HISTORY
OF
CARBON COUNTY
PENNSYLVANIA
Also Containing a
Separate Account of the Several
Boroughs and Townships
in the County
With Biographical
Sketches
BY
FRED BRENCKMAN
HARRIBURG, PA. :
JAMES J. NUNGESSER,
PUBLISHER
1913
Except
from Chapter XII on the Beaver Meadow R. R., PP.
157 - 159
STEAM
AND ELECTRIC RAILROADS.
The
first railroad in Carbon county, and the first of any importance in the United
States, was the Switchback, extending from Mauch Chunk to Summit Hill. As is
well known, this was built as a gravity road, and is still in existence.
The
Beaver Meadow Railroad was the first within the limits of the county employing
steam as motive power. It is now a part of the Lehigh Valley system. The Beaver
Meadow Railroad and Coal Company was incorporated on April 13,1830.
According
to the provisions of its charter, the company was empowered to build a railroad
from the Beaver Meadow Mines, in what is now Banks township, to the Lehigh
river, at, or near, Mauch Chunk, a distance of about twenty miles.
Various
difficulties beset the projectors of the enterprise, chief of which appears to
have been their own lack of confidence in the feasibility of the undertaking.
It was not until 1833 that a definite start was made.
Canvass
White, who had been one of the principal engineers in the building of the Erie
Canal, and Ario Pardee, later a millionaire coal operator of Hazleton, surveyed
the route, which followed the windings of Beaver, Hazle and Quakake creeks to
the Lehigh.
Trouble
with the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company concerning tolls on the canal led
to the determination on the part of those building the railroad to extend the
line to Easton. The tracks had already been laid as far as Parryville when an
agreement was reached.
The
railroad was opened for transportation in the fall of 1836, and Parryville was
made the shipping point. It so remained until 1841, when the memorable freshet
carried away all the bridges from Weatherly to the end of the line, and Mauch
Chunk became the terminus, below which the road was abandoned.
Originally
wooden rails, covered with an iron strap, were used, and the locomotives were
of the wood-burning type.
In
1860 another heavy flood occurred, carrying away a number of bridges, together
with the shops of the company at Weatherly and Penn Haven.
The
road gained rapidly in business, however, as the mines tributary to it were
developed, and it grew steadily more prosperous until absorbed by the Lehigh
Valley Railroad in 1866.
The
Lehigh Valley Railroad, which was the first to be constructed through the
length of the region from which its name is derived, had its inception in the
efforts of a few enterprising and far-seeing men in Lehigh and Northampton
counties, while being brought to completion and successful operation
principally through the labors and determination of Asa Packer, its former
president and the architect of its greatness.
A
charter was secured on April 21, 1846, under the name of the Delaware, Lehigh,
Schuylkill and Susquehenna Railroad Company.
In May of that year the stock of the company was
offered for subscription; but capitalists seemed to have little faith in the
project. Although the promoters of the enterprise were active, it was not until
August,: 1847, that enough stock had been subscribed to warrant a start being
made. Five thousand shares had thenbeen taken, on each of which an installment
of five dollars had been paid. At the first election of officers, held on
October 21, 1847, James M. Porter was chosen as president.
Little
had been done beyond securing the right of way, when, on April 4, 1851, Asa
Packer became a member of the board of managers. This was just seventeen days
before the charter would have expired by limitation, and soon thereafter a mile
of road-bed was graded near Allentown to forestall this embarrassment. In the
following October Mr. Packer purchased nearly all the stock which had been
subscribed and took steps to obtain the additional money required to finish the
road, which proved to be a difficult task.
He
secured the services of Robert H. Sayre, who had prior to this held a
responsible position with the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, as chief
engineer.
In
January, 1853, the name of the corporation was changed to the Lehigh Valley
Railroad Company.
The
line between Easton and Allentown was finished and placed in operation on June
11, 1855. Two trains were run daily between these points from that date, and
during the month of September the road was completed to Mauch Chunk.
In
the beginning, all the rolling stock was leased from the Central Railroad of
New Jersey, but before the close of 1855 a passenger locomotive and four
coaches were purchased. At the close of three months, receipts from the
passenger service were larger than had been anticipated, while the earnings
from carrying coal and other freight were kept down from the want of cars.
Headquarters
were first established at Mauch Chunk; but in 1856 the main offices were
removed to Philadelphia.
Excerpt from Chapter XIII – PP. 181 – 185
BEAVER
MEADOW BOROUGH.
