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History of Mahanoy City
Written in 1933-34

 

Most of the early history of Mahanoy City was taken from the account written by Mrs. T. H. B. Lyon. A great deal of information was obtained by Garfield Lewis, Jeanne Faust, John Malone, Josephine Unsinn, Jane Glaudel, Elsie Oliver, Robert Lowe, Bertha Tulin, Jane Maher and Anna Ryan, from interviews with Mrs. R. P. Swank, Mrs. T. L. Thomas and Mr. William H. Boyer. The history was compiled by Theresa Lusckus, Lillian Bonavage, Charles Welsh and Charles Doorley. The typists were Theresa Lusckus, LillianBonavage, Freida Tulin, Leodania Wysocki, Josephine Matalavage and Anna Gnall.

 

 

Mahanoy City, a promising little town, has grown into prominence within a comparatively few years, and now easily assumes the third place in population and second in commercial importance in Schuylkill County. The settlement of the village began practically in 1859, previous to which date there were a few settlers on the village site, but it did not assume the dignity of even a small village. On the sixteenth of December, 1863, the charter was granted by the court, and thus a prosperous little city was ushered into existence. A post office was established in 1859 with John Lindemuth as the postmaster. Mrs. Severn was postmistress for years in the post office on Main Street where Haughney's restaurant is now located.

 

The name Mahanoy City is no doubt a corruption of the Indian name Maghonioy. In describing a tract of land purchased of the Five Nations, these words are used: Running up to the north side of the mouth of the creek called in the language of the Delaware Indians, Maghonioy. That creek is now called Mahanoy Creek, which is a branch of the Big River, Susquehanna, and this creek runs through the Borough of Mahanoy City. The town no doubt takes its name from the creek. Maghonioy is a beautiful name and it is a great pity that it should ever have been corrupted into the doubtful name of Mahanoy.

 

The Iroquois had conquered all the Indian tribes in Pennsylvania many years before there were any white settlers on the present territory of Schuylkill County. This was merely a hunting ground for the Delaware Indians, and not a permanent residence for any tribe. So we get the name, not from the real owners of the land, but from these wandering hunters. There never was any attempt, as far as known, for even a temporary abiding place by any of these tribes. The country was not fitted for Indian towns,being too rocky and barren, while the streams were rough and carried a heavy undergrowth of laurel, which prevented fishing and any easy way of canoe travel by short stages.

 

The origin of the first house built within the limits of the town is very obscure. Some say it was built by an old German hunter named Reisch, who used to spend most of his time in the woods. It was an old log house when first known and situated on the east side of the old Catawissa turnpike, which is now Main Street, and directly opposite the offices of the Mansion House. Many different tenants seem to have occupied this old log house temporarily. It was used as a hostelry and as a possession house. In the latest written account of the "Peddler's Grave" we read how Jost. Folhaber, the old peddler, and his murderer, Benjamin Bailey, lodged in Reisch's log house before the tragedy. The front part of the house was torn down, and the back part moved to the lower end of the third lot on Centre Street, where it served as a kitchen for the new tavern erected by Jacob Faust for Emanuel Boyer in 1853.

 

Many of the early settlers of the borough and township were Welsh people attracted to the place by the flattering opportunities for mining with which business they were familiar in their native country. Emanuel Boyer was the first permanent resident of Mahanoy City. His house stood on the third lot from what is now Main street, on the south side facing Centre. It is the lot on which Noonan's Department store is now located. Mr. Boyer was asked, by the Little (Schuylkill Company, to come here and settle to keep possession of the tract of land purchased by them from the Kunkle heirs. Henry Stauffer, one of the early settlers, was one of the organizers of the township, and a man of influence and prominence. He settled in the township in 1808, and his son, H. H. Stauffer, served many years as a justice of the peace and in other official places in the town and county.

 

When Mr. Boyer settled here his nearest neighbor was Mr. William Faust, who was stationed by the Little Schuylkill Company in a possession house on a small farm back of what is now known as Lanigan's Patch - three miles from Mahanoy City. Mr. Boyer, the first resident here, was given the choice of the four corners at the junction of Main and Centre Streets. He took three lots on the southeast corner and built on the third lot.

 

 

 

The northeast corner was purchased by Thompson Brothers, who erected a large store which was occupied by one of the brothers, Dr. L. C. Thompson. The First National Bank now owns and occupies this corner. The southwest corner, opopsite the first log house, was built up by the Little Schuylkill Company for a hotel and is now known as the Mansion Hotel. Its first landlord was Wilbur Smith. William Agard bought the the northeast corner and built a house on the third lot facing Main Street, which was occupied as a possession house by Edward Boyer, who sold drinks by the quart. He was a distant relative of Emanuel Boyer. The first and second lots were purchased from Emanuel Boyer by John C. Knapp. Mr. Knapp conducted a butcher shop in the vicinity and constructed a Fairbanks weigh scales at the northeast corner of it the present Main and Market Streets where farmers came to weigh their wagons of produce. The scales occupied the space in the street directly in front of what is now Shandri's News Agency. Mayer and Trier had a tailoring establishment on the first lot of Knapp's for years. The Merchants Trust Company was located on this lot years before they moved to their present location.

