While searching for something entirely unrelated I came across the history of the first 65 years of Richland’s Neptune Fire Company in an article in the Lebanon Daily News for June 12, 1972. I was going to write about that and then I realized that the birth of the fire company came around the same time as the birth of the burro. I mean the burrow. No, I really mean the borough. Damn those pesky homonyms! 

Why not write a more complete history of Richland while I’m at it?

I’m not sure that I have the stamina but I can at least take a crack at it, and if I don’t finish it–hey! It won’t be the first incomplete series that I’ve started, will it?

Anyway, August 1906. Those were tumultuous times, and the birth of the borough reflects that. The shouting and name calling at the town meeting where the subject was first brought up reached epic proportions— 

Actually, no.

It’s a totally boring story. No shouting. No name calling. Pretty much everybody was in agreement that the time for Richland to break away from Millcreek township and form its own borough had arrived. It hardly makes for an interesting blog post.

A total of 83 townsfolk, representing a majority of the families, signed the borough application. The survey plan was made by Squire Kegerreis and contained 167 acres and 53 perches. (A perch is a square rod; I looked it up.) Frank H. Lehman, esq., filed the application at the court house, according to an article dated August 16, 1906, and it would remain there until the September term when Judge Ehrgood would be asked to fix a time for a hearing. 

Ah, a hearing. Maybe that’s when there’ll be some fireworks.

In the meantime, I’ve taken the list of folks who signed the application directly from that article and put it at the end of this post. I only found 76, and I see some duplicates, but I guess that’s the newspaper biz.

Anyone who grew up in Richland in the 50s and 60s like I did will notice plenty of last names that sound familiar. I’ll leave you to peruse the list yourselves, but I just want to highlight Samuel Klopp and M. J. Klopp. 

The Klopp family was very prominent in Richland when I was there, and it all goes back to Samuel Klopp who was born in 1836 and died in 1908, two years after the borough application was made. His son, Milton James Klopp (M. J. on the application) was born in 1865, the year the Civil War ended, and lived until 1923. He in turn had a son named Howard G. S. Klopp (1889 – 1963) who first set up Skippy’s Luncheonette, which he eventually sold and then set up the Snack Bar. I’ve written about both of those places previously.

He and his wife, the former Hattie L. Stewart, had, I believe, seven children: Stewart, Mary, Sara, Irvin, Howard, Gordon Lynn, and David.

Stewart married Cordelia Ziegler and they produced Philip and Marilyn. Philip was two years older than I was. Marilyn was a year younger, I believe.

Mary married James Walker, Richland’s jeweler, and they produced Jimmy and Bobby Walker. They were three and one year older than I was.

Sara wed John Goodison and they produced John, Thomas, and Mona Goodison, who were three, one, and minus one year older than I was. 

Finally, Gordon Lynn, whom everybody knew as Lynn, married Isobel Keeney and they produced Randy, who was in my class, as well as Dwight (who was in my sister’s class), and Ross.

Howard’s other offspring probably had offspring of their own as well, but I’m not familiar with them.

Anyway, to recap. Samuel Klopp was the great-great-grandfather of all those kids that I mentioned as being near to my age, and M. J. Klopp was their great-grandfather. Both of those gentlemen signed the borough application.

Here is the list of those who signed the application. As I noted, it only comes to 76, but there seem to be some duplicates and I’m not sure what to make of “Wm. H. Noll, trustees Camp 160 P. O. S of A.;”. Is that more than one? A typo? I don’t know. I’ve appended the newspaper article below.

Michael Haak
Samuel Klopp
M. J. Klopp
J.H. Duncan
Ella Duncan
A.P. Moore
Isaac Kegerreis
Monroe E. Holstein
C. A. Kauffman
T. D. Landis
M. R. Landis
J. R. Lesher
Wm. J. Klopp
John Wolf
Nesta M. Weigley
Edward Smaltz
Jere Blecker
Wm. Welgley
W. H. Noll
I. F. Landis
Mrs. Mary D. Holstein
E. J. Holstein
M. H. Layser
D. H. Royer
Wayne Weigley
Robert C. Leitner
Robert W. Wagner
Harry A. Leitner
Martin. R. Hertzler
G. B. MeLaughlin
J. H. Mohler
W. W. Weiglev
Isaac G. Sealer
C. B. Parson
Calvin Schmaltz
D. K. Weigley
M. L. Bennethum
Albert Achenbach
M. R. Miller
W. S. Stuart
A. W. Hartman
Wm. H. Noll, trustees Camp 160 P. O. S of A.;
A. W. Hartman
Lizzle A. Frank
S. S. Leitner
M. S. Bentz
Gideon L. Dry
Wm. Blessing
J. S. Dornbach
Seth Layser
H. A. Blecker
F. L. Wenrich
Wm. H. Lesher
Jacob D. Gibble
C. W. Mohler
Emma Wolf
Elias S. Brubacher
Anna Kurtz
Eliza Kurtz
John Sealer
C. Mell
Jacob Mell (Jr.)
M. H. Wiest
A. W. Haak
J. H. Weigley
Philip Spatz
Mrs. Eugene Eck
Maria C. Weigley
Emma S. Weigley
John S. Yocum
A. F. Diehl
Lizzie Diehl
Edward Noll
Elmira Shirk
Edward M. Gassert
Emma Karsnitz