11
(Photo by Richard F. Hope)
Library Hall (32 North 2nd Street, now Archive Ltd. – Map Reference H[1]).
Two-story, 3-bay brick Federal style building,[2] with “long rounded windows and brackets under the roof eaves”.[3]
The property is part of original town Lot No. 71, as surveyed by William Parsons when Easton was established in 1752.[4] Catharine Kessler informally occupied that Lot, in a house built before 1779, and fenced in the vacant Lot No.69 next door.[5] She formally purchased Lot No.71 from the Penn Family in 1789.[6] Although not indicated in her deed, Mrs. Kessler’s purchase was made for the benefit of the estate of Catharine Kessler’s dead husband, Leonard Kessler, Jr., with provision for Catharine Kessler to have a “life estate” in that property during her lifetime, and the property was to be sold after her death (with proceeds to be distributed among the children). After Catharine Kessler died, the estate sold the property to John Ross in 1808 for $906;[7] that sale was confirmed a year later by the children and heirs of Catharine Kessler, at a further cost to Ross of $50.[8] Ross was “one of the leading lawyers of that day, and afterwards became a member of Congress, a Judge of the District Court, and also of the Supreme Court of [Pennsylvania].”[9] He was also appointed as Easton’s second Postmaster by President John Adams on 1 Oct. 1797, but only held that office for only nine months.[10]
In 1810, Ross resold a portion of Lot No.71 in 1810 to Rev. Christian Endress, for $453.[11] Endress was the pastor of the Lutheran congregations in Easton and several surrounding communities from 25 November 1801 until 1815, except for one year’s absence in New York state.[12] He was fluent in both English and German.[13] Rev. Endress sold a piece of this property carved out at the corner of Fermor (now 2nd) Street and Church Alley (now Church Street) to the Easton Library Association for their Library Hall in 1814, for $400 (payable in two equal installments).[14]
· Rev. Endress had also acquired another piece of land in the rear of this property, measuring 45’ along what is today called Church Street, and 145’ deep. This parcel was part of original town Lot No.71, but also extended into Lot No.69 next door. Rev. Endress sold that rear parcel to Samuel Sitgreaves in 1812, for $450.[15]
· In 1814, Rev. Endress also sold a portion of the property fronting on North Fermor (now 2nd) Street, lying next to Library Hall (see below), to Samuel Sitgreaves, for $320.[16]
The Easton Library Company was originally organized at a meeting in “Chippy” White’s “Easton Hotel” on 14 January 1811. The meeting’s Chairman was Easton town father Samuel Sitgreaves,[17] who wrote the Articles of Incorporation,[18] donated the first books,[19] and subscribed to 3 shares of stock (instead of the usual 1 share – there were initially 94 subscribers).[20] In July 1811, the Library Association “agreed with Mr. Peter Miller for his Frame House situated in Pomfret Street, for the use of said House rent free until the first day of April next”, and authorized the purchase of a bookcase, table, chairs, and other equipment to open the Library.[21]
· After Peter Miller’s long career, he was referred to as one of the three “rich men of Easton”,[22] and as Easton’s “merchant prince” and “philanthropist”.[23] His residence was on Northampton Street, on the site of the present Two Rivers Landing.[24] By the time of his death in 1847 Miller owned some 19 pieces of property in Easton alone.[25] In fact Miller’s principal heir, in settling his inheritance, split up 36 properties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey between himself, his local agent, and his lawyers.[26]
· A review of Peter Miller’s recorded property purchases by 1811 suggests only one likely location for the Library in Peter Miller’s “Frame House” on Pomfret Street.[27] This was a small plot of land on the West side of South Pomfret (now called South 3rd) Street, which today straddles the property line between the 101 and 123 South 3rd Street.[28] [No.101 is the bank property at the corner with Ferry Street, and 123 is the Easton Parking Authority’s property (formerly the Perkins Pancake House parking lot).[29]]
The Library opened in Peter Miller’s “office” building[30] at 4 pm on Saturday, 13 July 1811. It had hours on Saturday and Tuesdays[31] for 2 hours per week (4 hours in winter), with fines for overdue books and a $1 fine assessed for loaning a book to a non-subscriber.[32] During the first year, the Library acquired 449 books, 121 of them donated and the remaining 328 purchased. These were catalogued by size:
“ten volumes in Quarto, two hundred thirty five in Octavo, and two hundred and four volumes in Duodecimo”.[33]
The book titles indicate that they were in English,[34] notwithstanding that a principal man of affairs in the Library Association’s business was Christian J. Hütter,[35] the publisher of German-and English-language newspapers[36] and probably the largest German language bookseller in Pennsylvania at the beginning of the 19th Century.[37]
After the period of free rent was over, Peter Miller began charging $30 per year for the use of his building. The Library Association agreed,[38] but in the mean time applied to the Easton Academy for space to house the Library.[39] The Academy was located on Academy Hill, on the East side of North 2nd Street.[40] However, the Library’s request was refused.[41] The Association then decided to build its own Library Hall building. Rev. Endress – who had been the Library Association’s first formal President[42] – offered to sell a piece of his ground at the corner of Fermor (now 2nd) Street and the alley now called Church Street, for $400 payable in two annual installments. The Library Association agreed,[43] and at the same time authorized a committee “to erect Such a Brick Building for the accommodation of the Books” to be not more than 22’ X 20’ “and one Story high”.[44] In May, a representative of the Masonic Order appeared at a Board of Directors meeting and offered to bear half the cost of the building and the lot, if the existing building could be replaced by a new one two stories high, the upper floor to be used by the Masons. The Library Association’s Board rejected this proposal.[45] Although unable to complete the building in 1814,[46] the original Library Hall building was finished in June 1815.[47]
· In the mid-1800s, Library Hall was listed as 18 North 2nd Street under the street numbering scheme then in effect.[48]
The Library Company was adversely affected by the Civil War.[49] The recent advent of Easton’s high school across the street in the 1850s,[50] apparently made the School District interested in gaining access to a Library for its students, faculty and staff. The Library Association again considered its plan – first advanced some four decades earlier – for the School District to run the library (see above), and an agreement transferring control of the Library to the School District was prepared by May of 1863. Nevertheless, the Library Association made a last effort to maintain private control by selling 100 shares to the public at $5 each. Only 25 were sold.[51] In 1864 an agreement and lease was concluded essentially turning management of the building over to the Easton School Board, which also took over operation of the library. Under that agreement, borrower’s status was extended to high school pupils and members of the faculty and staff of the school system. Subscriptions continued to be required for borrowers from outside the school system, however, and the agreement required the fee to be maintained at not less than $2 per year.[52] Separate hours of operation were established for students, and for Library subscribers.[53]
In 1880, a meeting of the Library Association Directors was called when it came to their attention that the School District’s Board of Control – without any notice to the Association – had commenced an extensive remodeling of Library Hall. The School Board, “having had the south wall nearly torn down and having a foundation built so as to enlarge the building to the line of the street,” received an inquiry from the Association. During the ensuing conversation, it appeared that the School Board also intended to add a second story to the building. That was too much for the President of the Association, who called his Directors together to get their authorization to sue for an injunction to stop the remodeling project. However, during the Association Directors’ meeting, it was discovered that their 1864 agreement permitted the School Board “to make such alterations or changes in the building as may not be inconsistent with the objects for which the Library was established.” Accordingly, all pursuit of an injunction was abandoned.[54] The second story on the building today stands as evidence that the School Board’s remodeling project apparently proceeded as planned.
