Area History: The History of Pottsville to 1906 This copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Jay Zane jay.zane@verizon.net USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission fromthe submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. __________________________________________________________________ THE HISTORY OF POTTSVILLE TO 1906 Author: Charles G. Reed and first published in the September 1906 Centennial Edition of the Pottsville Republican as a three part series PART ONE Pottsville, the principal town of the county, and the great mart of the coal trade, is situated just above the gorge of which the Schuylkill breaks through the Sharp Mountain. The main branch of the river here comes in from the east, and, receiving Norwegian Creek from the north, turns suddenly to the south and flows away through the gorge. Pottsville proper, originally occupied the northern slope of the mountain, and the valley of Norwegian Creek. Immediately below it, on a narrow neck of the turnpike, was Morrisville, now known as Morris Addition; near the junction of the streams to the left of the point was Greenwood, now Greenwood Addition to Pottsville; and below the junction, immediately in the gorge, was and is Mt. Carbon. All of these except Mt. Carbon, were incorporated on the 19th day of February, 1828, in the Borough of Pottsville, which also includes what were once known as Bath, Salem and Allenville. Early traditions tell us that when the 19th century dawned upon the wilderness which covered the treasures of coal hidden in the hills of Schuylkill County, but a single dwelling had been reared by the hands of the while man upon the ground now embraced within the limits of Pottsville. This lonely log house stood down in the valley very near the point where the old mill had been located on Mauch Chunk Street. About the commencement of the Revolutionary War on a Sunday morning, Indians murdered Neiman and two of his children. The mother with her youngest child had gone into the settlement on a visit. The above is an extract from a letter from the late C. Loeser to one of his clients dated December 13, 1830. The rude log walls were scarcely strong enough to shelter the family from the winter storm and formed no protection from the attack of the more savage foe. The savage warriors rushed upon their victims and as Neiman and his two children sank down in death, the forests around the vacant house were surrounded to the wild animals that had before possessed them. The following is an extract from the laws of Pennsylvania, Volume 2, page 90 etc. A supplement to an act, entitled an Act for making the river Schuylkill more navigable and for the preservation of the fish in the said river, passed 15, March 1784. This section among other things, contains the following division of the Schuylkill into districts and naming boundaries of each. 1. From the tide water below the falls to Spring Mill. 2. From thence to the mouth of Valley Creek. 3. From thence to the mouth of Mingo Creek. 4. From thence to Berks County line. 5. From thence to Beidler's mill. 6. From thence to the mouth of Tulpehocken Creek. 7. From thence to the mouth of Maiden Creek. 8. From thence to the mouth of Tamaquay Creek. 9. From thence to the coal mines on Schuylkill, at Basler's saw mill. The Commissioners for this portion were Henry Haller, Samuel Baird, and Frederick Cleckner. Still the region above Second Mountain remained a desolate wilderness; a lonely road ran through the wild gorges, and over the Broad Mountain to Sunbury; and here and there was a cabin of some daring backwoodsman, or hardy lumberman, who kept a humble house of entertainment for the few who were compelled to go over the road. As for the lands that now sell for their $100,000, for small tract, and pour forth annually, their vast quantities of coal, if they had the honor of being owned at all, they were known only as the valueless property of some venerable German, or lone widow, who esteemed it a burden to pay the taxes. Some of the lands were accepted and some had been refused, by city merchants in payment for considerable debts. At length in the year 1800, the white man made another effort to possess this rocky and mountainous territory, and we learn that the prize which lured him, was the same metal that has since given employment to so many around here. Isaac Thomas, Lewis Morris, and Lewis Reese had concluded to build a furnace and a forge here, and among the workmen whom they sent in advance to dig and make a dam, was John Reed, who brought his wife with him, and who built as a home a small log house two stories high. The primitive dwelling stood about 150 feet east of the place where the present Pottsville Hospital is located, on what is now Mauch Chunk Street. The ground presently