Womelsdorf Borough

Borough municipal offices are located at 101 West High Street, Womelsdorf, PA 19567; phone: 610-589-4725.

Settled as early as 1762, Womelsdorf was incorporated in 1833 from Heidelberg Township.

The Womelsdorf Historic District was entered onto the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The selected text, below, was transcribed from a copy of the original nomination document submitted to the National Park Service, prepared by the Berks County Conservancy.

Womelsdorf played a significant role in the early settlement of the Tulpehocken area of Berks County, Pennsylvania. First settled by Germans who came to the area via New York, the present day Borough of Womelsdorf lay along the Tulpehocken Path, a major westward route of business and settlement in the eighteenth century. The town was founded, and grew, because it offered travelers a place to stop during their journeys and area merchants and farmers a marketplace for their products.

Local industry has been a key factor in Womelsdorf's development. In the nineteenth century, Womelsdorf was one of the largest cigar manufacturing areas in the state. It was the largest single industry in the Borough's history, substantially contributing to the Borough's economy during its peak years, 1815-1930.

The wide variety of buildings representing each phase of its history is one of the Borough's most notable features. Log houses from the earliest settlement of Womelsdorf coexist beside high style Victorian-era mansions. Three bay sidehall plan houses, a distinctive eighteenth century southeastern Pennsylvania style, are very prominent on the streets of Womelsdorf. This architectural diversity reflects the growth of the community and is one of Womelsdorf's most outstanding assets today.

The borough of, Womelsdorf lies in Heidelberg Township in western Berks County. Situated on a rich limestone belt, the town is located in a valley between two mountain ranges, the Blue Mountains on the north and the South Mountains on the south. The land was included in the vast proprietary colony chartered by William Penn in 1681. The first recorded inhabitants of the area were the Shawnee tribe of the Lenni Lenape Indians who settled there in 1705 by permission of the provincial governor. Finding an abundance of turtles in the area, they named the land and the creek running through it "Tulpehocken", meaning "Land of the Turtle". The Tulpehocken Creek is located approximately a mile northwest of Womelsdorf.

German settlers came next to this area. Like the Germans who settled other areas of Berks County, they were Palatine Germans, driven from their homeland by religious persecution. Unlike the other Germans in the county, however, the first Tulpehocken settlers migrated first to New York, settling on the Hudson River at Livingston Manor and then in the Schoharie Valley to the south. In 1723, a small group of families followed the Susquehanna and its tributaries down to Pennsylvania and the Tulpehocken area, becoming the first European settlers there. They were joined by a great influx of Germans from New York in 1727-1729. This latter group included Conrad Weiser, later to become a noted statesman and Indian agent.

The Womelsdorff family first arrived in the area in 1750, when Daniel Womelsdorff, a successful miller in what is new Amity Township, purchased 250 acres of land in the Tulpehocken Valley, over which his son John became overseer. By 1760, when Daniel died and John inherited the land, the Tulpehocken Valley had become a vital link in the expansion of Pennsylvania settlement. The Tulpehocken Path, a major artery of westward travel from Philadelphia, carried settlers and traders through the Valley. The Path bisected present day Womelsdorf along Franklin Street, and by 1768 was known as the Sunbury Road. Conrad Vleiser helped attract many people to the area also. He established a trading post along the Tulpehocken c. 1730. Due to his negotiations with the Indians living in the area, the Tulpehocken became one of the safer areas to settle in the Pennsylvania wilderness.

Seeing a great potential for profit in his land, John Womelsdorff laid out a town in 1762. Known as "Middletown" for its location halfway between Reading and Lebanon, it was the second planned community in Berks County. Womelsdorff hoped to take advantage of the westward movement, as well as attract the business of the earlier settlers, who conducted most of their trading in Reading. He plotted four streets, two running north and south, and two running east and west; with 75 numbered lots, and Market Square at the center of the town. Each lot carried a yearly ground rent, and within three years, the lot owner was required to construct "one good substantial dwelling house", measuring 24 feet by 20 feet, with a brick or stone chimney laid with lime and sand. Many of these homes can still be seen in Womelsdorf today. Although some have been enlarged or otherwise altered, many or still identifiable by their size and shape.

