Historic Limerick mansion to be razed for warehouses

LIMERICK — The razing of a dilapidated-but-historic mansion that was once part of the Underground Railroad to make room for 1.3 million square feet of storage space off West Lightcap Road is something some preservationists would like to avoid.

The Hood mansion was built in 1834 by John M. Hood, an Irish immigrant who was born in County Tyrone, came to America at the age of 21 and made his fortune in Philadelphia in the grocery business, according to the Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society.

The house, named “Bessy Bell,” was a copy of a house he had admired in Ireland, and was a summer house built for when yellow fever would sweep Philadelphia every summer. Ironically, Hood’s eldest son died of yellow fever at the age of 32 and his father erected a monument in his honor on the property.

John Hood’s business papers are archived as part of a collection at Yale University.

As part of its development of 117 acres across Lightcap Road from the Philadelphia Premium Outlets, CB Limerick LLC wants to build four large storage/warehouse buildings and a small retail center, all of which would be accessed off a private road built where the traffic light provides access to the outlets and which would connect to Sanatoga Road.

Township Manager Dan Kerr said the property is the same as where the Boyd Casino was once proposed in 2006.

The warehouse project, called the Limerick Commerce Center, was first proposed last year and on Tuesday, developers presented its preliminary plan to the township supervisors. It calls for a total of 1.3 million square feet of storage space and a smaller retail site at the intersection with the traffic light. The project complies with the “limited light industrial” zoning which governs the development of the site, according to Kerr.

He said the next step for the project is to obtain all the “outside agency” permits — PA Department of Environmental Protection, PennDOT, Montgomery County Conservation District — and then return to the planning commission for a review of the final plan. After that, it would come back to the supervisors for final approval.

The Hood mansion is located where part of the building in the southwest corner of the project is to be located.

During Tuesday’s meeting, emailed comments from two grandchildren of the site’s former caretakers were read aloud as part of public comments.

Katherine Kehler Harper and Kristen Kehler Lewis both wrote that their grandparents, Kenneth and Virginia Kehler, worked hard to maintain the property, which was also home to Washington Hood. He was the eldest of John Hood’s 13 children, was the 500th graduate of West Point Military Academy and surveyed parts of Ohio, Michigan and along the Oregon Trail for the country.

“I have fond memories of visiting that old mansion. That mansion was beautiful, rich in history and architectural detail. My grandparents worked hard to preserve it. No doubt the vandals stripped that mansion of her dignity,” Lewis wrote. “The damage is heartbreaking, a kick in my grandparents’ faces, an unspeakable disrespect to the Hood family that served our country.”

The mansion “holds tremendous historical value, and despite it’s current state, it is worthy of saving. This house has seen so much. It was once a stop on the underground railroad. It was home to the Hood family, who are still buried here on the grounds,” Harper wrote.

Kerr said there is also a crypt on the property, but “no evidence that there are any bodies in it.”

The two were not the only two who spoke in favor of preserving the building.

Alexandria Sasek, vice president of the Limerick Historical Society, and Tyler Schumacher, president of the Eastern Pennsylvania Historical Society, both said they hoped a way could be found to save the mansion.

“I would like to stress our desire that all options be considered before proceeding immediately with demolition,” Schumacher said.