Introduction
The National Park Service's National Register of Historic
Places, the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor
(an affiliated area of the National Park Service), the Pennsylvania
Historical and Museum Commission, Steamtown National Historic
Site, the National Conference of State Historic Preservation
Officers (NCSHPO), and the National Alliance of Preservation
Commissions (NAPC) extend their invitation to you to explore
the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor,
featuring historic places in and near eastern Pennsylvania's
canal and coal region. Stretching 150 miles from Bristol to
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the Delaware & Lehigh National
Heritage Corridor follows the routes of the Delaware Canal,
the Lehigh Navigation System, and the Lehigh & Susquehanna
Railroad. This travel itinerary explores 47 places listed
in the National Register of Historic Places that illustrate
the history of this extraordinary 19th-century transportation
system--the backbone of the Corridor--mountain railroads,
rivers, dams and canals, devised to move anthracite from mine
to market.
The anthracite coal industry began here. Because of the industry's
unprecedented scale, the Corridor became the scene of numerous
technological and commercial innovations that transformed
the landscape. The Corridor contains the only historic system
of the Industrial Revolution that integrated anthracite mining
and resource extraction, canals and railroads, commerce, agriculture,
and industry. So efficient was this system that the Delaware
and Lehigh Canals were the longest- and last-operated towpath
canals in America; commercial navigation continued until 1942.
The Corridor contains scenic rivers, mines and company mining
towns, canals and canal towns, railroads, the historic industries
nourished by the availability of fuel and transportation,
towns and cities that grew around them, and a distinctive
social and religious heritage. More than 50 different ethnic
groups settled here, including people of Czech, German, Italian,
African American, Welsh, and Irish descent. The Corridor includes10
National Historic Landmarks, six National Recreation Trails,
two National Natural Landmarks, and hundreds of sites listed
in the National Register of Historic Places, as well as seven
state parks, three state historical sites, 14 state scenic
rivers, and 14 state game lands. Included in the itinerary
are nearby historic places in Scranton, Pennsylvania, including
one National Historic Landmark, and six National Register
of Historic Places sites related to Scranton's history as
a transportation hub of eastern Pennsylvania. While outside
the Heritage Corridor, Scranton's proximity and rich historic
offerings, including Steamtown, with its history of railroad
transportation and steam engines and rail cars in use and
on exhibit, enrich the visitor's understanding and enjoyment
of eastern Pennsylvania's role in the nation's history.
This itinerary focuses on the variety of historic districts,
buildings, and structures that comprise the coal and canal
region of eastern Pennsylvania. The earliest European settlements
are recognized in such places as the Old
Waterworks in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and the Central
Bethlehem Historic District, which tells the story of
the Moravians, early German settlers, who founded the town
between 1741 and 1844. Washington Crossing
State Park honors our first President's crossing of the
Delaware River during the Revolutionary War and surprising
the British German mercenaries in a desperate hour of the
American Revolution. The history of the canal can be seen
in such places as the Lehigh Canal,
the Delaware Canal, and the Easton
Historic District.
The region's 19th-century industrialization can be seen
at the Coplay Cement Company Kilns in
Coplay, Pennsylvania, where portland cement was produced.
The Lehigh Valley Silk Mills in Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, the Lock Ridge Furnace Complex,
in Alburtis, Pennsylvania, and the Grundy
Mill Complex in Bristol also reflect the industrialization
of the region. History of mining and labor can be found at
the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company Furnace
and Lackawanna County Courthouse and
John Mitchell Monument, both in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Scranton also is home to Steamtown National
Historic Site, where the region's rail and train history
is told. Visitors can also tour the fascinating buildings
of Dr. Henry C. Mercer, which include his tool museum, the
Mercer Museum, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania,
the Moravian Pottery & Tile Works
and Fonthill, monuments to the eclectic
architectural vision of the man and his legacy. Twentieth-century
history is reflected in the Honey Hollow
Watershed, where land conservation efforts were put in
place to halt the erosion of valuable farm soil, and the Pearl
S. Buck or Green Hills Farm (Pearl S. Buck
House), where the author of "The Good Earth" lived
and wrote.
The Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor
offers numerous ways to discover the historic places that
played important roles in eastern Pennsylvania's past. Each
property features a brief description of the place's significance,
color and historic photographs, and public accessibility information.
At the bottom of each page the visitor will find a navigation
bar containing links to four essays that explain more about
the Delaware and Lehigh Regions,
Canal History, Scranton
and the Railroad, and Establishing
the Heritage Corridor. These essays provide historic background,
or "contexts," for many of the places included in the itinerary.
The itinerary can be viewed online, or printed out if you
plan to visit eastern Pennsylvania in person.
Created through a partnership between the National Park
Service's National Register of Historic Places, the Delaware
& Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, the Pennsylvania
Historical and Museum Commission, Steamtown National Historic
Site, NCSHPO, and NAPC, the Delaware and Lehigh National
Heritage Corridor is an example of a new and exciting
cooperative project. As part of the Department of the Interior's
strategy to revitalize communities by promoting public awareness
of history and encouraging tourists to visit historic places
throughout the nation, the National Register of Historic Places
is cooperating with communities, regions and Heritage Areas
throughout the United States to create online travel itineraries.
Using places listed in the National Register of Historic Places,
the itineraries help potential visitors plan their next trip
by highlighting the amazing diversity of the country's historic
places and supplying accessibility information for each featured
site. In the Learn More section,
the itineraries link to regional and local web sites that
provide visitors with further information regarding cultural
events, special activities, lodging and dining possibilities
as well as histories of the region, should they want to explore
further. Visitors may be interested in Historic
Hotels of America, a program of the National Trust for
Historic Preservation, located in the Delaware and Lehigh
National Heritage Corridor.
The Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor
is the eighth of more than 30 organizations working directly
with the National Register of Historic Places to create travel
itineraries. Additional itineraries will debut online in the
future. The National Register of Historic Places, the Delaware
& Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, the Pennsylvania
Historical and Museum Commission and the staff at the Steamtown
National Historic Site hope you enjoy this virtual travel
itinerary of eastern Pennsylvania's historic places. If you
have comments or questions, please just click on the provided
e-mail address, "comments or questions" located at the bottom
of each page.
Welcome
Letter
The Delaware & Lehigh National and State Heritage Corridor
is a reservoir of natural, cultural, historic, recreational
and economic resources that embrace our heritage. Scenic rivers,
historic canals and towns, mountains, green valleys, natural
and man-made recreation areas, the footprints of early industries,
even a distinctive social and religious heritage - are the
physical essence of the Corridor. We, the residents, are beginning
to realize that our surroundings, both built and natural alike,
have an immediate and continuing effect on the way we feel
and act, our health and our intelligence. These places affect
our sense of self, our sense of safety, the kind of work we
do, the ways we interact with other people - even our ability
to function as citizens within a democracy.
If our rivers and streams could speak, they would tell us
that we, who were drawn here to their banks, are our own greatest
resource. As stewards of our heritage, we must build our future
by respecting our heritage. Improving our future is preserving
our "Sense of Place" and our roots while building a sustainable
yet respectful future.
We are proud of our homes, communities, waterways, parklands
and heritage. Slow down your pace, sit a spell and let us
tell you our stories, one by one, place by place. Welcome
to our homeland.
Don Bernhard
Chair, Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Commission
2001
Delaware
and Lehigh Regions
Pennsylvania was first inhabited as early as 12,000 years
ago by bands of Native Americans who were cold-adapted, highly-mobile
nomadic hunters from Trans-Siberia. By the time of European
contact, Susquehannock Indians, an Iroquoian-speaking group
who split from the main body of the Iroquis had migrated to
this region of Pennsylvania, and established semi-permanent
agricultural villages. The Susquehannock subsistence was a
combination of seasonal farming, hunting, fishing, collecting
wild forest products, and fresh water mollusks. European settlers
first journeyed to the southern region of the Delaware River
Valley and what is now Bucks County at the end of the 17th
century. When William Penn arrived in the colony of Pennsylvania,
he maintained a friendly and peaceful policy towards the Native
Americans. The "Great Treaty" of Shackamaxon was Penn's most
famous treaty with them, and according to Voltaire it was
"the only treaty never sworn to and never broken." Penn's
policy of dealing fairly with the region's native peoples
protected European settlers from hostilities during his lifetime
and after, until 1755. By then, the growing number of English
colonists arriving on the eastern seaboard had alarmed the
native peoples, many of whom allied with the French for survival
of their ancestral lands. After Pontiac's War (1763) and the
French and Indian War, Pennsylvania was largely secure for
further European colonization.
Penn's 1690 promise of religious toleration brought thousands
of people seeking both religious and economic freedom to the
new province of Pennsylvania. English and Welsh members of
the Society of Friends, or Quakers, arrived at the port of
Philadelphia and claimed allotments in lower and central Bucks
County, clearing the forest and establishing farms on the
rich soil. Their meeting houses are still found in many of
the towns in the region. Their farm buildings, built of local
stone, followed traditional English models. German immigrants,
in search of lives free from war and servitude, were also
attracted to Pennsylvania. They traveled up the Schuylkill
and Perkiomen Valleys to settle in upper Bucks County, where
they soon outnumbered the Quakers. The village names of Reigelsville,
Kintnersville, and Uhlerstown testify to the origins of their
founders.
The elements that influenced the Delaware Valley's development--the
Delaware River, the canal, the steep hillsides of the river
valley, the fertile soils, and its agricultural heritage--are
still visible throughout the county. Above the fall line,
development of towns was limited. Tributary streams of the
Delaware River fell sharply from the highlands down into the
valley. Gristmills and sawmills were built to exploit the
water power, serving local farmers in the largely rural economy.
Along the upper reaches of the Delaware Canal, between Easton
and New Hope, the River Road connects a string of historic
villages, separated by steep and sometimes sheer hemlock-covered
hillsides, which force the road and canal to the river's edge.
Just south of New Hope, the River Road and the canal pass
through the northern part of Washington
Crossing State Park, where an early farm is preserved.
Taylorsville is the location of the southern part of Washington
Crossing State Park. Here George Washington and 2,400 troops
crossed the ice-choked Delaware River to make a successful
surprise raid on the Hessian soldiers at Trenton on Christmas
Eve 1776. At Morrisville the canal leaves the last hill of
the Piedmont behind and enters the level Coastal Plain, locale
of the earliest settlements in the county. Historic Fallsington
is a restoration of a Quaker village of three centuries ago.
Nearby is Pennsbury, a reconstruction
of William Penn's 1683 county seat, which includes the service
buildings, orchards, and gardens that made the plantation
self-sufficient.
The Quaker town of Bristol was established
in 1697 as a market town for the county. A location was chosen
just below the head of navigation on the Delaware River, and
Bristol quickly grew into an important commercial and ship-building
center. The county seat of Doylestown,10 miles inland, is
a showcase of Federal and Victorian architecture. Henry C.
Mercer recognized that industrialization was fast eliminating
traditional crafts and ways of work and began assembling what
is now the nation's most comprehensive collection of early
American tools, housed in the Mercer Museum.
This building and nearby Fonthill, a
National Historic Landmark, which was Mercer's home, are early
experiments in the use of poured concrete. Mercer was also
fascinated by tile making, and built the Moravian
Pottery and Tile Works, which continues to produce his
designs, based on themes from mythology, fable, and nature.
Nearby, in the rehabilitated jailhouse, the James Michener
Museum exhibits the works of important American artists.
As late as the 19th century, few of the Delaware River Valley
villages had outgrown their agricultural roots. Unlike the
neighboring Lehigh Valley, the area's resources never fostered
industrial development. Even today it is primarily known for
its scenic, natural and agricultural landscape and well-preserved
historic towns. The Delaware Canal provided
the first easy access to markets for the valley farmers and
the people of the river villages. Locktenders' houses, stores,
inns, and warehouses were established to serve the canal traffic.
Camelback bridges traverse the canal. Today the canal and
towpath, a National Historic Landmark, are preserved by the
Delaware Canal State Park, and the River Road, which parallels
the canal from Morrisville to Easton, provide the link to
300 years of history.
The lower Lehigh River Valley, between Blue Mountain and
South Mountain, was first settled in the 1720s by German immigrants.
They were soon followed by the Scotch-Irish, who built their
houses near Catasauqua, and by the English, who settled near
Easton. Missionaries of the Moravian Church, who had immigrated
from what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia, came here
in 1740. They founded the towns of Nazareth, Emmaus, and Bethlehem,
as well as a number of missions on the frontier. Also, in
the mid-18th century, settlers from Connecticut migrated into
northeastern Pennsylvania, intent on establishing a colony
of their own. The town of Wilkes-Barre reflects their distinctive
influence: it was laid out in a New England pattern with a
town square and a river common along the Susquehanna.
The geological history of the Lehigh Valley formed the coal
which fueled the region's economic boom starting in the 19th
century. With the exception of small regions in Colorado and
New Mexico, Pennsylvania contains the only anthracite coal
regions found in the United States. Productive soils, vast
mineral deposits, and the Lehigh Canal created this region's
landscape of farms, early industries, and historic towns.
Iron-making was one of Pennsylvania's earliest and most important
industries, and talented iron masters became powerful and
wealthy. The George Taylor House, a
National Historic Landmark, overlooking the Lehigh River in
Catasauqua, was the magnificent 18th-century summer residence
of the Master of Durham Furnace and a signer of the Declaration
of Independence. White and Hazard's Lehigh Coal and Navigation
Company took an active role in the development of the valley
by selling water power and providing incentives for the use
of anthracite. A tremendous boom came after 1840 when the
first commercially successful anthracite-fueled blast furnace
for iron smelting went into production at Catasauqua. Canal-borne
fuel and new technological developments freed entrepreneurs
from rural furnace locations. Forges and factories began to
be built in the growing towns along the canal, particularly
in Easton. Ironmaking of the 19th century is interpreted at
the Lock Ridge Furnace Complex in Alburtis.
Until 1885 the Lehigh Valley was the most productive iron-making
region in America.
Bethlehem is the oldest of the valley's
three cities and strongly displays its origin as the settlement
of Moravian missionaries. A communal way of living and working
called the Economy was established, in which each member was
assigned the craft or position for which he or she had the
most talent. Men and women lived separately in large stone
and square-timbered dormitories, which remain. Produce and
high-quality manufactures supported the towns and the mission
settlements. The experiment ended by 1762. The Gemeinhaus
is the town's oldest building and is typical of the carefully
built 18th-century stone buildings lining the streets of the
historic district. The Moravian Sun Inn
has been restored and is once again being used as a hotel.
A 10-acre 18th-century industrial complex is now being restored
along Monocacy Creek. The Bethlehem Steel plant extends for
several miles along the Lehigh River. Although the plant is
not open to the public, a drive along 3rd Street reveals the
massive scale of this most powerful of industries.
Easton was founded at the Forks of the Delaware in 1752
by Thomas Penn, a son of William Penn. Following Penn's innovative
concepts of town planning, as exemplified in Philadelphia,
Thomas laid out the town in a grid around a "great square."
From Revolutionary times, Easton was an important commercial
center. Buildings and homes built by merchants near the great
Square are part of the Easton Historic District.
During the 19th century the city's strategic location at the
junction of the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers, the canals, and
five major railroads contributed to it becoming one of the
nation's earliest industrial centers.
The tremendous industrial growth that followed the Civil
War increased the demand for laborers. Coal and iron companies
initially recruited German, Irish, and Welsh workers. As more
and more labor was needed, Slavs, Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians,
Czechs, and many others were bought over. Quarrying and stone
dressing attracted Italian masons. Wives and children of the
workers were employed in silk mills,
situated to take advantage of inexpensive labor. Distinctive
ethnic neighborhoods and mining company towns emerged. The
poor working conditions of these immigrants eventually created
a workforce sympathetic to representation by labor unions.
The experience of this labor force differed sharply from
those able to profit greatly from this industrial growth.
The town of Jim Thorpe reflects the
lives of some of the regions more affluent residents. Tucked
in the narrow valley of the Mauch Chunk Creek, exuberantly
designed 19th-century buildings reflect the wealth and activity
of the town. Jim Thorpe was the boom town of the canal era,
the early headquarters of the powerful Lehigh and Navigation
Company, and a transfer point between the mountain railroads
and the canal. Hauled over the mountain on a gravity railroad,
anthracite coal was loaded into canal boats to be transported
downstream to markets in Philadelphia. First operated in 1827,
the gravity railroad was a marvel and generated the first
tourist boom for this tiny mountain town, by carrying thousands
of tourists attracted to the prospects of mountain scenery
and cool air.
