4
(Photo by Richard F. Hope)
Seibert Building (526-28 Northampton Street, recently Ken Jones Jr. Fine Art gallery)
3-story building, the first two stories of stone and the third of brick, with ornate roof railing, elaborately restored c.1999.[1] The modern Seibert Building property has a 20.5’ frontage on Northampton Street.[2] The construction details of the Seibert Building are a little unusual. The lower two stone stories of the Seibert Building actually have only three walls – the western side is simply attached to the wall of the Old Easton Argus Building next door (at 530 Northampton Street). The original stone Old Easton Argus Building had a peaked roof, with a window in the gable – implying that the original Seibert Building was not tall enough to block the view from that window. These features are literally visible in the attic of the Seibert Building today. Later, the window in the Old Easton Argus Building was blocked up and the gable was built out in bricks, ultimately making a common wall for the third floors of both buildings. Indeed, the third floor of the Seibert Building actually extends into the next door property, and the floor rests on the lower wall of the Old Easton Argus Building; the Seibert Building’s third story brickwork is literally “notched into” the very similar brickwork of the third story of the Old Easton Argus Building.[3]
The Seibert Building property is part of original town Lot No.245, as surveyed on the plan prepared by William Parsons when Easton was first established in 1752.[4] The Lot was part of a sale of three lots by the Penn Family (who had been the Proprietors of Pennsylvania) in 1800 to Michael Opp Jr.,[5] a weaver by profession.[6] Opp subdivided his property. In 1803, he sold the western strip (with a 30’ frontage on Northampton Street) to Christopher Köhler, for £70.[7] This would have been equal to approximately $156 at the time, according to one modern source.[8] The Seibert Building of today appears to be located on the eastern part of original town Lot No.245 – the portion that Michael Opp retained in 1803, but adjacent to the portion purchased by Köhler.[9]
It appears that the lower two stone stories of the Old Easton Argus Building were built at about the time of the 1803 sale, either by Opp (just before the sale) or by Köhler shortly after it.[10] Because the lower stone work of the Seibert Building is very similar, and because (as noted above) the Seibert Building is actually a three-wall structure that abuts the eastern wall of the Old Easton Argus Building, it seems likely that the two buildings were probably constructed at about the same time, either by the same owner (Opp) or with cooperation between Opp and Köhler. Curiously, no mention has been found in any of the deeds regarding the Seibert Building’s reliance on the Old Easton Argus Building for a fourth wall.
In 1809, Michael Opp sold the Seibert Building property, together with all of Lot No.249 next door to the East, to Jacob C. Welper for $1600. There was no specific mention of any building or house on the property in the deed at that time, although the boilerplate language would have conveyed one, if it were there. The sale price – a large increase over what was obtained from Köhler even allowing for the additional land involved – suggests that a building had in fact improved the property by this time. Welper was identified as a “Laborer” by occupation.[11] Welper subdivided his property, selling a 30’ eastern strip of Lot No.249 to Abraham Horn Jr. in 1812,[12] and purchasing it back again two years later.[13]
Colonel Christian Jacob Hütter
In 1828, Welper sold his combined property for $2,200 to Christian Jacob Hütter.[14] Hütter, born into a German Moravian family,[15] received a “liberal education in the dead and modern languages and a few years training in the Counting house of his father, in Amsterdam” before immigrated to America “in his 19th year” (i.e. at age 18).[16] He had disagreements with the Moravian authorities in Bethlehem, and left for Philadelphia with a wife whom the Moravians considered unruly. In Philadelphia, he became a bookseller, ultimately moving to Lancaster. Hütter became probably the largest German language bookseller in Pennsylvania at the beginning of the 19th Century.[17] However, the “vocation to which he was most attached was that of a Newspaper editor”.[18] He was also, for nearly 40 years, an editor of newspapers in Pennsylvania, starting with the Correspondent in Lancaster (in 1799-1803).[19] In connection with a move to Easton (probably caused by his marriage to an Easton woman as his second wife),[20] Hütter started the Northampton Correspondent newspaper in 1806. The two “Correspondent” newspapers later caused confusion as to the Easton newspaper’s establishment date, resulting in a mistaken “100th anniversary” celebration at that paper in 1900.[21] He also began the Easton Centinel in 1817 as the English language edition of the Northampton Correspondent. It “consequently promulgated the principles of Jeffersonian Democracy.”[22]
