John A. Shulze
Marion Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Governor of Pennsylvania, 1823-1829. Born, 1775, in the old parsonage behind Christ Lutheran Church. During his terms, the State inaugurated its extensive program of internal improvements. He died at Lancaster in 1852.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
John Andrew Shulze served as Pennsylvania's governor through the 1820s, a moment when young American states were racing to knit themselves together with roads, canals, and other public works. Under his administration the Commonwealth launched an ambitious program of internal improvements, the kind of canal-and-turnpike building that would soon reshape Pennsylvania's economy. Born in 1775 in the parsonage behind Christ Lutheran Church, in the German-settled countryside of Berks County, Shulze rose from a Lutheran pastor's household to the statehouse.
Why it matters
His governorship helped set Pennsylvania on the path of state-financed infrastructure that opened the interior to commerce and knit the early republic together.
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