Villages

Villages. . , Roads on the 1876 map show where the first villages developed in Lower Macungie. They began as "crossroads settlements," often with just one public building such as an inn with food, rooms and stables., Before we had shopping centers with big parking lots, places where a number of stores sell almost anything we could want and a lot more, each village had at least one store that sold general merchandise. Villages developed gradually, in a haphazard way, as enterprising individuals recognized a need for services; eventually they became centers that provided goods, services, some housing, sometimes a school or church, and a post office., Bartering for goods and services, and sharing expenses, for example to provide for a pastor or a schoolteacher, was common in the earliest decades of settlement. Purchasing items for cash was not common. The general stores that opened here in the 1800s would stock local farm produce for sale to customers; more importantly sold items that could not be grown or made locally. The owner of the store contracted with local farmers to provide food items such as eggs and butter, and with a local butcher and baker for meats and bread. Farm families could keep fresh food in a spring house but most others depended on frequent trips to the store to buy their fresh food., The village of Wescosville, where you are now, started with an inn built in 1797 at the northwestern corner of the intersection of the King's Highway (Hamilton Boulevard) and Water Street (Brookside Road), just down the road from here. A general store was built at the northeastern corner of the intersection in 1828. At that time it was not a center of much commercial activity. When a post office was established in 1844, the village was named for Israel Wesco. He ran the hotel at the time and became the first postmaster. Rapid growth started after a trolley line came through the village in 1898, and the village became a "trolley suburb," a place where people could commute to work in Allentown. Houses began to be built along Hamilton Boulevard and Brookside Road as Wescosville grew into the largest village in Lower Macungie.,

We Have…, Clothing for the naked, , Glasses for the blind; , Shoes for the barefooted, , Gloves that are lined, , Curtains for the windows , Shoe strings and laces; , Lamps, wicks and oil , To light the dark places. , Dried fruits, canned goods, , Everything to eat; , Caps for the head , And socks for the feet. , Calico of the finest, , That never fades, , Woolen goods for dresses, , Ribbons for old maids. , Tobacco for menfolk , Hats for the ladies; , Toys for the children; , Bottles for the babies. , Queensware, Glassware, , Plaster and coal, , Leather for harnesses , And leather for soles. , Straps for strings, , Buckles and screens; , The finest of silks, , And the coarsest of jeans. , Potatoes and apples, , Lard and meat, , Butter from the country , Fresh and sweet. , Tea and coffee, , Sugar and rice, , Beans and crackers, , Cheese and spice. , Oysters and salmon, , Flour and meal, , Mouse traps - and cats , To make the mice squeal. , Powder for faces, , Powder for hunters; , Axes for choppers, , And remedies for grunters. , Chewing gum, candy, , Corset and bustle; , The people come trading , And how do we hustle. , Medicine to make you sick, , And medicine to make you well, , In fact, we have everything , That the best stores sell., Jacob C. Wasser

, [Captions:] , Jacob Wasser and his daughter inside Wasser's general store, East Macungie, in 1912. The store stood on the southwest corner of the intersection of Brookside Road and Walnut Street. A poem written by Jacob Wasser to advertise the variety of goods he sold was posted inside., Towns, villages, and industries had their own baseball teams. The top photo shows the team in 1936. By 1938 it had been renamed the Cardinals. The team played in the Tri-County League, which consisted of teams from Emmaus, Alburtis, Macungie, Richlandtown, Seisholtzville, and Topton, until the 1950s. In 1948 the Wescosville team won the league championship., Lower Macungie, 1876. Many roads were realigned due to mining activities in the late 1800s, and later when the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike was constructed.