17th Century
The Lenape, The Original Caretakers
The Lenape and their ancestors lived on this land for centuries before the first white settlers came from Europe. There were 8,000 Lenape living in the Land of the Lenape at this time.
In the 17th century before the first colonial settlers came to this region it was a land of plenty. The rivers ran free. Fish could swim from the mouth to the headwaters and spawn unimpeded. The forests were teeming with game. The sky was full of birds, and there were enough berries, nuts, and tubers for foraging groups to survive on. So dense was the original forest, it was claimed, that a squirrel might travel from Maine to Florida without touching the ground. The trees grew to 100-150 feet tall. Their canopies shut out the daylight, leaving a short season in early spring for wild flowers to bloom.
Tamanend the Affable
Tamanend was Sachem or Chief of the Turtle Clan of the Lenape Nation in the Delaware Valley during the latter half of the 17th century. His people's land stretched from the mouth of the Delaware on the Pennsylvania side up to the Forks of the Delaware in the North.
In 1682, William Penn arrived in the region with a Charter to create the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and over the course of the next three years he brought with him some 7,000 colonists from England.
William Penn and Tamanend would eventually sign seven more documents, many of which were recorded deeds transferring land from the Lenape people to the English settlers, to accommodate their growing population. Tamanend was recorded as having said that the Lenape and the English colonists would "live in peace as long as the waters run in the rivers and creeks and as long as the stars and moon endure."
At the beginning of this century there were over a dozen semi-permanent Lenape villages across the area that would become Bucks County.
Lenape villages were often set up near rivers and creeks. Each village site would be used for a decade or two, but before a village could exhaust the land and forests, communities resettled in new sites a few miles away and the process of settlement began all over again. This allowed the previously settled land to rest and renew itself.
The Lenape in Durham Township
There are many accounts of a Lenape Village in Durham called Pechoqueolin. Where exactly it stood is unknown. There are several possible village sites. Some speculate it began 100 yards north of Durham Cave and extended to the built up part of Riegelsville. Others believe the village was north of Gallows Run and yet others speculate it was located in a depression in the south east corner of the Township. Likely each was a spot of one of the semi-permanent villages that moved over time, reflecting a century or more of habitation in the region.
Trails criss-crossed the region connecting the many villages and natural resources.
Working the Land
The Lenape, living in Durham, hunted, fished and gathered nuts, berries and plants. In addition they had several plantations for corn on the outskirts of the village, providing 2-3 acres of corn per family.
Fields were cleared by means of girdling trees (cutting away a full ring of bark) which caused them to die. Clearance was the responsibility of the men, cultivation of the women. Corn was planted in April by making heaps like molehills, each about two and a half feet from the others, with five or six grains per heap. Shackamaxon beans were added to each heap in the middle of May, when the maize is the height of a finger or more. The corn, once it was harvested, was ground into flour with a mortar and pestle and used to make bread.
Natural Resources and Industry
Among the natural resources that this site was known for at this time was its jasper quarry, located on Rattlesnake Hill. The Lenape dug giant mine shafts, and then used fire to heat the jasper and break it away from the surrounding rock. They transported the raw jasper back to the village, broke it into smaller pieces and finally it was shaped by skilled craftsmen. They struck the jasper along its natural fissures, creating flakes which were further shaped into knives, arrowheads, spear tips, axes and other instruments. These tools were prized and traded with other villages, often hundreds of miles away.
FIRST HALF OF THE 18TH CENTURY
At the Cultural Crossroads: Indigeneous People and Colonial Settlers
By 1700, disease had ravaged the Lenape population which was half what it had been at the beginning of the century. Now with less than 4,000 Lenape, they were no longer in the majority compared with the 20,000 colonial settlers in Pennsylvania, the majority of whom lived south of Wrightstown in and around the growing city of Philadelphia.
Entering into a New Generation of Negotiators
In 1701, Tamanend died and his son-in-law, Nutimus inherited the leadership of the tribe and the land that remained in the Lenapes' care. William Penn returned to England leaving the governing of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to his sons. Nutimus's town was just south of Durham in Nockamixon on land that Thomas and John Penn and their land agent, James Logan desperately wanted because of its rich iron ore deposits.
In that time only one deed in Upper Bucks County was recorded which indicated that Nutimus sold the Durham Tract to James Logan on behalf of the Society of Free Traders in 1725. Despite these surveys, the land around the Durham Tract remained in indigenous hands for another decade, though there were some early Colonial Settlers living on the Durham Tract at this time including: Samuel Powell, George Wilson, as well as James and Sarah Morgan.
The Migration of the Shawnee to Pennsylvania
In 1694, a group of several hundred Pekowi Shawnee, driven from their homeland in Ohio by the Iroquois, were welcomed by the Lenape to settle on their lands on the Durham Tract along the Delaware River in Bucks County. They arrived in Philadelphia on fur laden canoes with Dutch Trader, Arnaud Viele. Permission to settle on the Delaware was granted by the Colonial government on condition of their making peace with the Iroquois. It is stated in a letter from James Logan to George Clark, dated August 4, 1737, that when the Shawnee Indians came from the south in 1694, one party of them “was placed at Pechoqueolin, near Durham, to take care of the iron mines.”
The Shawnee were led by their Chief Kakowatcheky who came to settle in the now Delaware-Shawnee town that was alternately called Nutimus's Town, or Pechoqueolin. The Shawnee tenure on the site was a brief 34 year period. Little is known of their life on the site, but lore has it that there was a falling out between the Lenape and Shawnee over a Grasshopper.
Grasshopper War
Legend says that the Lenape and Shawnees fought the great battle of the Grasshopper War on the east side of the river opposite Pechoqueolin. At first the people of both villages shared good relations, hunting, working and playing together. One day, a boy from the village across the river followed a streak of green in the grass, soon catching the largest grasshopper he had ever seen. One of the boys from the other village grew envious. He snatched the grasshopper, setting off a fight first between the two boys and soon amongst all the children. Soon the village women rushed over, in response to the squabble, and began to choose sides in the fight. When the men returned from the day's hunt, anger then grew between the men too, and the battle continued on. To this day visitors to the field where the battle took place find arrowheads left from the epic battle.
Kakowatcheky Aggravates the Governor of Pennsylvania
In early May 1728, Kakowatcheky and 11 warriors set off to Berks County to face a supposed invasion of Catawbas from North Carolina. They frightened a group of local settlers and were subsequently set upon by a group of about twenty armed white men. Kakowatcheky, who interpreted this as a threat, attacked, wounding five of the settlers. The other settlers returned fire, wounding Kakowatcheky, who fell, but then got up and ran into the woods, leaving his rifle behind.
Minutes from the Colonial Records Documenting the Incident
On May 20th, two traders from Pechoqueolin came to Governor Gordon and delivered a message from Kakowatcheky, explaining the unfortunate affair, sending his regrets, and asking the Governor for the return of the gun which he had dropped when wounded.
The Governor replied with a reprimand for Kakowatcheky's aggressive behavior. "It is well that no lives were lost on either side. These eleven Indians through their foolish behaviour have caused great Confusion."
"The Governor will take care to inquire for the Gun & other things the Indians have lost, and they may have them again if they are found...The Governor will be glad to see Kakowatcheky at Durham some time this year...He will then treat him as his Friend & Brother."
Kakowatcheky and the Shawnees under him were not there when the Governor arrived. They left the upper Delaware in 1728 for the Wyoming Valley and the Shawnee Flats on the north branch of the Susquehanna in Luzerne County at Skehandowana.
