Women and the Civil War” is an exhibit of photographs and stories of women who had family connections with soldiers of that war. It was first displayed at the Gratz Fair in September 2013, where it received “first place” in a non-profit division. Afterward, it was displayed in 2014 at the Williamtown-Williams Township Historical Society; […]
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The original Simon Gratz Lot #45 was first sold to Henry Freedline, who was probably a manufacturer of clothing, in 1829. Over the course of the next seven years , the lot and the building Freedline built on it was sold several times – to Peter Filbert and his wife who were inn-keepers, to Jacob […]
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The house on this property, Lot #47, was built in the 1820s by Joshua Osman who purchased the lot from Simon Gratz in 1818. Some time around 1824, Peter Crabb (1787-?), a blacksmith, purchased the property from Osman, and probably built the small building in the rear which he used as a blacksmith shop. Peter […]
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In July of 1863, President Lincoln issued a proclamation ordering a draft to raise five hundred thousand men for the Union army. It was the first compulsory draft in American history. The draft was intended to encourage enlistment, but in many cases it had the opposite effect. Federal troops had to be called out in […]
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