Spring Grove sets special meeting on the fate of the Hoke House; options to explore

The Spring Grove Borough Council will hold a special meeting to hear concerns from the community about the fate of the historic Hoke House.

Rutter's applied last month for a demolition permit for the 1750s-era, Georgian-style house, sparking outcry on social media that the building should be preserved and asking what can be done. Some people recently attended a borough planning commission meeting, seeking a special meeting on the house.

The application for demolition is still being reviewed, but it is expected to be approved or denied on Feb. 16, borough manager Zach Gulden said. The borough does not have a local historic district that can stop old structures from being torn down.

The special meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Feb. 13 at 1 Campus Avenue in Spring Grove.

"We feel it is important for the residents to have a public platform to express their concerns before the permit is issued," Gulden said in an email.

Related:Historic Hoke House in Spring Grove facing possible demolition after efforts to save it

The Spring Grove Area Historical Preservation Society issued a statement this week, expressing its disappointment with the demolition permit being sought. It has made many attempts to open a dialogue with the property owner, it states.

The historical society will continue to monitor the situation and work with other sympathetic groups to look for solutions, the statement says.

"The Hoke House is truly special to Spring Grove area's history, it has stood as a silent witness to progress for the last 275 years and to lose this building would be a loss to the community," the statement says.

Rutter's, which owns a convenience store next to the Hoke House, has not responded to several requests for comment on the demolition permit or its plans for the site.

The borough has offered to give the company a platform to express its side during the special meeting, Gulden said. Rutter's has not responded.

Rutter's has not submitted any plans to the borough for what it wants to do with the site, he said.

The house, originally known as Wilson's Tavern, made Preservation Pennsylvania's 2017 list of most endangered historic resources. It is the oldest house in Spring Grove and one of the oldest in York County.

Rutter's had reached an agreement in 2014 with Friends of the Hoke House that gave preservationists three years to find someone to occupy the structure. It expired at the end of 2017 without any development.

Options for avoiding the landfill

The Friends of the Hoke House plan to present several options that would make for a better outcome than the building being taken to a landfill, spokesman Paul Nevin said in an email.

Here are those options:

• Offering to dismantle and salvage the building for the same cost Rutter's would be paying to bulldoze it.
• Offering to provide sufficient monetary and design resources for Rutter's to incorporate the building into its expansion plans.
• Possibly offering to provide the resources necessary to move the building to another location.
• Asking, at a minimum, to be allowed to fully document the inside of the building.

All of them can be done in a reasonable timeframe, he said.

During a phone interview, Nevin said he has received half a dozen inquiries from York and Lancaster counties, as well as from out of state, about reconstructing the house on another property if it is dismantled.

Other places have incorporated historic structures on the original site into the business, Nevin said. A McDonald's in Freeport, Maine is one example. It is housed in a more than 150-year-old mansion, according to Business Insider.

The Spring Grove Historical Society has been interested in documenting the home, including taking photographs and video, executive director Tracy Haper said. It had been reaching out to Rutter's even before the company applied for the demolition permit.

"This is like a witness house," she said.

Hoke House will not be lit up much longer

People gathered last week outside of the house to see it lit up before the electricity is disconnected to the building. The power has not been shut off yet, but it is expected to be done at any time, Nevin said.

Madison Crouthamel, a teacher at Spring Grove Area Middle School who attended the planning commission meeting last Thursday, stood in front of the Hoke house to see it lit up because she thought the power would be cut to the property the next day. 

“My grandmother (Lena Mae Dulling, who is now 97) has memories of being here with her cousins. She was a Hoke, and her cousins were born in this house,” Crouthamel said.

“My students have had a lot of questions about what we can do to save it, but I’m afraid it’s too late,” Crouthamel added.

The Friends of the Hoke House had been paying to light up the facade of the building for years, Nevin said.

The Friends of the Hoke House plan to keep putting out information about the house's significance.

"I hope Rutter's will at least let us talk to them one more time," Nevin said.