Tag: Jim Gerhart

Business Was Booming on Cabbage Hill a Century Ago

Jim Gerhart

July,2019

In 1919, things were generally looking up in the U.S.—World War I had just ended, unemployment was nearly negligible, and women finally were getting the right to vote. On the other hand, the Spanish flu pandemic made a comeback, and the Ku Klux Klan continued to stoke fear in many states. And, for better or worse, depending on your point of view, the 18th Amendment (Prohibition) went into effect. In the midst of these national events, Cabbage Hill was beginning to recover from the anti-German sentiment brought on by the war. As part of that recovery, the Hill was definitely “open for business”.

Ever since its first neighborhood was established in 1762 on Manor and High Streets, Cabbage Hill has been home to enterprising residents who have operated their own local businesses. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, these businesses provided necessary subsistence services that reflected the trade skills of its mostly German immigrants. Blacksmith, shoemaker, carpenter, and butcher shops were common local businesses.

During the late 19thcentury, Cabbage Hill businesses continued to evolve with the times, and businesses such as bakeries, barber shops, tailor shops, cigar factories, and grocery stores were common. A community of immigrants that often felt somewhat separate from the main part of Lancaster, the Hill seemed to have at least one of every type of business, allowing it to get along without depending too much on the rest of the city.

In the early years of the 20th century, continuing technological change led to another gradual shift in the types of businesses on the Hill, but the businesses still offered nearly every possible desired service no more than a couple blocks away. The businesses continued to provide what the residents needed and wanted, but they also embraced new technologies. For example, one might find a car repair shop around the corner from a blacksmith shop, or a new movie theater on the same block as an old beer saloon.

The year 1919 was typical of this evolving business environment on the Hill, as the following paragraphs will show. But first, let me define what I mean by “the Hill”. For this discussion, I focused on what many consider the historic core of Cabbage Hill, that is, the area bounded by Manor on the northwest, West Strawberry on the northeast, Fremont on the southeast, and Laurel on the southwest. Defined this way, the Hill contains seven main streets running northeast-southwest, and four main streets crossing those seven in a northwest-southeast direction, resulting in 21 blocks and 28 intersections.

The 1919 directory for Lancaster City advertised 125 businesses in the 21 blocks of the Hill. They ranged from the small scale (a nurse operating from her house) to the large scale (Follmer-Clogg Silk Mill). Most of the businesses (32) were on Manor, but High, West Vine, St. Joseph, and Poplar each had about 15 businesses. Fifty-eight of the 125 businesses were located on a corner of one of the 28 intersections. Nearly every business was owner-operated, and nearly every business owner lived in or next to his/her place of business.

All the major types of businesses were found in multiple locations on the Hill. Amazingly, there were 28 grocery stores (see map), more than one per block on average. The Hill also had six hotels, six meat markets, five bakeries, five shoemaker shops, five tailor shops, five dressmaker shops, and five barber shops. Additionally, there were seven contractors and eight nurses offering their services on the Hill.

As a sign of the changing times, there was a car repair shop (Crawford Garage, on New Dorwart) and a movie theater that showed early silent moving pictures (The Manor, on Manor). Twenty-five other types of businesses—ranging from a jewelry shop to plumber shops to cigar stores to saloons—were represented at least at one, and at as many as four, locations. No doubt the owners of the two saloons (Joseph Fritsch’s, on High, and Charles Kirchner’s, on Poplar) were wondering how the new Prohibition law might affect them.

Also of interest are the types of businesses that were absent from the Hill in 1919. Despite there being 70 physicians in Lancaster, there was only one doctor’s office (Lewis Shear, on Manor). There were 86 lawyers in Lancaster, but no lawyer’s offices were located on the Hill. There were no banks, insurance-agent’s offices, dentist’s offices, real-estate offices, optician’s offices, photography studios, or restaurants. Clearly, Cabbage Hill was very much a working-class neighborhood. The businesses on the Hill served the basic, day-to-day needs of its residents, who had to go into Lancaster proper on occasion to avail themselves of the professional services found there.

The plethora of businesses on the Hill, and the fact that business owners were also residents, helped make the Hill a dynamic and pleasant place to live in 1919. Starting in the second half of the 20th century, for a variety of reasons, the number of businesses on the Hill declined dramatically. Today, there are only six groceries, and only about a dozen other businesses with advertising signage, and most of the businesses on the Hill today are no longer owned and operated by Hill residents or located in their houses.

