Decorative twin barns at Mt. Rose Ave. Exit 18
In 2015, Helen Rinehart responded to my post The Famed Twin Barns along Mt. Rose Avenue. Helen was certain her sister Karen took close-up color photos of the decorative barns before they were torn down in 1965.
This week I heard back from Helen, with an apology, she wrote, “My sister searched high and low a number of times for the photos. Karen is now convinced the barn photos were in one of the boxes her husband threw out during a move.” If any of my readers have photos of the decorative twin barns which stood along Mt. Rose Avenue, please consider sharing.
The bird’s eye view aerial photo is from the Collections of the Springettsbury Township Historic Preservation Committee. The 1956 viewpoint, showing the south ends of the twin barns, facing Mt. Rose Avenue, is provided via a section of an April 18, 1956, aerial photo by Dave Allen. The farmhouse to the west of the twin barns was originally know as Emig’s Hotel at the time of the Civil War.
Note in 1956, Camp Betty Washington Road does not align with Haines Road. The reason, in 1956, before I-83 was built in this area, Camp Betty Washington Road intersected with Mt. Rose Avenue about where the I-83 bridge now stands.
When I was younger, whenever driving by these barns with my parents, my Mom, Esther L. Smith, would always have a remark or two. It would be either about their unique architecture or her memory of coming along, as a young child, when her father bought a horse at these barns.
Even though the Mt. Rose Avenue intersection of I-83 opened in 1959, initially there was not much development around that intersection. The farmers hung onto their land for a few years; at least until December of 1965 when Mobil Oil Corporation purchased much of the land on this corner, extending back to the eventual location of K-Mart, which opened in 1970.
I’ve placed the locations of the barns and farmhouse/hotel on an I-83 Exit 18 Construction Graphic; showing all the changes now underway.
I-83 Exit 18 Construction Graphic
This construction graphic contains changes now underway, in yellow, at I-83 Exit 18. The graphic comes from the Transportation Resource Group web site. All these changes are planned to be completed by the end of 2018. I’ve placed and marked the locations where the decorative barns and farmhouse/hotel stood a little over 50-years ago.
Related posts include:
- The Famed Twin Barns along Mt. Rose Avenue
- Mysteries of Springettsbury Township’s Erb Burial Plot
- The Missing Gravestones of Springettsbury Township; Erb Burial Plot
