E. J. Richards, president of the Northampton National Bank, was elected president. The object of the association was of affording relief in the present condition of money matters and for the benefit of giving better facilities for the transaction of the commercial business of Easton and vicinity.
CHAPTER XXXI
PUBLIC EDUCATION
The Public Schools-The public free school system in Pennsylvania is a development. It is "not the work of a day or of a year, or of any one man or set of men, nor is it an importation from any other State or country." For its establishment our forefathers fought a great battle and won a great vic- tory, leaving us a legacy to be valued more than their estates. The sequence of this system is a highly cultured people, a refined state of society, a closer union of national interests, a higher form of government, and a permanent maintenance of free institutions.
Pennsylvania's public free school dates from the arrival of Penn, the champion of universal liberty and of universal education. His laws are the foundation upon which principle was reared our present school system, which if carried out from the inception of the provincial government accord- ing to Penn's intention, would have placed us foremost in the educational systems of the world.
In the frame of laws which was the first constitution of the Province of Pennsylvania, Penn incorporated a public free school system, which, for clearness, conciseness, and comprehensiveness, has never been equalled, never excelled, by any constitutional law in the Union, or in the world. In it he advocated universal education, and the equality of the rich and poor; he demanded compulsory attendance, for the law reads: "All persons in this province and territories thereof, having children, shall cause such to be in- structed in reading and writing, of which every Country Court will take care. Girls as well as boys should receive an education, such as might enable them to successfully meet the duties of life," and thus co-education was advocated. His law required manual training-"all should be taught some useful trade or skill, that the poor may work to live, and the rich, if they become poor, may not want." It required that the laws of the province should be one of the books taught in the schools, that "children might be better qualified for the duties of citizenship when they should come to have charge of the government." However, Penn's grand system of education failed, but not from lack of merit. Had the Church and State been united in a common religion, Pennsylvania would have no doubt adopted it, but amid the contending prejudices of sectarianism it went to pieces almost as soon as launched.
For nearly fifty years, from 1701-50, after the abandonment of Penn's free school system by the Province, the schools of Pennsylvania were denomi- national schools. The church and the schoolhouse stood side by side, and the schoolmaster was often paid by a congregation too poor to support a minister. All education was carried on by the churches, and the most im- portant of their educational work was done in the middle of the eighteenth century.
The history of education in Northampton county may be said to begin
326
NORTHAMPTON COUNTY
with the first delegation of those devout Moravians who migrated from Herrnhut, Saxony, in 1737, and landed in Savannah, Georgia. No permanent settlement was effected, however, until they came to what is now the borough of Nazareth, where they were persuaded to go by the celebrated George Whitefield, and there on a tract of about five thousand acres to erect a large stone building, which he designed as a school for colored children. They arrived there in 1740, completing the house to the beginning of the second story, when winter overtook them, and a number of log cabins were hastily constructed and in these they lived until the following spring, when, having a dispute with Whitefield, the whole colony left in 1741 for what is now Bethlehem. In 1743 the Moravians returned to Nazareth, purchased the land from Whitefield, who had become financially embarrassed, and finished the stone building which they had started three years before. The building and surroundings were called "Ephrata," which are still in a splendid condition, as is also one of the log cabins just referred to. In educational matters the Moravians soon took the lead of all the other religious sects, and their schools were conducted upon a sound basis when most of our great American colleges and universities were in the process of formation.
Nazareth Hall is one of the oldest boys' boarding schools in the country, and one of the first representatives of those principles of education which are today being more and more recognized as the most correct ones, and being gradually adopted in the educational systems of our land. In 1785 it was opened as a boarding school for boys, in the interest of the public, although the school was founded as early as 1759.
At Bethlehem the Moravians established the first school exclusively for the education of girls. The erection of the "old school" house, occupied for the purpose, was begun in 1745, and completed in 1746. The school opened in 1749, with sixteen students, daughters of Moravian missionaries, and members of the Moravian settlements in other places. In 1785 the school was closed for the purpose of making arrangements for the reception of pupils from abroad, as a complete "young ladies' boarding school," which still exists, and is, in all probability, one of the oldest of the kind in the United States. It has educated thousands of ladies from all parts of America.
Besides the Moravian Seminary, Bethlehem is the home of many other educational institutions. The oldest school in the town, the Moravian Parochial School for boys and girls, was founded in 1742. Its buildings, now entirely modern, are situated directly back of the church and near the old cemetery.
The first white settlers within the limits of what is now Northampton county were the Scotch-Irish-a class of people remarkable for intellectual activity, prompt to encourage improvements, and especially to promote the establishment of educational institutions for the better instruction of the youth. They brought with them the traditions of severe discipline and sound instruction for which the country of their extraction had long been noted.
The Craigs were the leaders of the first band of Ulster Scots who came into the country. This was in 1728. They soon possessed all the land be- tween what is now the boroughs of Bath and Catasauqua, and in 1785 erected what is today known as the Wolf Academy.
327
PUBLIC EDUCATION
But another class of people who came from Germany did not lag far behind, and soon the hills and valleys of good old Northampton were peopled with a race who spoke that smooth-flowing and quaint Saxon dialect heard long ago on the banks of the Rhine and the Weser. They, too, sprang from ancestors who were among the most renowned in the world for great scholar- ship and advancement in popular education; and it is surprising to contem- plate how the gentle Moravians and the impulsive, quick-witted Scotch-Irish were eradicated and superseded by these steadily advancing Germans. Their schools were of a character far inferior to those which were under the man- agment of the Moravians; usually their term of teaching covered only a few weeks of the winter season; for the Germans, in particular, were a people who subordinated all other questions, except that of a simple religion, to the one of material accumulation; and neither pupils nor teacher could in summer be spared from the labors of the field.
In our times, schoolhouses are often handsome structures well supplied with all the modern school equipments. But far different were those of early times, both in appearance and furnishings. The first schoolhouses were erected of logs, others of stone, and a few of brick. They had rough floors. The teacher's desk was usually placed in the center. It was made of rough timber, resting upon pegs driven into walls between the logs, four feet from the floor, and at one end of the room was the old clay constructed chimney. The stoves were of the kind with the cast iron legend, "Matthew S. Henry, Catharine Furnace, Jacobsburg, Bushkill Township."
It is a noteworthy fact that the octagonal form for schoolhouses, built of stone, was invariably chosen by the people of English-speaking settlements, in early times; while in those of German-speaking people, the four-square log or "block" schoolhouses were adopted. The reason for this difference in form and use of material can readily be traced to the customs prevailing in the countries from which the early settlers had come. In those countries from which the English settlers came, the custom had been for centuries, especially among the middle classes, to build their mission chapels and school- houses of the six-square and eight-square types. Hence it was only natural for those who came to this country to adopt the same style when building schoolhouses, which were also often used as houses of worship in early years. Stone was the chief building material and, therefore, as this was also plentiful in their settlement here, they used stone in the construction of houses. In the settlements of the German-speaking people the four-square log or "block" houses prevailed. As in the Fatherland, so also in this coun- try, timber was abundant, and, therefore, became the chief building material.
In the New England States, settled exclusively by English people, the octagonal form was often adopted in building churches and schoolhouses in early times. In different parts of our own State there are still standing quite a number of this type of old churches. Some are of the eight-square, but most of them of the six-square form-all in localities settled originally by English people. In Northampton county, for instance, in the vicinity of Bath, originally settled by Scotch-Irish people, there were seven or eight octagonal schoolhouses built in early times, as follows: One in Upper Nazareth township, near Bath, which stood until the year 1878; at Edelman's,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.