HZ_STANDSPEAK/PAGES [A09] | 08/14/13
23:00 | SUPERIMPSC
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Our
Standard~Speaker
A9
Revisiting the popular Standard-Speaker feature of two decades ago, we celebrate with pride the spirit of ...
Towns
Weatherly
ERIC CONOVER/Staff Photographer
The Weatherly Train Works, where the Lehigh Valley Railroad shops and later Weatherly Iron and Steel Co. operated, is being eyed for new uses. The building at the right, which was the dispatch building, is the new Weatherly Museum.
At 150, Weatherly’s future may lie in its past By JIM DINO StaffWriter
W
eatherly is a community that is unique in several ways. It is the only community in the area that has its own electric company, as it buys its power in bulk and resells it to borough users. Weatherly had a borough manager since 1964, long before other communities in the area. Weatherly has its own school system, two public parks and the only community swimming pool in a 20mile radius. It is has an extensive industrial history exemplified by Weatherly Casting and Machine Co., which has operated for more than 100 years. Part of Weatherly’s future may lie in its past, through proposals that would give old industrial sites modern uses. What is now Weatherly was first settled in 1825 through the purchase of a 400-acre tract of land. John Romig and Samuel Barber bought land in present-day Weatherly, and Benjamin Romig set up a sawmill to furnish lumber for a schoolhouse in Hudsondale — later the Packer Township Municipal Building, which was torn down just a few years ago. The Romigs are considered the first settlers of Weatherly, but which one actually was first is unknown. Originally called Black Creek, the town’s name was changed to Weatherly in 1848. Clock-maker David Weatherly, also an executive of the Beaver Meadow Railroad, made an agreement under which he would build a clock for the town if its leaders would rename it as Weatherly. The name was changed, but Weatherly the man disappeared shortly afterward and the borough never got its clock. Asa Packer and Charles Schwab, both involved in the Bethlehem Steel Co., played a major part in the development of Weatherly. Packer purchased vast acres of land in its early days and developed plans for the town. Schwab married a Weatherly girl, Eurana Dinkey, and gave the town a new 10-room, three-story brick school building, which cost $75,000 in 190102. The school served as Weatherly High School until 1992, when the new Weatherly Area High School opened on the Evergreen Avenue campus next to the middle and elementary schools.
The former Weatherly Train Station has served as the borough building since 1977.
On land near the American Legion, Borough Manager Harold Pudliner would like to build a new borough complex. Weatherly Area High School sports teams got their nickname, the Wreckers, from a Standard-Speaker headline describing a decisive win over an opponent in the eastern Pennsylvania basketball playoffs, when the Weatherly team “wrecked” its opponent. Mrs. Schwab surprised the community on its 50th anniversary in 1913 by purchasing and presenting to the borough Blakeslee’s Grove. Later renamed Eurana Park, the park boasts a swimming pool, pavilion, band shell and large playground. The borough was incorporated on Oct. 8, 1863.
Now, 150 years later, the community celebrates this milestone anniversary with a bazaar featuring food and live music Friday through Sunday.
Industry develops
Between 1850 and 1890, Weatherly grew with the timbering industry, and then the development of the railroad for the transportation of coal, as the Lehigh Valley Railroad took over the Beaver Meadow Railroad and the Hazleton Railroad. The population went from 500 to 2,790 during this period. The train tracks were right along Hazle Creek, also called Black Creek, because
it was known for its dark water that came from the hemlock swamps that flowed down through the town. It is a tributary to the Lehigh River and runs right through the middle of Weatherly. Three bridges have been built over the water, the first around 1867 and the last in 1955. The Lehigh Valley Railroad built a complex there to manufacture locomotives and cabooses. The three buildings that constitute the complex were built in 1869, comprise about 30,000 square feet, and sit on about four acres of land. About 80 locomotives were built at the site before Lehigh
Valley abandoned it around the turn of the century. It was the last locomotive fabrication shop Lehigh Valley operated. Another was in White Haven, which recently became the White Haven Library and a visitors’ center for the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor. The railroad sold the property in 1910 for $10,000, and three years later, the Weatherly Steel Co. was founded. Weatherly Steel did specialized work for such companies as Bethlehem Steel, and fabricated the steel framing for the Markle Building
See FUTURE, A10
MORE OUR TOWNS See previous installments of Our Towns at standardspeaker.com/ community/our-towns. Previous editions of Our Towns have included: April — Conyngham/ Sugarloaf May — Jim Thorpe June — Tamaqua July — Freeland Upcoming: Next Thursday — Mahanoy City September — Bloomsburg