Emma Elizabeth Nace

During the Civil War, a school for soldiers' orphans was established at 107 South Main Street in a house built ca.1810 by Samuel Nixon, later ca.1818 a short-lived boarding school organized by Richard Moore and Thomas Lester. The orphans' school operated for a number of years around the end of the Civil War and was the object of gubernatorial interest. As reported in the Bucks County Intelligencer "Gov. Geary paid a visit to Quakertown, for the purpose of making an examination of the school for soldiers' orphans....He made a thorough examination of all parts of the school buildings and grounds. The school was not in session on that day, the pupils having been allowed a holliday (sic), but they were gathered together to the number of about one hundred and fifty, when they were addressed by the Governor, who told them they had become the children of the Commonwealth, that they would find a father in him, and that he had come to see if all the comforts of life were provided for them." (6/18/1867) While not as large as White Hall of Bristol College in Bristol Township, Bucks County (National Register), the school handled a sizeable student population during their years of need. The Underground Railroad and the Orphans' School, while not exclusive to Quakertown, illustrate the organized capabilities of the town to meet the needs of the oppressed and unfortunate, to a degree distinguished from surrounding towns in upper Bucks County and even (in the case of moving slaves) in spite of the potential risk of livelihood.

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