SoWe hopes to reverse that trend. One of SoWe’s goals is to improve support for southwest Lancaster’s entrepreneurs and small business owners, which among other approaches involves revitalizing abandoned business locations and opening up old storefronts. If SoWe is successful, perhaps the Hill can recapture some of the favorable business environment that allowed the neighborhood to be so “open for business” 100 years ago.

If you know of a historic Cabbage Hill business that may have an interesting history, and think that its history might make a good topic for a future post on this blog, please contact me at SoWeCommunicate@sowelancaster.org, and I will look into it.

For those of you who like the details…….here’s the list of 125 businesses on the Hill 100 years ago, alphabetically by street name:

East Filbert Street

304-6     Jerome Yecker                  Baker

Fremont Street

413         Mary Brodhecker             Nurse

446         Michael Schaller               Cleaner

447         Matthias Kraft                   Tailor

458         George Smith                    Grocer

478         William Murr                     Grocer

532         John Morrison                   Drayman             

High Street

413         Joseph Kohler, Jr.             Barber

413         Freda Kohler                      Florist

415         Barbara Brehm                  Ladies’ tailor

416         William Bonasch               Painter

425         Samuel Rawhauser          Contractor

440         Harry Morrison                 Upholsterer

450         Joseph Fritsch                    Saloon

464         Lavina Emerine                 Dressmaker

501         Ludwig Stoeckl                  Grocer

502         Leo Huegel                         Grocer

511         Harry Bear                           Barber

558         Merle Gorrecht                 Glen Hotel

627         Anna Baechle                     Music teacher

669         Charles Krimmel               Contractor

705         Abraham Ansel                 Grocer

Lafayette Street

422         Harry Benn                         Grocer

446-48   Samuel Bitner                    Glassware

456         Henry Miller                       Coffee roaster

629         Catharine Mohr                Dressmaker

Laurel Street

—             Follmer, Clogg & Co.       Silk mill

116-18   Fritsch & Son                     Cigarmakers

121         Albert Benn                        Grocer

302         Jacob Gilles                         Grocer

Manor Street

423         Phares Hertzler                 Shoemaker

427         Frank Simpson                  Plumber

428         Louis Shipman                   Music teacher

432         Jacob Hartman                  Used furniture

434         John Gill                               Contractor

446         Louis Kiphorn                     Contractor

464-66   John Stumpf                       Stumpf’s Hotel

471         Henry Kieffer                     Confectioner

503         Frederick Oakley              Grocer

504-6     Barnet Miller                      Dry goods

514         John Kieffer                        Jeweler

519         Jacob Otthofer                  Meat market

528         Jacob Schwendt                Bottler

550         Daniel Brown                     Produce

560         William Paulsen                Baker

561         Albert Fawber                   Grocer

568-72   Louis Fellman                     Hardware

601         Lewis Shear                        Druggist/physician

603         Harry Schmidt                    Gilder

604         Henry Breiter                     Cigars

609         The Manor                          Movie theatre

610         Daniel Engle                       Baker

616         David Harnish                    Painter

622         Dominick Viscuso             Shoemaker

623-25   Harry Goodhart                Confectioner

628         Frank Kirchner                   Grocer

652         Christian Kunzler              Meat market

653-57   Thomas Goodhart            White Horse Hotel

659         Charles Bair                         Barber

661         Anthony Lichty                  Blacksmith

681         William Fox                        Confectioner

703-5     Ambrose Kirchner            Grocer

New Dorwart Street

9              Crawford Garage              Car service

19           George Hauser                  Plumber

23           L & P S Ansel                      Grocers

—             Philip Fellman                    Sheet metal

45           Harry Helfrich                    Grocer

118         Theresa Fisher                   Dressmaker

120         Philip Fisher                       Barber

301         Hyman Cohn                      Grocer

Poplar Street

476         Charles Kirchner               Saloon

501         Joseph Taub                       Shoemaker

505         Sarah Hodgen                    Nurse

512         Fred Shroad                        Tailor

514         Edward Stumpf                 Plumber

532         Paul Meyers                       Tailor

539         Charles Trees                     Baker

546         Reuben Shear                    Grocer

616         Charles Koller                     Grocer

630         Rosa Baechle                     Nurse

634         George Draude                 Painter

648         Anna Gross                         Nurse

667         John Wuerdinger             Cooper

702`        Julius Hoffman                  Grocer

St. Joseph Street