While
being next to the youngest borough in Carbon County, Beaver Meadow nevertheless
enjoys the distinction of being the oldest town in the upper end of the county.
It is located centrally in Banks township, of which it formed a part prior to
its organization as a borough in 1897. A number of citizens, headed by J. M.
Stauffer, who was then a prominent resident here, made an effort to secure the
incorporation of the town 1896,` but the grand jury acted adversely on their petition,
and a charter was not granted until the following year. Mr.. Stauffer became
the first chief burgess.
Beaver
Meadow is maintained by the surrounding coal operations of Coxe Brothers &
Company, the mines of the A. S. Van Wickle Estate, at Coleraine, a little more
than a mile distant, and the workings of the Evans Colliery Company.
The
town is situated on the Beaver Meadow division of the Lehigh Valley Railroad,
about six miles from Weatherly, and four from Hazleton. It lies approximately
fourteen hundred feet above sea level, while Beaver creek flows sluggishly past
it, parallel to the railroad tracks. Its name was derived from the circumstance
that the smooth and glossy beaver once lived and toiled in the meadows along
the creek.
The
land on which the town is built was warranted in 1787 to Patrick and Mary
Keene, and later it came into the possession of Nathan Beach, who sold five
.hundred acres to Judge Joseph Barnes, of Philadelphia, in 1830.
The
Lehigh and Susquehanna turnpike ran through the tract, and the principal street
of the village, still known as Berwick street, was built on the line of this
old highway. The first house was here erected in 1804. It was of logs, and was
kept as a tavern. There was a tollgate at the foot of the Spring mountain kept by a man named Green.
On
April 10, 1826, William H. Wilson removed, with his family, to the place and
the landlord of the tavern The next arrival was James Lamison, who built a
house which he, in 1831, occupied as a tavern. In 1833 came N. R. Penrose, a
member of the family to which United States Senator Boies Penrose, of
Pennsylvania, belongs. He became the agent of the property of Judge Barnes, and
built the large frame building at the eastern end of the town, later known as
the "Cornishmens Home.Ó Upon its completion it was occupied by William H.
Wilson as a tavern. Later it became the property of James Gowan, father of
Franklin B. Gowan, who became famous as the able and aggressive president of
the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company and its subsidiary coal and iron
company. This building was also for a time used as a store, being owned by
William T. Carter and others. It was for many years one of the landmarks of
Beaver Meadow, and was finally torn down in 1910. Much of the timber it con ed
was used in erecting now dwelling houses, while some of it was sawed into
proper length for mine ties.
One
of the early residents of Beaver Meadow was Henry Brenckman, a native of
Germany. He had become skilled in the art of brewing beer and had acquired the
trade of a cooper in the Fatherland. Upon locating in Beaver Meadow he erected
a small brewery, probably the first in Carbon county. He personally made the
barrels which contained the output of his plant and kept a tavern. His death
occurred in 1860.
The
early growth and prosperity of Beaver Meadow resulted from the operations of
the Beaver Meadow Railroad and Coal Company, the Beaver Meadow Mines, where
coal was first produced in Banks township, being situated about a mile west of
the town. The railroad to the mines was finished and opened for transportation
in the fall of 1836. The machine, blacksmith and car shops of the company were
located at Beaver Meadow. The first master mechanic of the shops was Hopkin
Thomas, a Welsh immigrant, and one of the pioneer inventors of the Lehigh
Valley. Through one of his inventions anthracite coal was first made available
as fuel for the use of locomotives. He also invented and successfully used the
chilled cast-iron car wheel, as well as the most improved and successful mine
pumps and machinery of the day.
Under
the supervision of Mr. Thomas, a ten-wheel locomotive, said to have been the
first of its kind built in this country, and named the ÒNonpareil,Ó was
constructed at Beaver Meadow. The shops were removed to Weatherly in 1842.
In
1848, N. R. Penrose erected a foundry here, which he conducted for a short
time, then disposing of the property to S. W. and B. W. Hudson. In 1859, B. W.
Hudson purchased the interest of his brother and continued the business until
1865. Much of the iron work used in constructing the Mahanoy division of the
Lehigh Valley Railroad was turned out from this foundry. After the retirement
of B. W. Hudson, the shops passed into -the ownership of the Spring Mountain
Coal Company, and were torn down in 1868 and removed to Jeanesville. These
shops formed the nucleus of the Jeanesville Iron Works, since established at
Hazleton, constituting one of the largest industries of that city. Beaver
Meadow was already quite a village before Hazleton was born, and the people of
the last named place once did their trading here.