The preserved Asa Packer Mansion,
a National Historic Landmark, illustrates the sudden wealth
which could be attained here. Asa Packer came to Jim Thorpe
as an apprentice boatbuilder. He died 57 years later as a
millionaire, after founding boatyards, construction and mining
companies, the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and Lehigh University.
Asa Packer built a second mansion for his son, and the Harry
Packer Mansion is now used as an inn. St. Mark's Church, of
rural Gothic design, and the restored Mauch Chunk Opera House
are remarkable period pieces. From the renovated train station,
occasional steam railroad excursions take visitors up the
scenic Lehigh Valley Gorge. The site of the Gravity Switchback
Railroad is now an 18-mile trail linking Jim Thorpe with Summit
Hill.
Canal
History
Transportation routes built for commerce developed slowly
in eastern Pennsylvania, and it was not until after the American
Revolution that some thought was given to open the upper river
regions to transportation canals. Routes to the interior promised
opportunity but bad roads limited development. Areas easily
accessible by water, such as lower Bucks County, were settled
first, and had a strong relationship to Philadelphia. Remote
farming settlements far from navigable waters in upper Bucks
and the Lehigh Valley remained isolated and developed small
self-sufficient economies. Many of the settlers struggled
to take advantage of local natural resources such as lime,
iron, timber and slate, but lack of transportation restricted
their use. Settlers did not move into the remote and difficult
terrain north of the Blue Mountain until after the better
agriculture lands of the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont had
been settled.
During this time the young city of Philadelphia was growing
into a powerful political and economic center, and until 1825
was the largest city in North America. Transport of goods
to markets there was critical to the development of the region's
economy. Navigation was possible on the Delaware River as
far north as Morrisville. Here, at the Falls of the Delaware,
the Coastal Plain rises to the Piedmont, and rocks and river
rapids form barriers to ships. Such barriers did not stop
shipping completely: massive log rafts of felled timber and
flat-bottomed Durham boats were floated down the Delaware
and Lehigh rivers. The Durham boats were laboriously poled
back upstream, although their limited size and the intensive
labor required made this form of transportation expensive.
The economic impetus for the development of reliable inexpensive
transportation on a large scale occurred early in the 19th
century. With the exception of small regions in Colorado and
New Mexico, Pennsylvania contains the only anthracite coal
regions found in the United States. Two ambitious Philadelphia
entrepreneurs, Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, secured rights
to thousands of acres of these anthracite coal lands. After
they demonstrated the marketability of anthracite as a efficient
fuel, they began to modify the Lehigh River for navigation.
To bring coal from the mountains of Carbon County and later,
the Wyoming Valley, the Lehigh Navigation
System and the Delaware Canal were
constructed. Built in stages from 1817 to 1845, the canals
opened the region to exploitation. The canals were largely
hand-dug by local farmers and Irish immigrants using picks,
shovels, and wheelbarrows. The navigation system of canal
and slackwater consisted of dams and locks of unprecedented
size. The Lehigh Canal extended from Easton
north to White Haven. The final connection to Wilkes-Barre
was made by rail, and it included the remarkable set of three
inclined planes near Ashley. The Delaware
Division of the Pennsylvania Canal originally ran from the
terminus of the Lehigh Navigation System in Easton south for
60 miles to Bristol. Today, the old
boat basin and tidal locks are gone, but the canal is intact
in Bristol and flows past the 19th-century Grundy
Mill. Along the restored river front is the Colonial and
Federal era core of the town, as well as Victorian mansions
built during the industrial heyday, among them the Senator
Joseph Grundy Mansion.
The canals were most active during the 1830s to the 1860s.
Even at the Lehigh Navigation System's peak in the 1850s,
adjacent railroads began eroding the canals' business. To
connect the Lehigh Navigation System to the Susquehanna River
and the surrounding Wyoming Valley coal fields, the Lehigh
and Susquehanna Railroad was extended over the mountains from
White Haven north to Wilkes-Barre. When much of the 22-mile
upper grand section of the canal, from White Haven to Jim
Thorpe, was destroyed by a flood in 1862, it was never
rebuilt. Use of the 47-mile lower canal slowly declined, and
portions were in operation until 1942. It was America's last
and longest-operated towpath canal. The Delaware Canal ceased
operation during the Great Depression and is today significant
as the most intact, accessible, and watered towpath canal
in the nation. One hundred and sixty years later, much of
the stonework of the canal's retaining walls and locks is
still visible and the canal is capable of being fully watered.
Written by Carol Lee of the Pennsylvania Historical and
Museum Commission
Scranton:Where
the Great Roads Meet
The essay title was once a slogan of Scranton's Chamber of
Commerce and the great roads were the Delaware, Lackawanna
and Western, the Delaware and Hudson, and the Erie railroads,
as well as several others. But Scranton did not begin where
commerce carrying roads met. It had an odd start in a deep
valley without benefit of populace or industry.
In 1771 a pioneer named Isaac Tripp moved up from the Wyoming
Valley to the Lackawanna Valley, becoming the first European
settler in the region. Tripp, family members, and others established
farms and businesses such as grist mills and forges that serviced
farmers needs. The settlers spread out in the areas of Hyde
Park, Providence, Slocum Hollow and other sections. In 1800
the census recorded 579 people spread around the area that
would become Scranton. The 1840 census showed an increase
to only 1,169 persons. Little was attracting new settlers.
About this time, Judge Jesse Fell discovered that the local
hard coal, anthracite, could be burned for domestic use. Anthracite
produces high heat and burns relatively cleanly. Once ignited
with a wood fire, a good draft through a grate, and fed from
above, an anthracite fire burned continuously. Mines were
opened and coal shipped over the mountains via the Delaware
and Hudson gravity railroad and canal system.
William Henry convinced son-in-law Selden Scranton and Selden's
brothers to relocate to Slocum Hollow from the iron foundry
in Oxford, New Jersey, they were managing. They thought they
could capitalize on the hard coal and the local iron ore.
After two years and much effort they finally made pig iron,
in January 1842. The pig iron then needed transporting out
of the valley to be processed into nails, tools, horseshoes,
and anything made of iron. Transportation costs priced the
pig bars above market levels. The iron ore was also inferior
and did not produce high quality products. At least the local
coal was of acceptable quality. In a last effort, the Scrantons
entered into a contract with the New York and Erie Railroad
to manufacture rail. Both companies were desperate. The Erie
needed to open lines across New York and the Scrantons needed
economic survival. The Scrantons built a rolling mill, imported
iron ore, experimented, and in the end they delivered the
first mass-produced rail in North America. They fulfilled
the Erie contract and set the valley on the path to progress.
The companies that would eventually become the Delaware,
Lackawanna and Western Railroad began in 1851. Rails laid
out of the valley carried the products of the Lackawanna Iron
and Coal Company to the outside world. The railroads that
carried iron and coal out brought in laborers and entrepreneurs.
Soon, the backwoods agrarian character changed to an early
industrial base. The Lackawanna Coal and Iron Company produced
pig iron until 1902 when the company moved closer to iron
fields and water transportation in Buffalo, New York. Coal
mining and transportation of the coal surpassed iron production
in economic importance. In the 19th century and well into
the 20th, northeast Pennsylvania was known as "The Anthracite
Capital of the World." In the early 1850s, the several
small villages merged to form the town of Scranton. Scranton
itself was built upon the twin pillars of iron and coal. Railroads,
the third industry, were developed to move the iron and coal
to market.
Scranton and the surrounding area benefited from immigration
patterns. Businessmen moving in from Connecticut and New England
established banks and retail stores, and became managers in
the coal companies and other industries. The first bank opened
in 1855. First generation European immigrants arrived from
Wales, Ireland, and Germany. Many of these immigrants, especially
the Welsh, were skilled miners and quickly occupied places
within the mining industry. Even today, this area has the
greatest number of Welsh descendants of any area in the United
States. After the Civil War, Scranton emerged as the dominant
town in northeast Pennsylvania, Lackawanna
Avenue was the commercial center with railroad stations,
mills, banks, markets, and retail shops lining both sides
and more businesses along the cross streets. Civic leaders
formed the Board of Trade, a precursor to the Chamber of Commerce,
to encourage new businesses and city oriented projects. Undoubtedly
the Board of Trade supported the formation of Lackawanna County
from the older Luzerne County in 1878.
Owners of New England textiles mills developed in similar
mills here. The prevailing industries hired men and boys while
the silk and garment mills would hire women and girls. The
Sauquoit Silk Mill hired 2,000 workers, mainly female. As
the Welsh moved into supervisory positions, they were replaced
by other immigrants recently arrived from southern and eastern
Europe. Those in this second wave of immigration were escaping
grinding poverty, usually did not speak English, were marginally
educated, and had few employable skills. In 1900 more than
one-third of the 100,000 people living in Scranton were foreign
born. Technological progress within the mining industry required
more general laborers and fewer skilled miners.
Coal has been called the blessing and the curse of the area.
Mining was the main wage-producing industry and labor was
the greatest cost incurred in operating a mine. Before World
War II, anthracite coal was replaced by cheaper, more easily
obtainable, and cleaner burning fuels. Before the collapse
of the market, the employees of the two primary industries
in Scranton, coal mines and railroads, participated in several
nationwide strikes over a 25-year period and through a collective
voice let the nation know of their plight regarding unsafe
working conditions, long hours, and low pay. Terence
V. Powderly, elected twice as mayor, was president of
the Knights of Labor, an early union.
The miners' plight reached a national audience with the
1902 Anthracite Strike. Anyone with a bit of money could buy
a mine and hire laborers, but most mines were owned by railroads
in a vertical monopoly. At least half of the mine workers
were immigrants whose loyalties were fragmented along ethnic
and religious lines. John Mitchell, from Illinois, had the
charisma and skill as president of the United Mine Workers
of America to organize these diverse and quarreling groups
as 80 percent of the 140,000 hard coal miners participated
in the 1902 Anthracite Strike. Supporters reached President
Theodore Roosevelt who then forced representatives of the
mine operators to accept arbitration. Before his death in
1919 at the age of 49, Mitchell requested burial in Scranton
because he had a good relationship with the people of the
city. He is buried in Cathedral Cemetery and there is a statue
in his honor on the county courthouse lawn.
Anthracite mining peaked in 1917. This was also about the
time when the textile industry began its decline as natural
fibers were replaced by synthetics. In 1920 about 30,000 men
were employed in the regional coal industry and when this
industry began to decline so did the economic base of the
region. The year 1920 represents the city's economic apex.
Even with the development of other businesses, the area remained
dependent on the labor intensive industries demanding muscle
and sweat. Likewise, the 1920 census recorded the height of
Scranton's population with 137,900 people living within the
city limits. Out-migration was documented in each subsequent
census with the 2000 census showing about 70,000 residents.
The "Electric City" is a nickname recognizing
Scranton's claim for the operation of the first electric streetcar
in the United States. The first run was on the evening of
November 30, 1886 when passengers boarded after a lecture
by African explorer Henry M. Stanley at the Academy of Music
(on Wyoming Avenue opposite St. Luke's Episcopal Church) and
rode to the Green Ridge section. Recently reelectrified, the
"Electric City" sign atop the Board of Trade building dominates the north side of
Courthouse Square. The eight-story building
was once the tallest structure in Scranton.
At one time, Scranton was well known for the International
Correspondence School (ICS). The state legislature required
a mine foreman to pass a knowledge test. Thomas Foster realized
that all the required information was in his "The Colliery
Engineer." He quickly created a correspondence school.
By 1901 ICS was incorporated and soon branched out into many
areas including the Women's Institute. ICS has reached millions
who wished to improve marketable skills. The original buildings
are on Wyoming Avenue, one of which is now a parochial high
school. ICS itself is still involved in distance learning.
But not all was earnest business. Theaters brought in traveling
entertainment companies ranging from opera to Buffalo Bill
Cody. Historical societies and museums celebrate the area's
history. Much of the architecture from 1880 to 1930 still
exists. Some of the vernacular houses in West Side for the
Welsh and later the Lithuanians are in use as homes. Well-built
churches, former department stores, the Lackawanna
Railroad passenger station, the Masonic
Temple, and other grand buildings remain in place adaptively
reused for a second life not planned when built.
Written by Ella S. Rayburn, Curator, Steamtown National
Historic Site
Establishing
the Heritage Corridor
The Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor was
established by the United States Congress in 1988 for its
important history and rich and distinctive historic and natural
resources. The Corridor showcases the Delaware, Lehigh and
Wyoming Valleys where anthracite coal was discovered, canals
were built and iron was first poured. The Delaware & Lehigh
National Heritage Corridor, which is also a State Heritage
Park, is a joint effort of private groups and interested citizens,
county and municipal governments, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
and the Federal government to conserve its historic and natural
resources, and provide appropriate development opportunities
for a sustainable future.
The National Heritage Corridor is recognized as an innovative
and effective way to conserve our nation's heritage and fulfill
the mission of bringing the benefits of national parks close
to the largest population concentration in America. Many benefit
from this effort, including nearly half a million students
in schools and colleges who learn in the living museum surrounding
them, a museum of history, sociology, geography, economy,
geology, wildlife and botany. Local businesses benefit from
the renewal of downtowns, and the restoration and adaptive
use of the region's historic buildings. Residents are able
to see their way of life protected and take renewed pride
in their unique heritage as individuals and as communities.
To this end, Pennsylvania Heritage Park funding was recently
awarded to projects within the Corridor that will stimulate
regional economic development, preservation and heritage tourism.
In historic downtown Bristol projects
include the construction of a visitor's gateway entrance and
courtyard at the Canal's End Reach and construction and improvements
to the Delaware Canal area near Lock #4. Portions of the Lehigh
Canal in Carbon County are slated for preservation, stabilization
and new signs to identify historic structures. Various towns
and cities will receive technical assistance to help conserve
environmental, scenic, cultural, historic and recreational
resources in the Corridor.
Today the Corridor's extraordinary natural, cultural and
recreational resources give us a living "national park"
where people reside, work and share the responsibility of
its preservation. Multitudes of visitors, drawn by the "real
places" and the amazing evolution of landscapes, may
discover rivers, mines and company mining towns, canals and
canal towns, railroads and other related resources encompassed
by the Corridor. The region is a veritable microcosm of the
nation's historical development.
Excerpted from "Along the Corridor," newsletter
of the The Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor,
the Management Action Plan of the Delaware & Lehigh
National Heritage Corridor, and information provided by
Sue Pridemore, Chief of Visitor Services for the Delaware
& Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Commission.
List
of Sites
Terence
V. Powderly House
Occupied by Terence V. Powderly for many years, this house
gained historical significance during the years of the American
Labor movement, and today is designated as a National Historic
Landmark. The labor movement of the late 1880s was dominated
by Powderly, a leader of Jeffersonian idealism. Born January
22, 1849, in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, Powderly became a union
man early in his life. Powderly's quest was to promote an
all-inclusive union and to promote arbitration as labor's
principle bargaining tool. After leaving school at the age
of 13, Powderly worked on a railroad and eventually became
an apprentice machinist. Powderly was elected president of
the Machinists' and Blacksmiths' union, which he joined in
1871. As a result of his union involvement, Powderly was among
the first to lose their jobs during the depression of 1873.
Powderly's natural leadership led to his position of Grand
Master Workmen of the Knights of Labor. The Knights of Labor,
originally a secret organization, was the leading labor organization
of the 1880s. Under Powderly's leadership for 14 years, the
Knights of Labor promoted the unity of labor and union organization.
In an attempt to form a large union the Knights counted both
African Americans and women as members. By 1886, with a membership
between 700,000 and 1,000,000, the union had become the largest
and most influential in the country. During his involvement
with the Knights of Labor, Powderly was elected Mayor of Scranton
in 1878. He served as Mayor for three two-year terms. As Mayor,
Powderly laid the ground work for city hall and helped authorize
the purchase of land for the city's municipal building. Powderly
was the nation's outstanding labor leader from 1879 to 1893.
The Knights of Labor union collapsed following its peak
in 1886, mostly due to its opposition of strikes. The Knights
of Labor remained in existence for 13 years, following Powderly's
resignation in 1893. Many of the Knights former members joined
the American Federation of Labor, led by Powderly's aggressive
personal rival, Samuel Gompers. Prior to his resignation from
the Knights of Labor, Powderly studied law in his spare time
and was admitted to the Lackawanna County State and Federal
Courts in 1894. President William McKinley appointed him as
the United States Commissioner General of Immigration in 1897.
