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Authored by Society president George Meiser IX |
| Posted 03-17-2006
NINE News-Bits of Reading-Berks historical interest…. =========== ============== ============= =========== ============== ============= 1- Spring issue of Historical Review to be mailed soon 2- Volunteers needed immediately! 3- Index to News-Bits releases….back to 2002 4- Historical Sites Maps again available 5- Probable earliest Ritter family cemetery is no more 6- BCAGP news officers and its plans 7- Amity Heritage Society to meet this Sunday 8- Albany Twp. Historical Society to meet Monday 9- Kutztown’s College Hill landmarks threatened =============== =============== =========== =============== =============== =========== 1- The latest issue of the Historical Review of Berks County is a STUNNER! Wait till you see it. The magazine will probably get into the mail this coming Tuesday. =============== =========== ============== 2- Due to a rash of recent illnesses and incapacitations, the Historical Society is in immediate need of volunteers in the museum/ gift shop....at the front desk....and in the library. Plainly stated, with a full-time professional staff of only FIVE individuals, the Historical Society could not continue to operate without its faithful volunteers. We need YOU! Shifts are usually 3 hours and can be once a week, twice a month, or once a month--or on a when-needed (substitute) basis. If you’re interested in research, working at the desk in the library provides a major learning experience and a golden opportunity to see what’s in the collection. By looking for things for others, you’ll find a multitude of resources you never knew existed. For information about the gift/ museum shop or front desk, ask for Gloria (who returns Tuesday, March 21st). For more information about the library (volunteering at the reception desk or working quietly on files or inputting at a computer), ask for librarian Barbara Brophy. Or phone the Society at 610 - 375 - 4375. ================== ================= ============ 3- An INDEX to find photos and bits of information given in News-Bits since June 2002 can be found at “the bottom of the page”at Look at the bottom for …. ABOUT NEWS BITS. Opposite GOOGLE…type in what you’re like to find. Below the box, check the www.berkshistory circle. This new feature works great. In two seconds, I found the “volunteers needed” posting that we included in a News-Bits dispatch a year ago! ================== ================ ============= 4- The large maps (12 square feet!) that show 750 historical sites exactly located in Reading and Berks are now available in our museum (gift) museum shop AND at the Society’s 24/7 Internet museum (gift) shop. 
================ =============== =============== 5- Gone! Some months ago, we reported the location of what WAS probably the county’s earliest Ritter family burial ground, located perhaps 300 yards below the Oley Turnpike and a stone’s throw below what is now Glen Oley Road. The general location was between Jacksonwald and Limekiln (Oley Line/ Snyderville). It appears the copse wherein the 18th century burials were made was cleared within the past week to make way for a building site. The copse had been visible from Oley Turnpike Road. PHOTO taken two days ago: 
PHOTO taken some months ago: 
A 19th century Ritter ground survives a short distance away, on the Jordan Bausher farm, just off Ritter Road. It is enclosed by a stone wall. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - FOLLOWING is what was posted some months ago: Old references make mention of the fact there were two early Ritter cemeteries in Exeter, not far from the Oley line. The one north of Ritter Road, a short distance east of the Oley Turnpike, is fairly well known and documented. Exact location of the earlier one has been elusive. A month of so ago, your editor, in the company of genealogist Laurel Miller, investigated the probable site of the earlier Ritter Cemetery, situated about 100 yards beyond the sharp turn of the recently established Glen Oley Rd., which connects a series of newly constructed homes in that proximity. The site lies within a copse, readily visible off to the right as one motors along the Oley Turnpike between Jacksonwald and Limekiln. We could find no regular tombstones, but there are several field-stones of the variety used in the early days to mark burials. Growth of trees and bushes within the copse, in conjunction with the freezes and thaws of two centuries, long ago disturbed any regularity that once might have existed on the burial ground. ================= ================= ============= 6- The Berks County Ass’n for Graveyard Preservation (Post Office Box 3707, Reading, PA 19606) forwarded its slate of current officers: Ralph Lorah, president; James McClean,1st vice-president; Cynthia Jimenez, 2nd vice-president; Angela Zern, treasurer; and Patricia Wolbert, secretary. The BCAGP has done yoeman work in documenting and preserving our family burial grounds. They deserve AND need support---in the form of volunteers and membership. The group meets monthly at the American Legion Post in Oley. At present it’s selecting and evaluating new gravesites to be repaired and maintained. President Ralph Lorah’s email address: waterlorah@aol.com His phone number is 610 – 987 – 3541 ============= =============== ============= 7- The Amity Heritage Society (includes Exeter, Robeson, and Amity townships) will be meeting Sunday, March 19th at 1:30 p.m. at Fairview Chapel, at the corner of 422 and Fairview Chapel Road, in Exeter Twp. 
