1862 Map
In the early 1700s, German pioneers and settlers departed from Philadelphia and Germantown to hike or ride horseback, through the dense, pristine forests and along the muddy banks of the Perkiomen Creek, in search of good soil and new opportunities. Most of them had recently arrived from the Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfaltz) region of what is now southwestern Germany. Their families had endured generations of wars and religious persecution, high taxes, crop failures, famines and epidemics, so the treacherous, sometimes seven-month-long journey across the Atlantic Ocean, was just another test of fortitude. Farmers, artisans, tradesmen, merchants, aristocrats, scholars and soldiers and their families brought with them their technical, agricultural and cultural wisdom, their humor, language and customs, a love of music, an industrious work ethic and a variety religious and philosophical ideals -- most of which were embodied locally in the Lutheran and Reformed protestant religions. That zeitgeist, or spirit of the time, permeated and lingered in this region, populated by those settlers, for centuries.
Some of the immigrants had land grants, purchased from William Penn, who had offered a utopian plan to provide religious and political freedom for all. Occasionally the landowners would sell acreage to other newcomers. Others immigrants had agreed to work off the high cost of their transportation to America by becoming indentured servants on large farms. As they pushed northward, in search of available land, they crossed the South Mountain and finally settled in the fertile valley, along the banks of the Swabia and Little Lehigh Creeks.
At that time, “Maguntsche,” as the resident Indians called it, was a wilderness. It meant ‘place of the bear.’ Only in recent times have we learned that this term not only referred to a feeding ground for bear, but it was the location of a much larger spiritual center. A massive, carved-stone effigy of a bear rests atop the Macungie Mountain in the highlands of Longswamp. The 10,000-year-old culture of the Lenni-Lenape or “the original people” celebrated harmony with Mother Earth through symbols and rituals. The bear figured prominently in their annual bear sacrifices, which were held on the mountain. The sacredness of Nature remains palpable when one travels through that area.
The Lenni-Lenape, a branch of the Algonquin Nation (also referred to as the Delaware), hunted, fished, and quarried jasper in the area. At first, the Indians were very friendly and hospitable and traded with the settlers. That was until they were deceived by the fraudulent “The Walking Purchase” of 1737, which fueled the flames of the French and Indian War in 1755.
The first public road, a King’s Highway, was surveyed in 1735. It began near Breinigsville and ran through Weiler’s Store (Weilersville), Millerstown (Macungie), Shimerville, Old Zionsville, New Zionsville, Hosensack, Krausdale, Geryville, North Wales and on to Philadelphia. A second road, laid out in 1752, ran from Slatington to Zionsville. A third, an old east-west Indian trail, surveyed in 1755, was called the Easton-Reading Kings Road. Now known as Route 222, it was the most heavily traveled road in colonial America.
In 1743, Macungie (now Upper and Lower Macungie townships), with its 650 inhabitants, had become a township of Bucks County. The frontier northwest of Trexlertown was virtually unoccupied and considered ‘the back woods of Macungie.’
As the settlers cleared the land to build their small homes and barns and plant crops, small villages began to emerge. Taverns were built along the new roads to provide lodging, food and entertainment for weary travelers. They also served an important role as a public gathering place for local residents. Some even served as makeshift hospitals during the Revolution. Peter Trexler’s Tavern in Trexlertown, the Bortz Hotel in Wescosville, The King George Inn in Dorneyville, the Buckeye Tavern in East Macungie, The Shimerville Hotel, the Verz Cruz Tavern in Upper Milford Township and the Inn at Maple Grove in Longswamp, Berks County, were among the earliest taverns located along the most heavily traveled roads in the area, in the 18th century. As the need for livery stables and blacksmith shops developed, villages and hamlets grew around the taverns to provide those services. The town of Weiler’s Store was so named because of the location of a general store, operated by James Weiler and his sons.
Millerstown was founded by Peter Miller in 1776. At that time it was an unkempt village of log houses, located along a muddy Main street (now Route 100), with a few diagonal and crooked intersecting cattle paths. Many farmers and men from the local villagers had gone, with their long rifles in hand, to serve in the Continental militia, while neighboring Quakers and Moravians abstained participation. After the war, Millerstown’s streets were eventually straightened and log and frame buildings were replaced by brick and stone homes. Schools, churches, foundries, factories and a variety of mills emerged and the town grew. Agriculture and milling were the foremost commercial activities in the surrounding township. Massive stone bank barns, adorned with traditional hex signs (barn stars) are a wonderful legacy of that era.