406         Minnie Knodel                   Grocer

409         Anna Hahn                          Nurse

423         George Gerth                    Confectioner

463         Herbert Henkel                 Plumber

503         Philip Kirchner                   Grocer

509-11   Charles Falk                        Butcher

510         Daniel Marks                      Cigars

539         August Krimmel                Carpenter

544         Philipina Ganse                 Nurse

549         Peter Rietschy                   Grocer

551         Adam Burger                      Meat market

552-54   Henry Pfaeffle                   Eighth Ward Hotel

601         George Carroll                   Barber

602         American Stores, Inc.      Grocery

651         John Studer                        Drayman

706         Benedicto Cicero              Shoemaker

West King Street

351         Amos Musser                    Grocer

353         David Wiker                        Wiker’s Hotel

401         Clarence Ergood               Grocer

402         Harry Meily                         Furniture

West Strawberry Street

100         David Stauffer                   Butcher

101         Wilson Stauffer                 Grocer

128         Edward Kirchner               New Centennial Hotel

204         Peter Stratos                      Grocer

209         Otto Paving & Constr.    Contractor

215         Katherine Otto                  Grocer

238         Christian Vollmer             Shoemaker

West Vine Street

306         George Gesell, Jr.             Contractor

404         Rosa Hergenrother         Nurse

459         Elmer Scheid                      Music teacher

467         John Beilman                     Baker

—             Philip Kirchner                   Slaughterhouse

503         John Bernhard                   Cigarmaker

503        Mary Bernhard                 Nurse

534         Burkhart Schlereth          Tailor

543         Henry Benner                    Cigarmaker

611         Rosa Keller                          Dressmaker

629         Rolandus Goda                  Paperhanger

630         Katherine Bartholomae Dressmaker

666         George Kirchner               Player pianos

796         Amelia Strosser                Grocer


An Old Lithograph Captures Cabbage Hill on the Cusp of Development

Jim Gerhart

Sometimes an image inadvertently captures a scene just before it changes forever, locking in all the little details that will never be the same again. A lithograph of Lancaster as seen from the southwest in 1852 is just such an image. It was drawn with such attention to detail that it is almost as good as a photograph. But in one way, it is even better than a photograph because a photographer in 1852 would not have had the specialized equipment to take an almost 180-degree panoramic photograph.

The lithograph is entitled “View of Lancaster, Pa.” It was drawn by Charles R. Parsons in 1852 and published by James T. Palmatary in January 1853. Parsons was an English immigrant who apprenticed under George Endicott in New York City, and “View of Lancaster, Pa.”, done when he was thirty-one, was one of the first works of his long and distinguished career. Palmatary, also an English immigrant, was a famous lithographer in the mid-nineteenth century, who published many innovative lithographs of birds-eye views of major American cities. Parsons and Palmatary executed their work well, as an article in the Lancaster Intelligencer of January 18, 1853, advertised their 18×34-inch product as being “drawn from nature” and having a “rich and life-like appearance”.

“View of Lancaster, Pa.”, drawn by Charles R. Parsons in 1852 and published by James T. Palmatary in 1853.

The “View” shown in the lithograph extends from Manor and High Streets (Bethelstown) on the left (northwest) to Woodward Hill Cemetery on the right (southeast). It shows Lancaster as it appeared in 1852 to an artist sitting on a hill with an unobstructed view of the city. It quite faithfully reproduces churches, schools, factories, public buildings, and other landmarks of 1852 Lancaster with exacting precision. It includes some landmarks that had only recently been added to the city’s skyline, such as Fulton Hall (1852), Woodward Hill Cemetery (1852), Conestoga Steam Cotton Mills (1847), St. Joseph’s Catholic Church (1849), and even the new County Courthouse (1852) shown under construction in the scene.

But even more noteworthy for the history of Cabbage Hill is what is captured in the foreground of the “View”—a nearly empty landscape that had no inkling it was about to experience a virtual frenzy of development leading to the densely built and populated neighborhood we see today. Open pastures separated by fences and tree-lined farm lanes dominate the foreground of the lithograph. There are only two buildings seen on the central part of what would soon be called Cabbage Hill—St. Joseph’s Church in the left rear foreground and a house in the left middle foreground.

The topography of the Hill, which is difficult to fully grasp today amid all the houses, is clearly depicted. One can see that Cabbage Hill is really two hills separated by a valley. The hill in the foreground where Charles Parsons stood to draw the “View” is the southern hill and the hill where St. Joseph’s Church stands is the northern hill. The valley traversing the scene from left to right is the valley in which a tributary of Hoffman’s Run flowed on its way to a larger stream along South Water Street.

