A guide book of art, architecture, and historic interests in Pennsylvania
1876. Soldiers’ Monument erected in 1891 is in Garfield Square, on a
864 words | Chapter 17
pedestal are names of battles fought by Schuylkill County men in Civil
War; the Washington Artillery and National Light Infantry of Pottsville,
246 men, were part of the 530 Pennsylvanians
[Illustration: HENRY CLAY IRON MONUMENT, POTTSVILLE]
who first arrived at our national Capital for its defense in 1861;
Schuylkill County sent 13,000 volunteers; there are also soldiers’
monuments at Port Carbon, St. Clair, and Mahanoy City. A statue of John
Pott is in the playground of Center Street public school, formerly a
cemetery.
Pennsylvania, the coal-producing state of the Union, has every reason to
be grateful to Henry Clay for advocating a protective tariff on her
principal product; Pottsville’s enthusiasm culminated in the Henry Clay
Monument, completed in 1855, soon after his death, west of South Center
Street, an iron Doric column, surmounted by an iron statue of Henry
Clay, after the painting by P. F. Rothermel, “Senate of 1850”; first
colossal iron casting of its kind made in the United States; from
sidewalk to top of statue, 205 feet. Pottsville Cemetery contains grave
of Joseph Elison, member of Greely Arctic expedition, who died at Port
Haven, Greenland, in 1884, soon after being rescued by the late Rear
Admiral Schley; a diary, kept until his hands were frozen stiff, will
soon be published by the Pottsville Historical Society. Parks in
Schuylkill County are, “Lakeside,” above Mahony City; “Marlin,” near
Pottsville; “Manilla,” east of Tamaqua; “Woodland,” between Ashland and
Girardville; “Washington,” between Ashland and Locust Dale; they are
combinations of formal gardening with natural beauty; “Tumbling Run
Dam,” near Pottsville, is beautiful in its setting. SHENANDOAH,
population 24,726, contains a mixed mining population; twenty-six
languages and dialects are spoken here.
[Illustration: LEHIGH COUNTY]
XLVI
LEHIGH COUNTY
Formed March 6, 1812; named for Lehigh River, from an Indian name,
Lechauwekink (where there are forks); Indian trails forked in various
directions below Bethlehem. The Blue Mountains are north and the Lehigh
Hills south, containing large deposits of slate and cement. Chief
industries, agriculture and manufacturing.
ALLENTOWN, county seat, at junction of Jordan and Little Lehigh Creeks;
population 73,502; was settled in 1751 by Chief Justice William Allen, a
friend of the Penns; is entered from the south by, it is said, the
largest concrete bridge in the world, erected by a trolley company, 2650
feet long and 120 feet high; built in 1913. The city has an abundant
supply of pure water, pumped direct from the spring to the residences;
daily flow, 12,000,000 gallons. Courthouse, colonial, with cupola, Fifth
and Hamilton Streets. First Presbyterian Church, North Fifth Street,
near Hamilton, Renaissance. Jail, North Fourth Street, near Linden,
feudal architecture, with tower 100 feet high, brown sandstone.
Architect G. A. Aschbach.
Allen Park, Fourth and Walnut Streets, contains “Trout Hall,” stone,
built, 1770, by James Allen, son of the founder, which will be occupied
by the Lehigh County Historical Society; West Park and River Park are
also in Allentown; west of the city is Dorney’s Park, along Cedar Creek.
In Center Square is the Soldiers’ Monument to the men of Lehigh County
in the Civil War; on the pedestal are bronze bas-reliefs depicting
scenes of war and reconciliation, and medallion busts of Generals Meade,
McClellan, Hancock, and Hartranft. United States post office, at the
corner of Sixth and Turner Streets, classic, built in 1906; brick and
Indiana limestone; architect, George B. Page, Philadelphia. Several fine
churches of brick or stone show Italian and Gothic architecture. The
Zion Reformed, Gothic, stone, built, 1840, Hamilton Street between Sixth
and Seventh, is notable for having sheltered the Liberty Bell and the
Christ Church bells, during British occupation of Philadelphia, in 1777;
marked by tablet, placed by the Liberty Bell Chapter, Daughters of the
American Revolution. The Rhoads House, 107-109 North Seventh Street,
built, 1762, by a Revolutionary patriot, is the oldest building in the
city.
MUHLENBERG COLLEGE with preparatory school, is beautifully located at
Twenty-sixth and Chew Streets, on campus of seventy-two acres; the
buildings, brick and stone, were built from 1903 to 1915; administration
building, English Renaissance, architects, Ruhl & Lange; contains
portraits, including one of Dr. Muhlenberg, by Gilbert Stuart; the late
Peter A. Gross, in 1914, provided by will for the founding of an art
school in Muhlenberg College, and an art museum in Allentown. Allentown
College for Women, Walnut Street between Thirtieth and Thirty-first
Streets, classic; and the new high school, North Seventeenth Street,
classic Ionic, are fine buildings. At Seventeenth and Chew Streets are
the State Hospital,
[Illustration: ZION REFORMED CHURCH, ALLENTOWN
Guardian of the Liberty Bell and Christ Church Bells during the
Revolution]
Georgian; brick and Indiana limestone; and the Nurses’ Home, memorial to
Judge Edward Harvey; said to be the best equipped for the purpose in the
United States, architects, Ruhl & Lange.
Road from Rittersville to Bethlehem passes Central Park, overlooking
Lehigh River, and the historic Geissinger farm, where Solomon Jennings
settled in 1736; he was a participant in the Indian Walk of 1737.
BETHLEHEM (see Northampton County). State road from Allentown to
Slatington passes through WERNERSVILLE, near where Lynford Lardner
built, in 1740, a hunting lodge, “Grouse Hall,” and where the Jordan
Reformed Church was founded in 1752, present stone building erected,
Reading Tips
Use arrow keys to navigate
Press 'N' for next chapter
Press 'P' for previous chapter