"Middle Town" was a moderate success. All but three of the lots were purchased, but the town grew slowly, perhaps due to its owner's financial difficulties. In 1776, the ground rent and accompanying privileges were sold to satisfy Womelsdorff's creditors. Jacob Seltzer, a local innkeeper, became the new owner of the town. The orders of sale indicate that by this time the town was known as "Womelsdorff" after its founder. The last 'If" was then dropped from the name "before incorporation as a borough in 1833.

All lot owners evidently did not construct the required houses. Theopile Casenove, an agent for Dutch investors, passed through Womelsdorf in 1798 and described it as "a town where there are ... about 50 houses, among which some of stone and three or four new ones of brick, the rest are of logs and mortar".

Casenove's observations indicate that logs and stone were the most common building materials at first, with brick coming into use at the turn of the eighteenth century. At the tine Casenove traveled through the tom, there were also several taverns, including Slouch's Tavern and the original Seltzer House, no longer standing. In the courtyards of Slouch's Tavern and the second Seltzer House can be seen the last remnants of the original cobblestones which lined the streets in the nineteenth century.

Due to its location on the Tulpehocken Path/Sunbury Road, Womelsdorf received many distinguished visitors. In 1777 some members of the Continental Congress passed through the town as they fled Philadelphia. George Washington paid visits to Womelsdorf in 1793 and 1794; and the townspeople entertained newly elected President James Buchanan in 1856.

The earliest settlers in and around Womelsdorf relied on farming for their livelihood. As the town grew it offered a wide range of the trades and industries common to south central Pennsylvania's German settlements, including gunsmithing, dyeing and weaving, pottery making, and clockmaking. The town was also noted for less practiced occupations such as the manufacturing of woolen hats. Daniel Graeff became the first Womelsdorf hatmaker in 1764, and the long tradition ended nearly a century later when the Ermentrout family ceased making hats.

Cigar manufacturing was by far the largest and most successful Womelsdorf industry, reaching its peak between 1875 and 1930. Nearly forty cigar manufacturers operated in Womelsdorf during the 19th century until about 1930, ranging from one or two man businesses called "buckeyes" to large factories employing several hundred men to hand roll cigars. Outstanding among these was the A. S. Valentine & Son firm, operated from 1848 to 1930 by three generations of the Valentine Family, Two factories and a large High Street mansion pointed out their success and standing in the community. The H. D. Hackman cigar company produced "Dutch Masters", still a leading brand today. Around 1930, the introduction of mechanization in the cigar manufacturing process drove most Womelsdorf cigar makers out of business. A related industry, cigar box manufacturing, also flourished in Womelsdorf.

Education has been an important aspect of community life from the earliest days of Womelsdorf. Baron Henry William Stiegel, the Lancaster County ironmaster, taught a pay school in a now demolished building on Franklin Street, from 1775 to 1785, after the collapse of his fortunes. He was a highly respected teacher and his students were considered to have received the finest education available. Another popular schoolmaster was Walker Stephen, who ran a school at that is now 222 West Franklin Street from 1825 until 1868. Due to his efforts, Womelsdorf became one of the first communities to adopt the Pennsylvania School Law of 1834, the first step in making public education available to all children.

Today, Womelsdorf retains a leisurely, small town atmosphere. Due to the highway a mile to the north, the borough's streets are not heavily travelled. Although primarily a residential town, several new, light industries provide the base of the town's economy. The industries have been accommodated easily in older "buildings; the Valley Forge Flag Company, for example; occupies the M. H. Smaltz Cigar factory. Well maintained buildings and yards along Womelsdorf's streets indicate their owner's pride in their homes and businesses, and a sense of community is very evident in the 'borough. People know their neighbors well and porches and streets are popular places to socialize. Womelsdorf, today, provides excellent example of the evolution of a small, south central Pennsylvania German community.