King of Prussia Inn
King of Prussia Inn | |
Location | 101 Bill Smith Blvd, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°05′04″N 75°22′58″W / 40.08444°N 75.38278°W |
Built | 1719 |
Architect | William Rees (builder) |
NRHP reference No. | 75001656 |
Added to NRHP | December 23, 1975[1] |
The King of Prussia Inn is a historic tavern in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.[2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.[1]
History
The original inn was constructed as a cottage in 1719 by the
A map created by
Diary of Johann Conrad Döhla
The King of Prussia Inn is mentioned in a 1778 entry from the diary of Johann Conrad Döhla, a soldier from Ansbach-Bayreuth who fought on the British side during the war:
I must also comment that the King of Prussia has a house in Philadelphia and therefore is a citizen and enjoys the rights of citizenship. This house is built of wood and is supposed to have been put together and built in
East Friesland, brought from there to England and on a ship to Philadelphia, where it was put up in one night. It is called in their language a "Tavern," in German an inn or pub ("Gast- oder Wirtshaus"), which bears a signboard showing the King of Prussia."[6]
Relocation
The inn was forced to move with the expansion of U.S. Route 202. U.S. 202 is a major north–south highway that passes through the town from southwest to northeast. Its construction as an expressway would have caused the destruction of the King of Prussia Inn; however, historic preservationists managed to prevail upon the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to avoid this structure by building north and southbound lanes on either side of it.[7]
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania acquired the property on which the inn was located in 1952.[8] For more than 50 years the inn was marooned on an artificial island, with cars and trucks roaring past it on both sides. It was sealed up for years, surrounded by a high fence. The inn was successfully relocated on August 20, 2000, and re-opened to the public in October 2002.[9] The King of Prussia Chamber of Commerce (now the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce) has occupied the building since the restoration.[7][8][10]
References
- ^ a b c "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
- ^ Haley, Bill (April 1997). ""A Home For The Inn," Berry's Tavern in Merionethshire, and the "Other" Valley Forge". Route 422 Business Advisor. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007.
- ^ "Map 1: King of Prussia Area, 1777". At a Crossroads: The King of Prussia Inn. Teaching with Historic Places Lesson Plans. National Park Service. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- ^ Paschall, Albert. "What's in a name?". Greater Valley Forge Chamber of Commerce. Archived from the original on February 7, 2006.
- ^ Johann Conrad Döhla, Tagebuch eines Bayreuther Soldaten (Bayreuth, 1913), 61-62.
- ^ a b "15 Year Anniversary of King of Prussia Inn's Move". King of Prussia Historical Society. 19 August 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
- ^ a b "At a Crossroads: King of Prussia Inn". Teaching with Historic Places Lesson Plans. National Park Service. Retrieved October 3, 2007.
- ^ "Determining the Facts". At a Crossroads: The King of Prussia Inn. Teaching with Historic Places Lesson Plans. National Park Service. Retrieved October 3, 2007.
- ^ "Contact Montgomery County Chamber". Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
External links
- Media related to King of Prussia Inn at Wikimedia Commons
- At a Crossroads: The King of Prussia Inn, a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan
- Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. PA-1009, "King of Prussia Inn, U.S. Route 202 (Upper Merion Township), King of Prussia, Montgomery County, PA", 15 photos, 16 measured drawings, 9 data pages