USA > Pennsylvania > Berks County > The story of Berks County (Pennsylvania) > Part 14
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St. Michael's Seminary was founded in 1894 for the education of young ladies. It is now a sanatarium. The premises include fifty acres of ground and a superior building. The Fair Grounds were es- tablished in the township in 1888. They cover an area of twenty-four acres and cost forty thousand dollars.
OLEY.
The territory comprised in Oley Township is one of the most fertile sections of the State. The name is derived from Olink, which in the Indian language means a kettle. The township was erected. in 1740. Originally it was much larger than it is at present. Eari, Exeter, Pike and Rockland were organized from territory belonging to Oley.
Early History. The first land sold was a tract of five hundred acres which William Penn conveyed to John Stashold, of England, in 1682. This tract was bought by John Hoch in 1728 and part of it is still in the possession of his descendants. The first settler was John Keim. In 1698 he bought a tract of land on the head waters of the Manatawny and in 1706 settled there. In 1712 Isaac DeTurk settled on a tract of three hundred acres near what is now Friedens- burg. The land is still in the possession of his descendants.
Abraham Levan came in 1715, Jonathan Herbein before 1720. Jean Bertolet in 1726, John Hoch and John Yoder in 1728, and David Kauffman before 1732. Some of these settlers were Huguenots and had fled from France on account of religious persecution.
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OLEY MORAVIAN CHURCH.
The inhabitants of Oley were interested in education at an early date. The Moravians came into the township soon after 1740. They organized a congregation and also established a school which was attended by a considerable number of students, some of whom came from distant places. The church is still standing and is now used as a dwelling.
The Oley Reformed congregation, which was organized in 1736, also established a school, which was maintained until free schools were established in 1849. The Oley Academy was established at Friedensburg in 1857 and was successfully maintained until 1905, when it was changed into a township high school.
Oley was the home of some of the most prominent men who took part in the Revolutionary War. John Lesher was a member of the Assembly and of the Constitutional Convention. He was a member of the committee which drew up the "Declaration of Rights." He was also appointed by the government as commissioner to pur- chase supplies for the Continental Army. General Daniel Udree was a colonel during the Revolution and a Major-General in the
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War of 1812. He was twice a member of Congress and for six years a member of the Assembly. Daniel Hunter was a colonel in the "Continental Army. He commanded a regiment at Trenton and at Brandywine. Daniel DeTurk commanded a company in the Con- tinental Army.
Before the white people came Oley was inhabited by the Indians. Several of their villages were located in the Oley valley. The Indians of Oley belonged to the Wolf Tribe. It is said that in the middle of the seventeenth century, before Oley was settled, a battle was fought between the Indians and a company of prospectors where the Oley churches now stand.
Industries. The principal streams are the Manatawny, the Monocacy, Beaver Creek, Furnace Creek and the Little Mana- tawny. They furnish abundant water-power and some industries sprang up along their courses. Along the Manatawny, at what is now Spangsville, the Oley Forge was started in 1740. A furnace was erected at a later period.
The first furnace was erected by Diedrich Welker on land granted to him in 1744. This was called the Shearwell Furnace. The Oley Furnace, located along Furnace Creek, was built in 1772. Both were operated as late as 1783. In 1801 Daniel Udree became the owner. He made a success of the business and became wealthy. At his death in 1828 he was the heaviest taxpayer in Berks County.
Grist mills and saw mills were erected at various places, most of which are still operated. Several paper mills, woolen factories and oil mills were also erected.
The first National Bank of Oley was chartered in 1907. It is located in Friedensburg.
The Reading and Boyertown trolley line passes through the township.
Towns. Oley (Friedensburg) is the principal village. Its population is about five hundred. It contains two churches, a bank, the township high school, three schools of lower grade, a knitting mill and a number of business places.
Other villages are Manatawny (Pleasantville), Griesemersville and Spangsville.
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ONTELAUNEE.
This township was formed by dividing Maidencreek in 1849. Moses Starr in 1721 bought five hundred fifty acres along the Maiden- creek and soon after erected a mansion on the tract. After the Indians released this section in 1732, so many Quakers came up along the Schuylkill and occupied the land that in twenty years most of the land in this township was owned by them. Balthaser Schalter, a native of Germany, settled on a tract at Schuylkill Bend. Schalter's Church in Alsace Township was named after one of his sons. From the many Indian relics found, it is evident that there was a large body of Indians in this district. These relics have been found mostly along the Maidencreek, and there are some varieties that have been found nowhere else in the county.
