USA > Pennsylvania > Berks County > Kutztown > The centennial history of Kutztown, Pennsylvania : celebrating the centennial of the incorporation of the borough, 1815-1915 > Part 16
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF KUTZTOWN
Hottenstein, Lewis B. Butz, Nathan S. Kemp, Ed. Hottenstein, M. D., Rev. Nathan C. Schaeffer, D. D., LL. D., William F. Stimmel, J. Daniel Shara- din and Alfred G. Neff. The Rev. G. A. Schwedes was the first pastor of the congregation, serving from June 1888 until September 1, 1889. He was succeeded by Rev. F. B. Hahn, who served until February, 1893. Rev. Hahn was succeeded by the present pastor, Rev. George B. Smith, February 10, 1893.
The original edifice has been enhanced by stained glass windows and the installation of a pipe organ. In 1913 a suitable Sunday School building was added. The membership is about
GRACE UNITED EVANGELICAL CHURCH
five hundred. Besides the Sunday School, the Ladies' Aid Society and the Woman's Mission- ary Society have proven valuable auxilaries to the congregation.
The present consistory is composed of elders : A. C. Rothermel, Litt. D., Charles W. Snyder, Dr. Elwood K. Steckel, Charles M. Fisher . Deac- ons, Eugene P. DeTurk, Ezra Hottenstein, Harry W. Klein, Edwin Slonecker, Byron Stein and Lewis M. Rahn.
REV. FREDERICK B. HAHN
Rev. Frederick Bender Hahn, son of Richard and Sophia ( Bender) Hahn, was born in Plain- field Township, Northampton County, Pa., Sep- tember 8, 1847. He received his classical train- ing at the Keystone Normal School, Mercersberg Academy, Franklin and Marshall College and his theological in the Eastern Theological Seminary. He was ordained June 30, 1878. Between the time of his ordination and his coming to Kutz- town, he served the following congregations : Greenville, Pa., Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland Co., Pa., Meadville, Pa., and the English Congrega- tion Reformed in Cleveland, Ohio, the latter of which he organized. He accepted a call from the Kutztown charge (St. Paul's and St. Peter's, Top- ton) in 1889 and continued until Feb. 7, 1893,
when he became pastor of the two newly organ- ized mission congregations in Reading, Faith and St. James. Here he labored faithfully until the time of his death, May 16, 1901. He is survived by his wife, R. Ella Briedenbaugh and four chil- dren, Mary, Edith, Ruth and John.
One of Rev. Mr. Hahn's daughters, Miss Ruth, has been for some years serving as trained nurse in China, a missionary of the Reformed Church.
GRACE UNITED EVANGELICAL
The first sermon by a minister of the Evan- gelical Association, delivered in Kutztown, was by the Rev. Bishop John Seybert, April 12, 1828, in the house of Peter Neff. From this time on until 1848 occasional services were conducted in private houses. In 1850 a congregation was or- ganized, the lot on Main street purchased and a meeting house thirty-five by forty-five feet erected. The structure was of brick and cost eleven hundred dollars. The trustees who were also the leaders were: Jacob Stoudt, Solomon Ely and Beneville Klein. The last service in the old meeting house was held on May 6, 1885, after which it was demolished and the present hand- some structure erected at a cost of six thousand dollars. The building committee consisted of D. B. Snyder, John R. Gonser, Rev. W. H. Weid- ner, Silas K. Hoch and H. B. Mohr. The Sun- day School was organized May 26, 1851. The congregation was known as Salem's.
At the time of the church division in 1892, during the pastorate of Rev. S. Buntz, the build- ing was vacated and Grace United Evangelical congregation was constituted and for a time worshipped in Music Hall. John R. Gonser, an ardent supporter of the church, purchased the same and later donated it to the congregation. The Sunday School has T. S. Levan as its sup- erintendent and the Y. P. S. of C. E. has as its president, Scott A. Melot. The present Board of Trustees being D. W. Kline, P. S. Heffner, Robert Schlegel, Silas K. Hoch and Aaron Silsdorf.
Many of her pastors have become enrolled in the "Choir Invisible." During the pastorate of Rev. D. P. Longsdorf, a modern parsonage was erected on Walnut street.
