The 108-year-old, two-story residential eyesore that sat for decades next to The Mill Restaurant at Sumneytown Pike and Bustard Road and greeted customers with its unkempt exterior and boarded-up windows as they entered and exited the historic former feed mill-turned practice place-turned American restaurant was finally demolished Wednesday.
The demolition, according to The Mill in a recent Facebook post, was seven long years in the making. The building at 1710 Sumneytown Pike would have been destroyed sooner, but equipment delivery delays pushed the event to this week. The Mill owner Gregory F. Moore, of Lafayette Hill, has owned both properties since 1988, according to Montgomery County land records, with Dan Moore entering as a business partner in 2015.
The Mill aims to use the space for additional parking, pending Towamencin Township approval, and an outdoor dining area, according to its Facebook.
According to a Facebook post, saving or restoring the house was not possible as it was “beyond repair.”
“The day has arrived to remove it for good!” wrote The Mill. “Thank you all for your patience while we worked the proper channels to get this done.”
According to its website, The Mill began in Kulpsville by town namesake Henry S. Kulp in 1894 as The Kulpsville Feed Mill, providing feed, flour, coal, and other farm and home supplies through the mid-1970s. In the early days, Kulp and his son Warren Kulp oversaw the feed mill and transformed it into a clothing manufacturer. By 1909, the Kulp’s partnered with Elwood Stover to open the first general store in Kulpsville. The demolished 10,800-square-foot Colonial-style building was built in 1915, according to county property records.
After Kulp died in 1916, the mill was sold to Charles T. Hedrick, son of Charles M. Hedrick. The elder Hedrick ran the old mill (where The Store was originally located) and creamery on Allentown Road at the site of The Shops at Town Square. To this day, it is still referred to as “Hedrick’s Mill” by some locals.
The demolished building is believed to be the childhood home of Ralph Hedrick, who would go on to own and develop the current Ralph’s Corner Shopping Center in Hatfield Township.
In 1930, Hedrick sold the property to Russell Detwiler, who increased the size of the store and its inventory to include paint, hardware, and farm goods, according to its website. Detwiler shut his business in 1972 and then Urwiler and Walter Inc. purchased it, according to the website, and renamed it Kulpsville Professional Building. According to Montgomery County property records, Greg Moore acquired it for $1 in 1991, while Urweiler & Walter Inc. bought it in 1972 for $39,000.
In 1988, Moore and his wife Kathi purchased The Old Mill, along with the now-demolished house and land next to it, according to the website. The Moore’s brought in Steve’s Hoagies to the first floor and leased out the second floor to artists and quiltmakers, per the site.
The second floor was also used by local musicians and bands as a practice place, including Lansdale scene veterans Dysphoria.
In 1996, The Moore’s took over the restaurant and renamed it The Sandwich Mill, and then it was renovated 19 years later and rebranded “The Mill.”
As a nod to its past, the old mill doors, where ropes and pulleys raised and lowered bags of feed to wagons below, are still evident today.
The razed building sits on a parcel that also comprises The Mill’s parking lot off Bustard Road, according to Montgomery County zoning records. The parcel was bought in 1972 for $45,000 by Douglas Law Inc., and later sold to Moore for $142,000 in 1988.
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