Kemp’s Hotel – A Kutztown Landmark
By Robert A. Pawling
Originally published in the January 1979 issue of “Along the Saucony,” slightly revised and with editorial notes for republication.
No one is certain just when the first building was constructed on the site where Kemp’s stands today. The present building has a date stone whose figures resemble 1795; however, some sources maintain that the structure is older. (Ed. – Datestones inscribed “1795” for both George and Susana Kemp are set between the second-floor windows beneath the eave on what is now the oldest surviving portion of the hotel.) An old sign over the entrance at one time claimed the hotel to have been founded in 1765.
An earlier structure must have preceded the present one. Daniel Levan is said to have operated a hotel of sorts on the site as early as 1740; however, an old deed seems to indicate that Jacob Levan, Daniel’s brother, still owned the property at this early date, selling it to Daniel sometime prior to 1760. It is possible that Daniel took possession of the land at an earlier date than the 1760 proprietary patent would indicate, for Jacob died before “any sufficient deed was by him executed,” and by 1754 Daniel Levan was already one of Maxatawny Township’s most prosperous taxable inhabitants. One of these Levans built a house at the crossroads of the Great Road (Easton Road) and the New Maxatawny road, a good position for business.
It may be supposed that this early log structure was intended originally to be Levan’s residence, but later doubled as a public house and tavern because of its advantageous location. To whatever extent Levan opened his house to the public is not certain; nevertheless, by 1755 it had become sufficiently well-known to be included on a map of Berks County. The 18-penny tax list of 1767 describes Daniel Levan as a “Taverner” who was owner of 300 acres of livestock. Furthermore, Morton Montgomery maintains that during those years, “the Half-way House in Richmond Township and this one were the only public houses on the state road between Reading and Allentown.” (Ed. – The “Half-way House,” so-named because it was situated at roughly the midpoint of the Easton Road between the Forks of the Delaware and Lancaster, stood on the southwest corner of the intersection of what are now Rts. 222 and 73.)
It is hard to imagine the desolate nature of northern Berks County in those days prior to the Revolution. The sight of a tavern like Levan’s must have been greeted with mixed emotions by the weary traveler. Happiness for rest and sustenance was usually tempered by disgust at the ill-kept, spartan conditions of the hostelry.
One early visitor to Levan’s entered the following note in his diary for 21 August 1773: “Arrived at Levan’s where we had such a dinner as travelers must often put up with…. The house did not seem remarkably clean but may do to stop at for an hour or so.”
Six famous boarders stopped off at Levan’s on the evening of 12 November 1777. One of them was William Ellery, signer of the Declaration of Independence and member of the Continental Congress. His reliable description of accommodations at the hotel does little to elevate its reputation. He writes, “The evening was windy and exceedingly cold. The room in which we sat and lodged admitted the cold air at a thousand chinks, and our narrow bed had had only a thin rug and one sheet. We went to bed almost completely dressed but even that would not do. It was so cold that I could not sleep.” As George M. Meiser IX has so aptly observed, wind blowing through chinks in the wall clearly depicts an old log structure here in 1777 rather than the stone building which stands there today. Ellery goes on to present a scene that would discourage even the most seasoned traveler. “What added to the infamousness of this tavern was the extreme squalidity of the rooms, beds, and every utensil. … Notwithstanding, we had nothing … but a hock of pork boiled a second time, and some bread and butter. We found our own tea and coffee and hay and oats for the horses.” Ellery was further outraged by being charged 38 shillings “lawful money” for overnight accommodations for three.
Ellery was not the only notable figure to visit the hotel that fateful year of 1777. John Adams, who would later become our country’s second president, wrote in his diary on 25 September that he rode from Bethlehem through Allentown to a German tavern about 18 miles from Reading where he stopped for the evening. The tavern mentioned was undoubtably Levan’s.
Local tradition has it that none other than Martha Washington stopped at the hotel on her way through town on 16 June 1779. Unfortunately, there is no known written evidence to corroborate this story. (Ed. – The 1915 Centennial History of Kutztown, quoting from Vol. VI of the annual proceedings of the Pennsylvania-German Society, states that Martha Washington lodged at the Sun Inn on 15 June 1779 and “early in the morning of the 16th set out for Virginia.” This account notes that she “must have passed through Kutztown about noon of the latter date” but does not mention Levan’s or any local hostelry, though there is a local tradition asserting that the future first First Lady lunched at the Swan Inn.)
