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Joseph Birbeck was credited as the town founder in the 1800's. Joseph was born in England and came to America in the 1840's. Joseph was known as an outdoors man and loved to hunt. He came to this area to hunt and decided he wanted to live here. In those days the area was a thick forest with Indian trails throughout. Edward Lynch granted him land that same year in a valley near Freeland. This particular area was called Birbeckville. Joseph built his sawmill here.
The demand for coal was on the rise and Joseph surveyed the lots. These particular lots ended up being the town of South Heberton named after George Heberton which is now part of Freeland. Today, the original part of South Herberton is located on Schwabe Street. Upper Lehigh was also a mining town located just north of South Herberton which was owned by the Upper Lehigh Company. The town was settled in 1844.
Agustus Wilheim Von Donop was born in Germany who also helped the area thrive. He was employed at a coal company then started buying land and selling plots creating the town Dunop's Village then changed the name to Freehold.
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A map showing Freehold, Upper Lehigh and South Heberton
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
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Birbeck was not just the town founder but he also made roadways from South Heberton to the village of Eckley in the mid 1800's. The road also went to Buck Mountain. South Heberton, Freehold and Foster Township would merge together to make Freeland. The town was incorporated as a borough in 1876. A school was built, tavern, stores and eventually the Slovak Church was in Freeland. The population in the late 1800's was still well under 1,000 but it grew largely due to the coal industry. Many immigrants from Europe seeked refuge in this area because of the industry demand and a better future for themselves.
Many historians say that Freeland itself was never an actual mining town but the villages around this town were coal company owned. What made Freeland so special was that the stores were not controlled by the coal companies but by the residents who lived there. The prices of goods would be lower then in coal company towns. This in itself promoted growth in the town.
After the town grew to over 7,000 people in the 1930's, it steadily declined because of the coal industry and the great depression. After the mines would close down many people would move away from the area.
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Historical information provided by standardspeaker.com and Wikipedia
