THE “RUDE AND HUMBLE” FIRST HOUSE IN KUTZTOWN:
A HISTORY AND A MYSTERY
Text and research by Craig A. Koller and Brendan D. Strasser
A HISTORY AND A MYSTERY
Text and research by Craig A. Koller and Brendan D. Strasser
The society has recently come into possession of a historically significant photo labeled as the first house built in Kutztown. We have it on loan from Mayor Jim Schlegel, who received it from Alan Carter. It is a mid to late 19th-century mounted photo, on the back of which is written, “From John G. Wink my father-in-law, Esther Wink gave to me. Oldest house in Kutztown.”
The first recorded mention of this home occurs in John S. Ermentrout’s 1876 Historical Sketch of Kutztown & Maxatawny, Berks County, Penn’a., in which the author describes it as “a one-story log building . . . [that] stood at no great distance from the Saucony creek, where now stands the elegant mansion of Daniel Sharadin.”
Today that lot is still occupied by the Sharadin “mansion,” the turreted residence at 118 West Main St., next to BB&T Bank. The Centennial History Kutztown, Pennsylvania 1815-1915 provides a more elaborate statement, worth quoting in full: “The date of erection of the first house in Kutztown is uncertain. Tradition asserts that it was built by George Esser. . . . One writer thinks it likely that the house was put up ‘before the land was patented in 1728.’ That is, however, a most unlikely supposition, one practically proved to be unfounded, because Schultze’s map of the Easton Road, 1755, which gives the location of houses of early settlers all along the road, gives no indication of any building standing at that time in the area now covered by Kutztown. It does, however, show the Saucony, a bridge over it, and the road with all its turns. In addition to this consideration, examination of lists of taxable in Maxatawny Township for those times fails to show the name of any person by the name of Esser.