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[Photo by Richard F. Hope]

The Log Cabin Lot / Peter Miller Buildings (209-17 Northampton Street)

Made up of what were historically considered three buildings facing Northampton Street, each with three stories, the eastern one with a small oriel window. The storefronts recently includedthe White Singer Sewing Machine Center (No.209), Connections Gallery (No.213), and Robert Freeman State Representative (No.215). Present tax records treat this as a single property numbered 209-17 Northampton St, with a 55’ front on Northampton Street.[1] All three portions of the building have been identified as being in the “Greek Revival” architectural style, each with construction dates c.1830-50.[2]

This property is the southern part of Original Town Lot 74, which had a 55’ front on Northampton Street. It was purchased from the Penn Family Proprietors by Jacob Arndt in 1789 for £25 “in specie” and a “Yearly Quit rent of one Barley Corn on the first day of March in each and every year forever hereafter if demanded.”[3] Jacob Arndt was the second son (and 4th child) of French and Indian War Major Jacob Arndt, Sr., who owned a mill in Forks Township at the dam on Bushkill Creek where Bushkill Park operated. In 1782 Jacob Arndt, Jr. purchased a separate large tract of land in Forks Township from his father.[4] He also lived for a short time at his father’s “plantation” in Plainfield Township.[5] Jacob Arndt Jr.’s brother, John Arndt, was a Captain in Washington’s Army in the Revolutionary War, and was wounded at the Battle of Long Island.[6] Jacob Jr. was himself commissioned a Lieutenant in 1780. After the War, from 1783 until 1790, Jacob Arndt was the Treasurer of Northampton County.[7] He apparently lost this office when all the Federalist Party officials were swept from office, after Republican Party candidate Thomas McKean was elected Governor of the state.[8]

  • In 1789 – the same year that he acquired the Log Cabin Lot on Northampton Street – Jacob Arndt Jr. also acquired extensive property in New Jersey, including the entire town of Phillipsburg (some 91-3/4 acres).
  • He sold Phillipsburg in 1793, the same year he sold the Log Cabin Lot.[9]

One historical commentator believed that Arndt “promptly built a log cabin” soon after he purchased his Northampton Street property,[10]presumably as a town house in Easton, because he did not build his brick residence at the NE corner of Centre Square and North Third Street until approximately 1809.[11] Arndt also bought a large farm in Forks Township from his father in 1782,[12] and is also known to have lived for a short time on his father’s “plantation” in Plainfield Township.[13]

The same historical commentator was also impressed that Arndt sold his Northampton Street property for £320 in 1793, only four years after paying £25 for it to the Penn Family.[14] However, this impression of great profit is probably mistaken, because the £25 payment was “in specie”[15] (that is, in coin instead of paper money), which would have been worth far more than payments in “Lawful Money” (i.e. paper currency) demanded by the £320 deed.[16] This disparity in currency values had been especially apparent just a few years before, during the Revolutionary War. “In May, 1781, the continental currency had depreciated to five hundred to one of hard money. At this time the citizens of Philadelphia decorated themselves with paper dollars in the form of cockades and paraded the streets with a dog, tarred, his back covered with congress paper dollars.”[17] While the worst War inflation of the Continental Congress’s paper money[18](and correspondingly, Pennsylvania paper money) was probably past by the 1890s, a substantial disparity probably still existed.

The 1793 deed recitals do suggest, to the contrary, that the log cabin did not exist during Jacob Arndt’s ownership. While a log cabin is mentioned on the property some decades later,[19]there was no mention of any building on the property when Jacob Arndt sold the Log Cabin Lot property to “Taylor” John Turnblaser (later spelled Dornblaser) in 1793. That deed only mentions a “A certain Lot of Ground”, without any specific reference to a building (other than the usual conveyancing boilerplate).[20] When John Turnblaser/Dornblaser resold the property to Peter Seip in 1799 for £381, the deed again only mentioned “A Certain Lot of Ground”,[21] with no specific reference to a building. It is not until the 1802 sale by Peter Seip to Rebecca Erwin that the deed enhances the description by referring explicitly to “A Certain Tenement and Lot of Ground”,[22] certainly establishing the presence of a building by that time. While certainly not conclusive, this change in deed descriptive language suggests that Peter Seip (rather than Jacob Arndt) probably built the log “Tenement”. Moreover, in those three years the sale price of the property had increased to £450, possibly indicating that some improvements had been built.[23]

