THREATENED CLOSING SURVIVED BY MOORE ROAD YEARS AGO
By Ed Dybicz 1966
Anyone traveling West along Valley Forge Rd., or on First Avenue in Upper Merion Township, will eventually come in contact with Moore Rd.
Moore Rd. is one of the oldest roads in Upper Merion Township having been laid out in 1810.
Off Moore Rd. in Port Kennedy, is located the large Sears, Roebuck & Co., warehouse, recently constructed, a part of King of Prussia Industrial Park. A short distance below the warehouse, there is a large home owned by Alexander D. Irwin. This home, during the Revolutionary War, while the American Army encamped at Valley Forge during the Winter of 1777-78, was the Headquarters of Gen. John Peter Muhlenburg.
Twenty-eight years ago, a certain group of Upper Merion citizens wanted to close off Moore Rd., to all travel, declaring it as “useless, inconvenient and burdensome”. There were many extenuating circumstances on part of the petitioners. Upper Merion Supervisors and leading residents opposed the closing. Moore Rd. a that time stretched from Valley Forge Rd. to North Gulph Rd., a distance of 5,176 feet. . . . .
One of the main points in favor of keeping the road open was that it provided access to Valley Forge Park. Another was that Gen. Muhlenberg made his headquarters here in 1777-78 and had two redoubts erected in the vicinity, which he called Fort John Moore and Fort Mordcai Moore. . . .
Moore Rd. today, between Valley Forge Rd. and First Avenue, recently widened and repaved, is indeed an appropriate memorial to one of Upper Merion’s outstanding families whose service during the Revolutionary conflict should never be forgotten.
Read the entire article for more facts about Moore Rd. and the Irwin building.
1912 Map of Moore Rd with Muhlenberg’s Quarters
