Lavelle is a census-designated place that is located in Butler Township, Schuylkill County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States. Situated on Pennsylvania Route 901, it was part of the Lavelle-Locustdale CDP for the 2000 census, before the communities were split into the two separate CDPs of Lavelle and Locustdale.
Originally named Salome, as a tribute to the wife of one of the town's pioneer settlers, the community was officially renamed as Lavelle sometime around 1880 in honor of Martin M. Lavelle, an Ashland, Pennsylvania attorney who had been a cavalryman during the American Civil War.
During the late nineteenth century, the community of Lavelle was described by area newspapers as a hamlet. By the late twentieth century, it was still small, referred to in its own public notices as the Village of Lavelle.
History During the early 1860s, a significant percentage of residents in Schuylkill County were engaged in mining. Among those operating collieries in 1862 were John Denison whose Keystone Mines employed more than two hundred men at its facility northeast of the area that would later become the village of Lavelle. During the early 1880s, the community that had grown up around that mine was known as Salome. It had been named after Salome (Hepler) Bolich, the wife of the Rev. Michael Bolich, a Baptist preacher who ministered to local residents. As the scattered resident population grew to become a hamlet, the eastern end of the community adopted the name of Rocktown while the western end continued to be known as Salome. Sometime around 1870, a powder mill was erected nearby and began producing black powder for use in the explosives used by miners.
Roughly a decade later, the hamlet was officially renamed as Lavelle, as a tribute to Martin M. Lavelle, an attorney in the neighboring town of Ashland who achieved local fame as a cavalryman with the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Shortly thereafter, Thomas Edward Enterline (1860-1928), known more commonly as T. E. Enterline, relocated to Lavelle in order to open the hamlet's first retail business. A general merchandise store, it quickly became a gathering place for the small, rural community as Enterline expanded the number and quantity of products he offered for sale and as Enterline took on added duties as the village's postmaster. The community's visibility was also increased with the organization of the Schuylkill County Fair, which was held in Lavelle from 1886 through 1895.
Around this same time, members of the Enterline family joined with other members of the town to donate land in order to plan and build a public school, which opened its doors in the mid-1890s.
Disaster struck in 1895, however, when a fire completely gutted the Enterline general store, as well as Enterline's family home. Although the mail from the postmaster's office was saved, a significant portion of Enterline's merchandise was destroyed. An explosion at the powder mill outside of Lavelle that same year destroyed a number of the mill's ten buildings.
With support from the community, Enterline was able to rebuild his store, and continued to serve the community well into the twentieth century.Schalck and Henning, History of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, Vol. II, pp. 137-138, 175.
1900s The village of Lavelle continued to grow after the turn of the century with the addition of the Eagle Hotel, which was operated by William H. Gotschall, who had relocated to Lavelle from his hometown of Sunbury in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania in 1901.Schalck and Henning, History of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, Vol. II, p. 175. The Citizens Cemetery Association of Lavelle, which had been incorporated on January 1, 1900, was granted a charter by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in December 1903 to operate the village's cemetery located on Main Street."Clerk's Office Will Be Open Tonight." Shenandoah, Pennsylvania: Evening Herald, December 14, 1901, front page (subscription required)."Citizens Cemetery Association of Lavelle." London, England: Open Corporates, retrieved online April 23, 2023. In 1906, a second explosion occurred at the powder mill outside of Lavelle, prompting the mill's subsequent closure that year. In 1907, Enterline resigned as postmaster in order to devote more time to his business concerns, which now included a growing interest in real estate purchase and sales.Schalck and Henning, History of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, Vol. II, p. 175."Lavelle Notes." Pottsville, Pennsylvania: Miners' Journal, May 13, 1905, p. 2 (subscription required)."Property Transfers." Pottsville, Pennsylvania: Pottsville Republican, July 24, 1919, p. 6 (subscription required).
During the summer of 1908, Lavelle residents John Hartranft Snyder (1873-1944) and Hiram Oskar Lenker (1871-1950) collaborated on the planning, organization, launch, and marketing of a new communications business, the Lavelle Telegraph and Telephone Company (also known as the Lavelle Telephone and Telegraph Company), which was chartered and then incorporated during the fall of 1908."New Telephone Co. Ready at Ashland." Pottsville, Pennsylvania: Pottsville Republican, October 14, 1908, front page (subscription required)."New Telephone Companies: Two Charters Granted for Lines to Operate in Up-State Counties." Reading, Pennsylvania: The Reading Times (via the Associated Press), October 10, 1908, p. 2 (subscription required). Lenker served as the treasurer and Snyder as secretary of the corporation's board of directors, which oversaw the spending of the company's $5,000 in operating capital. The first phone line installed by the company provided service between Ashland, Lavelle and other communities in Schuylkill County, and was quickly expanded to include towns and villages in Columbia and Northumberland counties."Rural Phones Reaching Out." Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania: Mount Carmel Item, September 10, 1908, p. 4 (subscription required)."Charters for Telephone Companies." Lancaster, Pennsylvania: The Lancaster Morning News, October 10, 1908, p. 6 (subscription required). Snyder and his wife, Minnie (Strohecker) Snyder (1872-1952), also owned and operated a dry goods store from the ground floor level of their home on Main Street."John H. Snyder, Lavelle Businessman, Dies at 70." Sunbury, Pennsylvania: The Daily Item, August 8, 1944, p. 2 (subscription required)."John H. Snyder, Lavelle, 'Phone Official, Dies." Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania: Mount Carmel Item, August 7, 1944, p. 3 (subscription required)."John H. Snyder," in "Deaths." Pottsville, Pennsylvania: Pottsville Republican, August 7, 1944, p. 12 (subscription required).
