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    Lititz
    Lititz
    Lititz
    Ebook204 pages1 hour

    Lititz

    By Kathy Blankenbiller

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    About this ebook

    Lititz may be just a speck on the map, but its historical impact is a match for any of the nation’s biggest cities. Shaped by history, today Lititz sparkles as the village jewel of Lancaster County. Set against the breathtaking beauty of the surrounding countryside, this little town offers a thriving downtown, slow-paced atmosphere, and abundant recreational areas and cultural events. Lititz is the proud home of Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, the nation’s oldest pretzel bakery; Linden Hall, the oldest girls’ boarding school in the United States; and the oldest continuous celebration of the Fourth of July. The vintage photographs in Lititz present a rare insider’s view of a town of historical firsts in America, and they show why visitors always leave Lititz with the feeling of nostalgia for the hometown of their childhood.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateMay 4, 2009
    ISBN9781439621486
    Lititz
    Author

    Kathy Blankenbiller

    Kathy Blankenbiller is an award-winning feature writer and columnist for the Lititz Record Express newspaper. She currently serves on the board of directors of the Lititz Historical Foundation and is the creator of the script for the Lititz Main Street Walking Tour.

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      Book preview

      Lititz - Kathy Blankenbiller

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      INTRODUCTION

      The Lititz area was inhabited many centuries ago by Native Americans. Relics from their cultures have been unearthed near the headwaters of the Lititz Springs, thus sustaining the conclusion that this pristine wilderness of scenic serenity had had cultural development and social organization long before the arrival of the European settlers.

      In 1722, Christian Bomberger became the first known European settler in the Lititz area. Another early settler was Richard Carter, who emigrated from Warwickshire, England, who became a prominent figure in the early life of the region and in 1729 named the area Warwick Township.

      In 1742, Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf of Saxony, the leader and organizer of the modern-day Moravian Church, was searching for a tract of land to establish a religious community similar to those in Bethlehem and Nazareth, Pennsylvania. He stopped to preach at the tavern of Jacob Huber, located north of Lititz. John George Klein, who was not in attendance at the tavern, followed Count Zinzendorf to Lancaster the next day to hear him preach. At Lancaster, Klein was won over by the Count’s cause and was inspired to turn over his tract of land, consisting of 491 acres that meandered along Carter’s Run; these 491 acres became the new settlement.

      On June 12, 1756, a letter from Europe addressed to the Moravian Brethren was received from Count Zinzendorf, in which he named the new settlement Litiz, which was the German spelling. The name that was given was in commemoration of the Castle of Lidice and Citadelou, located in Eastern Bohemia near the Silesian/Moravia border where the early Moravian Brethren found refuge in 1456.

      In 1757, the town of Lititz was surveyed and laid in lots. The administration and supervision of the community was entirely by the Moravian congregation and would continue until 1855. Everything relating to village life, including religious, social, and economic, was under the supervision and control of the governing authority of the congregation.

      Only Moravians were permitted to live in the village and build homes on the land owned by the church for which they paid rent into the congregation treasury. The end of the lease system probably started when the members of the congregation came in contact with those from the outside world. The contacts stemmed from the pupils, parents, and friends of the John Beck Boys’ Academy and the Linden Hall Seminary Girls’ School. This contact had much to do with the growing dissatisfaction of the restricted community life of the village. The settlement system had lost the vitality of the early years, and strong pressure was beginning to be felt for its abolition.

      It became evident that by the end of the first 100 years of the founding of Lititz, community life was changing. Consequently in 1855, it was decided to make Lititz an open community. Members of other Christian fellowships took up residence and their churches soon followed. The Reading and Columbia Rail Road came in 1863; this important means of transportation was a great factor in encouraging new industries and enterprises to locate in Lititz.

      From the very early days, Lititz has been noted as an industrial town. The Moravian congregation as an organization had a sawmill, gristmill, general store, tavern, potash factory, apothecary’s shop, and several farms. One of the most famous items made was the pretzel, which was commercialized by Julius Sturgis in 1861.

      Lititz grew as industry increased; the rails, transportation, manufacturing facilities, homes, schools, and places of worship abounded during this era. Truly Lititz was becoming one of the most beautiful, healthy, and prosperous towns in the United States.

      Lititz has one of the oldest continuous Fourth of July celebrations in the nation, which was established in 1818. Unique to the celebration is a special attraction of illuminating candles, which started in 1843, was introduced to raise funds for improvements to the park. Celebration planners decided to light 400 candles; today 7,000 candles are lit as a grand illumination to end the day’s festivities.

      Gen. John Augustus Sutter, an early pioneer of California who founded the town of Sacramento in 1839, became one of Lititz’s notable citizens. The California gold rush of 1849 occurred over General Sutter’s many tracts of land. Losing his ownership of land in California in 1865, he finally settled in Lititz in 1871 living out the rest of life until his death in June 1880. His burial is in the Lititz Moravian Cemetery.

      This photographic book, titled Lititz, along with historical documentation covering three centuries, is the enthusiastic work of Kathy Blankenbiller, who appreciates her adopted community of Lititz and is extremely proud of its heritage. Kathy depicts a diversified community, which is nestled amid the fertile farmland of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

      Lititz has a hearty body of citizens, who are favored with a refined community life that embodies a widely acclaimed religious and historical heritage. Lititz, with its incomparable beauty and its scenic serenity, is certainly a place of community pride.

      —R. Ronald Reedy, Lititz historian

      One

      FORGOTTEN SEASONS

      Jacob Huber’s Tavern, now known as the Forgotten Seasons Bed and Breakfast, sits unobtrusively along East Newport Road, a silent sentinel of Lititz’s past that is rarely noticed. Huber, a German immigrant, made a significant contribution to the development of bucolic south-central Pennsylvania, beginning with the building of a home and tavern via land that was warranted to him around 1735 from John, Thomas, and Richard Penn. A log cabin home, measuring 18 feet by 20 feet, was first, then the tavern next, adjacent to the cabin, which now serves as the bed-and-breakfast. It is in this tiny building, so rich in history, that the people who would help shape northern Lancaster County came to visit.

      Huber, regarded as a prominent businessman, was commissioned by the county of Lancaster in the late 1730s to survey and suggest improvements for Newport Road from Mount Hope to the Spring Garden area and later, to participate in another survey and recommendation for improvement of the road from the town of Lancaster toward Tulpehocken. Huber’s recommendations were made and accepted in 1740. Today Route 501 follows roughly the same path as this road from the courthouse in Lancaster to Tulpehocken, mentioned

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