An old news photo of an early Springfield Township Historical Society officers (sitting, from left) Shirley Hanson, James Geoghegen, Marie Kitto, and (standing) George Parrish, Dorothy Cutler and Robert Cutler.

by Barbara Sherf

While Springfield Township was established in 1681, it was not until 1985 that the Springfield Township Historical Society (STHS) was founded, in large part to get a historical ordinance on the books.

Such an ordinance would put in writing a set of guidelines that would help the township identify and preserve historic structures.

As the event-filled year celebrating the 30th anniversary of the historical society comes to a close, however, leaders note that while attempts have been made, no such ordinance is on the books, although township leaders have opened the door to revisiting the issue as early as January.

In archived notes marking the 20th anniversary of STHS, charter member and past president Robert Cutler wrote that “the loss of Whitemarsh Hall and a futile effort to purchase the George Dunnet house on Oreland Mill Road brought things to a head.”

“A township historical society was needed,” he said.

Whitemarsh Hall was a 300-acre estate designed by renowned Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer that remained empty and was vandalized until it was razed and replaced by a development of townhouses. Remnants of the stone arches can still be seen on the property. Residents wanted the township to purchase and preserve the Dunnet House in Oreland that dated back to the mid-1700s; however it was bought by a private developer.

Springfield Township Zoning Officer Robert Dunlop noted that the adoption of a historic preservation ordinance was looked at extensively but never passed.

“The last time the planning commission looked at a potential ordinance was quite a while ago in 2009, and it was probably discussed at a half dozen meetings,” he said. “We had some contact with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and the Montgomery County Bureau of Historical Preservation and a draft ordinance was created. The Planning Commission made a recommendation to the Board of Commissioners to adopt the ordinance, but it was never enacted.”

Commissioner Baird Standish, who previously served on the Planning Commission and was the liaison to the board in his role as commissioner, was very much involved in those meetings.

“We wanted to have a ‘no teeth’ ordinance to have people consider what would happen if the township lost the property but without hard and fast guidelines in terms of what was worthy to preserve versus what should not be preserved,” he said. “The way these things happen is that there is usually a groundswell of people who get something to happen, and they come up with some solutions … I think we would be up for revisiting this issue.”

Asked by phone and email for comment, James Dailey, current president of the board, sent a brief email response:

“I would be happy to place a discussion of a historical ordinance on our January agenda.”

T. Scott Kreilick, current president of STHS, who headed the STHS Black Horse Inn (BHI) Committee, and later headed the township BHI Advisory Committee, said with a little homework, he would be ready and willing to pursue the passage of an ordinance.

“I think that’s terrific that the commissioners are willing to revisit the adoption of a preservation ordinance,” he said. “The historical society would look forward to participating in and contributing to that conversation. We would just need an updated copy of the last draft preservation ordinance to review prior to that meeting.”

As a bit of background, in 2004 the STHS and a grassroots group known as the Friends of Historic Bethlehem Pike, mounted a campaign to save the 1744 Black Horse Inn as it was facing the threat of demolition to make way for a drugstore and liquor store on Bethlehem Pike at Bysher Avenue. Citizens worked with the commissioners to save the Black Horse Inn, moving the drugstore and liquor store back off of the pike, but not without political fallout.

“It was not a smooth ride by any means,” said Kreilick, who heads Kreilick Conservation, an Oreland-based firm that provides laboratory and field analysis of materials, condition assessments, emergency response stabilization, treatment, documentation and maintenance of architectural and historical monuments and artifacts. “We really had to put pressure on the commissioners to get involved, and eventually they did. I think sitting here seeing this building almost fully occupied is a testament to all parties coming to the table in the end and saving this place. But without an ordinance, a similar scenario could happen tomorrow.”

Among his other credentials, Kreilick is a certified member of Collections Emergency Response Team (CERT) of the American Institute for Conservation, and he routinely is called upon to go into buildings that were damaged to assess what artifacts and documents can be salvaged.

Kreilick noted the use of the historic Springfield Hotel that now houses the Flourtown Farmer’s Market on the first floor, developed by native son Brian Halligan, and the preservation of the Wheel Pump Inn by BQ Basements Owner Brian Quinn as offices, as two examples of property owners seeing the value in keeping the buildings intact while repurposing them.

“I think education is wonderful in terms of preserving the buildings, but I also think some developers aren’t as open to the concept of historic preservation, and we do need an ordinance with some teeth,” Kreilick said.

Longtime Wyndmoor resident Shirley E. Hanson, who now resides in Chestnut Hill, is credited with co-founding STHS with the late unofficial historian Marie Kitto. Both women joined forces in passing a historic ordinance in futile attempts before the Board of Commissioners. Speaking before the township board in April 1986, Kitto is quoted in news accounts as pleading with the commissioners to pass an ordinance “with teeth.”

“The needs are all too apparent,” said Kitto, who died in 1997. “You have to have the teeth to fight, and we need your help. Please gentlemen, help us save the history of Springfield.”

The Marie Kitto Award was set up by STHS to recognize a person who embodies the tenets of the historical society: research, preservation and education.

Hanson, who heads a marketing firm and is a planner, co-authored the book “Preserving and Maintaining the Older Home” (McGraw Hill, 1984), said she understands the political realities of getting an ordinance passed, but added that educating developers about the historical significance of a property is currently the only way to keep a property intact.

“It seems to me there hasn’t been the development pressure that would encourage tearing down important older buildings, and that property owners have a lot of respect for the buildings in Springfield, and residents moved there for good reason,” Hanson said.

Kreilick says he hopes that history does not repeat itself anytime soon in Springfield Township.

“I would hope we would have learned from the tumultuous fight to save the Black Horse Inn and put an ordinance with some teeth in it in place so that future developers can follow the guidelines,” he said. “Local developers and business owners in this community are currently doing right in terms of historic preservation, but it’s the outside developers coming in that we worry about because we still don’t have an ordinance with teeth.”

As for the future of the STHS, Kreilick said the society is able to sustain itself.

“We want to put the historical society on good financial footing, and we made huge strides towards achieving with that with History In Motion events,” he said. Our History in Motion events have funded our digitization effort and allowed STHS to satisfy all of our other financial commitments, like paying rent payments to the township for use of this space. I’m optimistic about the next 30 years.”

Barbara Sherf writes and conducts personal histories from Flourtown.