The Black Horse Inn

Drawing of the inn by local artist Sally Yates. Click picture for enlargement.

First stop on the Philadelphia-to-Bethlehem stagecoach line was the Black Horse Inn (a.k.a. Black Horse Tavern) located at 1432 Bethlehem Pike, Flourtown, Pennsylvania. The original structure is reported to have been built in the mid eighteenth century. The first section served farmer, lime-carrier, and traveler, and later, stagecoach passengers. With the growth of trade and travel, the inn was expanded in the early nineteenth century. Prior to 1840 it was known as the Sampson and the Lion. The McCloskey family owned the inn from 1880 through 1990, for three generations. It was a stop for farmers, when grain was taken to the local flourmills in Flourtown, and later used for meetings of the Society for the Apprehension of Horse Thieves, township commissioners, voting and horse trading. Until about 1980, cattle grazed on the lawn next door, part of the inn's property.

Representative Lawrence Curry Presents $500,000 State Grant for Historic Black Horse Inn Read more...

Photo © Don Mitchell

From left, Bill Mebane, Black Horse Inn Advisory Committee (BHIAC) member, Dick Meyer, Chair Construction Subcommittee & Friends of Historic Bethlehem Pike (Friends) Board Member, James Mascaro, Chair BHIAC, Sen. Vince Hughes, Bob Gillies, Springfield Township Commissioner, Rep. Larry Curry, Ellen Manning, Founding Board Member of Friends, Kathleen Lunn, Sprg. Twp. Commissioner, Cindy Hamilton, BHIAC member w/ son, Jane Roberts, former Sprg. Twp. Commissioner & Friends Board Member. In rear, Andrew Glendinning, BHIAC member and Don Mitchell, Friends President & Board Member w/ daughter.

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