Industries. The chief occupation of the people is farming. Grain mills, fulling mills and paper mills have all existed, but the grain mills only remain.
The Leesport Furnace was started in 1852. In 1899 the Lees- port Furnace Company bought the plant. .
. A pumping station to increase the water supply of Reading was established at the mouth of the Maidencreek in 1899. Its capac- ity is thirty million gallons of water a day. A filtration plant has also been erected near the pumping station.
The Glen-Gery Country Home was established in 1904, on the old Wily Mill property.
Towns. The principal town is Leesport. It has quite a num- ber of business places. The township high school is located a short distance from the town.
East Berkeley lies near the mouth of the Maidencreek. It has a tannery, a grist mill and a few other industries.
Ontelaunee Station, near Schuylkill Bend, and Gernants in the northern section of the township, are other villages.
PENN.
Penn was formed into a township in 1841, by reducing both Bern and Upper Bern. It was so named after Father Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. John Conrad, a member of the Moravian Church, was one of the early settlers who came into this section chiefly from the Tulpehocken settlement on the west. Many German settlers also followed the Tulpehocken from the south.
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THE STORY OF BERKS COUNTY
Industries. Along the Tulpehocken and the Northkill, there were erected at an early date grist mills, saw mills and various other mills. Near Bern Church, in the southern section, there was at one time a gun barrel factory. Most of the people are engaged in farming. Near Bernville there existed for many years one of the best foundries in that section of the county. At Pleasant Valley are the Gruber Wagon Works, where some of the best farm wagons in the country are built. During the life of the Union Canal, South Bernville was a great business place, where grain, lumber and coal was handled.
On Pium Creek a grist mill was operated for many years. The mill-dam covered quite an area.
The borough of Bernville lies in this township.
Obold (Mt. Pleasant) is quite a business place, having different industries.
Pleasant Valley is about one mile southeast of Obold.
Scuil Hill lies in the northern part of the township. It is gen- erally called Penn Valley, and is the business centre in that section.
PERRY.
Some men who lived in Windsor Township served in the war of 1812. When this township was organized they had influence enough to have the name of the hero of Lake Erie selected as the name of the township. So it is called Perry. Captain John May and thirty-five men of his company came from this township. An act passed in 1821 provided that the township of Perry should be a separate election district, and it was not until 1852 that the town- ship was actually established. The first log building of Zion's Church was built in 1761.
The industries are chiefly farming. Near Virginville is a stone quarry from which flagstones of fine quality and large size are taken.
On Plum Creek, about a mile east of Shoemakersville, is a mill site on which a mill has been operated for many years. A new building has been erected which is equipped with modern ma- chinery. Upon its banks is also a tannery, a part of which build- ing was erected in 1810. Near Shoemakersville is also a pottery. The Shoemakersville Clay Works for the manufacture of glazed sewer pipes was established in 1897.
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The Shoemakersville Mill was built about 1840. It is operated by Plum Creek and the Schuylkill. It is supplied with modern ma- chinery.
The Clay Works were purchased in 1908 by the Glen-Gery Brick and Cement Company for the manufacture of vitrified brick for building and paving purposes.
The Inlaid Tile Company was organized in Reading, but in 1908 was transferred to Shoemakersville. Its machinery was im- ported, and it is the only plant of its kind in the United States.
An Old Mansion. Shoemakersville is the largest village in the township. It is on the Schuylkill at the mouth of Plum Creek. It
SHOEMAKER HOME.
was named after Henry Shoemaker. The stone mansion which he built in 1786 is still in use. The Pennsylvania Railroad built a neat depot in 1885. The Philadelphia & Reading Station was only built after the Toll bridge across the Schuylkill had been built by the Windsor Haven Bridge Company. Most of the progress of the town has been made since then. It is quite a manufacturing town.
Mohrsville lies on both sides of the Schuylkill. The Reading Station was placed there in 1841, and the Pennsylvania in 1885. It was named after the Mohr family, who early engaged in trade.
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Five Locks Station is about three miles north of Shoemakers -- ville.
PIKE.
Pike Township was taken from Oley in 1812. It was so named because in its streams in colonial days this variety of fish was very plentiful. A part of Rockland Township was added to Pike in 1842.
