native sandstone, classic Renaissance, built in 1897; in front is the
soldiers’ monument, at base are bronze tablets inscribed with names of
battles of Bradford County men in war for the Union;
[Illustration: DEFENSE OF THE FLAG
_McKim, Mead & White Pedestal George T. Brewster, Sculptor_]
Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg; and the battle scene at Antietam;
dedicated in 1901. Towanda Free Library, French Renaissance, brick,
built, 1897, was given and endowed by Francis R. Welles of Paris,
France; architects, Barney & Chapman, New York; contains a special set
of art books, “L’Art.”
In Christ Protestant Episcopal Church, native sandstone, is memorial
window to William Ulysses Mercur, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania,
1882-87; makers, Cox Sons & Buckley, London. The Methodist Episcopal
Church, also, has memorial windows. Historical Society of Bradford
County, fireproof building open to the public; contains Indian and Civil
War relics, curios, and portraits of pioneer men and women, a
reproduction of a pioneer log house, and specimens of all native woods
in the county. In Riverside Cemetery is the grave of David Wilmot, who
made the famous proviso, engraved on his monument, against slavery.
There are many borough and township high schools in Bradford County.
[Illustration: SCHUYLKILL COUNTY]
XLV
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY
Formed March 1, 1811, named for the Schuylkill River; was purchased from
the Six Nations in 1749. George Godfried Orwig, first settler, in 1747,
lived at Sculp Hill; he was followed by other Germans. ORWIGSBURG, first
county seat, in 1811, was founded in 1796, by Peter Orwig, son of
George; old courthouse still standing, is used as a factory; extensive
views from here of mountains and agricultural valleys. In chain of
frontier forts, were Franklin, built, 1756, by order of Benjamin
Franklin; Fort Henry, south of Pinegrove; and Fort Lebanon, later known
as Fort William, the most important, its site near Auburn, is marked by
boulder with bronze tablet, inscription, “On this site stood Fort
Lebanon, built, 1775, by Colonel Jacob Morgan, for protection of early
settlers against Indians, erected in 1913 by Mahantongo Chapter,
Daughters of the American Revolution, Pottsville, Pa.” Indian warriors
came down from the mountains and made savage forays on the peaceful
farms, in which many people were massacred, and mills and houses were
burned; the old oak tree is standing near, from which sentinels took
observations; in this fort the first religious services in the county
were held.
One mile from Fort Lebanon is the old Red Church, built in 1755,
destroyed by Indians, 1756, rebuilt, 1776, celebrated its
sesquicentennial in 1905. This county revels in picturesque scenery;
excellent roads curve through valleys of surpassing richness and
fertility, or wander along a ridge with glorious views on either side;
in the north, the sky line of a mountain range is often broken by a
weird coal breaker; in every direction there is beauty and interest.
Laurel may be seen by the acre, and much rhododendron. Great cliffs of
various colored conglomerate rock are found throughout the county.
This is the southern limit of the ANTHRACITE COAL fields in east central
Pennsylvania, the only ones of importance in the United States; divided
into three well-known trade regions, Wyoming; Lehigh; and Schuylkill;
comprising an area of 480 square miles, in the counties of Carbon,
Columbia, Lackawanna, Northumberland, Luzerne, Susquehanna, and
Schuylkill. Discovered in Schuylkill County by Nicho Allen in 1790;
while camping out overnight, he built a fire among some rocks, under
shelter of the trees; during the night, being awakened by unusual heat
he saw the rocks a mass of glowing fire, he having ignited the outcrop
of a bed of coal. The birth of this great productive industry may be
dated from 1820, when 365 tons were sent to Philadelphia from the head
waters of the Lehigh River. 80,000,000 tons per annum are now produced;
location of coal was shown in William Scull’s map of Pennsylvania
published in 1770; three places marked.
In 1795 it was used successfully for smithing by a blacksmith named
Whitestone, but not generally for this purpose until 1806. In 1812,
Colonel George Shoemaker produced coal from a shaft on land he owned,
now known as the Centreville Tract; loaded nine wagons and drove to
Philadelphia, where he was accused of being an impostor, attempting to
sell stone for coal; he sold two loads for cost of transportation, and
gave the rest away to those who promised to try to use it; he induced
Messrs. Mellon & Bishop to try it in their rolling mill in Delaware
County, where it was found to be a complete success; iron was heated in
much less time than usual, and the workmen said, “It passed through the
rolls like lead.”
From 1830, rapid improvements were made in methods of mining and
transporting coal. First breaker in this county was erected by Gideon
Bast on Wolf Creek, near Minersville. The St. Clair shaft was sunk in
1845, by Alfred Lawton, to Primrose vein, 122 feet; in 1851, E. W.
