Here is an excerpt from a King of Prussia Courier article written in the early 1970s when the King of Prussia Antique Shop was threatened by Mobile Oil.
In 1959 the King of Prussia Historical Society conducted an exhaustive study of the old buildings remaining in the township. It found 256 sites and buildings known to be in existence before 1850. Of that number, the society designated 35 as being of “prime importance to the community” from a historical and architectural standpoint.
Lock House at Catfish Dam, Dam 28 on the Schuylkill Canal; photo, courtesy of King of Prussia Historical Society Archives.
……Gone are the Coates family home in King Manor which was built about 1775 and the Abrams homestead dating even earlier, now covered by Hamlet Mews. Gone also from Mancill rd are the grist mill and blacksmith shop associated with Revolutionary War financier Robert Morris. In the same vicinity, near the Schuylkill River, the Catfish Dam Lock House fell to the wrecker’s hand. The Pechin farmhouse, which weathered two and a half centuries of N. Gulph rd, was a victim of the Valley Forge interchange of the turnpike. The demise of the Steward Fund Hall and the Union School master’s Quarters which stood at the corner of Allendale and Dekalb pike…
Union School and Stewart Fund Hall, Upper Merion (From Ellwood Robert’s “Old Upper Merion Schools”) courtesy of Montgomery County Historical Society.
…According to Marjorie McKaig, who has served as an officer on both the historical society and the UM Park and Historic Foundation, “There has been a lot of loss. Upper Merion lost open space and historical sites because the citizens did not vocalize their interest to the local government.”
…. Since 1971 the supervisors have purchased the historic estate on Morris rd, and maintained it as the Community Center and have made donations totaling $9,000 for the restoration of the King of Prussia Inn.
Next Saturday, March 11, you can hear more about “These Old Houses” and others during our monthly program. Please join us at 2:00 pm at Christ Church (Old Swedes).