Cole Residence (536 Northampton Street)

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(Photo by Richard F. Hope)

Cole House (536 Northampton Street)

2-1/2 red brick, with 2 dormers. Includes the vacant lot next door at 538-40 Northampton Street, which currently has a common owner.[1]

The property is mostly part of original town Lot No. 244 as surveyed by William Parsons when Easton was founded in 1752.[2] That Lot was formally sold by the Penn Family to Jewish merchant Michael Hart in 1800.[3] Hart became the most important merchant in Easton beginning at the end of the Revolutionary War, and on into the beginning of the 19th Century.[4] He added to his prosperity after the War by selling supplies to the flood of settlers from New England headed West to the Ohio country.[5]

In 1812, Hart sold the remainder of Lot No.244 to Nathan Gulick for $4,100.[6] Two months later, Gulick added a 30’ strip of land from Lot No.245 next door, together with the “Stone Tenement” that eventually became the basis of the Old Easton Argus Building.[7] According to the deeds, Gulick was a clockmaker. A “Federal inlaid mahogany tall-case clock” whose works were made by Nathan Gulick of Easton was recently sold for $6,572.50 in New York City.[8]

Gulick subdivided his property, and began selling off various pieces separately. He separated off the rear of these properties (along what is now Pine Street), and laid out a new alley running East from John (now 6th) Street to separate his property into a front (Northampton Street) portion and a back (Pine Street) portion. He sold the rear portion for $300,[9] while splitting up the land fronting on Northampton Street into separate parcels, which he resold to different buyers. In December of 1812, he sold the parcel at the corner of Northampton and John (later 6th) Streets to carpenter Jacob Shouse for $800.[10] The “Stone Tenement” that became the Old Easton Argus Building was sold to cabinet maker Jacob Schoch in August 1813 for $1,500.[11] A 6’ strip from that property was held back and incorporated into Gulick’s parcel next door that would ultimately become the Cole House. At the time it was a vacant lot, however, which was sold to hatter Michael Simon for $600 in November of that same year.[12]

Jacob Schoch promptly resold the Old Easton Argus Building parcel to blacksmith Jacob Shipe.[13]

·  Meanwhile, Michael Simon’s property next door was promptly resold to George Beidleman[14] (also spelled Beidelman). It appears that after Beidleman’s death, his estate’s administrators attempted to sell of this vacant lot in 1817.[15] They apparently did not succeed in selling the property until 1825, when it was purchased by Jacob Shipe,[16] thus recombining it with the Old Easton Argus Building property once more.

Jacob Shipe held the properties for investment, rather than as his residence, since “the old John Shipe homestead” was located at what is now 130 North 3rd Street.[17] Nearly a decade later, in 1834, Shipe sold both parcels to Charles Kitchen and George Hess Jr.[18] (Kitchen later became Chief Burgess of Easton in 1854-55.[19])

At the time that Hess and Kitchen were arranging to purchase this land from Jacob Shipe, they paid an additional $1500 to Shipe (who also owned land even farther to the West) for the “uninterrupted privilege of using the Brick Wall on the Western Boundary Line . . . as a Gable and Wall of any Building which [they] may at any time hereafter erect”.[20] In 1835 (just a few months after they had purchased it), Kitchen and Hess sold the western parcel of their land (that became the Cole House) for $500 to Philip Messinger.[21] Messinger also received an assignment of the right to attach any building he built to Shipe’s “Brick Wall” to the West.[22] Messinger in turn sold the building to weaver Charles Simon in 1842 for $550.[23] Then, in 1855, Simon received $2,800 for the same property, now containing a “two Story frame” house that he had apparently added. The buyer was Josiah Cole,[24] who initially provided space in the basement for a butcher “just returned from Kansas”,[25] but ultimately occupied the house as his residence.

