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Local History - Part 4

October of 1954 marked the centennial of Barnesville, the little village located in Rush Township, Schuylkill County. A program of the festivities held to commemorate the occasion was provided by Dr. Daniel Skeath, a lifetime resident of that community.

Thomas Fritz , son of Joseph D. and Maria (Herring) Fritz , opened the day on Saturday, October 23, 1954, by ringing the old school bell at 10:30. There was a church service and dedication of a war memorial in the adjoining cemetery. A "museum" displaying "antiques and things of today" sold anniversary plates. Leftover money was put in a fund for a bronze plaque for the war memorial. The Barnesville Dart Ball team sold food.

Among those who assisted at the church supper were Mrs. Viola Fritz, Mrs. Bessie Purnell, and Mrs. Helen Faust .

Rush Township was named for Judge Jacob Rush (although some historians claim it was named in honor of Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence). It is one of the original nine townships in the county. From it have been taken in whole or part the townships of Klein, Mahanoy, Rahn and Ryan.

The majority of early settlers were of German origin, which today we call good, solid Pennsylvania Dutch. A few of these settlers were: Thomas Lindner, 1800; John Faust, 1810; Abram Boughner, 1815; John Feller, Jacob Neifert and Andrew Gottschall. The last two cleared the land in the Tamanend section. About 1830, William Kaup settled in Hometown, one of the earliest settled villages in the township.

Mr. Barnes worked for the Little Schuylkill Railroad which was completed in 1854. He built a water tank for the engines at the railroad siding. It's because of the building of this tank that the village was named. The water came from behind William Spaar's farm.

The first residents were John Faust, his wife Catherine and their family. They live in the house in which the Frank Mlyneks now live on Route 54. Through the years this house has been enlarged and modernized. Catherine Faust, widow of John, sold the house in 1861 to A.J. Werntz who in turn sold it to Charles Klingeman for $750 in 1867.

Religious services were first held in homes. The first church, of Evangelical denomination, was built in 1872 on land given by Jacob Faust, second son of the first settler John Faust. Rev. Kempfer was the first pastor and Edward McCabe the first Sunday School Superintendent.

Rush Township has always been among the leading townships in the county to give its children the benefits of progressive education. Before the free school system was established in the State of Pennsylvania, John Faust was instrumental in starting the first school. It was held in an old log house about a mile from Barnesville. Francis Keenly, a Prussian, was the instructor. German was the only language taught. Richard Heath, from New Jersey, tried to teach English but was unsuccessful. The aforementioned Jacob Faust built and furnished three schoolhouses. One was built on the Hazleton road. The second, which was later used as a springhouse, was on the farm now owned by Lester and Shirley (Kraus) Schock. As Jacob Faust insisted that English as well as German be taught, he employed an Englishman to teach. The teacher failed to give satisfaction and Miss Mary Blew was employed. The third school was built on the north side of Barnesville on the land of Eli Hamsher, now the home of the Rusteika family. Later the school was moved across the road.

In June, 1853, on petition of Jacob Faust and a few other men, the Court ordered the common school system put into effect. The Barnesville was discontinued in 1953 and the pupils were sent to other township schools.

The first store in Barnesville was kept by David and Michael Bender but was probably owned by Jacob Faust. At one time Eli Hamsher owned the store then sold it to the Bucks who then sold it to Samuel Mengel and his wife. Their daughter Orabel, wife of Samuel Rarick, was postmistress, storekeeper and friend to the residents. Many stories could be told about the store. When radios first appeared, nobody knew too much about them. One day Ora said her radio would not work. Squire Teter was in the store at the time and said to Orabel, "Have you had your static looked at lately?"

The store with its coal stove, coal oil lamp that Sam Rarick used to pull down form the ceiling, light, and push back up, the candy case just high enough for young eyes to see, and a lot of laughter was, to use Orabel's favorite expression, "wonderful."

In the 1950s the store was owned by Bernard and Thelma Thamarus. There was a nice modern showcase in the up-to-date store but the Thamaurses upheld the tradition of welcoming the people of Barnesville to a favorite place.

