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    Lower Saucon Township
    Lower Saucon Township
    Lower Saucon Township
    Ebook201 pages51 minutes

    Lower Saucon Township

    By Lee A. Weidner, Karen M. Samuels, Barbara J. Ryan and Lower Saucon Township Historical Society

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    About this ebook

    Lower Saucon Township provides a unique glimpse of the region s many diverse villages and the German immigrant population. Towns including Wassergass, Shimersville, Polk Valley, Redington, and Bingen were settled largely because of the area s fertile soil, abundant water, and many iron and limestone deposits, which contributed to surrounding communities such as Bethlehem and Hellertown both socially and economically. These rare family photographs depict a blend of lives that influenced the area before and after the industrial revolution.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateJul 27, 2005
    ISBN9781439632437
    Lower Saucon Township
    Author

    Lee A. Weidner

    Lee A. Weidner, author of Hellertown, coauthored this history with Lower Saucon Township Historical Society president Karen M. Samuels and vice president Barbara J. Ryan. Weidner, known for his local history writings, is a columnist for Saucon Valley�s newspaper the Valley Voice. Samuels and Ryan manage the restoration project of the 1880 Lutz-Franklin one-room schoolhouse, which will be transformed into a living history museum. Proceeds from the sale of Lower Saucon Township will fund educational museum programs for schoolchildren and visitors of all ages.

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      Book preview

      Lower Saucon Township - Lee A. Weidner

      Weidner.

      INTRODUCTION

      Until the mid-17th century, the Lenni Lenape (Delaware) tribes hunted and inhabited the land of Lower Saucon Township. European traders first appeared in the area prior to 1700, and the Native Americans peacefully traded with these outsiders, although some minor skirmishes did occur. William Penn was granted land on March 4, 1681, by King Charles II to repay a debt owed to Penn’s father. The land grant included what is now Lower Saucon Township. However, Penn soon realized that he needed to purchase the land from the Native Americans to maintain clear ownership. Penn advertised throughout Europe, offering 100-acre parcels of land for 40 shillings, subject to a rent of one shilling per annum forever.

      In 1737, Penn’s sons expanded their land holdings to include most of the Lehigh Valley through the Walking Purchase. Although the Lenni Lenape did not think this was a legitimate claim, they eventually moved out of the area, allowing Europeans to settle it. Sometime before 1737, Nathaniel Irish established a farm, built a grist- and sawmill, and opened a land office for William Penn. He is considered the first European settler in Lower Saucon Township. His land later became known as Shimersville. Irish was the first justice of the peace in the area, and the first King’s Highway, from Philadelphia to the Lehigh Valley, built in 1737, led to his property.

      Lower Saucon Township was chartered in 1743, when it was still a part of Bucks County. It was established in the rich farmland along the Saucon Creek. The name is of Native American origin, from sakunk, meaning at the mouth of the creek. The township also included South Bethlehem until 1865 and Hellertown until 1872. German immigrants, convinced by Penn’s favorable description of the New World, settled Lower Saucon Township in large numbers, beginning in the 1730s. Some of the surnames of the early German settlers were Boehm, Wagner, Appel, Riegel, Lerch, Laubach, Oberley, Heller, Shimer, and Lutz. These early settlers were hardworking, and their farms prospered. There were numerous mills built to provide sawed wood, flour, textiles, paper, and gunpowder. Other early industry included lime kilns and the extracting of zinc and iron ore.

      During the Revolutionary War, many German farmers enlisted in the Continental army to fight the British. At a time when the army’s reserves were depleted, they offered to sell wheat and rye on credit. In 1777, soldiers of the Continental army transporting the Liberty Bell to Allentown passed through Lower Saucon, spending a night in Leithsville. The Marquis de Lafayette, according to legend, stopped at Wagner’s Tavern in Hellertown on his way to Bethlehem during the war.

      The first church, Lower Saucon Church, was established in 1734, soon after the early settlers had arrived. It was built by a German Reformed congregation on what is now Easton Road. There were 10 schools in place in the township even before the legislature of Pennsylvania adopted the public school system in 1834. These schools were established by the local church congregations.

      When the North Penn Railroad, connecting Philadelphia to Bethlehem, was completed in 1856, this 55-mile line provided an impetus to building iron smelters in Bingen, Hellertown, and Iron Hill, due to the township’s wealth of iron ore and limestone. The railroad brought coal to this industry, transported pig iron to markets, and provided transportation for the township’s population. Lower Saucon Township felt the influence of the Bethlehem Steel Company. The executives purchased farmland in the township to build large estates, and the steel company became the largest employer in the area. When it ceased manufacturing in 1995, many residents of Lower Saucon suffered loss of employment.

      Today, farmland continues to be lost to housing development at a startling rate. The township still possesses beautiful woods, streams, and rolling hills, but care must be taken to preserve these open spaces that remain.

      Ehrhart’s Mill stood along the Saucon Creek in historic grandeur until the 1995 fire, which destroyed this important remnant of an earlier era.

      One

      COMMUNITY

      These five girls are likely on their way to school c. 1929. From left to right are Ruth Quier, Kathleen Adams, Ethel Kousz, Elizabeth Danzer, and an unidentified girl. Lower Saucon Township students had to walk long distances on country roads to attend. Notice how nicely they are dressed. It was the expectation, at that time, that students arrive at school looking well groomed.

      John Wolst married Elizabeth Evert on August 30, 1914, and started a large farm in Leithsville. He sold a portion of the land to John R. Bechtold, who then created Bechtold’s Orchard there.

      Bernie Ortwein’s grandmother emigrated from Hungary in 1824 and then lived on the Ortwein farm in Seidersville.

      John Wolst and his sister Catherine pick strawberries at the Wolst farm, located along Rural Route 1 in Leithsville, in June 1970. Catherine married Raymond Ortwein of Seidersville in 1943. The couple lived

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