occupied by Mauch Chunk Street was then a rough road leading to the mouth of Mill Creek. In that house Jeremiah Reed was born, December 19, 1800. As far as it is known, he was the first child born within the district, which has also formed the borough of Pottsville. His parent had been born not many miles south of Pottsville, and had passed their lives as resident of their native county. Reese and Thomas built a very small charcoal furnace prior to 1804, on the island and near where Atkins Brothers later on built their Pioneer furnaces. In 1804, John Pott, Sr. bought from Lewis Reese, Isaac Thomas and Sarah Morris the ground on which the settlement had been made; the whole purchase, including a large number of acres forming the Physic Tract, the Mayfield Tract, the Moorefield Tract, and the Zolt Tract. The Physic Tract was that on which the settlement had been made. In 1806, John Pott, Sr., sent up to this place his son, John Pott, Jr. and another person, Daniel Focht, to superintend the property and to direct the building of a furnace and a forge and some dwelling houses. When John Pott, Sr. bought this land, the only houses upon the ground now comprised within the limits of Pottsville were the Reed house, the Cook house, near where John L. Pott's Orchard Iron Works were located (since destroyed by fire); the Alspach house, which was a log dwelling at the place where the residence of the late Charles Baber is locate; a house called the Swoyer house, which stood back in the woods on the ground now occupied by a livery stable on Union Street, opposite the old Reading depot; the old Neiman house in which the Neiman family had been murdered; a house occupied by a family by the name of Shutt, which was located on what is now called Lawton's Hill, about 300 feet west of the point where the residence of the late Honorable F.W. Hughes is now located, and the Nathan Taylor house near where the Reading old freight depot in Pottsville now stands. In the year 1807, John Potts, Sr., through his managers, John Pott, Jr., and Daniel Focht, erected the old Greenwood Furnace and Forge. The furnace stood a little west of where the Baber residence now is located, on what is now known as Mauch Chunk Street, and the forge was near the furnace. The Pott family operated that furnace until about 1827 or 1828, when Benjamin Pott made the last blast. He was another son of John Pott, Sr. In 1810, John Pott, Sr., moved his family to this area. When John Pott, Sr. arrived here with his family that year, he took possession of the Alspach House as his residence and became known as the "Mansion House" of the Pott family. That same year, John Pott built the stone grist mill, later on occupied by Stein and Trough, some years ago destroyed by fire, the site of the present Phillips Shirt Factory, and he carried on the business there together with his furnace and forge. During the years 1815 and 1816, he erected a stone mansion for his own use, and in which he resided, on what is now the site of the brick dwelling house on Mauch Chunk Street, occupied by Mr Thomas Shollenberger. In 1816, he also built a barn opposite the place where Lauer's Brewery had been located. In 1816, John Pott laid out the town of Pottsville in lots. Henry Donell was the surveyor who made the survey and the plots. The survey was commenced at the corner of Centre Street and Church Alley, from that point a line was run to the northeast corner of the square on which the Female Grammar School is now located. The first plot embraced all of the ground from Second Street on the west, to Railroad Street on the east, and from Union Street on the south to Laurel Alley on the west side of Centre Street, and to High Street on the east side of Centre Street, and also west of Second Street, from Norwegian Street on the north to Union Street on the south, and extending to Fifth Street on the west. At the time he laid out the town, Mr. Pott gave to the people of Pottsville the ground of the square, included between Centre Street on the east and Second Street on the west, and the two alleys now called High Street and Laurel Street for a burial ground and for a building for a school and for religious services to be held by any regularly ordained minister of any denomination. The Thomas Swoyer house was the only one within the plot and was there before the first house within the limits of what is now known as Pottsville was built. John Pott, Sr. subsequently extended the boundaries of the town by adding more ground to it, and afterwards other persons who had made real estate purchases adjoining, laid out additions , which have given local names to the different parts of the borough. Among them were the following: Morris Addition, laid out by Israel W. Morris, through his son, Henry Morris, and Greenwood Addition, laid