In 1895, an Easton Library Association was formed for the purpose of opening a public library reading room. They were aware of Andrew Carnegie’s system requiring a non-subscription library supported by local tax dollars. In 1900, they proposed such a tax in order to approach Carnegie for a grant to be used to build a new library building.[55] Carnegie offered a $50,000 grant in 1901, on condition that Easton obtain land on which to build it, and raise a tax levy to maintain it. The School Board initially rejected the offer and refused to vote the future tax funding. They Board members were induced to change their minds in April 1901. Although an “impassioned speech” by politically well-connected Easton lawyer Henry J. Steele is sometimes credited with this result,[56] it also seems that the Board was heavily influenced by the practical promise of Steele’s delegation of Easton citizens to use private donations (mostly anonymous) to cover the cost of the land for the new library, thus sparing the Board most of the immediate expenses.[57] A principal source of these anonymous contributions was apparently Miss Catharine Drake,[58] a daughter of Easton wholesale grocery merchant John Drake.[59] Although she is little remembered today, the Library’s downstairs meeting room is in fact named after Catherine Drake.
Meanwhile, Library Hall continued to serve as the town library until 1903, when the new Carnegie library building was opened.[60] The Library Hall building then became the school district’s administrative offices.[61]
In 1963, the School Board brought an action to quiet title to its property on North 2nd Street, and then in the following year sold off Library hall to the Ungerleider Family for $8,000.[62] In 1972, the Ungerleiders sold the property to the Home Association of the local International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union for $33,500.[63] In 1984, the union home association sold the property for $68,500 to Jeff Gilbert and Oliver Andes.[64] In 1985, they received a certificate from Historic Easton Inc. for their outstanding preservation work on the building.[65] Gilbert and Andes are partners who until 2003 ran The Archive Shop in their Library Hall building.[66] Despite closing the shop, the partners have continued to use the building for the headquarters of their architectural firm, Archive Ltd.[67]
[1] The building was featured as Map Reference H in the Map Guide to historic downtown Easton 2006.
[2] City of Easton, Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form, Attachment: Building Description Survey Area 1 Zone E (City Council Resolution approved 12 May 1982).
[3] See Article, “Library Got Its Start on 2nd Street”, Easton Express, Thurs., 25 Aug. 1977, p.26, cols.1-3.
[4] Compare 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) with Northampton County Tax Records map, www.ncpub.org.
[5] Charles de Krafft, Map of Easton Original Town Lots (from the collection of Luigi “Lou” Ferone (“Mr. Easton”) auctioned 27 Feb. 2010, said to have been used by the Penn clerks for notations to keep track of the town lots c.1779-1801)(Lot Nos.71 and 69).
[6] Deed, John Penn and Richard Penn to Catharine Kessler, D3 24 (4 Dec.. 1789).
Lot No.69 was sold to Nicholas Kern. See Deed, John Penn and Richard Penn to Nicholas Kern, G2 422 (20 Sept. 1802); 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).
[7] Deed, Peter Nungesser, Executor of the Will of Leonard Kessler, to John Ross, F3 251 (5 Apr. 1808)(sale price $906, reciting that Leonard Kessler’s will had been proved in Northampton County Orphan’s Court on 20 Sept. 1785, while Catharine Kessler was “recently deceased”).
[8] Release Indenture, Christopher Kessler, et al., Children and Heirs of Leonard and Catharine Kessler to John Ross, F3 253 (5 Apr. 1809)(sale price $50).
[9] Rev. Uzal W. Condit, History of Easton, Penn’a 180 (George W. West 1885 / 1889); see also Deed, William Runkle, Trustee for sale of real estate of [Camilla] Ihrie, to Jacob Hay, F13 559 (30 Mar. 1872)(Ross was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania).
[10] Rev. Uzal W. Condit, History of Easton, Penn’a 180-81, 183 (George W. West 1885 / 1889); accord, C.M. Sitgreaves (compiler), Resources and Industries of Easton, PA, South Easton, and Phillipsburg, N.J. at The Forks of the Delaware! 45 (Geo. W. West 1889); see Scott Hill, A Self Guided Tour . . . Historic Forks of the Delaware 7 (Eagle Scout Project 29 April 1992); Ken Klabunde, “Postcard Korner: The Easton Post Office”, Easton Irregular 3 (June 2009).