The following have been its pastors and the time they have served, (*) the mark indicating those who have died :
*J. Farnsworth, 1845
*C. Holl, 1846-47
*J. C. Reisner, 1848
*W. L. Reber, 1849
*Isaac Hess, 1850-51
*H. Bucks, 1852 *Isaac Hess, 1853
*W. L. Reber, 1854-55
*Joseph Frey, 1856
*Daniel Wieand, 1857-58
*A. Ziegenfus, 1859-60
*Edmund Butz, 1861-62 *T. P. Leib, 1863
*R. N. Lichtenwalner, 1864
*Jacob Zern, 1865-66
*A. F. Leopold, 1867-68 F. Sechrist, 1869
*C. Gingrich, 1870-71
*Moses Dissinger, 1872
*Toseph Specht, 1873 F. Sechrist, 1874
*A. Ziegenfus, 1875-76
D. S. Stauffer, 1877-79 *A. L. Yeakel, 1880
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF KUTZTOWN
*A. Ziegenfus, 1881
*J. Laros, 1882 *J. L. Werner, 1883 *W. H. Weidner, 1884-86 *Daniel Yingst, 1887-89
*J. W. Whoerle, 1889
*Edmund Butz, 1890-92 Stephen A. Buntz, 1892-96
*A. L. Erisman, 1896
H. C. Lutz, 1897
W. L. Teel, 1897 *D. F. Kostenbader, 1891-1902 H. L. Yeakel, 1902-06
I. J. Reitz, 1906 H. J. Kline, 1907-II D. P. Longsdorf, 1911-15 S. N. Dissinger, 1915
On the rear end of the lot a number of the carly adherents of the denomination lie buried among them Reuben Stoudt.
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY
EARLY INTEREST IN EDUCATION
From the beginning the people of this section, Kutztown, Maxatawny, and contig- uous townships, have been deeply interested in education. In large measure what Dr. Benjamin Rush wrote in 1789, in his "Ac- count of the Manners of the German In- habitants" of Pennsylvania, has been true of those who settled this valley. In his book one may read :
"All the different sects among them are par- ticularly attentive to the religious education of their children, and to the establishment and sup- port of the Christian religion. For this purpose they settle as much as possible together, and make the erection of a school house and a place of worship the first object of their care. They commit the education and instruction of their children in a peculiar manner to the ministers and officers of their churches :- hence they grow up with prejudice in favor of public worship and of the obligations of Christianity. Such has been the influence of a pious education among the Germans in Pennsylvania that in the course of nineteen years only one of them has ever been brought to a place of public shame or punish- ment."
In 1743, the residents of Richmond town- ship adopted the following provision :
"It is our most earnest desire that the teacher, as well as the preacher, shall be fairly compensat- ed so that he can live with his family as an honest man, without being obliged to engage in any business foreign to his occupation. To this end the teacher and the preacher shall have the land and the house on it free, as long as they officially serve the congregation."
THE EARLIEST SCHOOLHOUSES
Where the first schools in this section were located, when they were built, and the names of the teachers who taught in them are matters, apparently, now not discover- able. From the foregoing resolution of Richmond residents it may be inferred that there was a school connected with the old Moselem Lutheran Church. There was
such a school, a church or parochial school, standing near the old Maxatanien Reformed Church along the Saucony, on the Nicks farm, now owned by Cyrus J. Rhode and John K. Deisher, a short distance south- east of Kutztown. It stood on the "New Maxatawny Road," leading from Oley to Levan's (Sce history of "the Old Easton Road.") The school house, the last vestige of which has long since disappeared, is sup- posed to have been built of stone, as was also the church. When the large stone house of Daniel Levan, now the property of Professor John J. Hottenstein, was erected, the stone of the abandoned church, and, possibly, of the school house also, were used in its erection. Tradition states that the church was erected in 1755 and that may be assumed as the approx- imate date of the erection of the school house. Neither is shown on Shultz's map of the Easton Road. 1755, church and school house stood on a tract of five acres which Daniel Levan set apart for church and school.
THE EARLIEST TEACHERS
Who the first teachers were none can tell. It is on record that Frederick Hoel- wig, of Longswamp, and John Valentine Krafft, of Richmond, were teachers in this section prior to 1752. The Maxatawny Church School House was occupied for school purposes, most likely, until the erec- tion of the new parochial school in Kutz- town in the early years of the nineteenth century. It is said that Peter Christman. grandfather on their mother's side, of Messrs. Zach T., and Jefferson C. Hoch, who was born about 1779, attended this school. Philip Geehr (born in German- town, Pa., died in Kutztown, 1817), son of the pioneer Conrad Geehr and brother of
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF KUTZTOWN
Baltzer Geehr, after attending the schools of Philadelphia, "later taught two years in Maxatawny."