Several features that are important to the history of Cabbage Hill are captured in the scene. On the far left, several rows of houses trail away from the city toward the edge of the drawing. This is the only part of today’s Cabbage Hill that was developed in 1852. It is the neighborhood of Bethelstown along the first two blocks of High and Manor Streets that was laid out by Samuel Bethel, Jr. in 1762, and that had just begun to finally take off in the late 1840s. In the right center of the drawing are the three large buildings of the Conestoga Steam Cotton Mills on South Prince Street. In the late 1840s, these three mills and St. Joseph’s Church played key roles in attracting the new residents that were about to lead to the explosive growth of Cabbage Hill.

New streets and future streets can be identified on the lithograph. St Joseph Street can be seen as not much more than a fence-lined  farm lane emanating from the left side of St. Joseph’s Church and heading down to the tributary stream in the valley, where some thirty years later, New Dorwart Street would be constructed after the stream was drained into a large sewer beneath the street. To the right of St. Joseph Street, another fence-lined and tree-lined lane—Poplar Street—follows the same slope down to the valley bottom (are the trees lining this lane by any chance poplar trees?). Less well defined to the left of St. Joseph Street is another parallel fence line that looks like it might be the future site of West Vine Street. A similar fence line to the right of Poplar Street could be the future Fremont Street, as it seems to be leading to the house in the left foreground, which stands on Fremont Street today.

Enlargement of the left side of “View of Lancaster, Pa.”, showing important features of Cabbage Hill in 1852.

That house, partially hidden from Parsons’ view by the southern hill, and nestled on the lower slope above the valley floor, was the summer cottage of Catherine “Kitty” Yeates, daughter of Jasper Yeates, prominent lawyer and judge of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Lancaster. The house, known as Green Cottage, was built about 1820 as Miss Yeates’ summer cottage, and was the first house other than small farmhouses in the central part of Cabbage Hill. The artist even captured the slight change in angle of the gambrel roof that can only be seen in today’s roof upon close inspection. The house was later owned by Alexander J. Gerz and used as a hotel, and it still stands today at 613 Fremont Street, adapted for use as apartments.

The buildings in the “View” are drawn with such accuracy that one can use their positions relative to each other to locate the general area where Charles R. Parsons positioned himself to make the drawing. The spot where Parsons set up his easel was the hilltop near where Frank’s Garage is located in the 600 block of Union Street. Only from that location does the alignment of the Yeates cottage with St. Joseph’s Church match the alignment in the “View”. And only there do the relationships among the buildings of the Conestoga Steam Cotton Mills (now Water Street Rescue Mission , Carter & MacRae Elementary School, and the office of the School District of Lancaster), agree with the relationships in the lithograph

Fortunately, a high-quality original of this lithograph survives in the Wheatland Collection at LancasterHistory. It currently hangs in what appears to be its original frame in the rear stair hall at Wheatland. It provides a rare glimpse of a moment in time, fortuitously captured more than 165 years ago, just before the central part of Cabbage Hill blossomed with development.

When Did Cabbage Hill Get Its Name, and Under What Circumstances?

Jim Gerhart, May 2019

Tradition has it that Cabbage Hill was named because of the smell from the making of sauerkraut that permeated the air above the Eighth Ward, whose residents were mostly of German descent. But when did the name enter common usage? And was the name intended to be complimentary or derogatory?

The first written reference to Cabbage Hill that I can find (so far) was in the October 11, 1871 edition of the Lancaster Intelligencer, and the subject of the article may provide a clue as to the circumstances under which the name came about. The name, Cabbage Hill, appeared in an article entitled, “RADICAL MEETING IN THE EIGHTH WARD”, which was a lunch meeting that took place at Samuel Erisman’s saloon at the corner of West Strawberry and West Vine Streets on October 11, 1871. The sentence in the article that contains the reference to Cabbage Hill is, “The Radical politicians, scared almost out of their boots, by the outpouring of the Democracy of Cabbage Hill, on Tuesday evening, determined to get up a counter demonstration to undo the damage which had been done to the cause of Reed, plunder and usury.”

The “Radical politicians” who met in Erisman’s saloon were members of a wing of the Republican party that before and during the Civil War, had advocated strongly for the total defeat of the secessionists and the end of slavery, and after the Civil War, had urged harsh punishment for the Confederate states. The “Democracy of Cabbage Hill” was the German population of the Eighth Ward, who were part of a wing of the northern Democratic party that strongly opposed the need for the Civil War and called for a truce and peace with the Confederacy. The Republican party dubbed the northern Democratic wing “Copperheads”, a name meant to disparage them by comparing them to the treacherous poisonous snake. Interestingly, another name for the German Democrats of the Eighth Ward, in an article in Father Abraham from October 23, 1868, was “Sauer Kraut Gorillas”, clearly not a compliment.

