THE “RUDE AND HUMBLE” FIRST HOUSE IN KUTZTOWN: A HISTORY AND A MYSTERY
Text and research by Craig A. Koller and Brendan D. Strasser
The society has recently come into possession of a historically significant photo labeled as the first house built in Kutztown. We have it on loan from Mayor Jim Schlegel, who received it from Alan Carter. It is a mid to late 19th-century mounted photo, on the back of which is written, “From John G. Wink my father-in-law, Esther Wink gave to me. Oldest house in Kutztown.”
The first recorded mention of this home occurs in John S. Ermentrout’s 1876 Historical Sketch of Kutztown & Maxatawny, Berks County, Penn’a., in which the author describes it as “a one-story log building . . . [that] stood at no great distance from the Saucony creek, where now stands the elegant mansion of Daniel Sharadin.”
Today that lot is still occupied by the Sharadin “mansion,” the turreted residence at 118 West Main St., next to BB&T Bank. The Centennial History Kutztown, Pennsylvania 1815-1915 provides a more elaborate statement, worth quoting in full: “The date of erection of the first house in Kutztown is uncertain. Tradition asserts that it was built by George Esser. . . . One writer thinks it likely that the house was put up ‘before the land was patented in 1728.’ That is, however, a most unlikely supposition, one practically proved to be unfounded, because Schultze’s map of the Easton Road, 1755, which gives the location of houses of early settlers all along the road, gives no indication of any building standing at that time in the area now covered by Kutztown. It does, however, show the Saucony, a bridge over it, and the road with all its turns. In addition to this consideration, examination of lists of taxable in Maxatawny Township for those times fails to show the name of any person by the name of Esser.
Quite recently workmen digging post holes for a fence on the lot of Mrs. Nathan S. Kemp and Llewellyn Angstadt [136 West Main] came upon a buried wall, probably the foundation of this first house, though possibly in its second location.
“This house is said to have stood on the south side of East Main Street, somewhat west of the present J. Daniel Sharadin residence. In 1851 it was sold to David Fister and John G. Wink, who removed it to the rear of the lot to make way for the erection of the row of brick houses now abutting on the street in that section. In 1857 the building was torn down. Quite recently workmen digging post holes for a fence on the lot of Mrs. Nathan S. Kemp and Llewellyn Angstadt [136 West Main] came upon a buried wall, probably the foundation of this first house, though possibly in its second location.”
The reference here to “East Main Street” is actually to the 100 block of West Main, as Main was at this time divided at Noble St. Exactly which structures comprise the “row of brick houses” is uncertain, but we do know that the four connected residences from 154-160 West Main seem to date between 1854 and 1861, that 132 (Kevin and Susan Conrad’s residence) was constructed in 1866 and 136 (Carl Wm. Mantz’s law office) near the same time, both by the Hottenstein family. The Centennial History adds that the house and its original lot were at one point owned by William Marx, who was a drummer boy in the American Revolution, but as there are no surviving plot maps of the borough showing ownership prior to 1854, this tidbit does not afford us any clues to determine the lot’s location -- whether No. 118 as Ermentrout claims or “somewhat west” of No. 118.
In this era, as shown in the 1862 Bridgens Atlas map of Kutztown, Sander Alley (behind these buildings) extended almost to the Saucony Creek, then cut diagonally across what is now the Turkey Hill parking lot to connect to Front (Main) St. at the bridge, with Gerasch’s distillery on the elbow. However, this map, published five years after the first house was supposedly razed, provides no indication of it or any other rear structures such as carriage sheds on Sander Alley, allowing no conclusions to be drawn about its location.
Thus, in short, we are unable to determine precisely where the first house originally stood. However, that its second location was almost certainly at the rear of No. 136 is confirmed by the comment about workers discovering a foundation wall while digging post holes there, as a post-card photograph in the society’s collection from about 1915 (pictured) shows the relatively new fence constructed on that lot.
Accompanying this history of the first house in the Centennial History is a sketch by the late Rev. F. J. F Schantz (pictured) that is obviously based on this photograph and, as the text avers, “is said by the older people of the town, who remember the house well, to be an accurate presentation of the appearance of the old structure, especially in its later years. Like most other houses of the early settlers, this building was a rude and humble one, of logs.”
Another historical problem arises in that the photograph is on a mount showing the embossed stamp of W. A. Dietrich, who operated a photo studio at 420 West Main Street from about 1875 to 1906. The exact year that he established his business is not known, and his name does not appear either in the 1876 Centennial census of Kutztown by James F. Wagenhorst or on the Kutztown map in the 1876 Illustrated Historical Atlas of Berks County, suggesting that perhaps he began elsewhere and later relocated to the borough. In any case, Dietrich was born in 1853, so if the Centennial History is accurate, he would have been only four years old when the building was razed. Thus, we assume that Dietrich was reprinting someone else’s photo and mounted it on his stock card, but that leaves us still ignorant of the original photographer or its date.
Photography was still in its relative infancy in the 1850s, and pre-Civil War photographs of Berks and Lehigh county locations are exceedingly scarce because cameras were not yet in common use here. Additionally, Dietrich was primarily a portrait photographer, though he is known to have taken some exterior photos of buildings and landscapes -- unless, like this example, they are other photographers’ work on Dietrich mounts.
We might hazard to guess that the Centennial History is incorrect in citing 1857 as the date of demolition, but it has proven itself to be accurate in most other respects, so that seems unlikely. Several years ago, the society purchased the day-books of John G. Wink from Pennsylvania German folklorist Don Yoder. Wink, who was the first child born in Kutztown after it was incorporated on April 6, 1815 and was regarded in his day as the borough’s foremost historian, kept a series of diaries in which he recorded the weather, notable deaths, and events in his life over a period of more than 60 years until blindness disabled his ability to write legibly. One could hope that an event as momentous as the purchase of Kutztown’s first house or its demolition would be recorded there, but alas, though our run of his day-books is complete, there are no entries for 1851 (year of purchase) or 1857 (year of demolition). And we have yet to discover any other contemporary written or printed sources that mention this historic residence.
In 1965, the King’s Men built a replica of the house for the Sesqui-Centennial parade (pictured) that was also clearly modeled on the 1915 pen-and-ink sketch. After the celebration, it sat on the Kutztown Fairground as an exhibit during the Folk Festival and Fair until its deterioration led to dismantling.
Replica of the first house in Kutztown
Presently, then, the only surviving evidence of Kutztown’s first house are two accounts written 19 and 58 years after its supposed demolition and this photograph, of unknown date or origin, which affords us one of the earliest known views taken within present-day borough limits.