The Bischoff Story

Bischoff History

A Family, Business

Conrad Bischoff

Conrad Bischoff was a Bavarian immigrant who came to the US in 1857 with his fiancee Wilhelmina Buri. After training as a cabinet maker with a fellow German immigrant, he opened his first factory in 1867 on Railroad Street in Tamaqua. He expanded to this location on Lafayette Street only three years later in 1870. He sold the furniture at a retail location on Broad Street, formerly occupied by Dn’A Bikes.

Furniture Factory

Bischoff Inn is now a 5-room boutique hotel located within Tamaqua’s historic district at the Conrad Bischoff Planing Mill and Furniture Factory.

The Conrad Bischoff Planing Mill and Furniture Factory sits amid a residential neighborhood and is the earliest industrial building surviving in the historic district. It is a 3-story, brick Victorian, with a wagon shed and lumber barn at the rear fronting Rowe Street.

Wilhelmina Bischoff

Wilhelmina Bischoff was not to be overlooked. Her entrepreneurial spirit helped transition the family from furniture making to undertaking. In those times furniture makers manufactured caskets and many became undertakers as part of their existing business. She used the second floor of the retail location to coordinate funerals.

1901–1930

In 1901, Conrad Bischoff passed, leaving Wilhelmina and her four children to run both businesses. She died eight years later in 1909. The family eventually closed the furniture business in 1930, concentrating full time on the funeral home.

Wilhelmina’s daughter Emma married August Wilhelm Friedrick Zizelmann in 1903. Their son Conrad "Connie" Bischoff Zizelmann would become the next generation to inherit the business. Zizelmann-Gulla Funeral Home and Cremation Services is still in operation today at 500 E Broad Street.

The Valley Among Four Mountains

1681

Founded in 1681 via a land grant by Charles II as one of the original 13 colonies, Pennsylvania, named after William Penn (Penn’s woods from the Latin silva “forest, woods”) was vital to the formation of the United States constitution and early government.

Tamaqua

In 1700, Pennsylvania was home to a variety of Native American tribes including the Delaware/Lenape, Mohican, Iroquois and Susquehannocks.

Tamaqua is named for the Native American Tuscarora king of the Turkey Clan, Chief Tahkamochk, and known as the "Valley Among Four Mountains" and "The Land of Running Water." (livingplaces.com)

Walking Purchase

The area of Northeast Pennsylvania and Tamaqua was settled after the Walking Purchase in 1737. William Penn’s descendants claimed the Lenape signed over an area of land within a day and a half’s walk west of the junction of the Delaware River and the Lehigh River near Easton, PA. Conclusive and factual documentation of this agreement was never proven. Land was sold by the Penn family to colonists while the Lenape lived there. Eventually the Lenape were forced to leave the area.

Burkhardt Moser

Burkhardt Moser was the first Tamaqua settler in 1799. His log cabin from 1801 still exists on East Broad Street. Moser was also the first to discover and sell coal from Tamaqua to Berks and Lehigh counties in 1817. Locally, coal had been discovered earlier in 1790 in Pottsville, PA by Necho Allen.

Early Businesses

Among Tamaqua’s first businesses were blacksmith shops, general stores, breweries and hotels. Coal was used in early blacksmith shops like the Hegarty Blacksmith Shop from 1848. It still stands on North Nescopec Street.

Coal

Anthracite coal and its railroad transport became the area’s dominant industries by the 1820s. Anthracite coal is the highest grade of coal because it contains a high percentage of carbon. Of all the grades, it burns the hottest and cleanest. Pennsylvania is the largest producer of anthracite in the USA, most of it coming from this region of Northeast PA.

The New Bischoff Inn

Owner & Developer

Maria Stabio is the owner and developer of Bischoff Inn. In late 2015, she came to the area after purchasing the Grier City Schoolhouse, a 4-Room 3,600 sq ft building in Barnesville, PA just 15 minutes outside of Tamaqua.

Artist & Painter

As an artist and painter living in New York City and originally from San Francisco, she saw great potential in its high ceilings and open rooms. After much renovation and restoration it became her primary home and studio space.

Newfound Passion

Restoration of historic properties was soon to be her newfound passion. She became aware of the desire for short term lodging in Tamaqua through conversations with the local community. After three years of planning and strategizing, construction began in March 2022. She hopes the restoration of Bischoff Inn will reinvigorate pride in Tamaqua’s Historic District and provide comfort and enjoyment to its guests for many years to come.

Herstory in the Making