One hundred years ago, in 1919, Port Kennedy was reduced to nearly nonexistence when the Valley Forge Park Commission received a $250,000 grant to condemn by right of eminent domain and acquire most of Port Kennedy for park purposes.
On 4 August 1919 the Evening Public Ledger (Philadelphia) published Town Is Wiped Out To Develop Park – State Commission Condemns Most of Homes in Port Kennedy-Churches Spared. Excerpts follow:
As far as wiping out towns goes, burning Vesuvius hasn’t anything on the Valley Forge Park Commission.
At least, that’s what the natives of Port Kennedy think. And the 600 men, women and children of this little Schuylkill town of 160 homes are doing some tall thinking these days.
They all must move, to make way for the growing dimension of Valley Forge Park. And they must move soon. The commonwealth of Pennsylvania through the commission has condemned all the properties of the town by right of eminent domain, and already has served notices on nineteen families that they must vacate by August 15.
And a town that has to be moved on the hands of luckless villagers is no small matter. There’s no sense in picking up a whole town and walking, unless they know where they are going to put it. And they don’t know where they are going to put Port Kennedy, though forty-one families have agreed to buy lots on the site of Conard’s farm, a half-mile stretch of land along the Schuylkill, due east of the present site of the village.
“The beginning of this whole thing,” said the Rev. Rhea Coffman, pastor of the Port Kennedy Presbyterian Church, dates back to about 1777, during the Revolution, when, after several severe actions in New Jersey, generally disastrous to the Americans, the British took possession of Philadelphia. Then Washington, with the remnants of his army, went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. Well, his outposts at that time extended beyond Port Kennedy, though Port Kennedy itself has now no historical significance.
“Later when it was decided to make a state park at Valley Forge, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania declared that the park must lie within the boundaries of the outposts of Washington’s army. The park has been expanding. Twenty-five years ago, it covered 250 acres. Today, the ambitious plans of the commission extend it to 1500 acres. And the commission is extending the park eastward, planning two boulevards which can’t be built without tearing down Port Kennedy.
“By right of eminent domain the commission, which works silently and strangely, has condemned all the homes and lands in Port Kennedy within the village area, exclusive of the properties on the east side of the road which runs south to King of Prussia road and on the south side of the road extending east to Bridgeport.
“A state statue which prohibits the condemnation of state and church properties by right of eminent domain saves the Catholic Chapel, of which the Rev. Father Gildea is pastor; my own church, and the Evergreen schoolhouse, which dates back to 1863.
“Notice has not been served on all families to move but the jury of view which appraises the price the state will pay for the condemned property is viewing the lands and housing hearings are being held most every day on the value of the condemned property; and already nineteen families must get out by August 15.
“You see, this presents a big problem to most of us. The majority of villagers of Port Kennedy earn their livelihood at the Ehret Magnesia Manufacturing Company, just southwest of the town. Getting away from Port Kennedy means stealing the very bread from the mouths of their children. The villagers can’t afford to move away at a time when jobs can’t be whistled for like dogs. The people have to live somewhere near the mills or starve.
“On July 25 we called a meeting of the people, to organize prospective lot buyers and tenants for the purpose of capitalizing building operations on a co-operative basis. We went to that meeting with an option on the Conard farm, a ninety-acre site not far distant from the mill and close to the school and the chapel and the church.
“On July 31 we had a public debate on the question of sites, the other proposal being the 125-acre Betz farm on the other side of the river. At the close of the debate forty-one families pledged themselves to purchase lots on the Conard farm, only four on the Betz farm.”
“However, the whole matter still hangs in the air. The villagers who have been notified to move by August 15 are hunting around for new homes. Those whose homes have been condemned but upon whom notice to vacate has not yet been served live in suspense.
“We just don’t know what to do,” said Mrs. George F. Hartman in her picturesque, ivy-covered cottage on the King of Prussia road. Mrs. Hartman is the wife of the only medical doctor in the vicinity between Phoenixville and Norristown.
“My husband has an extensive practice, and we’ve been here for the last thirty-four years,” she continued. “The doctor can’t go to some new locality at his age and build up a new practice, and when folks reach our stage in life they don’t want to tear away from the place that’s been a happy home to them for so many years.
“We have no court to appeal to on the question as to whether they have a right to push us out of our home or not.
“I don’t know what we can do. There are no homes nearby outside the condemned area we can move to. Of course, we may build on the Conard farm site if that project is developed. Our only hope is that the commission won’t want us to move right away.”
The one groceryman of the town, whose general store is on Valley Forge road and Main street, has been notified of the condemnation of his store. …
“It’s a shame,” she said (elderly woman seated at the cashier’s desk). ‘the way the commission refuses to tell us just what it intends doing. We’ve been living here for the last twenty-five years never suspecting that we’d ever have to leave our good home. But now comes the commission with word that we have to sell them our property whether we want to or not.
“And we don’t know exactly why they want to buy it. Some say the commission wants to connect Fairmount Park by road with the Valley Forge boulevard; some say other things. Anyway, it’s all hearsay. And when we try to find out from the commission, they won’t tell us anything. …
