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The Pennsylvania House Museum located at 1311 West Main Street in Springfield, is owned and
operated by the Lagonda Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution.

Grand Reopening of the Pennsylvania House Museum

October 14,2006

In recognition of the 2006 Bicentennial of Thomas Jefferson’s signing of the legislation which authorized the construction of the Historic National Road, the Ohio Historical Society (OHS) awarded grants for three historical markers. These grants were funded through the Longaberger Legacy Initiative and its association with the Ohio Bicentennial Commission. On October 14, 2006 in conjunction with the grand re-opening of the newly-renovated Pennsylvania House, an OHS National Road Bicentennial Marker was unveiled.

Restored to its former glory primarily through the generosity of The Turner Foundation, the Pennsylvania House stands at 1311 West Main Street (the Historic National Road) in Springfield, Ohio.

Among the participants in both the Museum re-opening and marker dedication ceremonies were the Color Guard from the George Rogers Clark Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Pictured left to right are: ONRA Board members Cyndie Gerken and Marian Vance, Lagonda Chapter DAR Regent Jackie Juergens, and OHS representative and ONRA Board member Glenn Harper. This side of the OHS historical marker reads as follows: David Snively built the Federal-style Pennsylvania House in 1839 along the newly constructed National Road. This tavern and inn was an important stopover for livestock drovers and pioneers traveling by foot, on horseback, or in Conestoga wagons during the westward expansion of the United States in the nineteenth century. Dr. Isaac K. Funk, of Funk & Wagnalls fame, lived in the house in the 1840s while his father served as its tavern keeper. Closed as an inn after the Civil War, it then served as a doctor's clinic, boarding house, and secondhand shop before falling into total disrepair. The Lagonda Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution saved it from demolition and has owned and operated it as a museum since 1941. The Pennsylvania House was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

Ohio National Road Association Board member Cyndie Gerken (who is also a member of the Lagonda Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution) successfully applied to OHS for this historical marker to be placed at the Pennsylvania House. This side of the OHS historical marker reads as follows: Authorized by Congress in 1806, the National Road was the nation's first federally funded interstate highway. National leaders desired an all-weather road across the Allegheny Mountains in order to develop closer political and economic ties between the east and west. Considered to be a significant engineering feat, the Road opened Ohio and much of the Old Northwest Territory to settlement, provided access for Ohio goods to reach eastern markets, and enabled Ohio citizens to play important roles in the affairs of the new nation. The National Road was renowned for the number of quality inns and taverns during the heyday of the stagecoach. The Road declined after 1850 as railroads became the preferred method of travel. The automobile, however, brought new life to the Road. Reborn as U.S. 40, it became a busy twenty-four-hour-a-day artery, with truck stops, motor courts, and diners until superseded by the interstate highways in the 1960s.