McGinness continued the depth of shaft to the Mammoth vein, 438 feet. At
Wadesville a shaft was sunk 619½ feet. A shaft located by General Henry
Pleasants is deepest coal shaft in the United States, 1584 feet. The
collieries of the Philadelphia & Reading Coal Company are the most
extensive. Property in Schuylkill and Columbia counties 18,333 acres,
one third coal, devised by Stephen Girard to the City of Philadelphia in
trust, comprises some of the most valuable tracts in the anthracite
region; Girard was largely instrumental in building the Schuylkill Canal
to Philadelphia, connecting with this was a railroad and a series of
gravity planes between Girardville and Mount Carbon, head of the canal;
the Girard Railroad, opened in 1834, was one of the greatest engineering
feats of the time, attracting international comment; much of the masonry
is still to be seen.
In 1690, William Penn called attention to the feasibility of passage by
water between the Susquehanna River and Tulpehocken Creek, a branch of
the Schuylkill; in 1762 David Rittenhouse and Dr. William Smith surveyed
a route for a canal, to connect waters of the Susquehanna and
Schuylkill, via Swatara and Tulpehocken Creeks; and actually traced a
line between the Delaware and Ohio Rivers at Fort Pitt, thence to Erie.
The Union Canal connecting the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Rivers was
completed in 1826 by the Schuylkill Navigation Company; they did great
work in their day; years of greatest prosperity were from 1835-41.
In 1800, Reese & Thomas located an iron furnace on the site of
Pottsville. In 1807 Greenwood furnace and forge were erected by John
Pott. In 1839, Pioneer furnace at Pottsville, under Burd Patterson, was
blown in with anthracite coal, by Benjamin Perry, and ran for about
three months, among the first to use successfully anthracite coal in the
blast furnace in United States. POTTSVILLE, county seat, 1395 feet above
sea; population 21,876, laid out in 1816, has not one level street;
flights of steps are frequently used to get to various heights; fine
views from every point. A commission for city planning has lately been
appointed.
Courthouse erected in 1892, architect, Mr. Taylor, stands on a hill in a
terraced square, has portraits of judges; in the old courthouse, to the
rear, now torn down, the Mollie Maguires were tried and convicted in
1876. Soldiers’ Monument erected in 1891 is in Garfield Square, on a
pedestal are names of battles fought by Schuylkill County men in Civil
War; the Washington Artillery and National Light Infantry of Pottsville,
246 men, were part of the 530 Pennsylvanians
[Illustration: HENRY CLAY IRON MONUMENT, POTTSVILLE]
who first arrived at our national Capital for its defense in 1861;
Schuylkill County sent 13,000 volunteers; there are also soldiers’
monuments at Port Carbon, St. Clair, and Mahanoy City. A statue of John
Pott is in the playground of Center Street public school, formerly a
cemetery.
Pennsylvania, the coal-producing state of the Union, has every reason to
be grateful to Henry Clay for advocating a protective tariff on her
principal product; Pottsville’s enthusiasm culminated in the Henry Clay
Monument, completed in 1855, soon after his death, west of South Center
Street, an iron Doric column, surmounted by an iron statue of Henry
Clay, after the painting by P. F. Rothermel, “Senate of 1850”; first
colossal iron casting of its kind made in the United States; from
sidewalk to top of statue, 205 feet. Pottsville Cemetery contains grave
of Joseph Elison, member of Greely Arctic expedition, who died at Port
Haven, Greenland, in 1884, soon after being rescued by the late Rear
Admiral Schley; a diary, kept until his hands were frozen stiff, will
soon be published by the Pottsville Historical Society. Parks in
Schuylkill County are, “Lakeside,” above Mahony City; “Marlin,” near
Pottsville; “Manilla,” east of Tamaqua; “Woodland,” between Ashland and
Girardville; “Washington,” between Ashland and Locust Dale; they are
combinations of formal gardening with natural beauty; “Tumbling Run
Dam,” near Pottsville, is beautiful in its setting. SHENANDOAH,
population 24,726, contains a mixed mining population; twenty-six
languages and dialects are spoken here.
[Illustration: LEHIGH COUNTY]
XLVI
LEHIGH COUNTY
Formed March 6, 1812; named for Lehigh River, from an Indian name,
Lechauwekink (where there are forks); Indian trails forked in various
directions below Bethlehem. The Blue Mountains are north and the Lehigh
Hills south, containing large deposits of slate and cement. Chief
industries, agriculture and manufacturing.
