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Chapman, once a powerhouse of the industry, was incorporated in 1865 and was a classic company town. Populated almost entirely by Chapman Slate employees, this town contained company-owned homes, a company-owned store, a railroad depot for slate shipment and well as a full plant for extraction and fabrication of slate products.
CLICK HERE to view a 3 dimensional view of the landscape around Chapman Quarries in 1939.
A Town with a Purpose
In 1765, a large swath of land north of Bethlehem, between Easton and Allentown, was officially incorporated into the township of Moore. The borough of Chapman with an area of just 0.4 square miles, is an island within Moore Township and is located just south of the center, being entirely surrounded by the township.
The Borough of Chapman, was originally known as Chapman Quarries, and derives its name from William Chapman.
The Borough of Chapman, was originally known as Chapman Quarries, and derives its name from William Chapman.
William Chapman was originally from Cornwall, England and at the age of seven he started working in the Delabole slate quarries where his father was employed. At the age of 26 however, Chapman emmigrated to the United States, where, after exploring the slate fields of the Delaware Water Gap he leased property in Northampton County which he later purchased and began the Chapman Slate Company. While the quarries were originally opened in 1850, the company itself was officially incorporated by a special act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania in 1864 with a capital stock of $300,000.1
The principal quarry at Chapman is in the hard vein belt and at its height, produced about 10,000 squares of slate a year (it takes 560 squares to cover a football field.)
The principal quarry at Chapman is in the hard vein belt and at its height, produced about 10,000 squares of slate a year (it takes 560 squares to cover a football field.)
The Quarry itself grew to a considerable size measuring from 700 to 800 feet along a longitudinal joint (a joint which is roughly parallel to fold axes) and was about 200 feet wide and 300 feet deep. The company erected in 1875 a factory (visible in the bird's eye view below) for sawing, planing and manufacturing slate rock into tables and counter tops, cisterns, mantels, lintels, blackboards, window-sills, coping, stairways, floor tiles, ridge poles and flagging. In addition they manufactured billiard and bagatelle tables (a billiards-derived table game). Because of its hardness, the rock was not used for structural purposes but instead primarily for roofing slate and other functions. By 1857, the companies that existed at Chapman Quarries were the Chapman Slate Company, Chapman Standard Slate Company, and the Keystone Slate Company.2
A Visible Past
Significant modification to the landscape was a normal occurrence with communities in the Slate Belt. With ever expanding quarries and an industry that had waste that exceeded 50% of what was extracted, the landscape changed almost weekly, with debris piles visible for miles that can still be seen today.
Image Source: Google (This image is interactive and can be moved with your cursor)
Still standing, the chimney of the Chapman Slate Company mill building rises high above the trees as a reminder of the significant contribution the town of Chapman made to the slate industry as well as to the United States. The mill building itself being demolished to make way for the progressing quarry. The chimney's location and context is now out of place, sitting on a narrow section of land between two quarry pits on a thin rise (100 feet at the narrowest point) which is too small an area for the large mill structure .
Compare the current view of the landscape in Google Maps to the view seen in the birdseye view created in 1885 and you will notice that the location that would have been occupied by the mill building itself was ultimately dug when the quarry was extended to the west. The 1939 aerial view of Chapman shows how different the area was in comparison to both 1885 and today.
This type of significant change to existing community fabric becomes more apparent when looking at how Monacacy Ave was eventually rerouted so that it now dead ends, instead of extending across the raised section of land located between the east side of the Chapman Quarry and the Keystone Quarry. Still visible in the 1939 aerial view, Monacacy Ave originally crossed between the two quarries and paralleled Monacacy Creek, connecting with Yost Road on the far northern side of the quarries. The continued expansion of the quarries eventually made this section of land too small for the road and currently this small mass sits below water level.
Always Changing
Once again the power of the company dictated changes to the community. Typical company housing for the employees of the Chapman Slate Company can be seen in the view above and were located on a section of Main Street which no longer exists. Situated below the hill on which the slate factory existed, the houses can be seen in the lower left corner of the image below. The expanding waste piles from the mill eventually engulfed this section of the community and the houses were demolished, evident in the 1939 Aerial.
Based on the 1885 bird's eye view below, Main Street did not continue straight after running between the quarries as it does now. Instead it turned sharply to the east for a short distance before turning back south to run between these houses. Main Street then intersected Front Street (now Monacacy Ave) approximately 300 yards to the northeast of the current intersection of Monacacy Ave and Monacacy Drive. Eventually Main Street was redirected and now intersects Monacacy Drive instead.
