Strickler Family Farmhouse

Strickler Family Farmhouse
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	1205 Williams Rd., Springettsbury Township, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	39°59′16″N76°39′33″W / 39.98778°N 76.65917°W / 39.98778; -76.65917
Area	less than one acre
Built	c. 1740, c. 1835, c. 1865
Architectural style	Colonial, Georgian, Post-medieval German
NRHP reference No.	91000093 [1]
Added to NRHP	February 21, 1991

The Strickler Family Farmhouse, also known as the County Farm, is an historic, American home that is located in Springettsbury Township, York County, Pennsylvania.

The home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. ^[1]

Description

The farmhouse consists of three sections: a 1+1⁄2-story, two-bay by one-bay, Germanic-influenced, limestone main house, a 2+1⁄2-story, brick Georgian-style wing that was built circa 1835, and a two-story brick ell that was built circa 1865.

Also located on the property is the Strickler family cemetery, with burials that date back to the 1700s. ^[2]

History

Ulrich and Mary Strickler immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1737 and purchased two hundred acres of farmland west of the Susquehanna River from the Penn family. Samuel Strickler was born in the stone house in 1875.

The family sold the farm during the early twentieth century; it was the subsequently sold in 1943 to York County and used for a prison site. For a few years, the federal immigration service used the house for office space, before it went unused. ^{[3] [4]} Three generations of family members visited the house in July 2020 after learning of its ancestral link. ^[5]

NRHP registration, demolition plans, and saving

The home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. ^[1]

As of October 2019, the farmhouse faced demolition after York County cancelled its previously-announced plans to move its coroner's office there. Although nearly half a million dollars of repairs, including mold mitigation, were required for continued use of the structure, only $11,000 in donations were obtained for the repairs. ^[6]

In autumn 2019, York County hired a consulting firm to document the history of the farmhouse. ^[5] In October 2021, it was announced that the property had been saved from demolition, with county commissioners approving a ninety-nine-year, rent-free lease to Historic York, which will preserve and maintain the building. ^[7]

Gallery

• 
  The oldest of the house's three sections, middle at left
• 
  The house's newest section, middle section behind it

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System.Note: This includes Laura L. Hamberger (July 1990). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Strickler Family Farmhouse" (PDF). Retrieved December 18, 2011.
3. Argento, Mike (July 23, 2019). "His Mennonite ancestors fled persecution to York. Now their farm is an immigration jail" . York Daily Record. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
4. "Nearly 300-year-old Strickler farmhouse finds new life as office for York County Coroner". Murphy & Dittenhafer. Our York Media. February 27, 2017. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
5. Boeckel, Teresa (July 8, 2020). "Descendants of Ulrich Strickler gather for photos at his endangered historic farmhouse" . York Daily Record. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
6. Boeckel, Teresa (October 28, 2019). "Demolition planned for prison-site farmhouse on National Register of Historic Places" . York Daily Record. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
7. Boeckel, Teresa (October 20, 2021). "Strickler Farmhouse, listed on National Register of Historic Places, saved from demolition" . York Daily Record. Retrieved October 26, 2021.