The jumble of names, businesses, buildings and people that exist in Hellertown today are thanks to two brothers, Christopher and Simon Heller, who traveled across the Atlantic in unruly September weather to reach the American colonies. Like many immigrants during this time period, the Hellers were Protestants fleeing religious unrest in their native Germany. For the Hellers, the Pennsylvania colony offered a place to farm and raise their children without persecution or discrimination. The brothers traveled to Pennsylvania in a ship named the “Winter Galley” in the late summer of 1738. Doubtless there was much anxiety and uncertainty in the hearts of the Heller brothers as they faced a journey with probable storms, diseases and hunger to a land they had never seen before. Christopher was 50 years old, and contracting sickness at sea could be his death. The sailing season of 1738 was a dangerous one. Dubbed “the year of destroying angels,” an epidemic raged through fleets during their Atlantic crossings. The phrase references Psalm 79:49, which reads: “He unleashed against them his hot anger, his wrath, indignation and hostility–a band of destroying angels.” An estimated 1,600 emigrants died from the sickness. Even for the known difficulties of sailing to the American colonies, such a large loss of life was unseen before. Yet the Hellers were brave enough to attempt the crossing, and their courage paid off. The family successfully landed in Philadelphia and remained there for a short time before acquiring patents to land in future Hellertown. Christopher went first, moving out to the area in 1742, and was later followed by Simon, who joined him in 1746. Eight years after leaving Germany, the Heller brothers established a family plantation, named “Delay,” at the southern base of Lehigh Mountain. Why the name Delay was chosen is unknown, but it is possibly a humorous acknowledgement of the four years it took for Simon to reunite with Christopher.
The historic Heller-Wagner Grist Mill in Hellertown is maintained by volunteers from the Hellertown Historical Society. (FILE PHOTO)
It didn’t take long for Hellertown to become a successful agricultural settlement. Simon Heller built a sawmill for the town in the 1760s, which was later purchased by Charles Wagner, who would eventually build the Wagner-Heller grist mill that still stands today under the care of the Hellertown Historical Society. Christopher Heller died in 1778, but the town he and Simon founded continued to prosper. In 1820, less than 40 years after Christopher’s death, Hellertown contained 13 houses, 18 families, three taverns, one mill, 73 inhabitants, and, for a brief period, a distillery. Of the 13 homes, six were used as schoolhouses for the children of Hellertown. In the 1830s, as Hellertown’s population grew, John Rentzheimer donated land adjacent to Silver Creek so that an independent schoolhouse could be built. With its own public school, Hellertown began acquiring its own identity. Two citizen-run newspapers, though they were both short-lived, were founded in the mid-1800s: Citizen Thomas Weber’s weekly paper The Hellertown Telegraph, and L.H. Roth’s The Saucon Advertiser. The Telegraph published in both German and English, since the citizens of Hellertown were still predominantly of German blood, and the language was spoken by many. By the late 1800s, Hellertown’s population had grown to 550. The Heller brothers’ dream of a peaceful life brought unity to hundreds of people they never even knew.
Today, Hellertown is home to slightly over six thousand people. Though linseed oil and one-room schoolhouses are no longer a part of Hellertown life, the spirit of harmony still flourishes. It is due to the efforts of Christopher and Simon that Hellertown, with its diversity of opinion, background and people, is a community where all are welcome.
