The Famed Twin Barns along Mt. Rose Avenue
These famed twin barns still stood only 50-years ago on the northwest corner of Haines Road and Mt. Rose Avenue in Springettsbury Township. I always thought the architectural styling of these barns was charming. Cliff Satterthwaite definitely captures that charm in this artwork he produced on site in 1962.
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. Therefore this aerial photo, taken May 30, 1964, shows the twin barns and the farmhouse as the only structures at the site of this busy intersection of today.
The broad faint black streaks, on the aerial photo, are from felt tip markers; since many of the aerial photos in the collections of the York County Archives were, at one time, used for planning purposes. I’ve drawn the dotted white square; that is the area I’ve zoomed into for illustrating the viewpoint of the 1962 artwork of Cliff Satterthwaite plus a 1956 view of these twin barns from another angle. Continue reading for more about these twin barns.
This May 30, 1964, aerial photo focuses on the intersection of Mt. Rose Avenue, Haines Road and Camp Betty Washington Road in Springettsbury Township. I’ve indicated the viewpoint of the 1962 artwork by Cliff Satterthwaite; it is a view looking southwest, towards the backs of the twin barns. In terms of today, Cliff would be standing in the parking lot fronting K-Mart and the Salvation Army Thrift Store.
The 1956 viewpoint, showing the fronts of the twin barns, facing Mt. Rose Avenue, is provided via a section of an April 18, 1956, aerial photo by Dave Allen. This bird’s eye view aerial photo is from the Collections of the Springettsbury Township Historic Preservation Committee Archives.
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.
For many years a Mobil Service Station sat where the twin barns once sat. More recently a METRO Bank occupied this site until it closed earlier this year.
Were the Twin Barns built by Solomon Emig?
Nineteenth Century maps indicate the building to the left of the barns was, at one time, a hotel; per Shearer’s 1860 Map of York County, with S. Emig the proprietor. Beach Nichols 1876 Map of York County notes this is the Residence of S. Emig.
A deed search revealed that S. Emig is Solomon Emig [1805-1880]. Solomon was married to Mary Erb [1804-1889]. Mary’s father John Erb originally owned this property until it was transferred to Solomon and Mary Emig on February 8, 1842. The primary property of John Erb and his heirs was further to the north, where Fayfield now exists. With the death of Solomon Emig in 1880, the property passed to his son Emanuel Emig [1828-1894] who was married to Magdalena Strickler [1828-1887]. Census records indicate, for the most part, Solomon and Emanuel were relatively wealthy farmers. It is entirely likely the twin barns were built under their ownership.
In a Public Sale on August 15, 1895, after the death of Emanuel Emig in 1894, the twin barns tract made up one part of a 107-acre estate encompassing this area. The newspapers contain few details, except advertising “tracts of valuable real estate.” The property on the corner passed through several owners during the next 70 years, including Joe Kindig Sr. from 1916 until his estate was settled in 1936, prior to the 1965 sale to Mobil Oil Corporation.
Many of the Emig and Erb family members, who lived on these properties during the Nineteenth Century, were buried in the Erb Burial Plot. The tale of which is told in my post Mysteries of Springettsbury Township’s Erb Burial Plot. That post contain a ‘Then and Now’ bird’s eye aerial view comparison of the area around the Mt. Rose Avenue intersection of I-83.
Related posts include:
- Mystery of the Druck Valley Barn
- Decorative twin barns at Mt. Rose Ave. Exit 18
- Mysteries of Springettsbury Township’s Erb Burial Plot
- The Missing Gravestones of Springettsbury Township; Erb Burial Plot
- Market & Penn Streets Farmers Market filled with Fall Colors at Chronister Stand