out by Brook Buckley, who had purchased the ground from Benjamin Pott. In 1818, Goerge Dengler erected a frame hotel tow stories in height which was long known as "The White Horse Hotel." It was then considered a large building and later on it formed part of the Merchants' Hotel, now the site of the Hotel Allan. It was located at the corner of Mahantongo Street and Centre Streets. Before the completion of Dengler's hotel however, there had been erected within the limits of the town plots, an old mill built by John Pott, Jr., on the corner of Norwegian Street and Railroad Streets (where the Chronicle printing office is now located), a log house built by William Casaley (on the present site where Miller's Book Store is located), southeast corner of Church Alley, now Howard Avenue and Centre Street, a log home built by Joseph Bleckley, on the west side of Centre Street, between Church Alley and Mahanantongo Street (where the present day store of N.C. Morrison is located), a log home built by John Pott, Sr., on the lot now occupied by the Episcopal Church, at the southwest corner of Church Alley and Centre Street, Henry Donnell's house on Centre Street, where the Pennsylvania Hall is now located, on the lot which the first lot sold after the original town plot had been laid out. The Donnell house was the first house erected after the plot had been made. With a few exceptions, these were certainly all the houses within the plot when the Dengler Hotel was built. Henry Donnell kept a store in his home where the Penn Hall now is, and that store was the first store established in Pottsville if you exclude the fact that the Pott family had kept a stock of goods for sale for their workmen. John Pott, Jr., and Thomas Silliman afterwards continued the store in the Donnell property. In 1822, the house since known as the White House Tavern was kept by Mr. John Pott, who owned land in the vicinity, as a sort of watering place for the stagecoaches on the Sunbury road. In 1824, there were reported to be five scattered dwellings in the vicinity. The town was soon laid out - or rather several towns for each prominent adventurer, who had his own favorite location; and as each tended to fan the flame of speculation, town lots and coal tracts (some with real coal and many with imaginary coal) doubled, trebled and quadrupled in value and passed from hand to hand like currency. Houses were rapidly constructed to accommodate the immense crowds that came to search for lots and lands. Between the years 1818 and 1829 the town of Pottsville increased gradually. During this time there had been erected some substantial houses, including the stone house on the west side of Centre Street (opposite the site of Mrs. Charles Atkins present residence) and now occupied by Mr. Frick, formerly occupied many years ago by Mrs. John Straub, which was built by Benjamin Pott; the frame building for the Old York Store, northeast corner of Mauch Chunk and Centre Streets, where the residence of Mrs. Charles Atkins now is; this store was also burned down and rebuilt as a larger building between 1818 and 1828; a brick house on the east side of Centre Street above Union Street, on the ground now occupied by the building of the late Government National Bank, and which was the first brick house erected in this borough; and a large frame dwelling house on West Norwegian Street, below Fourth Street, where the residence of the late Attorney Cummings is located; a double stone structure forming two houses on the southeast corner of Norwegian Street and Centre Streets; a double stone house on the northeast corner of Mahantongo and Centre Streets; the old double stone house built by David Phillips, on the west side of Centre Street, above Market Street; two stone houses, near each other, on the east side of Centre Street, between Norwegian Street and Mahantongo Streets, one of which was occupied for a time by the Miners Bank until the present building was erected; the frame Buckwater tavern, known as the Northwestern Hotel, now the site of the Park Hotel on Centre Street; the residence of the late Honorable Jacob Kline, built by him on the west side of Centre Street, below Union Street, being the third house from Union Street (now owned by the Hon. O.P. Bechtel), which was built by Daniel Lindermuth; the Charles Storer house, next below the Lindermuth house, now the site of the residence of Mrs. Heblich. Between 1821 and 1828 a number of log houses had been built in different parts of town - one of them stood at the corner of Second and Mahantongo Streets, on the ground on which Samuel Silliman (the enterprising coal operator and the man to whose efforts Pottsville owes the Henry Clay Monument), afterwards erected the large dwelling house now occupied by Mrs. Thomas Rickert, on the vacant lot