President Charlie Miller will present photographs, a video, and the history of the Lutz Farm, located off Amity Park Road. The farmhouse was erected by George Lutz in 1762 and remains quite original. Email: amityhs@hotmail.com Phone: 610 – 582 – 2070 ================ =============== ============= 8- The Albany Township Historical Society will meet at 7:30 pm on Monday, March 20th, 2006, at the Albany Elementary School in Kempton. Eric Claypool of Greenwich Township, will do a presentation on Hex Signs, Past and Present. Eric will discuss the differences between modern hex signs and barn stars of the past. Some of his hex signs will also be on display. Eric is a full-time carpenter who grew up making hex signs with his father. He took over the side business some time ago. ATHS meetings are open to the general public, admission is free and everyone is invited. For directions to the Albany Elementary School, visit their website at ============== =============== ============== 9- Kutztown residents and college/university alumni have been much exercised over reports that KU officials are targeting for probable demolition the stately residences of College Hill, among the finest and most significant homes in the area. They stand in a row on the main street opposite KU. = = = == = = = = = = = = = = = = The Residences of College Hill By Craig A. Koller < cak@hometownu.com >, President, Kutztown Area Historical Society C. A. Koller stands at Poplar House, West Main and College Blvd. Photo by Krissy Krummenacker for the Reading Eagle, Feb. 14, 2006. 
Much attention has been focused in recent weeks on the stately mansions of College Hill, former residences that are now publicly-owned buildings under the stewardship of Kutztown University or the KU Foundation. Though diverse, the College Hill structures are individually notable as marvelous examples of Pennsylvania German vernacular architecture, and collectively, along with Old Main and the original Fairview Seminary building, they comprise a district of vital significance to the histories of KU, Kutztown, and the East Penn Valley. As part of the Kutztown Area Historical Society’s stated mission of educating the local populace about our shared heritage, we present a brief history and description of each house. (NOTE: a forthcoming News-Bits dispatch will contain photos and house numbers for more meaningful identification and appreciation.) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Poplar House The Poplar House, also known as the Spanish House, is a 2½-story brick Victorian residence built in 1892 by William S. Kutz, a great-grandson of Kutztown’s founder, George Kutz to replace an earlier house on the site. The parcel was once part of the vast tract along the north side of the Kutztown Road that had been in Kutz possession since 1732, when Swiss native Jacob Kutz established a farmstead behind what is now Brooklyn. The house boasts Eastlake-style detailing in the front door, rake boards, and window hoods. The interior retains the original plan with a central hall, Eastlake-style stairway, art glass, and impressive woodwork. KSTC already owned the Kutz residence by 1931, when its Board of Trustees minutes show a reduction in monthly rent to its tenant, Wilson B., William’s son, who worked at KSNS as a custodian and was a highly respected local historian who contributed much lore to the 1915 Centennial History of Kutztown. According to period Patriot articles, on 18 June 1937, "the historic Kutz house," as it was labeled, was moved 140 feet in three stages using jacks, rollers, and iron plates to its current location as part of a WPA project, utilizing federal tax dollars to preserve a structure recognized even then as important to the area’s culture. The move was completed to align the home with the recently constructed President’s house and campus library (now the Graduate Center), which allowed in turn for the widening of the Kutztown Road through campus, accompanied by the grading of College Blvd., until then a dirt lane extending back to the Deisher farm in Maxatawny Twp. The back part of the original structure, containing four rooms, did not survive the move. It was dedicated on 5 January 1938, with the keys to the house given to Alvin F. Kemp, representing the Board of Trustees. The Poplar House, used as faculty and student housing, currently stands vacant and purportedly in need of substantial repair, even though its maintenance has been the responsibility of the State System of Higher Education for at least 75 years. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Boxwood House The oldest of the University’s historic homes and the oldest extant structure, originally a farm house, on KU’s campus was built in 1862 by Frank Keck, most likely from brick produced at Jonathan Bieber’s yard along Noble St. An arched fanlight surrounds the primary entrance, defining this building as of the Federal style. The original 6-over-6 windows, shutters, and cornice survive. A later addition and 1950s porch extend from the rear. The house was the home of several generations of the Esser family from 1930 until it was sold to KU in 1990. The Essers, among the original and most prominent settlers of Kutztown, may have built the first residence located within current Borough bounds; later, of course, they founded The Kutztown Publishing Company, creating the entity that reported and recorded area news for more than a century. Boxwood, after significant interior alterations, is currently used to house the offices of the Art Education Department at KU. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Wiesenberger Alumni Center This unusual Arts and Crafts style residence, virtually unique in Berks County, was constructed circa 1900 with Spanish Revival style gables, a tile roof, stucco over brick construction, bracketed cornice, interesting window and dormer arrangements with some diamond panes, and a side portico. The interior features many Arts and Crafts appointments, including natural woodwork, encaustic tiles, fancy fireplaces and surrounds, a stately staircase, beveled glass, a hand-painted frieze, and unusual period hardware. The house was built by Walter Dietrich for his nephew, Conrad Gehring, a Swiss immigrant who came to Kutztown in 1871 to edit the Kutztown Journal, forerunner of the Patriot. It was later sold to Henry W. Sharadin, the well-known art professor at the college whose magnificent murals still adorn the interior walls of the house. Although the famed peacock mural that graced the dining room has been removed, it has been preserved and now hangs in the office of the Dean of the School of Art in the Sharadin Art Building, his namesake. Arthur and Isabel Wiesenberger, "lifelong friends of Kutztown," purchased this house in 1986 and donated it to the KU Foundation to use as an alumni center "to strengthen the bonds which unite undergraduates and alumni alike to the University." