What Was A Swampoodle, & Why Did Every Local Town Have One?

While researching when Broadway in Milton was paved in bricks, an article to the left caught my eye.  "It will be remembered by the readers of the Daily that this was the famous Swampoodle gang which caused so much excitement"

Milton had a famous Swampoodle Gang?  Well now, I think I will need to know a bit more about that.  

And that's when I found  Danville had a Swampoodle,  Sunbury had a Swampoodle, Milton, Swampoodle, Williamsport, Swampoodle...  and then if  we branch out a bit,  a Swampoodle in Philadelphia, and also one in Washington DC.  The list goes on.  It's not even limited to Pennsylvania.  

Why does every town have a Swampoodle?  What is swampoodle? 

"As several of Northumberland County's most progressive towns have Swampoodles, we will particularize, the one referred to is hung on the edge of Milton"  The Sunbury American in 1889. 

"Everybody knows what a Swampoodle is,", reports the Northumberland Democrat in June of 1890.    Perhaps in 1890 that was true.  One hundred and thirty years later, I'm wishing the writer had chosen to elaborate.

I do have a theory.  It may not be correct, but I'll walk you through how I formed it, and leave you to your own decisions. 

It Might Have Been A Swampy Area - But I'm Not Convinced.
An adjacent area to Quinntown (Pottsville Pa) was called "swampoodle" due to swampy conditions and a creek which flowed between the homes, according to 89 year old John Fertig, in 1958.   (If you are interested in the history of Pottsville, you should definitely find the full page newspaper article from his 90th birthday in 1958.) 

It is possible all of the towns had swampy areas.  An article on the Swampoodle in Washington DC even refers to the area as a "low, swampy area".

But  In Danville,  a news item in August of 1874 reported that "the Brower family is farming at Swampoodle".  

We happen to have a "swampy" area here on the farm.  There's about 10 acres that looks like it's regular ground, but it's not. We can walk on it, and it fools you just enough that every single Truckenmiller male for at least three generations has felt  the need to test it, more than once.  That scenario has always ended with tow chains and  loads full of muddy laundry - but has never, not once,  resulted in a successful planting  let alone harvest.  Is it possible that the Brower family was farming around the edges of a swampy area? Absolutely.   But keep in mind that this was 1890, long before there was a shortage of good farm land in our valley.  Although I've been wrong many times, and will be again, I can't shake the feeling that with all of the truly excellent farm land in our area, a family would not choose to farm in or around a swamp, and if they did so, the newspaper would likely have more comment than was given.  (Our local newspapers were downright snarky in 1890s.)

And then there's also an article that tells us a bit more about the Swampoodle location in Milton.  "The old frame electric light building just as you enter Swampoodle from the west side, over the P&E tracks, was bought by the Shimers...."

Much like tractors, railroads and trains are not exactly well suited for swampy land.  

In Mary Belle Lontz’s book titled Milton, Pennsylvania

Also, Swampoodle in Washington DC is now a dog park, and there was a baseball stadium at Swampoodle in Philadelphia.   (There's a book titled "Bleachers In The Bedroom" by a man who grew up in Swampoodle Philadelphia.  It's on my to read list).  

Again, all of this could be around the outskirts of the Swampoodle borders, although, how big exactly was a swampoodle if that's the case?  Many of these towns simply were not that large to begin with.  And why would Irish Immigrants coincidentally, or even purposefully, choose to live in the swampy areas of every town, in every state? 

The "swampy area" theory, although still possible,  just isn't holding much water for me.

So IF It's Not  A Swampy Area....

Briefly I wondered if it was a racial slur. And it still could be - but not one based on skin color.  Swampoodles in every town appear to have been a mix of skin tones from "wearing the map of Ireland on their face" (Super pale,  very Irish) to "Black haired fiery eyed son of Italy" (Italian) and "colored".  

"Here a conglomeration of tumble-down shanties, inhabited by hard-toiling and quarrelsome Irish, bore the long remembered name of Swampoodle. "

What they  all do have in common is a large concentration of Irish families, and a lot of alcohol related incidents.  In Washington DC the area is even referred to as the "Irish ghetto known as Swampoodle".  I did not find a single Swampoodle without mention of Irish residents.

Well, now that's interesting.

Want to know what else they all had in common? Milton, Danville, Sunbury, Williamsport...  these were all towns along the canal lines.   And who built the canals?  Primarily Irish immigrants.  Irish immigrants who were given, by their employers, copious amounts of  alcohol so they wouldn't complain about the horrible working conditions and minimal pay.    

