WEST Radio (AM 1400 Radio Station, 436 Northampton Street)

2

Kunsman Building

(Photos by Richard F. Hope)

[At left, as “Loose Threads”, 2017.)

(At right: as AM 1400 WEST Radio), with Villa Tempo Italiano to right, 2006.

Kunsman Building (436-38 Northampton Street, now Loose Threads, formerly AM 1400 WEST Radio Station)

3-story Victorian commercial style recently retrieved by removing a modernistic black & white façade. The modern property measures 30’ (on Northampton Street) X 220’ deep (to Pine Street).[1] One survey, after identifying the WEST Radio Station as “Modern Commercial” style, nonetheless assigned a construction date c.1870[2] in recognition of the older Victorian architecture then lying underneath.

Historically, this lot is the eastern half of original town Lot No.212,[3] as surveyed by William Parsons when Easton was established in 1752. Lot No.212 was originally occupied by a house built before 1779, and occupied by Jacob “Nunamaker”.[4] In 1789, the occupant (now given the German spelling Jacob “Nunemacher”) purchased a larger parcel of property from the Penn Family that included this Lot.[5]

Jacob Nunemacher died after 1810.[6] Under the authority of his will dated 12 January 1805, his executors sold this eastern part of Lot No.212 to Jacob Heller on 14 December 1815, apparently without recording the transaction in the Northampton County official records. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia his creditors had the Marshall sell Lot No.212 to Stephen Balliet on 19 December 1803, and acknowledge the transaction in District Court in Philadelphia on 21 August 1807, issuing a deed finally on 10 August 1807. With no filing in Northampton County, Jacob Heller (and possibly the executors as well) had no knowledge of these Philadelphia proceedings. Nevertheless, in 1818 after this all came to light, $125 was paid to Stephen Balliet by Jacob Heller and John Nice (now owner of the western half of the Lot) to clear their titles.[7]

Jacob Heller died on 14 October 1834,[8] and his estate apportioned this half of Lot No.212 to his son, Charles Heller. By 1840, Charles had gotten into financial trouble, and so assigned this property with a “two Story Brick” building on it to two trustees for the benefit of his creditors.[9] In 1841, the trustees obtained $3,314.15 for the property with its “brick Tenement”, from Edward J. Seip.[10] Seip was a prominent citizen, a Major in the Pennsylvania militia, and the Treasurer of Northampton County.[11] Beginning in approximately 1860, Seip leased part of his building to William H. Kunsman for a dry goods store.[12]

·  In 1860, Kunsman’s business was listed at 158 Northampton Street,[13] while Edward J. Seip’s dry goods store was listed at No.162.[14]

Despite his prominent, however, in 1861-62, Seip lost five properties in Sheriff sales.[15] One of them was Seip’s property on Northampton Street, which was purchased by the tenant, William H. Kunsman, for $7,100. This included a “Three Story Brick dwelling House and store Room” with an attached “three stove Kitchen and wash house”.[16]

Kunsman had been born in 1831, and moved to Easton at age 16 to work as a clerk in William H. Lawall’s[17] general merchandise store (at the location now numbered 450 Northampton Street).[18] Kunsman opened his own store in 1856 to sell dry goods and groceries,[19] at first located in a “dingy and small” L-shaped room in a predecessor building located at what is now 428-30 Northampton Street.[20] Several years later he moved to larger quarters next door, in the property now numbered 432-34 Northampton Street.[21] Kunsman moved again next door to Seip’s building by 1860, and purchased that building in 1861 (see above). In 1862, he adopted a Civil War marketing theme: “War or no War William H. Kunsman Is selling the cheapest Dry goods in Easton”. At that time, he advertised many clothing items, including “Hoop Skirts”.[22]

·  In the 1860s,[23] and continuing until 1873, Kunsman took over Seip’s old address at 162 Northampton Street, under the street numbering scheme then in effect.[24]

·  In 1874, the renumbering of Northampton Street assigned No.436 to the Kunsman store, and No.438 to the Kunsman residence.[25]

Kunsman apparently improved the building, adding a carpet display room in the basement during his tenure, and also making the upstairs his personal residence.[26] Thus, much of the structure visible today is probably the result of Kunsman’s construction activity, which would likely have been done a little earlier than the c.1870 date suggested by the modern survey discussed at the start of this article. Kunsman continued in business at this location until his death in 1893.[27] His brother, J.B. Kunsman, then took over the business,[28] and received title to the property from the estate via a Sheriff’s sale.[29] After J.B. Kunsman’s death, the business was continued by Levi L. Kunsman until 1902,[30] when the building was finally sold to Isaac Goldsmith, Jr. for $5,300 and Goldsmith’s assumption of an outstanding $12,500 mortgage.[31]