Nutimus Resists an Unfair Deal
After the Shawnee had left the region, John and Thomas Penn invited Nutimus and other Lenape leaders including Lappawinzo, Tishcohan, Tatamy and Teedyuscung to meet at Durham Ironworks on October 8, 1734 to discuss the sale of the land north of Wrightstown. The place of meeting was in the meadows about the center of Durham Township near where the old furnace was built where one Wilson, an "Indian trader," had established himself. The meeting ended in disagreement. Nutimus is recorded as saying, "When we were with Penn [at Durham] to treat as usual with his Father. He kept begging and plaguing us to give him some land and never gives us leave to treat upon any thing till he wearies us out of our lives." (Nutimus to Jeremiah Langhorne, 21 November 1740, PennPapers, Indian Affairs, IV, 30.)
On May 5, 1735, during a second meeting with the Lenape held at Pennsbury Manor, the Penns falsely claimed that their Father had already purchased the coveted lands from Lenape Ancestors in 1686.
James Logan Negotiated with Nutimus on the Penn's Behalf
Nutimus said he had it from his fathers. Besides "From the Indian way of selling land he could not but know.”
Nutimus lectured Logan on the Lenape way: “No land can be sold without all the Indians round being made acquainted with the matter,” because “the Chief always—with the leave of the others—undertook to sell."
Nutimus said "his mother came from this side the River, & by her he had a right here.”
Nutimus turned the question on Logan by asking “How he came to have a right here as he was not born in this Country?"
Still, Nutimus was unmoved to sign.
Nutimus Holds his Ground
The Walking Purchase is Agreed Upon
On August 25-26, 1737 Logan invited four Lenape leaders, Nutimus, Monikyhiccon, Lappawinzo, and Tishcohan to Stenton, his estate north of Philadelphia, for a meeting to further discuss the purchase. An agreement was met based on the course of the one and half days walk. The Sachems marked a document that confirmed the 1686 deed-draft and called for the walk to be made “forthwith.”
The Penns left nothing to chance. They cleared the way and trained their walkers to run the full distance they hoped to achieve. The Walking Purchase started out at sunrise on the morning of September 19, 1737, and to the disgust of the Lenape present they took off at a run. A good portion of the run took them through the Durham area along the Durham Road over Gallows Hill and across Durham Creek all before stopping to eat their midday meal, making 29.9 miles traveled during the forenoon. By the end of the day and a half over 70 miles had been covered and all the land in Bucks and a good portion of the Lehigh Valley had been stolen from the Lenape.
At a meeting in Philadelphia in 1742, Nutimus presented his case of the fraudulent Walking Purchase to Logan and other Chiefs. In response, Canasatego, the Iroquois chief, pronounced sentence. "Cousins," he said, "You ought to be taken by the Hair of the Head and shaked severely till you recover your Senses and become Sober; you don't know what Ground you stand on, nor what you are doing. How came you to take upon you to Sell Land at all? We conquered You, we made Women of you. You know you are Women, and can no more sell Land than Women. Nor is it fit you should have the power of selling Lands since you would abuse it... What makes you sell Land in the Dark? Did we ever receive any Part, even the Value of a Pipe Shank, from you for it? For all these reasons, we charge You to remove instantly. We don't give you the liberty to think about it."
When the Six Nations rejected his protest, Nutimus crossed the mountains to the North Branch of the Susquehanna and settled at Nutmius Town, west of present Nescopeck.
The Founding of the Durham Iron Furnace
In 1698, James Logan sent a band of 100 men to guard the iron ore in Durham. James Claypool wrote of this, “We are to send out one hundred servants build houses, to plant and improve land, and for cattle, and to set up a glass house for bottles, drinking glass and window glass to supply the islands and continent of America as we hope to have wine and oil, some corn, hemp for cordage, and for iron and lead and other mineral . . .”
Likely, a Bloomery Forge was located on the site and used sometime between 1698 and 1727. A Bloomery Forge smelted iron into a bloom which was a combination of iron and slag and was then worked to produce wrought iron versus the later blast furnace which produced pig iron.
On March 4, 1727 we have record of a stock company formed for the purpose of erecting a blast furnace, for the manufacture of pig iron, cast pots and pans, and to make firebacks. The Stock Owners included: Jeremiah Langhorne, Anthony Morris, James Logan, Charles Reed, Robert Ellis, George Fitzwater, Clement Plumstead, William Allen, Andrew Bradford, John Hopkins, Thomas Lindlay, Joseph Turner, Griffith Owen and Samuel Powell.
"The first furnace was built of stone in 1727. It was thirty five to forty feet square, widest at bottom, and thirty feet high. The site also included a casting house and stamping mill. The casting-house was built of stone, facing toward the west. The stamping-mill was the building in which the cinders were crushed and the iron that had been wasted with the slag was separated from it." (History of Bucks County, Battle 1887)
"The large leather bellows used to increase the blast was operated by a waterwheel turned by the creek. The iron was dug close by the furnace, and the charcoal fuel used in the process was made in pits, which being located close at hand, filled the air with a disagreeable odor from the wigwam-like structures which covered them, and in which the wood for the charcoal was burned. From the top of the furnace, into which were poured the ore, charcoal and limestone, issued at intervals bright flames which lighted up the picturesque surroundings when the blast was forced, and Illumined the dark forest." (Forges and Furnaces in the Province of Pennsylvania)
Feeding the Furnace
"The furnace was filled from the top with layers of charcoal, iron ore and limestone. The heat and components triggered chemical reactions separating the iron from other compounds in the ore. Large leather bellows powered by the water wheel provided an air-temperature blast of air, thus the term cold blast, which helped the fire reach 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The furnace’s contents would shift downward and melt into iron and slag. Every 12 hours the furnace was drained. The molten iron flowed out into sand molds for finished-product castings or raw iron “pigs,” and the slag was discarded. This process ran continuously for months on end, only stopping when the furnace’s fire brick lining needed to be replaced." (National Park Service)
"The intermittent character of the work permitted laborers largely of English, Scottish and Irish descent or the enslaved peoples owned by the Furnace, to pursue their work on farms nearby in the interval of filling and drawing off the ore. When the Iron was ready to be tapped, a horn was blown and the farmers and enslaved presented themselves. The foreman or founder, with an iron pole or bar, opened or 'tapped' the bottom of the furnace, allowing the molten iron to run into the moulds of sand below." (Forges and Furnaces)
"The number of workmen needed to operate the furnace was not large. Two founders, two keepers, two guttermen, two or three fillers, who filled the furnace with alternate charges of charcoal, ore, and limestone, a “potter” who made the hollow ware, an ore roaster, and a few laborers included them all. The “founders,” who regulated the furnace, made the sand molds, and cast the iron, together with the potter were the only skilled workmen employed at the furnace. Frequently the potter was an itinerant worker, working a few weeks at one furnace and then traveling on to another. As the work of ironmaking had to be carried on night and day, the workers labored in two twelve-hour shifts." (Pennsylvania Iron Manufacture, Bining, 1973)
The Raw Materials
In order to make iron during the Colonial era you needed access to three raw materials: iron ore, limestone for flux, and wood for charcoal. In order for it to be practical to market you needed one more thing, access to a transportation route. Acrelius, writing in 1758 says, "Durham may be regarded as the best ironworks in the country. It has a rich supply of ore, water, sand and limestone. The ore is so near the furnace and the furnace so near the forges, that there is not three quarters of a mile of hauling about the works. The forges are little more than a mile to the station on the Delaware River, whence the iron is conveyed by water to Philadelphia.”(A History of New Sweden, Acrelius, 1874)
Lost Art of Making Charcoal
"An Iron Manufacturing Company like Durham, needed more than 70 workers to cut the trees and to supply the ongoing need for charcoal to fuel the furnace. The charcoal "pit," or "hearth," was simply a circular clearing, dry and level, about 30 to 50 feet in diameter. Workers, known as colliers, were required to "coal" the wood, which was cut into given lengths for this purpose by the woodchoppers and piled in the shape of a cone. As many as 10 or 12 colliers might be needed to keep a furnace going." (Hopewell Village: National Historic Site, by Dennis C. Kurjack)
