Strickler Family Farmhouse, also known as the County Farm, is a historic home located at Springettsbury Township,

York County, Pennsylvania York County ( Pennsylvania Dutch: Yarrick Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 456,438. Its county seat is York. The county was created on August 19, 1749, from part of Lancaster ...

Description

The farmhouse consists of three sections: a -story, 2 bay by 1 bay, Germanic influenced

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

main house; a -story, brick

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

-style wing, built about 1835; and a 2-story brick ell, built about 1865. Also on the property is the Strickler family cemetery, with burials dating back to the 1700s. ''Note:'' This includes Strickler Farmhouse AB YorkCo PA

History

Ulrich and Mary Strickler purchased 200 acres of farmland west of the Susqeuhanna River from the

Penn family William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy an ...

and immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1737. Samuel Strickler was born in the stone house in 1875. The family sold the farm in the early 20th century and it was sold in 1943 to York County and used for a prison site. For a few years, the federal immigration service used the house for office space, before it went unused. Three generations of family members visited the house in July 2020 after learning of its ancestral link.

NRHP registration, demolition plans, and saving

The home was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1991. As of October 2019, the farmhouse faced demolition after York County's plans to move its coroner's office there were cancelled. Nearly half a million dollars of repairs, including mold mitigation, were required for such a use of the structure, and only $11,000 of donations were obtained. Also in autumn 2019, York County hired a consulting firm to document the history of the farmhouse. In October 2021, it was announced that the property had been saved from demolition, with county commissioners approving a 99-year rent-free lease to local organization Historic York, who will preserve and maintain it.

References

Georgian architecture in Pennsylvania Houses completed in 1865 Houses in York County, Pennsylvania Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in York County, Pennsylvania Springettsbury Township, York County, Pennsylvania Unused buildings in Pennsylvania {{YorkCountyPA-NRHP-stub