Josiah Cole (1825 – 1879[26]) had been moved to Easton from Bethlehem Township by his parents when he was a child. He learned the printing business working for the German-language Northampton Correspondent.[27] It appears that although the owner of that paper after 1839 was A.H. Senseman,[28] Cole was the editor and was probably running the paper by 1855.[29] That newspaper’s office was located on the first floor of the Old Newspaper Building (now numbered 403 Northampton Street),[30] while the Cole & Eichman printing concern was located on the third floor.[31] Josiah Cole’s residence was listed as 200 Northampton Street under the numbering scheme in effect at the time[32] -- By 1860, Cole had opened his own publishing business, located at the same address as his residence on Northampton Street. His shop printed the “small” German language weekly Independent Democrat newspaper.[33] In 1861, he purchased the Northampton Correspondent itself, in partnership with “a Philadelphia physician”.[34] In 1870, Cole arranged a half-interest in a partnership (named Cole Morwitz & Co.) with the Easton Argus newspaper publisher. He located that paper next door, at No.198.[35]

·  Prior to 1874, it was listed as 200 Northampton Street, under the street numbering scheme then in effect.[36]

·  In 1873, Cole apparently also leased space in his building to the barber shop of George Davenport.[37]

·  In the 1874 renumbering of Northampton Street, Cole’s residence received the modern address of 536 Northampton Street, and his publishing office received No.530.[38]

Josiah Cole was an active politician. He was Northampton County Treasurer from 1858-60, and was elected a Member of the Borough Council from 1858-61.[39] In 1871 he was appointed as an Associate Judge of the Northampton County Court – one of the last two lay judges to sit on that court (the other being his fellow Associate Judge Joseph Laubach).[40] The Associate Judges Cole and Laubach had a “feud of long-standing between” them, and never conversed with each other. They normally only communicated through the President Judge, Oliver H. Meyers. However, on one occasion (“after years of silence”) one of them did speak quietly to the other in court, causing a “ripple of inquisitiveness” among the lawyers. It was later determined that the conversation consisted of a single remark: “You can kiss my ass.”[41] Both Associate Judges retired from the bench in 1876.[42]

Josiah Cole died on 6 May 1879.[43] In 1880, his widow, Hannah, was still “keeping house” at No.536.[44] After her death, Cole’s niece and adopted daughter, Ella O. Hartzell, inherited this property,[45] as well as the Old Easton Argus Building next door (530 Northampton Street).[46] In 1939, Ms. Hartzell sold off the Old Easton Argus Building property, although she also established or preserved various easements from the Cole House into the Old Easton Argus Building property to be continued until her death.[47] Ms. Hartzell continued to own the Cole House next door until her death in 1945. A month after her death, the executor of her will sold the property to his own wife,[48] and then resold it to Frank Mastria[49] (a local property owner[50]), who in turn resold it once more on the very same day to Fred and Molly Marketti.[51] The Markettis sold the property in 1950 to Placid and Catherine Mammana,[52] who were also involved with other local properties.[53] Three additional owners then took over the house before 1994,[54] when it was deeded to the Rock Church of Easton.[55] (The Rock Church building is located a block away at the corner of 5th and Church Streets.[56])

The Rock Church had previously (in 1987) acquired the 4-story brick Sigfried Bakery Building next door (attached to the Mt. Vernon Hotel).[57] In 1989, the Church was ordered by Paul Singley (City of Easton building code officer) to demolish the building, but when the church members began doing the job themselves Singley ordered them to stop, insisting that only qualified demolition professional contractors could do the job. The Church’s engineer disagreed, asserting that in any case, the front of the building remained structurally safe. In 1994, the Church failed to obtain a permit for its plan to demolish the building.[58] After appealing the matter to court, the City finally agreed in 1996 to allow Church members (rather than a contractor) to do the demolition if they were experienced, and overseen by an engineer.[59]

The Church realized $65,000 from the sale of both properties to Robert A. Henry in 2000, apparently without completing the demolition work.[60] The 4-story brick building next to the Mt. Vernon has now been pulled down, leaving a vacant lot. However, it appears that the end wall of that building has been left in place to support the western side of the Cole House, in accordance with the Agreement concluded in 1835 (see above).

[1] See Northampton County Tax Records map, www.ncpub.org (owner Robert A. Henry; each of those parcels have a 24’ frontage on Northampton Street for a combined 48’ frontage).

[2] See A.D. Chidsey, Jr., The Penn Patents in the Forks of the Delaware Plan of Easton, Map 2 (Vol. II of Publications of the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society 1937). Chidsey’s map does not show the corner cut off from the property at the intersection of Northampton, 6th and Walnut Streets. However, the oblique cut-off corner with a 17’ front shown on the de Krafft map is also evident in the modern Northampton County Tax Records map at www.ncpub.org, and is also described in the original Deed, John Penn and Richard Penn to Michael Hart, F2 275 (19 Mar. 1800)(describing original town Lot No.244 as starting at a stake in the corner of the Bethlehem Road and John (now 6th) Street, moving NE for 17’ to a stake on the side of Northampton Street, and then proceeding East 53’ on Northampton Street; the southern width of the Lot was 67’).