"The site chosen was carefully levelled and a stake was driven into the ground with a height of a foot or more above the surface, around which a quantity of small wood to ignite the pile was placed until it attained a radius of two or three feet from the stake. Horizontal layers were added to this to the height of nine or ten feet, thus forming an opening for a chimney. Outside of this and inclining inwards the material of the pit was placed in vertical layers until it attained the required size. The whole of the exterior surface was then covered with turf. While in process of burning or charring the pit required constant attention during a period ranging from seven to ten days. The process reduced it to about half its original size. The charcoal was then hauled to the furnace in wagons drawn by four and six horses." (History of Bucks County, Battle, 1887)
"An average furnace would consume perhaps 800 bushels of charcoal every 24 hours, and this required about 50 cords of wood of 20- to 25-year growth. Some furnaces consumed almost the yield of an acre of woodland each day.The Iron furnace produced a maximum of 350 tons of iron a year and for every ton of iron, an acre of hardwood trees needed to be burned, that was 350 acres a year." This created an ever enlarging circle of clear cut forest to feed the furnace. It is likely that one of the reasons the Furnace closed in 1791 was for lack of fuel. By this time the surrounding forest in Durham would have been clearcut. ( National Park Service: Hopewell Furnace)
Mining the Iron Ore
"Since the ores first used were on the surface or just below, little or no technical knowledge of mining was necessary. The chief tools required to mine the ores were bars and pickaxes. There was little boring, blasting, or firing. Thus, the German traveler Johann Schoepf wrote, “Any knowledge of mining is superfluous here, where there is neither shaft nor gallery to be driven, all work being at the surface, or in great, wide trenches or pits.’’ These trenches were rarely more than forty feet deep. When this depth was reached, new “mine holes,” as they were called, were opened...The greatest depth reached at Cornwall and Durham prior to 1750 did not exceed forty feet. The number of miners employed at each mine during the eighteenth century was not large. Three or four could supply all the ore needed for a single furnace. In 1781, the Durham Iron Works advertised for five experienced miners to begin work again there." (Pennsylvania iron manufacture in the eighteenth century, by Arthur Cecil Bining. 2d ed)
Quarrying for Limestone
Limestone was crushed and used as flux; a necessary ingredient to process iron in the furnace. The caves near the iron furnace provided the much needed raw material.
Taking the Iron to Market
Once the iron was made it had to be transported on carts out to the Delaware, then on rafts down to Philadelphia and finally onto ships bound for England. Sometime before 1750 Robert Durham, a manager and engineer at the furnace, built the first Durham Boat based on Lenape design to transport product down the river. Durham boats were crewed by six men. By the end of the century there was a fleet of several hundred Durham boats giving employment to 2000 to 3000 men. (History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania by William W.H. Davis)
Enslaved Workers at the Durham Furnace
Not much is known about the early enslaved workers at Durham Furnace. However, we can speculate that the need for laborers was great and we know that at least three of the original stock owners in the Company were slave traders. Robert Ellis, Andrew Bradford and William Allen are all listed as regular Slave importers. Ellis transported a dozen shipments of enslaved people from 1732-1741. His shipments included: "A Parcell of Negro Men and Women" October 11, 1733, "25-30 Negro Boys & Girls" August 7, 1736, "40 odd Negro Boys & Girls ," June 23, 1737.
Andrew Bradford received four shipments of enslaved people in 1723, (Negro Imports Into Pennsylvania 1720-1766)
Robert Ellis received three shipments of enslaved peoples in 1733, (Negro Imports Into Pennsylvania 1720-1766)
William Allen received two shipments of enslaved people in 1736, (Negro Imports Into Pennsylvania 1720-1766)
Lack of experienced iron workers and unskilled laborers constrained the growth of early iron works across the colony. Recruitment to isolated iron plantations was difficult. In 1727, Iron Furnace operators petitioned the Pennsylvania legislature for a waiver of duties charged on the import of slaves, to help alleviate the shortage of manpower.
A stipulation of the 1780 Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery was that each county would maintain a register of all enslaved persons with the Prothonotary (i.e. County Clerk) by November 1782.
In Bucks County 520 enslaved persons were registered in the initial document, Bucks County Register of Slaves, 1783-1830. Two owners are listed in Durham, and both were involved with running the Durham Iron Furnace: one-time owner Richard Backhouse held three enslaved females.
Ironmaster James Morgan listed seven individuals as enslaved, possibly an extended family: Jack, male 38; Tim, male 20; Sam, male 17; Nat, male 5; Bet, female 40; Deb, female 24; Sue, female 20.
An interesting story comes to us from James Morgan’s Slave Register entry. Next to the list of these enslaved people’s names is a bracket pointing to an annotation in the same handwriting: “Supposed to be in New York with the Enemy.” Referring to the Durham Furnace, the History of Bucks County states, “Twelve slaves were at work there in 1780, five of whom made their escape to the British at New York.” At another place in the same book the author states “six of the seven” fled to New York.
The Product
"The blast furnace represented the first step in the production of iron—the reduction of iron ore by smelting into ingots of cast iron or "pig iron." High in carbon content and impurities, and therefore brittle, pig iron was limited in use to such things as stoves and hollow ware. For many products such as nails, horseshoes, tools, and wheel tires, malleable or wrought iron was required. The function of the forge was to change pig iron into this form by reheating in the forge fire and by subjecting the hot, pasty metal to repeated blows of the heavy forge hammer, driving off the excess carbon and impurities. This process was called "refining" and the product "bar iron." (NPS Historical Handbook, Hopewell Furnace)
They produced “hollow ware” like pots and pans; firebacks; stove plates; and munitions. A wood-burning stove similar to the famous Franklin Stove was produced in Durham in quantity. The “Adam and Eve” stove was manufactured in 1741 and onwards.
Working the Forge
The work at the forges was varied. There were, "liners, chafery men, and hammermen at the forges, who heated the metal in hearths and drew out the bars to given sizes under ponderous hammer. (Pennsylvania iron manufacture in the eighteenth century / by Arthur Cecil Bining. 2d ed.)
Life on the Durham Tract, 1700-1750
Early settlers included: Samuel Powell, George Wilson, James and Sarah Morgan, Richard Mitchel, Richard Cox, Casper Wistar, Sebastian Houpt, Reinhart Laubach, Anthony and Peter Leech and Daniel Bloom. The "Old Durham Furnace School," erected in 1727, was the first school built in the Upper Bucks area. Children met in this small log house, located on the east side of the road leading from Easton to Philadelphia, approximately 100 yards north of Durham Creek. (The History of Bucks County, W.W.H. Davis)
There were five steps in the official land acquisition process from the Proprietors of Pennsylvania. Beginning in the late 1730's, the proprietors of the colony initiated the process based on a (1) Application to Warrant from interested prospective settlers. A (2) WARRANT was an official order for the county Deputy Surveyor to initiate a survey of the described tract of land. The third stage in securing land from the Proprietors of Pennsylvania was the official (3) SURVEY that was authorized by the warrant. The (4) APPLICATION FOR A PATENT was the preliminary step that led to a review process leading to the issuance of a Patent. A (5) PATENT was the official granting of full, clear release and title to the land by the Proprietors of Pennsylvania. (Pennsylvania Series of Land Records)
By 1745, there were at least 18 families living on the Durham Tract. The furnace populated by English, Scotch and Irish, but the farmland surrounding mostly German. The settlers petitioned unsuccessfully in 1743 to form a township. At this point, in addition to the school, there was a Presbyterian church, a grist and saw mill, as well as a constable (Peter Roke), and overseer (Caleb Todd). A half dozen roads had been built during this decade connecting Durham to major cities in the north and south, including: the Durham Road and the Tohickon Road, as well as the roads to Springfield, Bethlehem and Easton. (The History of Bucks County, W.W.H. Davis)
In 1755, George Taylor leased the Durham furnace from the owners in partnership with another ironmaster, Samuel Flower. Taylor moved with his wife to Durham and assumed day to day operations of the furnace. He built his manor house close to the furnace. Around 1755, Taylor is known to have supplied cannon shot to the Provincial government, “presumably for the French and Indian War.” When his lease on Durham Furnace ran out in 1761, the partnership with Flowers dissolved and Taylor moved on to ventures in Easton.