Die Berg Maria (Anna Maria Young), a truly pious woman, for many years lived alone on the farm in the home of her ancestors. on the top of one of the Oley Mountains. Her cottage was as good a model of neatness and order as her life was of Christian living. She died in 1819, aged seventy years. The Moravians or Hern- huters, to whom she belonged, came from Hernhut, a place in Ger- many. They were the first to teach Christianity to the Indians. From their mission in Oley they set out to preach to the savages in different sections of the county and state. It was the friendly relation between the Moravians and the Indians that saved Pike and the neighboring districts from bloodshed. Count Zinzendorf was one of the two bishops.
The leading industry is farming. In the early days lumbering was important. When John Keim took up land and settled near Lobachsville, about 1718, some of the heaviest timber in the county could be seen there .- Only recently large walnut trees were cut down and exported. The township is well supplied with saw mills and grist mills.
Pikeville is located in the most fertile part of the township.
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Lobachsville is the oldest' village. It was named after Peter Lobach, who owned the land as early as 1745.
Hill Church, in the southeastern section, is so named from the church.
These towns have quite a few business places.
Pikeville, like other places in the FPX THE OLD-TIME MAIL CARRIER. county, had a post office for many years, but the mail is now served by rural delivery.
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RICHMOND.
The land of which this territory is composed was settled in 1732 and the township was erected twenty years later. It was so named after a place in England. The Indians called it Mussealy (Moselem). Along the Maidencreek which forms its northwestern boundary, in the vicinity of Virginville, there was one of the densest Indian settle- ments in the county. Here the Sacony empties into the Maidencreek, which the Indians called Sacunk (outlet of a stream). The relics are found over a large area and are more varied than usual. Joel Dreibelbis, an old resident, has a fine collection, most of which he found on his farm. It is said that the section. known as "the flat" had very little heavy timber and that the early settlers could see their cattle for quite a distance, when looking from a hill. The old Moselem Church was one of the first buildings erected in the county.
Valuable Ore Mines. The Moselem ore mines have been work- ed for many years and furnished most of the ore for the Moselem Furnace which was operated near the mouth of Moselem Creek. This furnace was the leading industry in that section up to about thirty years ago when it was abandoned.
There are a few other iron ore mines in the township. About thirty years ago, Richmond, Maxatawny and Longswamp had over one hundred mines, but of these only a few are now in operation.
The Maidencreek, Sacony and Moselem furnish good water- power and there are a number of mills along their banks. The town- ship contains some of the finest farms in the county.
Moselem Creek has its source in a big spring. about two miles east of Moselem Springs. Here a large volume of water gushes out of the earth in remarkable clearness. When discovered. the stream was filled with trout. On this account, the Indians gave it the name Moselem (trout stream).
Towns. Fleetwood Borough lies in this township.
Virginville is the largest town. It has a number of business places.
Moselem Springs is the business center.
Kirbyville lies about one mile west of Moselem Springs.
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OCTAGONAL CHURCH, MOSELEM.
Moselem has a few business places. The remains of Moselem Furnace and the old, unoccupied houses in the vicinity, are silent reminders of a more prosperous day.
Walnuttown is a small business place one mile west of Fleet- wood.
Crystal Cave is located in this township.
Merkel's Mill and Lesher are other villages.
ROBESON.
Robeson was a part of Chester before the erection of Berks. It was settled in 1720, and erected into a township in 1729. In those days Andrew Robeson owned about twenty-three hundred acres of land. He was a man of wealth and social position and the township was named after him. The iron industry was begun early; Bird's Forge was established in 1740 ; Gibraltar Forge in 1770; and Joanna Furnace in 1790.
In 1845 a petition was presented for the division of the township, but the matter was left to a vote of the people, who decided very strongly against it.
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The Joanna Charcoal Furnace was erected in 1790. In 1877 this plant had a capacity of one hundred tons of iron a month, and employed fifty men. The Gibraltar Iron Works were opened in 1770. The Seyfert family secured possession of it in 1835. Carding mills, scythe factories and sickle factories have all flourished in this town- ship in their time, but all of them have disappeared.
Saw milis and grist mills are still in operation. One mile south of Birdsboro are the Trap Rock Quarries. They ship crushed material to all parts of the country.
Much of the area is woodland, and quite a few people are en- gaged in lumbering, but most of the people are farmers. The burn- ing of charcoal is still carried on in this section.
