Susan Miers Smith: Berks Places: Lobachsville flourished with Oley Valley water power for mills [Updated]

Mar. 14—Editor's note: This article was updated March 14, 2022, to correct information about Lynn Lorah.

Berks Places is a recurring feature that will focus on small villages and census-designated places throughout the county. History, nostalgia and local voices will shed some light on the quaint nooks and crannies of our area. Additional historical photographs accompany the online version of the articles.

The unincorporated village of Lobachsville is just east of Oley in neighboring Pike Township.

It takes its name from the long line of Lobachs who have lived there since the 1700s. However, William/Wilhelm/Wilhelmus Pott (on some documents listed as Potts) is recognized as the first settler there according to Berks County historian George M. Meiser IX. His Jan. 4, 1984, Reading Eagle article also appears in Volume 4 of "The Passing Scene" series of books written by Meiser and his wife, Gloria Jean.

Meiser wrote that Pott was on the ship St. Andrew manifest dated Sept. 12, 1734, as being among the passengers arriving in Philadelphia from Rotterdam, Germany. In addition to Potts, the immigrants included his stepson Peter Lobach II. Peter's father, Peter Arnold Lobach, had died in 1720.

A deed from Jan. 16, 1739, shows William Pott purchased 53 acres in Oley, Philadelphia County, from George Adam Widner (later spelled Weidner) and his wife, Dorothy, for 125 pounds. The deal also included half-interest in a fulling mill and saw mill.

According to Encyclopedia Brittanica, fulling is "a process that increases the thickness and compactness of woven or knitted wool by subjecting it to moisture, heat, friction and pressure until shrinkage of 10 — 25% is achieved."

In a deed dated April 2, 1745, Peter Lobach acquired two tracts of land totaling 59 acres for 100 pounds from his mother, Gertrude, and stepfather, William Potts. The land, which was part of Oley Township at the time, included the fulling mill. Pike Township would not become its own municipality until 1812.

Pott operated a grist mill nearby powered by Pine Creek that turned the area's abundant crops into grain.

Peter Lobach also would start a saw mill on his land.

Peter's grandson Samuel Lobach II would open a general store at what today is 293 Lobachsville Road. A post office was opened there April 10, 1835, by David Lobach, Meiser said. It would remain in operation until June 10, 1906.

William and Naomi Becker were the last to operate the store, which closed in 1981. According to Lynn Lorah, Tom Franke manned the counter there on Sundays Meiser said. Lorah grew up in the former hotel building across the street from the general store.

The building where Lorah grew up in was built as the home of Samuel and Magdalena Lobach around 1790. Their son would convert it into a tavern and hotel in the 1830s. It still stands today and is a residence.

Samuel Lobach II also would open a chair factory along Main Street/Lobachsville Road. Meiser said that building was razed around 1949.

The chair factory was gone long before Scott Moyer was even born, but he has heard many stories of the village's heyday. He's lived there for only 27 years.

"My wife is a fourth-generation resident here, and my son is a fifth," Moyer said.

Moyer, 61, said he remembers driving though the area when he was in his 20s, thinking it would be a nice place to live. He said his gun club used to bring members to the village to fish because a trout hatchery was there when he was growing up.

His wife, Denise, has deep family roots in the village. Both her parents and grandparents attended the one-room Lobachsville schoolhouse that is only about 100 yards from their home. The Mill Road stone building was one of six one-room schoolhouses that served Pike Township before its consolidation into the Oley Valley School District.

The building is now a residence.

Moyer said the biggest change he has seen in Lobachsville since he moved there is the increase in traffic because the village is located along a route to East Penn Manufacturing Co. in Lyons. The company is best known for making Deka batteries.

"Deka has gotten bigger and my wife works there, so I'm not saying anything against it," said Moyer, who operates a pool business, said.

Trucks are the loudest new comers he said.

"Ten years ago there was a bridge they redid, and they put signs out on Route 73 for it and ever since then, with their GPSes, the tractor-trailers now come through," Moyer explained.

"I bought a cabin up in the mountains, and I'm ready to go right now," he said, noting he would run up to Susquehanna County on most weekends. "Now, the way gas prices are, I can hardly afford to go."

Staying in the hills of the Oley Valley is not so bad though. They still enjoy the relative quiet of the area, and Moyer says his wife will never leave her family's deep-grown roots there.