In 1907, Powderly assumed a new position as chief of the division
of information of the Bureau of Immigration and held that
office until 1921. Following his appointment as commissioner
general he moved to Washington, DC, where he died June 24,
1924. Powderly's home in Scranton remains much as it was when
he occupied it.
The Powderly House is located at 614 North Main Street,
Scranton. It is not open to the public.
Steamtown
National Historic Site
Today, Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, is the
only unit in the National Park System where the story of steam
railroading and the people who made it possible is told. From
its inception in 1851, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
(DL&W) Railroad Yard in Scranton has been a dynamic site,
changing to meet the railroad's needs. As the railroad acquired
more track and equipment in the 19th century, the size of
the yard expanded from approximately 25 to 40 acres to accommodate
additional operation and repair facilities. Almost immediately
after William Truesdale became president of the DL&W
in 1899, major changes occurred. To keep the railroad competitive,
Truesdale decided that economy dictated bigger steam locomotives
and rolling stock. As a transportation system covering three
states in the northeastern United States, the DL&W Railroad
management acted in the 1899-1939 period to increase its efficiency
in operation through larger equipment and to diversify from
its reliance on the transportation of anthracite coal. The
railroad provided a transportation connection to New York
and New Jersey while promoting manufacturing and tourism along
the route. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Delaware,
Lackawanna and Western Railroad served as one of the major
anthracite lines.
The current steam era buildings that have been listed in
the National Register as the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
Railroad Yard-Dickson Manufacturing Yard, and are now part
of the Steamtown National Historic Site, were erected primarily
between 1899 and 1917 with a remnant of the 1937 roundhouse
also present. These buildings include the five-story concrete
frame Pattern Shop, the foundry, the steel frame Blacksmith
Shop, the Machine and Erecting Shop, the Oil House, Gas House,
the 1902 and 1937 roundhouse remnants, which housed steam
locomotives, and the three-story Mattes Street Signal Tower,
among others. The current track arrangement represents, for
the most part, that which evolved by the late 1930s. In 1983
the city of Scranton purchased the yard from Conrail as part
of an arrangement to house the Steamtown Foundation's collection
of steam locomotives and rolling stock. Steamtown National
Historic Site's collection of locomotives and other transportation
and train related equipment came from wealthy seafood processor
F. Nelson Blount's private collection. The inventory of Steamtown
National Historic Site can fall into two broad categories;
"motive power," which includes steam, diesel and electric
locomotives, and "passenger cars, freight cars, and maintenance
of way equipment." One locomotive and one electric power car
in the collection are from the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
Railroad. Steamtown includes a Visitor Center, a History Museum,
Roundhouse, Turntable, 1902 Roundhouse Section and a Technology
Museum. Steamtown National Historic Site was established on
October 30, 1986, to further public understanding and appreciation
of the role steam railroading played in the development of
the United States.
Steamtown National Historic Site, administered by the National Park Service, is located at the intersection of Lackawanna and Cliff aves. in Scranton. Steamtown is open daily 9:00am to 5:00pm, closed New Year's Day, Christmas Day and Thanksgiving Day. There is a fee for admission. Steamtown offers seasonal train excursions from the park to various destinations. Please call 570-340-5200 for further information, or visit the park's website.
Lackawanna
Iron and Coal Company Furnace
The Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company Furnaces represent the
remnants of an industry with important statewide significance.
As early as 1838, William Henry was investigating the feasibility
of establishing an anthracite fueled blast furnace along Roaring
Brook in the Lackawanna Valley. Well schooled in the process
of making iron, Henry had been the first American to experiment
successfully with applying a hot blast to the smelting of
iron ore at the Oxford Furnace in Belvidere, New Jersey. In
1840 Henry bought 503 acres in alliance with his son-in-law
Seldon Scranton, George Scranton, and Sanford Grant. The blast
furnace was not completed until early autumn of 1841. By the
summer of 1844 the furnace averaged five to seven tons of
pig iron a day, but the company soon went into the more profitable
business of producing T-rails for the railroad industry. In
1847, the company listed 800 employees, including many Welsh,
Irish, and German immigrants. In 1853 the firm reorganized
again and became the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company. The company's
assets in 1854 included three furnaces, the rolling and puddling
mills, foundry, two blacksmith shops, car shop, two carpenter's
shops, saw mill, grist mill, office, company store, 200 dwellings,
boarding house, manager's houses, ore and coal mines, tavern,
and a recently completed hotel. Eventually, due to the cost
of shipping iron ore into Scranton from the Midwest, as well
as the changing markets, a decision was made to move the plant
to Buffalo, New York. In 1903 the Scranton property was sold
to the Wyoming Valley Railroad, which contracted with a Philadelphia
company that scrapped all of the equipment, and tore down
all the structures except the stone blast furnaces. In the
late 1960s the furnaces were acquired by the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, and were administered under the State park
system. The furnaces were transferred to the Pennsylvania
Historical and Museum Commission in 1971. Today the four connected
stone blast furnace stacks are surrounded by 3.84 acres. The
furnaces are set into the south side of a hillside with a10
foot wide bridge, supported by masonry arches connecting them
to the rock cliff. The two easternmost furnaces, dated 1848-1849,
are built of smooth dressed stone blocks and stand 40 feet
high and are 40 feet wide at the base. No. 3 and No. 4 furnaces
were constructed c.1852 and c.1857 respectively, and are constructed
of rough dressed stone blocks and also stand 40 feet high.
Furnace No. 3 is 46 feet wide at the base, and furnace No.
4 is 48 feet wide at the base. All of the furnace stacks still
contain vestiges of their firebrick linings. The first, third
and fourth stacks contain ruins of their 19th-century hearths.
The Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company Furnaces are located
at 159 Cedar Ave. in Scranton. The Visitor Center building
is open on seasonal schedule. Grounds are open daily, 9:00am
to 5:00pm. For further information about the Iron Furnaces'
hours and programs, call the Pennsylvania Anthracite Heritage
Museum at 570-963-3208. Individuals with disabilities who
need special assistance or accommodation to visit this site
should call in advance to discuss their needs.
Delaware,
Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station
The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Station, built
during the years 1907-1908 at a cost of $ 601,780.96 in the
Neo-Classical Revival style by the Delaware, Lackawanna &
Western Railroad Company, is one of the most impressive buildings
in Scranton. The architects of the station were Kenneth Murchison
of New York and Edward Langley of Scranton, while the designer
was Lincoln Bush, chief engineer of the railroad company.
The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad was one of the
most important railroads in the northeast region of Pennsylvania.
Its beginnings date back to 1832 and the Ligget's Gap Railroad,
later the Lackawanna & Western, and the Delaware & Cobb's
Gap Railroad. These two lines merged in 1853 to form the Delaware,
Lackawanna and Western Railroad, while the Erie-Lackawanna
was not formed until 1960 from the merger of the Delaware,
Lackawanna & Western with the Erie. Anthracite coal was a
major factor in the growth of the railroad, and by 1925 the
company owned or controlled through lease nearly all coal
underlying West Scranton and had also acquired large areas
in other parts of the county as well as in Luzerne County.
The profits from the mining and transportation of coal enabled
the company to construct such an impressive station as the
one at Scranton.
Originally five stories in height, a sixth story was added
at a later date. Constructed primarily of sandstone, the station
features a porch above the first floor which extends almost
completely around the building. The most impressive features
of the building are the six Doric columns extending three
stories high which support the entablature above the main
entrance. The rear entranceway also features six Doric columns,
while engaged pilasters three-stories high extend around the
remainder of the building. The fifth floor above the entablature
features characteristics of Beaux Arts Classicism, including
figure sculptures above the main entrance. Directly above
the center of the entrance is a large clock with sculpted
eagles on either side. The building, which once served as
the central office for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western
Railroad, is perhaps the finest example of Neo-classical Revival
railroad station architecture in Pennsylvania. Today the Delaware,
Lackawanna & Western Railroad Station is the Lackawanna Station
Hotel.
The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Station,
now the Lackawanna Station Hotel is located at 700 Lackawanna
Ave., in Scranton. Take I-81 exit 53, near Steamtown
National Historical Site to get to there. Please call
570-342-8300 or visit www.radisson.com/scrantonpa/ for further
information.
Lackawanna
Avenue Commercial Historic District
The Lackawanna Avenue Commercial Historic District, the historic
commercial core of Scranton, is composed of a three-and-one-half
block section of Lackawanna Avenue and one square block which
adjoins the Avenue on the northeast. The buildings along Lackawanna
Avenue are generally three or four stories in height, containing
a variety of materials including brick, stone, tile, and stucco.
The most substantial buildings in the district are located
along Wyoming and North Washington Streets. Built in the late
19th and early 20th centuries, these buildings reflect a greater
adherence to distinct architectural styles than their counterparts
on Lackawanna. The most common styles are Renaissance Revival,
Richardson Romanesque, Neo Classical and an early example
of Art Deco.
In the late 19th century Scranton became the heart of the
anthracite coal mining industry in Pennsylvania as well as
a manufacturing center. With a population of almost 150,000
in 1930, Scranton's growth between 1860 and 1930 had been
remarkable. During those years of growth Lackawanna Avenue
served as the commercial center of Scranton. Featuring a number
of fine examples of late 19th-century architecture, the Avenue
characterized the prosperity and hopes of the city. By the
20th century the business district had expanded beyond Lackawanna
Avenue to include a one block section of Wyoming and North
Washington Streets. The extension of the district was enhanced
by the recently constructed county government facilities situated
two blocks east of Lackawanna. America's first all electric
street car system, with numerous stops on Lackawanna, added
to the ambiance. New retail establishments and a large hotel,
the Casey Hotel, opened along the Avenue. The new buildings
were commonly Richardson Romanesque, Neo-Classical and Renaissance
Revival in style. Some Art Deco architecture was also introduced
in the extension during the 1920s. While commercial activities
in Scranton slowed in the 1920s, the city's "Golden Years"
ended in 1929 with the onset of the Depression. Although the
district fell on hard economic times, Lackawanna Avenue still
reflects the prominence that was a part of Scranton in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Brooks Building, located
at 436 Spruce Street, is an eight-story red sandstone and
brick office building erected in 1891 as the Commonwealth
Building. Designed by L. C. Holden, the building later became
the Peoples National Bank from 1906 to 1917, and later housed
the J. H. Brooks brokerage firm for many years, which gave
the building its name.
The Lackawanna Avenue Commercial Historic District is
located on the 200-500 blocks of Lackawanna Ave., the 100
block of Wyoming & Washington Aves., and the 400 block of
Spruce. Many of the businesses within the district
open to the public during normal business hours.
Lackawanna
County Courthouse and John Mitchell Monument
The Lackawanna County Courthouse is historically significant
as the site of the first session of the Anthracite Coal Strike
Commission, appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt in the
fall of 1902 to end the "Great Strike" of the anthracite coal
workers. This strike was one of the largest and most important
strikes in American history. The Strike Commission hearings
represented the first non-violent, even-handed intervention
by the Federal government in a labor dispute. The most celebrated
witness to testify in the hearings was the legendary labor
leader John Mitchell, organizer and leader of the anthracite
coal workers and President of the United Mine Workers of America
(UMW). Mitchell's role in the "Great Strike" and other endeavors
gained him hero status in the anthracite region, and in 1924
the UMW erected a posthumous memorial to Mitchell in the courthouse
square.
The Lackawanna County Courthouse occupies a 4.7-acre lot
bounded by Washington Avenue, Linden Street, Adams Avenue,
and Spruce Street in downtown Scranton. The Courthouse is
a three-and-one-half-story, rectangular plan, masonry building
measuring approximately 100 by 140 feet with a raised basement,
hipped roof, and a five-story clock tower. The foundation
and walls are finished with rough-cut, coursed, local stone
and the roof is sheathed with tile shingles while the water
table, stringcourses, window sills, lintels, and buttress
caps are trimmed with Onondago limestone. The courthouse property
includes the stone courthouse, originally built in 1884 in
the Romanesque Revival style and enlarged in 1896 with the
addition of a third story and the reconstruction of the roof,
and the 1924 John Mitchell Monument, sculpted in bronze and
granite. The 1924 John Mitchell Monument fronts Adams Avenue
southeast of the courthouse. The monument consists of four
sections: a heroic-sized bronze statue, a granite monolith
containing a niche in the southeast facade, and two low, curved,
granite benches flanking either side of the granite monolith.
A bronze statue of John Mitchell stands atop a granite block
that is inscribed with the words "John Mitchell (1870-1919)."
The Lackawanna County Courthouse and John Mitchell Monument
are located in a square surrounded by Washington Avenue, Linden
Street, Adams Avenue, and Spruce Street in Scranton. The Courthouse
is open during normal business hours.
Masonic
Temple and Scottish Rite Cathedral
The Masonic Temple and Scottish Rite Cathedral is significant
as an example of the work of Raymond M. Hood (1881-1934),
a prominent architect of the 1920s and early 1930s, and as
a unique example of Neo-Gothic architecture in Scranton. Raymond
Hood's productive career spanned from 1922, when he and a
collaborator won the Chicago Tribune design competition, to
his untimely death at 53 in 1934. Hood became a nationally
prominent architect trained in the Beaux Arts tradition and
proficient with historic styles. During those 12 years, Hood
was the principle designer or primary collaborator in a number
of high-profile progressive skyscraper designs, mainly in
New York City, where he designed the Daily News Building and
the McGraw-Hill Building in mid-town Manhattan, and was part
of the team that designed Rockefeller Center. The Masonic
Temple and Scottish Rite Cathedral is located on North Washington
Avenue in downtown Scranton. The 1930 temple-cathedral is
a highly stylized Neo-Gothic and Romanesque pastiche executed
by Hood. The design of the building was to be a monument to
Masonry. Masonic lodges in Scranton for years felt the need
for a suitable home or temple, and prior to the construction
of this building they used an old armory. Bids for construction
were taken in January, 1927. The Masonic Temple and Scottish
Rite Cathedral was inaugurated on January 2, 1930 when the
first meeting was held in the building. The rectangular plan
building is clad in coursed ashlar Indiana limestone supported
by a structural steel framework. The front (west) facade is
divided into three sections: the central and southern sections
consist of five stories and the northern section consists
of three stories. The temple-cathedral includes an auditorium
and ballroom that are available to the Scranton community
for various functions. The Center hosts a number of artists
and programs, from local to international, as well as Arts
in Education courses for all ages. Regular performances include
The Broadway Theater of Northeast PA, Scranton Community Concerts,
the Northeast Philharmonic and the resident theater company,
TNT.
The Masonic Temple and Scottish Rite Cathedral is located
on 416-420 North Washington Ave. in Scranton. People interested
in touring the Masonic Temple can join "A Day at the Cultural
Center" which includes various activities and the tour. There
is a fee. Visit the Center's website
or call 570-346-7369 ext. 102 for further information.
Forty
Fort Meetinghouse
The Forty Fort Meeting House, built in 1806-8, and located
in the Old Forty Fort Cemetery, is a wood-frame building with
white clapboard siding in a style typical of New England meeting
houses. The style was carried to the Wyoming Valley via the
Connecticut settlers who migrated to northeastern Pennsylvania
in the late 18th century. In 1768, the Susquehanna Company
set aside certain public lands to be used for a "gospel ministrie"
(Susquehanna Company Papers, Vol. III, p.44). Several factors
intervened to delay actual building of a house of worship,
including the first and second Yankee-Pennamite wars and the
American Revolution, especially the Battle of Wyoming (July
3, 1778), when a house of worship that was begun was destroyed
in the aftermath of the battle. Construction of the Meeting
House began soon after the resolution of a 30-year long conflict
between Pennsylvania and Connecticut claimants for title to
the land. The commission to design and build the Meeting House
was given to Joseph Hitchcock from New Haven, Connecticut.
Hitchcock was also the designer of the Old Ship Zion Church
in Wilkes-Barre-an entirely different style of architecture.
The Meeting House was the first finished church in which religious
services were held in this part of Pennsylvania, and was used
for services by both Presbyterians and Methodists. The Forty
Fort Meeting House is the only extant example of the New England
influenced style of architecture in the immediate area that
is not greatly altered from its original appearance. In March
1860, the state legislature approved a bill creating the Forty
Fort Cemetery Association, which still retains control of
the cemetery and the Meeting House.
