Fourth Between Bridge and Strawberry

Address: 330 Bridge St :  Corner of Bridge & Fourth
Name: Owen Franklin & Sarah Humphrey Fatzinger
Year built: 1901
Built by: Owen F. Fatzinger
Owen F. Fatzinger was treasurer of Wint Lumber Co from 1874 to 1906.  This lumber business was founded at Front & Spring Sts in 1853.  The Wint-Fatzinger family became sole owners after 1874, at which time Owen F. Fatzinger and his two brothers-in-laws, Ferdinand W. Wint, and James P. Wint purchased the interest of Yeager, an earlier partner.  Rufus M. joined the company upon the death of his father F. W., and James P. became president.    The company converted to a stock corp in 1900 and Frank J. & Owen A. Fatzinger, nephews of Owen F., were added as shareholders.  In 1902, Wint Lumber Co. was enlarged by the addition of the Catasauqua Rolling Mill property.  A coal yard was also added to the business in the early 1900s.  Owen was also president of the National Bank of Catasauqua, a member of the Catasauqua Land Company, a director of the Bryden Horseshoe Works and a shareholder in the Thomas Iron Company.  Owen F. passed away in 1906.

Owen grew up on the Fatzinger family farm out in Hanover Township, where Cedar Hill Memorial Cemetery is located and B.J. wholesale house, Copperhead Grill, etc. He moved into Catasauqua in 1873, when he and his two Wint brothers-in-law purchased the lumber mill on Front Street. His first home in town was located near the office on Front Street and is currently occupied by Cathy’s Creative Catering. The front of that building was extensively changed after his occupancy, when it was taken over by the Moose Home.

Architectural Notes:
Albert Wolfring Leh was the architect, designer of many striking buildings in the Lehigh Valley.  The original house plans are in the Athenaeum in Philadelphia. It is a Victorian – Queen Anne style home.  Owen used an Allentown builder and contractor, William Geisinger. Some of the woodwork, like the pergola and arbors and most likely some of the internal woodwork was accomplished by in-house employees of the F.W. Wint & Company.

Other Site History:
Part of Fuller Family Estates:  previously part of C. D Fuller Estate.  Before that, part of the Peter Farm.

Lots on the north side of Bridge St were part of the earlier Fuller Homestead land purchase, a 50 acre tract that extended to Arch Street.
The home shown to the right was built by James W. Fuller, II on the west side of Fourth, on the corner lot extending from Fourth to Howertown Road, currently the location of several smaller homes on wooded lots.   The lot extended to Strawberry, including the site which would become the Elverson Home.  The carriage house still stands along Howertown Road as a private residence.  The lot in 1908 is pictured on the Sanborn map which shows the carriage house and the Elverson residence.
His father, James Wheeler Fuller came to Catasauqua in 1842, running boats on the canal.  He soon was working with David Thomas, successfully securing a charter from the PA legislature in 1854 for the Crane Iron & Thomas Iron to build the C&F RR.   He purchased the land to start Fairview cemetery in 1858.  He built two large homes on Front St:  one above Pine in 1863 and one at School St in 1865; the later likely the childhood home of James, II  He was influential in the political and military affairs of PA’s involvement in the Civil War, and became wealthy selling horses to the federal government during the war.
James W. II enlisted at age 18 in the 47th Regiment during the Civil War.  He sold queens-ware in Philadelphia before returning to Catasauqua in 1868, joining up with his uncle, Charles D., and James Thomas in the McKee, Fuller Co, and as proprietors of the Lehigh Car, Wheel & Axle Co.   James W. II laid out the area around the business in 1870 and the town was named Fullerton in his honor.   He had a very hands-on role in the business of mixing irons for the casting of wheels and axles.  He also served as a president of the Catasauqua Manufacturing Co.

James II married to Katherine (Kate) Maria Thomas, daughter of Hopkin Thomas, in 1864 and they had four children. The home was native granite.  After Kate’s death in 1920 (her husband died in 1910), the house went unoccupied and was eventually torn down ~1934.

