Gruber Wagon Works | |
Location | Bern Township, Pennsylvania |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°22′14.16″N75°58′46.56″W / 40.3706000°N 75.9796000°W |
Area | 12 acres (4.9 ha) |
Built | 1882 |
Architect | Franklin H. Gruber |
NRHP reference No. | 72001092 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | June 2, 1972 [1] |
Designated NHL | December 22, 1977 [2] |
The Gruber Wagon Works is a historic industrial facility on Red Bridge Road in Bern Township, Pennsylvania, United States. [3] Built about 1882, it is an extremely rare example of a fully outfitted 19th-century wagon manufacturing facility. Originally located in nearby Pleasant Valley, it was moved in 1976 to its present location in Tulpehocken Creek Park to make way for a flood control project. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977. [2] [4] It now serves as part of a county open-air museum.
The Gruber Wagon Works is located northwest of Reading, Pennsylvania, overlooking Tulpehocken Creek at the end of Red Bridge Road. It is a 2-1/2 story wood frame structure in a cruciform plan, with gabled roofs and a rubblestone foundation. The interior is divided into a number of functional areas: a wood shop, a blacksmithy, a bench shop, and a paint shop. Surviving devices and equipment include specialized equipment for the manufacture of axle hubs and spoked wheels, a variety of saws, sanders, and other woodworking equipment. Most of these are belt-driven by a gasoline-powered motor. Movement of materials between the floors is accommodated by a hand-operated elevator installed by the Grubers in 1905-06, as part of a building expansion. Outside the main building are two small outbuildings: one serving as an outhouse, the other for the storage of iron. [4]
Franklin H. Gruber, who had been making farm-use wagons since the 1870s, constructed the wagon works in 1882. The business continued operating under the family's ownership, making standard and customized wagons until the 1950s, after which the business was limited to repairs. It closed in 1971. [5] At that time it included all of its equipment and machinery, making it "nothing less than a three-dimensional document of one particular American industry, fixed within a particular, narrow time frame", according to a curator for the Smithsonian National Museum of History and Technology, that is unrivaled in the United States. [4]
Unfortunately, the building's original site on Licking Creek in Pleasant Valley fell within the planned area of Blue Marsh Lake, so it was bought by the Army Corps of Engineers and during the winter of 1976–1977 they relocated it 5 miles (8 km) east to its present location. The building is now part of the Berks County Heritage Center, an open air complex that also includes the C. Howard Hiester Canal Center with exhibits about canal transportation, Wertz's Covered Bridge, Melcher's Grist Mill, Deppen Cemetery, several memorials and gardens. The Center is open seasonally and offers tours of the historic buildings.
Bernville is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The population was 955 at the 2010 census. Bernville is bordered by Penn Township to the north, east, and south and by Jefferson Township to the west.
The Allegheny Portage Railroad was the first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania. It operated from 1834 to 1854 as the first transportation infrastructure through the gaps of the Allegheny that connected the midwest to the eastern seaboard across the barrier range of the Allegheny Front. Approximately 36 miles (58 km) long overall, both ends connected to the Pennsylvania Canal, and the system was primarily used as a portage railway, hauling river boats and barges over the divide between the Ohio and the Susquehanna Rivers. Today, the remains of the railroad are preserved within the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site operated by the National Park Service.
Tulpehocken Creek is a 39.5-mile-long (63.6 km) tributary of the Schuylkill River in southeastern Pennsylvania in the United States, and during the American Canal Age, once provided nearly half the length of the Union Canal linking the port of Philadelphia, the largest American city and the other communities of Delaware Valley with the Susquehanna basin and the Pennsylvania Canal System connecting the Eastern seaboard to Lake Erie and the new settlements of the Northwest Territory via the Allegheny}, Monongahela. and Ohio Rivers at Pittsburgh.
The Union Canal was a towpath canal that existed in southeastern Pennsylvania in the United States during the 19th century. First proposed in 1690 to connect Philadelphia with the Susquehanna River, it ran approximately 82 mi from Middletown on the Susquehanna below Harrisburg to Reading on the Schuylkill River.
The Delaware and Hudson Canal was the first venture of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, which would later build the Delaware and Hudson Railway. Between 1828 and 1899, the canal's barges carried anthracite coal from the mines of northeastern Pennsylvania to the Hudson River and thence to market in New York City.
This is a list of properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania. As of 2015, there are over 3,000 listed sites in Pennsylvania. All 67 counties in Pennsylvania have listings on the National Register.