The Forty Fort Meeting House is located in the Old Forty
Fort Cemetery on the northern end of River St., across from
the Forty Fort Borough Building, in Forty Fort. It is open to the public on Sundays 1 PM – 3 PM from Memorial Day to the last Sunday in September as well as Memorial Day and the 4th of July. It is also open on Labor Day from 1 PM – 3 PM. In September there is a Sunday lecture series focused on historical topics of the Wyoming Valley which are free and open to the public. An ecumenical Vesper Service closes the season on the last Sunday of September.
River
Street Historic District
The River Street Historic District is made up of civic, commercial,
ecclesiastical, and residential buildings dating from 1860
to 1920. Primarily a district of wealthy industrialists' mansions
and upwardly mobile merchants' homes, it is organized around
a central core of Wilkes-Barre's principal civic and financial
institutions. Historically, the district displays the wealth
and importance of Wilkes-Barre during the years of the anthracite
coal industry. Most of the buildings in the River Street Historic
District are architect-designed and represent the range of
popular styles for their periods. The district possesses many
noteworthy buildings, such as the Luzerne County Courthouse,
a grand Beaux Arts style building, a Renaissance Palazzo YMCA,
and the unusual Moorish Revival style Irem Temple, built for
a local Masonic lodge. The River Street Historic District
contains 258 buildings, and includes four church buildings
erected between 1848 and 1900, all situated on Franklin Street.
Their steeples (and the extraordinary campanile of St. Stephen's
Church) provide the principal features of the District's skyline.
These are high-quality designs, reflecting a cosmopolitan
civic image based on the metropolitan architecture of New
York and Philadelphia. In large part, it was architects from
these cities who were brought to Wilkes-Barre to design churches
as well as homes and commercial buildings. Among those whose
work in the District survives are James Renwick (Osterhout
Library, formerly the Presbyterian Church of 1843-1852); F.
C. Withers, and J. C. Cady (the "new" Presbyterian Church
of 1889), all from New York and architects of national renown.
From Philadelphia came architects such as John Fraser, best
known as Frank Furness' mentor; Wilson Eyre (the Phelps home,
later the American Legion Post) and Charles Burns, a prominent
designer of Episcopal churches and the architect of St. Stephen's
Episcopal Church. While the residential streets of the district
are of a domestic scale and character, the institutional core
at the corner of West Market and Franklin Streets is different
stylistically, in its Beaux Arts buildings, and its scale,
determined by tall office buildings. Chief among these are
the United Penn Bank Building, built by the nationally acclaimed
Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham in 1911, and the First
Eastern Bank, built in 1907 by influential local architects
McCormick and French.
The River Street Historic District is located in Wilkes-Barre
and includes Franklin, River West River, West Jackson, West
Union, West Market, West Northampton, West South, and West
Ross Sts., Barnum Place, and the Susquehanna River. Many of
the businesses within the district open to the public during
normal business hours.
Market
Street Bridge
The Market Street Bridge is one of the most important bridges
crossing the Susquehanna River. Built from 1926 to 1929, it
is an excellent example of a long-span 1920s urban bridge.
At approximately 1,400 feet, it is one of the longest and
most highly ornamented concrete bridges in Pennsylvania. This
monumental 12 arch reinforced concrete and granite structure
incorporated two pylons at approach; each pylon is topped
with a giant carved limestone eagle. The original construction
included a water gauging station and ornamental light standards.
The water gauging station has been inoperable since 1943 and
the light standards have all been replaced. Construction of
the 12 arches was accomplished using adjustable steel trusses
for centering. The six longer spans over the river comprise
open spandrel arches of three wide ribs each. The end spans
over the flood plain consist of shorter barrel arches with
solid spandrel walls. A 1,500 foot long cable way hung from
large towers on the riverbanks to convey concrete in hoppers
to the middle spans. The Market Street Bridge, which replaced
an earlier truss bridge, was designed by Carrere & Hastings,
a renowned New York City architectural firm that also claims
the New York Public Library among its many commissions.
The Market Street Bridge spans the Susquehanna River,
meeting east Market St. in Wilkes-Barre.
Comerford
Theater
The Comerford Theater opened in 1938 as Wilkes-Barre's largest,
best-equipped, and most modern movie palace. Designed in a
Deco-Moderne stylized ziggurat composition the theater is
faced with terra cotta tile and green marble. Interior features
include a foyer paneled in walnut, an auditorium and loge
finished in walnut and translucent marble panels, and ornamental
plasters and bronze throughout. The Comerford Theater is the
only survivor of the city's three movie palaces. The modern
American Movie Palace, as it evolved in the early 20th century,
rapidly became a fixture in the medium to large city. Important
as a means of affordable entertainment and a recognizable
part of the urban cityscape, the Movie Palace was a major
part of the Movie ideology, coming from Hollywood, California,
which made the American cinema more than a pastime. The architecture
of the Movie Palace was lavished with an abundance of eclectic
ornament, making new reference to historic architectural styles
as well as the latest Art Deco forms. The Deco-Moderne architecture
of the Comerford is rare in the Wyoming Valley and its significance
as the major architectural legacy of depression-era Wilkes-Barre
is related to the city's unique history and reliance on anthracite
for the economy. Opened on August 18, 1938, to considerable
press coverage, the theater was founded by M. E. Comerford,
a native of Larksville, a township less then two miles from
Wilkes-Barre. Since he grew up locally, Comerford was regarded
as one of the city's "own." It was fitting and proper, at
least in the public's eye, that the Wilkes-Barre Theater should
be the most luxurious of the area, outdoing those in Scranton,
Hazleton or other northeastern Pennsylvania towns. In 1949,
the Comerford Corporation was subject to an anti-trust suit
and had to divest itself of a number of its theaters, and
on September 2, 1949, the Comerford became the Paramount,
which was the first in the region to use air-conditioners.
Some local residents created S.T.O.P. (Save The Old Paramount)
when it was faced with destruction, and their efforts were
successful in having the old Comerford Theater added to the
National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The theater
was rehabilitated after being damaged in Hurricane Agnes and
is now a performing arts center.
The Comerford Theater, now the F. M. Kirby Center for
the Performing Arts, is located at 71 Public Sq., in Wilkes-Barre.
Please call 570-826-1100 of visit the Center's website
for information on upcoming events, membership information
box office hours and ticket purchases.
Stegmaier
Brewery
Stegmaier Brewery was the largest brewery among numerous
breweries in the Wyoming Valley. At one time the firm was
one of the largest independent breweries in the United States.
Between 1910 and 1913 when American breweries were sending
their beers to be judged in European expositions, Stegmaier
Beer swept the field by winning eight Gold Medal awards in
every major exposition, including those in Brussels, Paris,
and Rome. The brewery grew from a five-employee operation
in 1857 to a high of 300 employees in 1971, then ceased operations
in 1972. The architectural character of the brewery was established
by the Romanesque style of the oldest extant building in the
complex, the Brew House Building. Constructed in 1894 and
designed by architect A. C. Wagner, its Romanesque influenced
industrial style was recreated throughout the complex, influencing
the late 19th-century industrial appearance of the other buildings
constructed by the First World War. When listed in the National
Register in 1979, six buildings remained of the original brewery
complex. The complex has been recorded by the Historic American
Buildings Survey. In 1995, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, a local architecture firm,
performed a prospective-use feasibility study, and found the
building worthy of renovation. The building was redeveloped
into 70,000 square feet of office space, along with a 60,000
square foot addition. By November 1997, Congressman Kanjorski
and five Federal agencies had leasing agreements and moved
into a beautiful, newly renovated Stegmaier Building.
The Stegmaier Building is located at 7 North Wilkes-Barre
Blvd., Wilkes-Barre. The building is now used as government
offices, and is not open to the public.
Ashley
Planes
The remains of the Ashley Planes, an engineering work designed
to move railroad cars over steep inclines, run through the
mountain cut from Ashley to Solomon gap, south of US 81 and
west of state route 309 along Solomon Creek. Construction
of the Planes began in 1837 as part of the construction of
the Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad linking the Lehigh Navigation
Canal with the Wyoming Anthracite Fields. Renovated and altered
in the 1860s and in 1909, they eventually consisted of four
separate inclined plane railroads used to connect Ashley with
Solomon Gap, rising to an elevation of about 1,600 feet. Both
passenger and freight cars were raised and lowered along 5-15
degree inclines by cables powered by steam engines. The Ashley
Planes were in use until 1948. They were a critical part of
the passage from the third anthracite basin to Solomon Gap,
and thence to all points south. Now in ruins, the remains
of the Ashley Planes include the ruins of boiler, engine and
drum houses; culverts, bridges, impoundments, and dams; and
a village called Dogtown. Parts of the Ashley Planes are located
on state game lands and are under rehabilitation as a hiking
trail.
Ashley Planes is located in the mountain cut from Ashley
to Solomon Gap, lying south of Rte. 81 and west of Rte. 309
along Solomon Creek, south of Wilkes-Barre.
Stoddartsville
Historic District
One of the pivotal industrial resources of the Lehigh River
region, Stoddartsville is the site of an early 19th-century
milling village built by entrepreneur John Stoddart in partnership
with Josiah White. Here White built the first bear trap locks
that made possible the canalization of the upper Lehigh River.
When the area's industrial business ventures proved unsuccessful,
and the milling village demised, a small resort community
developed among the remnants of Stoddart's company town. Within
the village are the prehistoric and Revolutionary War routes
across the river. Stoddartsville includes the ruins of the
immense gristmill (one of the largest in the state) and sawmill
built by Stoddart, the ruins of the bear trap lock, worker
and manager housing, and rustic resort cottages of the early
20th century.
Today, Stoddartsville is a private residential community.
The Stoddartsville Historic District consists of houses and
cottages, outbuildings and wells, as well as the ruins of
mills and mill races, walls and landscape features, and early
roads that were once part of an early 19th-century milling
and transportation center. Two principal visual features of
the district, one natural, the other man-made, command attention.
The natural feature, which determined the location of Stoddartsville,
is the "Great Falls of the Lehigh River." Here a band of bedrock
has been worn by the river into a multi-story cascade that
descends to a deep pool of water carved by the force of the
fall. Directly confronting the falls is the other remarkable
element of the district, the two remaining walls of the giant
gristmill that formed the economic focus of Stoddart's village.
Built of roughly shaped, local stones that were carefully
cut only at the corners, the mill remains a commanding presence
despite the loss of a roof and of a substantial portion of
the building. Looming higher than any agricultural building
of its era, it has a footprint of 50 by 70 feet. Chimney or
vent shafts at the corners provide clues to the evolution
of the Oliver Evans-type gristmill that was pioneered in the
Philadelphia region. The mill was damaged by flooding in 1862,
and was largely destroyed in the 1875 forest fire that swept
through the region.
The Stoddartsville Historic District is located on the
south side of PA Rte. 115 at the Lehigh River. Most of the
buildings are private residences, and not open to the public.
Eckley
Historic District
The Eckley Historic District, also known as Eckley Miners'
Village, was one of hundreds of company mining towns built
in the anthracite region during the late 19th century. The
patch town, or company built and operated mining town, provided
all the basic needs for the individuals who owned, operated,
and worked in the anthracite mines surrounding the town. Sharpe,
Weiss & Company leased land from Tench Coxe, and built the
town, between 1854 and 1874, to provide housing, medical care
and shopping for their employees. In the 1870s, 350 men and
boys worked in the mines, and the town reached a population
of 1,500. During the 1860s, eight million tons of coal were
mined in Pennsylvania's anthracite region, and mines remained
active until homes began heating with oil and natural gas
in the 1920s. The 58 remaining buildings include the mine
owners' houses, the doctor's office, 47 worker's houses, the
Catholic Church and its rectory. Listed in the National Register
in 1971, the town remains a significant example of a mining
community from the 1800s. Eckley Historic District is owned
and administered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as Eckley
Miners' Village.
Eckley Historic District is located nine miles east of
Hazleton, off Rte. 940, and is accessible from I-80 and I-81.
White on brown directional signs on either side of the town
of Freeland will direct visitors to Eckley. The Eckley Miner's
Village is open Monday-Saturday 9:00am to 5:00pm, Sunday 12:00pm
to 5:00pm, and is closed on state holidays, except Memorial
Day, July 4, and Labor Day. There is a fee. Please call 570-636-2070
or visit the Village's website
for further information.
Markle
Banking & Trust Company Building
The Markle Banking and Trust Company Building is a reinforced
concrete eleven11-story detached commercial block building,
faced with limestone and brick, and displaying Neoclassical
Revival and Chicago style influences in its detailing. The
building's large scale was designed to demonstrate the importance
of banking and commercial activity. In 1910, at the time of
the Markle Bank Building's construction, Hazleton was the
established center of the Middle Anthracite Coal Field. Built
at a cost of nearly half a million dollars, the Markle Bank
Building was Hazleton's first high-rise office building and
reflected the importance of the Markle family in anthracite
region banking and the importance of Hazleton banking and
financial activities in the development of the coal region.
Anthracite is a high heat, low smoke, coal which differs from
bituminous, or soft coal. The Markle Banking & Trust Company
Building is of classic tall building tripartite form (base,
shaft, and capital), with Neo-Classical Revival influences.
Of reinforced concrete construction, the building is faced
in limestone at the storefront level and in white brick at
the upper levels. The original storefront had three bays,
unified by four vertical pilasters that ran from the street
level through the mezzanine, cut and beveled to resemble coursed
stone. The Markle Bank operated until 1958, and in the same
year the storefront was altered.
Markle Banking & Trust Company Building is located at
8 West Broad St., in Hazleton. It is not currently
open to the public.
Old
Mauch Chunk Historic District
The town known as Mauch Chunk changed its name in 1954 to
honor the famous Native American athlete, Jim Thorpe. Thorpe
(1887-1953) is buried here, in a 20-ton mausoleum, although
he had no ties to the town during his lifetime. Located in
Carbon County, along the Mauch Chunk Creek not far from the
Lehigh River, much of the town remains as it did when the
coal industry, railroad, and canal system came together to
create a wealthy town beginning in the 1820s. Situated at
the eastern end of the Southern Anthracite Coal Fields in
the Blue Ridge Mountain, Mauch Chunk boomed in the mid-19th
century, becoming a central transportation link in the anthracite
industry and the site of important transportation innovations
such as the bear trap lock designed by Josiah White and the
Mauch Chunk & Summit Hill Gravity Switchback Railroad. The
switchback railroad was the first railroad constructed for
the movement of coal in this country. Mauch Chunk became a
tourist town as the coal industry died out; and the switchback
became a tourist attraction drawing people from urban areas
along the east coast to the country for a ride along the line.
Today a 16-mile trail exists along the former railroad bed.
Other features of the Mauch Chunk Historic District include
St. Mark's Episcopal Church, designated a National Historic
Landmark in 1977, and the Carbon County Jail, where10 members
of the Molly Maguires were jailed, tried, convicted and executed.
The Molly Maguires were a secret organization formed by Irish
immigrant coal miners who fought for better working conditions
in the coal fields of western Pennsylvania, beginning in 1862.
Twenty-four Molly Maguires were convicted of murder in the
fall of 1875, as a result of evidence gathered by a Pinkerton
detective, hired by the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad.
After the10 were executed in Mauch Chunk, and the others sentenced
to jail terms of two to seven years, the organization was
crushed.
The Old Mauch Chunk Historic District is located on Broadway
and Race Sts., in Jim Thorpe. Many of the buildings in the
district remain privately owned and are not open to the public.
However, public buildings are open during business hours and
several mansions offer tours and museums. The Mauch Chunk
Museum and Cultural Center, located within the Mauch Chunk
Historic District, on 41 West Broadway St., is open all year,
10:00am to 4:00pm, every day, except Monday. There is a fee.
Groups by appointment. Please call 570-325-9190 for further
information or visit the website.
Central
Railroad of New Jersey Station
Constructed in 1868, the Central Railroad of New Jersey Station
was designed by the firm of Wilson Brothers of Philadelphia.
It is a brick one and one-half story building, five bays in
length with a three and one-half story cylindrical tower.