THE REDEMPTIONER SCHOOL MASTER
In the "Chronicon Ephratense," a book printed at Ephrata in 1786, written by two of the brethren of the Order of the Solitary in the cloister there, and translated a few years ago by the Rev. Dr. Max Hark, we may read a most interesting story of a pioneer school master, possibly the first in Maxatawny, certainly one of the first, and not impossibly the teacher, or one of the teachers, in the old stone school house on the Saucony, of which mention has been made if that building was erected earlier than the traditional date. Briefly told the story is as follows :
Johannes Siegfried ( See "Siegfried Fam- ily"' history,) was one of the earliest set- tlers of Maxatawny. One day, in the year 1737, or thereabouts, he went to Philadel- phia, possibly to market produce and to get in exchange for it such articles needed in his household as were not produced on the farm. While he was in the city a sale of redemptioners took place.
Redemptioners, in German called, Losk- aeuflinge," were immigrants to America who, because they had not the money to pay for their passage across the ocean, were sold, on their arrival at the port of entry, by the ship's captain, into temporary slavery, by which arrangement the captain reimbursed himself for the expense to which he had been put in bringing these immigrants to America. These unfortunates were sold for a varying term of years, for such time as their purchasers might think their labor as servants would requite the buyers for the money demanded by the ship-master. The system which was inaugurated about 1725 and which was, at least for a time character- ized by almost incredible abuses and hor- rors, continued for more than fifty years. Many of the most prominent families of German descent in these parts may trace their descent from ancestors who were re- demptioners, who suffered the extortion and misery attendant upon that system of im- migration.
Siegfried attended the auction of re- demptioners. He was not in need of a servant, but when a young man, an Eng- lishman, Thomas Hardie by name, was put up for sale and when the auctioneer, in re- counting the man's capabilities, informed the company that Hardie was well-educated, learned not only in English but in the languages and law, Siegfried, a good Mo-
ravian, bethought himself of the need that there was at home for a teacher of English for the young people of his and his neigh- bors' families. So he bid for the young man and by payment of the sum demanded, secured him for the term of four years and brought him home with him as teacher for his children. Thus Thomas Hardie be- came, probably, the first teacher in Maxa- tawny township.
Whether Hardie was his real name is a question. It was, possibly, an assumed name. He was of noble birth. He had lived in London. His grandfather had been English Ambassador in Spain. His mother was a lady of Normandy. After complet- ing his education the youth "was awakened by God, on account of which he left his father's house," intending to come to Amer- ica where he might join himself to one of the various mystical orders of the pietists of that time. His father attempted to keep him from leaving England, notifying of- ficials at all seaports to detain the youth. But the young man, disguised as a sailor. secured passage on a ship bound for Penn- sylvania. "On the voyage he threw his seal and everything by which his family might be recognized into the sea." His other property, money and all, which was, probably, not inconsiderable, was stolen from him on the voyage by the rascally sailors, so that he arrived at Philadelphia penniless and "had to submit to the fate of being sold," and was bought by Siegfried, as has been told.
It has been stated that Hardie was learned in the law. This qualification proved of "great profit" to Siegfried into whose pocket came all the fees of this first lawyer in Maxatawny. Hardie "executed all neces- sary papers for the neighborhood, besides teaching school." As the end of the four years approached, Hardie was anxious to get away. Siegfried was just as anxious to retain so excellent a man and, in the effort to keep him, offered the youth the hand of one of his daughters in marriage This Hardie declined as he also did an additional inducement in the form of a proffered gift of one hundred acres of land. He had come to America to join the mystics and now he was determined to find them. So he left Siegfried's family, left his school, and left his practice of law.1
First he went to Bethlehem. There he met a reception from the Moravians less
1It would be greatly interesting if some one could find, among deeds and other legal docu- ments in possession of descendants of early set- tlers, any documents written by Hardie.
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF KUTZTOWN
friendly than was to his liking, in conse- quence of which he fell ill,-"his wits were unsettled for the first time ; of which failing he was never entirely free as long as he lived." One is inclined to think that his wits may have been unsettled before that, when he declined Siegfried's invitation to become his son-in-law. However that may be, recovering from his disorder, he made his way about 1742 to Ephrata, where in the Order of the Solitary he found con- genial spirits. After receiving baptism. he was admitted by "Friedsam," (Conrad Beis- sel) into "the Convent Zion, and was named by the Brethren, Theodorus." He was ap- pointed to the office of "Translater from German into English." This office he re- linquished after six months, being moved to leave the convent because of the confine- ment which he could not endure and doubt- less also by a perennial wanderlust. He roamed about, exercising "the office of teacher in the back regions of the coun- try." He also engaged in preaching, in which, as the chronicler quaintly remarks, he "was frequently inspired . . so that often but little more would have been need- ed to upset the table." At last he arrived at Pittsburg. But then, after a time, he be- came impelled to return to Ephrata. As he was about to start on the return trip a friend narrated a dream in which he had received a premonition that Theodorus would die at Ephrata. Thinking to frus- trate this prophecy. Theodorus ( Hardie) put off his intended visit,-but for a week only, when "a hidden hand moved him to take up the project again." So to Ephrata he returned, but as soon as he arrived there he fell ill and after brief suffering died and was buried by the Brethren, with unusual ceremony, in their little cemetery. There. in an unmarked grave, reposes the dust of Theodorus, (Thomas Hardie). first school teacher and first lawyer in Maxa- tawny township.