The purchaser in 1802, Rebecca Erwin, later acquired the married name of “McKeen”, and eventually moved to Erwin, New York. She was adjudicated “non compos mentis”, and as a “Lunatic” was placed in the care of her family. Her daughter, Mary (Erwin) Cooper (the wife of Dr. John Cooper), and other members of the Erwin family, had the property put in the charge of family member Arthur H. Erwin. In 1833, he sold it to the highest bidder in order to provide for Rebecca’s “support and maintenance”. Easton innkeeper Samuel Shouse made the highest bid of $3,500.[24]

  • Samuel Shouse was the owner of the famous Green Tree Inn in Easton, which was originally opened by John Schuck in approximately 1775. Samuel Shouse had acquired the Inn from his brother, William Shouse, and in 1841 he changed the Inn’s name to the Franklyn House. The Inn continued to operate until forced to close by national Prohibition, in 1919.[25]

In 1840, Shouse allowed[26] the property (then without a tenant) to be used for an Independence Day (4 July) political rally in favor of the Whig party Presidential Candidate, General William Henry Harrison. A newspaper account facetiously referred to the property for the day as “Tippecanoe Ground”.[27] Harrison’s nickname, “Old Tippecanoe”, came from his 1811 victory over the Indian Confederation of Tecumseh at the Battle of Tippecanoe. Harrison’s campaign slogan, embracing his Vice Presidential running mate, was “Tippecanoe and Tyler too!”[28] On the land behind the log cabin at the front of the property, the Whigs set up three 100-foot-long board tables of food for the guests.[29] The log cabin setting echoed the Whigs’s portrayal of Harrison as “a simple frontier Indian fighter, living in a log cabin and drinking cider, in sharp contrast to an aristocratic champagne-sipping Van Buren” – notwithstanding Harrison’s actual background as a Virginia aristocrat.[30] The after dinner speech on “Tippecanoe Ground” was interrupted when the stage collapsed, spilling the speaker and ladies on the platform to the ground, but fortunately no one was injured. The party adjourned to nearby Centre Square to finish the speech, even though the competing Democrats had previously occupied the Courthouse there.[31] At all events, Harrison was elected, but died after less than a month in office, and his Vice President, John Tyler, took over.[32]

The following year (1841) – the same year that Samuel Shouse renamed his more celebrated Easton property, the Franklyn House – Shouse sold the Log Cabin Property to Peter Miller,[33] Easton’s “merchant prince” and noted “philanthropist”.[34]

  • In 1811-15, Miller had housed the first subscription library in Easton in the front room of his house – at first without rent, and later for $30 per year – before Library Hall was constructed.[35]
  • Miller was extremely wealthy; his estate inventory six years later (in 1847, after he died at age 81[36]) was evaluated at over $300,000, including over $74,000 invested in 19 pieces of property in Easton, and an even larger real estate investment in Forks Township, as well as many mortgage loans and other assets.[37]

The brick buildings on the site were evidently constructed by Peter Miller.[38] He used them as rentals[39] – his personal residence was just West of Centre Square.[40] Miller’s nephew, also named Peter Miller (a resident of Ohio), inherited his “large estate” in 1847, but died three years later (on 3 March 1850).[41] The younger Peter Miller’s agent in Easton sold this property on 1 April 1850, apparently a few days after his principal’s death. At that time, the property continued to extend 220’ to the rear (all the way to Church Street).[42]