Once considered one of the finest passenger stations on the
Jersey central line, the main mass of the station is covered
by a gable roof and supported by brackets, with two gabled
dormers on either side, double chimneys at either end, and
a large wooden cupola which dominates the building. This terminal
was a major rail junction in the anthracite region. Work began
on what was then the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad as early
as 1838. By 1843, the first passenger train came in over the
Ashley Planes, but it was not until
1866 when the backtrack from Mountaintop to Wilkes-Barre was
completed, eliminating the need for the Planes, that the first
passenger train arrived in Wilkes-Barre on its own steam.
With the discontinuance of passenger service in 1963, the
station began to deteriorate, and on March 31, 1972, 106 years
to the day the Jersey Central had begun its operation of the
Lehigh and Susquehanna Division, the station was officially
closed. Listed in the National Register in 1976 the station
now houses the Tourist Welcoming Center.
The Central Railroad of New Jersey Station, now the Jim
Thorpe Visitor's Center, is located at the Reading Terminal,
12th and Market Sts., on Lehigh Ave. It is open Monday-Saturday,
9:30am to 5:30pm and Sunday, 9:30am to 4:30 pm. Winter hours
are 9:30am to 6:30pm. Please call 570-325-3673 for more information
or write Jim Thorpe Chamber of Commerce P.O. Box 90 Jim Thorpe,
PA, 18229.
Asa
Packer Mansion
The Asa Packer Mansion, built in 1860, sits high above the
town of Jim Thorpe. The mansion was the home of Asa Packer
(1805-1879), a prominent Pennsylvania industrialist, philanthropist
and public servant, who began his career making canal boats.
Asa Packer came to town as an apprentice boatbuilder. He died
57 years later as a millionaire, after founding boatyards,
construction and mining companies, the Lehigh Valley Railroad,
and Lehigh University. His three-story Victorian Italianate
building has a center hall plan, though at each end of the
house is a one-room extension with a bowed end. Several stylistic
details ornament mark the exterior, including an Italianate
roof and elaborate wooden brackets, Gothic window arches,
and Gothic gingerbread trefoil motifs trimming the verandah.
Interior detailing and furnishings reflect the wealth and
influence of the owners. The Main Hallway features fine woodcarvings
by European artisans. The Gothic motif is used throughout,
and is particularly dramatic in the woodcarvings in the Main
Hall and stairs and the bracketed ceiling and stained-glass
windows in the dining room. The Asa Packer Mansion has been
preserved, complete with original furnishings, and is open
to the public. Asa Packer built a second mansion for his son,
Harry Packer, and the Harry Packer Mansion is now used as
an inn. Following the death of his daughter, Mary Packer Cummings
in 1912, the Asa Packer Mansion and furnishings were given
to the borough of Mauch Chunk. The Packer family lived in
the home from 1861-1912. In 1974 the Asa Packer Mansion was
designated a National Historic Landmark. The Asa Packer Mansion
is open to the public.
The Asa Packer Mansion Museum is located at 30 Elk St.,
in Jim Thorpe, and is open weekends during April, May, November
and the first 3 weekends in December. The Mansion is open
7 days a week from Memorial Day to October 31, 11:00am to
4:15pm. For group reservations, please call 570-325-3229,
or visit www.asapackermansionmuseum.homestead.com.
Carbon County Jail
The Carbon County Jail in historic Mauch Chunk is an excellent example of 19th-century prison construction, as well as a reminder of the 19th-century labor-management conflicts in the Pennsylvania anthracite coal region. Designed and built from 1869 to 1970, the jail is a two-story rusticated stone building with thick, massive walls and a tower. The jail could hold 29 prisoners. In 1875, the jail was crowded with miners, either Irish-born or the sons of Irish immigrants, who were accused of a series of murders on behalf of what the mine owners, railroad men, the prosecutors, anti-labor and anti-Catholic nativists, and the press described as an ominous terrorist conspiracy—the Molly Maguires.
Mauch Chunk (today Jim Thorpe) was a commercial and transport center for the coal region, and therefore became a center of efforts at organizing mine workers. The Irish immigrants who settled in the coal regions of Pennsylvania faced economic and social discrimination. To help fight discrimination and advocate for better working conditions, they turned to a fraternal, self-help organization, the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), and to an early trade union, the Workingmen’s Benevolent Association. But a distinct minority of miners also turned to an older, historic pattern of collective communal violence brought from their Irish homeland. In Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries, this violence was directed against rural landlords and their agents, policemen and judges. In Pennsylvania, this pattern was repeated, but in an area undergoing rapid, modern industrialization, and the violence was directed towards mine owners, superintendents, policemen, justices of the peace, and skilled British miners (who were paid more than the unskilled Irish laborers). In the 1860s and 1870s, 16 men were assassinated, most of them mine officials. The Irish miners who turned to violence were called Molly Maguires, taking their name from the legendary widow Molly Maguire, said to have led anti-landlord resistance in the 1840s.
The violence in the anthracite coal fields occurred during a period when the railroads and coal companies were consolidating their hold on the industry, depressing miners wages, and working to destroy the coal miners union. While union leaders remained opposed to violence, some miners (which included some union members) turned to intimidation, violence, riot and assassination. The coal interest responded by forming their own private police force and hiring the private Pinkerton Detective Agency to investigate the miners. James McParlan, a Pinkerton detective hired by the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, infiltrated the Molly Maguires and gathered evidence that led to the convictions and execution of 20 men for murder, and prison sentences for 19 others. The sensational trials were held in Pottsville, the county seat of Schuylkill, and in Mauch Chunk where the accused were held in the Carbon County Jail. Of the twenty convicted Molly Maguires, seven men were hung at the Carbon County Jail, including Alexander Campbell (an AOH treasurer), John “Yellow Jack” Donohue, Thomas Fisher, Michael Doyle and Edward Kelly, all members of the AOH, and James McDonnell and Charles Sharp(e), while the other men were hung in Pottsville.
The trials of the Molly Maguires, which received incendiary and biased press coverage, were patently unfair: prosecuting attorneys worked for the railroad or mining companies (not the state); Irish Catholics were not allowed to serve on the juries; some juries consisted primarily of German-speakers who knew little or no English; and in a number of trials, the sole prosecuting evidence came either from James McParlan, who admitted to attending meetings where assassinations were planned, but did not warn the intended victims, or from men who after being convicted of murder, became prosecution witnesses in order to lessen their sentences. The convictions and death sentences crushed the Molly Maguires and the cause of organized labor suffered as a result of the trials and the identification of the Molly Maguires with the mine union movement.
The Carbon County Jail is located at 128 Broadway St., in Jim Thorpe. Now the Old Jail Museum and Heritage Center, the museum is open ????????????. Call 570-325-5259 for further information.
Lehigh
Canal
The engineering survey on the Lehigh Canal started in 1818
and construction began on the Lehigh Navigation Canal in 1819
on the Lehigh River at the mouth of the Nesquahoning Creek.
The Canal was completed from Easton to Mauch Chunk in 1829.
Economically, the canal owed its existence to the discovery
of coal in the Mauch Chunk area in 1791 and to the efforts
of Josiah White and other entrepreneurs to improve the Lehigh
River for shipping anthracite coal. Owned and operated by
the Leigh Coal and Navigation Company for more than 100 years,
the Lehigh Canal shaped the development of industry and communities
along its path. Anthracite coalfields were opened to national
markets, and by 1846, shipped more than 2 million tons of
anthracite annually; in 1923 it shipped a record 5 million
tons of coal. The Lehigh Canal was not only important in the
transportation of anthracite coal from the mines of Carbon
County to Philadelphia but also had a significant impact on
the Lehigh Valley especially in the Allentown-Bethlehem region.
The economic impact of the canal can be seen in population
growth, industrial and mining development, urbanization and
agricultural change and growth. Population growth in the Lehigh
Valley increased more rapidly than the rest of the United
States from 1800 to 1820 because of the accessibility of the
Lehigh River. Allentown had a 100 percent increase in population
and by 1830 the population increased another 28 percent and,
with the completion of the canal, Allentown was ready to become
a mature industrial town. Industrially, Allentown benefitted
greatly from the canal.
In 1830, 303 tons of anthracite moved down the canal and
by 1839, the peak year of the canal, 6,638 tons were hauled.
As the railroad provided even lower costs after 1870 the canal
lost much of its earlier importance. The Great Depression
effectively ended the operations of the canal and in 1931
shipping on the canal stopped. Along the length of the canal
are the remains of its 76 locks, eight guard locks, 28 dams,
six aqueducts, locktenders houses, and canal villages. The
general Lehigh River Basin Watershed Area provided the water
and the average speed was two to three miles per hour with
a two-mule draft. The working day was generally 12 to 16 hours.
The Lehigh Canal was divided into two sections. Section 1,
the lower canal, ran from Easton to Mauch Chunk (Jim Thorpe)
and was 46.5 miles long. Section 2, the upper canal, ran from
Mauch Chunk north to White Haven and was 26 miles long. Above
White Haven two dam chutes (bear trap locks) were operated
from Stoddartsville. The canal was dug 60 feet wide at the
top and 45 feet wide at the bottom and was five to six feet
deep. Towpaths were eight to 12 feet wide.
A Visitor Center for the Delaware & Lehigh National
Heritage Corridor is located in Easton. It is open Tuesday-Sunday,
from 10:00am to 5:00pm. Located on the Delaware River, I-78
and 22 pass Easton, and I-80 passes through Carbon and Luzerne
Counties, an hour to the north of Easton. I-81 intersects
I-78 an hour's drive to the west. Public Transportation -
Amtrak has two stations within the Corridor, one in Bristol
and one in Doylestown. There is bus service from Philadelphia
and New York City to various communities within the Corridor.
Please call the Visitor Center at 610-515-8000 at Two Rivers
Landing. While visiting Two Rivers Landing in Easton, plan
to visit the Crayola Factory and the National
Canal Museum in the same building.
Fireman's
Drinking Fountain
The Fireman's Drinking Fountain was dedicated in 1909 by
Hose Company # 1, Slatington. The 12 foot high statue was
purchased from J. W. Fiske Iron Works, New York City, for
$700 and depicts a volunteer fireman carrying a child on his
left arm and holding a lantern in his right hand. The lantern
is illuminated with an electric light bulb at night. Erected
in the center of the Borough of Slatington, to supply a public
water source on Main Street, the fountain was designed to
provide a drinking fountain for people and a drinking area
for horses and dogs. The purchase price was raised through
the donations of many local residents. The statue was intended
to be symbol of volunteer service, vigilance, and humanity.
It does not memorialize a deceased firefighter, but instead
honors the living as well as the spirit of voluntary service
in the Slatington region. The importance of this statue to
Slatington was demonstrated when it was damaged in October,
1979 by an automobile. Through a tremendous community effort
the Fireman's Drinking Fountain was restored to its original
form, and rededicated on July 19, 1980.
The Fireman's Drinking Fountain is located on Main St.,
adjacent to the Slatington Public Library, in Slatington.
Coplay
Cement Company Kilns
From 1893 to 1904 the nine vertical kilns of the Coplay Cement
Company were used for the production of portland cement. Built
as an improvement in kiln technology over the bottle or dome
kiln then in use, the 90 foot high vertical kilns had the
advantage of producing a higher quality product than dome
kilns and produced it on a continuous basis as well. However,
they were almost immediately superseded by rotary kiln technology
that required very little labor to operate. In 1904 the company
shut down its vertical kilns and in the 1920s demolished the
surrounding buildings and removed the upper 30 feet of the
kilns. Lehigh County acquired the kilns in 1976 and launched
a rehabilitation campaign. The restored and stabilized kilns
now house a cement industry museum. Not only do these structures
represent the transition in kiln technology from the bottle
or dome kiln to the rotary kiln, but they stand as a fitting
monument to the pioneering role of David O. Saylor, the Coplay
Cement Company, and the Lehigh Valley area in the development
of the American portland cement industry. Several years before
he constructed his first cement plant in 1866, Saylor purchased
the land where it and the future mills of the Coplay Cement
Company would be located. His first mill, often referred to
as plant A, where he made his first portland cement in 1871,
was utilized well into the 1890s but was demolished early
in the 20th century. In 1892, eight years after Saylor's death,
the Coplay management, faced with a growing demand for its
product, decided to erect a new mill, and eventually 11 Schoefer
kilns, which were a Danish modification of an upright kiln
originally developed in Germany were built. Constructed of
locally made red brick, these kilns were utilized for the
production of portland cement. By 1900 this region provided
the nation with 75 percent of its cement and had been the
scene of a number of technological breakthroughs like the
development of the rotary kiln. In the long run, this growth,
which was made possible by Saylor and his company, enabled
the United States to become the world's leading producer of
cement, manufacturing by the 1920s four times as much as Great
Britain, its nearest competitor.
The Coplay Cement Company Kilns are located on North Second St., in Coplay. The area is now a Saylor Park, owned by Lehigh County, and open Saturday and Sunday, from 1:00pm to 4:00pm, and by appointment. For further information call 610-435-4664 or visit Saylor Park's website.
George
Taylor House
The George Taylor Mansion, a National Historic Landmark,
was built by Philadelphia Carpenters in 1768, as the home
of George Taylor, one of Pennsylvania's signers of the Declaration
of Independence. George Taylor was born in 1716, probably
in northern Ireland, and came to Pennsylvania as an indentured
servant in 1736. He was put to work as a clerk at the Warwick
Iron Furnace and Coventry in Chester County, and by 1739 had
become manager of this 1796-acre plantation. In 1742 he married
Anne Taylor Savage, widow of the ironmaster for whom Taylor
had been working. From 1769 to 1770 Taylor was a member of
the Pennsylvania Assembly. In July 1775 he was elected to
the position of Colonel in the Bucks County Assembly. Sent
to the Pennsylvania Assembly in October 1775, Taylor served
with distinction on important committees and helped draft
instructions to delegates to the Continental Congress in November.
On July 20, 1776, Taylor was appointed to the Continental
Congress with four other representatives to replace the Pennsylvania
delegates who refused to sign the Declaration of Independence.
Taylor signed the engrossed copy of that document on August
2, or thereafter, but took no other part in the activities
of the Congress, except to represent it, with George Walton,
at a conference with Native Americans held at Easton in January
1777. Taylor evidently quit Congress soon afterward. In March
1777 he was elected from Northampton County to the new Supreme
Executive Council of Pennsylvania, but because of illness
he served only six weeks and then retired from active public
affairs. From August 1775 to 1778 Taylor was also greatly
involved in the production at the Durham Furnace of grape
shot, cannon balls, bar shot, and cannon for the Revolutionary
armies. In 1778 Taylor was dispossessed of his lease of the
Durham Furnace (which had been owned by the Philadelphia Loyalist
John Galloway) by the Commissioner of Fortified Estates. Taylor
then leased the Greenwich Forge in Greenwich Township, New
Jersey, which he operated until 1781. In April 1780 he moved
from the Greenwich Forge to Easton, Pennsylvania, where he
died on February 23, 1781.
The George Taylor Mansion is a two-story Georgian stone
house with symmetrically paired brick end-chimneys and a gable
roof with flattened ridge. The main house, rectangular in
shape, is five bays wide and two bays deep with a central
hall that extends throughout the house. The walls, 24 inches
thick, are of stone masonry rubble and finished with a thick
slaked-lime stucco that gives the house its white appearance.
The two-story stone kitchen wing adjoining the main house
at the south end was built on the main axis around 1800. The
central hall divides the four first floor rooms into pairs:
the living room and parlor are on the left, and the dining
room and reception (or service) room on the right. The second
floor contains four bedrooms and two small dressing rooms.
A short distance to the east or rear of the house is a one
and a half story brick summer kitchen which was built around
1850.
The George Taylor Mansion, owned and operated by the
Lehigh County Historical Society, is located at 35 South Front
St., in Catasauqua. The Mansion is open June-October, Saturdays
and Sundays, 1:00pm to 4:00pm. There is a fee. Please call
610-435-4664 or visit the website
for further information.
