41 07' 82 N
75 37' 53 W
Stoddartsville was the dream of John Stoddart, an English immigrant
who built the town to serve as the center of his business empire. Stoddart
invested in the Pocono region and used his political stature to ensure
that the plans for construction of the Pennsylvania Turnpike included
passage through Stoddartsville. He envisioned creating a major transportation
and trade route for grain from the fertile Wyoming Valley down to Philadelphia.
Stoddartsville was completed in 1819, three years after both the turnpike
and Stoddart’s gristmill were constructed.
Stoddart eventually became partners with Josiah White, another driven
businessman. Together, White and Stoddart invested in opening the Lehigh
River for navigation and transport. White was responsible for building
dams that would control the flow of water and aid in the navigation
of large barges that would carry grain down the river. White ran into
difficultly with his “wing dams” due to water shortages. He
was forced to invent a new type of dam called the “bear trap dam.”
This created a problem for Stoddart since the bear trap dams only allowed
for one-way travel. Therefore, once the barges reached their destination,
they had to be broken up and sold. Stoddart quickly lost money as a
result.
The coal industry was in favor of building a canal system that would
allow for two-way traffic between the coal fields and the city of Easton.
White began building the canals in Easton and worked his way upstream.
In 1829, the canal reached White Haven, twelve miles short of Stoddartsville.
The construction was stopped when the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company
withdrew its mandate to extend the canal to Stoddartsville. Stoddart’s
finances were in ruins. By the 1830’s, Stoddartsville was almost
abandoned. Aside from the minimal sale of lumber to the downstream coal
industry, Stoddartsville had little purpose. By the 1860’s, the
dams had been flooded and the gristmill and sawmill destroyed.
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