The earliest reference to this site appears in a letter written from the Native American village of “Catawasse” by French Indian trader James Le Tort to Madame Montour in 1728. Conrad Weiser, Indian negotiator for Pennsylvania, referred to it as “Chief Lapackpitton's Town” in 1754. After its incorporation in 1772, the land was acquired by Edward and Joseph Shippen of Philadelphia and sold to English Quakers, who were the first settlers. In 1787, William Hughes, a Quaker from Berks County, laid out the village he called “Hughesburg, alias Catawissy.” The Catawissa Railroad depot (1910) remains at 119 Pine Street.
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