[3] Deed, Penn Family to Michael Hart, F2 275 (19 Mar. 1800) (sale price £18 15s. “in Specie”); A.D. Chidsey, Jr., The Penn Patents in the Forks of the Delaware Plan of Easton, Map 2 (Vol. II of Publications of the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society 1937).

[4] See Joshua Trachtenberg, Consider the Years, The Story of the Jewish Community of Easton 1752 – 1942 55 (Centennial Committee of Temple Brith Sholom 1944).

[5] Rev. Edward Reimer (compiler), II A Collection of Northampton County, PA Items 556 (undated copy in Marx Room, Easton Area Public Library); see also Trachtenberg, Consider the Years, supra at 69, 76 (the Easton ferry was the “bottleneck” for settlers moving to the western frontier lands). See generally separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for 1 Centre Square for a more complete history of Michael Hart.

[6] Deed, Michael (Rachel) Hart to Nathan Gulick, H3 183 (11 Nov. 1812). See generally separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the Cole House at 536 Northampton Street for further history on this property.

[7] Deed, George Ihrie to Nathan Gulick, H3 230 (21 Jan. 1813) (sale price $1600 for “Stone Tenement” and property measuring 30’ on Northampton Street X 220’ deep running back to what is now Pine Street).

[8] Lita Solis-Cohen, “Fresh Estate Material”, in Maine Antigue Digest (2005), available online at www.maineantiquedigest.com/articles_archive/articles/mar05/doyle0305.htm (accessed 28 Apr. 2010)(reporting an antigues sale on 10 Nov. 2004 by Doyle New York of New York City).

[9] Deed, Nathan (Elizabeth) Gulick to John Clifton, H3 226 (2 Jan. 1813)(sale price $300).

[10] Deed, Nathan (Elizabeth) Gulick to Jacob Shouse, H3 267 (25 Dec. 1812)(sale price $800 for corner property with 11’ frontage on Northampton Street, an irregular corner where the Bethlehem Road intersects, and a depth of 110’ to Gulick’s alley).

[11] Deed, Nathan (Elizabeth) Gulick to Jacob C. Schoch, H3 428 (9 Aug. 1813)(sale price $1,500 for the “Stone Tenement” and land with 24’ frontage on Northampton Street X 120’ deep to an alley laid out by the grantor).

[12] Deed, Nathan (Elizabeth) Gulick to Michael Simon, A4 61 (29 Nov. 1813)(sale price $600 for property 24’ X 120’ deep to an alley laid out by the grantor, including land from portions of original town Lot Nos.244 and 245). There was no explicit mention of any building on the property, and the 1817 sale advertisement for this property (see below) specifically identified it as a “vacant lot”. Advertisement, “Orphan’s Court Sales”, Easton Centinel, Fri., 19 Dec. 1817, p.4, col.3.

[13] Deed, Jacob C. (Rebecca) Schock to Jacob Shipe, Jr., B4 54 (10 Mar. 1814)(sale price $1,475 for “Stone Tenement” on land measuring 20’ on Northampton Street X 120’).

[14] Deed, Michael (Maria) Simon to George Beidleman, A4 367 (8 Mar. 1814)(sale price $800 for parcel measuring 24’ X 120’). It appears that this

[15] Advertisement, “Orphan’s Court Sales”, Easton Centinel, Fri., 19 Dec. 1817, p.4, col.3 (vacant lot on South side of Northampton Street “near to John Street”, measuring 24’ on Northampton Street X 120’ deep, part of original town Lot Nos.244 and 245.

[16] Deed, Abraham Beidleman, et al., Administrators of the Estate of George Beidleman, to Jacob Shipe, F4 480 (1 July 1825).

[17] See Article, “Interesting Reminiscence, North Third Street a Third of a Century Ago”, Easton Daily Free Press, Thursday, 20 Aug. 1885, p.3; see also Deed, Penn Family to Jacob Shipe, H2 382 (10 Nov. 1789); C[harles] Kitchen, A General Directory of the Borough of Easton PA (Cole & Eichman’s Office, 1855)(alphabetical listing at 46 North Third Street). See generally separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the Townley Building at 130 North 3rd Street.