It was also standard practice when immigrant work forces were brought to areas, whether for the canals, or the railroads,  for them to live in camps on the outskirts of town.  (Interesting side note - when the railroad was built in Danville, the bakeries learned how to bake "new" breads, at the request of the Italian labor camps on the outskirts of town)

Could "swampoodle" be a (derogatory) term for a canal digger? 

It seems possible, even likely,  that the immigrant work camps  with their lean to's and shanties, not to mention their drinking habits, became, or simply were,  the slum areas of the town.   As others  moved in,  "swampoodle" camps became synonymous with "Slums", or one who lives in the slums.

It's just a theory.    But it  makes more sense to me, than the thinking that groups of Irish Immigrants coincidentally, or even purposefully, settled in large numbers in the swampy areas of every town, in multiple states.  

But If You Are Looking For A Different Theory:

In 1953, This parade float in Danville depicted "life among the Swampoodle Indians", in Danville Pa.  If you can find anything about the Swampoodle Indian tribe, I would love to read it . I am not saying such a tribe did not exist, merely that it's not one I'm aware of, and Swampoodle does not appear on the list of federally recognized  tribes in the United States.

Also, found in  the Carlisle Sentinel in 1887:  "Three Indians in blue blankets squatted on the ground fraternizing with some impersonators of seventeenth century Quakers from Swampoodle" .  That seems like an odd statement, well, no matter the context really, but especially if the Swampoodles were named after an Indian tribe.

And Then There Is This:

A photo from the Sunday Leader (Wilkes Barre) in August of 1887

This appears to be part of a 3 column humorous anecdote or a maybe completely  fictional  story, I'm not sure which.   It refers to a Swampoodle cook for a camp regiment.

This swampoodle cook "earned culinary honors at Bear Creek last year.  The rotund cook was an autocrat in his own way...." Having recently been married, he was accused of daydreaming of his new wife and allowing the beans to scorch. "He called butter 'Bald Headed Cheese', and insisted he corn beef was 'mine mule'.  But for all of that, the 'Swampoodle' held his own... "

Ending with:

 "The accompanying picture was forwarded for that 'Swampoodle' but there must be some mistake, unless our friend has gotten terribly sunburnt."  

If you want to make swampoodle a racial slur based on skin color, that may help, or it may not.  I honestly don't even know.  I think it probable that the the term was derogatory to begin with, becoming more of a slur over time, but I am still fairly convinced it referred to the drunken lifestyle and antics of any skin tone living in the slum areas on the outskirts of town.. Again, I've been wrong before, and will be again, that's one thing in all of this of which we can be certain.

Lets Move On

So with that definition of "Swampoodle" as  settled as it's going to get for now,  here's some of the incidents, followed by the descriptions of the locations as I could find them, and then at the very, very bottom, sources and  newspaper articles, if you are still wanting to read more. 

Incidents In The Swampoodles:

"In Washington newspapers, 'Another Riot In Swampoodle' became a familiar headline." 

I started off thinking I would list all the incidents here, but that would be quite a daunting project in itself.  I got far enough that you'll get the basic idea. Do not think that because I listed a lot more for one town than another that one had more incidents - I just started with Milton and Sunbury, and found that the incidents were, for the most part, so similar in each town that it wasn't necessary  to keep repeating them.

This was definitely the rowdy part of town.  So much so that when I began my research, Swampoodle was defined, in my mind, as  "Where the men drink and the women fight."  

Before I researched swampoodles, I never knew how many women in the 1890s were engaging in hand to hand combat.   Reading these stories will give you a new perspective on why the Temperance Movement began, and why most every local town  soon had  a Womens Christian Temperance Union Fountain


Milton:

• In 1885, "black haired fiery eyed son of Italy" James Marena, a resident of "the portion of the borough of Milton known as Swamptown" was arrested for selling liquor without a license. That article goes on to say that he had been furnishing "the inhabitants of those classic grounds, black and white, male and female, with unsavory hostelry"
• In 1886 two women in swampoodle were engaged in a street brawl.  James Smith was "part of the time hissing them on and part of the time trying to part them".  A constable attempted to take James into custody, and had to draw his gun - but it didn't shoot.  James then  shot his derringer, but no one was hit.  He then ran off and "went to swampoodle and retired".  The next day he escaped to Lock Haven, but he was soon captured.  
• In 1887, a thief from Phoenixville attempted to steal a watch from a Contstable at the Milton Fair.  The thief escaped, fleeing towards Swampoodle, where he jumped through the window of one of the "Swampoodle mansions".  (the thief was caught)  
• In 1889 George Kutz, a cripple, was charged with keeping a disorderly house and selling liquor without a license. "Milton's Swampoodle was his residence, but for the next year he will make his home in the Sunbury Jail"
• "James Palmer reports that two chickens aged 11 and 12 years were stolen from his home in Swampoodle recently.  He says he pities the overworked jaws that attempts to masticate them."  July 1891
• In May of 1892, "A host of witnesses in the case from Swampoodle left for Sunbury, Monday morning to testify"  This was two years after the Swampoodle Gang was released, so..  there's another case I need to find, apparently.

