Berwick, Pennsylvania

We have taken information about Berwick from various sources, but primarily the Centennial History of Berwick, Penna. published by R. S. Bowman in the Berwick Independent August 18, 1886. All quotes are from this source. This history, like much of what we publish in the News from Back Home in Benton, PA, includes personal comments and opinions. We will soon include this history in a longer version on this web site, under FEATURES.

Evan Owen purchased the land in what is now the borough of Berwick in 1769, and that is where we shall begin.

Bowman's history of Berwick justified the location of the town as "a wise selection, with perfect drainage, and in all respects a more beautiful site for a town than any other along the whole shore of the historical Susquehanna." Bowman hedged his writing, however, with a note that a Front Street "with a lawn reaching to the river would have made a much prettier town."

Bowman wrote, "A market house was erected in 1805 in the center of Market Street, between Second and Third, supported by square timbers and underneath there was space sufficient to hold market and drive horses and wagons. The building was devoted to school purposes and occupied, also, for preaching and public assemblies, elections, etc. The glasses in the windows were of a greenish cast, thick in the center, and were called "Bull's eye glass," and though they admitted light, yet it was almost impossible to distinguish objects."

Bowman spoke to the difficulty the town experienced in getting goods from Reading, Easton and Mauch Chunk on horseback and on foot. Staging east was by Phillip Abbott, and by the Norton Brothers between Northumberland and Wilkes-Barre. A trip by team to Philadelphia was said to take two weeks. The local shoemaker, John Smith, measured customers in Berwick, then walked to Mauch Chunk and got the boots made and brought them back.

Bostian Seybert was the first farmer in the area, and lived two miles above Berwick in Salem Township near the place Bowman called "Swamp." Seybert's wife nearly died once when a mountain lion attacked her at the door of the house. The dog died in the ensuing fight, but his wife lived.

Evan Owen was called a "Squire," a title applied to a justice of the peace, local judge, or other local dignitary of a small town who would settle disputes between parties. Every bear killed was brought to him, and he divided it equally between the citizens. He built a grist mill along the river, "expecting the Susquehanna to run it, but "she was bent on meeting the waters of the Chesapeake, and paid no attention to the mill. It was therefore abandoned."

"There were two fisheries along the river, one called 'Tuckey Hoe,' and the other 'Jacob's Plains.' Shad were 'seined' (a fishing net that hangs vertically in the water, having floats at the upper edge and sinkers at the lower) by the wagon load, and a load could be obtained for a barrel of salt. The most beautiful shad were sold at four cents a piece, and six cents was an enormous price."

The largest shad caught here weighed nine pounds. Bowman wrote that butter brought six cents a pound, and calico from thirty to fifty cents per yard. "The residents all went to the river to do their washing, and left their kettles hanging along the shore the whole year around. Pewter plates and wooden spoons, knives, forks, and bowls were used then, a tin cup being unknown. Church-going maidens would carry their shoes within sight of the church, and then slip them on till after service, then pull them off and walk home barefooted."

"Seven yards of calico made a dress, and was looked upon as silk is now. Now it requires from twenty to thirty yards of the latter for a dress, with a trail as long as the lingering rays of a comet. Sun bonnets were worn then, and not as now, a patch on top of the head with artificial posies and streamers of ribbon. The mails were carried then on horseback over rough roads and through meandering paths; the mail carrier always blew his horn upon approaching the post office. Bowman wrote that "The first frame house built in the place was the frame house of B. R. Crispin's, opposite the Odd Fellows' Hall (in today's terms, that would be on Front Street across from the Berwick Theater). The second one was on the lot occupied now by the Y.M.C.A. Hall. The first brick building was the old Methodist Church, now occupied by S. K. Heller as a dwelling. The first church was Quaker, a log building that stood on Second Street."

Judge Mack started a foundry at Foundryville cast plows and later built a furnace there.

Two steamboats were built on the west branch, one called Cordorus, and the other Susquehanna and Baltimore. The S & B was intended to run up the north branch, but during her first attempt she exploded in May, 1826, when she got to the Berwick Falls. Four people were killed or died of their injuries.

Travel to northern Pennsylvania from Reading and Philadelphia came through Berwick. The Owens road, built by Evan Owens in 1786, brought early settlers from Mauch Chuck to Berwick. As early as 1804, Owen was commissioned to lay out a turnpike to Easton as the Lehigh & Susquehanna turnpike was under construction in the area of the present village of Conyngham. The turnpike was a huge improvement to the old Owens Road and four-horse Concord coaches could pass over the road. Lots were sold along the turnpike and farms and taverns, "entertainment for man and beast," sprung up at measured intervals. Several Pennsylvania towns take their names from taverns, which functioned more as rest stops in their day.
• Drums today is near the site of the Abram Drum's Tavern, which opened north of Hazleton in 1790.
• Bird-in Hand, between Philadelphia and Lancaster. A swinging wooden sign on an old tavern there reminded patrons that "A bird in hand is worth two in the bush."
• An early tavern near what is now King of Prussia originally was run by a Prussian settler, and its wooden sign featured the image of King Frederick the First.