The Keystone Hat Factory

The Keystone Hat Factory, Reading, PA

Submitted by: J. C. Bozarth

The following information is taken from History of Berks County in Pennsylvania by Morton L. Montgomery, Philadelphia: Everts, Peck and Richards, 1886.

The Keystone Hat Factory, owned by I.W. Levan & Son, on Muhlenberg Street, above
Eleventh, was established in 1865, by W. & I.W. Levan. In 1871 the firm was
changed to I.W. Levan & Son, and in 1884, Charles Y. Levan became a partner
of the present firm. They manufacture staple-wool hats for the West,
Southwest and California trade in large quantities, as well as other kinds
and varieties. The factory is a three-story building, extending one hundred
and twenty-six feet on Muhlenberg Street, well fitted and well furnished with
machinery and apparatus. The capacity of the factory is one hundred and fifty
dozen hats daily; capital invested, one hundred and twenty-five thousand
dollars. The number of hands employed is seventy.

ISAAC W. LEVAN, the senior proprietor of this firm, is descended from
Huguenot ancestry. His grandfather, Isaac Levan, resided in Exeter township,
Berks County, where he engaged in farming. He was married to a Miss Newkirk,
of the same county, and had the following-named children: Isaac, John, Jacob,
Catherine (married to John Deiter), Mary (married to Lewis Seider), Nellie
(married to William Yohn) and Phebe (married to William Yohn).

John Levan was born in Berks County, and on reaching mature years engaged in
stage-driving on the Philadelphia and Pottsville turnpike, after which he
became a farmer, and died at the age of forty-three years. He married
Rebecca, daughter of Philip Witz, a locksmith, a soldier of the Revolution
and a resident of Pottstown, Pa. Their children are Isaac W., John
(deceased), Susan (married to Henry Hagen), Catherine (married to Joseph
Watt), Julia and Mary (married to Enos Alderman).

Isaac W. Levan was born on the 22d of October, 1818, on the farm in Exeter
township, and removed, when a youth, to Pottstown, where he attended school.
In 1827 Reading became his home. He was employed in the summer on the
Schuylkill Canal and in the winter found his services in demand to carry the
local mails. In 1836 he was indentured to John Yeager, in Philadelphia, as
apprentice to the hatter’s trade, and after a service of three years he
worked as a journeyman. He was, in the spring of 1842, married to Catherine,
daughter of John Yeager, of Philadelphia, who died on the 28th of July, 1883.
Their children are John Y. (who died in 1884, married to Emma Rowe), Charles
Y., Emily (married to Thomas Andrews, of Philadelphia), Catherine, Amelia
(deceased) and Harry (deceased).

Mrs. Levan was a lady of many Christian virtues, active in the leading city
charities, zealous in the promotion of all benevolent interests connected
with her church, and exemplifying in her daily walk and conversation a
well-founded and beautiful Christian character. Both Mr. and Mrs. Levan were
members of the Second Reformed Church of Reading, in which the family have
been active workers.

In 1847 Mr. Levan returned to Reading, and, under the firm-name of Levan &
Faust, opened a store and began the manufacture of hats. This business
connection being dissolved in 1863, he continued the enterprise as a retailer
and manufacturer, becoming, in 1865, a manufacturer exclusively. In this he
is still engaged. Beginning with little capital, by industry and judgment he
established an extensive and successful business and amassed a competency. In
politics Mr. Levan, until the outbreak of the war, was a Democrat.
Circumstances then influenced a change in his views, since which time he has
affiliated with the Republican party. He has represented both parties in the
City Council. He was one of the organizers and is now president of the Penn
National Bank. In business circles, and in all deliberative assemblies where
experience combined with sound judgment are of consequence, Mr. Levan’s
opinions command respect and consideration.