The lunch meeting of the Radical Republicans in Erisman’s saloon was apparently an attempt to upstage a very well attended meeting the previous evening of the Democrats of the Eighth Ward. An election was approaching, and the office of Mayor of Lancaster was on the ballot. The Republican Mayor whose tenure was just about to end was William Atlee, and the next Republican candidate for Mayor was George Reed. Both Atlee and Reed were at the lunch meeting at the saloon, trying to drum up votes among the residents of the Eighth Ward. To encourage attendance, a sauerkraut meal and free beer were on the menu. Unfortunately for the Mayor and Mayor-hopeful, the meeting was poorly attended, and somebody forgot to make the sauerkraut, and after a few beers and a speech by the current Mayor that was “a weak defense of his administration”, it was clear that Eighth Ward voters were going to favor the Democratic candidate for Mayor (Frederick Pyfer) in the upcoming election. 

So it appears that the name of Cabbage Hill was in common usage by October 1871. Also, we can surmise that the Eighth Ward was probably not called Cabbage Hill before the mid-1850s because it was not until then that the central part of the Eighth Ward began to be populated. My guess is that the name, Cabbage Hill, came into usage sometime in the 1860s, but I have no further evidence to back that up.

As for the circumstances under which the name came into common usage, it is possible that it came about as a result of the political differences accentuated by the Civil War and its aftermath. When considered in the context of another name from the same era, Sauer Kraut Gorillas, the name, Cabbage Hill, seems likely to have been a derogatory label bestowed by the Radical Republicans of Lancaster on the members of their rival party in the German Eighth Ward.  I am going to keep my eyes open for additional information on this topic. In the meantime, if anyone knows of an earlier usage of the name, Cabbage Hill, or about the circumstances under which it originated, please get in touch with me at SoWeCommunicate@sowelancaster.org  I will update this story with any new information in the next entry for this blog. Let’s see if together we can answer these long-asked questions about the origin of “Cabbage Hill”.                  

History on the Hill

Cabbage Hill has a long history as one of Lancaster’s most vibrant and enterprising neighborhoods. Quaint houses, hilly streets, a diverse population, and many neighborhood businesses are some of its attractions. But as we walk or drive around the Hill, it is easy to miss the amazing amount of rich history right before our eyes. Just beneath the surface of what we see are a couple of centuries’ worth of fascinating stories about the people, buildings, and businesses that once existed here.

The William Paulsen family posed in front of their house and bakery at 560 Manor Street in the summer of 1902.  (From private collection of Suzanne Stalling)

I am a retired geologist who was born and raised in Lancaster, and I have always been interested in history. For the past fifteen years, I have been researching selected topics of Lancaster’s history, with a recent emphasis on Cabbage Hill. Much of my research has been focused on my Hill ancestors, with surnames such as Paulsen, Krentz, Scherer, Kautz, and Frey. In the last few years, I have started researching other aspects of the Hill’s history, including Christ Lutheran Church, Bethelstown (the first neighborhood on the Hill), and early businesses on Manor Street. Some of my research has been published in The Journal of Lancaster County’s Historical Society.


The 400 block of Manor Street near West King Street during the grand opening of the newly paved street in June 1923. (From Author’s Private Collection)

Under the auspices of SoWe, the Southwest Lancaster Revitalization Project, I will be using this blog space to share some of my research findings, and to explore with you some of the hidden history of the Hill. I will periodically update this blog with what I hope you will find are interesting tidbits of Hill history. Several members of SoWe committees are as interested in Hill history as I am, and they will be bringing their historical knowledge to bear by suggesting research topics and providing input to this blog.

The Plow Tavern (1745-1924) on the northeast corner of the intersection of Charlotte and West King St in the early 1920’s. (From archival collection of LancasterHistory.org)

I also want to try to answer any questions you may have about Hill people, buildings, and businesses of the past, by researching things that interest you and reporting back on them in this blog. If you have always wondered about an unusual building, or are curious about how a well-known family name became established on the Hill, or are interested in what kinds of businesses have operated in a particular corner store, bring it to my attention by commenting on this blog or emailing SoWeCommunicate@SoWeLancaster.org and we can try to find the answers together.

I look forward to sharing and discovering with you many fascinating historical details and stories of…..History on the Hill.  

Jim Gerhart