The Phoenix Iron Works, located in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, was a manufacturer of iron and related products during the 19th century and early 20th century. Phoenix Iron Company was a major producer of cannon for the Union Army during the American Civil War. The company also produced the Phoenix column, an advance in construction material. Company facilities are a core component of the Phoenixville Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places site that was in 2006 recognized as a historic landmark by ASM International.
Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site, also known as Erie Canal National Historic Landmark, is a historic district that includes the ruins of the Erie Canal aqueduct over Schoharie Creek, and a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) long part of the Erie Canal, in the towns of Glen and Florida within Montgomery County, New York. It was the first part of the old canal to be designated a National Historic Landmark, prior to the designation of the entire New York State Barge Canal as an NHL in 2017.
The Graniteville Historic District encompasses one of the first textile company towns to be established in the Southern United States. Built in the late 1840s by William Gregg near Aiken, South Carolina, and now known as Graniteville, it was modeled after New England mill towns. Gregg used the success of this enterprise to advocate for the industrialization of the South, laying the groundwork for its eventual domination of the American textile industry. The district, which includes the original canal, mill building, mill worker housing, and a period church, was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1978.
The historical buildings and structures of Zion National Park represent a variety of buildings, interpretive structures, signs and infrastructure associated with the National Park Service's operations in Zion National Park, Utah. Structures vary in size and scale from the Zion Lodge to road culverts and curbs, nearly all of which were designed using native materials and regional construction techniques in an adapted version of the National Park Service Rustic style. A number of the larger structures were designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood, while many of the smaller structures were designed or coordinated with the National Park Service Branch of Plans and Designs. The bulk of the historic structures date to the 1920s and 1930s. Most of the structures of the 1930s were built using Civilian Conservation Corps labor.
Tulpehocken Manor Plantation, also known as the Ley Home, is a historic property which is located near Myerstown, Jackson Township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.
Blue Marsh Lake is an artificial lake located northwest of the city of Reading, Pennsylvania, USA and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Philadelphia District. It is in western Berks County, fed into by the Tulpehocken Creek. The main span of the lake is along the border between Bern and Lower Heidelberg Townships. However, the northwesternmost portions lie in the more sparsely populated North Heidelberg and Penn Townships. In the middle of the lake is a large, uninhabited island. The lake is a popular recreation area in the summer, where people can fish, swim, and boat. It has 36 miles of trails and 1,147 acres of water. It was built and is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District.
Wertz's Covered Bridge, also known as the Red Covered Bridge, is a historic wooden covered bridge located at Bern Township and Spring Township in Berks County, Pennsylvania.
Pleasantville Bridge is a historic wooden covered bridge located at Oley Township in Berks County, Pennsylvania. It is a 126-foot-long (38 m), Burr Truss bridge, constructed between 1852 and 1856. It was built in two stages due to wood shortages after the Great Flood of 1850. It crosses the Manatawny Creek. It is one of five covered bridges remaining in Berks County.
The S Bridge was an historic, American stone arch bridge that was located in Marion Township in Berks County, Pennsylvania.
Griesemer's Mill Bridge is a historic wooden covered bridge located at Oley Township in Berks County, Pennsylvania. It is a 124-foot-long (38 m), Burr Truss bridge, constructed in 1832. It has a gable roof and stone abutments. It crosses the Manatawny Creek. It is one of five covered bridges remaining in Berks County.
The Jacob Leiby Farm is an historic American farm complex, Pennsylvania Bluestone quarry, and national historic district that are located in Perry Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania.
Old Dry Road, also known as The Staudt Farm, is an historic, American home and farm complex that is located in Lower Heidelberg Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. This farm is situated on a branch of Tulpehocken Creek in the Blue Marsh Lake Recreation Area.
The Womelsdorf Historic District is a national historic district located in Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pennsylvania. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
The Tulpehocken Creek Historic District is a national historic district located in North Heidelberg Township, and Lower Heidelberg Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. Encompassing a total of 17,000 acres, this district stretches from the Tulpehocken Creek and Mill Creek at the Berks County-Lebanon County line to the Blue March Dam between Bernville and Millardsville, and is composed of 152 contributing buildings, one contributing site, and four contributing structures which were related to the development which occurred along the upper Tulpehocken Creek from the early 18th century through the late 19th century. Historic buildings located here include early settlement period log cabins, which were built between 1723 and 1750; buildings related to the Charming Forge community, which existed between 1749 and 1895; an early 18th century cemetery and early 19th century church; buildings related to 18th and 19th century farming operations; and structures associated with the development and operation of the Union Canal.
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(help) and Accompanying 8 photos, exterior and interior, from 1977. (32 KB)