Hütter continued his bookselling business while in Easton. In addition, he sold pharmaceuticals in conjunction with his book-selling business, which was a common practice at that time.[23] In Easton, he became a politician as well as a publisher and businessman. In 1814 (during the War of 1812), Hütter helped raise the 97th Regiment and expected to receive command.[24] Although he held the nominal rank of Colonel in that Regiment,[25] when the troops were sent to join the army, Abraham Horn (who had been elected Captain of the company raised in Easton[26]) became the Colonel.[27] The war ended before that company was ever required to fight.[28] Although disappointed, Hütter nevertheless volunteered for the army as a private, and was then appointed a Colonel from the ranks.[29] He was known as Col. Hütter thereafter.[30]
In 1821, Hütter faced “financial embarrassments”, said to have resulted from a failure to collect receivables. He transferred control of the Easton Centinel and Northampton Correspondent newspapers to his twin sons, Henry August Hütter and Frederich William Hütter.[31] He was elected to the Pennsylvania legislature in 1823-24, “where he earnestly opposed the prosecution of our system of public improvements, unless the means were provided by taxation, as the work progressed. Time has shewn the prophetic wisdom of himself and the few who stood with him.”[32]
Unfortunately, both of Hütter’s twin sons died in 1824,[33] and Col. Hütter apparently returned from the legislature to resume control of the newspapers, with the aid of his son-in-law, Frederick William Muller.[34] Hütter also directed his “energy and aid” towards building St. John’s Lutheran Church on Ferry Street, where his help was considered “instrumental”.[35] That church was consecrated on 1 January 1832.[36]
As of 23 August 1833, Hütter made his son-in-law, Frederich William Muller, publisher of the Easton Centinel. On 21 February 1834, Muller changed the spelling of the newspaper’s name to the Sentinel.[37] In 1839, Hütter sold both his Easton newspapers to Abraham Henry Senseman, and retired.[38] He died at age 78 in 1849.[39]
Seibert
In 1835 – four years before his retirement – Hütter sold the Seibert Building portion of his property to John Ely Jr. for $2,000. At that time, language in the deed’s property description definitely indicates that a building was in existence on the property – probably at least the bottom two (stone) stories of the Seibert Building. However, there was no mention that the building was actually attached to the one next door.[40] In 1845 – ten years after he purchased it – John Ely sold his property to Peter Seibert.[41]
Peter Seibert (1822-1914) was originally from Lowhill Twp. in Lehigh County, but came to Easton as a young man at about the time he bought this property in 1845.[42] He was the “eldest of four children”,[43] trained in “the coverl[et] weaving trade”,[44] and established his own weaving factory and store in Easton[45] in his building.[46] The business prospered, in part by sending goods to the California gold fields after the 1849 Gold Rush; Peter Seibert made a “considerable fortune”. In 1856, Peter Seibert added to his property by purchasing the property next door to the East (now the Garis Building at 524 Northampton Street).[47] Peter’s younger brother, Owen Seibert,[48] joined the Easton coverlet weaving business by 1855.[49] During the Civil War, Peter Seibert also began acting as a dealer in yarns, as well as selling his woven goods.[50]
As noted above, the Seibert Building relies architecturally upon the Old Easton Argus Building next door for its fourth wall.[51] No recorded deed or agreement has yet been found by which this arrangement was legalized between the owners of the two buildings, and according the dating is somewhat difficult. The third floor of the Old Easton Argus building next door contains graffiti notations under the wallpaper on the third (brick) floor of the building date from the 1860s, strongly suggesting that the third floor was in place by that time.[52] The Old Easton Argus Building was owned by Josiah Cole and his daughter from 1865 until 1939,[53] and the Seibert Family owned the Seibert Building from 1845 until 1930 (see below). The brick work on both buildings looks very similar (suggesting that they may have been built at about the same time); although the railing and cornice on top of the Seibert Building appears to be more modern than the Italianate cornice on the Old Easton Argus Building, it might well have been added later. If Josiah Cole built out his third floor shortly after he purchased the building; and reached an agreement with this neighbors, the Seiberts, to accommodate their third story expansion at about the same time; it is possible that the owners of the two adjoining buildings simply never bothered to record it at the courthouse. Since both families continued to ownetheir respective properties well into the succeeding century, there was no prospect of an outside sale in either case, and no pressing need to document the agreement. This speculation suggests that both third story expansions may date from shortly after the Civil War, and most likely very shortly after the War ended when Italianate architecture was still in fashion, before “Second Empire” styles (with Mansard roofs favored by General Grant) came into vogue.