Millerstown was in the spotlight In 1799, when some of the townships residents, including Captain Henry Jarret and John Fries of Upper Milford played an important part in a tax revolt called the Fries’s Rebellion. Angry citizens in our area used nonviolent methods of protest while simultaneously petitioning Congress to repeal
the Direct Tax law and the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. It had been enacted by the new Federal Congress to fund the navy, in anticipation of a war with France. The property tax assessment was based upon the home, the land and the number of slaves. However the assessors exceeded their directive and counted the number of window panes, thereby increasing the value of the houses. Tax assessors were not only blocked by clubs and threats, but most notably by a woman, later known as Grandy Miller, who allegedly dumped boiling water and the contents of chamber pots on the assessors. Protesters met at Henry Shankweiler's tavern (now the Buckeye Tavern) to discuss their plans. President Adams responded by sending armed soldiers, who entered the protesters' houses during the night. Local supporters were arrested and charged with sedition and treason and dragged away to join John Fries in prison. Millerstown residents Michael Schmoyer and David Schaeffer died in the Philadelphia prison after contracting yellow fever. Fries had been sentenced to death, but was pardoned by Adams at the last minute.
Millerstown was incorporated into a borough In 1857. By that time, the township had already been divided into Upper and Lower Macungie, in 1832. Bucks county had been subdivided, erecting Northampton county in 1752, and Lehigh County had been erected out of Northampton County in 1812. Millerstown's name was changed to Macungie in 1875.
In the 1840s, many iron ore mines were opened to supply local furnaces, such as the Thomas Iron Works at Lockridge. Production accelerated with the arrival of the East Pennsylvania Railroad in 1859. There was an influx of immigrants from Ireland, Scotland and Wales, who came to work in the mines and on the railroads. Towns, including Lockridge, Alburtis and East Texas, were built to house workers and villagers, who provided services and provisions for them and their families. More roads, schools, churches, fire companies and post offices were built to meet the needs of the growing, diverse, new communities. In 1861, once again, brave men and their sons left the township, this time to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War. The two villages of Lock Ridge and Alburtis were combined in 1913 and incorporated into the Borough of Alburtis.
Industries, businesses, communities, pockets of wealth and power, politics, ideals and strong personalities have since come and gone, and some have left a reminder that they were once a part of this region. The rest is history... .
- Sarajane Williams
Some of the immigrants had land grants, purchased from William Penn, who had offered a utopian plan to provide religious and political freedom for all. Occasionally the landowners would sell acreage to other newcomers. Others immigrants had agreed to work off the high cost of their transportation to America by becoming indentured servants on large farms. As they pushed northward, in search of available land, they crossed the South Mountain and finally settled in the fertile valley, along the banks of the Swabia and Little Lehigh Creeks.
At that time, “Maguntsche,” as the resident Indians called it, was a wilderness. It meant ‘place of the bear.’ Only in recent times have we learned that this term not only referred to a feeding ground for bear, but it was the location of a much larger spiritual center. A massive, carved-stone effigy of a bear rests atop the Macungie Mountain in the highlands of Longswamp. The 10,000-year-old culture of the Lenni-Lenape or “the original people” celebrated harmony with Mother Earth through symbols and rituals. The bear figured prominently in their annual bear sacrifices, which were held on the mountain. The sacredness of Nature remains palpable when one travels through that area.
The Lenni-Lenape, a branch of the Algonquin Nation (also referred to as the Delaware), hunted, fished, and quarried jasper in the area. At first, the Indians were very friendly and hospitable and traded with the settlers. That was until they were deceived by the fraudulent “The Walking Purchase” of 1737, which fueled the flames of the French and Indian War in 1755.
The first public road, a King’s Highway, was surveyed in 1735. It began near Breinigsville and ran through Weiler’s Store (Weilersville), Millerstown (Macungie), Shimerville, Old Zionsville, New Zionsville, Hosensack, Krausdale, Geryville, North Wales and on to Philadelphia. A second road, laid out in 1752, ran from Slatington to Zionsville. A third, an old east-west Indian trail, surveyed in 1755, was called the Easton-Reading Kings Road. Now known as Route 222, it was the most heavily traveled road in colonial America.
