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Credit (right): The Postcard History Series: Eastern Montgomery County
by Andrew Mark Herman Copyright 1999

Caption reads: KING OF PRUSSIA INN. Situated on an island between north and southbound traffic on Route 202. The King of Prussia Inn is a historic gem dating back to 1719. Before roads were widened, the King of Prussia Inn faced DeKalb Pike or Swedesford Road, where it crossed Gulph Road. Many Revolutionary War leaders have been visitors to this famous inn due to its proximity to Valley Forge, including Washington, Lafayette, Von Steuben, DeKalb and many others. This 1906 view shows the village of King of Prussia looking north. The giant King of Prussia Mall would occupy all land on the left side of the road. Plans call for further widening of the road and the King of Prussia Inn will have to be moved. A fund raising effort has been established to move the inn to a spot of protected land on South Gulph Road.

 

The King of Prussia Inn Described in "Country Walks in 1889" by Charles Saunders...

"The landlady (Mrs. Hoy), a buxom widow of 45, meets you at the door and invites you in. An old fashioned clock ticks in the hall and the floor slants invitingly to the sitting room with its low ceiling and broad window seats....

The meals are of the country kind-plain, well cooked and substantial and apt to terminate in three kinds of pies. If you come to supper you will probably have waffles, than which a no pleasanter fate can befall you. The kitchen which supplies the tables with the delectables referred to is one of the kind you read about-the big old fireplace and the crane and the ceiling ribbed with smokey rafters."
 

(Left) Contributed by Jean Wolf, of Wolf Historic Preservation (Research, Planning, Conservation, and Grant Writing), in Ardmore, Pa.

" The photograph was given to me by a school friend from Manhattan whose father grew up here in Ardmore (now Gladwyne) on one of the major early 20th-century estates. So the picture was part of family memorabilia from the James Crosby Brown family. They were participants in the Hunts of the Day, so I'm sure traveled out your way by horseback. They were in the area from 1913-1930, so presumably the picture dates from about that time.

an early history of Upper Merion written in 1857 that I saw today claims John Brooke ran the marble quarry near you. That seems to be where he made his wealth!"

 

 

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