Philadelphia

In general, I'm only covering the the local area of our Central Susquehanna Valley.  But... how could I not include this headline?

In this article, it describes the borders of Swampoodle in Philadelphia, and goes on to say that the area is renowned for "the size and number of its goats".  Of course there was more.  I'll post that article at the end of this too, for those of you who need to know more about The Encroachments of the Salvation Army on the Goats Paradise. But the gist is that the salvation army in 1883 was a christian social work organization, and they had come to Swampoodle in the hopes of evangelizing the riotous heathens, or something along those lines. It was not a successful trip.

I'm telling you, no matter which town you were in,  the Swampoodle  area was an interesting place.

A google search on the term "swampoodle" is likely to turn up a full page of articles on the area of Philadelphia, and the attempts to resurrect the term for that area.  They even have  street banners, and a facebook group.  In the article I read, it appears they think this is a name unique to their city, and that it goes back as far as "1926".  I don't know how any of them will feel about my theory on this name, and sadly, no one seven seems to realize that their Swampoodle was, in 1883,  a "Goat Paradise, renowned for the number and size of it's goats". 

Pottsville

• In Pottsville, in 1905, the White Cap Gang was visiting not only swampoodle, but "the surrounding mining towns".  The band, wearing masks, would visit the homes of wife beaters, tie the abusers hand and foot, and then "administer a terrible thrashing". "The poor abused wives of the foreign residents began to breath freely", thanks to that White Cap Gang.  

Full Article At The Bottom Of This Post.

Sunbury

• In March of 1889 - "The denizens of Swampoodle were regaled a few evenings since with a hand to hand battle between two women.  It was settled before Squire Weaver"
• Also 1889 - Reed Neidig went to the "Fox Mansion" ("mansion" was frequently  a snarky reference to the shacks and shanties that made up swampoodles, in these news reports) and made threats towards the father of Maggie and Elizabeth Fox.  The girls responded by chasing  him away  "with broom sticks and stones."  Reed had them charged with assault, but the jury found them not guilty.  After reading all of these articles, I  really don't understand why anyone ever messed with a swampoodle woman, I simply can't imagine a man could be drunk enough to think that wise.
• Jan 1890 "Wm. Music, a fair sample of the genus homo, of Swampoodle, got his usual dose of red eye on board and threatened to clean up his daughter and other dire things.  He was put in jail until he sobered up, when he was released on promise of future good behavior. "He swears that he will never drink another drop, so his wife has withdrawn the suit and all is again lovely in Swampoodle."
• In June of 1891 two Swampoodle women were feuding, to the point where intervention was required.  The article is included on down below - Zimmerman -Miller, the Hatfield & McCoy feud of Swampoodle in Sunbury.
• In 1892 "A swampoodle resident who carries the map of Ireland on his face has been boycotted by his neighbors because he was laid up with the yellow jaundice on St Patricks Day" ("carries the map of ireland on his face" appears to mean "He looks very Irish" - and as such, very pale.)

Williamsport:

• The Harrisburg Telegraph, in 1879 - "In the vicinity of Williamsport is a town called Swampoodle.  Williamsport should be annexed to the town and the whole business called swampoodle. That city swamped since Herdic failed"
• In 1890, WIlliam & Frank Messick were wanted criminals.  When the police attempted to arrest them at Swampoodle Williamsport, "the entire population of that district came to the rescue of the criminals".  The men's latest crime had been "cruelly beating and old man" to steal 30 cents from him.

That last one does not appear to be an isolated occurrence.  I noticed that in many reports,  in any town, the police would chase a crook into swampoodle, but they would not pursue him there.  They would wait until he came back out to arrest him.  

And The Article That Began My Search For Swampoodle
The Miltonian reported  "It is a place on the outskirts of Milton where dwells the colored sex in abundance"  (The Swampoodle gang included "two colored women from Swampoodle in Milton, two colored women from Williamsport, and one white woman from Northumberland.")

