Today we make the blog's first foray into Schuylkill County (that's "SKOO-kill," for those of you who aren't from around here). My youngest sister Liza took me on a drive around the city of Pottsville, which is not far from where she works; we collected a handful of the markers. There's nothing quite like driving around Pennsylvania in an open-air Jeep, so thank you, baby sis!
Among the findings of that afternoon was a beautiful Federal-style mansion on Mahantongo Street, which more than one sign identified as being the former home of Burd Patterson. He turned out to be a trickier subject than I expected.
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| The marker is located on the street directly in front of the house at 803 Mahantongo Street, Pottsville |
Much like nearby Carbon County, Schuylkill County has a strong history of anthracite coal mining. It also has a strong history of manufacturing anthracite iron, made by smelting anthracite coal with iron ore. If that sounds familiar, it may be because my very first quest post was about David Thomas, in my native Catasauqua, who was famous for doing exactly that. As I mentioned in that post, his efforts streamlined the process of making the stuff, but it had already been around for a good thirty years. Before we had David Thomas, we had Burd Patterson.
At first, most of what I learned about Patterson came from a single book, The Progressive Men of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, linked in the sources below. He was born on July 8, 1788 in Juniata County into a fairly influential family. In early adulthood, he served as a Latin language professor at Mount Airy College in Germantown, near Philadelphia. (This later became the American Classical and Military Academy, and no longer exists.) However, he was always interested in "manufacturing pursuits," to quote from that book, and at age 38, in 1826, he moved to Pottsville, where he spent the rest of his life. He was regarded as intelligent, insightful, and a good judge of character.
Patterson did a lot of work to increase the size and scope of the community of Pottsville, involving himself in buying and selling land; it was partly due to his efforts that the community was incorporated as a borough in 1828. He was particularly interested in making railroads more accessible and able to reach more places. He also helped to plan new towns; he was among those who created the nearby communities of Ashland and Mahanoy City.
Outside of that book, tracking down information about Patterson was much more difficult than I would have expected for a well-to-do industrialist. However, digging deeper into Ancestry.com reveals a lot more about Burd Patterson - not least the fact that that wasn't his name. More accurately, it wasn't his full name. His full name was James Burd Patterson, but apparently he was more commonly known by his middle name and that's the one which appears on the historical marker. Someone has taken great care with his fact file (which you can only read if you have an Ancestry.com account - sorry about that) and gives us lots more personal information than other sources.
His parents were George Patterson (1762-1814) and Jane Burd (1757-1819), and he was their eldest child, with several younger brothers and sisters. On June 14, 1820, he married Matilda Dowers (1797-1862). Their eldest son James was born in 1821; he was followed by Mary Anna, Edwin, Joseph, Josephine, and Adeline. Only James and Joseph survived to adulthood, sadly, with each of the others dying before the age of five. The Ancestry.com files also contain an article about the history of the Greenwood Colliery; it's from the Pottsville Republican & Evening Herald, dated July 11-12, 1998. Frank Blase, whose byline identifies him as a historian from the Reading Anthracite Co. Historical Library, observes only that Patterson unsuccessfully attempted to operate the colliery from 1840 to 1842. (A colliery is the collective term for a coal mine and the buildings associated with it.)
Patterson died in Pottsville on March 30, 1867, and is buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery. His mansion on Mahantongo Street was, as the marker indicates, the first one constructed in the town. Out back (which I couldn't see from the street) there was a separate summer kitchen, but an addition in 1835 connected it to the house. The front porch, which is done in the Queen Anne style, was added sometime before 1900. Unlike some houses of similar significance, this one is not a museum - it remains a private residence to this day. However, also unlike similar houses (including on the same street), it's still a single-family dwelling and has not been converted into apartments, or at least that was the case when its owners applied to put it on the historic register. As far as I could tell from peeking through the trees, it still is. The application provides even further personal details about Patterson's life, including how one of his young daughters died, and also connects his work with anthracite iron to that of David Thomas. Honestly, I wish I had started with this application instead of coming to it last in my research, because it contains several pages of fascinating information. It's longer than this blog post.
Ancestry.com further notes that not only did Patterson die in 1867, but his son Joseph and granddaughter Pauline died the same year; this may account for the fact that his house passed out of the family afterward. By 1870, Patterson's only surviving child, James, had relocated to Norristown, and the house and land had been sold to a man named William Garretson. With so much loss in Pottsville, James may have simply found it too painful to remain. But the city still remembers his father, who helped to change it from a little settlement on a swamp into the seat of Schuylkill County.
At first, most of what I learned about Patterson came from a single book, The Progressive Men of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, linked in the sources below. He was born on July 8, 1788 in Juniata County into a fairly influential family. In early adulthood, he served as a Latin language professor at Mount Airy College in Germantown, near Philadelphia. (This later became the American Classical and Military Academy, and no longer exists.) However, he was always interested in "manufacturing pursuits," to quote from that book, and at age 38, in 1826, he moved to Pottsville, where he spent the rest of his life. He was regarded as intelligent, insightful, and a good judge of character.
Patterson did a lot of work to increase the size and scope of the community of Pottsville, involving himself in buying and selling land; it was partly due to his efforts that the community was incorporated as a borough in 1828. He was particularly interested in making railroads more accessible and able to reach more places. He also helped to plan new towns; he was among those who created the nearby communities of Ashland and Mahanoy City.
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| Marker on the front garden wall of the mansion. Note that "c. 1835" refers to the approximate year in which the house was built; it became a National Historic landmark in 1995. |
His parents were George Patterson (1762-1814) and Jane Burd (1757-1819), and he was their eldest child, with several younger brothers and sisters. On June 14, 1820, he married Matilda Dowers (1797-1862). Their eldest son James was born in 1821; he was followed by Mary Anna, Edwin, Joseph, Josephine, and Adeline. Only James and Joseph survived to adulthood, sadly, with each of the others dying before the age of five. The Ancestry.com files also contain an article about the history of the Greenwood Colliery; it's from the Pottsville Republican & Evening Herald, dated July 11-12, 1998. Frank Blase, whose byline identifies him as a historian from the Reading Anthracite Co. Historical Library, observes only that Patterson unsuccessfully attempted to operate the colliery from 1840 to 1842. (A colliery is the collective term for a coal mine and the buildings associated with it.)
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| The Patterson mansion, as viewed from the sidewalk by the marker |
Ancestry.com further notes that not only did Patterson die in 1867, but his son Joseph and granddaughter Pauline died the same year; this may account for the fact that his house passed out of the family afterward. By 1870, Patterson's only surviving child, James, had relocated to Norristown, and the house and land had been sold to a man named William Garretson. With so much loss in Pottsville, James may have simply found it too painful to remain. But the city still remembers his father, who helped to change it from a little settlement on a swamp into the seat of Schuylkill County.
Sources and Further Reading:
Blanchard, Col. Charles. The Progressive Men of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Volume 2. A. W. Bowen & Company, Pennsylvania, 1900.
Burd Patterson house application for the National Register of Historic Places
City of Pottsville official website
The Schuylkill County Historical Society
Burd Patterson at the Historical Marker Database
Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.
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