Pottstown, St. Clair County

When the Revolutionary war was winding down, boundary lines of counties were being reconsidered. Three counties, Berks, Philadelphia (now Montgomery), and Chester, met and formed a common corner in the Schuylkill River just above Pottstown.

In 1783 a petition was presented to the general assembly by a number of the inhabitants of the upper part of Chester County, the lower part of Berks, and the upper part of Philadelphia stating that: “… from their local situations in each of these counties, with respect to the county towns [county seats] they are under great inconveniences, the attending of public and private business at so great distances from the place of their respective abodes, exposing them to much expense and loss of time; and therefore praying that a county town may be constituted at Pottstown and the lands within the following limits be erected into a county:..”

The area of the proposed new county included from Chester County: the townships of East Vincent, North, East, and South Coventry (then one township), and East Nantmeal (then including Warwick township); from Berks County: Union, Earl, Colebrookdale, parts of Amity, Pike, Hereford and District; from Philadelphia (now Montgomery): the three Pottsgroves (then part of New Hanover ), Douglass, Upper Hanover, New Hanover, Marlborough, Frederick (now both upper and lower), and Limerick.

It was proposed that this region be called St. Clair County in honor of General Arthur St. Clair, who at one time lived in the Potts Mansion at High and Hanover streets. The property had been seized by the government and sold to St. Clair after the loyalist Potts was condemned a traitor.

Born in Scotland, Arthur St. Clair was wealthy, but died in poverty, due, in no small part, to his devotion to General Washington and efforts toward the Patriot’s cause. During the Revolutionary War he rose to the rank of Major General, sometimes paying salaries and financing some army equipment out of his own pocket. He never recouped his losses.

When Gen. St. Clair lived here he was president of the Congress under the Articles of Confederation of the Colonies which preceded the Constitution. As such, he was the highest official in the nation, there being yet no president.

Petitions against the new county were also submitted, and on February 17, 1784, the committee reported negatively, Montgomery County being established that same year. In 1798 Pottstown’s advocates again submitted a petition to the state legislature for the division of Berks, Chester, and Montgomery counties in order to create a new county. This was repeated in 1805, 1814, 1834, 1837, 1838, 1845, 1846, 1847, 1848 and later. The issue wasn’t settled until the adoption of a new constitution in 1874 wherein new counties were effectively prohibited.

At various times the names Manatawny and Madison were also suggested for the new county. The Madison name soon gave rise to a Madison fire engine, the Madison Guards (a militia company), Madison Lodge of Odd Fellows, Madison Bridge and Madison Street.

The appeal of 1837 is well documented in a circular created to forward the movement. The circular notes that with regard to population the new county would have at least 25,000 inhabitants and exceed the population of thirty other counties. The circular also notes that carving these townships out of Berks, Chester, and Montgomery will still leave these latter counties among the largest in the state.

With regard to business resources, the committee noted that within the New County, in addition to the pre-eminent agriculture, there exist 4 blast furnaces, 9 forges, 2 cupolas (steel making), 6 tilt hammers (heavy forging), 9 merchant mills (commercial flour grinding), 48 country mills, 27 oil mills (pressing linseed oil from flax seed), 13 powder mills (blasting powder), 50 saw mills, 2 paper mills, 11 clover mills (thrashing clover seed), 20 tanneries, 6 woolen factories, 70 stores, and finally 12 coal and lumber yards. “Here,” the advocates noted, “may be seen the farmer, the mechanic, the iron master, the powder-maker, etc. etc. all pursuing their different avocations and daily interchanging the varied products of their industry.” And most of the residents, it was noted, lived twenty to thirty miles from their respective county seats.

Noted too were the central location in the new county of the Schuylkill Navigation, the Reading Railroad and the Reading and Perkiomen turnpikes.

The New County bill passed the state Senate in 1849, but failed in the house. In 1854 it passed in the House but was defeated in the Senate. Of course, opposition to the new county was strong in the areas not included. Berks, Montgomery and Chester were not about to cede large pieces of their territory without a fight, and in this fight the existing counties had the political clout to ultimately prevail.