Mifflin House preservation just latest land-use battle in eastern York County

Susquehanna National Heritage Area’s Paul Nevin once gave a talk titled “Hero or Hooligan? The Thomas Cresap Story.”

His talk was promoted: To Pennsylvanians, Cresap was a monster. To Marylanders, he was a protector of the state’s northern frontier.

For his headquarters, Cresap chose future Lower Windsor Township’s Pleasant Garden, today’s Susquehanna NHA’s Zimmerman Center.

Cresap’s raid in 1737 and its aftermath caused Britain’s King George II to order the two warring provinces to end their dispute by drawing a line, a border that later was reinforced by the surveying team of Mason and Dixon in the 1760s.

That was the first of many times that Lower Windsor and neighboring Hellam Township have been involved in land-use and environmental disputes.

The Lauxmont Farms property dispute, circa 2005, was the most controversial challenge in recent years. Susquehanna NHA was among the opposition that ended in a settlement that resulted in today’s Highpoint and Native Lands county parks and preservation of other stretches of the finest undeveloped farmland overlooking the Susquehanna in York County.

And Susquehanna NHA was a partner in another major win for preservationists in recent days: saving Hellam Township’s Mifflin House.

Gateway to York County

Why have Hellam and Lower Windsor townships been challenged by many land-use and environmental issues that demanded citizen mobilization over the years?

The controversies perhaps have come because these townships hosted land settled by early pioneers moving across the Susquehanna after 1730.

And Hellam Township today remains the major gateway into eastern York County and points west, with its greenery still welcoming to those heading west.

Further, the beauty of the Lower Susquehanna region draws both developers and smart-growth backers, making clashes inevitable.

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Smart-growth champs

Warren and June Evans were among the most effective smart-growth advocates in eastern York County after they moved there in 1990.

The Evanses helped form the Horn Farm Center in 2004 in the aftermath of an attempt by Harley-Davidson to build a new plant on pristine county-owned farmland in Hellam Township.

Eleven years later, Warren Evans wrote a guest column in the York Daily Record fighting the good fight against an above-ground threat: air pollution in Hellam Township.

In the clash over soybean processing plant emissions, Evans and others were battling a freak of geography. The proposed Lancaster County processing plant was actually west of parts of Hellam Township. So prevailing winds carrying any pollution from the plant would wash across the York County side of the Susquehanna.

In his guest column, Evans was seeking a kind of middle ground so that the processor could provide a market for soybean farmers and have clean air, too. He called for installation of an emissions control tool.

About the same time, the Mifflin House controversy erupted in Hellam Township, prompting similar negotiations with a developer, Kinsley Equities. That clash focused on proposed demolition of a stone house, the Mifflin House, which had served as an Underground Railroad station, to make way for a warehouse. The Mifflin House’s grounds also served as a Confederate artillery position in the Civil War.

One 2017 meeting drew such a large crowd that it had to be moved to the township garage. June Evans was part of that overflow audience.

Susquehanna NHA played an important preservation role. Last week, the Conservation Fund purchased the 88-acre Mifflin House property for $5.5 million. The fund is the temporary owner until partners Susquehanna NHA and Preservation Pennsylvania gain funding pledged for the Mifflin House and its property.

Susquehanna NHA will spearhead a Susquehanna Discovery Center, a visitor center that will explore the region’s history.

Warren and June Evans, part of so many smart-growth initiatives, died in 2017.

“I know June and Warren were both passionate advocates for preserving Hellam Township’s special rural landscape, environment and history,” Susquehanna NHA’s Mark Platts said in an interview, “so they’d be excited to know the site is saved and will become a place for kids and families to learn about our important heritage.”

Discovery center explored

In the interview, Platts unpacked Susquehanna Discovery Center plans.

He also responded to a question about the newest challenge facing the green hills of Hellam Township: a Love’s truck stop next to the Horn Farm Center.

Q. Please catch us up on the status of the Susquehanna Discovery Center.

A. The Discovery Center includes adaptive use of the historic Mifflin barn complex as a world-class visitor destination for our two-county National Heritage Area, similar to what travelers experience at a National Park. It will feature interactive exhibits, galleries showcasing Susquehanna River art, program/event space, silo lookouts over the historic landscape to the river, gift shop/café and office space for our organization and partners. The Mifflin House will be restored as an Underground Railroad learning center. The site will be a place to welcome and introduce visitors to the nationally important stories of our Susquehanna NHA, share the rich history of the Mifflin site itself and guide them to other heritage sites across York and Lancaster counties. We envision the SDC as part of a “big three” network of heritage hubs for our region, along with York County History Center’s new steam plant site and LancasterHistory’s museum complex. Visitors will also be directed to heritage and outdoor attractions along the river and the many smaller historic sites spread across both counties.