ALLENTOWN, county seat, at junction of Jordan and Little Lehigh Creeks;
population 73,502; was settled in 1751 by Chief Justice William Allen, a
friend of the Penns; is entered from the south by, it is said, the
largest concrete bridge in the world, erected by a trolley company, 2650
feet long and 120 feet high; built in 1913. The city has an abundant
supply of pure water, pumped direct from the spring to the residences;
daily flow, 12,000,000 gallons. Courthouse, colonial, with cupola, Fifth
and Hamilton Streets. First Presbyterian Church, North Fifth Street,
near Hamilton, Renaissance. Jail, North Fourth Street, near Linden,
feudal architecture, with tower 100 feet high, brown sandstone.
Architect G. A. Aschbach.
Allen Park, Fourth and Walnut Streets, contains “Trout Hall,” stone,
built, 1770, by James Allen, son of the founder, which will be occupied
by the Lehigh County Historical Society; West Park and River Park are
also in Allentown; west of the city is Dorney’s Park, along Cedar Creek.
In Center Square is the Soldiers’ Monument to the men of Lehigh County
in the Civil War; on the pedestal are bronze bas-reliefs depicting
scenes of war and reconciliation, and medallion busts of Generals Meade,
McClellan, Hancock, and Hartranft. United States post office, at the
corner of Sixth and Turner Streets, classic, built in 1906; brick and
Indiana limestone; architect, George B. Page, Philadelphia. Several fine
churches of brick or stone show Italian and Gothic architecture. The
Zion Reformed, Gothic, stone, built, 1840, Hamilton Street between Sixth
and Seventh, is notable for having sheltered the Liberty Bell and the
Christ Church bells, during British occupation of Philadelphia, in 1777;
marked by tablet, placed by the Liberty Bell Chapter, Daughters of the
American Revolution. The Rhoads House, 107-109 North Seventh Street,
built, 1762, by a Revolutionary patriot, is the oldest building in the
city.
MUHLENBERG COLLEGE with preparatory school, is beautifully located at
Twenty-sixth and Chew Streets, on campus of seventy-two acres; the
buildings, brick and stone, were built from 1903 to 1915; administration
building, English Renaissance, architects, Ruhl & Lange; contains
portraits, including one of Dr. Muhlenberg, by Gilbert Stuart; the late
Peter A. Gross, in 1914, provided by will for the founding of an art
school in Muhlenberg College, and an art museum in Allentown. Allentown
College for Women, Walnut Street between Thirtieth and Thirty-first
Streets, classic; and the new high school, North Seventeenth Street,
classic Ionic, are fine buildings. At Seventeenth and Chew Streets are
the State Hospital,
[Illustration: ZION REFORMED CHURCH, ALLENTOWN
Guardian of the Liberty Bell and Christ Church Bells during the
Revolution]
Georgian; brick and Indiana limestone; and the Nurses’ Home, memorial to
Judge Edward Harvey; said to be the best equipped for the purpose in the
United States, architects, Ruhl & Lange.
Road from Rittersville to Bethlehem passes Central Park, overlooking
Lehigh River, and the historic Geissinger farm, where Solomon Jennings
settled in 1736; he was a participant in the Indian Walk of 1737.
BETHLEHEM (see Northampton County). State road from Allentown to
Slatington passes through WERNERSVILLE, near where Lynford Lardner
built, in 1740, a hunting lodge, “Grouse Hall,” and where the Jordan
Reformed Church was founded in 1752, present stone building erected,
1808. Through GUTHSVILLE, Guth homestead still standing, built, 1745,
through SIEGERSVILLE, on left is Colonel H. C. Trexler’s game preserve
of 2000 acres, containing buffalo, elk, deer, and trout hatchery. To
SCHNECKSVILLE, former home of Professor Rudy, founder of the Rudy
School, Paris, in 1865, an International Association of Professors; he
was a Fellow of the French Academy. Here is Land Spring Park.
The next village, NEFFS, has an ancient graveyard, burial place of many
Revolutionary patriots. Then to SLATINGTON, heart of the slate region. A
chain bridge built over the Lehigh River in 1826 leads to LEHIGH GAP.