The 1850 purchaser was James Titus.[43] He apparently also used the Log Cabin Lot as rental property, living in his “Mansion House” (at least after its purchase in 1854) located at the SE corner of South Fourth and Pine Streets.[44] He was a watchmaker by trade,[45] operating his business at 71 Northampton Street (the Easton Sweet Shop Building, under the pre-1874 street numbering scheme in effect at that time).[46] Titus died in 1858 at age 47 of a “pulmonary affection of many years standing”,[47] and his Northampton Street “Log Cabin Lot” was partitioned between his two children, George B[arnet] Titus and Mary C. Titus (later the wife of Frank M. Todd). At the time it was partitioned, the Log Cabin Lot clearly did not still contain a log cabin, but instead supported 7 brick buildings, including the three triple-story buildings facing Northampton Street that are still there today, as well as four additional buildings in the rear facing Church Alley.[48] Based upon the fact that the property valuation more than doubled during Peter Miller’s 6-year ownership (and more than tripled during the tenure of the two Peter Millers), it seems likely that Peter Miller (of Easton) actually constructed most of these brick buildings before the property was sold to Titus, although the 65% increase in the property valuation during James Titus’s 8-year ownership makes it possible that he added other brick buildings, himself.[49]

The Partition between the Titus children split the Log Cabin Lot into four pieces. Two of the pieces (each containing two brick buildings) faced Church Street, and two of the pieces faced Northampton Street. The modern Northampton Street lots reflect this Partition’s separation of the Church Street lots.[50] This Partition also explains the slightly different appearance of the eastern building today, including the oriel window that was apparently added later to the eastern (George Titus’s) building. Indeed, it is possible that the eastern building was built at a somewhat different time.[51]

  • In the Partition, the property’s eastern-most brick building on Northampton Street (called “Purpart No. 3”) went to George Titus, together with one of the Church Street properties to the rear, and the South 4th Street “Mansion House”.[52] Curiously, in 1860, George was not living in the “Mansion House” but instead was boarding in White’s Hotel, although he continued his father’s watch making business at 71 Northampton Street.[53] In 1867, George died of consumption just seven months after marrying Mary Francis (Hulick) Titus.[54]
  • She was the daughter of Derrick Hulick (1814-1872), a long-time employee and ultimately the partner of John Drake in the Easton wholesale grocery firm of Drake & Hulick, which later built the Drake Building on South Third Street.[55] As a widow, she lived in her family’s Hulick Mansion on North Third Street,[56] and continued to rent out her interests on Northampton Street to others such as Mrs. C.J. Wamaly, whose residence and glassware store received the numbers 209 and 211, respectively, in the new numbering scheme for Northampton street adopted in 1874.[57]
  • Mary (Hulick) Titus died in 1923,[58] after which her estate sold her Northampton Street building to the Wilson Stove & Manufacturing Company[59] (proprietors Jacob Wilson and E.R. Armstrong), a retailer of stoves and “house furnishing goods”.[60] The company remained on the property into the early 1930s, apparently as a tenant[61] after the underlying real estate became the property of other owners.[62] The building was purchased in 1933 by Hugh Moore,[63] who continued to rent the property to tenants.[64]
  • In the Partition of the Log Cabin Lot, the western portion (called “Purpart No. 2”) went to Mary C. (Titus) Todd, together with the other Church Street property in the rear.[65] Mary Todd’s portion of the property was said to have two brick buildings facing Northampton Street,[66] thus establishing a separation already at that time between the “buildings” now occupied by Connexions Gallery and Hon. Robert Freeman. The boundary between Mary’s and George’s portions on Northampton Street was marked by a “Centre brick Wall” that may have enclosed a 3’ 6” grocer’s alley.[67] The wall continued to figure in the property descriptions into modern times,[68] but apparently no longer exists.[69]
  • At the time of the Partition, Mary Titus was still a minor, and she chose as her Guardian James Titus.[70] In 1869, Mary (by now married to Frank M. Todd) sold her portion of the Northampton Street property to Esther Bunstein.[71] Mrs. Bunstein was carrying on a millinery business established by her husband, Oliver Bunstein, who had died 10 years before.[72]
  • Esther Bunstein’s portion of the property (containing the two buildings facing Northampton Street that were assigned to Mary Titus, as described above) was numbered 49 and 51 Northampton Street, under the street numbering scheme in effect at the time.[73]
  • In the 1874 renumbering of Northampton Street, this property wasre-assigned the modern numbers of 213 Northampton Street (Mrs. Theo. Gould’s fur store) and 215-17 Northampton Street (millinery store and residence, respectively, of Mrs. E. Bunstein).[74]

