Historic Northern Tollhouse springs back to life
The Northern Tollhouse was built in 1784 on the original route of the Northern Turnpike. Murrysville resident Ben Sampson bought the property in 2008 and its renovation was completed last year.
The tollhouse lay badly damaged for more than 200 years as the world changed around it. Route 22, the same highway, was moved south a hundred yards. A few yards to the north is a skeleton of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Northern Turnpike is now West Pike Street, a two-lane suburban road but it was once a major thruway to the Ohio Country.
"In the 1790s, the Northern Turnpike was linking up the countryside," said Linda Marts, president of the Murrysville Society for Historical Preservation. "It was traveled by Conestoga wagons and stagecoaches."
Sampson can trace his ancestry to his great-great-great grandfather, Charles Sampson, who lived in Western Pennsylvania in the late 1700s.
By 1800 Murraysville -- as it was then called -- had a number of early residents. Records show that operation began in 1818 at Northern Tollhouse and that a Nancy Clark was the first tollkeeper.
By the 1980s, Northern Tollhouse was barely visible, badly damaged and covered in vines. Sampson said he felt a need to preserve it because of its long history and significance.
He was living in Pittsburgh and was president of the Allegheny West Historical Society when he first began working at the project.
"It's important for these sites to be maintained," he said.
He decided to buy the 5 acre property, which includes the remains of the Victorian manor house built by the Kemerer family.
"It is the only remaining tollhouse on the Northern Turnpike," Sampson said.
Marts sees the ideal use of the site as educational, along with a number of other historical sites that have been preserved and rebuilt in Murrysville.
Ray Meehan, a local archivist and historian, has documented the tollhouse from pictures circa 1910 to its disappearance into the countryside and its emergence in 2009. He lives nearby and takes a particular interest in the tollhouse and is a member of the Murrysville Historical Society.
Meehan said it (the tollhouse) could be used during Murrysville community days or for tours, especially for students.
"I think the history should be broadened to schools, because there is so much history here," Marts said.
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission placed the Northern Tollhouse on its inventory of historical places and the building is recognized in the Westmoreland County historical sites survey. Sampson said the site is awaiting appraisal from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, which would help ensure its maintenance. He is considering the renovation of the 1899 Kemerer manor house.
A long-range plan sets the site up like a park, complete with a parking area and an orchard.
"We preserved it, and now we're going to see what develops," he said.
Tollhouse trivia
Sampson said the James Clark family bought the toll house in 1802 from its original owners, the Herald family. The Sampsons owned property about 3 miles away near Level Green.
A deed at that time was called a "patent." The patent for the Northern Tollhouse was owned consecutively by the Harolds, the Clarks, the Kemerers and then the Violas. Sampson bought the property from the Violas. There is a picture inside the tollhouse of the Viola family sitting on a Model-T Ford that was made into a tractor, circa 1940.
The structure was entirely rebuilt, but the original chimney was able to be saved and the walls were reconstructed around it. Meehan said that a hundred yards to the east, there used to be a wooden bridge allowing passage over Turtle Creek
"Northern Turnpike was a toll road, and the toll rates from 1819 have survived," said Marts. "A score of swine or sheep was a toll of 6 cents, cattle 10 cents, a chair coach with two horses was 25 cents, 4 horses 50 cents. Pretty cool."
According to the surviving toll rates from the Great Northern Turnpike, travelers would be charged 59 cents for passage, 11 cents for livestock and 12 cents per horse per wagon.
The word "turnpike" comes from the idea that every traveler along the road would be stopped by a "pike" lowered across the road, and once his toll was paid the toll keeper would "turn" the "pike" around, allowing passage. Settlers owned stock in the highway, and stockholders were paid from the tolls collected.
Sampson chose to hire Amish carpenters to replace the wooden walls, renovating the tollhouse in its original style.
Sampson's friend, Clois Fears, was senior adviser on the project, having led Acadia Construction before his retirement. Fears took an interest in the project because of his own experience in construction.
"It was really a challenge," said Fears.
Elmer Hostetler led the Amish team that rebuilt the Northern Tollhouse. His father, three sons and nephew worked on the reconstruction. Fears said he learned a lot about Amish culture from working with the Hostetler family. Amish custom is to work without contract.
The pine and hemlock wood was cut and milled from Pennsylvania forests. Fears said the Hostetlers built the structure having only seen the original pictures -- there were no blueprints. There was no insurance on their work and no guarantee.
"The Amish have experience in original construction of this type," Sampson said.
The inside of the building is furnished with an Amish-built bed, tables and chairs. The bed is made of rawhide stretched across a wooden frame, which Ray Meehan said the phrase "sleep tight" comes from.
"We wanted to keep it as authentic as possible," he said.
Fixtures were installed, as well as minimal heating and electricity.
