The thoroughfare now known as Main Street is “ageless.” The popular camp site at the Big Spring Head was reached by using a canoe or following the path beside the stream from the Conestoga. When this trail reached Rome, it led straight across high and dry land to the Big Spring Head.
There was probably a beaver dam near Cedar Street for what is now the park was a huge swamp. No spot in the County was more ideally suited for the spawning of fish. Before dams were built huge schools of salmon and other fish came up the Susquehanna and finally found their way here.
The path that led to the springs was not obstructed by trees as the soil here was not fertile and it was rocky and hilly. However for the Indian, it was already clear and quite suitable for the little farming done by the Indian. The never-failing spring attracted game and the swamp was a fisherman’s paradise. It is little wonder that the many spearheads found at the head of the spring indicated battles being fought for the possession of this desirable spot.
How old is Main Street? Archaeologists are convinced that most of the spearheads found were made between 1500 and 6000 B.C. It is believed that Main Street was traveled by human beings for at least 10,000 years.
The early settlers that followed the Lititz creek here came on horseback. With few exceptions they were Lutheran, Reformed and Mennonite. Christian Bomberger came first in 1722 and then was followed by others who soon took up every desirable tract in the township. Only the 491 acres that later became Lititz remained unsold. Most of the land was suitable for only one thing – to build a town.
When George Klein and his wife arrived here in 1740 he saw possibilities in the tract and bought it. He built his first log cabin along the main road (Main Street) near the Mueller House. Nearby was a large spring referred in old records as simply the “Big Spring.” He built a barn across the creek (still standing) and then proceeded to dig an irrigating ditch from the swamp to the fields he was cultivating along the creek. This was probably the only farm in the area that did not suffer from occasional droughts. That George Klein prospered, there is no doubt, but what he did with his farm later on is another story.