I

"Water Street? Possum Lane?"

103 N Main Street

My name is Henry O. Souder. I was born here, in Welshtown, in 1807, in a stone house off Water Street. Well, you call it East Chestnut Street today, but it was originally named Water since the headwaters of the Skippack Creek start here and run behind my little house, even crossing under Main St. And yes, I said Welshtown. The first white settlers to this area were Welsh who owned, but barely settled here. Back in 1840 there were only about 20 houses in the area now known as Souderton, and in the winter I could maybe see 10 of them and smoke from the chimneys of some of the rest. Today, Souderton is the largest town in all of Franconia Township.

I built this stone house for my bride, Hannah Hunsberger after we married in 1834 and 8 of our 10 children lived here. Yes, that was a lot of people for this small building, but we spent a lot of time outdoors. I had 8 acres that we farmed, but like all farmers in our area I also had a trade. I was a carpenter. See that stone house across Possum Lane? (That's what we used to call Main St.) Before I built that house in 1860, my saw mill for cutting roofing and ceiling lathes was located there. And those condominiums caddy corner from us? That's where my lumber yard was. I started all of that around 1843 and had 6 sons to help me. Running a lumber business was tough back then. Just imagine...my lumber would float down the Delaware Canal to Point Pleasant, Pennsylvania where I had to retrieve it by horse or oxen team or pay to have someone else haul it to Franconia. That was about 20 miles on unpaved roads. If it rained you could get stuck in the mud. Once the mud dried, the roads were horribly rutted. Is it any wonder that we also started a spoke and wheel factory, too?

In 1852 I heard that the Philadelphia, Easton, and Water Gap Railroad was surveying to lay track in Bucks County. I offered them the free use of my land in exchange for diverting the railroad right here! This opened up whole new business opportunities for me, my family, and the rest of the community.

"The area ministers had to rotate between churches."

105 W. Chestnut Street

Ah, it sure was a dream-come true to finally have a church in town. There were lots of churches all around and we, being from a very religious Protestant community, all belonged to one of them. Most people were either of the Lutheran, Reformed, or Mennonite faiths but the people who first settled this section of what later became Souderton, were mostly Mennonites, so it made sense that a Mennonite meetinghouse was the first to be built in our growing town. Souderton Mennonite Meetinghouse. Now this church really had no official congregation for over a decade. 

It initially was only built as a convenience for the people in town who were members of the Franconia and Rockhill congregations and in the beginning, meetings were only held once every three weeks on Sunday afternoons, as the area ministers had to rotate between churches. The first minister, who was chosen by lot in 1914, was Jacob M. Moyer, one of the owners of the Moyer and Son feed business.

Oh, but how Souderton Mennonite Church has grown! The first meetinghouse, eventually with an addition, was replaced by the second meetinghouse in 1915, and that was added onto, and added onto, and today the Souderton Mennonite Church continues in its original goal of spiritual growth, community outreach, and world-wide service.

 

Chestnut & Wile

In 1875 Franconia Township built my school right here on the corner where this parking lot is now. Since so many people were moving into this area we really needed a school right in town. Before that we used to walk pretty far to get to either Rosenberger's or Five Points schools, but now I could sleep in a little longer, still get my farm chores done, and make it to school just as the bell was ringing and before Ol' Mr. Wile would close the school doors. Whew!

Even though our fathers were starting businesses in town, they were all still farmers and you wouldn't know by looking today, but this whole area was filled with farmland and barns even in 1875.

But slowly, that farmland was being sold and more houses and businesses were built, so by 1880 our little one room brick schoolhouse was torn down and a two story school was built in its place. I'm glad that back then school only lasted for 5 months of the year. And did you know that most kids quit school after eighth grade? School wasn't as much fun back then and our only 'field trips' were the ones we walked through every day to get to class. (laughs) By 1892 the school was added onto with two more rooms and then four rooms were added in 1902. And every grade from elementary through high school was held here until the first high school was built in 1911 across the street where that playground is now. Our town just grew and grew and in 1967 this school closed after larger elementary schools had been built in town.