Another ironmaster was James Morgan. His father and grandfather immigrated from Wales and settled in Radnor, near Philadelphia. He was born in Durham in 1702. He traded in metal goods, was an ironworker in the early years of the forge and rose to ironmaster by the 1760s. It is believed he lived in a house along Durham (Cooks) Creek near the present day Red Bridge, where once a Brandywine creek flowed into Durham Creek. On the night of April 8, 1768, a fire broke out at the Furnace which destroyed the bridge-house, casting-house, and bellows.
Second Half of the 18th century
The Furnace Partnership is Dissolved
By December of 1773, five years before the Durham co-partnership would have expired, none of the original partners had survived. At that time Lawrence Growdon of Trevose, having purchased shares over time, was the largest individual owner of the property. He divided his estate between his two daughters, Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Nichelson, and Grace, wife of Joseph Galloway. That part of the property containing the iron works, mines and quarries was partitioned to Joseph Galloway in right of his wife, nee Grace Growdon. This included tracts numbered one, two, three, four, seven and twenty-three, on both sides of Durham creek, which contained the iron works and other improvements, comprising about 1,000 -1500 acres in all. (The History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, by W. W. H. Davis)
Under Galloway the Iron Works were leased once again to George Taylor in 1774 for five years. Taylor by then had entered public life serving as a justice of the peace in Bucks and Northampton Counties. In 1764, he was elected from Easton to the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly. In 1775, he was reelected to the commission and attended the Provincial Convention. Taylor was among the Signers of the Declaration of Independence and one of the few not native born.
Durham Township is Formed, 1750-1780
After several failed attempts, finally in 1775, the petition to form Durham Township was approved. The family names on the petition included: Jacob Clymer, Henry Houpt, George Taylor, George Heinline, Wendell Shank, Thomas Craig, Michael Deemer, William Abbott, Francis Wilson, Daniel Stillwell.
In addition to the Durham Furnace and its surrounding community, we know that by 1774, Thomas Pursell had erected both a steam powered saw mill and a grist mill in the Township on the site that would become the town of Monroe. Durham Furnace records show that "He bought of Richard Backhouse, three 56-pound weights, one 28-pound weight, and one 7-pound weight for weighing grain in his mill". Also in 1774, Wendell Shank a Blacksmith from Williams Township, purchased a parcel of land about where the present river bridge was constructed and built a log house barn and blacksmith shop. Robert Durham was building his boats at the mouth of Durham Creek. (The History of Bucks County by W.W.H. Davis and Riegelsville People Places and Events)
War of Independence
On April 19, 1775, the first battle in the war for American Independence from British rule was waged at Lexington and by June, Congress had authorized the creation of the Continental Army . By August, Congress had declared a State of Rebellion.
During the Revolution, the furnaces of southeastern Pennsylvania were busy casting cannon, shot, and iron wares for the Continental armies. In August of 1775, George Taylor secured a contract with Pennsylvania’s Committee of Safety for cannon shot. On August 25, with a shipment of 258 round balls weighing from 18 to 32 pounds each, Durham Furnace became the first ironworks in Pennsylvania to supply munitions to the Continental Army. (Minutes from the Meeting of the Council of Safety)
Not everyone profited during the war. Joseph Galloway aligned himself with the Crown and fled to join the British at New York. His estates, gained through marriage to Grace Growden, were declared forfeited to the Commonwealth. This included their home and properties in Philadelphia as well as the Durham property which was confiscated in 1778. Joseph was forced to flee to England for his safety, but Grace remained to try and save her inheritance, arguing with the courts that the property was hers and she remained loyal to the American cause. Though she was turned out of her home, she never gave up the fight for her rights taking her claim to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. One of her last acts before she died (February 6, 1782) was to execute her will. She created a trust for her estate (should it ever be reclaimed) naming her daughter, Elizabeth as beneficiary.
Diary entry of Grace Growden Galloway April 20, 1779
"Tuesday the 20th [While visiting a neighbor, I] got My spirits at command & Laughed at the whole wig party. I told them I was the happyest woman in twown for I had been striped & Turn’d out of Doors yet I was still the same & must be Joseph Galloways Wife & Lawrence Growdons daughter & that it was Not in their power to humble Me for I shou’d be Grace Growdon Galloway to the last & as I had now suffer’d all that they can inflict Upon Me I shou’d now act as on a rock to look on the wrack of others & see them tost by the Tempestuous billows while I was safe ashore; that if My little fortune wou’d be of service to them, they May keep it for I had exchanged it for content: that a Wooden waiter was as Useful tho not so sightly as a silver one; & that wou’d Never let these people pull Me down for, While I had the splindid shilling left, I wou’d be happy in spight of them . . . . I am not sorry at anything I said for I now defye the Villans."
Painting of Grace Growden Galloway by Thomas Stokes, Ireland
The Durham property was sold to Richard Backhouse in May of 1779. Backhouse formed a company with Colonel Isaac Sidman, Colonel Robert Lettis Cooper and Colonel George Taylor to run the Iron Works.
Under their auspices the Durham Furnace continued producing cannonballs and shot for the Continental Army. According to letters between Backhouse and Taylor during this period we know that despite its support of the war effort, the Furnace was still creating common household items like pots, skillets and kettles.
George Taylor was able to complete his five year lease on the Durham Furnace. He then moved on to co-own the Greenwich Forge in New Jersey. James Morgan served Backhouse as ironmaster until James passed in 1782.
According to Backhouse's records, the Durham Iron Works employed around 200 people annually during active months during the 1780s. Around 30% of these were seasonal or contract workers, especially among woodcutters, colliers, and mine helpers. “The total of 209 annual workers at Durham does not include an unknown number of sons, daughters, wives, etc. who helped cut wood, make charcoal, or engaged in other work attributed to listed employees.” It is estimated that the iron works drew labor from a radius area of 12-15 miles around the furnace. (“Working Agreements: The Use of Subcontracting in the Pennsylvania Iron Industry 1725-1789,” Michael Kennedy, 1998)
Production during this period was impressive. From 1780 to 1781, David and Daniel Stover, John Lerch and Joseph Frey hauled 4,6 and 9 pounder balls from the furnace to Philadelphia on boats consigned by Colonel Sidman. During one week in 1782, 12,357 solid shot was sent to Philadelphia.
The workmen at the Ironworks were not permitted to leave their employment or to march with the militia without the permission of the Council of Safety. So great was the scarcity of labor that the ironmasters of Chester, Lancaster, and Berks counties were permitted to use prisoners of war at their works. Under this authority Hessians were employed at Elizabeth Furnace, Mary Ann Furnace, Durham Iron Works, Charming Forge, and at other ironworks. (Forging America: Ironworkers, Adventurers, and the Industrious Revolution by John Bezis-Selfa)
In 1782, Backhouse dissolved the partnership, remaining in sole charge of the company. An advertisement for that year describes the tract as having: "a furnace now in blast and in good working order, the mine convenient to the furnace...three farms in good repair...60 acres of meadow...and a good number of small tenements for workers to live in."
