Montgomery County
Montgomery county, originally a part of Philadelphia County, was established by the act of 10th Sept. 1784. Length 30 miles, breadth 15; area 450 sq. miles. Population in 1790, 22,929; in 1800, 24,150; in 1810, 29,683; in 1820, 35,793; in 1830, 39,406; in 1840, 47,241.
There are no mountains in this county. The lands are agreeably diversified by undulating hills and valleys. Few valleys in any country can boast of more picturesque scenery than that of the Schuylkill. Forming the S. W. boundary for some distance, it meanders through broad cultivated fields, furnished with substantial stone houses and barns, with here and there an elegant country seat: again, it sweeps past bold bluffs of rocks, grudging a passage to the railroad, and then past some bright and busy manufacturing town, to which its own sparkling waters impart the movement.
The other streams are the Perkiomen and its branches, and the upper branches of the Wisahiccon, Pennepack, Tocony, and Neshaminy. The primary rocks, gneiss, and talcose slate, form a narrow belt across the S. E. end of the county. The very valuable primitive limestone of the Great Valley lies in a narrow belt, from one to two miles wide, from near Willow Grove to Reesville, crossing the Schuylkill at Swedes Ford and Conshohocken. The limestone and marble of this deposit constitute a source of great wealth. The greater portion of the county is occupied by the red shales and sandstones of the “middle secondary” formation. The red shale makes an excellent soil, especially when treated with lime. The county is traversed in every direction by stone turnpikes and good common roads. Several of these turnpikes were made between 1800 and 1810. In bridges the county may vie with any in the state. Across the Schuylkill there are bridges at Norristown, Pawling’s, and Pottstown; and a splendid railroad bridge of stone above Phoenixville. The Perkiomen bridge, on the Reading turnpike, is a noble monument of the enterprise of the county forty years since. It is built entirely of stone, consists of six arches, and cost $60,000. It was founded in 1798, finished in ’99.
Frederick Conrad, Samuel Mauldsby, Conrad Boyer, James Bean, and Henry Scheetz, were then county commissioners. A similar but smaller bridge was erected soon after in 1803 over the Manatawny at Pottstown; and all the creeks in the county are now bridged with stone at the principal crossings. The other internal improvements are the Schuylkill Navigation Company’s canals and pools; the Reading railroad, following down the Schuylkill on the left bank as far as Phoenixville, and below there on the right bank; and the Norristown and Philadelphia railroad, passing on the left bank of the river, through Manayunk. Copper mines are said to have been opened many years since near Perkiomen creek, and more recently at another place; Scott’s old Geography speaks of a silver mine, and a lead mine in Providence township discovered about the year 1800; but it is not known that any one has grown rich by working either.
The streams, large and small, together with the dams on the Schuylkill, create an immense amount of waterpower, which is well improved for manufacturing purposes. It was estimated that in 1830 there were in the county 17 merchant-mills, 99 gristmills, 76 saw-mills, 3 marble saw-mills, 15 paper-mills, 30 oil-mills, 10 clover-mills, 11 powder-mills, 5 iron works of various kinds, 9 cotton factories, 3 woolen-factories, 1 1 fullingmills, and 27 tanneries. There are also in the county two incorporated academies, besides a number of excellent private seminaries, and five public libraries. The county was originally settled in the S. E. end by Welsh and Swedes; in the upper end by Germans; and the descendants of these races, retaining many of their peculiarities, still occupy the soil.5
5 Day, Sherman, and Joseph Meredith Toner Collection. Historical collections of the State of Pennsylvania: containing a copious selection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc., relating to its history and antiquities, both general and local, with topographical descriptions of every county and all the larger towns in the state. illus. by 165 engravings.
There are no mountains in this county. The lands are agreeably diversified by undulating hills and valleys. Few valleys in any country can boast of more picturesque scenery than that of the Schuylkill. Forming the S. W. boundary for some distance, it meanders through broad cultivated fields, furnished with substantial stone houses and barns, with here and there an elegant country seat: again, it sweeps past bold bluffs of rocks, grudging a passage to the railroad, and then past some bright and busy manufacturing town, to which its own sparkling waters impart the movement.
The other streams are the Perkiomen and its branches, and the upper branches of the Wisahiccon, Pennepack, Tocony, and Neshaminy. The primary rocks, gneiss, and talcose slate, form a narrow belt across the S. E. end of the county. The very valuable primitive limestone of the Great Valley lies in a narrow belt, from one to two miles wide, from near Willow Grove to Reesville, crossing the Schuylkill at Swedes Ford and Conshohocken. The limestone and marble of this deposit constitute a source of great wealth. The greater portion of the county is occupied by the red shales and sandstones of the “middle secondary” formation. The red shale makes an excellent soil, especially when treated with lime. The county is traversed in every direction by stone turnpikes and good common roads. Several of these turnpikes were made between 1800 and 1810. In bridges the county may vie with any in the state. Across the Schuylkill there are bridges at Norristown, Pawling’s, and Pottstown; and a splendid railroad bridge of stone above Phoenixville. The Perkiomen bridge, on the Reading turnpike, is a noble monument of the enterprise of the county forty years since. It is built entirely of stone, consists of six arches, and cost $60,000. It was founded in 1798, finished in ’99.
Frederick Conrad, Samuel Mauldsby, Conrad Boyer, James Bean, and Henry Scheetz, were then county commissioners. A similar but smaller bridge was erected soon after in 1803 over the Manatawny at Pottstown; and all the creeks in the county are now bridged with stone at the principal crossings. The other internal improvements are the Schuylkill Navigation Company’s canals and pools; the Reading railroad, following down the Schuylkill on the left bank as far as Phoenixville, and below there on the right bank; and the Norristown and Philadelphia railroad, passing on the left bank of the river, through Manayunk. Copper mines are said to have been opened many years since near Perkiomen creek, and more recently at another place; Scott’s old Geography speaks of a silver mine, and a lead mine in Providence township discovered about the year 1800; but it is not known that any one has grown rich by working either.
The streams, large and small, together with the dams on the Schuylkill, create an immense amount of waterpower, which is well improved for manufacturing purposes. It was estimated that in 1830 there were in the county 17 merchant-mills, 99 gristmills, 76 saw-mills, 3 marble saw-mills, 15 paper-mills, 30 oil-mills, 10 clover-mills, 11 powder-mills, 5 iron works of various kinds, 9 cotton factories, 3 woolen-factories, 1 1 fullingmills, and 27 tanneries. There are also in the county two incorporated academies, besides a number of excellent private seminaries, and five public libraries. The county was originally settled in the S. E. end by Welsh and Swedes; in the upper end by Germans; and the descendants of these races, retaining many of their peculiarities, still occupy the soil.5
5 Day, Sherman, and Joseph Meredith Toner Collection. Historical collections of the State of Pennsylvania: containing a copious selection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc., relating to its history and antiquities, both general and local, with topographical descriptions of every county and all the larger towns in the state. illus. by 165 engravings.