Towns. The borough of Birdsboro at the mouth of Hay Creek, is located in this township.
Gibraltar lies at the mouth of Allegheny Creek and has a few business places.
Beckersville and Plowville are situated about two miles apart on the Morgantown road. Plowville was so called because the tavern had a plow painted on its sign.
WHITE BEAR INN.
Scarlets Mill (White Bear) is on the Wilmington & Northern Railroad. It was so called on account of the sign at the tavern.
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THE STORY OF BERKS COUNTY
This tavern is probably the oldest building in the county having a liquor license.
Trap Rock, Cold Run and Joanna Heights are other railroad stations on the Wilmington & Northern Railroad.
Joanna Furnace lies in the southern section of the township.
Seyfert, Robeson and Clingan are stations on the Pennsylvania Railroad.
ROCKLAND.
Rockland Township was organized in 1758. Prior to that it was a part of Oley. It took its name from the numerous rocks it contains. Boulders thirty feet long, fifteen feet wide and fifteen feet high may be seen. Certain collections of rocks are known as Shott's Head. and Guinther's Head. Near the latter there is a succession of rocks one hundred twenty feet long. This is the watershed of the town- ship and from this point the water is drained south, east and west.
The early settlers were Germans, who migrated northward from Oley. In 1842 a part of this township was taken and annexed to Pike.
GROSSCUP HOME, RESIDENCE OF AN EARLY BERKS JUDGE.
Water-power. Sacony and Beaver Creeks have for many years turned. mills of various kinds. Grim's mill on the Sacony has been remodeled recently and now does the grinding by an up-to-date process. Rohrbach's mill was destroyed by fire some time ago, and has not been rebuilt. Roth's mill is near Dryville and Keller's in the western part of the township.
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.On the Sacony was also located the "Sally Ann" charcoal furnace. It was built in 1811, and was operated until 1879. The Rockland Forges were operated for more than . seventy years. General Daniel Udree operated one with Hessians and Redemp- tioners.
On Beaver Creek was manufactured paper and birch oil. A kind of clay has been found from which chinaware is made. A pottery was also operated in the vicinity. A granite, very much like Vermont granite, is found near New Jerusalem. There is a marble saw mill on the Sacony near Grim's mill, where large blocks of marble are sawed into desirable sizes. It has been in operation since 1864. None of the early mines are now in operation.
Towns. Dryville was so named as a post office. It had pre- viously been called Stony Point. The village contains a store, a hotel, a creamery and a number of residences.
New Jerusalem, located near the center of the township, contains a store, a creamery, a wheelwright and a blacksmith shop and a church. Rural delivery teams serve the mail from Oley, Fleetwood and Mertztown.
RUSCOMBMANOR.
This township was erected in 1759, and named from a district in Wales, Ruscomb. The Penns requested 10,000 acres to be set -
apart in this locality for their use, and the tract was called "Manor
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CIDER PRESS.
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THE STORY OF BERKS COUNTY
of Ruscomb." It is probable that the early settlers were attracted chiefly by the springs of excellent water. They located here about 1730. y-
Two grist mills and a clover mill at one time were in operation in the township, but only one grist mill is now in use. The glue factory and tanneries which once existed in the vicinity of Pricetown, as well as the foundry and forge, have all been discontinued. The district also contains five or six iron mines which at one time em- ployed quite a number of hands.
, The only town is Pricetown. It was named after the Prices, who were early connected with its history. In 1802, Martin Price became the owner of twelve acres of ground, which was part of a much larger tract owned by the Prices, and laid it out in lots. Pricetown soon grew and became quite a stopping place for trav- elers. It now has three churches, two hotels and one store.
The post offices at Pricetown and Basket were discontinued, when Rural Free Delivery was introduced. The Dunkard meeting house, built in 1807, is one of the oldest buildings in the township. It was the fourth congregation of this denomination organized in the county. Services are still conducted in this building.
SPRING.
In 1850 Cumru was the largest and most populous township in the county. Two unsuccessful attempts were made to divide it, but a third attempt in 1850 was successful and Spring was organized as a separate township. It received its name from a large spring near the central portion. On account of the limestone fissures the spring frequently disappeared, and was therefore known as Sink- ing Spring.