The Township of Durham Grows, 1780-1800
By the early 1780's there were 2 towns in Durham Township: Durham and Lehnenberg (later known as Monroe). The Township population included “360 whites, 4 blacks and 33 dwellings.” Among the buildings was Thomas Pursell's saw and grist mill built in 1774. Backhouse and Thomas McKean opened the first store in 1780 which remained open until 1792. Three ferries were operating in Durham Township: Pursell's Ferry at Monroe, the Shanks opened a Ferry at what would become Riegelsville and the Stillwell Ferry at Durham from 1779 -93. Freight was hauled a mile from the Furnace to the Ferry which was capable of holding 2 standard freight cars. (The History of Bucks County, W.W.H. Davis)
By 1790, the nation's first energy crisis became evident. The impact of this shortage was one of the key factors in the closure of the Durham Iron Works. The forests needed for charcoal had vanished. Alternative fuels like bituminous coal could be imported from England at great expense.
A judge confiscated the Furnace in 1791, ending Backhouse's tenure as superintendent and forcing the closure of the Furnace. Though Grace Growden Galloway, the wife of Joseph Galloway, had passed in 1782, her long battle to overturn the confiscation of lands which she argued were hers and not her husband's continued in the courts. In 1806, more than 25 years after Grace's death, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in her favor, and the estate was returned to her family and was eventually passed down to her daughter, Betsy and on Betsy's death two years later to her granddaughter, Grace Ann (Roberts) Burton. This marked one of the the first cases of women's rights to be decided in the United States.
the First Half of the 19th Century
With the Durham Iron Works closed for the first time in over 70 years, Durham Township began to shift from an industrial center to an agrarian center.
Riegelsville Beginnings
In 1807, Benjamin Riegel bought the Shank Brothers' homestead and slowly began developing the land. He built a two story stone barn with a ramp in 1814 and a stone house in 1820, a hotel in 1828 and a brick dwelling that same year. Shanks's ferry came to be known as Riegel's Ferry by the 1820s until the first bridge opened in 1837. In 1823, the Village of Lehnenberg took the name of Monroe after the President. At this time Pursell's Ferry in Monroe was known as Romig's Ferry.(Durham Township, Philadelphia, A. Warner & co., 1887)
By 1831, census records indicate the the town had one general store, a tavern and several dwellings. A canal was being constructed that would connect the town to Easton in the north and Philadelphia in the south. This was the perfect impetus for attracting new settlers and Riegel surveyed and laid out 24 building lots to be sold and populated. By 1845, Riegelsville had its first school house, and over the next five years three churches were built: 1848 Presbyterian Church, 1849 Roman Catholic Church, and 1850 Lutheran Church. (Durham Township, Philadelphia, A. Warner & co., 1887)
The Building of the Durham Mill
The original Durham Mill building was built in 1820 by Judge William Long. This three-story grist mill was constructed on the foundation walls of the historic Durham furnace (iron works) which gave its last blast in 1789. The mill was always operated with an overshot waterwheel which drew its water from Cooks Creek by way of a 3/4 mile long raceway.
A “mill race” channeled water from Cooks Creek (formerly known as Durham Creek) to the mill pond. To ensure adequate water supply, the miller operated a dam system at the top of the mill race which could be accessed as needed. The waterwheel was the source of the mill’s power. The original wooden wheel measured 12′ x 10′.
Connected to a metal rod that ran through each floor of the building, the wheel powered a system of machines and pieces, including four mill stones, that could be engaged or disengaged as needed, even while the mill was running. The water wheel continued to be used daily, however eventually most grinding was done by electric power. Raw product was hoisted to the top floor of the mill via a pulley-hoist system, where it was cleaned using a grain cleaning device known as a separator. After this the grain was gravity fed through chutes to a lower floor, where it was ground by the mill stones.
Mill stones were large and round, and ranged from 1.5-5 feet in diameter. Each could weigh up to 2,400 pounds. The larger the mill, the more stones it needed. Smaller mills needed one pair, whereas larger mills of the time period had up to 6 pairs. The Durham mill had 4 pairs, of which at least one pair were “buhr” stones imported from France and used for higher quality grain. Once milled, the product was conveyed back upwards to go through a finer sifting process. Finally, the ground and sifted grain was moved to a packing area where it was loaded in bags and barrels and prepared to be sent off to its destination.
The Role of the New Delaware and Lehigh Canals and the discovery of Anthracite Coal in Industry
Three things happened to reignite the Durham Iron Works in the middle of the 19th century.
- The Delaware Canal and Lehigh Canals were constructed providing a reliable transportation route for anthracite coal mined in the north to be delivered to Durham.
- An effective system was designed to best utilize anthracite coal for fuel.
- The Irishmen who had been brought to the region to build the canal were in search of other permanent employment and served as a perfect resource for the labor intensive employment in the mines and foundry.
Anthracite Coal Discovered
The Lehigh Coal Mine Company first used coal commercially in 1792. The company was founded after German immigrant Philip Ginder discovered beds of the anthracite “stone coal” near Summit Hill in 1791 while out hunting. The use of anthracite coal was restricted due to the difficulties in transporting it efficiently.
Building the Lehigh and Delaware Canals
Then once that canal was completed, a thousand Irishmen came to Pennsylvania with canal engineer Canvass White, and with help from local German farmers, built the Lehigh Navigation and later the Delaware Canal.
They finished the 165-mile route that carried anthracite coal from the mines to market in less than thirty months, and right to the doorstep of the Durham Iron Furnace and beyond to the iron and coal customers in Philadelphia.
Burning Anthracite Coal
There was now a reliable transportation route for fuel and for the finished product, but anthracite coal was hard to burn and full of impurities, making burning impracticable until 1828, when James Beaumont Neilson patented a new method of making iron. His hot blast system raised the temperature of the furnaces, and increased their capacity while saving energy. They used the waste exhaust heat to preheat combustion air, thus being able to make a unit of pig iron with a third the amount of coal.
This new process reduced the amount of coal needed and with it the amount of impurities, making anthracite a cheap and viable fuel option.
The Second Half of the 19th century
Whitaker and Company
In 1847, Adolphus William Desert Burton (who had inherited the mill after Grace Ann Burton passed away in 1837) sold the Iron Works property to Joseph Whitaker and Company. The Whitakers divided the land into several farm lots and then began the process of reviving the Iron Works.
Born in 1789, Joseph Whitaker started out working at a factory that manufactured cut nails and later leased the Delaware Iron Works near Wilmington and the Gibralter Forge at Reading. Eventually he joined a partnership that purchased the Phoenix Iron Works at Phoenixville, Pa, and later the Principio Iron Works in Cecil County, Md., which he rebuilt.
In 1847, he retired from Phoenixville and he and his brother George, bought the old defunct Durham Iron Works in Bucks County, where they constructed two modern anthracite furnaces in 1848 and 1849.
Joseph and George hired James Pennypacker, a farmer in Phoenixville to build the two new blast furnaces with the latest technology, and to run the furnace. Pennypacker hired an Irish crew, many of the same men who built the nearby canal, to clear the area and build the stone furnaces.
Cholera came to the Iron Works in 1849
Cholera was brought to the Iron Works by a man passing through on a canal boat. It passed quickly from the lock tender to the Irish workers building the furnace. 50 people, mostly Irish, died and were buried without ceremony in a mass grave at the Haycock Catholic Church.
A letter from Pennypacker was published in the public ledger on August 3, 1849 regarding the epidemic. In it he declared:
The wives of the workmen, a noble set of women, braved death in nursing the sick and preparing the dead for burial. Among them were Mrs. Bryan Riley, Mrs. Caffrey, Mrs. Reaney, Mrs. Demster, Mrs. Terrence Riley, Mrs. Hartman and Mrs. Young, and among the men, conspicuous for their services during this trying period, were Edward Keelon, John Young, Thomas and Farrel Riley and Samuel F. Hartman.