 

A man by the name of Kunkel owned thousands of acres of land in Mahanoy City and it is said that he offered an acre of land to any man for a day's work. What is Main Street was the old Catawissa turnpike, and the old log house, whose main part was torn down about 1850, was the only house for three miles along that road. The mountain house was built afterwards as a possession house and road house.

 

On the hillside north of the Reading depot is a burying ground. No one knows who are buried there. The graves were fenced in when Mr. Boyer came here, and there were no headstones or marks of any kind to tell whose bodies they contained. The graves are now entirely obliterated, and only a few of the oldest inhabitants even remember having seen them.

 

Before the channel of the creek was changed, the lots along Main street reaching from what is now Market Street to Mahanoy Avenue, were a bed of brick clay, and Emanuel Boyer built two brick kilns, one near what is now Pine Street and another near the northeast corner of Main and Mahanoy Streets. The bricks were made from clay taken from these lots, and were sold to Kear and Patterson .

 

There was an old map of Mahanoy City drawn about 1856, but the true map of the town, as now laid out, is the one drawn by Frank Carter in 1859. Mr. Carter came here in the early fifties. He built and lived at the southeast corner of Main and Maple streets, on the Pottsville road. His brother William liived on Mahanoy Avenue, on the tract owned by Troutman, Biddle, and Dundas, in what was called "Hesse Stadtel" because Hessians settled in that part of the town. The company used to bring in train loads of these emigrants to work in the mines that were just opening.

 

The houses in Mahanoy Clty were very few and far between, but once the settlers started to build they soon developed a little town. The houses were built of logs with slanting roofs and consisted of one or two rooms. There were wooden pavements where there were no dirt pavements. Each family had a lot of twenty-five feet, and fifteen feet of this lot were used for raising their meager crops. During the winter their food supply for the most part consisted of salted meats, which they had butchered, and a barrel of sauerkraut.

 

The company leased the land to individual operators with the understanding that each was to mine and ship a certain amount of coal during the year, and E. S. Silliman was the only one of the lessees that carried out his contract in full. Henry Litsch came here and built the first bridge in town at the junction of Main and Water (now Market) Streets. Litsch's contract called for half payment in store supplies, and Emanuel Boyer boarded the men and took store supplies for payment, so that very little money was exchanged in this business transaction.

 

The woods were full of game, and the streams were full of fish.An interesting story is told about Mr. Patterson bringing a man from Pottsville to compete with Mr. Boyer at catching fish. His name was Johnny Kutsner. The man that caught the greater number of fish from six o'clock in the morning until four in the afternoon received five dollars. Boyer gave his opponent the choice of streams and to Boyer was left the Tunnel stream, and between here and the Tunnel, Boyer caught four hundred trout.

In the year 1863 the Borough of Mahanoy City was incorporated. There were seventy-three signers to the petition. Some of the freeholders of the town were G. E. Brendle, Emanuel Boyer, William H. Heidenreich, G. R. Goodman, John Hersker, Jacob Frank and Jacob Deem.

 

In 1866 it was divided into five wards - First and Second, being west of Main Street, and Third, Fourth and Fifth, east of Main Street.

 

John Eichman was the first Chief Burgess - elected in 1865, and was re-elected for seven consecutive terms. Emanuel Boyer was elected Chief Burgess in 1871.

 

Frank Wenrich was elected in 1872. He served in the Pottsville First Defenders in the War for the Union. He was first Lieutenant in the Silliman Guards until he moved from town. He was arrested and tried for complicity in the Wiggan's Patch Riot, but, was triumphantly vindicated of the charge.

 

George Major was elected Chief Burgess in 1874. Herskers lived where the Wallauer store is now located and during a fire, back of this property on Railroad street, George Major was shot and later died of the wounds. The Silliman Guards were mustered in November 1875-Captain, John F. Schoener; First Lieutenant, Frank Wenrich; Second Lieutenant, S. S. Hoppes.

 

The population of Mahanoy City in 1900 was 13,504, and its commercial interests were represented in 1906 by 409 business houses engaged in all different lines of mercantile traffic.

 

Fire Companies

 

The Humane Fire Company No. 1 was organized June 18, 1868, with twenty-four members. Michael Kelley is the present President.

 

The Citizens Fire Company No.2 was organized in February 1870. Five years later a Silsby fire engine was added to the equipment, thus completing, what was then a very efficient force. The present President is John Kleindienst.

 

The Hook and Ladder Fire Company was organized March 29,1886. James Painter is the present President.

 

The Good American Fire,Company was organized in 1893. They have two trucks which cannot be excelled in combating fire. The present President is Henry Schreyer.

 

The West End Fire Company held their first meeting in Nork's Hall in 1925 for the purpose of organizing. In 1926, they held a bazaar to raise money for a building which they started to construct in 1927. A modern truck was purchased in 1931. John Urban was the first President. This company is no longer a part of the fire department.