Central
Bethlehem Historic District
The Central Bethlehem Historic District is historically important
beyond its current emphasis on the Moravian period of 1741
to 1844 considering the impact of industrialization and religious
pluralism. The Moravian community functioned as a Utopian
experiment, which allowed for cultural expression and religious
adherence to a pietistic belief from German theologians emigrating
from Europe to this part of Pennsylvania to bring Christianity
to the Native Americans. Their communal way of life established
extraordinary 18th-century industry and hand crafts in shared
cooperative efforts. The various Moravian communal buildings,
with 18th-century Germanic architectural elements, such as
herringbone pattern doors, gambrel roofs with flared eaves,
brick jack-arched windows and doors, tiled roofs, Germanic
sloping-roofed dormers, parged stone walls, and deep-set windows
represent the largest collection of Germanic style architecture
in the United States. After 1844 the divestiture of property
by the Moravian Congregation enabled people of all religions
to purchase land in Bethlehem. With the newly built Trinity
Episcopal, Wesley Methodist, and Salem Lutheran churches,
religious pluralism had arrived in Bethlehem. The growth of
Bethlehem after 1845 was affected by the heavy industry when
the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Bethlehem Iron Company
(later Bethlehem Steel) established their headquarters in
the community. Several examples of high style architecture
as monuments to wealthy industrialists were built on Main
Street. In 1892 George H. Myers, director of Bethlehem Iron
Company, the First National Bank, and the Lehigh Valley Railroad,
built the largest building in the Lehigh Valley at 525 Main
Street. Five stories high and built of Milford pink granite
from Maine, it was designed by Philadelphia architect Wills
G. Hale. Not all architectural innovations originated with
wealthy industrialists, homes in the Gothic, Second Empire
and Queen Anne styles can be found within the historic district.
The Central Bethlehem Historic District is bordered roughly
by Broad St., Linden St., Monocacy Creek and West St., Mitmat
St., part of Schaffer St. and First Ave. facing Monocacy Creek
or visit the website.
The Central Bethlehem Historic
District is the subject of an online-lesson
plan produced by Teaching with Historic Places, a National
Register program that offers classroom-ready lesson plans
on properties listed in the National Register. To learn more,
visit the Teaching
with Historic Places home page.
Old
Waterworks
Begun in 1754 and enlarged in 1762, the Bethlehem Waterworks
is thought to be the first municipal pumping system to provide
drinking and washing water in the United States. Johann Christopher
Christensen devised the system in 1754 to transfer spring
water from the Monocray Creek flood plain to the Moravian
settlement on the bluff above it. Six years later, Christensen
enlarged the waterworks and installed it in a 24-foot-square
limestone rubble structure with a red-tile covered hipped-bellcast-gable
roof. The system's 18-foot undershot waterwheel powered three
single acting cast-iron pumps which forced spring water through
wood (later lead) pipes 320 feet (94 vertical feet) by a collecting
tower, and from there water flowed by gravity to strategically
placed cisterns throughout the community. Machines to raise
water had been in use in Europe for centuries, but until the
construction of the Bethlehem Waterworks, none had been erected
in the American Colonies. In 1652 the Water-Works Company
of Boston had constructed a gravity conduit system that used
bored logs to convey water from wells and springs to a 12-foot-square
reservoir, but the system had not fulfilled the expectations
of its promoters and had fallen into disuse. Christensen,
born in Schleswig-Holstein in 1716 and trained during his
youth in a royal mill in Hadersleben, probably took his ideas
for the Bethlehem system from his knowledge of the forcing
pumps that had been in use in many German cities since the
end of the 15th century. The system served the city until
1832.
By the 1960s the area had become an automobile junkyard.
The stone pumphouse was restored in the 1970s, and the waterwheel
and pumps were subsequently reconstructed based on the original
plans that had been preserved in the Moravian Archives in
Germany. The Old Waterworks is a National Historic Landmark.
The Old Waterworks is located at 459 Old York Rd., in
Bethlehem, on the east bank of Monocacy Creek immediately
north of Hill-to-Hill Bridge and immediately west of Main
St. The Waterworks, administered by Historic Bethlehem, Inc.,
is open July 7-August 25 from 12:00pm to 4:00pm. There is
a fee. Please call 610-691-0603 or visit the website.
Moravian
Sun Inn
The 1758 Sun Inn was a successful 18th-century inn, constructed
by the leaders of the Moravian community at Bethlehem. The
inn provided accommodations for merchants who had business
with the community while maintaining a proper separation between
the Moravian brethren and outsiders. Because of Bethlehem's
proximity to Philadelphia, the Inn housed numerous figures
famous in colonial politics, including Generals Gates, Mifflin,
and Sullivan, John Hancock, John Adams, Samuel Adams, the
Marquis de Lafayette, and George Washington. Bethlehem served
twice during the American Revolution, as medical headquarters
for George Washington's forces. Following the Battle of Brandywine,
over 900 wagons, containing heavy baggage and stores of George
Washington's army, were parked in the lowlands to the rear
of the Inn. At this time the Sun Inn was heavily burdened
by the influx of those individuals fleeing the Philadelphia
area in the aftermath of the battle. Another reason for the
attraction of so many well-known figures was its high quality
of accommodations. In 1782, a traveler expressed his happiness
with the Inn by saying that it "is not inferior to the best
large inns of England". In 1799 the Inn served as the prison
for 17 local "Freis rebels" resisting the unpopular window
tax. The original Sun Inn, built in 1758, was a two-story
stone building with a mansard roof. In 1826, extensive repairs
to the roof were required and a third story, containing 17
rooms, was added. In 1866 the building was enlarged for a
hotel and commercial use and bears little resemblance to the
original inn.
The Moravian Sun Inn is located at 564 Main St., Bethlehem,
and is run as a museum by the Sun Inn Preservation Association,
Inc. Guided tours are given Monday-Saturday from 11:30am to
4:00pm; Friday and Saturday from 5:00pm to 9:00pm. There is
a fee. Call 610-866-1758 for further information.
Gemeinhaus-Lewis
David De Schweinitz Residence
The Gemeinhaus (or communal house), an excellent example
of German-Moravian architecture, has been owned by the Moravian
Church since 1733. It is a two and one-half story log building
with a double attic. Clapboards were added to the exterior
in 1868. Since 1743 the building has measured 94 feet by 32
feet, and contained a chapel, 12 rooms, and two dormitories.
As the second building in Bethlehem it provided a gathering
place for all Moravian activities; later it was primarily
used as a residence for Moravian Church officials and their
families. Lewis David de Schweinitz was born in the Gemeinhaus
in 1780. At the time, his father, Hans Christian, a Moravian
clergyman, lived in the building with five other clergymen
and their families. The house was his home until he left Bethlehem
to attend school in Nazareth at the age of seven. In 1822
de Schweinitz returned to Bethlehem from Salem, North Carolina.
As an official of the Moravian Church, he and his family were
lodged in the Gemeinhaus. The house remained his home until
his death in 1834. Lewis David de Schweinitz is significant
in the history of science in America as one of the leading
botanists and the leading mycologist at the turn of the 19th
century. He wrote The Fungi of North Carolina (1818),
containing descriptions of more than 1,000 species and followed
this work with "A Synopsis of North American Fungi," published
in Transactions, the journal of the American Philosophical
Society, in 1834. Lewis David de Schweinitz's work in botany
and mycology reflected the state of American science of the
period, when men who wished to pursue natural history either
possessed private means or supported themselves at other professions.
He corresponded widely with European colleagues, but, as a
clergyman, science was secondary to de Schweinitz. The Gemeinhaus
was designated a National Historic Landmark and is now a museum
open to the public.
The Gemeinhaus-Lewis David de Schweinitz Residence is
located on West Church St. in Bethlehem. Take Rte. 309 North
to Rte. 378 North, across Hill Bridge. Turn right at Main
St. exit and right onto Market St. Turn right onto New St.
and right again onto West Church St. and go to number 66.
The Gemeinhaus is open February-December, Tuesday-Saturday
1:00pm to 4:00pm. Other times call for appointment. There
is a fee. Please call 610-867-0713 or visit the website.
Lehigh
Valley Silk Mills
The Lehigh Valley Silk Mills consisted of two firms, the
Lipps & Sutton Silk Mill, which was one of the first silk
mills built in the Lehigh Valley, constructed between 1886
and 1904, and the Warren Mill constructed in 1895. The complex
is of red brick vernacular construction and represents the
variety of local silk mill architecture. By 1920 the Lehigh
Valley, which includes the three major cities of Allentown,
Bethlehem, and Easton, had become the second most important
silk producing region in the nation. The area was surpassed
in silk production only by Paterson, New Jersey. The iron,
steel, and cement industries were indirectly responsible for
the development of the silk and textile industries in the
Lehigh Valley. Workers coming from Southern and Central Europe
who were willing to work for low wages in these basic heavy
industries also brought with them knowledge of the skills
in the textile arts (spinning, weaving, and sewing). The region's
location near Eastern markets was also important in the growth
of the textile industry. The Warren Mill is devoid of ornamentation,
while the Lipps & Sutton Mill, designed by locally prominent
architect A. W. Leh, has distinctive decorative features that
include small corbeled corner turrets with pyramidal pinnacles
of sheet metal. The Lehigh Valley Silk Mills operation was
one of the major silk mill complexes in the Lehigh Valley
region. In 1918 the Lehigh Valley Silk Mills included Warren
Mill, Lloyd Mills, and Williamsburg Mills, had 50,000 spindles
and six boilers, and employed 600 workers; although it is
not clear if these figures are for Warren Mill alone or the
three mentioned mills together. Lehigh Valley Silk Mills ended
in bankruptcy in 1937. It was recently renovated and received
a federal historic preservation tax
credit. The Silk Mills are now private residences and
the govenment offices for the Fountain Hill borough.
Lehigh Valley Silk Mills are located on Seneca and Clewell
Sts., in Fountain Hill borough. The borough offices are open
during normal business hours.
Ehrhart's
Mill Historic District
Please Note: Unfortunately, portions of Ehrhart's Mill Historic District were destroyed by fire, including the mill itself. We have retained this page as a source of historical information.
Ehrhart's Mill Historic District lies along Old Mill Road
beside the Saucon Creek in a shallow valley in Lower Saucon
Township. A large gristmill and two houses dominate the center
of the district. Ehrhart's Mill is a survivor of the numerous
gristmills that once operated throughout the Lehigh Valley.
Ehrhart's Mill Historic District contains nine buildings and
four structures, which were built during the 19th century.
The buildings include one small barn, the stone gristmill,
and three stone or brick vernacular houses. The most prominent
structure is the bridge, an iron Pratt Truss structure erected
in 1867. The district possesses good integrity, with few major
alterations made to the buildings or structures. The largest
resource in the district, is the gristmill located between
Old Mill Road and the Saucon Creek. The mill building is a
five level, three-story stone edifice, measuring 40 by 55
feet. Milling activity began at this site on Saucon Creek
in the 18th century. The Ehrhart family acquired the property
in the 1850s and built it into one of the largest grist milling
operations in the county by the late 19th century, shipping
grain in from the Midwest and transporting flour to eastern
cities. In addition to the gristmill, the mill complex includes
a barn, scale house, and several houses associated with the
Ehrhart family. The mill retains almost all its 19th-century
power train and equipment.
Ehrhart's Mill Historic District is located along Old
Mill Rd. along Saucon Creek less than a half-mile from Hellertown.
Lock
Ridge Furnace Complex
Construction of the Lock Ridge Iron Furnace began in 1868
during the peak of the anthracite iron industry. Utilizing
anthracite coal or coke rather than charcoal as fuel, a hot
rather than cold blast to speed oxidation, and a steam engine
rather than bellows to force the hot blast into the furnace,
anthracite iron making flourished in the valleys of the Susquehanna,
Schulkill, and Lehigh Rivers from about 1840 to 1890. Lehigh
Valley was the most important center of the industry. The
Lock Ridge Furnace continued to operate until after WW I,
long after most other furnaces had succumbed to competition
from major firms using modern equipment. The site was restored
as a park and museum in the early 1970s. The furnace now consists
of the furnace room, engine room and cast room of Furnace
No. 7; the former weighmaster's house; the oil house; partial
ruins of Furnace No. 8 and its associated buildings; the carpenter's
shop; the blacksmith shop; and the piers for the trestles
which received railroad cars carrying materials. The Lock
Ridge complex is one of only two remaining furnaces of the
many that were in operation in central and eastern Pennsylvania
in 1876.
The Lock Ridge Furnace Museum is located at 525 Franklin
St, in Alburtis. The hours are Saturday-Sunday, 1:00pm to
4:00pm, May-September. Call 610-435-4664 or visit www.voicenet.com/~lchs/museum/lchsmus.html
for more information.
Chain
Bridge
The Chain Bridge was built by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation
Company in 1857 to enable people and mules to cross the Lehigh
River. The bridge was used to ferry the mules across the river,
and allowed the animals to tow the boats and barges from one
bank to the other. Although listed in the National Register as Chain Bridge, is is actually a change bridge--a special structure with an underpass that allowed mules towing canal boats to move, cloverleaf style, from one side of the canal to the other without unhitching. The bridge is composed of three stone piers
and two spans. Each pier is approximately 30 feet high and
the center pier is about 40 feet across at water level. At
each of the end piers is a metal capping and cable anchorage
for the three-inch cables which supported the bridge surface.
When built, the bridge was one of the early uses of stranded
cable for bridge construction. The stranded cable was made
on the site, possibly by the Roebling Company, who built several
suspension bridges, including the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge was intended to carry only pedestrians and animals,
not vehicular traffic. In the 1950s the road surface was removed
from the piers. The bridge remains significant because it
was an integral part of the long defunct canal system. It
is also a fine example of the early use of standard cable
for bridge construction. The bridge represents a unique civil
engineering solution to a canal era problem and played a vital
role in the transportation system that opened up the Lehigh
Valley to outside development and established coal as an invaluable
heating and industrial fuel.
The Chain Bridge is located about a half mile southwest
of Glendon on the Hugh Moore Prky. across the Lehigh River.
Easton
Historic District
Located favorably at the junction of the Lehigh and Delaware
Rivers and the mouth of the Great and Lehigh Valleys, Easton
occupied a position astride both major east-west and north-south
trade routes and became a commercial and transportation center
of national importance. Because of its position Easton was
also a center of frontier government and diplomacy. Transportation
development began as early as 1740 and grew continuously.
Easton developed a considerable river trade, by means of Durham
boats, with Philadelphia and other parts of the American colonies.
The years between 1820 and 1850 marked Easton's most pronounced
growth as one of the country's most important canal junctions.
During the last half of the 19th century it was connected
to five railroads and the three massive rail bridges crossing
the Delaware River here reflect the importance of the community.
The commercial and residential buildings in the Easton Historic
District represent the dynamic growth and wealth of the community
in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Easton Historic District
is a relatively intact Victorian commercial center. Within
the district, examples of Colonial architecture include the
Parsons-Taylor House at 58 South Fourth Street and the Easton
House Tavern located at 1 North Second Street. Federal architecture
is exemplified by the Mixsell House (Northampton County Historical
Society) located at 104 South Fourth Street and the First
Public Library located at 32 North Second Street. The Eclectic
and Revival styles can be found at the Herman Simon House
on 41 North Third Street, the Benjamin Reigel House at 214
Spring Garden Street and the Detwiler House located at 54
Centre Square. The old Northampton National Bank Building
located at 400-402 Northampton Square and the Old State Theater
at 415-453 represent the Beaux Arts style of 1890-1920. The
Art Deco architectural style is represented by the Jacob Mayer
Building located at 1,2,3, Centre Square and the Bell Telephone
Building located at 47 North Fourth Street.
The Easton Historic district is generally bounded by
Riverside Dr. before the Delaware River, Bushkill Dr., Ferry
St., Lehigh St., Union St., Walnut St., South 7th St., Church
St. and Hestor St. in Easton. Many of the businesses within
the district open to the public during normal business hours.
Delaware
Canal
Approved by the Pennsylvania legislature in 1827 as part
of the State's grand scheme to construct a statewide system
of canals, the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal
was completed in 1832. The longest-lived canal in the country,
operating for more than a century, the canal opened the anthracite
coalfields to the markets of Philadelphia and New York City.
Anthracite made up more than 90 percent of the canal's cargo.
Through its connections with the Lehigh Canal, the Delaware
Canal served a primary function in the development of the
anthracite coal industry in the upper Lehigh Valley. By providing
a convenient and economical means of transplanting the coal
to Philadelphia, New York, and the eastern seaboard, the advantages
of this heating medium were made available to thousands of
individuals and industries, thus conserving the rapidly dwindling
wood resources being consumed for domestic heating purposes.