Peter Seibert continued his Easton business until 1867, when he retired and moved to Allentown. There, he became “one of Allentown’s prominent . . . residents”, ultimately devoting greenhouses on his property to selling flowers, and dealing in real estate.[54] When Peter Seibert retired from Easton, he separated his two Northampton Street properties. On the same day in 1867, he sold his factory and store to his younger brother, Owen,[55] and the property next door to Samuel Garis, a furniture maker.[56] Samuel Garis and Owen Seibert entered into an agreement to maintain a common alley between the two buildings.[57] Owen Seibert continued doing business in the Seibert Building, although he migrated the nature of the business from woven goods and yarn, to “dry goods”,[58] and specifically to “carpet and general notion[s]”.[59]
· The Seibert store and residence was numbered 196 Northampton Street under the street numbering scheme in effect prior to 1874.[60]
· In the 1874 modernization of Easton’s street numbering scheme, Owen Seibert’s building was re-numbered to its present 526-28 Northampton Street.[61]
By 1880, Owen Seibert (although still in business in the Seibert Building) had moved his residence,[62] and rented out his former residential apartment to become a boarding house.[63] The business appears to have suffered: in 1884, the Sheriff took the Seibert Building from Owen, and sold it for debt. The purchaser was Owen’s brother, Peter Seibert (apparently from his home in Allentown), and the debt involved was Owen’s failure to pay $585-1/3 (plus 50 cents damages) to his brother.[64] Owen apparently retired from business shortly after this foreclosure, and his son George P. Seibert took over.[65] Uncle Peter Seibert retained ownership of the building until 1903, when he sold it to George. That deed includes George’s promise to pay his uncle $400 annually for life, as a charge on the property.[66] George apparently continued to manage the business until he retired in approximately 1930.[67]
· George Seibert’s daughter, Florence B. Seibert (1897-1991), became a noted biochemist who developed a safe intravenous therapy process and (in 1934) the modern skin test for tuberculosis.[68] She was born at her father’s residence at 67 North 2nd Street – a house which was later replaced by the Frank Lawall Mansion.[69]
When he retired in 1930, George Seibert sold the building to Walter Williams.[70] Williams also purchased the Hotel Karldon from the Kuebler Family (see below) in the following year.[71]
Kuebler
Walter Williams himself died in 1932.[72] The Great Depression was apparently not kind to the property interests that he left. The Sheriff seized and sold off this Northampton Street property, together with the adjoining one at 521 Pine Street, in 1934 to the Easton National Bank. Members of the Kuebler Family, as “terr[e] tenants” in the building under Williams’s ownership, now had their own interests to protect, and accordingly three Kuebler Family members purchased the property from the Bank, each acquiring a 1/3 interest.[73] Later, the property’s ownership was even further fragmented among various Kuebler Family heirs. Finally, Karl F. Kuebler reversed this trend, and consolidated the various Kuebler Family fractional interests in the property by purchasing them for himself.[74]