Northampton Area High School - Amptennian Yearbook (Northampton, PA)

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By 1795 the upper end of the Minisi Terri- tory, now lcnown as Siegfried, was a thriving village with its own Light Horse Militia, its grist mill, its tannery, and hest of all its first school. Established lay Col. John Siegfried, Aloraham Levan, and Michael Beaver, it was called Levan's School. This same year We lost a great man. Col. John Siegfried died. The lower end of the territory had now he- come the hamlet of Lauhachsville, named after its leading citizen, Peter Lauhach, a real man of enterprise. He huilt a store, a hlaclc- smithy, a distillery, managed a grist mill, founded a coal yard, and was instrumental in the building of the canal. This hecame the life line for this area. By 1800 the Levan family gained the lead- ing spot in Siegfried serving as postmasters and operating a paper mill. 1828 marlced the completion of a fine covered bridge which re- placed Siegfrieds Ferry, and this same year VVilson's old grist mill was sold to the Howell family. With the completion of the, Canal in 1829 came the biggest discovery of all. We strucli high-grade limestonel By 1850 we had our first cement plant,-fGlace's Mill. This was the heginning of an industry that soon put us in the nation's geography hoolcs- The greatest cement region in the worldf' Town Hall . . 8 Post Otiice 1 E61 G ement National BcmK

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Three years after our famous Hvvallin a hand of white people entered Minisi land. The leader, as 1 later found out, was a stoclcy, lorislc-tempered lrishman named Hugh Wil- son. With the help of Chief Justice Allen, he acquired the land from the Penn family in 1740 and at once built his home and a grist mill. These were the days of terrifying Indian attaclcs. and VVilson,s Settlement was not .spared hy the frenzied Red Men. We appealed to Col. Benjamin Franlclin for protection in 1755 hut were refused due to laclc of troops. Hugh VVilson,s young son Tom was now in charge of the flour mill. To protect his family against lndian attaclcs, he huilt an octagon- shaped hloclchouse overloolcing the Hoclcen- dauqua Creek. Here it is today, on the Uni- versal Atlas property, a grim reminder of the past. N ow came peaceful, happy, years and many new faces appeared at VVilson's Settlement. ln 1761 a group of German Mennonites louilt the first church on West 21st Street. Then Archibald Laird, the Provincial Tax Collec- tor, settled at the 'slower end!! of the village. John Siegfried estahlished ferry service across the Lehigh at the Hupper endu. ln 1770 he huilt a tavern and home at the foot of Twenty- First Street. His home today is a prominent tavern. Aloout this time another family of fu- ture prominence arrived, the Levans. We were growing. Now came thrilling years. 1775 hrought our first local post route and 1776 the Declaration of Independence. Gen. George Washington urged his friend Col. John Siegfried to organize Flying Campf' Dressed in the hlue and hull we answered the call to duty. This was the time of Yankee Doodlen and the hrilliant new Hag of red, white, and blue, and Hunionn meetings at Siegfriedss Tavern where we car- ried on the war to preserve the value of our Continentals. EJ

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Travel between Siegfried and Lauhachs- ville via the Canal road caused another hamlet to appear, and soon 1 was visiting friends in Newport. But all this peace and prosperity again was disturhed hy war, and in 1862 we sent Ahe Lincoln our 155rd Regiment headed hy Captain Theodore Howell of Company D. 1866 marked the completion of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad, now called the Central R.R. This resulted in the development of a little hamlet calted Stemton which ap- peared in what is now our Third ward. Found- ed hy George Stem, it thrived on industries such as the Lehigh Car Manufacturing Com- pany. Stemton even acquired street railway service to Allentown hy 1895. A tew years of peace, and then We went off to war again. This time we joined Teddy Rooseve1t's Rough Riders and settled that Spanish-American prohlem. Coming hack to our growing community, we reaiized something had to he done. Stem- ton, Lauhachsviite, Newport, and Siegfried had grown into one another and were now joined hy other tiny settlements,-Hosensack, Figtown, Brooklyn, and Rosendale. Yes, we had come a Iong way from VVi1son,s Iittte settlement, and we needed to unite. May 6, 1901, was the proud day when we hecame the Borough of A11iance. Through the inter- vention of the Atlas Cement Company and many good friends, the name was changed April 12, 1909, to Northampton. That suited me, too. See you Iater. AMPY.