History
Updated - 07/11/2019
History is a confusing subject. Earliest history was dependent upon stories being told & re-told over many generations...which led to omissions, errors and even embellishments. As written history came along, the same faults still existed, but now a second factor came into play...translations from one language to another, which caused misinterpretations as well as misunderstandings. Furthermore, sometimes "history" was in fact nothing more than an inaccuracy told by faulty perceptions of the author or deliberate misinformation by the source. Even supposedly "factual" or "scientifically proven" concepts or beliefs were later found to be faulty or untrue. As a result, nobody can definitively state that every piece of information they receive is historically accurate, but the A.A.H.S. will try to portray history as it factually occurred...whether it be good, bad or indifferent.
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The original inhabitants of the land which would later become the Auburn area were Native Americans or "Indians". The Lenape Indians were the primary tribe located in this region. Early American settlers began to move into the area, encroaching upon the land that was once the sole territory of the Native Americans. Initially, the Lenape tolerated the few foreigners who settled here, but eventually relationships became strained until it reached a breaking point with the launch of the French and Indian War in 1754. In the Fall of 1755, the first log church in Schuylkill County had just been constructed only to be attacked and set ablaze by the Lenape. Over the next several months, many atrocities were committed by the Lenape against local settlers. Some of these incidents are detailed in the A.A.H.S. publication "Indian Hostilities near Fort Lebanon". By 1756, a string of wooden forts or stockades were constructed through mid-eastern Pennsylvania to help defend settlers against attacks. In this area, Fort Lebanon (a.k.a. - Fort Williams or Fort Bohundy) was built and located approximately one and one-half miles east of what would eventually become Auburn, PA. During later hostilities, the Lenape attacked Fort Lebanon, seized over one hundred hostages and burned the fort to the ground.
Years later, after Native American hostilities were virtually eliminated from the area, David Faust built the first home in the area that would eventually become Auburn. As other homes were built, the settlement was named "Faustville". By the early 1800s, the Schuylkill Navigation System was constructed and ran adjacent to the row of homes (in Faustville) which would subsequently be called "Canal Street". One of the lock-keepers for the Schuylkill Navigation System (or "Schuylkill Canal" as it was erroneously called) lived in this immediate area. He was a memorable individual named William Hay from Scotland. Since he tended the canal locks there, the area was then referred to as "Scotchman's Locks". In 1842, the Reading Railroad was constructed with tracks running adjacent to Canal Street. A superintendent for the railroad, one G. A. Nicola, suggested renaming the town "Auburn". This suggestion was prompted in part by his remembrance of a European town of the same name as well as a line found in a poem titled "The Deserted Village" by Oliver Goldsmith which read "Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain". In 1857, "Auburn" became established as a town and the name has remained the same now for over 160 years. |