Thomas & Alice Stahl House Museum

This building was the residence of Thomas & Alice Stahl from 1907 to Thomas’ death in 1942.  In 1908-1909, Thomas built the two-story addition onto the original building.  This addition contained a new kitchen area on the first floor and additional bedroom space on the second floor. A bathroom was installed on the second floor of this addition in the 1930s. After Thomas’ death, Alice continued living here until she sold the Stahl’s Pottery property to Russell Stahl in June 1957.

The original part of this building is a traditional mid-nineteenth century Pennsylvania German “Kuche-Kammer” (meaning “kitchen and common area”) structure.  The kitchen area in the 1908 addition, which is being restored to its appearance during the 1930s and 1940s, includes many original family furnishings.

Potting Shed

A barn on Thomas’ farm was transformed into workspace for the brothers' pottery revival.  A stone, two-story building with a two-and-one-half story wooden addition, the barn had two rooms downstairs – one for a workroom and the other for a clay processing area. A wobbly set of wooden stairs in the stone structure led to the exhibit room, and a space above the first floor of the addition served as storage for seconds and rejects.

Thomas & Alice Stahl House

Kitchen in the

Thomas & Alice Stahl House,

Kitchen Addition added 1908

View of Thomas & Alice Stahl House Circa 1907

Thomas Stahl and son, John, in the foreground

Drying Racks in Potting Shed

Rear view of Potting Shed, Circa 1940

Potting Shed with 1976, Russell Stahl addition

Kitchen in 1949, with Thomas' Great-Grandson, Aurel Arndt

Alice Stahl in the living area of the home ("Krammer" area) in 1950

Kiln

About twenty feet behind the barn, stands the round, stone and brick, bee-hive kiln. Four fireboxes, equidistant around the base, are constructed of brick. Entrance to the firing chamber is obtained by using a set of wooden stairs, centered between two fireboxes facing the potting shed. Two iron bands surround the kiln and are held in place with wooden wedges which are removed during firing to allow the kiln to expand. An open shed with a peaked roof covers the kiln.

Thomas and Isaac, along with brother James and other relatives, built the kiln in 1933 and fired it for the first time in spring 1934.

Issac Stahl,

checking status of firing, from top of kiln

Building the kiln in 1933

Picture showing iron band and wooden wedges above the kiln doorway

View of Kiln with stacked firewood