In 1784 Daniel Levan passed from the scene, leaving his residence (hotel) and most of his 219 acres to his son, Daniel, then living in Worcester Township, Philadelphia County. Contending with the duties of hotel management must not have appealed to Daniel Jr., for he promptly conveyed the property to George Kemp, his brother-in-law, for a sum of 2,500 pounds.
In 1785 George Kemp was listed for the first time as an “innkeeper” who possessed a still for which his customers were no doubt grateful. The whiskey business was nothing new for George. He had been operating a still years earlier and probably helped supply his father-in-law’s tavern with the refreshment demanded by hard-drinking frontier farmers. This association prompted young Kemp to work toward the day when he could take over for the aging Levan.
Kemp operated the business for 55 years, making numerous improvements. In addition to two servants to help take care of the hotel chores, Kemp owned a black girl named Hannah, who represents the only known case of slavery in the Kutztown area. Following the Revolutionary War, there was a considerable increase in traffic on the Easton Road. Trains of Conestoga wagons carried freight and settlers to the rapidly developing territories of the West. To take advantage of this trade, George Kemp, whose name appears on the 1795 date stone, constructed the original stone building we know today as Kemp’s Hotel and in the process established a business that retained the family name for five generations. George Kemp was a justice of the peace for 34 years and a county commissioner from 1821 – 1824. He is also remembered as one of the original Reformed elders at St. John’s Union Church, established in 1788.
John Kemp, son of George, became the next owner of the hotel in 1840. Business prospered during those years due in part to the reputation Kemp acquired for giving a free cigar with each 3-cent shot of whiskey. To accommodate the extra customers, an addition was erected in 1852, doubling the hotel’s size to 62 feet by 35 feet. A one-story kitchen extension measuring 23 feet by 20 feet was also constructed at the rear of the hotel. There were now five fireplaces in the hotel, three downstairs and two upstairs in the old section. There was also a “free room” for those who could not pay the lodging fee, and a barroom where teamsters were obliged to bed down when the other rooms were too crowded. Kemp’s became such a focal point of local activity that from 1841 to 1947 the hotel was used as a polling place for Maxatawny Township.
In addition to efficiently managing the hotel, Old Squire John, as he came to be known, found time to be a farmer, tax collector, and justice of the peace. He walked to Reading on many occasions, before the railroad came through Lyons Station in 1859, to carry money and deeds to the city since Kutztown did not have the proper facilitiesto handle them. Old Squire John was a small man in stature, but he lived to an advanced age of 89 years in a room upstairs in his beloved hotel. He reared three daughters and a son, John, who acquired the hotel upon his father’s death.
Likewise John Jr. turned the business over to his son John III, in 1918, and the last Kemp owner, Luther, received the property in 1946.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Since the posting of this blog, Lisa Landis-Heffernan shared updated information with the society:
For example, Daniel Levan actually died between 9 July 1776, when he made his will and 5 July 1777, when his daughter Susanna and George Kemp were appointed Executors of his estate. (Findagrave reports his death as 15 May 1777.) Additionally, in the deed of 3 June 1784 by which Daniel Levan’s son, “Daniel Levan of Worchester Township,” sold the property he had inherited to George Kemp, it states that he did so to carry out the demands of his father’s will, which required him to “Pay for the said Land the sum of One thousand and Two hundred Pounds…” and to distribute that amount to his siblings. Selling the land to his brother-in-law George Kemp for “…the Sum of Two Thousand & five hundred Pounds” enabled Daniel Levan to fulfill the requirements of his father’s will while also accruing a significant profit.
The article also states that the next proprietor of the hotel, John Kemp, was Capt, George Kemp’s son. In fact, John was his grandson. George Kemp did not have a son named John. In George Kemp’s will, he states “I …bequeath my almost half of my plantation where I now reside to John Kemp, son of my deceased son, George Kemp. It contains about 100 acres…”
There are other errors. Hannah was not the only slave in the area. More importantly, it is apparent from census data that proprietorship of the Kemp Hotel did not pass directly from John Kemp, Esq. to his son John Kemp, Jr. then to “John Kemp III.” William George Kemp, son of John Kemp, Jr. was proprietor for 16 years, according to his obituary.
