Shimersville, Pennsylvania Continued

Shimerville 

Shimerville as discussed in this article refers to the four buildings at the traffic light intersection of 29/100, St. Peter’s and Shimerville Road plus a short distance down both 29/100 (King’s High Road, King’s Highway) and Shimerville Road. 

Have you noticed that some of the road signs say Shimerville and some say Shimersville? The old records and newspaper articles say Shimersville. Maybe either way is acceptable. 

Shimerville was founded in 1734 by Durk (Derrick Johnson) Jansen a German Mennonite who bought 352 acres. He later sold part of it to Jacob Miller (Muller), who was noted as an innkeeper as early as 1774 and part to Paul Dearst. Mr. Miller sold the property to John Seip Shimer (Scheimer) about 1792, who lived here for over 35 years as Justice of the Peace and innkeeper. 

View of the house of Charles B Shimer From Across Shimerville Road

Front of house, owner said a covered porch used to encircle the house.

The house is currently a store called Aunt Daisy's. The shop owner was very kind and excited to tell my dad and I all about the house.

This used to be the smoke house.

Inside of the smoke house.

He had four sons, John B., Charles B., August B., and Jacob B., and two daughters. His hotel and farm passed onto his son, Charles B. Schimer, in 1828. Charles B.’s son, Charles S., carried on the hotel business for a time from 1865. Another son, Jacob S., became a physician, later a minister, and built a large house there in 1858. C.B. Shimer and John B. Shimer also built houses there, and many Shimer descendents became respected business men and citizens. Up until 1850 Shimerville Road had only five houses. By 1884 there were 13 houses. 

This is the barn for the Charles B Shimer house. 

Pennsylvania Dutch Barns are Unique to the Region

The original John Shimer farm (where the white house is today on the corner) had a barn across St. Peter’s Road near the hotel. This barn burned in 1905 when Harry Schreiber was the owner of the property. The fierce barn fire also burned 120 acres of crops, machinery, and out buildings and threatened the entire village for a time. Fortunately, most of the livestock were saved, and a large bucket brigade also saved the hotel about 30 yards away. 

There was a tunnel that led from the original Shimer house to the other side of St. Peter’s Road. Evidence of the tunnel remains to this day. Some think the tunnel may have been used for helping slaves in the days of the underground railroad or perhaps used during prohibition times. But the current residents think, in researching practices in early times, the tunnel was a necessary link between the house and its barn across the way. 

The hotel has been a central part of Shimerville history as the original land owner, Durk Jansen. The date when the first hotel was established is not clear, but recorded inn-keepers start with Jacob Miller and include John Shimer, Charles B. Shimer, John K n e i s s , J o s e p h B e i d l e r , J o s h u a Stahler, Reuben Stahler, George Beck, Charles S. Shimer, Jacob Riegel, and William B. Shaffer & Co. by 1878. And that’s just from the early days! Evolution of the hotel building over the years has brought it to its present use as Hendrixson’s Furniture. 

Llewellyn and Clara Shimer Graves in Oil Zionsville Cemetery

The Shimerville store was started in 1839 by Joshua and Reuben Stahler. Other storekeepers included Llewellyn Shimer, Mark and Schantz, Henry S. Kern, Howard Stauffer, Elmer Herzog, and Theodore Knauss. The post office was established in the store building in 1854 with Reuben Stahler as postmaster. Charles B. Shimer became postmaster when Stahler resigned in 1855. Later postmasters were Dr. Albert M. Sigmund and John L. Schreiber. Soon the storekeepers served in the capacity. In 1862 the store was destroyed by fire, and a new store was built the same year. 

William H. Huff began a blacksmith shop in 1884 next to his home along King’s High Road (King’s Highway, Route 29/100, beside the large white Southern style home with the iron fence). Mrs. Elizabeth Jessup Keck lived in that smaller house many years until her death at 103 years on January 12th, 2008. 

Daniel N. Kern started a blacksmith shop in 1867 on his father’s farm on the road to Vera Cruz which he conducted for 25 years along with repairing watches, clocks, and sewing machines. He also started a very successful business raising German carp in 1881 which he conducted for over 16 years before selling it to Jordan Brothers of Coopersburg and moving to Allentown. These carp ponds were located near Kern’s School House, which is the building at the fork in Shimerville Road where the left branch goes to Emmaus and the right to Vera Cruz on Main Road West. Believe it or not, this building was also Upper Milford High School at one time! The first school building there was opened in 1820, and a new one was erected in 1843 with John Schell as the first teacher. In recent times the building has been converted into a residence. 

One last interest ing note on Shimerville. Old milestones were placed at intervals along the King’s Highway for early post riders and later stage coaches on this road leading from Macungie to Goshenhoppen or Philadelphia. One of the last three remaining such stones was known to have stood at the northwest corner of Llewellyn Shimer’s barn (now Aunt Daisy’s) with the inscription: 47M (miles) to Pha (Philadelphia) 4 1/8M to G.P. (Goshenhoppen Pike). Records indicate the stone, 24 inches high, 18 inches wide, 6 inches thick, was still standing as of November, 1963. Sadly, nobody knows what happened to the marker, but local residents attest to having seen it. 

We’ve only scratched the surface of the history of Shimerville. If you are interested in more, the Historical Committee invites you to any of our meetings, the last Thursday of the month, 7 PM at the Township Building. We are a very informal, small group, so please do not hesitate to join us as we document, research, and collect Township history.

(Text is from here, with pictures added by me)