Address:  505 Fourth St
Year built: 1949
Built by:  William Feenstra
Not built until 1954, William Feenstra was an engineer at the (Universal) Atlas Cement Co at the time he built this home.  He also served in the Army Reserve, following WWI, retiring from there in 1963 as an instructor after 26 years.  He and his wife, Edna VanOrden Feenstra, had a son William VO (killed in a car wreck at age 36 in 1988) and a daughter Edna.  His wife was active in the LV Club of Reserve Officers Association Ladies.  Mr. Feenstra served on the Cata Board of Health.

Address: 515 Fourth Street
Year built: 1949
Built by:  A. Newton Bugbee, Sr
Local construction engineer, A. Newton Bugbee, Sr, a descendent of Hopkin Thomas, and his wife Dorothy built this home in 1949.

Other Site History:This house is situated on a section of the “Fuller Homestead”.  Circa 1874, James  W. Fuller II, and his wife, Kate, erected a stone mansion at the intersection of Howertown and Bridge Sts.  This property was bounded by Bridge, Howertown, Strawberry and Fourth Sts.  After the death of Kate Fuller in 1920, the “Homestead”, reduced to 2.13 acres passed into the hands of her daughter, Mary L. Fuller McCaskey, a resident of Oregon.  She sold the property to D. G. Dery in 1922, who declared bankruptcy the following year.   The property was purchased by Mrs. Maude Fuller Elverson, Mrs. Grace Williams Kohler Harding and Mrs. Winifred Emanual.  Following several family transactions, by 1940 the property was owned by Charles and Anna Eastman, the daughter to Grace Harding.  Unoccupied after 1920, the house was referred to by local residents as the Haunted House.  Around 1934 the house was torn down and the grounds divided into building lots.

Architectural Notes:Designed by the architectural firm of H. F. Everett & Associates, the house was constructed of green West Chester stone.  The comfortable interior features a large master suite with stone fireplace, stenciled pine floors and a library.

Address: 527 Fourth Street
Name:  Barton Home
Year built: 1937 
This was the home of Dr. Byron Barton, dentist, wife Marion A. Evans, son Roger E. (also a dentist) and daughter Elyse, a dental hygienist.  He was very active in community and in local, regional and state dental associations.   His office was at 125 Bridge St, currently Hutterer’s Barber Shop.

Dr. Barton was born in Sloatsville, NY.  Upon graduation from the Univ. of Pennsylvania Dental School in 1914, he came to Catasauqua in 1914 and practiced with Dr. Rehrig until 1917.  He served in France and Germany as part of the US Army Dental Corp, then opened his own office upon returning after WWI.
Other Site History:See 515 Fourth St

Address:  522 Fourth St
Name: David & Winifred Emanuel
Year built: 1895
Built by: David Emanuel
David, born in 1865, was the son of Morgan Emanuel and grew up with his brother William in the family home on Pine St, now the Catasauqua Club.  He partnered with his father in the Crystal Hill Dairy and Creamery.   He organized Emanuel & Co for the manufacture and crushing of blast furnace slag for roofing and concrete aggregate and did general contracting for the furnaces.

David married Winifred Williams, daughter of Oliver Williams, 616 Second St.  Winifred partnered with Roland Davies and her cousin, George Williams, under the name of Catasauqua Real Estate and developed 16 brick homes in town:  the six row homes that flanked her family’s home on Pine St (subdividing the Emanuel lot), along Third between Pine & Walnut, and along Limestone between Pine and Walnut.   Winifred also led the local Red Cross efforts here during WWI, making thousands of bandages and other supplies that were sent to the troops both here and abroad.  After their death (Winifred died in 1931), it was the home of their daughter Grace Campbell Johnson II and her family.  Grace’s husband died in 1941:  he was of the Philadelphia ink family and had an insurance sales business in Allentown.  Grace and her son moved to Allentown in 1945.  It then became the home of Mrs. George Holton, Winifred’s sister/Grace’s aunt, Jessica (1946).   In 1946 the home was purchased by Mr and Mrs Robert T Fitzhugh.  Mr Fitzhigh was a professor of English at Lehigh.  They converted the stone garage in the rear into apts in 1947.  The house had a turnover of occupants for the next few years.  The current residents have been associated with the home for a couple generations.

