History:

In 1846, when Benjamin Mohn brought his family to the place that evolved into present-day Mohnton, there was but one residence in sight - a small log cabin that stood on the north side of West Wyomissing Avenue, in the proximity of Calvary Church. The land thereabouts was then nothing but a barren waste devoid of the convenience of even a public road; nothing but bushes and briars. As one old-timer put it, "Not room enough for a hare to get through." Mohn bought the acreage from Joseph Schwartz who later served as a U.S. congressman - in 1859-1860 and was proprietor of the Mount Penn Furnace, located on Flying Hill, just south of Route 724 along Valley Stream Road, also in Cumru Township. Where the N & H Corporation Knitting Mill stands today, along the south side of West Wyomissing Avenue, Benjamin Mohn erected a grist and saw mill. In that same year 1846 - he built a stone barn and residence across the road. In time, John Greiner acquired the home and converted it into a hotel, later conducted by John Mengel. This evolved into the well-remembered Mohnsville Hotel, long run by Augustus R. Anderson. The landmark finally was razed in 1944 to provide parking for Calvary Church. Soon after completion of Benjamin Mohn's stone grist mill, his 23-year-old nephew, Samuel Kegerise Mohn, came to work for him. Samuel had shortly before completed a milling apprenticeship in Adamstown under the guidance of William Mohn (1804-1889), a relative of his.