Another state road from Allentown goes through CATASAUQUA; here, in
1914, was celebrated the seventy-fifth anniversary of the successful
uniting of the state’s two chief resources, the use of ANTHRACITE COAL
in the IRON FURNACES, by David Thomas from Wales. Coke has since
replaced anthracite, but the furnaces and the general method are much
as Thomas left them; these were the mother furnaces of the Bethlehem
Steel Works, Cambria Iron Works, Thomas Iron Works at Hockendauqua, and
the stupendous development of the iron trade in this country. A private
art collection owned by D. G. Dery, Esq., comprises an important
collection of paintings, statuary, bronzes, ivories, Chinese porcelains,
and jades. Continue on state road through Mickley’s to EGYPT. Union
Church, Lutheran and Reformed, founded, 1734, in log church; present
brick building erected, 1785. Near by is Deshler’s Fort, built, 1760,
and the Troxell-Steckel House, stone, built, 1756. A mile north is
tablet, placed by Lehigh County Historical Society, marking place where
occurred the last Indian massacre in this county, of three families in
1763.
XLVII
LEBANON COUNTY
Formed February 16, 1813; Scriptural name, from the cedar trees covering
the range of mountains on northern boundary, “Cedars of Lebanon”;
settled by Germans in the east, by the Scotch-Irish in the west. Leading
industries, agriculture, iron, tobacco. Three solid hills of rich,
magnetic iron ore have been worked for over 170 years, and still seem
inexhaustible; they require no mining, simply to be quarried; down to
the present these mines have produced more iron ore than any other
single iron ore property in the United States. In 1737, Peter Grubb
became sole owner of these ore hills; he built Hopewell forge on Hammer
Creek, and the large blast furnace was named for Cornwall, his ancestral
home in England. The property was inherited by his two sons, who were
colonels in the Revolutionary War; cannon balls and stoves were cast
here for the Continental Army. In 1798, Robert Coleman purchased
five-sixths of these ore banks; they were near the old road between
Harris Ferry and Philadelphia, known as the Berks and Dauphin Road.
Later his grandsons, Robert and G. Dawson Coleman, built furnaces on the
Union Canal, then the great means of transportation; by that time
charcoal furnaces were going out.
The construction and operation of the Union Canal through this county,
connecting the Schuylkill River at Reading with the Susquehanna at
Middletown, was a
[Illustration: LEBANON COUNTY]
[Illustration: THE OLDEST CANAL TUNNEL IN THE UNITED STATES
North Lebanon]
momentous event, with its tunnel 767 feet long, first in the United
States. Extract: “Lebanon, June 15, 1827. Last Monday evening, June
11th, the citizens of this town and vicinity had the privilege of seeing
the first boat, the _Alpha_ from Tulpehocken, come up the Union Canal
and remain at North Lebanon for the night; the next morning it continued
its journey westward and passed through the tunnel; this was the first
boat to pass through a tract of ground upon which corn and potatoes were
being grown.”
County seat, LEBANON, population 24,643, on the William Penn Highway;
settled in 1750. Streets run north and south, east and west. Courthouse,
at the corner of Eighth and Cumberland Streets, colonial, brick. United
States post office, classic, with Doric columns. A historic inn, the St.
Eitz, built in 1752, was occupied by George Washington. Hill Church,
colonial, brick; in the yard is a monument to Rev. John Casper Stoever,
first Lutheran minister in Lebanon County, in 1733. St. Luke’s
Protestant Episcopal Church, Gothic, stone, built without a nail, has
three memorial windows, “The Nativity,” by Lamb; others made in England;
also fine collection of altar cloths, chasubles, and credence cloth made
abroad, in filet, of fifteenth century design. Soldiers and sailors’
monument in Monument Park; tall, fluted column with Ionic capital.
Lebanon Historical Society has collections of local interest. ANNVILLE
is seat of Lebanon Valley College, founded by the United Brethren in
1865; a school of high grade under supervision of that church.
MT. GRETNA, a camp ground of 1000 or more acres, 1000 feet above sea
level, was purchased by the state for mobilization of the state’s
National Guard. It will accommodate 20,000 men, and has been used for
this purpose since 1885. The War Department considers Mt. Gretna an
ideal military camp, sanitary and well drained. SCHAEFFERSTOWN, one of
the earliest and most historic places in this county, laid out in 1744,
had the first waterworks system in the United States, in 1753. Franklin
House built in 1750; in the cellar there is a remarkable series of
carved arches; it served as a place of refuge from Indians. Fountain
Hill Park is here. MYERSTOWN is the seat of Albright College.
FREDERICKSBURG has the Lick Monument, erected, in 1881, by James Lick,
in memory of his grandfather’s services at Valley Forge, and of John
Lick, founder of Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, California.
XLVIII
UNION COUNTY
Formed March 22, 1813, named for the Union; chiefly agricultural, is
divided by spurs of the Alleghenies, known as White Deer, Nittany,
Buffalo, Paddy’s, and Jack’s mountains, into three valleys; the center,
Buffalo Valley, is one of the garden spots in Pennsylvania, formerly
home of many Amish and Dunkards, good farmers and citizens.