 

"Souderton wasn't named for Henry O. Souder after all"

30 West Chestnut Street

I'm William Hunsberger Souder, son of Henry O. and Hannah. I bought my father's saw mill and lumber yard in 1868 and moved it to this site in 1872.

Most people think that Souderton was named for my father, Henry O. Souder. I'm glad people think that because he brought the railroad here, built several houses, started a few businesses of his own, was involved in the community, and helped all my brothers and brothers-in-law and one cousin start successful businesses of our own. But in truth it really wasn't named for him at all. The lumber office for our business was once located on Main St. where the large Univest bank building offices are today (you'll be seeing them soon). When the railroad came through in 1857, at first there was no ticket office and waiting room. I worked for my father at that time and being good with figures, I handled all the ticket sales from the lumber office. While the train stop was first known as Franconia Station, by 1860 it was called Souders. Since we all knew one another people would just say, "I'm heading over to Souders" not "I'm going over to Franconia Station." If the ticket office had been in the S. D. Hunsberger and Brother general store, then I guess you would be taking a tour of Hunsberger Pennsylvania today. In 1863, the railroad officially named our stop Souderton so as not to be confused with the village of Soudersburg in Lancaster County. I think secretly my father was glad that our town was called Souderton.

 

20 West Chestnut Street

Today, it seems so strange for people to think about walking across the street to go to work, but back when the town had its beginnings we all lived very close to where we worked. My house was on Main Street right next to Herman Godshall's house. My apprentice lived with us and so did my clerks. Not only that, but my house was a twin and my brother-in-law, Henry H. Souder, who was also my business partner, lived in the other half.

My name is Henry F. Hemsing and we built the Hemsing and Souder planing mill here in 1871. We started operating with horse power but within one year we switched to a steam engine to run the machinery for cutting the raw lumber. We had quite an operation going as the logs would first be rough cut in Henry's brother William Souder's saw mill next door. We would then refine those rough boards into finished lumber. Henry Souder sold his interest to me in 1880 and I continued successfully for many years, finally moving the operation to East Chestnut Street in 1892, then operating as Hemsing and Son when Will joined me. I would never have been able to have been so successful if it hadn't been for my father-in-law, Henry O. Souder, who started us in this business.

 

"It certainly was hard to resist those fried oysters"

12 N. Main Street

Our family certainly has had deep roots in this community. Who would have thought that when we bought the feed mill and hay baling business from Herman K. Godshall, this endeavor would eventually have involved so many generations of our family?

This was a farming community and farmers from Franconia certainly needed our feed for their livestock. The right half of the mill was built in 1864 by Herman Godshall and if you look near the roof peak on the right you will see that very date, faint though it is. The date on the left side reads 1882 which is when we built the addition and added the grist mill. We started as Moyer and Brother. That was me, Christian Moyer, and my brother, Jonas. Jonas was involved for a while, but he went off to develop other businesses. That's when our brother Enos joined me. As my wife Susanna and I had no children of our own, I turned over my share of the business in 1903 to Enos' son John, and they began operating as Moyer and Son. After John died, another son of Enos', Jacob, joined the family business, juggling his company responsibilities with his duties as the first minister of the Souderton Mennonite Meetinghouse.

We had a railroad siding here just for us and when we bought a coal and feed operation at Reliance we had one there, too. If it hadn't been for the railroad we would not have prospered the way we did.

Souderton was growing so rapidly and it was certainly an exciting time to be in on the ground floor of the beginnings of a new town. Why we even rented space in our basement for a grocery store and lunch counter as early as 1875. It certainly was hard to resist those fried oysters when the smell would waft up from below every day.

 

"The Union National Bank was pretty fancy with doo dads up near the roof."