The
only coal operation within the borough limits is the Number 4 slope of Coxe
Brothers & Company, which was sunk by Jonah Rees, about 1867. It was for a
time abandoned, but during the eighties it was sunk to the basin by Coxe
Brothers & Company. It is from the foot of this slope that the drainage
tunnel through the Spring mountain to Quakake Valley is driven.
A
post office was established here in 1830, with William H. Wilson in charge. The
second postmaster was A. G. Brodhead, who, in turn, was succeeded by Mr.
Wilson. The present incumbent is Robert Trezise.
The
first school in the place was kept by Miss Lydia Bidlack, and was opened about
the year 1835. A later teacher who served for many years was Thomas McCarly.
There are now five graded schools in the town, all being housed in one
building.
A
Presbyterian church was here organized about 1838, largely through the
influence of A. H. VanCleve, who was then superintendent of the Beaver Meadow
shops. The edifice in which this congregation worshiped occupied the site on
which the hall of the Patriotic Order of Sons of America now stands, The
removal of the shops to Weatherly affected the congregation, and it declined.
The Methodists subsequently conducted services in the church, and upon the
erection of a new building by that denomination, in 1874, the adherents of the
German Reformed faith found a meeting place in the old edifice for a time.
St.
MaryÕs Roman Catholic church was founded in 1841. The original church building
stood on the cemetery of the parish, a short distance beyond the town on the
road to Hazleton. St. Nicholas' church, of Weatherly, and St. Joseph's, of
Laurytown, were formerly missions of this church. During the pastorate of Rev.
Francis Brady, the old church was removed to the site of the present building,
which was erected during the pastorate of Rev. John J. McEnroe. The cornerstone
of the new building was laid in 1904, while the church, which cost about $15,000,
was dedicated by the Rt. Rev. Edmund F, Prendergast. Formerly St. Mary's was
the only Catholic church in this part of the coal region, and the people of
Hazleton, Audenried, Weatherly, Buck Mountain, and other places journeyed
hither to worship.
St.
Paul's Evangelical Lutheran church was built in 1897. Rev. J. O. Schlenker,
formerly pastor of Christ church, Hazleton, and Rev. D, G. Gerberich, of
Weatherly, were the leading spirits in the organization of this congregation.
St.
Peter's and St. Paul's Greek Catholic church was erected in 1895, the
cornerstone being laid during the month of May.
The
town is supplied with water by the Citizens Water Company, organized at about
the time of the erection of the borough.
Both
the Anthracite and the Bell Telephone Company have lines connecting with this
place. A rural fine connecting with the system of the latter company at
Hazleton was built in 1908, Robert Trezise being the local agent.
The streets of the borough were allowed to
remain unlighted until 1911, when the Harwood Electric Light and Power Company
extended its lines to this point. The town has a fire company, but its
equipment is meager. Thomas Grenfell is the present chief burgess,
Except from Chapter XVII on Parryville,
PP. 314 – 317.
PARRYVILLE
BOROUGH.
The
borough of Parryville is located on the eastern bank of the Lehigh river and on
the line of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, about half a dozen miles below
Mauch Chunk.
The
first settler here was Peter Frantz, who came to the locality in 1780. Leonard
Beltz and Frederick Scheckler took up land in this vicinity in 1781.
Soon
thereafter Scheckler and Frantz erected a stone grist mill on the banks of Poho
Poco creek, which flows into the Lehigh at this point. This property passed
into the possession of Peter and Jacob Stein in 1815. The latter conducted the
mill, while the former built a large stone hotel, which was later utilized as a
dwelling house.
Upon
the organization of the Pine Forest Lumber Company, about 1836, this place was
made its headquarters. The company owned extensive tracts of rich timber land
in the northern part of the county and in the southern portion of Luzerne. Its
mills were established on Poho Poco creek, near the river, and the manufacture
of lumber, was carried on on a large scale. The president of the company was
Daniel Parry, and as the settlement grew up around these mills, the place
became known as Parrysville, and later, Parryville.
In
1836, the Beaver Meadow Railroad Company completed its line to the opposite
side of the river from this place, and Parryville became the terminus and
shipping point.
The coal was here
transferred from the railroad cars to the boats of the Lehigh Coal and
Navigation Company. The freshet of 1841, however, swept away the wharves,
trestle work, and chutes of the company, together with the roadbed from
Parryville to Penn Haven Junction. The railroad was rebuilt from Penn Haven to
Mauch Chunk, but the stretch from the latter place to Parryville was abandoned.
