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FRIDAY JULY 26, 2024 • VOL. 54, NO. 30
A Collection Of Pottery That Descended In The Bach Family Of Allentown, Pa.
Reinholds Station Trinity Chapel Show Slated For Aug. 3
During the late 19th and early 20th century, Lehigh Valley, Pa., was a major player in the development of extractive industries, including steel and cement production, coal mining and slate quarrying. Among the mill cities heavily involved with this industrial movement was Allentown, which was home to the Allentown Iron Company, the city’s economic driver from the mid-19th century to about the 1890s. Allentown also saw some utilitarian pottery production during this period. According to the 1870 U.S. Federal Census, Charles Bach and George Stroble are listed as potters in Allentown living in Ward 5 in the city. Both potters appear to have migrated to Pennsylvania sometime in the 1860s, whereas Bach was born in Württemberg, Germany, about 1834 and Stroble in Bavaria, Germany, about
By Karl Pass
By Justin W. Thomas
1844. They were perhaps working together at the same pottery business producing red earthenware. Based on Bach family oral history, Charles W. Bach established the Allentown Pottery in 1865, located on 416-418 Penn St. “The Manufacturing and Mercantile Resources of the Lehigh Valley” in 1881 states Bach manufactured a variety of flowerpots, hanging baskets, jars, cake molds, jugs, etc., and that his specialty was ornamental work. This company later established a flower business that was sold along with the pottery. Bach also had at least one son who was a potter at the Allentown business, also named Charles Bach (1860-1908), born in Württemberg on Oct. 31, 1860. At some point in the late 1800s, the younger Bach must have taken control of the business, eventually passing it on to a daughter and son-in-law around the time of his death in 1908.
The 19th-century hanging red earthenware flowerpot is most likely among the production flowerpots that descended through the Bach family. Photo courtesy Crocker Farm. In a firsthand account published in “The Morning Call” on Nov. 26, 1959, titled, “Only Memories Remain for City’s Surviving Potterer,” journalist Jim O’Donnell spoke with the daughter of the younger Charles Bach, Mrs. Florence (Bach) Nippert (1887-1973), who was 73 years old at the time of the interview; according to Mrs. Nippert, “My grandfather founded the Allentown Pottery in 1865. It was the first and only pottery in Allentown. He started the fire in his kiln shortly after he arrived in the country from Germany. He was trained in the ceramic art by his father, a descendant of a long line of potterers.” “A museum in Philadelphia offered me $100 for a bank my father made in the shape of a chicken. When the business was prosperous, the Bach Pottery had two kilns and three greenhouses.
I started the flower business when I was very young. I graduated from the Herbst School (in Allentown) and could have gone to high school but I had to work in the pottery. People came from New Jersey on Sunday to browse for pottery and buy our flowers.” In 1896, Charlie (Charles Bach’s son) moved the pottery business to 413 N. Penn St. At this location, the ground dips eight feet below the street level. Charlie knew this would be an ideal site for his kilns, where he made vases, crocks, pots, jugs, bowls and sponge-cake molds. The clay was brought by a horse team from other locations in Pennsylvania, including Emmaus, Pennsburg and Rittersville. Also, according to Mrs. Nippert, “Pots were not made to break but they were often used to weave a spell. A woman saddened Continued on page 8
The Historic Reinholds Station Trinity Chapel Annual Summer Arts Festival will take place Saturday, Aug. 3, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. This small event is held at the West Cocalico Township Building, which also serves as the Reinholds Fire Company’s Banquet Hall, located at 156 W. Main St. (Route 897), in the village of Reinholds, Pa. Local artisans who will be Continued on page 11
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Theatrical Production Comes To Historic Rock Ford Performance Dates Will Be Aug. 8, 9, 10, 11, 15 And 16
The late 19th century red earthenware flowerpot is attributed the Bach Pottery in Allentown, Pa. Photo courtesy Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library.
Surrounded by the lush greenery of the grounds and gardens of Historic Rock Ford, in Lancaster, Pa., William Shakespeare’s timeless comedy play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” will be staged on the piazza of the General Edward Hand Mansion on Aug. 8 to 11 and 15 and 16 at 7:30 p.m. This production is presented in collaboration with the Orpheus Theatre Company. Guests should bring their own chairs or picnic blankets. Continued on page 11
In This Issue A late 19th century multi-colored glazed red earthenware chicken coin bank made at the Bach Pottery in Allentown, Pa. This is possibly the type of bank that Mrs. Nippert referenced in the 1959 article saying that a museum in Philadelphia had previously offered her $100 to purchase it. Photo courtesy Jeff Herb.
This is a picture of Charles W. Bach’s granddaughter and Charlie Bach’s daughter, Mrs. Florence (Bach) Nippert (1887-1973) that was published in an article in “The Morning Call” in Allentown on Nov. 26, 1959, titled, “Only Memories Remain for City’s Surviving Potterer.” She is seen surrounded by bouquets of flowers. Photo courtesy “The Morning Call.”
SHOPS, SHOWS & MARKETS . . . . . . .
starting on page 3
SHOPS DIRECTORY . . . . . . .
on page 4
EVENT & AUCTION CALENDAR on page 5 AUCTIONEER DIRECTORY . . . . on page 5 AUCTION SALE BILLS . . . . . . on page 6
FEATURE RESULT: Rare Books Signature Auction - Page 4
CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . on page 11