24 North Main Street

Little did they know back in 1875 that the bank that the growing town of Souderton needed, would not only continue to this day, but would become their largest business and employer. They elected me, Isaac Gerhart, a neutral party from neighboring Telford, to be their first bank president. When I say neutral, I mean that things in Souderton didn't always run as smoothly or as jovially as one would like to imagine when one looks nostalgically back into the past. Well, you know how it is. Get one person and you get one opinion. Get two and now you have two opinions, and so on. Well, this wonderful institution had its start with a safe in an empty room in Henry O. Souder's house at the corner of Main and West Broad, now a parking lot for this very institution, when the Union National Bank was granted a charter in 1876. After quite a bit of haggling as to where the permanent structure was to be built it was finally decided upon this very spot on Main Street. It was built in 1877 by a company called Hemsing and Souder. That would be Henry Hemsing, married to Henry O. Souder's daughter, Mary, and Henry H. Souder, Henry O's son. Did anyone ever mention to you that there were a lot of people related to each other in town?

Oh, this current building doesn't look anything like it did back when it was first built. It was pretty fancy with doodads up near the roof and it was smaller, too. In 1909 the building was given these noble Corinthian columns and this much larger porch and expanded out the back to keep up with our growing communities' needs.

 

"Sparks from the smoke stacks of the steam trains caught our
newly constructed wooden buildings on fire."

Front Street

In 1852, Henry O. Souder convinced the Philadelphia, Easton, and Water Gap Railroad to lay their rails right through this quiet section of Franconia Township. By 1857, when it was finally opened in this area, it was owned by the North Pennsylvania Railroad, and in 1879 it became the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad.

It was loud. It was dirty. Sparks from the smoke stacks of the steam trains caught our newly constructed wooden buildings on fire. And accidents? Why, one day in June of 1887 William Souder's horses, hauling a wagon load of lumber, collided with William's brother Edmund's coal office, when the danger signal blew. And why did it blow? Because their father, Henry O. Souder, happened to be walking the tracks below the crossing. He barely escaped in time. Henry Hemsing, one-time senior owner of Hemsing and Sons planing mill wasn't so lucky. Some of our older residents, like Henry, became confused and wandered onto the tracks. Little children were hard to watch constantly. Horses got spooked and our new automobiles just sometimes stalled when you least expected it. We had so many accidents and deaths, that by 1893 John P. Benner had been hired as a day watchman at the Broad Street crossing.

The first train station was erected in 1865 on the south east side of the tracks from where the current station is located. It was removed in 1928 when the new building and freight station were opened, which you can see to your right.

The railroad, while creating a town, also cut that town in half. I think it's high time you met some of the Hunsberger's from the other side of the tracks.

 

"You've heard about the tension between the Souders and the Hunsbergers"

East Broad and  Front Street

My name is Jonathan Hunsberger and my cousin Hannah is married to Henry O. Souder. The new train brought many visitors to our neck of the woods. Once only a farming community, now freight and passenger trains brought us so many opportunities. In 1858, even during a depression, and only one year after the train came through, I built a restaurant on the corner of East Broad and the newly laid out North Front Street, next to my son Samuel's feed store.

I just had a feeling that there was a real business opportunity here. Two years later, Frank Zepp, the restaurant's proprietor was granted a hotel license and the establishment was eventually named Hotel Souderton. Can you imagine in three years time going from a farming community to being a place to eat, sleep, and conduct business? By 1881, my son William D. Hunsberger became the owner, and after he built his hall out back, things really took off.

Now you've heard a little about some tension between the Souders and Hunsbergers, but this was really just about business, and it wasn't as serious as a feud or anything. It's not like we each stayed on our own sides of the track. My William only stayed in the hotel business for a year when he sold the 18 room hotel with its large brick hall and stable room for 75 horses to William B. Slifer, Henry O. Souder's son-in-law, married to Henry's younger daughter, Katie. Katie's brother, Edmund Souder, who owned the hardware store, lived right down the street from our hotel. He converted a cigar factory into a house. This was before he built his home on East Broad Street.

It's just that things were moving at such a rapid pace, and we all just wanted to put this village on the map that occasionally, maybe- things became a little competitive!

"The cattle got loose and were running down Main Street"

Liberty Hall

In 1881 William D. Hunsberger built a 2 story brick stable and hall, which he named Liberty Hall, at the rear of his hotel property on East Broad Street. There were weekly horse, pig, or cattle sales conducted here for about 25 years. Once, the cattle got loose and were running down Main Street. That was so much fun! Most people had fences around their properties just for things like this. They didn't want loose cattle or chickens walking into their houses. You see, this still was farm country after all. I'd love to see the look on mother's face if she happened upon a cow sitting in her parlor, drinking from her best china cup!