It may be of interest to note that one of Hardie's pupils, one of the daughters of Siegfried, first patron of learning in this valley, a daughter who as tradition asserts was the first white child born in this val- ley, becoming the wife of John Rothermel. of Windsor township, became through that alliance ancestress of the present talented and capable principal of the Keystone State Normal School, the Rev. Dr. A. C. Rother- mel. What a coincidence this is that, on an occasion such as this-centennial of the bor- ough, semi-centennial of the great school. which indirectly had its remote origin in the labors of a redemptioner school master -the eminent head of the school, which is
thus the fruition of hopes and efforts of generations of pious Germans, should be a descendant of the man who brought to the valley its first school teacher !
THE ST. JOHN'S PAROCHIAL SCHOOL
On Walnut street, a short distance east of the St. John's Union Church, there still stands an ancient stone building. This is, or rather was, the Parochial School of the St. John's Reformed and Lutheran con- gregations. The old Union Church, (See "History of the Churches") was erected 1790-1791, and was dedicated August 7th, 1791. At a meeting of the two congrega- tions, held November 9th, 1789, it was re- solved that a school house should "be erect- ed jointly on a common piece of ground, near the church." Some delay seems to have taken place, and the school house was not erected for ten or more years. It was com- pleted, however, as the records show, be- fore March 15th, 1805, on which date a meeting was held at which was adopted a "Preamble and Constitution Governing the School House." (See "History of the Churches.")
Not much has been preserved, even by tradition, as to who the teachers were. From the ( printed 1846) copy of the church records containing the constitution and reg- ulations of the united congregations, entered in the church book on February 9th, 1792. it is learned that the school master accepted by both congregations was Abraham Daub- er. Where he taught before the erection of the school house, or whether he taught at . all, is not known. Benjamin Geehr, ( grandfather of Miss Katie L. Geehr) was for a time the German teacher in the school. He was a great singer, noted es- pecially for his "leading" the hymns at funerals. Alexander Ramsey is said also to have been a teacher, of English, in the old school, and while so engaged was elect- ed teacher for the Franklin Academy. James ( ?) Leidy has also been named as one of the later teachers in the parochial school building. The constitution, adopted March 15th, 1805, gives interesting details as to qualifications demanded of the teacli- er and as to the branches to be taught and other duties to be performed by him.
The "baumeister," or building committee, of the school house were Jacob Levan. junior : Jacob Kutz, junior ; Heinrich Heist ; and Tohn Bieber, junior.
The school was, evidently German. but the school house was built with two rooms. one of which was to be for an English teacher, who was to be engaged by the trustees carly in the fall of 1805. The Eng-
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF KUTZTOWN
lish school was to run during the winter "and longer, if a sufficient number of schol- ars present themselves," in which case the teacher was to be chosen regularly in the manner prescribed for the choice of the German one.
Records are not obtainable to inform us
as to how long this parochial school was continued. It remained open, probably, un- til Kutztown accepted the public school sys- tem and, for the first years thereafter, the old building seems to have been used for the newly established public school.
KUTZTOWN, PA. OLD "PAROCHIAL SCHOOL-HOUSE"
THE OLD PAROCHIAL SCHOOL HOUSE
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The Legislature of Pennsylvania inaugu- rated the public school system on the Ioth of April, 1834. Four years later, in 1838, it was accepted by the authorities of Kutz- town.
Prior to this time the care of the instruc- tion of the children was intrusted to the churches. A short distance east of Kutz- town, there stood the first church, founded in 1755. "It had its school, which stood as late as 1812." When the church was re- moved to the town itself the same idea was carried into effect. The pastors, elders, and deacons had charge of the school and saw to the appointment of the teacher. This authority was later given over to Trustees. The first schoolhouse was built in 1804. In 1805 arrangements were made for an English teacher.
"The house erected was a double build- ing, one-half of the first story being divided into two school-rooms and the other formed the teacher's residence."-Penna. School Report, 1877.