From this time forth, Mauch Chunk was the shipping point of the Beaver Meadow
Company.
Parryville,
from the western bank of the Lehigh
New
life was injected into the village when, about 1855, Dennis Bauman, his brother
Henry, and others, established an anthracite blast furnace here. This furnace
was run by water power furnished by Poho Poco creek until 1857. More capital
being necessary to the proper conduct of the business, a stock company, known
as the Carbon Iron Company, was then formed, Dennis Bauman being chosen as its
president. The new company made various improvements and increased the capacity
of the works. The water power of the creek was now no longer adequate, and
steam was introduced as the motive power. An additional furnace was erected in
1864, and another in 1869; but the revolution which took place in the iron
business about this time and the great panic of the seventies, which closed up
nearly every iron manufacturing establishment in the Lehigh Valley, worked
severe hardship to the company.
In
the year 1876, the property passed into the hands of the Carbon Iron and Pipe
Company, and a pipe manufacturing department was added. The experiment of
making pipe out of iron direct from the cupola was tried at this place, but
without success. Large quantities of pipe were, however, turned out in
accordance with the established process. The works are :now operated by the
Carbon Iron and Steel Company, of which M. S. Kemmerer, of Mauch Chunk, is
chairman. This is the only iron furnace in the Lehigh Valley lying north of the
Blue mountain. It is the only industry in the village.
Parryville
became an independent school district on March 4.1867.
It
was incorporated as a borough early in the year 1875, Dennis Bauman serving as
its first chief burgess. The town had 657 inhabitants in 1880. In 1900 the
population numbered 723, but during the last decade there was a falling off in
the number of people living here.
The
first road passing through this locality was that built by the Moravians in
1748, extending from Bethlehem to Gnadenhutten. It was known in this region as
the Fire Line Road, and described a loop over the hills between Parryville and
Bowmanstown. From 1756 to 1761, during the time when Fort Allen was garrisoned,
it was used as a military road.
At
the time of the massacre of Gnadenhutten, a company of militia from the Irish
settlement in Northampton county are said to have come in pursuit of the
Indians as far as the hill overlooking the hollow where Parryville now stands. Fearing to go
any farther in the darkness, they are said to have fired down into the bushes,
and to have then departed. From this circumstance the term "Fire
Line" is supposed by some to have been derived. Others adhere to the belief
that the name had its origin from the fact that the elevated ground traversed
by the road in question was employed to build signal fires upon during the
Indian war period.
The
first schoolhouse here was opened about the year 1820. Like most of the other
schoolhouses erected through the region at that time, it was of logs. The
annual term amounted to but three months. A modern brick structure now houses
the three schools of the borough.
Public
religious services were first conducted at Parryville about the year 1840.
Meetings were first held in the schoolhouse, while Methodist ministers also
addressed meetings at occasional intervals in private houses.
In
1863 the Methodists built a brick church which was dedicated on the 13th of
December of that year by Bishop Scott.
The
present building of the Reformed denomination was erected in 1817, the edifice previously used having been
destroyed by fire in 1896.
There
is also an Evangelical church in the town. The Iron Exchange and the Fairview
Inn are the only hotels in the place. The latter was licensed in 1907, having
formerly been occupied as a dwelling by Dennis Bauman. It is now the property
of his son, Robert Bauman.
.
Except from Chapter XII on the Weatherly,
PP. 339 - 342
WEATHERLY
BOROUGH.
The
borough of Weatherly, which is the largest and most important town in the upper
portion of Carbon county, had its beginnings in the operations of the Beaver
Meadow Railroad Company. Its later growth end development were brought about
chiefly through the agency of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, by which the
first named corporation was in 1866 absorbed. The place is picturesquely
situated between the Broad and Spring mountains on the banks of Hazle creek and
on the Beaver Meadow and Hazleton division of the Lehigh Valley system. The
distance by rail from this point to Mauch Chunk is about fourteen miles. The
incorporated territory of the town comprises four square miles, and is bounded
on the north, east, and southeast by Lehigh township, on the northwest by
Lausanne township, and in the west and southwest by Packer township. It is
divided into four wards.