When Mr. William H. Freed bought Hotel Souderton and Liberty Hall in 1885, the hall became known as Freed's Hall. Did you know they put in an ice skating rink on the first floor for several winters? My father and his friends liked the pool hall here, but mother certainly didn't. There were theatrical productions, singing groups and orchestras that performed. The tight-rope walker that once came was thrilling, and we all were amazed at the Talking Machine exhibition that was held here. We weren't the little stick-in-the mud village that you probably thought we were. Nope, Souderton was really becoming the place to be.

 

"In 1886, he built the tallest, most impressive building in Souderton, complete with an elevator."

120 East Broad Street

My name is Ulysses Hunsberger and when my father, William D. Hunsberger sold the hotel and Liberty Hall in 1885 it was because he had some big plans brewing. We Soudertonians used to call neighboring Telford, Clapboardville, since there were so many wooden buildings hastily erected at the start of the building boom. Souderton certainly had its share, like Edmund Souder's hardware store, temporarily owned by Benjamin C. Barndt. Father felt it was high time that Souderton started showing a little class. In 1886, he built the tallest, most impressive building in Souderton, complete with an elevator. Even Freed's Hall didn't have the third story added until later. Since Father owned a quarry that was located on Water Street (now East Chestnut) he built the entire building out of that quarried stone. Not only that, but this imposing building once had an even more imposing tower right on top. We had many visitors climbing that tower just for a chance to see for miles. When we smelled smoke or heard that there was a fire, we could climb up to determine the location. As a matter of fact, when the town installed fire hydrants, a stream of water was directed at the tower, and when it cleared the top, we knew that there was no place in town that wasn't safe.

Ours was the most commanding building in town and it was built as a hardware store to boot. A little competition is good for business, and both the Souder's and Hunsberger's hardware stores prospered. In 1889, father sold the store to my brothers John and William, and I began operating a grocery store here, too.

 

"He was Souderton's first Mayor, or Burgess as it was called"

114 E. Broad Street

My husband, William D. Hunsberger built our beautiful home in the 1860s. I imagine by your standards it's rather quaint, but back then it wasn't just another farm house. No, this was a house right on the edge of what was destined to be a town! It was once noted by our newspaper editor that I had the most fetching flower garden in town. Now, I don't like to sound too proud, but I just wanted our growing village to stand out and be beautiful.

Oh, it was exciting watching this town grow. Our side of the tracks had once been part of a Hunsberger family farm and now my husband, his brothers and his father started building houses and businesses on that land, so that my family now became my neighbors. It was wonderful to have so many of them close by. After my husband died in 1891, I continued for a time to live here right in the thick of things with my youngest child, Katie.

My husband had been an extraordinary man. He was determined to help make this a progressive place to live. Early on he felt that education was very important and he held the position of Franconia school director both in 1874 and 1877. I'm proud to say that he was Souderton's first Mayor, or Burgess as it was called, back in 1888.

William sure was involved in a lot of businesses, too. He opened up a cigar factory on East Broad Street in 1883. You already heard about the Hotel Souderton and Liberty Hall, not to mention the hardware store that he built. He established a lumber yard in 1885, and in the early days there was also the general store. Eww! My grandsons used to catch snakes down in his quarry. But I digress! Between walking to the stores, churches, and restaurants in Souderton, and of course catching the train into Philadelphia, we had access to practically anything we could possibly want!

 

"There were rivalries between the Souders and Hunsbergers at times"

102 East Broad Street

Henry O. Souder wasn't the only one busy with establishing businesses for his sons. My father, Jonathan Hunsberger did the same for my brothers John, William, Christian, and me, Samuel. See back before this time, large farms were divided from fathers to sons. But by the mid 1800s after so many divisions, there just wasn't enough land to pass down, or new land to be bought, so the industrial age came along at just the right time. The Souders had owned a lot of land on the other side of the tracks and my father owned land on this side. I guess that's what makes our town and story a little unique from other places.