These schools received their revenue to pay the teacher generally by charging each
child in attendance a certain amout per day, generally from one and one-half to two cents. Of, therefore, the attendance num- bered 50 pupils, the pay was from 75 cents to $1.00 per day. Very often the attendance was much larger, thus increasing the teach- er's income. It is to be noted that at this period the teacher was, as a rule, also the organist, which enlarged his pay.
However, as the Free School System was adopted all this changed. Unfortunately we have no records of the Public Schools of Kutztown until 1855. From this record we learn that an advanced school was taught in the house now occupied by Zach. C. Hoch. Students from the surrounding districts were admitted at the rate of $7.50 a quarter. We also note that in the same year a summer school was conducted by Hannah Hall. From 1856 to 1862 this ad- vanced school was put into the schoolhouse connected with the church.
The first School Directors in 1855 of which we have a record were: Elias Jackson, president; H. B. Von Schnetz, secretary ; Chas. Kutz, treasurer ; Daniel R.
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF KUTZTOWN
Levan, and Augustus Capp. Mr. Von Schnetz having died while in office, J. D.
Wanner was appointed in his stead. The teachers, with their salaries of this same
then owned by John Miller. They tore down the old two-roomed building and erected the four-roomed building now used as a shirt factory. The directors who inaug-
OLD PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDING (Now Liebovitz Textile Mill )
period, were the following: No. I, George Shinn, $30.00; No. 2, Isaac Von Sickel, $25.00; No. 3, Lizzie Gotwalts, $20.00; As- sistant, Sarah J. Von Schnetz, $5.25. Term 5 months.
urated this movement were: H. F. Bickel, president ; H. H. Schwartz, Esq., secretary ; Daniel Zimmerman, treasurer; Augustus Springer, Dr. Charles A. Gerasch, and Aaron B. Manderbach. The teachers were :
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDING
In 1862 the school quarters were found to be insufficient for the accommodation of the pupils, the school directors saw fit to purchase a lot back of the old schoolhouse,
Principal, John Humbert : Robert W. Jack- son and Daniel E. Schroeder. Term: 6 months. We move ahead nine years and find that in the year 1880-81 the school au-
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF KUTZTOWN
thorities again felt the need of additional accommodations ; they now had five schools with only four rooms on hand. At this time the High school was transferred to the old town hall with F. K. Flood, now at . torney at Reading, as the principal. Un- fortunately the minutes during this period are lost, so we cannot give the names of the School Board under whom this change was inaugurated.
In 1892 a great forward movement was put into effect by purchasing from Augus- tus Wink half of the grounds on which the present substantial and commodious eight roomed building was erected. The directors of 1892 were : D. L. Wartzenluft, president ; Isaac F. Christ, secretary ; N. S. Kemp, treasurer ; C. J. Rhode, U. T. Miller, and L. A. Stein, and the teachers of 1893. who for the first time occupied the new building, were: High School, Geo. C. Bord- ner : Grammar. Alice Hottenstein ; Interme - diate, Laura W. Gross; Secondary, Rosa Christ ; Primary, Annie Stein. Miss Stein having resigned before the term was ended, Mary B. Fister was elected in her place. Term: 8 months; salaries, ranging from $45.00 to $25.00.
In 1909 the High School was raised to the standard of a Third Grade High School and was so recognized. The teachers then were: High School. Geo. A. Schlenker ; Grammar, H. B. Yoder : Intermediate, Mar- garet Bean: Secondary, Louise Fenster- macher, and Primary, Jennie Heilman. Salaries, from $70.00 to $50.00. The direc- tors : Walt. B. Bieber, G. C. Bordner, A. W. Fritch, Jno. H. Barto, Dr. N. Z. Dunkelber- ger and Geo. Glasser. Mr. Barto died dur- ing the term and H. A. Fister was apopint ed in his place.
The following year the grounds were en- larged by purchasing five additional lots, and in 1912 Kutztown led the schools of the county by purchasing and erecting play- ground apparatus.
Still further improvements were made in the year 1912 when the High school was raised to a Second Grade school by adding one year to its course and employing an ad- ditional teacher. And a second move of progress was inaugurated in 1915, when a landscape gardner was engaged to map out a plan for beautifying the grounds by planting trees and shrubbery. In 1913 and from that time on the board also engaged a Supervisor of Music. The present board consists of Geo. Glasser, Geo. A. Schlenker, Ceo. C. Bordner, H. A. Fister, and Dr. H. W. Saul. Dr. Saul was appointed in place of Q. D. Herman, who resigned. The teach- ers who will have charge in fall are: Prin-
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