John Kennedy was the most extensive lime dealer in Port Kennedy. In 1842 he bought the lime works which he managed for the next 35 years. By 1858 he had 14 bank-style kilns built into the side of a hill, the largest of which produced as much as 2,500 bushels of lime. Kennedy also built his elegant Italian-style mansion, Kenhurst, aka the Kennedy-Supplee Mansion, in 1852 on a high point in the village overlooking the river. The building’s elaborate ceilings demonstrated the use of lime to make plaster. Later Kennedy was an Upper Merion Township school director, president of the Farmers & Mechanics Bank of Phoenixville, and president of the Montgomery Agricultural Society. He died in 1877 at the age of 61.
Due to changes in the Upper Merion Township E-Newsletter, this is the final fact published 7/29/16.