On East Broad Street, almost within a stones throw of Souder and Bergey's general store, my brother William built a general store that same year, 1860, right on this site. He sold it to Milton Zendt in 1870, but we bought it back in 1885, operating as S. D. Hunsberger and Brother; that was Will and me. Even though our town was small, it was growing rapidly, and there was plenty of business for both general stores, each of us having our own following, I guess you could say. Oh, but don't get me wrong. There were rivalries between the Souders and Hunsbergers at times. Only once did it get a little ugly. When the first bank building was erected, we wanted it built on our side of the tracks and were even willing to give the land for free, but the Souder side of the tracks supporters won out. Well we, along with 100 other subscribers, pulled out. We were that angry.

Sometimes men thrive on competition, and it really began with Henry O. Souder way back in 1857 when the railroad was first laid. There was a small piece of our property that ended up on the Souder side of the tracks. Unbeknownst to my father, Henry convinced the railroad to buy it, where a siding for his lumber yard was then laid. This gave old Hen a business advantage that we just had not anticipated. Ah, but in the end we were family, after all. Henry's sons just happened to be our second cousins.

 

Souderton Independent Building

The Souderton Independent newspaper has been the voice of our community since 1878. Once written in the German language, it quickly switched to English to match our growing progressive community. This was the third home for the newspaper, the last being held in rooms in Liberty Hall. Mr. William F. Goettler was the editor of the paper and was very conscientious in reporting the news around the world, in the U.S., and Pennsylvania. Very often this was the only way we first learned about news, and what was recorded was often the topic of conversation at the stores in town.

One thing he reported on was the friction between the conservative Franconia Township residents and us villagers. Every year when election time rolled around, the villages of Souderton and Telford wanted to elect a school director. We wanted to change the school year from 5 to 6 months. But the conservative township farmers worked hard to elect officials that would not give us any representation. By 1887 some of us were tired of the control shown by the rest of the township and petitioned for Souderton to become a borough and gain control of the Chestnut Street School. This was one time when the Hunsbergers and Souders were on the same side and later that year the original lines were drawn for the borough of Souderton.

Oh, but editor Goettler certainly had a light side to him, too. He admonished the men to paint their houses and fix their fences, and he liked to tease us ladies. He commented on things like our hoop skirts or whether or not we should wear our hair with bangs. He said, "If nice young ladies wish to fix up their heads so as to resemble a frisky mooley heifer, it's no funeral of ours." But my personal favorite was when someone actually left their dentures on East Broad Street. Can you imagine? Mr. Goettler didn't mince words. He reported that the person who left them needed to retrieve them at the Independent office and bring enough money to pay for the ad.

 

Samuel D. Hunsberger

Let me tell you a little more of my story. In 1855, during the planning stages of the railroad, S. D. Hunsberger & Bros. (Samuel, Will, Christian and John) opened a feed store on North Front Street next to where Hotel Souderton was later built. By 1864 we built a new brick building on the site of what is now the train station on West Broad Street.

We had quite an enterprise going here by 1883. We had added a hay house, a coal yard, and a grist mill. What an operation! The partnership with my brothers dissolved in 1892 as they went on to other business pursuits and I continued the operation alone.

Now here comes the interesting part. For years the editor of our newspaper, William Goettler had been urging people to start a volunteer fire company, but no one seemed to be interested or didn't have the time. One afternoon a spark from a passing locomotive set the roof of my hay house and chopping mill on fire. If the town had a fire ladder the fire could have been extinguished with a couple buckets of water. By the time we found a ladder long enough, the fire had spread and I lost both buildings. The next week, the town decided to purchase two hand trucks. Not only that, but Souderton was almost finished installing water mains and fire hydrants. Talk about poor timing.

Eventually the property was sold to the North Penn Railroad Co and in 1927 this station was erected.

We certainly hope you enjoyed the reminiscings of all us old timers. It's always nice to talk with somebody new. Come back again and see us real soon. Have a good day now.