Does Stony Creek Feed the Antietam Creek
Berks Places is a recurring feature that will focus on small villages and census designated places throughout the county. History, nostalgia and local voices will shed some light on the quaint nooks and crannies of our area. Additional historical photographs accompany the online version of the articles.
The defining feature of the village of Stony Creek Mills was the huge manufacturing area that dominated the eastern border from the mid 1800s. At first, it was Conrad Feger's paper mill, then a woolen mill started by Louis Kraemer and several partners in 1864 that changed gears from only cloth production to making 1,200 pairs of "Stony Creek Trousers" a day, according to "The Passing Scene" volume 12 by Berks County historian George M. Meiser IX and his wife, Gloria Jean.
Today, there is no functioning mill in Stony Creek Mills.
A huge fire in November 1963 destroyed the mill building, which had stopped making cloth back in 1946.
Richard "Ricky" Gerhart Jr. was just 8 years old when that raging fire took down the mill building, but he heard the details of that fire and an even more devastating one later that same year.
His father, Richard Sr., was an officer in the Community Volunteer Fire Company of Lower Alsace before becoming chief. Ricky heard how five children perished in a Butter Lane house fire on Dec. 31, 1963.
"The one with the five kids just changed Stony Creek for a while," Gerhart said. "It was absolutely devastating."
While the fire company may be outside the map lines of how the U.S. Census Bureau defines Stony Creek Mills, Gerhart said it is the heart of the community.
"As I grew up in this fire company, I just developed a real true love for the people," Gerhart said. "I was serving them at a very young age in a very difficult position. I was the youngest fire chief, probably in the history of Berks County. I don't know any other fire chief that became chief at the age of 20. That's very young to be doing that."
Adam Richter — Reading Eagle
Stony Creek Mills is a census-designated place that is in Lower Alsace and Exeter townships. (Adam Richter — Reading Eagle)Gerhart grew up in Stony Creek Mills and so did his parents. His grandparents on his father's side moved to the Stony Creek Mills area from East Reading as their expanding family — eight children — necessitated a larger house. They found one on Montgomery Avenue near Carsonia Park.
Gerhart's wife, Cynthia, was from the next town over, Pennside, and when they married, they moved to a home near the firehouse.
"The phone was run from the fire company into my bedroom," Gerhart explained. "The phone was answered by a remote company and the bar room down at the fire station and when either one of those wasn't available, then it was up to me. I had to answer the phone, take the call and then run over to the fire company and dispatch the ambulance or the firetruck or whatever."
That is how it was for all fire companies back in the day before the 9-1-1 emergency number existed, he explained.
Gerhart, Cindy and their daughter eventually moved just over the line into Exeter Township.
Stony Creek Mills is a bit unique as far as census-designated places go in that it stretches over two townships: Lower Alsace and Exeter. its official founding date is listed as 1879.
"The love of the town is what kept me here today yet," Gerhart said. "The way I tell the story is, we had basketball teams that were state champions from Mount Penn High School, and we celebrated those events with the fire company and then I was with these people in their absolute worst moments. It all goes back to the fire company."
When asked to describe what is a landmark for Stony Creek Mills today, Gerhart said the Stony Creek Athletic Association, 165 Antietam Road, would have to be the defining building.
Some landmarks from yesteryear still stand, too. These include the mansions that were once owned by two of the partners of Louis Kraemer & Co.
J. Heyl Raser, courtesy of of George M. Meiser IX
A portion of an enhanced pen-and-ink drawing by Berks County artist J. Heyl Raser shows a large two-family residence on the left that was home to a woolen-goods designer named Weidler on the left and Lewis Frederick Grebe's family on the right. Grebe was a partner in the Louis Kraemer & Co. mills. Kraemer's mansion is on the right behind the smokestack of the mill. The drawing appears in Volume 11 of "The Passing Scene" by George M. Meiser IX and Gloria Jean Meiser. (J. Heyl Raser, courtesy of of George M. Meiser IX)The Kraemer home, which later would become known as the Eltonhead home, still stands at 102 Kraemer Lane, or as the street sign says "Kramer Lane." Kramer Avenue also dropped the second "e" in Kraemer.
Further north on the lane the Grebe mansion is nestled in the trees. It was designed as a two-family home. Louis Frederick Grebe, who owned one-third of Louis Kraemer & Co., and his family lived in the right half while a designer for the company named Weidler lived in the other half according to Volume 11 of "The Passing Scene."
Nearby, on Friedensburg Road, many homes with touches of Victorian charm still survive.
"The 1400 block of Friedensburg Road would have been Stony Creek's so-called historic district," Gerhart said.
One building, now a two-family home, was once a general store. Jonathan B. and Ella W. Folk operated J.B. Folk Groceries & Provisions at 1421 Friedensburg Road.
Susan E. Miers Smith — Reading Eagle
This doubleblock residence along Friedensburg Road in Stony Creek Mills, Lower Alsace Township, was once J.B. Folk's Groceries & Provisions general store. At one time there was even a gas pump out front along the curb according to Volume 12 of "The Passing Scene" by George M. Meiser IX and Gloria Jean Meiser. It is shown November 16, 2021. (Susan E. Miers Smith — Reading Eagle)According to Berks County deed records, the Folks purchased the property in 1907. The wife is erroneously referred to as Ellen on that deed, but that is corrected on later deeds. Jonathan died in 1914. Ella and their son Charles continued running the store. Ella died in 1948, leaving the property to Charles and his sister Mabel Reed.
Gerhart noted that some of the remnants from the Kraemer Mill were saved and put to good use at his church, Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1375 Friedensburg Road.
"When the mill burned, they saved a lot of the stone from the building and put a big addition on our church with that stone," Gerhart said.
Another property that was part of the Kraemer company holdings was a barn that became Bixler's Lodge. On Aug. 4, 1931, James P. and Mayetta H. Bixler purchased property with a barn and "gasoline filling station" on it from Louis F. Kraemer, Martin D. and Sarah B. Hunter and the estate of Louis F. Grebe for $5,500, according to the deed. BixlersLodge.com states that the barn was transformed into a restaurant in 1934.
Meiser said the restaurant and bar at 1456 Friedensburg Road is one of the main attractions in Stony Creek today.
Stony Creek Mills by the numbers
Population: 1,048
Age: 11.1% under age 5; 25% under age 18; 75% age 18 and older; and 15.6% age 65 and older
Total area: 0.6 of a square mile
Median household income: $54,861
Employment rate: 71.7%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2019 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2020 information is set to be available by Nov. 30, 2021 according to the U.S. Census)
Source: https://www.readingeagle.com/2021/11/22/berks-places-stony-creek-mills-history
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