Site History:  The site was purchased by David Thomas early on, and then sold for development.  The 1876 map shows the lot (undeveloped) being owned by David Gillespie, who ran the General Store at Second and Mulberry.
Architectural Notes:Tudor Revival in style, the house design is very similar to that of the spec houses built by Joseph Hunt and the Seaman – Chapman house next door, suggesting that the same builder or architect may have been involved.

Address:  534 Fourth St
Name:  Seaman-Chapman House
Year built: 1883
Built by: Harry Seaman, Sr. 
Charles W.Chapman’s parents were Joseph H. & Martha (Wooley).  They were born in CT and lived in Mauch Chunk.  Joseph worked for the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co and later was superintendent of the Mauch Chunk Canal department.

Charles was first employed by Lehigh Valley Railroad Corps of Engineers, learning surveying and RR construction – his brother Lansford was supervisor of the corps.  He helped his brother lay out the route for the Catasauqua & Fogelsville RR – and the first terminus was named Chapman in their honor.  Was also on survey for Northern PA & DE line from Freemansburg to the Delaware Water Gap and accompanied Robert McIntyre (dug race for original Crane Iron Works) to Washington DC to engineer the Cabin John Viaduct carrying water over the Potomac to the Capital.

In 1860, Charles Chapman joined Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co as superintendent of the Broad Top Coal and Iron Co, married Annie Philips of Catasauqua, and had two sons.  During the Civil War, he joined the Company E 28th PA Volunteer Infantry, mustering out at Atlanta in 1864 as Lieutenant.  He later served as superintendent of the Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad from 1867 till his death in 1904.  He was the architect and superintendent of the Fairview Cemetery, served as Borough Engineer, and served on the Catasauqua School Board for 24 years.
These Chapmans were not related to the English line who founded the slate quarry in Chapman.

Other Occupants:  Previously owned by Harry Seaman – See 606 Fifth St.  This was one of the first houses to be built on the block north of the Fuller homes.Architectural Notes:  The brick Eastlake style house is very similar to that of the spec houses built by Joshua Hunt.  Perhaps the same builder or architect was involved.

Address: 533 Fourth St
Name: Elverson or Elverson-Salade House
Year built: 1890
Built by: James Fuller, II
The home was built by James W. Fuller, Jr. for his daughter Maude as a wedding present when she married Joseph Sketchley Elverson.  Born in Camden, N. J. in 1866, he graduated for the University of Pennsylvania and, in 1890, went to work as a mining engineer for the Crane Iron Works, later becoming Division Superintendent of The Empire Steel & Iron Company at Oxford, and opened up their mine workings in that district. Later became a chemist with the Lehigh Car, Wheel & Axle Works (LCWA), moving onto Secretary/Treasurer and director, where he led the company in Fullerton for many years.  He was president of the CMCO in 1895, steering it through its banruptcy and receivership, was president and a director of the Lehigh Foundry Company (formerly Mill D of the CMCo), and a director of the Empire Steel and Iron Company and the Allentown Portland Cement Company.  He was president of the local republican club and a school director.  At the time of his death, he was a consultant to Babcock and Wilcox, successor to LCWA. A chilled, cast metal product, Elverite, was named after him.  He also had a patent for a sparking ignition system for a multi/cylinder engine for automobiles.

His wife Maud Miller Fuller Elverson was an active member of the volunteer fire company of Catasauqua.  She died in 1938.  Her husband, the noted metallurgist and consultant, died in 1954 at age 88.  Both are buried at Fairview Cemetery.  Their son James E Elverson died at age 47 in 1940; he was a lighting sales engineer for PPL.
Maud’s sister Blanche married Dr. Louis Salade and they also lived here before moving to Medford, Oregon.  The home was sold following the death of J S Elverson.  By 1960, the home was occupied by  the Dr George L & Elizabeth Lewis family who lived here until 1974.  Dr Lewis was an osteopathic physician living at 1128 Third St in North Catty before moving here.  In 1954, his practice in North Catty was taken over by Dr Hauck, at which time Dr Lewis had moved his office to Allentown.  Lewis practiced in Allentown until 1974, retiring to Florida before his death in 1979.

Architectural Notes:This granite, Queen Anne style house, features a wrap-around porch and turret.  The double doors open onto a large center hall with tiled fireplace, oak staircase, and large, ornate pier mirror at the foot of the stairs.  The house retains many of the original features.