The introduction of anthracite in place of charcoal in the
operation of the iron furnaces stimulated the expansion of
iron industries along the Lehigh and Delaware rivers. During
the Delaware Canal's active existence, approximately 33 million
tons of anthracite coal and about 6 million tons of miscellaneous
cargoes, including foodstuffs for communities were transported
along the canal. The Delaware Canal also stimulated local
economies along its route, and all the communities along its
length enjoyed prosperity. Now maintained as a State park,
the Delaware Canal still contains water throughout most of
its original length. Almost all of the locks, aqueducts, and
overflows are still extant, as well as numerous associated
historic properties such as lockkeeper houses and camelback
bridges. Designated a National Historic Landmark, the Delaware
Canal retains a great deal of integrity throughout its length
and provides a nostalgic reminder of a once vital transportation
link.
The Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal, or Roosevelt
State Park, parallels the west bank of the Delaware River
from Easton to Bristol (Bucks and Northampton Counties). The
Visitor Center, at Two Rivers Landing, in Easton is open Tuesday-Sunday,
from 10:00am to 5:00pm. Please call the Visitor Center at
610-515-8000 or visit the website.
Durham
Mill and Furnace
The Durham Mill is typical of early 19th-century gristmills
in the eastern part of Pennsylvania. The 3-story stone building
was built in 1820 on the foundation walls of the historic
Durham Furnace. The furnace, dating from 1727, had produced
pig and bar iron as well as cast iron pans, utensils and stove
plates for nearly 70 years. Pig iron was crude iron; the direct
product of the blast furnace. When refined, it produces steel
or wrought iron. The mill, always operated with an overshot
wheel, drew its water from Cook's Creek by way of a 3/4 mile
long raceway. One of the first managers of the furnace was
Colonel George Taylor, a signer of the
Declaration of Independence. During his time there the furnace
produced cannons, cannon balls and shot, and other military
equipment for the American troops. Ironically, a loyalist
named Joseph Galloway actually owned the furnace then. Also
associated with the war were the Durham boats designed for
river commerce by Robert Durham. George Washington used 40
of these boats in his historic crossing
of the Delaware River. Another Revolutionary War figure
associated with the area was general Daniel Morgan, a native
of Durham and an employee at the furnace at age 16. Rubin
Knecht Bachman, a US Representative during the Hayes administration,
owned the mill in the late 19th century and early 1900s. The
outstanding addition over these years was the brick warehouse
with gamble roof built in 1812. The mill was in continuous
operation until 1967, producing primarily livestock feed in
its later years.
Durham Mill and Furnace is located on Durham Rd. in Durham
Township, Bucks County. The building is not open to the public.
Ridge
Valley Rural Historic District
Ridge Valley Rural Historic District contains more than 575
acres of land in Tinicum Township. The terrain is characterized
by exposed shale, steep slopes, creeks, winding roads, open
fields, and woods. The name for this historic district comes
from the 1891 Atlas, in which this area was labeled
Ridge Valley School District. The architecture consists mostly
of 19th-century farmsteads, typically with 3-bay farmhouses
built of red shale, bank barns, and other outbuildings creating
a distinctive type of traditional Bucks County vernacular
farm architecture. Settlement of the Ridge Valley began in
the late 18th century and farming flourished on the hilly
terrain through the 19th century. Ridge Valley farming did
not modernize in the 20th century and few farms weathered
the Great Depression. The unique survival of the 19th-century
characteristics of Ridge Valley farmsteads results from the
efforts of an influx of New York city artists, who began moving
to Bucks County in the 1920s and 30s. Personalities who moved
to Tinicum Township included artist Charles Rudy, screenwriter
John Wexley, actress Miriam Hopkins, songwriter Jerome Kern,
playwright S.J. Perelman, and satirist Dorothy Parker.
The Ridge Valley Rural Historic District encompasses
all of Sheep Hole Rd. and parts of Headquarters, Geigel Hill,
Red Hill, Tabor and Bunker Hill Rds. in Ottsville (Tinicum
Township). Take a right off Durham Rd. in Ottsville-the core
of the Ridge Valley Historic District is the valley cut by
the Tinicum Creek through which Sheep Hole Rd. travels. The
properties located in the district are privately owned, but
the main roads are public.
Green
Hills Farm (Pearl S. Buck House)
Green Hills farm consists of a complex of buildings constructed
over the past 200 years on approximately 58 acres. The property
has been designated a National Historic Landmark for its association
with noted author Pearl S. Buck, Buck purchased the farm in
1933 and made it her home until her death in 1973. The house's
solid stone and 1835 age, she later said, symbolized for her
strength and durability. The oldest building on the property
is a one-story stone summer kitchen that was purportedly constructed
before the American Revolution. Constructed of coursed fieldstone,
the house is four bays wide and two deep with the main entrance
located in the second bay. Two gable dormers are located on
the front and rear slope of the roof. Chimneys are located
on each gable end. When Mrs. Buck purchased the farmstead,
she made extensive alternations and additions to the 19th-century
farmhouse, including a two-story fieldstone wing added to
the east gable. The author of more than 85 books and winner
of the Nobel and Pulitzer prizes in literature, Buck gained
fame for her books on China, notably The Good Earth, which
chronicled the fictional life of the farmer Wang Lung against
the backdrop of 20th-century turmoil and revolution in China.
At the time of her death the American literary establishment
had consigned her work to a middle brow rank in the history
of American literature, and while she was popularly acclaimed
she received critical rejection from college textbooks and
anthologies until sometime after her death. The stone farmhouse
and outbuildings are currently used as the center for the
Pearl S. Buck Foundation. The house is maintained as a museum
and is open to the public.
The Pearl S. Buck House is located southwest of Dublin
at 520 Dublin Rd., in Hilltown Township, Bucks County.
Tours
are offered of the home Tuesday-Saturday at 11:00am, 1:00pm
and 2:00pm, and on Sundays at 1:00pm and 2:00pm. Closed
on
Mondays and major holidays. There is a fee. Please call 1-800-220-2825
ext. 170 or visit the website
(www.pearlsbuck.org)for further information. Today, Green
Hills Farm is the headquarters of the Pearl S. Buck International
(PSBI),
a non-sectarian
development and humanitarian assistance organization dedicated
to improving the quality of life and expanding opportunities
for children, who, as a result of the circumstances of their
birth, have been denied access to educational, social, economic
and civil rights.
Fonthill
Now recognized as a National Historic Landmark, the estate
of Fonthill was once the home of the noted anthropologist,
antiquarian, artist, writer, and tile-maker Henry C. Mercer,
a leader in the turn-of-the-century Arts and Crafts movement.
Mercer was known for his collection of pre-industrial Pennsylvania
crafts and household utensils and for his work with tiles.
Fonthill defies any classification or categorization. It is
a pioneering example of using reinforced concrete as a building
medium. Each room is unique, neither are any two columns alike,
for Mercer felt that just as no trees were alike, neither
would be any two rooms or items constructed in his mansion.
Mercer drew his inspiration for the building from various
sources, including Byzantine churches in Greece, Mont St.
Michel in France, a Turkish house in Salonica, and the paintings
of Gerard Dow. A woodcut entitled "The Haunted" in the short
story "A Stable for Nightmares" also contributed to the design.
Mercer's anthropological experience and travels contributed
to his unique and extensive collections of ceramic tiles,
prints, tapestries, and books. The buildings of this estate
are made of reinforced concrete with red tiles covering the
roofs of some of the buildings. The Mercer mansion resembles
a medieval castle in some respects and the main building,
with its four-story tower with mansard roof and balcony, is
referred to as "The Castle." The garage or 'pavilion terrace'
is separate from the main building and has numerous chimneys
and dormers fashioned into dovecotes or birdhouses. The estate's
present appearance remains unchanged since the death of Dr.
Mercer in 1930.
From I-95 take New Town/Yardley Ext. 30, and follow the
413/332 bypass around New Town to Rte. 413 North. Take 413
north to Buckingham, and make left on 202 south, follow signs
to Doylestown. Take 313 left, also known as Swamp Rd. At the
next stoplight, make a left on Court St. Fonthill is on the
right and is open by guided tour only, 10:00am to 5:00pm,
Monday-Friday, 12:00pm to5:00pm Sunday, closed on Christmas,
Thanksgiving, and New Year's. There is a fee. Call 215-348-9461
or visit the website
for further information.
Moravian
Pottery & Tile Works
The Moravian Pottery and Tile Works was established by noted
anthropologist, antiquarian, artist, writer, and tile-maker
Henry C. Mercer, a leader in the turn-of-the-century Arts
and Crafts movement, in an effort to recreate early Pennsylvania
pottery manufacturing techniques. In style, the Tile Works
is an adaptation of the California Mission Church, partly
chosen because Mercer believed good art came from religious
faith; in construction it reflects the early use of reinforced
concrete for industrial purposes. The Moravian Tile Works
is his second building, constructed after the first was destroyed
by fire. The name Moravian is derived from his collection
of old Moravian stove plates. Mercer's factory produced tiles
depicting Pennsylvania flora and fauna. Mercer was awarded
a gold medal at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition and a 1921 gold
medal from the American Institute of Architects. The Tile
Works is owned by the Bucks County Department of Parks and
Recreation and is open to the public as a museum illustrating
Mercer's tile making techniques. The Moravian Pottery and
Tile Works building is a short distance away from the Mercer
Museum, and is a "U" shaped building constructed around an
open courtyard. Built of reinforced concrete with concrete
buttresses, measuring approximately 120 feet by 100 feet with
arcaded court, it resembles a medieval cloister. The factory
is 2 ½ stories built in tiers with towers. The gable roofs
have rounded ridges of brushed concrete with steep parapets
at the gable ends. Irregular chimneys and windows with a variety
of decorative tiles are set in both exterior and interior
walls. The present building, built between 1911 and 1912,
still functions as a manufactory of mostly architectural tiles,
and was designated as a National Historic Landmark by the
Secretary of Interior in 1985.
Located alongside Fonthill, the Moravian Pottery and
Tile Works is located on Fonthill and Moravian Pottery Court
St. and 130 Swamp Rd., off of Rte. 313, which runs north/south
of Doylestown. The Moravian Pottery and Tile Works Museum
is open daily from 10:00am to 4:45pm, and closed on major
holidays. There is a fee. Please call 215-345-6722 or visit
the website
for further information.
Mercer
Museum
The Mercer Museum is built entirely of reinforced concrete
and is one of the earliest and most impressive examples of
this method of construction. Designed by Dr. Henry C. Mercer,
anthropologist, antiquarian, artist, writer, tile-maker, and
leader in the turn-of-the-century Arts and Crafts movement,
this large concrete building was constructed to house his
collection of tools and Americana. The museum contains his
vast collection of tools, machines, and implements--everything
from grist mills to whaling ships are present in the museum.
The Museum resembles a medieval castle, with dovecotes, towers,
and turrets. All floors, walls, and window frames are concrete;
even more remarkable, the roof is constructed of reinforced
concrete. The building is 115 feet high and contains 297 windows.
The interior rises around a well, or court, by way of a ramp
that winds upward from the ground floor. As the visitor moves
along the ramp, 70 alcoves or rooms, which exhibit the tools
of 40 crafts, many associated with the nation's history, are
presented in an informative manner. In Progressive Architecture,
October, 1960, Ilse Reese stated, "Though the effect
is often weird and theatrical, this building, with its unique
spatial plan and its frank and bold construction techniques
should establish Henry Mercer as one of the most important
forerunners of the Modern Movement." The log cabin built
c.1799 is noteworthy as an example of a building technique
seldom seen so well preserved and furnished in the state.
The process of moving the cabin to its present location in
1911 was a pioneering method of restoration for the time.
The library, which was the first building constructed in 1904,
is a fine example of Georgian Revival architecture. The Mercer
Museum was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985.
The museum is owned by the Bucks County Historical Society,
as are the other buildings on this site, and is open to the
public.
The Mercer Museum is located at 84 South Pine St., Doylestown.
From I-95 take exit 30, follow Rte. 332 to Rte. 413 around
New Town to Buckingham, take 202 South to Doylestown and do
not take the bypass. Once in Doylestown, take a left on Ashland
St., and then a left on Pine St. The Mercer Museum is open
Monday-Friday, 10:00am to5:00pm, Sunday 12:00pm to5:00pm,
Tuesday evenings 5:00pm to 9:00pm. The Mercer Museum is closed
Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day . There is a fee,
please call 215-345-0210 or visit the
website for more information.
Honey
Hollow Watershed
Created in 1939, the Honey Hollow Watershed Conservation
Area was the first small upland watershed in agricultural
use to demonstrate that soil, water, and wildlife conservation
and flood prevention could be achieved through cooperative
local action. The Honey Hollow Watershed consists of five
farms totaling about 650 acres located along the Delaware
River north of New Hope, Pennsylvania. It was established
when local farmers, dismayed about the erosion of their fields,
applied to the Soil Conservation Service for assistance in
developing a comprehensive soil conservation plan. The project
attracted national attention and became a model of cooperative
farmers' action to conserve natural resources. The history
of the watershed in regard to conservation began in the 1930s,
when the owners of the farms along Honey Creek observed how
their fields were washing away. Cultivation by machinery had
caused serious sheet and gully erosion on the upland farms,
while siltation struck those on the downslope. It was obvious
that the erosion must be checked, or else the land would be
ruined for agricultural use. The five owners of the farmland
in the Honey Hollow watershed combined efforts and took their
tale to the regional office of the Soil Conservation Service
in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. The Regional Director, Dr. J.
P. Jones, agreed to provide the technical assistance needed
and the landowners agreed to band together and carry out the
soil and water conservation practices prescribed for each
tract. Within the next two years terraces and diversion ditches
had been constructed to control runoff on steep slopes, long
dense hedges had been planted to check erosion and provide
waterlife habitat, and several ponds were built and stocked
with fish. Almost overnight the "Honey Hollow Project" attracted
attention from high levels in the Department of Agriculture,
as well as farmers seeking ways to improve their land. Vice
President Henry Wallace visited in 1944, and came back other
times. Louis Bromfiled, novelist and conservationist, was
also a good friend of the project. The Watershed still retains
all the conservation measures adopted in the late 1930s, terraces,
contour-plowed fields, diversion ditches, wildlife hedges,
ponds, and treelands. It is now a National Historic Landmark.
The Honey Hollow Watershed Conservation Project is located
in Solebury Township in Bucks County. All the sites are along
R.D. #1 in New Hope. They can be seen following Upper York
Rd. where it makes a right onto Creamery Rd. There are tours
offered of the Honey Hollow Watershed every other Sunday at
1:00pm by the Bucks County Audubon Society, more information
is available on their website.
Please call 215-297-5880 for further information or visit
the Audubon Visitors Center, 2877 Cremery Rd, Solebury Township,New
Hope.
Washington
Crossing State Park
On December 25, 1776, General George Washington and a small
army of 2400 men crossed the Delaware River at McConkey's
Ferry, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on their way to successfully
attack a Hessian garrison of 1500 at Trenton, New Jersey.
This march, at one of the lowest points of the American Revolution,
gave the Patriots new hope after their failed effort to keep
the British from occupying New York City. The close of 1776
found the cause of American independence from Great Britain
staggering under a succession of defeats. In October, the
Continental Congress had made provision for a long-term military
force, but at the end of the year this establishment was on
paper, not in the field where it was desperately needed. Washington,
in his camp on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware, realized
that he must strike a military blow to the enemy before his
army melted away and he was determined to hit the Hessian
garrison at Trenton. On the night of December 25, the American
main force was ferried across the Delaware River by Colonel
John Glover's Marblehead fishermen and in the bleak early
morning hours assembled on the New Jersey shore for the march
on Trenton, about 10 miles downstream. Surprise was complete,
and within an hour and a half after the action opened the
Hessians surrendered. The site of the crossing is a National
Historic Landmark; the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River
is now a state historic site and museum. The crossing vicinity site features
the assembly area, embankment point, landing area, the road
used by the Continental Army for its attack, the historic McConkey Feryy Inn, the Thompson-Neely House and the 19th-century Village of Taylorsville. Today, the 500-acre recreational area includes 13 historic
buildings, replica Durham boats like those used during the 1776 crossing, the noted 100-acre Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve
and observation tower, and many picnic areas.
From the PA Trnpk. take 532 towards New Jersey and turn
left on 32. Washington Crossing Historic Park is located at
1112 River Rd., in Washington Crossing. Open Tuesday-Saturday,
9:00am to 5:00pm, Sunday, 12:00pm to 5:00pm. Closed major
holidays, except Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, and Christmas
Day. Visiting hours may change on a seasonal basis. There
is a fee for guided walking tours. Please call 215-493-4076,
or visit the park's website for further information.