Jacob Faust built the first hotel in 1854. The Jobs, Schwartzes, Clemenses and Grenawalds ran it until 1874. In later years the Wittles and Keisers owned it. This is the hotel where Eliza (Murphy) Fritz, David and Elizabeth 's son Jacob 's wife, suffered a stroke while visiting and succumbed in 1915 while her cousin Francis Keiser was the owner.

The first barber shop was opened by John Thompson in 1916 when he charged ten cents for a shave and twenty-five cents for a haircut.

The very first inhabitants were Indians and a few remain. Following streams of water, they made camp in and around Barnesville. Arrowheads have been found as well as other Indian relics.

Mrs. Harvey Houser remembers one of the first roads which went from Lakeside to Tuscarora. She remembers when Daniel Schock hauled lumber from the Brode farm over that road to the old sawmill.

Although there were no powder mills in Barnesville, there were several in the township.

The first and only railroad was the present Philadelphia and Reading. The East Mahanoy Railroad was incorporated in 1854, built under the patronage of the Little Schuylkill Railroad and, after its completion, was leased by that company. The act of incorporation provided that it should connect with the Little Schuylkill Navigation and Coal Company about five miles north of Tamaqua and then to the Mahanoy coal fields. Locomotives were able to travel at the speed of ten miles per hour.

The post office was at one time in John Faust's home. For many years it was located in the present store. Today it is in the Moses Dry home. This house where Pearl Chappell, the present postmistress lives with her family and sisters, the Aults, was formerly the home of Mrs. Eli Hamsher. Mrs. Hamsher was Mary Catherine Dry, daughter of Moses and Mary Dry and granddaughter of John Faust. Miss Virginia Ault, sister of Mrs. Chappell, remembered Charles Job, father of Francis Job, telling her about a drug store owned by Dr. Keeler that was also in the house at one time.

Throughout the history of Barnesville, the name of Jacob Faust stands out. He was the man who gave freely of his time, knowledge, land, buildings and friendship to begin a church, school, hotel, and especially, the beginning of a great little village.

William Kaup pulled the first engine from Philadelphia to Port Clinton with a team of 100 mules.

The Barnesville Garden Club bought and planted the shrubbery for the War Memorial. Mrs. Frank Fritz and Mrs. Clarence Fritz supervised the arrangements and planting.

Francis Job wanted to display and old clock in the Museum but was unable to bring it because of damage. It was so old, he said, that the shadow of the pendulum wore a hole in the back.

Guy Faust, Sr. and Tom Fritz have volunteered for guard duty at the museum. They plan to have a meal of beans at midnight.

Many families have traced the deeds to their property back to the original owners. From part of a 345 acres tract of land owned by Rittenhouse, Jones, Smith and Thompson of Philadelphia, 56 acres and 18 perches were sold to John and Sarah Boyer in 1859. John Minchoff was the first child born in fifty years in a house on that tract on land.

The Barnesville 4-H Club donated money to be used for the erection of the War Memorial on Ground given by the church.

  Weldy Powder Mill Explosion

      In the summer of 1906 the Weldy Powder Mill located between Taggartsville Road Crossing and the Tamaqua Tunnel of the Reading Railroad, then the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, blew up killing three men, one by the name of Dreisbach.  His widow the former Mamie Fritz later married Harry Neifert of Quakake.  Two of their sons later worked for the Reading Railroad Company.  This powder mill was located along the base of the high mountain.  Mrs. Samuel (Kate) Kramer often said after the severe blast a cloud of black smoke rose high enough for her to see over the mountain between her and the blast.  She said at the bottom of the black cloud there was an object which looked like a man caught in the midsection with feet and head down dropping earthward and out of sight to her.

      The powder mill was never rebuilt but the power house brick stack and some of the coke ovens were still standing intact in the fall of 1926 and into the 30s.  The stack was dynamited down during the Depression years by James Shields who tore down the Mansion House Hotel on the mountain south of Mahanoy City and used the lumber from it to build a home on the hill at Barnesville using the brick from the powder mill stack for a chimney and masonry work.