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Maple Manor Built in 1896, this impressive brick Victorian residence is notable for its stick-style rake boards and porches featuring ornate spindle work. The house has two-story side porch and a small brick outbuilding raised to two stories with a frame addition. The interior retains most of the original floor-plan and woodwork. It was built by the Rev. Dr. W. W. Deatrick, probably the most influential single faculty member who ever served the Keystone State Normal School, now KU. By avocation a photographer, Deatrick is nationally lauded for his razor-sharp real photo post card views not only of the East Penn Valley but also of historic sites as far-flung as the Ephrata Cloister, Old North Church, and Bunker Hill. Maple Manor was later the residence of Dr. James S. Grim, who chaired the science department at the college for 47 years. Besides authoring several biology and agriculture textbooks, he discovered the San José scale in the early 1900s, which played a vital role in saving the U.S. potato and orchid crops in that era. Dr. Grim’s sons, all of whom were reared in the house and attended KSNS, also achieved renown in various fields: Dr. Marshall Grim discovered detergent, the forerunner of "Tide"; Stewart Grim was the first head of international long distance for AT&T; Dr. Mark Grim was the consummate country doctor, delivering hundreds of babies in a practice that spanned 53 years in Oley Township; and Allan K. Grim was the first native Berks Countian to be appointed (by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt) as a Federal Judge. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Education House Built in 1885, the largest of the Victorian residences features Eastlake detailing in the exterior woodwork, Renaissance Revival style window hoods, and dual Kutztown porches (one on each side of its rear wing) with intact woodwork, one of only a handful of examples still remaining. (Kutztown porches are the two-story porches found on many Berks County homes of the Victorian era, so named because of their concentration in the Kutztown area.) The front porch that exists today dates to circa 1933 and exhibits an arts and crafts style. The house was built by Charles and Sarah (Kamp) Deisher, who owned quite a bit of land on College Hill and to the west, part of a substantial tract once known as Moslem Flats that Charles’ ancestors, a founding Huguenot family, had patented in 1733 upon their arrival to Maxatawny. After Sarah died on 3 December 1912, Charles lived in the house until his death on 19 January 1918. He bequeathed the house to his great niece, Stella Bieber Miller, whom he raised from infancy after her mother died in childbirth. Stella lived her entire life in the house, marrying and raising a family (and grandchildren) there. Upon Stella’s death in 1966, the house was sold at auction for $28,000 to Dr. Geib, who re-christened it The Victoria House and used it to house students. KU purchased it in 1985. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Admissions House On 22 May 1885, Charles Deisher sold the 30,600 square-foot lot next door to his house for $100 to Rev. J. J. Cressman, minister for St. John’s Lutheran Church in Kutztown. Rev. Cressman and his wife built a house identical to Deisher’s house in 1886. After Cressman died on 5 January 1914 (to be succeeded by Rev. J. H. W. Bittner), his widow continued to live in the house until it was sold in September 1928 to Lizzie A. Dietrich, wife of Oscar H. Dietrich, a respected land developer who was the president of the Kutztown Foundry and the Farmers Bank of Kutztown. After the Dietrichs renovated the house into its current Greek Revival style, it was purchased in February 1946 by Attorney John Dry and his wife, Sarah (Bagby) Dry. KU has been using the house as the campus Admissions Office since it was purchased from John Dry in the 1990s. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Although KU administrators are careful to point out that no decisions have yet been finalized, preliminary redevelopment plans submitted to Maxatawny Twp. show on these sites a new Alumni Center (Wiesenberger and Boxwood), a new Admissions Center (Poplar), and a proposed North Campus access road (Maple Manor and Education). They do not show any new classrooms or, more critically, any new dormitories, the two primary campus needs owing to annual enrollment increases. The College Hill residences, however, are integral to campus identity, the most recognizable frontage along the Kutztown Road, and -- with the exception of Old Main, Schaeffer Auditorium, and the Graduate Center -- the only buildings on campus with enough architectural integrity to merit an argument for their preservation. The third major prong of the Kutztown Area Historical Society’s mission statement is to encourage the preservation of sites and structures significant to our region’s history and culture. Kutztown University chose, in 1992, to engage in a comprehensive and historically responsible renovation of Old Main rather than to demolish it -- even though the latter option would have been more cost-effective. The Graduate Center and President’s House have also undergone recent historic preservation with spectacular results, with Schaeffer Auditorium the next scheduled project. It is hoped that the houses on College Hill, mute sentinels of a cherished past, embodying a vibrant ethnic heritage that is among the most enduring in American history, get the same consideration and treatment. The historical details in this report emerge from a variety of sources compiled by Jane (Esser) Gottlund, Lee Graver, Robert F. Grim, Brendan D. Strasser, and William A. Yurvati. For more information on the Kutztown Area Historical Society, go to = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = END = = = GMMIX = = |
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