 

The Town of Churches

 

The Presbyterian Church was organized in 1861, and the church edifice was erected in 1862.

 

The Church of Faith, Protestant Episcopal, was organized on Aug. 18, 1864, and the building of a house of worship was at once begun.

 

Members of St. Paul's Reformed Church, the first services of which denomination were held in 1862, elected a Consistory on Jan. 17, 1863, and thus completed the formal organization of the church. A house of worship was erected in 1864 and dedicated on September 17, 1865. The Welsh Congregational Church was formally organized on December 20, 1863 and a house of worship was erected in 1865.

 

The American Primitive Methodist Church was established in 1864.

 

The Zion Welsh Baptist in 1865; the English Baptist in March 1867.

 

Tne Salem United Evangelical Church was established as early as 1859, and St. John's Lutheran Church in 1867.

 

Christ Church of the German Evangelical Lutheran denomination was organized in May 1867.

 

The First Methodist Episcopal Church held its first mission from 1861 to 1863. The church building was constructed in 1864.

 

The English speaking Catholic Church in Mahanoy City was more than three years in construction, and was dedicated in July 1866, by Bishop Wood of Philadelphia. It is known as St. Canicus Church.

 

St. Fidelis German Catholic Church was erected in 1866. The first High Mass was celebrated in the unfinished building on Christmas Day.

 

Saint Joseph's Lithuanian Catholic Church was completed in 1888. The church choir is an outstanding accomplishment of the congregation.

 

The Polish Catholic was organized in 1903. It is known as St. Casimir's Church.

 

The Italian Catholic Church, known as the Sacred Heart Church, was organized in 1908.

 

St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church was constructed in 1891. A new church was built in 1931.

 

St. Mary's Slovak Catholic Church was organized in the latter part of the 1800's.

 

The St. Nicholas Ukrainian Church was constructed in 1923.

 

The Slovak Lutheran Church was erected in 1904.

 

The Christian Science Society of Mahanoy City became a branch of the Mother Church, the first church of Christ Scientist of Boston, Massachusetts about November 1911, and met in Williams' Hall, 523 E. Centre Street, Mahanoy City. It now meets at 231 East Mahanoy Avenue, Mahanoy City, Pa.

 

 

History of the Mahanoy City Schools

 

The first School Board met in 1862 and consisted of five men: Dr. Louis Thompson, Frank Carter, Mr. Wallborn, David Klingerman, and one other of which there is no record.

 

Oliver Bechtel was the first candidate for the teacher's position, and was elected the first public school teacher. He taught in a log school house at Spruce and Linden Streets.

 

In 1863, a four room school house was built of brick. The new teachers elected were: Harry I. Williams, Anna K. Wilson and Melinda Dimmick.

 

In 1864, John M. Barry as elected President of the School Board; David Phillips, Treasurer, and John M. Cunninghan , Secretary. W. H. Heidenreich, Balentine Benner and John Tobin were the other members of the Board.

 

In 1864, Oliver Bechtel resigned and later became Judge of Schuylkill Country. James V. Brunner took his place. Then the schools were graded High, Grammnar, Secondary and Primary.

 

Mr. Brunner was the first high school teacher. Harry I. Williams, took Charge of the Grammar School; Melinda Dimmick, the Secondary school, and Anna K. Wilson, the Primary School.

 

Between 1864 and 1866 nearly 700 names appeared on the school roll. In 1867, the Pine Street brick tuilding was erected at a cost of $7,646.82. While the building was being erected, the children went to school in the basement of Welsh Congregational Church. Elizabeth Jeffries and Jennie Thomas were the first ones to teach in this basement. The population of the town at this time was about 4500.

 

At midnight, January 9, 1867, the Spruce Street school building caught fire but it was soon extinguished and little damage done.

 

In 1871 the Centre Street building was built at a cost of $20,000.00. Tbe east room on third floor was used as the High School until 1880 when the High School was transferred to the Pine Street building.

 

In 1875 a brick annex of six rooms was added to the Spruce Street building.

 

In 1884 the Pine Street building was torn down because it was too small and in its place a new eight room building was erected.

 

While this was being built the High School was held in the Armory Hall, from 1885 to 1898. In 1888 a new building was erected in the First Ward.In 1893, the Twelfth Street building was built. The High School enrollment in 1893 was 83 and the Grammar School enrollment in 1896 was 112.

 

The High School was organized in 1864 and the first class to have commencement exercises was the Class of "1875." The members of this class were: Thomas J. Parmley-Valedictorian; Allen H. Swalm-Salutatorian; Charles Snyder, Jr., Carrie Bricker, Howard O. Bensinger and Ralph Bricker.

 

In 1875 there were six graduates, while in 1933 there were 204. The smallest class was the Class of 1877 with two graduates. Grammar school was organized in 1864 with the first commencement in 1892.

 

The number of teachers and pupils in December 1934 consists of: