Stony Creek RR Bridge

Stony Creek Railroad Bridge
and a history of the area known as Kneedlers

2010. The trestle is nearing completion.

Four CSX engines test the strength of the completed trestle.

Plaque on the new bridge

Kneedlers Station

Portion of a map from 1849 showing the Kneedler Inn and Henry Kneedler's residence across the street from it. The inn was built by John Beaver around 1758. After his death in 1762, Jacob Heisler married his widow and apparently got the inn and quite a bit of land as part of the deal. At some point it was enlarged and converted to a hotel. Heisler lived here until his death in 1821. It was purchased by Henry Kneedler in 1840. 58 years later, in 1898, it was sold to Arnold Becker.

The place where Allentown Road met the Sumneytown Pike in 1768 may have been determined by the location of the hotel, the newly built road going past the hotel just before meeting the pike. (It is interesting to note that Allentown wasn't the official name of that town until 1838. Prior to that it was named Northhamptontown, though everyone called it "Allen's town" after the founder, William Allen.)

This section of a map from 1877 shows the area after the railroad came through. Though the map only details Kneedler STATION, the area was known as Kneedler's, named after the hotel.

Kneedler's Station opened here in 1875 as a stop on the Stony Creek RR, but unlike Luken's Station, where the village of West Point seemed to spring up overnight, not much of interest ever occurred at Kneedler's. According to this map, Henry Kneedler owned 135 acres of land and two buildings on either side of the pike, in addition to the hotel. Perhaps it was Kneedler himself who stifled development of the area.

In 1912 the tracks for the Lehigh Valley Trolley were laid, with a station here known as Kneedler's, though it's actual name was "Wales Junction."

Allentown road in 1877 and after it was moved in 1914.

Notice on the map there was once a Baptist Church on Allentown Road (to the left of the word "Kneedler"). This was the Gwynedd Baptist Church, built in 1860. It was demolished in 1878 after a larger church was built in North Wales. The cemetery to this church exists today adjacent to Green Lawn Cemetery.

More important, the train tracks at Kneedler's seem to be drawn in the wrong place, and cross Allentown Road after passing the church. The map is, in fact, correct. Allentown Road was moved sometime around 1914 so the train and trolley tracks would no longer cross it. Green Lawn Cemetery was paid $500 in "damages" for the use of their land for the new roadway. Arnold Becker was granted $600.

Looking at the right-hand map above, the arrow points to a building that appears to be in the exact location as today's Park Place Diner on Sumneytown Pike. This will give you some idea of where the hotel was located. If the map is correct, Kneedler's Hotel was located at what is now the diner's parking lot.

Kneedler's Hotel and 28 acres was purchased by Arnold Becker, of North Wales, in 1898. A "public house" (a taproom or saloon where food was served) and hotel was then erected by Becker. It was named the "Gwynedd Hotel". (Note: one account states that Becker demolished the Kneedler hotel in 1903 to build the Gwynedd Hotel, but it seems he only added onto the structure and the original building still stood.)

In the words of historian Edward Matthews, "Owing to some violation of the license law during 1909, the license was withdrawn from Becker and the old hotel ceased to be a public house early in 1910 after an existence as such, for about a century and a half."

In 1911 Arnold Becker sold the hotel buildings and 20 acres to his son, Abram.

Passenger service ended on the Stony Creek Line in 1936. Trolley service ended in September of 1951. The trolley tracks were immediately removed so that the court could not force the bankrupt company back into business.

Upper Gwynedd

Allentown Road and Sumneytown Pike after 2010. Probable location of Kneedler's Hotel is the red square.

Trolley at Wales Junction

The trolley at Wales Junction (Kneedler's) is crossing over Sumneytown Pike. The white building used as the station is now a tool shed at Green Lawn Cemetery.

The Liberty Bell trolley is crossing Sumneytown Pike right next to the trestle for the Stony Creek railroad, though you can't see it in this picture.

Here's a view from Sumneytown Pike. Notice on the left is the trestle for the Stony Creek RR. Today there is no physical evidence that this trolley bridge, the berm, the steps or the trolley tracks ever existed.

Along with the hotel, train station and trolley stop, the area has also lost its name. The Genuardi's supermarket, located across the street from where this photograph was taken, was known as "West Point Plaza" till it was sold in 2010. A more appropriate name would have been "Kneedler Plaza."

There is one tribute left of the Kneedler hotel and its last owners, Arnold and Abram Becker. In 1954 - 1955 the land was split up into 50 tracts, and 50 houses were built. The names of the streets are Kneedler and Becker. MAP

Arnold Becker and his son Abram, and their wives Mary and Jennie, are all buried adjacent to the hotel property in Greenlawn cemetery.

Photo Credits: Dick Shearer, John P. Almeida, Geoff Patton and E. Edwards.