Image Source: The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center
Although much of what defined the slate industry in Chapman is now gone, there are still remarkable remnants such as the massive smokestack of the original slate mill building which can be seen in the red box above. Click on the image above to see the full panorama of Chapman Quarries.
The township of Moore completely surrounds the tiny borrough of Chapman. Chapman exists as its own jurisdiction as a result of William Chapman buying enough land to open his quarries as well as build his own "company" town.
A Profound Contribution
Although the quarries at Chapman produced a significant amount of slate, it was actually a method for slate delivery, invented in Chapman, that would have the biggest impact on the industry. The method of hoisting and conveying by means of a suspended wire rope, known as an inclined cableway, was first employed by the Chapman Slate Company at Chapman Quarries about 1870, being invented by Richard Chapman.
Prior to this time the slate quarries in the United States were operated the same as they were in Wales and England where they used the old system of chain and boom derrick.
Prior to this time the slate quarries in the United States were operated the same as they were in Wales and England where they used the old system of chain and boom derrick.
Richard Chapman claimed he had no knowledge of a wire rope being used for hoisting and conveying prior to the plant installed at Chapman Quarries. The chain system, then in use, suggested to him the idea of stretching a wire rope across the quarry with a carrier traveling on it. To avoid ridicule, if the scheme did not work, he erected a miniature cableway in his cellar which exceeded his expectations, and when it was shown to the Chapman Slate Company it was at once adopted.
Image Source: Stone Quarries and Beyond
A typical "chain and boom" derrick being used in the marble quarries of Vermont. This type of derrick was the standard in the slate quarries but it had its limitations set by the distance the derrick could reach. The incline cableway invented by Richard Chapman became a common sight in most of the slate quarries of the Slate Belt and significantly increased the total area that could be accessed within the quarry pit, allowing the pits to function more efficiently.
A typical "chain and boom" derrick being used in the marble quarries of Vermont. This type of derrick was the standard in the slate quarries but it had its limitations set by the distance the derrick could reach. The incline cableway invented by Richard Chapman became a common sight in most of the slate quarries of the Slate Belt and significantly increased the total area that could be accessed within the quarry pit, allowing the pits to function more efficiently.
The advantage of the wire rope system for hoisting the slate blocks and waste out of the quarry was clear to most quarry operators and in just a few years almost every quarry was equipped with this inclined cableway system.
The advantage of the wire rope system for hoisting the slate blocks and waste out of the quarry was clear to most quarry operators and in just a few years almost every quarry was equipped with this inclined cableway system.
It was a system that helped to bring about the rapid development of many slate properties and it was used for stripping the surface from above the slate strata for which it had shown to be superior to any other method. This sytem was used as the principle system for extraction in the Pennsylvania slate industry to such an extent that when Charles Behre wrote his book "Slate in Pennsylvania" he made a note that at the Genuine Washington Quarry found in the Slatington group of quarries "An interesting feature is the substitution of derricks with booms of the type used in Maine, in place of the cableways commonly seen in the Pennsylvania slate regions."
The slate quarries were quite numerous in the Pennsylvania slate belt and it is a safe assumption that 95% had a system installed, or the machinery furnished by the S Flory Mfg Co of Bangor. Each quarry had from two to 20 cableways according to the extent of the development with the cableways being arranged to cover all of the work in the pit.3
This significant contribution to the industry has all but disappeared. Where once most quarries had an incline cableway, there are currently less than four quarries in the region that still have the system in place, and of those, only one is functioning.
The Bethlehem Gas Co. of Bethlehem, a short distance from Chapman Quarries, was at that time under heavy expense to bring fuel to their plant. After seeing the wire rope system at the Chapman Quarry they installed a similar one to discharge canal boats. In their version, the wire rope had to be stretched across tracks of the Central Railroad of New Jersey and because of passing trains it was necessary to create some way of holding up the slack or sag in the hoisting rope. What is generally known as the Locke fall rope carrier was developed to solve this problem. It consists of a series of wooden blocks about 15 inches long, with a sheave at the top traveling on the main cable, as well as an additional block at the bottom carrying the hoisting line. They were connected by rods or chains about 30 feet apart and as the trolleys came together the chain hung down about 15 feet in festoon shape. It was the simplest and most efficient fall rope carrier on the market due to its faster operation, and it had very little that could break which could not be quickly and easily repaired.
Image Source: Stone Quarries and Beyond
The traditional chain and boom derrick used in the majority of other slate regions.
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