Goldsmith evidently leased out the building. By 1925, No.436 was the location of The Adams Co., a dry goods (clothing) store managed by Chas. H. Cramer.[32] By 1935, this gave way to the Alan Shop, a ladies apparel store managed by Leon Fagen and (later) his wife, Sophia, with their residence initially at the same address.[33] Despite moving their residence to New York City by 1942,[34] the Fagens purchased the Kunsman Building in 1950 for $68,500.[35] In 1953, the Fagens were no longer listed as the store managers,[36] and in the following year (1954), their dress store was replaced at this address by the Monarch Appliance & Furniture Co.[37] In 1957, the Fagens sold the Kunsman Building to Anthony and John Marangulia and their wives for $69,000.[38]

In 1962, the Marangulias sold the building to Associated Broadcasters, Inc.,[39] and the Monarch Appliance & Furniture Co. moved to 126 South Third Street.[40] The WEST-AM 1400 Radio Station replaced Monarch in the Kunsman Building.[41] WEST was then the second-oldest radio station in the Lehigh Valley, having started broadcasting on 17 Feb. 1936 from the New Odd Fellows’ Hall (I.O.O.F.) Building up at 516 Northampton Street.[42] It initially adopted a general entertainment format, which became a popular music “Middle Of The Road” format by the “late 1940s.” Under a variety of owners, WEST continued to operate from the Kunsman Building on Northampton Street.[43] After its sale to Maranatha Broadcasting in 2007,[44] the station began adding “specialty shows”,[45] including the “Tempo Italiano” Sunday radio show,[46] and built the bocce garden “Villa Tempo Italiano” (later simply “The Villa”) built next door at 440-42 Northampton Street in 2000-01.[47]

·  This space next door had been purchased by the radio station owners back in 1968.[48] [A separate article has been devoted to the property where this bocce garden was built.]

In 2007, the WEST radio station was sold to Matthew J. Braccili,[49] who gradually changed the station’s format over to simulcast Spanish language programming carried by Braccili’s other station, WHOL.[50] In April 2007, the “Tempo Italiano” show moved to a rival radio station, and the bocce garden was leased to the Lehigh Valley Italian American Cultural Club,[51] later to be dismantled completely.[52] In 2009, the Kunsman Building itself, together with the former bocce garden property next door, were sold for $210,000 to Schy-Rhys Redevelopment, Inc.[53] This developer, partly owned by Greg Schuyler,[54] proceeded with rehabilitating both the Kunsman building and the Werner / A & D Tile Building (432-34 Northampton Street) that it also owned, “into town homes and apartments”.[55] Commercial space in the Kunsman Building was then rented to a Bethlehem clothing boutique named “Loose Threads”.[56]

[1] See Northampton County Tax Records map, www.ncpub.org.

[2] City of Easton, Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form, Attachment: Building Description Survey Area 1 Zone G (City Council Resolution approved 12 May 1982).

[3] Northampton County Tax Records, www.ncpub.org, shows this property with a 25’ front on Northampton Street. That record references a current (2007) sale of this property to Lehigh Valley Broadcasting Associates, and also references an earlier Deed, Tele-Media Broadcasting Company of Lehigh Valley Ltd. Partnership to Tele-Media Broadcasting Company, 1997-1-077640 (1 July 1997)(Parcel No.2). This references Deed, Associated Broadcasters, Inc. to WEST Realty Associates, 454 403 (4 April 1973), which indicates that the properties at No.440-42 and No.444-48 had a combined front of 60’ on Northampton Street.

From 1973, the chain of title for No.440-42 leads back to ownership by Charles and Alice Hemingway in 1915.

o  Deed, Erco, Inc. to Associated Broadcasters, Inc., 314 134 (7 Feb. 1968); Deed, Herman (Martha) Servin to Erco, Inc., 212 62 (17 Feb. 1964); Deed, FDIC, Receiver for First Nat. Bank & Trust Co. of Easton, to Herman Servin, E76 59 (12 Feb. 1945); Deed, William C. Groman, Sheriff of Northampton County, to FDIC, D76 30 (3 Jan. 1945)(upon suit by FDIC against Morris Lipschitz, mortgagor and real owner); Deed, Abraham Peters et al. to Morris Lipschitz, B61 374 (27 March 1929)(partners of Lipschitz & Peters; Tract #1); Deed, Charles L. (Alice) Hemingway to M. Lipschitz and A. Peters, A43 125 (29 Dec. 1915).

The 1915 Hemingway Deed cited above describes a piece of property with a 60’ front on Northampton Street – evidently, the combined 440-42 and 444-48 properties – which (the Deed recites) was originally made up of two parcels: the eastern half of Original Town Lot No.211, and the western half of Original Town Lot No.212. It appears that, apart from a slightly asymmetrical re-division of the properties, No 440-42 (later, The Villa bocce garden) includes essentially the western half of original town Lot No.212, while 444-48 includes essentially the eastern half of original town Lot No.211. Compare with Northampton County Tax Records, www.ncpub.org. See separate entry for 444-48 Northampton Street. That being so, then the other (eastern) half of Lot No.212 lies next door to The Villa bocce garden – and so can be identified with the Kunsman Building.

[4] Charles de Krafft, Map of Easton Original Town Lots (from the collection of Luigi “Lou” Ferone (“Mr. Easton”) auctioned 27 Feb. 2010, said to have been used by the Penn clerks for notations to keep track of the town lots c.1779-1801).