Esther Bunstein died in 1901 (at age 90) in her home at 215 Northampton Street.[75] Her portion of this lot was divided between her sons[76] Howard Bunstein[77] and Henry L. Bunstein.[78]

  • Howard Bunstein and his family continued the millinery business in their building at 215-17 Northampton Street until the Great Depression of the 1930s,[79] although Hugh Moore was able to purchase ownership of the real estate at a Sheriff’s Sale in 1927.[80]
  • Henry L. Bunstein’s widow, Ella, sold her property (213 Northampton Street) to Hugh Moore (through an intermediary) in 1937.[81]

By the three separate land purchases discussed above, Hugh Moore re-assembled the Northampton Street portions of the old Log Cabin Lot into a single property in the four years between 1933-37.[82]

  • Today, the eastern (George Titus) building retains a somewhat separate appearance from the western (Mary Titus/Bunstein) two buildings, although all three structures have a definite affinity in size and architecture. These western two buildings continue to have separate store-level commercial spaces, although the upstairs town house apartments run across both structures from side to side above both lower-level stores.[83]

Hugh Moore (1887 – 1972[84]) was the Chairman of the Dixie Cup Company.[85] Moore and his brother-in-law started the business in New York in 1908, based in part on warnings given by Lafayette College biology Professor Alvin Davison’s study of disease from public drinking cups, done in the Easton public schools. Moore acquired the name “Dixie®” cups in 1919. Easton’s Board of Trade invited him to move in 1920, and after initial negotiations Moore opened his plant at 24th Street in Wilson Borough in 1921, on the site of farm property that had been owned by Andrew Edelman.[86] The factory roof was marked with a large model of a “Dixie” cup, which remains on the old factory roof to this day. Moore sold the company in 1957.[87] Moore himself was involved in many public projects, including Chairman of the Executive Committee of the League of Nations Association of the United States (1940-43); Hugh Moore Fund for International Peace (to fund population control, 1944-71); Treasurer of the Committee for the Marshall Plan (1948); Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation (1951-52); Chairman of the Association for Voluntary Sterilization (1964). In 1962, Moore gave $25,000 (and ultimately more than $400,000 for development) for the purchase of land along the Lehigh Canal from the Chain Dam to the Delaware River, known as the Hugh Moore Parkway (or, colloquially, Park). His home on Country Club Road in Lower Nazareth Twp. was donated to Northampton County by his widow, and is now known as Louise Moore Park.[88]

The “Art Deco storefronts” on the Bunstein portion of the property were apparently “designed for Hugh Moore by the Easton architect A.D. Chidsey” in the 1930s.[89] In 1943, Hugh Moore conveyed all of this property (along with other properties) to a trust, with himself as trustee.[90] The trust kept the Log Cabin Lot property until 1973, when it was sold to Peter and Lillian Karam.[91] The Karams sold it to Anna Mae H. Boettger in 1978.[92]

On 11 January 1986, police raided the Sounds, Inc. record store at 215 Northampton Street and arrested Alfred R. “Fritz” Boettger, charging him with being the head of a sports bookmaker operation there. Police said that he took in bets worth $90,000 per week, “with an annual take of $4,680,000”.[93] He pleaded guilty in September of 1986,[94] and the Northampton Street property was sold the following year to the Porter Family for $147,500.[95]