Berks Places: Montello got its name after hat factory was built - Reading Eagle

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 Montello runs along Fritztown Road in Spring Township and developed when the Hendel family decided to launch another hat factory in the village in the late 1800s.

George Hendel and his son John acquired the main tract of Spring Township land where the factory would be built in 1886 from Samuel J. and Sallie Coldren, according to Berks County deed records. Another small portion of land that would become part of the company holdings there was acquired in 1898 from Joseph and Magdelena Eberly.

The Hendels also would construct six duplex homes near the factory that would be rented to workers. Five were along what would become Montello Road and another was set back along an alleyway.

“The Hendels came there in 1886, 1887 and they constructed that hat factory down there around 1887, and then they built the homes following that, so they sort of dated from 1888, 1889,” said Paul L. Miller, whose family occupied one of those duplexes from 1921 to 2004. “The house we lived in, I always dated that to about 1889. That was the very last end duplex before you went down the hill to the bridge.”

Miller, 65, was the last member of his family to live there and moved to Sinking Spring with his wife, Kathy, in 2004.

This home, a duplex originally built by the Hendel Hat Co. in the late 1880s at 46 Montello Road in Spring Township, was lived in by members of the Miller family from 1921 until 2004. Shown in the 1920s are, from left, Ellsworth and Mary Ann Miller and their daughter, Katie Miller. Paul L. Miller and his wife, Kathy, who now live in Sinking Spring, were the last of the Millers to own the property. (Courtesy of Paul Miller)

Corey McCarty — Reading Eagle

Montello is an unincorporated village in Spring Township. (Corey McCarty — Reading Eagle)

The Hendels also constructed rental homes in the village of Pennwyn in Cumru Township for workers at its factory along the Wyomissing Creek, which was built in 1878.

Miller, who is president of the Sinking Spring Historical Society, said his great-grandparents moved into a duplex at 46 Montello Road in 1921 as renters.

“Then in 1924, the Hendel estate sold the houses off by halves for $1,250 each,” Miller said. “My great uncle, he bought both halves of the house. He was the owner of the house, but the family lived there.”

Miller took a keen interest in the history of his hometown, where he lived from 1956 to 2004.

“It was really the Reading and Columbia Railroad that came up with that Montello name,” Miller explained, noting a train stop was added by the line to pick up hats from the Hendel factory. “There was no name there before that. That name Montello is not unique either.”

The Mell family on the front porch of the Montello general store. John Mell, the man in the hat, served as the first postmaster of Montello from Aug. 29, 1892 until his death in 1912. His wife, Sarah, is at right. Their son David L. Mell served as postmaster from Nov. 26, 1912, until his death in December 1931. Montello postal service ceased Dec. 12, 1931. (Courtesy of Paul Miller)

Just east of the railroad tracks, John Mell opened a general store and petitioned the government for a post office. Mell became the first postmaster of Montello on Aug. 29, 1892, Meiser said. He held the position until his death in 1912. His son David L. Mell took over as postmaster Nov. 26, 1912, and served until his death in 1931. Montello postal service was ended Dec. 12, 1931.

“There are Montellos in other places, and some of those are associated, at least one other place, maybe two, with other designated train stops in the country. It was used on some products too. It’s kind of a funny thing. The name’s floating around out there for other reasons.”

One of those products was Montello bricks. They were made by Montello Clay and Brick Co., which was incorporated in December 1892 and was a forerunner to Glen-Gery Brick.

Local historian George M. Meiser IX wrote in Volume 1 of of the book series “The Passing Scene,” co-authored by his wife, Gloria Jean Meiser, that the Montello plant was started in 1891 by A.A. Gery and H.L. Boas. It was sold at sheriff sale in 1913, returned to the Gery family via a 1920 purchase and then sold to Atlantic Refining Co. in 1931.

Susan E. Miers Smith — Reading Eagle

The Montello Terminal sign for Sunoco Partners Marketing & Terminals in the 500 block of Fritztown Road in the village of Montello, Spring Township, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022. (Susan E. Miers Smith — Reading Eagle)

Sunoco’s Montello Terminal now stands on the property.

All of the Hendel Hat Factory duplexes still stand, as does the former Mell general store building. They are all private residences. The hat factory did not survive. It succumbed to fire and the only thing remaining was a stone boiler room. It still stands today along Montello Road, just before Cacoosing Creek when heading west.

Miller said not much as changed over the years in Montello, except the exteriors of the duplexes and construction of a few homes.

• Paul L. Miller stands next to the Montello railroad sign in 1977 in a photograph taken by George M. Meiser IX. The sign was near where the Conrail Railroad tracks crossed Montello Road. Miller provided Meiser information on Montello for a 1977 Reading Eagle article on the Spring Township village that subsequently appeared in Volume 1 of "The Passing Scene," published in 1982.

• The interior of Mell's General Store in Montello, Spring Township. The building at 13 Montello Road also was home to the Montello Post Office. From left, behind the counter, Sarah Mell and her sons David and John. (Courtesy of Paul Miller)

• The front of a promotional card for Die Sheier Restaurant, formerly along Fritztown Road in the village of Montello, Spring Township. (Courtesy of Paul Miller)

• A business card for Die Scheier, which means "the barn" in Pennsylvania German, a restaurant in the village of Montello in Spring Township. It was formerly located along Fritztown Road.

• The Hendel Hat Factory, in the background on the left, was built around 1886 and is the reason the village of Montello made it onto maps. Rita Steffy stands in the middle of Montello Road, Spring Township, with an unidentified man.(Courtesy of Paul Miller)

“Years ago, back in the ’60s when I was a kid, they were a little more older-fashioned looking, closer to what they might have looked like in their days,” he said. “They were changed over the years, siding was put on them, additions were put on.”

Miller said two new duplexes were constructed on the western side of the railroad tracks.

The best thing about growing up in tiny Montello was the friendliness of its people, Miller said.

“As a kid, you had that one street of homes and basically everyone knew who you were,” he recalled. “They knew the children. They knew your name and who you were and who you belonged to, especially if you caused any trouble, and whose parents to come back to.

“People spoke to one another, unlike today, people don’t even talk to one another,” Miller said. “They don’t know who their neighbor is next door sometimes. Everybody had front porches and in the evening, everybody was sitting out on their front porches and talking back and forth to the next porch or two down and things like that. I think it was that more friendly nature of knowing your neighbor.”

As an unincorporated village, Montello does not have defined boundaries. At times, Montello has been said to extend as far as the American House at 737 Fritztown Road. Many visitors came to the former hotel and restaurant via the Montello train stop, Miller said, and it thus became known as part of the village. Die Scheier Hof-Brau, a former restaurant known for its seafood, also was known as being part of Montello, Miller said.

Some other areas lay claim to those landmarks, but that is a story for another time.

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Berks Places: Montello got its name after hat factory was built - Reading Eagle
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