Residential and business fires continued to be a problem for the community well into the new century. On March 16, 1911, several homes on Main Street in Lavelle were completely destroyed or severely damaged when a vandal threw a stone through a window of the home of John Hartranft Snyder and his family, striking and toppling a lamp, which then exploded and sparked a fire. Fanned by high winds, the flames quickly spread to neighboring homes, many of which were made of wood, and then also became a threat to the town's small business district. The situation was so dire because the town still did not own a fire truck and was unable to obtain help from the fire departments in the neighboring communities of Mount Carmel and Centralia, which were having equipment problems at the time. Residents of Lavelle were eventually able to halt the fire's advance and bring it under control by forming a bucket brigade."Fire Fiend Visited Lavelle Last Night." Pottsville, Pennsylvania: Pottsville Republican, March 16, 1911, front page (subscription required).
At the time of his death in 1928, Lavelle general store owner T. E. Enterline was described by area newspapers as the "pioneer businessman of Lavelle.""T. E. Enterline: Pioneer Business Man [sic] of Lavelle Passed Away." Pottsville, Pennsylvania: Pottsville Republican, October 31, 1928, front page (subscription required). Following his death, his widow, Estella (Strohecker) Enterline (1870-1956), and their son, Bright Samuel Enterline (1895-1964), continued to own and operate the store, with Bright assuming full control following Stella's death in 1956."Funeral Held for Lavelle Woman." Shamokin, Pennsylvania: Shamokin News-Dispatch, September 11, 1956, p. 2 (subscription required). By the early 1960s, the store's operations also included a soda fountain/restaurant counter, which served as a gathering spot for area residents. Enterline continued to operate the store until his death in 1964."Bright S. Enterline" (obituary). Pottsville, Pennsylvania: Pottsville Republican, October 12, 1964, p. 16 (subscription required).
Mid-1900s During the early 1930s, Cardinal Dennis Joseph Dougherty, a native of Girardville, Pennsylvania who was the Archbishop of Philadelphia, gave his approval for the creation of a new church to serve the more than forty Catholic families who resided in Lavelle. The new congregation was established when the first mass was held at the home of George Quinton Sr. in Krapf's Hall, an apartment building. A permanent structure was then erected in 1935 at a cost of $4,000 on a tract of pasture land that had been owned by dairy farmers, Clement and Elizabeth Scheuren, and was donated to the church that year. The church was then built and dedicated as St. Elizabeth Roman Catholic Church in honor of the Scheurens' patron saint.Richardson, Leslie. "Church celebrates last mass: St. Elizabeth Chapel closes after 70 years." Pottsville, Pennsylvania: Pottsville Republican, December 29, 2005, p. 3 (subscription required).
On December 9, 1936, members of the community formed the Lavelle Volunteer Fire Company. Within three months, it had one hundred and twenty-six volunteer members. Peter E. Eister, a longtime advocate for improving the village's fire protection capabilities, was one of the company's organizers, and served as its first president."Founder of Lavelle Fire Co. Dies at 59." Pottsville, Pennsylvania: Pottsville Republican, December 2, 1954, p. 26 (subscription required). At the company's March 1997 meeting, members discussed ways to improve the town's fire protection, including the feasibility of developing a formal proposal to secure Works Progress Administration (WPA) funding to install water mains throughout the community. Civic leaders estimated that the cost of installing one eight-inch, 5000-foot connector to the Butler Water Company's ten-inch line at the old powder mill road, would cost property owners $7,687.01. Reassessment of local property owners' fire insurance rates by the fire insurance underwriters' bureau was also discussed."Lavelle Citizens Seeking Fire Protection: Organize Fire Co.; Water Line Next Problem." Pottsville, Pennsylvania: Pottsville Republican, March 9, 1937, p. 9 (subscription required).
By the 1940s, the Lavelle Telegraph and Telephone Company was linked to the Bell Telephone Company's Ashland exchange.
During the week of October 3, 1954, St. Peter's Lutheran Church celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with a series of special themed services, which began at 7:30 p.m. each evening. Tuesday, October 5 was Anniversary Night with a sermon delivered by the church's former longtime pastor, the Rev. Charles E. Rudy. Thursday, October 7 was Music Night, and featured an organ recital by Alfred Seward of Reading, Pennsylvania. The church's founding and early years were described by area newspapers as follows:"Lavelle Church Has Special Services for 50th Birthday." Pottsville, Pennsylvania: Pottsville Republican, October 1, 1954, p. 9 (subscription required).