adjoining the residence of Mr. Walter Shaefer on Mahanotongo Street, there had been erected a log house in which the family of the late Jacob Reed had resided from the time of its completion until within a few months of the time when it had been torn down in 1890. The late Daniel Strauch was the first white boy born on Mahantongo Street, and his birth place was a log house on the south side of Mahantongo Street, between Second and Third Streets. In 1828 the borough had several excellent stone houses and stores, others of brick, and frame, a weekly newspaper (the Miners' Journal), a reading room, and hotels. Mssrs. John and Benjamin Pott had also erected their Greenwood furnace and forge, and were making iron from ore obtained below the Blue Mountain. In 1828 Jacob Alter commenced the building of ten frame houses called Clinton Row, on the north side of Mahantongo Street, between Centre and Second Streets; also a row of ten frame houses on Coal Street, between Callowhill Street, both of these rows were completed in 1829. Prior to 1827 John White, who later became the President of The Mt. Carbon Railroad Company, had erected at Mt. Carbon the row of stone houses which the old Mansion House now adjoins, and also the Kleinert house on the corner opposite, a portion of which is now occupied by the Schmidt Brewery, and the store house between it and the Schuylkill River, and a few smaller houses had appeared in the same vicinity. The Mortimer house, at one time called the Mt. Carbon House, was built by Jacob Seitzinger, and finished in 1826 as a hotel. It was at first only two stories high. Col. George Shoemaker, who afterwards operated the Pennsylvania Hall, first kept this hotel. The Moyer Hotel was built and kept by Daniel Moyer, before 1826, on the southwest corner of Market and Centre Streets. Before the end of the year 1830, a large number of new buildings had been erected. Among them were the present banking house of the Miners' Bank on Centre Street; Pleasant Row, on the north side of Mahantongo Street, between Sixth and Seventh Streets; two stone houses on the south side of Mahantongo Street, below Sixth Street adjoining the residence of Charles W. Barker, now torn down, and being a part of the lot of Mr. Barker, the row of stone houses on the north side of Mahantongo Street above 12th or Wood Street, known as the Hospital, and torn down some years ago. The six houses on the north side of Mahantongo Street, built by John C. Offerman, the house of the late James Beatty, and the residence of the late Mrs. James Carpenter, these three houses being adjoining each other and below Third Street; and the three stone dwellings above Third Streets, and adjoining each other, now occupied respectively by Squire Fister, Mrs. George Bright, and Mr. John Warner; also the three story brick dwelling house on the east side of Centre Street, and below Mahantongo Street, now known as the Loeser Building and which was also erected by Mr. Offerman. The Shippen, Beatty and Carpenter houses were torn down in 1905 to make room for the beautiful building of the P&R C&I Company. The Offerman house on Centre Street was temporarily abandoned because it appeared to be sinking into the coal mine that Mr. Samuel Lewis had extended under it. In 1835 or 1836, that mine was opened by Mr. Lewis, and its underground passages reached from the foot of Greenwood Hill, nearly to the corner of Fifth and Norwegian Streets. The brewery of D.G. Yuengling was put in operation in 1830 at the place on Mahantongo Street, below Fifth Street, where its present large brewery is located. On January 19, 1833, a few hours before daylight, a two-story frame building on Mahantongo Street, occupied as a Yuengling brewery caught fire and, before it could be extinguished, the greater portion of the main building was destroyed. The frame brewery of the Andrew Y. Moore, called the Orchard Brewery, afterwards built in 1830 on the site where Geeorge Lauer's Brewery had been located, now occupied by a row of brick houses on Mauch Chunk Street. Approximately 30 years ago, John L. Pott, John P. Hobart, William D. Baber, and E.F.C. Davis occupied these houses. Israel Morris, through his son, Henry Morris, had built two rather large double stone dwellings on the west side of Centre Street, in Morris' Addition. One of them was located on the northwest corner of Centre and Morris Streets, now occupied by Miss Emma Pott. The other was located near the middle of the next square below. The latter is still standing and found below the Ramsey residence. The residence of the late Jeremiah Reed was located on the east side of Centre Street, a few doors below the corner of Mauch Chunk and Centre Streets. It was built in 1830 and Jeremiah Reed occupied it up to the time of his death with the exception of a few years.