By August 11, the papers were reporting that the epidemic had come to an end. Religious services for the dead were omitted and the bodies buried in trenches in the Haycock Catholic cemetery, at night. James Stevens, the only Protestant who died, was buried by the superintendent in the woods, in the rear of the present mansion.
Villages of Durham Township, Second half of the 19th century
In 1850, the Village of Monroe had opened a lumber yard and a store. Accounts also describe a basketmaking shop in operation in this village from 1857 to 1866. Durham Village had a store, mill and 10 dwellings. Riegelsville had one store, one tavern, and eleven dwellings and a lime kiln.
A map of Riegelsville village in that year notes the homes of Benjamin Riegel, farmer; Benjamin Riegel, miller; Anna Bush, John Clymer, C.W. Fancher, Tobias Worman, Samuel Dilgard, John Boyer, Hannah Riegel, Peter Uhler, and William B. Smith. (Durham Township, Philadelphia, A.Warner & Co., 1887)
A variety of businesses were listed in the township in Herbert Bell's 1868 account. Of note is that the Bachman Brothers now owned the Mill in Durham.
When Pennypacker died on March 23, 1851, management of the works went to Joseph Whitaker.
In a letter dated, March 2nd, 1855, from Isaac Pennypacker to his son about a trip to visit his brother-in-law, Joseph Whitaker Jr., Isaac describes Durham, "The furnaces and house are on the banks of this creek near to the mouth. Here are limestone quarries and they burn lime. They dig iron ore out of the hills and make iron from it."
Anthracite coal was brought in by boat and taken to the furnace on the inclined plane from the wharf to the stockyard above the furnace and later pig iron was shipped to market along the canal.
1860's--Cooper & Hewitt, Lewis Lillie
Joseph Whitaker was succeeded in January 1856 by his brother George. George W. Whitaker continued as the works manager until April 2, 1864, when the business was sold to Edward Cooper and Abram Hewitt.
Cooper and Hewitt bought Lewis Lillie & Son of Troy, N.Y. The Lillie operations were moved to Durham in 1865. They specialized in building safes and bank vaults which were soon added to the product line. To accommodate the new production lines, the Durham foundry and finishing shop were enlarged. A new office building was put up, as were many homes and other buildings. This expansion stretched the Cooper & Hewitt company financially. By the end of 1867, creditors took over the entire Durham property and changed the corporate name to the Lillie Safe & Iron Co.
The Safe Company built all the workers new houses. They built a big machine shop and the mold shop across the creek from the blast furnaces. They spent so much fixing things up, they went bankrupt and then the deed reverted back to Cooper Hewitt at a sheriff's sale on Oct. 1, 1870.
The Third Furnace
In 1873-74, Cooper & Hewitt demolished the two anthracite furnaces that Joseph Whitaker had built in 1848-49. Room was needed for a more modern blast furnace. It was completed on Feb. 21, 1876. Edward Cooper developed metallurgical processes for the iron and steel industry and designed blast furnace equipment used at Durham. His New Jersey Steel & Iron Co., in Trenton, was the first to roll beams and girders.
“An idea of the proportions of the business may be derived from the statement that 300 men are employed and about 250 tons of iron sent to Trenton per week-the canal, which is within a few hundred yards of the furnaces affording superior facilities for the shipment of metal. The fires in the furnace are never allowed to go out, except when repairs or alterations are being made. One of these furnaces has been in blast for fifty nine weeks, while the other has been running for a little over two years. The men employed about the fires work for twelve hours, one gang relieving another. Those at the mines work but ten hours. The scenes at night are of special interest. The fires, blazing up to a height of ten or twelve feet, can be seen very distinctly from a distance, while the grim and swarthy workmen, who are continually feeding in ore, coal and limestone, resemble imps around an immense cauldron. Above the hum and bustle of the busy workers is heard the puff of the steam, as it escapes from the waste pipe, and the sound of the great air-pumps, forcing air through the ovens. The glare of the fires gives everything a weird aspect, and this, and the appearance of the half naked miners, flitting back and forth from the light of the furnaces to the gloom of the hill, reminds one forcibly of descriptions of the infernal regions." (Up the Delaware, 1873)
"In 1873 there were 58 furnace buildings on the premises including dwellings to accommodate 125 families, two for superintendents, a stone farm house and large stone barn, three smaller barns, foundry building 160 x 60 feet, machine shop 300 x 50 feet, run by water from Durham creek, giving 100 horse power at the driest time, two anthracite iron furnaces with necessary engines and machinery, pattern shop, case-maker's shop, smith, wheelwright and saddler's shop, stock houses, cart-house, store, post office and church. The superintendent and officers were ten in number with 250 hands." (the History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania by Davis)
1880's
The extensive iron works continue to belong to the firm of Cooper and Hewitt, of New York during this decade with B.F. Fackenthall Jr., being general superintendent.
In an account written in 1880, we learn that Cooper and Hewitt, "own here about 50 double houses for their work men, of which about 300 are now employed. They have at times had as high as 500 at work. We went also through the firm's extensive machine shops, in which were now probably about 15 hands employed. Mr. Steckel introduced me to John Young, the master smith, who had been employed here for 35 years, and last year, by making overtime had received pay for 363 days." (Travels in the Upper End, Durham and its Surroundings, 1880)
The account describes the employees,"Such heroes of labor deserve honorable mention from historians, and that there are still industrious men living. As 300 is no inconsiderable number of workmen, I inquired as to their nationality, and was informed that over half were natives of this section. Among the foreigners the English greatly predominated, the balance about equally divided between the Germans and Irish." (Travels in the Upper End, Durham and its Surroundings, 1880)
As to the village itself, the account describes it, "Durham post office is in the village, and is the site of the earliest settlement, the furnace having been originally erected here in 1727, on the spot occupied by the gristmill, now owned by the brothers Bachman (R.K. Bachman & Bro. Mill, 1867-1888), who also keep here the store (Bachman & Bro.’s store). Reuben K. Bachman being the present member of Congress from this district, is now building for himself a fine, two story brick residence on the lot adjoining, which was about ready to receive the roof. As thickly settled as this neighborhood is, there is no hotel here, and no other store nearer than Riegelsville, Monroe and Springtown, fully 2 1/2 miles distant."
Around and about the Township Villages
In Riegelsville, a carriage manufactory opened in 1875 run by Mr. W.P. Helms. In 1877, Abraham Boyer divided his land and sold several lots south and west of the town. By 1887, Clark & Cooley had opened a Hardware Store. In 1894, Lee Clymer built the Knitting Mill which was in operation for 24 years. At this time there were over five hundred people living in the town.
By this time the village of Monroe had a Mill, a Cabinet Shop, a Hotel and a Store. The main enterprise in Morgantown was the Laubach Brothers' Brickyard.
1890's
The Durham Mill at the Turn of the Century
In 1888, George H. Riegel took over the mill and built the barn and wagon shed (extant) to the northeast of the mill. At the time Riegel also owned a creamery in town. George's son, Harvey K. Riegel became the owner of a wheelwright shop which was annexed to the north wall of the mill.
Long distance sales were transported on the Quakertown & Eastern railway, or as it was locally known, the “Quick & Easy.” The railway ran alongside the creek with a siding to the mill where freight cars were loaded with finished product.
