In July 1863, Shrewsbury Station was dominated by Frederick Helb's leather tannery and rendering factory across the railroad tracks, where acrid smoke and foul stench accompanied the processing of hides from old, worn-out horses and mules he bought from local farms. After the Battle of Gettysburg, countless dead horses and mules lay across the Pennsylvania landscape, victims of battle action, accidents, and punishing usage, and in the following weeks Helb sent out teams to gather them for his operations. The tannery eventually expanded to process 7,000 hides per year, most shipped to customers by railway, and so many hides were handled there that local residents called the area "Horse Heaven." As industry and population grew after the Civil War, Shrewsbury Station was incorporated as the Borough of Railroad in 1871, and a stone retaining wall is all that remains of a mill that processed tree bark into chemicals used to tan leather.