Formerly
the town was called Black Creek, from the color of the water of the stream on
which it is situated. Originally the dark color of the water of the creek was
due to the fact that dense forests of hemlock grew in the swamps where the
stream has its source; but it is now contaminated with sulfur water from the
coal mines lying north of the Spring mountain. In 1848, upon the establishment
of the post office here, the name of the place was changed to Weatherly, being
so christened in honor of David Weatherly, one of the directors of the Beaver
Meadow Company, who was a watch and clock maker. He promised to present the
place with a town clock in recognition of the compliment conferred upon him by
the bestowal of his name, but failed to redeem the pledge. The warrantee owners
of the ground upon which Weatherly is built were Samuel S. Barber and John
Romig, Sr. They purchased the land for the valuable timber that stood on it.
The first settlement was made on
the Romig tract about 1825, when Benjamin Romig erected a saw mill and a
dwelling on the west side of the creek. The dwelling occupied the site of Elmer
Warner's store, while the saw mill stood opposite the Lehigh Valley depot.
Benjamin Romig moved his family to this p]ace in 1826. The first lumber sawed
in his mill was for the building of a school house in what is now known as
Hudsondale. Soon after 1830 Romig erected a large house on the west side of the
creek, near the "Rocks," and securing a license, conducted a tavern
therein.
A
portion of the Barber tract was purchased by Asa Packer, and about 1835, John
Smith, who was conspicuous among the early residents, came to the place to
supervise the clearing of the land and to take charge of Mr. Packer's interests
in the vicinity generally. Under his immediate directions a saw mill was put up
about a mile below Black Creek Junction, while a store was opened just across the
creek from Romig's saw mill. A little later than this William Tubbs opened a
tavern on the present site of the Gilbert House.
Barring
the saw mill, the first attempt at manufacturing here was made by Samuel
Ingham, president of the Beaver Meadow Railroad Company, and others. They made
a certain kind of locks for a time, but the project was soon abandoned.
Black
Creek could boast of but a few houses until the completion of the Beaver Meadow
Railroad, in the fall of 1836. It was then made the stopping place for the
heavy engines and crews of the company. The company at first located its
foundry and machine and repair shops at Beaver Meadow. To overcome the heavy
grade above Weatherly, two inclined planes, each about half mile in length,
were constructed. Difficulty was experienced in getting the locomotives up
these planes to the shops for repairs, and, in 1840, the shops were removed to
Weatherly. While this was detrimental to the interests of Beaver Meadow, it
gave added impetus to the growth of Weatherly. The shops were located near the
point where the town hall now stands, and were driven by water power. Hopkin
Thomas, who became one of the most prominent figures in the industrial affairs
of the Lehigh Valley, was the master mechanic in charge. The shops were swept
away by the freshet of 1850, being rebuilt the same year. In 1855 a stretch of
new railroad was laid from Weatherly to Hazle Creek Junction, a distance of
nearly two miles. Upon its completion, the inclined planes were abandoned. The
section of road replacing the planes is still at use, and is known to
railroaders as the Weatherly Hill. It has a grade of one hundred and forty-five
feet to the mile, and has witnessed many thrilling runaways. With the abandonment
of the planes the company moved its shops to the east side of the creek. As the
mines were developed and as railroading progressed, the capacity of the shops
was increased from time to time, while the town grew and prospered
correspondingly.
Weatherly
was a part of Lausanne township until 1863, when it was organized as a borough.
At the time the taking of the census of 1870, it contained 1,076 people. During
the succeeding decade, the population nearly doubled.
Philip
Hoffecker succeeded Hopkin Thomas as master mechanic in the machine shops early
in the fifties. When the Beaver Meadow Railroad was consolidated h the Lehigh
Valley he was retained by the latter Company, spending the remainder of his
life in its service. Under his supervision many of the finest locomotives in
the country were built, his name standing as a synonym for excellence over the
whole Lehigh Valley system. Not only did the shop over which he had charge turn
out good locomotives, but it also produced good men. Those who served their
apprenticeship under him readily found employment elsewhere, and Weatherly
today takes pardonable pride in the success that many of her sons have achieved
in industrial pursuits in all parts of the country. Mr. Hoffecker died in 1891.
Another prominent figure in the town for more than half a century was Daniel
Rouse. In 1855 he was p]aced in charge of the car shops here, and during nearly
two generations of service in that capacity, he achieved an enviable reputation
for mechanical and executive ability. The car shops were totally destroyed by
fire on the morning of .July 8, 1880, the work of rebuilding them being
completed the following year. The train crews which carried the coal produced
in the Beaver Meadow and Hazleton region to Packerton, the, general forwarding
point, made Weatherly their stopping place for many years. For a long time
Samuel Harman was the dispatcher who had them in charge, and be enjoyed equal
popularity with Hoffecker and Rouse.
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