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Bridging a Stony Run Tributary on Commons Drive; Springettsbury Fire Station photos

Bridging a Stony Run Tributary on Commons Drive in Springettsbury Township (2014 Photo by S. H. Smith)
Bridging a Stony Run Tributary on Commons Drive in Springettsbury Township (2014 Photo by S. H. Smith)

Commons Drive is a new road extending from Eastern Boulevard to East Market Street in Springettsbury Township.  Commons Drive will intersect Market Street just east of Hoss’s Steak & Sea House.  Commons Drive is the address of the new Springettsbury Fire Station.  This photo shows the progress of Commons Drive bridging a Stony Run tributary, as viewed from the back end of Hoss’s parking lot.

This Stony Run tributary originates on the hillside of the western past of Penn Oaks.  The tributary travels through Penn Oaks Park and then the lower part of the Penn Oaks development, before arriving in the flats between East Market Street and Eastern Boulevard.

Part of a Spheel Grund Motel Postcard (Collection of S. H. Smith)
Part of a Spheel Grund Motel Postcard (Collection of S. H. Smith)

This view, from a Spheel Grund Motel postcard, showcases the lake behind the motel for boating and fishing.  The background of this photo contains prior farm buildings (where the new Springettsbury Fire Station is now being built) and the back of the past Stony Brook Drive-In Theatre’s massive outdoor movie-screen.  In 1953, a World War I Veteran established the Spheel Grund Motel along East Market Street in Springettsbury Township.

The Stony Run tributary supplied the water for the lake behind the Spheel Grund Motel.  During Hurricane Agnes, in 1972, the deluge of muddy water from the hillside turned this quiet run into a raging torrent; it filled the flats between Stone Ridge Road and East Market Street.  When the water receded, the lake had been jam-packed with mud and muck, never to be dug out.  These were the days before retention basins.

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The present, and soon to be former, Springetts Fire Company building at 3013 East Market Street was build in 1958, with additions in 1967 & 1974.  That second fire station replaced the first fire station, whose structure still stands at 2914 East Market Street.

On July 10th 2013, ground was broken for the third fire station in the eastern part of Springettsbury Township on a new road to be known as Commons Drive.  Continue for recent photos, as this third fire station nears completion.

 

The third fire station in the eastern part of Springettsbury Township will be completed in June or July of 2014.  Here are comparison photos taken April 12th and June 9th, 2014.

Springetts Fire Station on Commons Drive (2014 Photos by S. H. Smith)
Springetts Fire Station on Commons Drive (2014 Photos by S. H. Smith)

Comparison photos, taken April 12th and June 9th, 2014, show the progress of work on Commons Drive. The new fire station is in the “ghost shadow” of the former Stony Brook Drive-In Theatre’s massive outdoor movie-screen, that I’ve drawn at proper location.  Except for the bridging the  Stony Run tributary, all of  Commons Drive is now paved.

Commons Drive in Springettsbury Township (2014 Photos by S. H. Smith with “Ghost Shadow” of the former Stony Brook Drive-In Theatre’s massive outdoor movie-screen drawn at proper location)
Commons Drive in Springettsbury Township (2014 Photos by S. H. Smith with “Ghost Shadow” of the former Stony Brook Drive-In Theatre’s massive outdoor movie-screen drawn at proper location)

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