In August 1896, work got underway for the first 3-mile link from Quakertown to Richlandtown using 40 Italian laborers, horses, carts and tools to lay rails. Exactly a year later, the ceremonial first train packed with stockholders, invited guests and the Germania Band left Quakertown station for Richlandtown. There, the city turned out in force for a gala reception. A parade fronted by the band followed. It took another year for Q&E laborers to lay another nine miles of tracks to Springtown by the summer of 1898. An elaborate banquet in the town’s Funks Grove heralded the beginning of five daily round-trips on passenger trains plus daily freight service.
The Springtown Weekly Times crowed, “For the first time, the hills and valleys of Upper Bucks County echo and re-echo the sound of a regular passenger locomotive.” The golden goose for the Q&E was reaching the sprawling Durham Furnace and Iron Works. Following the course of Cooks Creek (one of the county’s most precious and scenic watersheds), the first train arrived in Durham Village on Aug. 11, 1899. Two weeks later, the line reached the Durham blast furnace. Within hours, the first shipment of steel made from iron ore mined in 10 miles of tunnels beneath Durham headed to Quakertown. Now for the first time, flour from Durham’s large grist mill and steel from the blast furnace provided a steady stream of income to the railroad."
Two years later, Col. Jameson used a sledgehammer to drive a ceremonial silver spike at Riegelsville to complete the 15-mile railway http://buckscountyadventures.org/the-quakertown-choo-choo/
THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY
Troubled Times for the Iron Works
On December 27, 1901, the Iron Works property was transferred to Col. John Jamison and Aaron F. Baker, who transferred the property one week later to the newly chartered Durham Iron Company. The newly incorporated company floated a bond to raise funds for operations.
The first of many challenges facing the new company was the pumpkin flood of 1903. Four days of rain, beginning on Thursday, October 8 and ending Sunday morning at 2 am, October 11, took the river from its lowest mark attained all summer to the highest known in written history at that time—a rise of 27 feet, 1 and 3/4 inches.
Whether it was because the new owners were inexperienced, or more intrusive methods were now needed to reach ore deposits more deeply embedded in the mine, or that purer deposits had been found elsewhere, the new company was forced to foreclose 7 1/2 years after opening. After 181 years, the Durham Iron Works shut down for the last time on June 23, 1908.
In 1912, the plant was dismantled and scrapped and the land, divided and sold.
Modern Amenities in Durham Township
In the first few decades of the 20th century Durham Township experienced a flurry of changes triggered by the introduction of modern technology whether from telephones to trolleys, or from electricity to automobiles.
On December 4th, 1903, trolley service was inaugurated between Easton and Durham Township.
The tracks from Riegelsville were connected to Doylestown by 1904, enabling folks to make the 3 1/2 hour ride to Philadelphia for 65 cents.
In 1905, application was made for a charter to erect a telephone line from Durham Township to Quakertown and completed in 1911. Electricity became available at the turn of the century allowing the Reformed Church to install lighting fixtures.
The First National Bank of Riegelsville was formed in 1908.
In 1916, Riegelsville Borough was approved as an official entity. Council members at the first meeting (l to r) Elmer Wills, Lee S. Clymer, President Granville Hollenback, Emil A. Perinot, Franklin Lehr, William H. Rufe and John Kroner.
The automobile being introduced to the area was a game changer for the region, making the now rural community ripe for urban commuters to settle here.
While Some Businesses Went Bust Others Boomed
The Durham Flour Mill expanded significantly at the beginning of the century. In 1912, Harvey K. Riegel, tore down his two-story frame wheelright shop to make way for a large annex building. He used brick from the demolished Durham Iron Works to construct the Annex.
This gambrel roofed brick warehouse more than doubled the size of the mill operation. At the same time the post office (still used today) was constructed at the north corner of the west wall of the mill. This new addition also served as the office for the mill.
The mill under Harvey K. Riegel, ground the the raw material for the graham products of a nationally known corporation of cracker and biscuit bakers. At one time, the Durham grist mill produced flour for Ceresota, evidenced by the restored Ceresota “bread boy” advertisement on the east side of the building. (Place Names in Bucks County Pennsylvania, 1955)
The following are memories of a Riegel granddaughter in 1938— courtesy of Ms. Lorretta Deysher:
“Grandfather Riegel had a large grist mill in Durham, PA. In the basement of the mill was a huge water wheel. This wheel was powered by water flowing over its paddles from the race across the street...The continual motion of the wheel kept a cool breeze coming from the window, with a dank, musty aura. Upstairs in the mill were the various sized mill stones."
"Grandfather’s flour was always in demand. He sold his flour to customers locally, and as far away as Philadelphia and New York City. You could travel for miles and miles and everyone knew of its excellent quality." However, receipts from the 1920s-40s, show that the Durham Valley Roller Mills (as it was called at the time) sold a variety of products including: Flour, Grain, Feed, Seeds and Coal.
Site of Iron Works Revamped into Paper Manufactory
J.V. Doone started a small paper company on the former site of the Iron Works to manufacture paper plates, toilet tissue and other paper products. It was incorporated as Durham Paper & Pulp Company, in Phillipsburg, NJ as of 1917 by a J. Cochran. Mr. Theodore Walter installed the first operating paper machine there. The operators were Bill Joy and Mr. Carpenter. They initially used corn stalks for fuel but switched over to wood.
On January 31, 1924, the Durham Paper and Pulp Company declared bankruptcy. At the time the Durham mill was one of seven paper mills on the east coast operated by the Company, all of which were primarily used in the production of Kraft paper. The cause of the failure was cited as heavy production losses and the wrongful seizure of their Hadley plant.
In 1933, the Durham Paper & Pulp Company was bought out by the Whippany Paper Board Company. Run by Frank Desiderio, the Durham Paper Mill was one of three mills originally owned by the company which specialized in converting waste materials into paperboard. In an interview, his son Anthony Desiderio said this "company had the equivalent of several hundred thousand acres of timberland in the vast outpouring of waste paper from the manufacturing office buildings of the metropolitan area."
Population Explosion
The Durham Township population in 1920 was at its lowest in a century, less then a third of the population as when the Iron Works was at its greatest capacity. However, over the next 30 years the region's population reflected a mass migration from Philadelphia and New York City to the Bucks County region.
Transportation Transformation
As regional highway and transit systems improved, and the automobile became the preferred form of transportation, Lower Bucks and later Upper Bucks, with their acres of developable land, were put within reach for commuters.
Other transportation changes were in the works as well. The State took control of the Canal in 1931, as most commercial navigation had ceased, and the waterway was given to the stewardship of the Pennsylvania Park Commission. The transformation of the Canal into a leisure-time attraction was the first step towards a community shift toward a commitment to the preservation of the natural beauty of the region around Durham Township.
The closure of the Durham Iron Works in 1908, marked the beginning of the end of the Q&E Railroad. It closed due to the lack of income from this, its biggest service client. Attempts at reopening the line failed first in 1911, and again in 1917. Even with a freshly refurbished track, the train was no competition for the popularity of the automobile. Finally In 1936, the Q&E closed down for good. Its rails, ties and trestles were removed, leaving behind only the stone ramparts that once carried the line over Cooks Creek near Durham Village. (Bucks County Adventures, by Carl LaVo)
Second Half of the 20th Century
Planning for Population Explosion
Between 1953 and the 1980s, Route 611 was realigned five times to accommodate the growing population and the increase of commuters to and from the region. The path of this route changed the fates of the towns it passed through; increasing traffic, as well as commercial and residential construction. Durham, in anticipation of the potential 1965 alternate Route 611 going through the center of the Township, took its first steps to control development by establishing a Planning Commission.
A Comprehensive Planning Report and Plan for Durham Township was Published by the Durham Township Planning Commission in December, 1961.
“This plan is an effort to show a possible future pattern of land use in Durham Township."