The "Gang" purchased a gallon of whiskey & a keg of beer and for two days "threw Milton into a wild state of excitement with their yells and curses".  For this disturbance, they were all sentenced to nine months in jail.  It feels like we might be missing some details here, as that feels a bit extreme. 

After nine months in jail, the "gangs" release was covered in detail.
"The first one taken out was Fannie Clymer, the white woman.  When she emerged from her cell she smiled at all who looked at her.  She was dressed in a big calico wrapper printed all over with red roses.  It looked as if it had been made in the year one.  Mr Newhard took her to the steam boat landing and sent her to Northumberland.  

Next was the duet from Milton.  What beauties they were.  Loaded with band boxes, clothes baskets, and dressed in loud calico they made a fine appearance as they followed Mr Newhard to the depot.  To look at him you would think he was proud of his position, but he wasn't. 

Following the pretty duet was the pair from Williamsport, and it did not take long to get rid of them.  Warden Moore says while in jail the two from Milton and the one from Northumberland behaved very well, but the two from Williamsport, Well, oh my."

Eventually I'll find out more about that trial, but that's for another day.

The Locations Of  The Swampoodles:

Danville:
In a history of Danville by  Bower, Swampoodle is also mentioned:
"The whole town from that point, from Sidler's Hill to Sageburg, and from Swampoodle to Frogtown, like a vast panorama, is spread out before you. Drowsy Mnemoloton looms up beyond the river, whilst almost beneath your feet railroad trains, like huge serpents with fiery breath, traverse the scene."

Milton
 "The old frame electric light building just as you enter Swampoodle from the west side, over the P&E tracks was bought by the Shimers and torn down last week, being removed, at once, to their water station below the gas works where it is being replaced."

White Deer
In White Deer (or that general area) the property designated as Sunrise School in 1955... the center of a public road #403  leading from Kelly X Roads to Swampoodle"
(Although White Deer did not have a canal, Milton did, and the crosscut canal connected Lewisburg to Milton... so I'm not ruling out my theory that swampoodle referred to canal workers.)

Williamsport
In Williamsport "Swampoodle was next to Dutch Hill, it was a German settlement" (It may have been German, but there were plenty of Irish there too, according to various newspaper reports of their antics)

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Find More Stories & Histories Of The Central Susquehanna Valley here:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/history.html

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(Sources are ALL the way at the bottom, below the newspaper articles)

The Salvation Army Encroaching On Goat Paradise:

The Philadelphia Times

September 1883

The Swampoodle Version Of The Hatfields & The McCoys - 

Northumberland Democrat June 1891

Sources:
My daughter just graduated from Lycoming college with a dual major in English and German, and she has become  rather, insistent, that I do a better job of sourcing my posts.  I don't know when she gained so much power, but since she's been exiled from college in this quarantine she regularly tells me to go to bed, with statements such as "Swampoodle will still be a mystery in the morning" or "The race track will still be lost in the morning".  So in response to her nagging, I give you the following.  I'm certain she will be impressed.

Grandmother of a random woman on the internet.   "Wore a map of Ireland on his face" was a term she used frequently, to say someone was very pale, or Irish looking.

Personal experience as the Daughter In Law, Wife, and Mother (And laundress) of 3 generations of Truckenmiller men.

So.  Many.  Newspaper articles.  Predominantly in the Miltoninan, Sunbury Weekly News, and Northumberland County Democrat.

Assorted public facebook posts that referenced the location of Williamsport's Swampoodle.

Searching "Swampoodle" on google books and reading assorted excerpts, without  reading the rest  for the full context. Including, but not limited to:   Danville, Montour County, Pennsylvania: A Collection of Historical and Biographical Sketches by D. H. B . Bower.  In my defense, this is a portion of the section I DID read  " Drowsy Mnemoloton looms up beyond the river whilst almost beneath your feet railroad trains like huge serpents with fiery breath traverse the scene." Beautiful visuals. An absolute treasure trove of local history.  But not  exactly a quick read.

Why historians are fighting about “No Irish Need Apply” signs — and why it matters - A Vox article that may not have really supplied any information for this exact subject, but was a really interesting, informative and balanced, read.

Oh, and that one article that had a "cite source" button on the left :

Myers, Gibbs. “Pioneers in the Federal Area.” Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., 44/45, 1942, pp. 127–159. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40067601. Accessed 23 May 2020.