LEWISBURG, county seat, laid out in 1785; population 3204; named for
Ludwig (Lewis) Doerr, who purchased the land from Richard Peters of
Philadelphia. A rare specimen of conveyancing is deed, lot 51, in plan
of Lewisburg, tracing title from the Creator, down through Adam and Eve,
to one Flavel Roan, recorded at Sunbury, in deed book F, 1793. Finely
located at mouth of Buffalo Creek, West Branch of the Susquehanna, on
the great Indian path from Sunbury to Muncy, now main highway from
Harrisburg to Williamsport, and on line of turnpikes leading from Erie
through Waterford, Meadville, and Franklin to Susquehanna River. Seat of
Bucknell University, incorporated in 1846, co-ed, with courses in arts,
science, philosophy, and engineering; the Library and Museum have the
Jeremiah Gernerd collection of Indian relics, open to the public; from
the top of the astronomical observatory is a fine view. In Lewisburg
Cemetery is the grave of Colonel John Kelly, distinguished in Indian
warfare and the Revolution; he died in 1832; his
[Illustration: UNION COUNTY]
monument, with military emblems, was erected in 1835, sculptor, W.
Hubbard; also the grave of Mary, widow of Captain John Brady, the great
Indian fighter, who was massacred by Indians and buried near where he
fell, in Lycoming County.
One mile west of Lewisburg, from the top of Smoketown Hill, is a fine
view of Buffalo Valley across the Susquehanna to Muncy Hills and North
Mountain. Historic places, site of Shikellimy’s old town, a wooded crest
opposite Milton, four miles north of Lewisburg; he was chief of the
Oneidas, and father of Logan the Mingo chief, place now called Oak
Heights. DRIESBACH, five miles west of Lewisburg, German Reformed and
Lutheran Church, first log building built, 1788, on site of present
brick church; in burial ground is the grave and monument to Samuel
Maclay, born, 1741, brother of William Maclay; inscription, “Samuel
Maclay, United States Senator 1803-09, Surveyor, Farmer, Soldier,
Legislator, Statesman. Erected by State of Pennsylvania, 1908.” Buffalo
X Roads, Presbyterian Church, first built, 1775, present brick building
about 1846.
MIFFLINBURG, the neatest town you ever saw, with uniform curbing and
walks, population 1744, in heart of Buffalo Valley (named for Governor
Mifflin); ten miles west of Lewisburg, laid out 1792, by Elias Youngman.
NEW BERLIN, laid out, 1792, by George Long, delightfully situated on
north bank of Penn’s Creek; first county seat; at one time home of Union
Seminary, Central Pennsylvania College.
[Illustration: COLUMBIA COUNTY]
XLIX
COLUMBIA COUNTY
Formed March 22, 1813, name explains itself: is in Appalachian Mountain
belt; surface quite broken, with wonderfully beautiful drives. The
Catawissa Railroad, noted for its remarkable trestle bridges, first one
at Mainville, runs through this county, crossing the Susquehanna River
at Rupert. Arable land, mostly red shale and limestone, with deposits of
iron ore at Bloomsburg, and the anthracite coal basin at Centralia.
Chief industries, manufacturing; the carpet mill here is said to be the
second largest in the United States. Earliest historical bands of
Indians, in this county, were the Shawnees and Delawares, vassals to the
Six Nations; Wyoming Path, their route of travel for hunting or war,
left Muncy on the West Branch, ran up Glade Run, through a gap to
Fishing Creek and on to Luzerne County, through Nescopec Gap, and up
North Branch to Wyoming.
BLOOMSBURG, population 7819, laid out in 1802 by Ludwig Eyre, on a bluff
on Fishing Creek, became county seat in 1846. In 1772, the Shawnee
Indians had a village between the mouth of the creek and the town. James
McClure located his farm near the same point in 1781; a fort was erected
there, built by Major Moses VanCampen, now marked, from which he led
scouting parties. In 1779, VanCampen, as quartermaster, accompanied
General Sullivan’s expedition against Indian towns on the Genessee.
There is much discussion here about city planning. The town lies due
north and south, named streets; east and west numbered; Second Street
being the main street, and also forms part of state highway leading from
Harrisburg to Wilkes-Barre. Courthouse on Main Street, Renaissance;
contains, it is said, “a very beautiful piece of tapestry.” Jail, stone,
feudal architecture. Soldiers and Sailors’ Monument at the intersection
of Main and Market Streets, erected in 1908.