Planning for the SDC, Underground Railroad learning center and associated heritage park facilities at the Mifflin farm will take some time, likely two to four years, and involve partner organizations, other local stakeholders and the National Park Service. Susquehanna NHA has organized an invited group of local leaders to serve on a new Susquehanna Discovery Center Task Force to assist us with project planning and redevelopment of the site. We expect the project to be developed in phases, starting with initial public access like drives, parking and some trails, then renovation of the historic house and finally adaptive use of the historic barn complex as the Susquehanna Discovery Center and installation of an Underground Railroad Heritage Trail to a new riverfront park. All of this will require a major two-county community capital campaign to raise private funds for the project, along with additional public grants. Total cost for project development is estimated at $10 million to $11 million and will likely take five to eight years. Operational funding will come from federal and state grants as a designated State and National Heritage Area, private donations and endowments, and earned revenue from visitors and facility use fees.

Q. What is the history behind the Mifflin House?

A. We’re not the experts on this, at least not yet, but we know a lot from local historians and research by Preservation PA for National Register of Historic Places eligibility. Throughout the early 1800s, the Mifflin House was a safe haven for freedom seekers passing through Central Pennsylvania. Built for Susanna Wright and Jonathan Mifflin, a Revolutionary War veteran, upon their marriage in 1800, the house and farm, named “Hybla,” brought two prominent Quaker families together — the Wrights of Columbia and the Mifflins of Philadelphia. The Mifflins, their sons and fellow Quakers from York and Columbia were active in the Underground Railroad throughout the early 19th century, with the Mifflin House serving as an important station in the clandestine network.

The Susquehanna River was a natural barrier to migration north by freedom seekers and the covered bridge at Wrightsville the only crossing between Port Deposit, Maryland, and Harrisburg. With assistance from local residents like the Mifflins and Susanna’s family in Columbia, those escaping slavery found safe passage over the bridge or across the river by boat. One of their most trusted partners in these risky activities was Robert Loney, a skilled Black boatsman from Columbia born enslaved in Virginia about 1815. Working with the Mifflins, Loney ferried people across the wide river, often at night to avoid detection by slave catchers keeping watch at the bridge crossing. The nationally significant, well-documented role of the Mifflin family and their home in America’s historic Underground Railroad movement has been found eligible for listing in the National Register and inclusion in the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.

After sale of the Mifflin farm to Jacob Huber in 1846, the site was at the center of American history once again during the June 28, 1863, Civil War battle between Union militia and Confederate troops, just before the covered bridge across the Susquehanna was burned to stop the invaders’ advance. Confederate cannons positioned on the front lawn of the Mifflin house fired on Union defenders in Wrightsville. Historians say only one fighter was killed in the battle — an African American home guardsman fighting for the Union. This engagement set the stage for the Battle of Gettysburg three days later.

That’s a lot of history for one house and farm in eastern York County!

Q. What are the moments in history and people from history that the Susquehanna Discovery Center will highlight?

A. We have a lot of planning, research and community engagement still to do before we work that all out. We know the house will be restored as a learning center focused on the Underground Railroad story and the surrounding heritage park will include interpretive trails focused on both that history and the Civil War battle that engulfed the farm in 1863. We especially want the Underground Railroad center to highlight the courage and sacrifices of those escaping slavery, since they were the people in the network to freedom who took the biggest risks of all. The Discovery Center in the barn complex will serve a larger role, introducing visitors to the nationally important stories of our entire two-county National Heritage Area. From our almost finished NHA Management Plan, we know those stories will include how the Susquehanna has shaped this place and its people, the Native People who first inhabited this region, our area’s role as a cultural hearth for our nation and the major turning points in American history that played out across York and Lancaster counties. In other words, we have lots to share here!

Q. What else would you like the public to know about the Susquehanna Discovery Center?

A. This is a big, visionary project that will take many years to complete, so we ask folks to be patient as we figure it all out, find the money to make it happen and open it to the public in phases. Everyone can help along the way, by participating in the planning to come and making donations to help us pay for it all.

Q. Is Susquehanna NHA part of the opposition to the proposed truck stop or involved in any way?

A. Susquehanna NHA has not yet engaged publicly in the Love’s truck stop issue. However, I am very concerned about its impact on our plans for the Mifflin site and on the adjacent Horn Farm Center, whose board I served on as a charter member with June and Warren Evans almost 20 years ago. This just doesn’t seem like the appropriate site for a major trucking center. Also, as a former urban planner, I’ve looked at Hellam Township’s zoning ordinance, which provides for at least one other zoning district elsewhere in the township where such a truck stop is allowed by special exception. In that case, Love’s shouldn’t be able to get approval for the project on the site along Route 30, since it’s not permitted there by right or by special exception.

Sources: York Daily Record files, WitnessingYork.com, Susqnha.org

Jim McClure is the retired editor of the York Daily Record and has authored or co-authored nine books on York County history. Reach him at jimmcclure21@outlook.com.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Mifflin House preservation latest land-use battle in eastern York County