"Durham has been brought within commuting distance of growing urban and industrial areas such as Philadelphia, Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown...Currently projected highways propose to bring even New York City within an hour and a half of the township, and within the foreseeable future a new major highway, "alternate 611" is planned which will cut through the heart of our agricultural and residential area...gradually increasing its residential character at the expense of agriculture, and the rapidity of the surrounding developments is obviously about to subject the township to much heavier pressure for residential growth.”
Plans for the alternate Route 611, set the stage for Durham to become the welcoming Township for Bucks County from the north. In anticipation of this, the County took advantage of an opportunity in the making. The Durham Grist Mill closed its doors after 147 years of service to the community. On August 5, 1967, Vera and Floyd Riegel sold the mill to Bucks County which planned to preserve the historic structure as a Visitor Center to support increased tourism to the County.
The alternate Route 611 never went through the Township, and the visitor center was never realized though the Durham Mill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Finally, in 1984, Bucks County sold the Mill to Durham Township for a dollar.
In 1959, the Whippany Paper Mill was Ordered to Clean up its Act
With the creation of the Comprehensive Plan came an increased interest in preserving the natural and historical features of the Township and in particular the impact of years of industrial waste on the rivers and creeks. As a result of these concerns, the Whippany Paper Company, with its excessive pollutants, was ordered to clean up its manufacturing practices. Shortly afterward, Frank Desiderio, the company owner, passed away in 1962, and his son Anthony took over the business.
The Whippany Paper mill continued on under Anthony Desiderio's supervision until 1970 when he too passed away. The Mill went into bankruptcy in 1983 and closed, leaving over 100 employees without work.
Durham Mills, Inc., a partnership of three private box manufacturers from New Jersey, Long Island and Connecticut, acquired the facility in 1982, using a $10-million low-interest loan financed through the Bucks County Industrial Development Authority.
In 1984, the paper mill was purchased by The International Paper Company, intending to employ 100-130 persons and to produce liner board and corrugated materials used in the making of cardboard boxes and shipping containers. The company's goal was to produce 450 tons of product a day, twice the output at Durham Mills. However, the mill never reopened.
Preservation takes Center Stage at the turn of the Century
At the turn of the century, Durham Township reached a peak population of over 1300 people, maintaining the least population growth, by Township, in Bucks County.
Open Space and Farmland Preservation
In 1989, as population surged within the county, the Bucks County Commissioners initiated an active agricultural land preservation program that was administered by the Agricultural Land Preservation Board. The Bucks County Agricultural Land Easement Program was established as part of the Pennsylvania Farmland Protection Program. Other open space initiatives were put in place through nonprofit conservation organizations. By 1995, one farm in Durham had adopted an Agricultural Conservation Easement.
Durham Township followed the trend. Its Open Space Committee was organized in April, 1999. Riegelsville Borough adopted an Open Space Plan that same year, that ranked the preservation of open space properties in the Borough.
The stage was now set for the possible preservation by the County of additional properties through the Bucks County Agricultural Land Preservation Board.
Conservation of the Environment
In a commitment to protect the Township's natural resources the Durham Township Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) was established on February 10, 1994. The EAC was created to advise local government agencies of Durham Township and surrounding municipalities on environmental matters dealing with protection and conservation, as well as the promotion and use of natural resources, including air, land, and water.
In 1995, the Durham Township Environmental Advisory Council prepared a Resource Inventory that included maps and text on three natural resources – soils, geology and hydrology. The stated purpose of the Inventory was “to raise the awareness of environmentally sensitive areas and aid in identifying areas for preservation.”
Once the Resource Inventory was completed, the EAC developed the Cooks Creek Watershed Monitoring and Planning Program which was completed in 2002. The plan was a compilation of numerous studies that were conducted within the Cooks Creek watershed located primarily in the Townships of Durham and Springfield, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
These studies include: geologic and wetland surveys, well water level monitoring, stream gauge data collection, water quality chemistry, bioassessment surveys, stream corridor evaluations, and GIS database development.
On August 8, 2006, Durham Township issued an updated comprehensive plan based on the plan adopted in 1977. The overall goal of this Comprehensive Plan was to "maintain the high quality of life in the Township by protecting the natural resources – including the Cooks Creek Watershed, prime agricultural land, the floodplain of the Delaware River and its tributary streams, the limestone geology and the wooded slopes and maintain the rural, scenic and aesthetic character of Durham Township-regarding air quality, noise level and light emissions."
In a big step toward stream restoration, in 2021, Durham Township received a grant from the Wildlands Conservancy, Inc., for Dam Removal and Streambank Restoration in Durham Township, restoring 3.5 miles of stream, mitigating streambank erosion, flooding and water quality issues while benefitting key species including the American eel, freshwater mussels and native fish species such as brook trout.
The Preservation of History
The Durham Historical Society (DHS) was founded in 1997. The Historical Society's Mission is "To study and preserve the history of Durham Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to educate the general public on the significant role played by the Township and its residents in the development of the United States of America during the colonial period, the Revolutionary War and thereafter, and to insure that this history is not forgotten."
DHS is the steward of the Durham Grist Mill site and historical collection, continuing the legacy of this site as a hub for the community in the 21st century, whether it is through the Historical Society’s historical lecture series which has been offered since 2001, by promoting local research such as the book, “Doans: The First Outlaws of the New World” by local historian Carle Robbins, or by establishing a car donation program to raise money for community efforts.
The site features the historic Ceresota Flour mural which the DHS refurbished to its original glory on the wall of the mill.
DHS acquired and refurbished a full size replica of a Durham boat which now proudly sits on a boat cradle under a pavilion (named for Marion O’Donnell, a community volunteer) that was constructed with volunteer help from community members.
A beam from the World Trade Center was acquired and incorporated into a memorial located by the Municipal Office.
The Durham Grist Mill is also the site for the annual Durham Community Day celebration which the Durham Historical Society co-sponsors with the Township Administration.
The biggest project however has been the consistent efforts in restoring the village’s “crown jewel”, the Durham Mill. In cooperation with the Township, a new roof has been added, new windows and replacement support beams installed, new lighting added, and a viewing area overlooking the water wheel constructed.
In 2017, The Durham Historical Society initiated a restoration effort for the Durham Mill, the first phase focused on the cleanup of the Mill's tailrace. Over 20 invasive trees were removed as was over a half century of accumulated debris. Efforts were funded by a $2,000 grant from the Lower Delaware Wild and Scenic group. A second grant was awarded to re-seed the race with native grasses and plants.
Most of the windows in both the old and newer portions of the mill were replaced.
In addition an ADA compliant restroom was installed, and a new viewing area surrounding the water wheel was created in the mill as well as museum lighting to enhance the experience of visitors.
Although Durham no longer has an industrial presence and the agricultural component has been significantly lessened, it is now home to an active and thriving community. Many of the residents have opted to bear a significantly long commute to larger cities to earn their living in return for the peace and tranquility of the area.
Durham has changed little over the past quarter century
- Durham remains a place where privacy is respected but where people get together to get things accomplished.
- The area successfully combines the leadership of the Township with individuals and organizations willing to give of themselves.
- Things continue to be done to make the community a truly enjoyable place to live.
Photo by Richard Thaler
All of these happenings attest to the fact that Durham has not lost sight of its history but rather embraces it and is taking steps to ensure that it continues to be in the forefront in the minds of its citizens.
ACknowledgements
- Grateful thanks are addressed to the following organizations and individuals without whom this project could not have been completed:
- Lehigh Valley Community Foundation – for its generous grant used in financing the research and compilation of material.
- Durham Historical Society – for its leadership and support throughout the process.
- Amy Hollander – for researching and curating this dynamic presentation.
- James Walter, Sharon and Stephen Willey, and Lois and David Oleksa – for assisting in gathering the factual information and for the proof-reading of the narrative.