Slate
Hill Cemetery
The Slate Hill Cemetery is possibly the oldest burying grounds
in Bucks County. It was established in 1690 and the earliest
gravestone is dated 1698. There are a number of unmarked graves,
for which dates are unknown. These unmarked graves are believed
to be the final resting-places of a number of the early settlers
in Lower Makefield. The cemetery was created in three sections:
a plot granted by Thomas Janney in 1690; a section granted
by Abel Janney in 1721 immediately to the northwest along
the Yardley-Morrisville Road; and the last part granted by
Joshua Anderson in 1788 further to the northwest along the
Yardley-Morrisville Road. Most of the graves are 18th century
and represent the early Quaker settlers in the area; the Friends
section contains 487 graves, of which 185 are marked. Most
of these burials pre-date 1800, according to a Federal Works
Project Administration survey sponsored by the Pennsylvania
Historical Commission in 1941. The early gravestones in this
cemetery are significant examples of early Bucks County gravestones.
Three types of markers are found in the Friends section. Over
80 percent are brownstones. Another approximately two dozen
markers are wood painted white or wire wickets. The Friends
section has the only 17th-century gravestone (dated 1698)
in Bucks County. The cemetery also contains the graves of
six free African Americans who served in the Northern Army
during the Civil War. The dates of burials in the cemetery
date from 1698 to 1918, the last of whom is Martha E. White.
The Slate Hill Cemetery is located at Yardley-Morrisville
Rd. at Mahlon Dr. in Lower Makefield Township. It is
open to the public, there are several entrances. Parking is
available along the road.
Pennsbury
Manor
Pennsbury Manor was the home of William Penn (1644-1718),
proprietor of three colonies, founder of colonial Pennsylvania,
and planner of the city of Philadelphia. The original manor
house, constructed between 1682 and 84, fell into ruin after
the Penns returned to England in 1707. Reconstruction efforts
were begun in 1932 when the the Charles Warner Company gave10
acres, including the area of the house, to the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania as a memorial to William Penn. Between 1933
and 1942 the Pennsylvania Historical Commission reconstructed
the plantation, including the Manor House, the outbuildings,
and the landscape. Pennsbury Manor reopened as a formal estate
in 1939. The present Pennsbury Manor is a brick, two and one-half
story house built in the William and Mary Style. No drawings
or paintings of the original Manor exist and only speculation,
a few archaeological remains, and details from letters to
James Harrison from Penn provide information about the original
home. Some of the buildings at the site are conjectural, but
are intended to represent the home of an English gentleman
of the 17th century. Gardens with native and foreign plants
have been planted in a 17th-century period manner. The site
is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum
Commission and is open to the public.
Pennsbury Manor is located at 400 Pennsbury Memorial
Rd., Morrisville. Pennsbury is open 9:00am to 5:00pm Tuesday-Saturday
and 12:00pm to 5:00pm on Sunday. There is a fee. Call 215-946-0400
or visit the website
for further information or group reservations. Pennsbury Manor
is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum
Commission with assistance from the Pennsbury Society, a non-profit
organization.
Grundy
Mill Complex
The Grundy Mills complex consists of a number of buildings
constructed over a 55 year period, which operated as one unit
for the milling, storage, and power for the worsted mills
of the William H. Grundy Co. William Hulme Grundy, who had
family ties in the Bristol area stretching back several generations,
began in the woolen industry in Philadelphia in 1870. In 1876
he moved his operation to the newly constructed Bristol Worsted
Mills. Historian Doron Green described Grundy as a "public
spirited and broad minded business man [who] did much to advance
the interests of the town." First built as the Bristol Worsted
Mills, the buildings range in height from one to seven stories,
and the most distinctive feature of the complex is the clock
tower, dating from 1911. Located in the mill district of Bristol,
the buildings date from Bristol's key period of industrial
and population growth, from 1876 to 1930, and reflect Bristol's
role as a premier industrial center of Bucks County. The mill
was the first of five large manufacturing facilities built
by the Bristol Improvement Company beginning in 1876. This
facility was the most successful of all the textile operations
launched in Bristol in the 19th century and by 1920 it was
the largest employer in Bucks County. Grundy Mills remained
in operation until 1946, when the facility was sold; it has
since been converted to other industrial operations. According
to the Third Industrial Directory of Pennsylvania 1919,
the Grundy Mill Complex employed more than 850 workers, making
it, by far, the county's largest single employer. Its importance
in Bristol was drastic: the Grundy Mills employed approximately
30 percent of the town's industrial work force.
The Grundy Mills Complex is located at the west corner
of Jefferson Ave. & Canal St. The Grundy Mills Complex is
not open to the public.
Bristol
Historic District
Bristol dates from 1681 when Samuel Clift began operating
a ferry across the Delaware River. The settlement composed
primarily of Quakers grew around the ferry, and in 1697 residents
petitioned the Provincial Council to establish the community
as a market town. During the last half of the 18th century
Bristol gained prominence as a ferry landing and a way station
for the New York to Philadelphia stagecoach. Between the 1780s
and the 1820s it became famous for its spa, as people flocked
to Bath Springs to take the waters. A number of wealthy residents
soon settled in the area and built large grand residences.
Shipbuilding and completion of the Delaware Division of the
Pennsylvania Canal in 1832 transformed Bristol into a transportation
hub. Property along the riverfront soon filled with wharves,
docks and warehouses to accommodate shipments arriving on
the canal; and mills and factories were built along the canal
where water provided power and transportation for goods. There
are more than 300 residential and commercial buildings within
the historic district, some dating back to the early 18th
century. Bristol, as the third oldest city in Pennsylvania,
was known for its premier spa, its activity related to the
Pennsylvania Canal, and as the most important industrial town
in Bucks County.
The Bristol Historic District is bounded by New Brook
St. , the north-west property of 301-305 Lincoln St., including
328 to 310 Lincoln St., and follows Radcliffe and Mill Sts.,
with sections of Market, Mulberry, Walnut, Franklin, Dorrance,
Lafayette, Washington and Jefferson near the river. The Friends
Cemetery on Wood St. and Pond St. where it intersects with
Mulbery and Market Sts. are in the boundaries. Opposite the
District is Burlington Island, in the Delaware River, which
is in New Jersey. Many of the businesses within the
district open to the public during normal business hours.
Dorrance
Mansion
The Dorrance Mansion, in the Bristol Historic District, is
one of the grandest homes along Radcliffe Street in Bristol
Borough, Bucks County. Finished in 1863, it is a distinctive
example of residential Italianate architecture and the only
example in the borough. Its elegant style represents the lavish
life of the early Victorian industrialists making Bristol
their home. The brick mansion is erected on a random coursed
fieldstone foundation at river level. The five-story center
tower on the rear facade adds a distinctive feature to the
house. The home remains nearly unchanged since its construction,
with a symmetrical front facade and proportionally decreasing
windows on the upper floors, creating the illusion of greater
height.
John Dorrance, Sr., owner of Bristol Mills, built the mansion
while living across the street. Dorrance was active in local
commerce, improvement projects, and borough government from
1835 to 1860. Dorrance came to Bristol in the 1820s and purchased
an interest in the Bristol Mills which dated back to 1701.
He eventually bought out his partners to become sole owner.
Prior to the Civil War, the mill supplied large amounts of
corn meal to the South and the West Indies. When Dorrance's
sons sold the mill, following his death, the property was
comprised of grist and saw mills, a lumber yard, canal stables,
coal sheds, a blacksmith shop, a store, two dwellings and
a mill race and pond. Although Dorrance built the mansion
toward the end of his illustrious career and only lived there
for six years before his death, it is the one extant building
with the closest association with him and his business career.
After his death in 1869, the home remained in the family until
1921 when it was acquired by the Bristol Knights of Columbus.
In 1982, it became a private residence again.
The Dorrance Mansion is located at 300 Radcliffe St.,
in Bristol. The Dorrance Mansion is not open to the public.
Learn
More
By clicking on one of these links, you can go directly to
a particular section:
Bibliography of the Delaware and Lehigh
National Heritage Corridor
Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage
Corridor Children's Literature
Links to Pennsylvania Tourism and Preservation
Links to Historic Places Featured in this
Itinerary
Bibliography of the Delaware
and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor
Barber, David G. A Guide to the Lehigh Canal, Lower and
Upper Divisions: with the Ashley Planes and the Penn Haven
Planes and the Swutchback Railroad. North Wales, PA: Appalachian
Mountain Club, Delaware Lehigh Chapter, 1992.
________. A Towpath Guide to the Lehigh Canal, Lower
Division. Delaware Valley Chapter, Appalachian Mountain
Club. 1981.
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Growing up in Coal Country.
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1996.
Bush, S. George., ed. With an introduction by James A. Mitchener.
The Genius Belt: The Story of the Arts in Buck County,
Pennsylvania. Doylestown, PA: James A. Mitchener Art Museum
in association with the Pennsylvania State University Press,
1996.
Bartholomew, Ann (compiled) and Lance E. Metz (researcher).
Delaware and Lehigh Canals. Easton, PA: Center for
Canal History and Technology, 1989.
Chappell, Gordon S. Steam Over Scranton: the Locomotives
of Steamtown, Steamtown National Historic Site. Denver,
CO. National Park Service, 1991
David, Edward J.,II. The Anthracite Aristocracy: Leadership
and Social Change in the Hard Coal Regions of Northeastern
Pennsylvania, 1800-1930. Dekalb, IL: Northern Illinois
University Press, 1985.
Dublin, Thomas, photographs by George Harvan. When the
Mines Closed: Stories of Struggle in Hard Times. Ithaca,
NY: Cornell University Press, 1998.
Duemler, Ginger; ed. illustrated by Linda Brown. The
Tiled Pavement in the Capitol of Pennsylvania. State College,
PA: Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsman, 1975.
Gudelunas, William A. Jr. and William G. Shade. Before
the Molly Maguires: the Emergence of the Ethno-Religious Factor
in the Politics of the Lower Anthracite Region, 1844-1872.
New York: Arno Press, 1976.
Kenny, Kevin. Making Sense of the Molly Maguires. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Percival, Gwendoline E. and Chester J. Kulesa. Illustrating
an Anthracite Era: The Photographic Legacy of John Horgan,
Jr. PA: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission:
Anthracite Heritage Museum and Iron Furnaces Associates, 1995.
Perry, Daniel K. A Fine Piece of Masonry: Scranton's
Historic Furnaces. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical
and Museum Commission and Anthracite Heritage Museum and Iron
Furnace Associates, 1994.
Poos, Thomas G. Fonthill, the Home of Henry Chapman Mercer:
an American Treasure. American Distributing, 1985.
Reed, Cleota. Henry Chapman Mercer and the Moravian Pottery
and Tile Works. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 1987.
Rivinus, William M. The Complete Guide to the Delaware
and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor: Where to go--What to
see and do. Lehigh River Foundation, 1994.
Roberts, Ellis W. The Breaker Whistle Blows: Mining Disasters
and Labor Leaders in the Anthracite Region. Scranton,
PA: Anthracite Press, 1984.
Salay, David L, ed. Hard Coal, Hard Times: Ethnicity
and Labor in the Anthracite Region. Scranton, PA: Anthracite
Museum Press, 1984.
Delaware
and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Children's Literature
Dolan, Edward F. The Winter at Valley Forge. New
York: Benchmark Books/Marshall Cavendish, 2001.
National
Register's Teaching with Historic Places: Bethlehem PA, Moravian
Lesson Plan
Links
to Pennsylvania Tourism and Preservation
Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor
Link to the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage
Corridor non-profit organization's website, which offers historical information, a guide of things to do, a photo gallery, and other resources that will enhance your experience in this unique and vibrant region of Pennsylvania.
Delaware
& Lehigh National Heritage Corridor
Link to the National Park Service's Delaware & Lehigh
National Heritage Corridor website and enjoy ethnic and musical
celebrations, walking tours through communities with rich
and colorful histories, and museums describing the industries,
people and wildlife that share this special region in eastern
Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania
Historical and Museum Commission
Learn more about Pennsylvania's history, historic places
and museums and the organization responsible for protecting
Pennsylvania's Historical Resources, from Archeology to Historic
Buildings.
Pennsylvania
Travel and Tourism
Learn more about Pennsylvania's attractions, including
arts and entertainment, nature and the outdoors, historic
places and food and lodging possibilities.
The
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Founded in 1824, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
contains an independent research center dealing with preserving
Pennsylvania's history and heritage, and includes the largest
genealogy center in the mid-Atlantic region.
Bucks
County Historical Society
The Bucks County Historic Society was founded in 1880
by General William Watts Hart Davis, Henry Chapman Mercer
and some friends, and is today a private non-profit organization
that operates The Mercer Museum, Spruance Library and Fonthill
Museum.
Lackawanna
Heritage Valley Authority
The Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority is an alliance
of civic, government,and business organizations, along with
individuals interested in the promotion of the region's historic,
cultural, economic and natural resources.
Lehigh
County Historical Society
Serving its communities for more than 90 years, the Lehigh
County Historical Society interprets the history and culture
of an area that might indeed be thought of as the United States
in miniature, where visitors can explore nine different sites,
discovering the Revolutionary War, 18th-century farms, and
19th-century industries.
Pennsylvania
Labor and Industry Related Markers
Established in 1946, is one of the Pennsylvania Historical
and Museum Commission's oldest and most popular programs.
The blue and gold markers located throughout the state highlight
people, places, and events significant in state and national
history.
National
Canal Museum
This museum in Easton interprets life on the canal through
interactive, hands-on exhibits. Visitors can ride a mule powered
boat, operate a lock model, hear traditional canal songs,
and see the living quarters of a canal boat.
National
Trust for Historic Preservation
Learn about the programs of and membership in the oldest
national non-profit preservation organization.
Historic
Hotels of America
A feature of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's
Heritage Traveler program that provides information on historic
hotels and package tours in the vicinity of this itinerary.
National Park Service
Office of Tourism
National parks have been interwoven with tourism from their
earliest days. This website highlights the ways in which the
NPS promotes and supports sustainable, responsible, informed,
and managed visitor use through cooperation and coordination
with the tourism industry.
National Scenic Byways Program
This website, maintained by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, includes information on state and nationally designated byway routes throughout America based on their archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic qualities. Visit the America’s Byways Brandywine Valley Scenic Byway website for more ideas.
Links to Historic Places
Featured in This Travel Itinerary
Credits
Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor was
produced by the National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Department
of the Interior, in cooperation with the Delaware & Lehigh
National Heritage Corridor (a unit of the National Park System),
the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Steamtown
National Historic Site, the National Conference of State Historic
Preservation Officers (NCSHPO), and the National Alliance
of Preservation Commissions (NAPC). It was created under the
direction of Carol D. Shull, Keeper of the National Register
of Historic Places, National Park Service, Patrick Andrus,
Heritage Tourism Director, and Beth L. Savage, Publications
Director. Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor
is based on information in the files of the National Register
of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks collections.
These materials are kept at 800 North Capitol St., Washington,
D.C., and are open to the public from 9:00am to 4:00pm, Monday
through Friday.
Sue Pridemore of the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage
Corridor and Carol Lee of the Pennsylvania Historical and
Museum Commission, conceptualized and compiled photographic
and written materials for the itinerary. Contextual essays
were written by Carol Lee, Sue Pridemore, and Ella S. Rayburn,
Curator, Steamtown National Historic Site. Edson Beall (NPS)
coordinated intial project production for the the travel itinerary.
The team of Shannon Bell, Jeff Joeckel, and Rustin Quaide
(all of NCSHPO) produced the final product. The itinerary
was designed by Jeff Joeckel, descriptions were edited by
Rustin Quaide. Kristen Carsto (Catholic University intern)
wrote property descriptions and took photographs for sites
in Scranton. Kevin Moriarty (NPS) assisted with preparation
of maps. The central homepage photograph is used courtesy
of the photographer, Ronald Gombach of Living Places. Special
thanks goes to the following who provided additional information
and photographs: Jo Ann Fremiotti, Executive Director of the
Scottish Masonic Lodge and Temple in Scranton, the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, Doug Miller of Pennsbury Manor, Green Hills
Farm, Lehigh County Historical Society, the F. M. Kirby Center
for the Performing Arts, Historic Bethlehem Inc., Pam Colbert,
and Robert Janosov.
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