257 N 3rd St is a 4-story Flemish-bond brick, Greek Revival building with 3-bay storefront. Built c. 1835, the earliest recorded occupant was a hat company, John C. Yeager & Co. They were there from the 1850's into the 1910's. For a time, there was a partnership between Yeager & Nathan Berkenstock, a former baseball player and well known hatmaker of the time.
Nathan Berkenstock is believed to be the earliest born professional baseball player. Born in 1831, he played in amateur leagues until 1866, when he retired. Five years later, when baseball’s first professional league, the National Association, was heading to its first championship game, Berkenstock was called out of retirement to replace an injured outfielder. At the age of 40, he helped the Philadelphia Athletics defeat the Chicago White Stockings (who wore makeshift uniforms and played their remaining games on the road due to the devastation from the Great Chicago Fire). He struck out three times in the game, but recorded three putouts, including the final out of the game, which decided the first professional baseball league championship in the United States
Berkenstock died in 1900 and Yeager carried on for a few more years. In the second decade of the 1900s, Penn Leather Co. was at 257 & 261 N 3rd St.
More recently, The Actors Center was there from 1996 to just a few years ago..
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