The house that once stood at 446 Main Street (the northeast corner of Main and Second Streets) in Slatington was most closely associated with Silas Benjamin (S. B.) Costenbader (1868-1946). By its size and design, we would consider it to be a classic example of the Queen Anne architectural style.
We don't have an exact date for the building of the house. The area around Trout Creek was part of Henry Kuntz’s extensive property holdings in the area. While the house is not shown on the 1876 map of Slatington, it does appear on the 1883 O. H. Bailey Illustrated Map of Slatington. The house could have been built for any of the many Kuntz daughters.
Costenbader was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia (just east of Fredericksburg) -- He was most often referred to as "S. B." Costenbader. His father was listed as a merchant on the 1880 U.S. census. On 19 July 1892, he married Lillie May Kuntz (1869-1944), one of the eight daughters of Henry Kuntz, one of the wealthiest men in Slatington at the time. According to the marriage license, Costenbader was then a butcher in East Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe, PA). The marriage notice appeared in The Slatington News (23 July 1892): "The marriage of Miss Lillian Kuntz and Mr. Benjamin Costenbader took place at Breeze Villa on Tuesday, in the presence of about thirty-five guests, chiefly, the nearest relatives."
Costenbader worked in Kuntz’s general store (known as the Union Store) in the 1890s. This seems to have been the old McDowell store on corner of Main and Dowell streets (presently a laundromat). (Note that the store might also have been located just west of the what would later become Citizens National Bank. In February 1902, Costenbader purchased the title and interest in the store from Kuntz.
In time, Costenbader became one of Slatington’s most prominent residents. While continuing as the proprietor of the Union Store, after 1900 he got involved in the slate industry with interests in the Fairview Slate Co. Then in 1915 he became a director of Citizens National Bank, and in 1917 he was named the bank’s president. In January 1919, along with H. A. Muschlitz, who was burgess at the time, he bought the gas plant. He was also a member of the school board.
Costenbader died at his home on 1 March 1946 at the age of 76. His wife Lillie had predeceased him in 1944. His son, Henry, had also predeceased him. Henry Larkin Costenbader (1899-1937) was a 1917 graduate of Slatington High School who had been in charge of the store connected with his father’s many business interests. Henry was survived by his wife (née Grace Lotwick, 1901-1994) and three sons.
The other three S. B. Costenbader children were.
- Frances Elizabeth Costenbader (1893-1975) who in 1926 married Leslie Mowrey Karper (1890-1979)
- Elvin Benjamin Costenbader (1901-1976) who in 1949 married Arlene Jane Spengler (1915-1995)
- Walter Grosh Costenbader (1903-1989)
The Costenbader family memorial in Union Cemetery, Slatington; photo credit Kenneth Schaefer, find-a-grave
After the death of Costenbader, first the real estate holdings (August 1946) and then the household goods (September 1946) were sold in two auctions. The house, including a two-story frame garage/barn and the vacant ground adjoining the garage, was sold to Thomas Papay of Slatington. The other properties sold included:
- 605 Main Street (where the U.S. Post Office is today)
- 46 Second Street, a small building next to the main Costenbader house
- 13-15 Maple Street
- 18-20 North Street
- 11 Willow Avenue
- 15 Willow Avenue
Thomas Papay (1913-1972) was the son of Jacob (1884-1949) and Mary Papay (1888-1954). Jacob was a slate entrepreneur who was president of Penn Big Bed Slate Co, which he had started in the 1930s and then incorporated in 1948. The company's main Slatedale quarry was opened in 1944. Thomas Papay was later president of both the Penn Big Bed Slate Co. and the National School Slate Co. of Slatington.
The Costenbader house was turned into an apartment building.
In July 1995, the house burned to the ground. It was not occupied at the time. I am not sure of the chain of ownership of the property after Thomas Papay died in 1972. The Morning Call in its reporting on the fire called the once grand, old house simply a "vacant apartment building."
The Citizens National Bank bought the condemned lot, and the site became part of an expanded parking lot.
I have only some very vague memories of the Costenbader house circa 1970 or so, as I was only ever in the house a few times. Back then some of the Papay family were still living there. I do remember that there was a magnificent billiard room on the first floor with a great view looking east over lower Slatington. There was an attached small cottage on the north side of the house and a large barn/garage. The Slatington News from 1907 mentioned that there was a tennis court on the grounds of the property.
View of the Costenbader house at the top of the Main Street bridge; photo credit: 1977 Slatington Lions Club calendar
It was a beautiful house.
Here are two current views of the site of the former house.