In 1743, Macungie (now Upper and Lower Macungie townships), with its 650 inhabitants, had become a township of Bucks County. The frontier northwest of Trexlertown was virtually unoccupied and considered ‘the back woods of Macungie.’
As the settlers cleared the land to build their small homes and barns and plant crops, small villages began to emerge. Taverns were built along the new roads to provide lodging, food and entertainment for weary travelers. They also served an important role as a public gathering place for local residents. Some even served as makeshift hospitals during the Revolution. Peter Trexler’s Tavern in Trexlertown, the Bortz Hotel in Wescosville, The King George Inn in Dorneyville, the Buckeye Tavern in East Macungie, The Shimerville Hotel, the Verz Cruz Tavern in Upper Milford Township and the Inn at Maple Grove in Longswamp, Berks County, were among the earliest taverns located along the most heavily traveled roads in the area, in the 18th century. As the need for livery stables and blacksmith shops developed, villages and hamlets grew around the taverns to provide those services. The town of Weiler’s Store was so named because of the location of a general store, operated by James Weiler and his sons.
Millerstown was founded by Peter Miller in 1776. At that time it was an unkempt village of log houses, located along a muddy Main street (now Route 100), with a few diagonal and crooked intersecting cattle paths. Many farmers and men from the local villagers had gone, with their long rifles in hand, to serve in the Continental militia, while neighboring Quakers and Moravians abstained participation. After the war, Millerstown’s streets were eventually straightened and log and frame buildings were replaced by brick and stone homes. Schools, churches, foundries, factories and a variety of mills emerged and the town grew. Agriculture and milling were the foremost commercial activities in the surrounding township. Massive stone bank barns, adorned with traditional hex signs (barn stars) are a wonderful legacy of that era.
Millerstown was in the spotlight In 1799, when some of the townships residents, including Captain Henry Jarret and John Fries of Upper Milford played an important part in a tax revolt called the Fries’s Rebellion. Angry citizens in our area used nonviolent methods of protest while simultaneously petitioning Congress to repeal
the Direct Tax law and the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. It had been enacted by the new Federal Congress to fund the navy, in anticipation of a war with France. The property tax assessment was based upon the home, the land and the number of slaves. However the assessors exceeded their directive and counted the number of window panes, thereby increasing the value of the houses. Tax assessors were not only blocked by clubs and threats, but most notably by a woman, later known as Grandy Miller, who allegedly dumped boiling water and the contents of chamber pots on the assessors. Protesters met at Henry Shankweiler's tavern (now the Buckeye Tavern) to discuss their plans. President Adams responded by sending armed soldiers, who entered the protesters' houses during the night. Local supporters were arrested and charged with sedition and treason and dragged away to join John Fries in prison. Millerstown residents Michael Schmoyer and David Schaeffer died in the Philadelphia prison after contracting yellow fever. Fries had been sentenced to death, but was pardoned by Adams at the last minute.
Millerstown was incorporated into a borough In 1857. By that time, the township had already been divided into Upper and Lower Macungie, in 1832. Bucks county had been subdivided, erecting Northampton county in 1752, and Lehigh County had been erected out of Northampton County in 1812. Millerstown's name was changed to Macungie in 1875.
In the 1840s, many iron ore mines were opened to supply local furnaces, such as the Thomas Iron Works at Lockridge. Production accelerated with the arrival of the East Pennsylvania Railroad in 1859. There was an influx of immigrants from Ireland, Scotland and Wales, who came to work in the mines and on the railroads. Towns, including Lockridge, Alburtis and East Texas, were built to house workers and villagers, who provided services and provisions for them and their families. More roads, schools, churches, fire companies and post offices were built to meet the needs of the growing, diverse, new communities. In 1861, once again, brave men and their sons left the township, this time to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War. The two villages of Lock Ridge and Alburtis were combined in 1913 and incorporated into the Borough of Alburtis.
Industries, businesses, communities, pockets of wealth and power, politics, ideals and strong personalities have since come and gone, and some have left a reminder that they were once a part of this region. The rest is history... .
- Sarajane Williams
