Snow, ice collapse roof of historic building

Historic East Bradford structure dates back to 1723

The heavy sleet and ice that pummeled the region Tuesday took its toll on a historic building that dates back to 1723.

The ice and snow collapsed the entire roof and half of the walls of the old Strode’s Sausage and Scrapple Plant at the intersection of Route 52 and Birmingham Road. The building is owned by East Bradford Township, which bought the building, the nearby hog barn and 7-acre parcel for $210,000 a few years ago.

“The good news is that the collapsed portion was slated to be partially demolished anyway, and demolition just got cheaper,” said John Snook, East Bradford supervisor. “At the end of the day, the now-collapsed portion will be an outdoor interpretive space and the Hog Barn will be an interior interpretive space,” Snook said. “We hope to recreate the Strode’s Sausage and Scrapple sign in a slightly smaller version than the original on the wall of the Hog Barn.”

Strode’s Barn, once a pork processing plant for the long-gone and nationally known Strode’s scrapple and sausage brand, was long an eyesore, but township officials have a vision of restoring the barn and springhouse at a cost estimated at $100,000.

Snook said the Hog Barn is

slated to be restored. A grant request will be submitted to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission on behalf of the township seeking to shore up and re-roof the Hog Barn.

“Eventually, we hope to have a bridge to parking on the other side of Plum Run,” Snook said.

The building had been home to the Strode’s Mill Art Gallery, and the stone and shake-roof buildings once ground corn, pressed cider and turned trees into usable lumber. And the intersection, at Route 52 and Birmingham Road, is where British General Charles Cornwallis paused to arrange his columns before sweeping south to the Battle of the Brandywine in 1777.

The intersection was once labeled “The Cradle of Liberty,” in part because the gristmill, operated by the Strode family for more than 200 years, also supplied grain to Washington’s troops when they holed up at Valley Forge.

The Strodes kept the mill going until 1878, when it was sold to the first of a clutch of others who tried to keep it going with different mill-related businesses.

“The good news is that the collapsed portion was slated to be partially demolished anyway, and demolition just got cheaper.” — John Snook, East Bradford supervisor

SUBMITTED PHOTO The entire roof and half the walls of the old Strode’s Sausage and Scrapple Plant came down this week under the weight of the heavy sleet and ice.