Whites Murder Indians. In 1728 Tocacolie, an Indian, and two Indian women, were cruelly murdered by Walter and John Winter, near Cacoosing. At this time there were only three counties: Philadelphia, Chester and Berks, and all of Berks west of the Schuylkill, belonged to Chester County. Morgan Herbert and John Roberts were found to be implicated in the murder. The . Winters and Herbert were captured and tried in the Chester County Court. The Winters suffered the extreme penalty of the law, but Herbert
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was acquitted. The Governor was anxious to punish the criminals and insure peace with the natives. He moved a delegation of In- dians to Philadelphia, where they received many presents, and thus the Cacoosing tragedy ended.
Farming is the leading occupation.
Fritztown had a paper mill as early as 1770. A distillery and a saw mill were later built near it. A tannery was established in Sinking Spring in 1840. Grist mills, paper mills and oil mills have all been operated on the banks of the streams of this township.
The Belt Line for relieving the traffic on the Reading road ex- tends through the township.
The Montello Brick Works are situated a mile south of Sink- ing Spring. In 1889 a second plant was established at Wyomissing, which has grown very much since that time.
The Hillside Stock Farm for breeding fast horses contains about one hundred and sixty acres, and is situated about two miles south of Sinking Spring.
A mile west of Gouglersville is the Spring Valley Stock Farn. It contains about two hundred acres, and was set apart for stock purposes in 1902.
Towns. The largest town is Sinking Spring, now a borough. Weitzelville is two miles from Sinking Spring.
Fritztown is one mile southwest of Weitzelville. The store house was built as early as 1849.
Vinemont is a station on the Lancaster & Columbia Railroad. It was so named because of the vineyards and fruit trees that flourish here.
Springmont was founded in 1905, and West Lawn in 1907.
The boroughs of West Reading and Wyomissing also lie in this township.
TILDEN.
This township was taken from Upper Bern in 1887 and organ- ized as a separate district. It was named after the unsuccessful candidate for the presidency in 1876. It lies just south of the Blue Mountains, and its northern boundary is only a short distance fron the site where Fort Lebanon or Fort William stood. This fort was erected in 1754. It was one hundred feet square. had stockades
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THE STORY OF BERKS COUNTY
fourteen feet high, a spring witliin, and also a house thirty by twenty with a large store-room. It was built in three weeks and protected over a hundred families in that vicinity.
During the French and Indian War small detachments of sol- diers scoured the woods between Forts Henry, Northkill and Leb- anon almost daily. On the 23rd of July, 1754, the commander of Fort Northkill marclied along the mountain through Upper Bern and Tilden to Fort Lebanon where he remained during the night. Upon his return the next day, he learned that a boy fourteen years old was carried away by the Indians. The report later came to him that during the night the boy had made his escape while the Indians were drunk. They had tied him and made him lie between them.
The Hamburg Vitrified Brick Company was established in this township in 1891. The Mack Brothers, of Philadelphia, purchased it in 1896. Nine kilns are operated and ten million bricks are manu- factured annually.
Most of the people are engaged in farming. Grist mills have been in operation in this district for many years.
Berks (West Hamburg), Bern Station and Upper Bern are the towns. Each has a number of business places.
TULPEHOCKEN.
The name of this township was taken from the stream by that name. The term is of Indian origin and means "Land of Turtles." It was organized as a district in 1729, when it was a part of what was then Chester County. A. French trader was captured on the banks of the Susquehanna in 1707 and taken to Philadelphia by way of Tulpehocken. The trader had his feet tied together below the horse's belly. This is the first mention of the word Tulpehocken the records contain.
The first settlement was made in 1723, before the Indians had actually released the land. This led to trouble which was settled by a special treaty in Philadelphia in 1728. These early pioneers were the German settlers, who had come from the Palatinate, and had lived on the Hudson since 1712. In 1729 Conrad Weiser and his family joined the Palatines at Tulpehocken.
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The township was reduced in size by the formation of Upper Tulpehocken in 1820, Marion in 1823 and Jefferson in 1851.
Industries. Tulpehocken was looked upon as a promised land by the early settlers. It was one of the most noted sections in the country, and after the Indians released the land in 1732 the people, who were mostly engaged in farming, prospered. Tulpehocken was not only a place for consultation between the white settlers and the Indians, but it was the most important business centre in this sec- tion of the state. Many of the Indians were already using the tools and implements used by the settlers, and came many miles to Tulpe- hocken, where the nearest blacksmith resided.
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