Linden Grove Pavillion (aka Coopersburg Cattle Exchange) - Coopersburg, PA, USA - Current and Former Exchanges on Waymarking.com

Coopersburg, PA is a small town along a major highway in eastern PA. Did you know that at one time it hosted a Cattle Exchange? Yes, it is true. Cattle Baron, Tilghman S. Cooper, ran an exchange through this sbuilding in from the late 1800s through the 1930s.

Originally Mr. Cooper imported, bred and raised Jersey cattle on his estate in Coopersburg, PA (named after an ancestor). Until the early 1900s, he sold the cattle at auction in Madison Square Garden in New York City (about 90 miles east of here).

In 1900, Cooper constructed an auction hall and stables foe selling the Jersey Cattle, which he imported from the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel and bred them for sale. This complex was called the Linden Grove Stables and Pavilion. The cattle, which went for as much as $15,000 a head, were prized for the high butterfat content in their milk. A Linden Grove bull won the sweepstakes at the World Fair in Chicago; another captured the grand championship at the National Dairy Show in Chicago in 1911.

The Linden Prove Pavilion was built by Tilghman S. Cooper as an exercise and Sale Pavilion on his farm outside of Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, around 1900. T. S. Cooper was internationally known as the "Jersey Cattle King" for his expertise in the breeding, rearing, importing and selling of high class Jersey cattle. Cooper began his business in 1874 together with his two sons. As the business grew both in size and in reputation, the annual Decoration Day Auction for the worlds finest breed of Jersey cattle was transferred from the Madison Square Garden arena in New York, to the newly expanded facilities on the Cooper farm in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in 1900.

"There never was a man in any part of the world whose activities in the interest of the Jersey breed reached so far and touched so many people directly and indirectly. Cooper cattle or descendants of Cooper cattle are owned in countless herds in many countries and his name has become a household word within the Jersey fraternity." These are just a few words mentioned of T.S. Cooper repeatedly in many histories not only of Lehigh County but of the dairy industry as well. Many of the cattle who have won National and International honors have been of the Cooper line. The winner of the Sweepstakes at the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair and the 1911 Grand Champion at the National Dairy Show in Chicago are just a few of the prestigious honors won by the Cooper enterprise. The greatest of all Jersey cattle "The Cid" once was part of the rich blood line of the Cooper herd. Upon his final sale in 1924, "The Cid" brought the highest price ever paid for a Jersey Bull, $15,000.00, a most impressive figure in its' day.

The annual Decoration Day Sales became a major function upon which the community of Coopersburg thrived on for more than three decades. Preparation for the sales involved the employment of countless numbers of local residents. An average of 5,000 to 10,000 people would crowd into the small community of Coopersburg which is located in the southern part of Lehigh County. They traveled by all means of transportation and filled the three hotels of the day plus any spare rooms available from the town's residents. The railroad sidings hosted private
Pullman coaches, whose families lived aboard the cars and had their servants with them to cater to their needs. Trolley's ran every ten minutes, commuting buyers and auction goers from the rail station to the auction grounds. The auction grounds took on the excitement and entertainment of a county fair with dozens of varieties of foods and other items available with the overall gala atmosphere.

T. S. Cooper died in 1928, and the sales were discontinued until 1930 and 1931, when T. S. Cooper, Jr. conducted the first of two final sales disposing of the Last of the Cooper's Jersey cattle. Because of the 1929 crash and the unavailability of money throughout the country the Cooper Jersey Sales were permanently discontinued. As a final tribute to T. S. Cooper, a local paper printed, "T. S. Cooper contributed greatly to the improvement of the dairy stock in the United States and around the world, he has given fame to his town, native employment to many and an annual day of entertainment to all."

Name: Linden Grove Pavillion Address: Presently: 514 Linden St Coopersburg, PA 18036 Country: Unide States Is this exchange still active at this location: no Activity Period: 1900-1931 URL: Not listed

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