[5] Deed, John Penn the Younger and John Penn the Elder to Jacob Nonemaker, F2 468 (20 Oct. 1789)(parcel measuring 90’ X 220’); A.D. Chidsey, Jr., The Penn Patents in the Forks of the Delaware Plan of Easton, Map 2 (Vol. II of Publications of the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society 1937).

[6] He was still alive to be counted in the federal 1810 Census, Series M252, Roll 51, p.84 (Easton)(Jacob Nunamacher); see also 1800 Census, Series M32, Roll 37, p.536 (Easton)(Jacob Nunnamacher).

[7] Deed Poll, Stephen Balliet to John Nice and Jacob Heller, E4 149 (6 July 1818)($125 for rights in two lots which together comprised original town Lot No.212, with recitals).

[8] Find A Grave Memorial # 156690930, “Jacob Heller”, https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=156690930&ref=acom (Easton Cemetery, entry posted 3 Jan. 2016)(born 23 Apr. 1782, died 14 Oct. 1834, spouse Susan Butz Heller, children include Susan W. Heller Innes and Daniel Butz Heller). See generally 1830 Census, Series M19, Roll 156, p.9 (Easton).

[9] Deed of Assignment, Charles (Louisa) Heller to Daniel M. Butz and Samuel Yohe, Misc 5 408 (4 Dec. 1840)(assignment for the benefit of creditors, property measuring 30’ 220’ with “two Story Brick Tenement”).

[10] Deed, Daniel M. Butz and Samuel Yohe, Assigns of Charles Heller, to Edward J. Seip, G6 197 (1 Apr. 1841)(sale price $3,314.15 for “brick Tenement” on property with 30’ frontage on Northampton Street 220’ deep).

[11] FamilyTreeMaker User Home Page (on ancestry.com), “Descendants of Johann Jacob Seip”, familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/e/i/Craig-Seip/GENE1-0007.html (accessed 7 Oct. 2009); see also Jane S. Moyer (compiler), V Marriages and Deaths Northampton County 1885-1902 Newspaper Extracts 113 (Easton Area Public Library 1976)(death of Major Edward J. Seip, formerly of Easton, on 16 January 1874 near Nazareth, age 66).

[12] William H. Boyd, Boyd’s Directory of Reading, Easton, [Etc.] 125 (William H. Boyd 1860)(William H. Kunsman, dry goods, 158 Northampton Street).

[13] William H. Boyd, Boyd’s Directory of Reading, Easton, [Etc.] 125 (William H. Boyd 1860)(William H. Kunsman, dry goods, 158 Northampton Street).

[14] Boyd, Boyd’s Directory, supra at 129 (Edward J. Seip, dry goods, at 162 Northampton Street). See also C[harles] Kitchen, A General Directory of the Borough of Easton PA 28 (Cole & Eichman’s Office, 1855)(Edward J. Seip, dry goods and liquor, at 162 Northampton Street).

[15] See Northampton County Deed Records, Sheriff 3 at 21 (to C.C. Field), Sheriff 3 at 23 (to Thomas J. Bergin), Sheriff 3 at 24 (to William H. Lawall), Sheriff 3 at 28 (to Henry S. Cary), and Sheriff 3 at 31 (to William H. Kunsman).

[16] Deed Poll, Tomas Heckman, Sheriff, for Edward J. Seip, to William H. Kunsman, Sheriff 3 31 (18 Nov. 1861)(property measuring 30’ X 220’). This deed identifies the property to the West as belonging to John Eyerman, which is consistent with the deed record. See separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for The Villa at 440-42 Northampton Street.

The confirming deed record in the regular Deed Books confirmed the Sheriff’s sale of the Northampton Street building to Kunsman (Tract No.1), but also showed the Parsons-Taylor House at the corner of 4th and Ferry Streets as part of that transaction as well (Tract No.3). Deed Poll, Thomas Heckman, Sheriff, for Edward J. Seip, to William H. Kunsman, G10 242 (3 Dec. 1862)(Tract No.3). In fact, the Sheriff had actually sold the Parsons-Taylor House to Thomas J. Bergin, but had issued Bergin a deed showing that Bergin had purchased the Northampton Street property that was actually sold to Kunsman. Compare Deed Poll, Thomas Heckman, Sheriff, for Edward J. Seip, to Thomas J. Bergin, Sheriff 3 23 (9 Nov. 1861)(NE corner of 4th and Ferry Streets, measuring 21’ on 4th Street X 67-1/2 ‘ on Ferry Street, with “two Story Stone dwelling house” and attached Sone Kitchen, for $650) with Deed Poll, Thomas Heckman, Sheriff, for Edward J. Seip, to Thomas J. Bergin, C11 454 (26 Nov. 1861)(Tract No.1, building on Northampton Street).

The Sheriff’s apparent “sales” of the Parsons-Taylor House to Kunsman, and of the Northampton Street property to Bergin, appear to have been disregarded in later transactions.

[17] Frank B. Copp, Biographical Sketches of Some of Easton’s Prominent Citizens 251 (Hillburn & West 1879).