The main home and office of Quakertown Historical Society is the Burgess Foulke House. It received its name because in 1812 when Edward Foulke Sr. had the stone farmhouse built near the intersection of what is now Trumbauersville Road and South West End Boulevard (also known as Route 309).
He chose this spot for its proximity to the Quaker Meeting House on Main Street — then Old Bethlehem Pike — and even had a stone path laid leading to it.
Little did he know then that his son Edward Foulke Jr. would become the first Burgess (mayor) of Quakertown when it was incorporated in 1855.
The Foulke house is filled with generous donations the society has collected since its incorporation in 1966.
You can tell that the Foulkes were wealthy people of the time with finishes within in the home including two closets and even remnants of black baseboard paint. It was quite expensive to make black paint because of all the colors that needed to be combined to create it.
The home consists of three stories including the attic, which has a secret beehive nook, and has an identical layout for the first and second floors.
When you walk in, you’re in a large hallway that leads to the back door so the doors could be opened and used as a breezeway during the hot and humid Pennsylvania summers. There is a large kitchen, which would have been the main gathering place or greeting room, with a large hearth fireplace for cooking. It also features a front and back parlor used mainly for special gatherings or events the family was holding.
There is a large staircase, unusual for the time, which leads you up to the second floor. Again you have two smaller rooms on one side and one large room on the other. The two smaller rooms are decorated as bedrooms, a children’s, and master.
The larger room is our artifacts room with a rotating display and a permanent display of red ware pottery, some of which was found during an archeological dig at Richard Moore’s house at 401 S. Main St. These items tell part of the story of Quakertown’s involvement with the Underground Railroad.
In the summer of 1974, the home had quite the journey. It was to be razed for the new Country Square Shopping Center. The Hillegass family that purchased the home back in 1915 decided to donate the home to Quakertown Historical Society. With then-society President Bill Amey, it was able to raise the $40,000 it would take to move the Foulke house to 26 N. Main St.
The home was lifted onto a modified trailer and taken down Route 309 with the entire town watching. There were even kids riding their bicycles alongside the home. At a snail’s pace, it rolled north approximately one mile up 309 to the Quakertown Shopping Plaza. It then made a right to go down the steep hill toward what was then Leh’s Department Store. It rolled behind the shopping center out almost to North Main Street.
There it stayed for some time before the basement foundation that was being built for the Foulke house was finished. Once it was finished, a portion of the Dry Branch Creek was filled with stone. The house was slid over the creek and onto the new foundation.
There is a timeline of the move on display in the kitchen of the Foulke house. It was one of the largest gatherings in Quakertown until 1976 when the Wagon Train came through on the Bicentennial.
We are happy to provide tours of the Burgess Foulke House to individuals, groups and school classes. Free tours can be arranged by calling 267-227-3864.
Christina Landis is president of the Quakertown Historical Society.
“Heralding Our History” is a weekly feature. Each month, the Herald delves into the history of one of its towns.
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