Jacob Nolde
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Jacob Nolde (1859–1916) was an American industrialist and
environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...
who was largely responsible for the creation of
Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center Nolde Forest Environmental Educational Center is a Pennsylvania state park in Cumru Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Programs are offered for youth and adult groups, school groups, and individuals. The center grounds ...
, a Pennsylvania state park in
Berks County Berks County (Pennsylvania German: ''Barricks Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 428,849. The county seat is Reading. The Schuylkill River, a tributary of the Delaware River, ...
,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. Nolde was a German immigrant who came to the United States in 1880. He was born in 1859 in
Berleburg Bad Berleburg (, earlier also Berleburg) is a town, in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of Germany's largest towns by land area. It is located approximately northeast of Siegen and northwest of ...
,
Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...
, Germany. Nolde may have been descended from a family of
forester A forester is a person who practises forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Foresters manage forests to ...
s, but this fact is unclear. It is thought that his
grandfather Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually-reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic ...
was a forester who cared for one of the many "beautifully manicured princely forests" of 18th and 19th century Germany. Nolde may have been inspired by the forests of his native land when he began the project of creating a coniferous forest on his property in Cumru Township just south of
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
.


Hosiery baron

Nolde arrived on a steamship in 1880 in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
, Pennsylvania. He was drawn to the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
speaking communities of southeastern Pennsylvania and quickly found employment as a weaver for the Louis Kraemer Woolen Mills near Reading. Nolde soon rose to the top of the corporate ladder at Kraemer Mills, from there he was able to acquire much of the machinery that Kraemer Mills had used in their
hosiery Hosiery, also referred to as legwear, describes garments worn directly on the feet and legs. The term originated as the collective term for products of which a maker or seller is termed a hosier; and those products are also known generically as ...
business. Nolde established his own hosiery factory in Reading in 1888, just eight years after leaving Germany. Nolde took on some partners, Jacob Lorah and George Horst, and was able to expand his hosiery business. His operation, Nolde and Horst Company, employed 500 workers who operated about 400 knitting machines in 1897. The factory was devastated by a fire in 1899, but Nolde and Horst were soon back in business after rebuilding the factory. The new factory had the most up to date knitting equipment and by 1910 it covered an entire city block in Reading, with of floor space and more than 1,500 employees. Nolde had situated himself to become one of the leading citizens of Reading.


Leading citizen and environmentalist

Nolde was married twice. He married women who also happened to be the sisters of his partners, Jacob Lorah and George Horst. He married his first wife, Lydia Lorah, in 1889. Together they had two children, Ella and Carl, but Lydia died shortly after the birth of Carl. Nolde then married Anna Louise Horst in 1893, and she bore four children: George, Carol, Hans, and Louise. The family lived in a large home on the slopes of Mount Penn, near his factories in Reading. Nolde then set out to better the life of his family by creating a forest near their new home, "Sheerlund", which he built south of Reading in Cumru Township. When Nolde purchased the land, a single
white pine ''Pinus'', the pines, is a genus of approximately 111 extant tree and shrub species. The genus is currently split into two subgenera: subgenus ''Pinus'' (hard pines), and subgenus ''Strobus'' (soft pines). Each of the subgenera have been further ...
was growing there. Inspired by this single tree, Nolde set out to create a "luxury forest" to be a source of family pride and pleasure. The massive white pine is now surrounded by a forest of Douglas fir and Norway spruce trees that were planted under Nolde and later, the supervision of
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n born
forester A forester is a person who practises forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Foresters manage forests to ...
William Kohout. Nolde dreamt that his forest would resemble the coniferous forests of his native Westphalia. He bought about 500 acres (2 km²) of future timberland in Cumru Township in 1904 and continued to acquire the land that would become Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center until his death in 1916. This land had been either
farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bo ...
that had lain fallow for a number of years, or scrubby
deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...
forest just beginning to recover from being stripped to make charcoal by colliers for the nearby iron furnaces. Nearly 500,000 coniferous trees were planted by 1910, but then Nolde realized that his dream of a small forest had surpassed all his expectations and saw the need to properly manage the forest. Nolde hired William Kohout as head forester, and Kohout hired a contractor to build roads and trails to the forest to help prevent and fight forest fires. Kohout was a master forester from Austria, who had attended
forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...
schools in Bohemia and
Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
and received a degree from the
University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...
. Kohout came to America in the 1880s or 1890s and first worked as an
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...
for a mining company before getting back into forestry. Kohout then worked on a private estate as a forester near
Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It is the s ...
, where he first came into contact with Jacob Nolde. Together they started the forest that became Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center in 1970. However, the Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center is not the only lasting mark that Jacob Nolde left before his unexpected death in 1916. The following quotes are excerpts from his obituary. Nolde also donated $15,000 to
Mercersburg Academy Mercersburg Academy (formerly Marshall College and Mercersburg College) is an independent selective college-preparatory boarding & day high school in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania in the United States. Founded in 1893, the school enrolls approximat ...
in
Mercersburg, Pennsylvania Mercersburg is a borough in Franklin County, located near the southern border of Pennsylvania, United States. The borough is southwest of Harrisburg, the state capital. Due to its location in a rural area, it had a relatively large percentage ...
to build a
gym A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational i ...
nasium there to honor his son Carl, who had died while he was a student at the
academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...
. This gym is still being used today by the students at Mercersburg. Although Nolde gained tremendous wealth, there is evidence that he never lost touch with his working-class roots. Visitors to his factories were often surprised to find him working alongside his employees and he put much personal effort into creating his forest himself, taking on the responsibility of personally planting trees and helping with the upkeep of the forest.


Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center

Nolde Forest was acquired by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the late 1960s. The Environmental Education Center was established by the Berks County
Intermediate Unit {{short description, School service agencies in Pennsylvania In Pennsylvania, intermediate units are regional educational service agencies, established by the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Intermediate units are public entities and serve a given ...
with the help of grants from the United States Government in 1970. Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center was the first such center to be owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Jacob Nolde was a pioneering environmentalist whose work lives on today at Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center. The main purpose of Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center is to provide
environmental education Environmental education (EE) refers to organized efforts to teach how natural environments function, and particularly, how human beings can manage behavior and ecosystems to live sustainably. It is a multi-disciplinary field integrating discip ...
for the citizens of southeastern Pennsylvania and specifically the students of the nearby elementary schools,
high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
s,
college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...
s, and
universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...
. Nolde Forest stays busy offering hands on opportunities to these students and their teachers with a "discovery and problem solving" approach. These are lessons that Nolde sought to pass onto his children and succeeding generations of Pennsylvanians.


References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nolde, Jacob American environmentalists German emigrants to the United States People from Reading, Pennsylvania 1859 births 1916 deaths