At Kutztown, settled by Germans in 1733, is the Keystone State Normal School, originally Maxatawny Seminary, but since 1866, the Normal School, enlarged after most improved models of school architecture. Four miles distant is Virginsville; here is a natural curiosity, the “Crystal Cave,” of vast dimensions, with crystal formations in every shape and color; it is lighted by electricity. Boyertown, with two large academies, and Birdsboro, with fine churches and residences, are noted for their iron furnaces. Hamburg is the home of the Berks County State Sanatorium No. 3 for tuberculosis; Spanish architecture. Berks County has several picturesque old bridges, the oldest, with one arch, stone, built in 1822, spans the Wyomissing Creek at its mouth, opposite Reading. Thirteen other stone arch bridges, the longest, over Maiden Creek, four arches, built in 1854; and twenty-five wooden covered bridges, are decided artistic assets.
Historic iron furnaces in Berks County are at Birdsboro, Hay Creek Forges, built, 1740, by William Bird on land obtained by warrant and survey; he also erected Hopewell Furnace in 1759, and the Berkshire Furnace in Heidelberg about 1760; his son, Mark Bird, inherited the property, and built Spring Forge and Gibraltar Forge; in 1796, John Louis Barde became the owner; his daughter was married to Matthew Brooke, who subsequently purchased the property, which has become an extensive iron works. Colebrookdale, famous as the seat of the first blast furnace in Pennsylvania, was on Iron Stone Creek, named for the Colebrookdale furnace, in Shropshire, England; it was founded by Thomas Rutter and Thomas Potts in 1720: in 1724, the output was forty-eight tons of pig iron per annum, each ton valued at £5; this was the first furnace to cast pots, kettles, and other hollow ware by the use of sand moulds; it had a long and prosperous career. Hopewell, a cold blast, one stack furnace, employed one hundred and seventy men and boys, the iron ore was obtained from the Hopewell mine, about two miles away, water from Hopewell Creek formed the motive power; a dam was constructed a quarter of a mile above the furnace and conveyed by a race to the big water wheel; the property covered 5163 acres, chiefly woodland; stoves were cast here with much detailed design, marked with the name of Bird; also cannon for the Revolutionary Army; Hopewell furnace, although idle for many years, is not dismantled, and the village street of iron-workers’ homes is much the same as it must have been in early times.
Oley Forge, south of the little hamlet called Oley Churches, and about ten miles from the confluence of the Manatawny and Schuylkill rivers, was organized by John Ross in 1744, and was in active operation for one hundred and twenty years. In 1760, a valuable deposit of iron ore was found in Oley Township, and in 1765 Dietrich Welcker erected Oley Furnace, near the mountain; it was owned by General Daniel Udree during the Revolution. Pine Forge was among the earliest of those erected in the Manatawny district, on land conveyed by William Penn to Thomas Rutter; the original patent is in possession of the Rutter family. There is every evidence that the group of early forges and furnaces had a general interchange in their business affairs, as the owners of the plants were almost identical; William Bird, in 1733, was cutting wood for the use of Pine Forge, at two shillings ninepence a day. Ten years later we find him renting one-eighth of Pine Forge at £40 per annum.
The management of the old forges was patriarchal in its character; grist mill, sawmill, and the village store were all under control of the company, and the records of the old forges and furnaces are filled with human interests of an earlier day. Windsor Furnace,
TRINITY CHURCH, READING, BUILT IN 1791
on Furnace Creek, under shadow of the Blue Mountains, besides making pig iron and the usual hollow ware cast in colonial times, was noted for remarkable artistic work under the management of Jones, Keim & Co.; one casting, being a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” is now in possession of the Philadelphia Exchange.
Bedford County