The Speaker's House - 21st Century and The Creation of Save The Speaker's House

21st Century and The Creation of Save The Speaker's House

In 1991, a national drugstore chain expressed interest in Frederick Muhlenberg's house and acreage. They hoped to get rid of the property in order for them to build a business store there, mostly likely a drugstore. The community didn't want this historical landmark to be destroyed and so they gathered together to save the house. As a result of this movement, Save the Speaker's House, Inc was created. The organization was incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit in September 2001 and purchased the property on April 1, 2004. In 2005, Save the Speaker's House, Inc. obtained a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services that provided the group with funds for researching the property and operating the organization.

In order to give the public a good history of Frederick Muhlenberg's house, Save the Speaker's Housein the last few months of 2005, hired the nationally renowned historic preservation firm Watson & Henry Associates of Bridgeton, N.J. to prepare a Historic Structure Report (HSR) on the Frederick Muhlenberg House. The purpose of the HSR was to document the house and make recommendations for its preservation and restoration. This was the first step taken in an effort to bring the property back to its former glory, through rebuilding and refurnishing it. The Historic Structure Report included a study of the house's construction and modifications over time, as well as an assessment of the building's structural, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, and HVAC systmes. Scientific analysis of paint, wood, plaster, and mortar samples was used to help with the study. The report would provide recommendations for restoration and ongoing preservation of the house with the goal of operating it as a historic house museum interpreting Frederick Muhlenberg's political accomplishments and family life.

Ursinus College has helped to Save the Speaker's House. One of the fraternities, Sigma Pi, undertook a fall clean-up project, organized by the fraternity's social chair, Stever Ordog. The men removed trash and debris from the garage, did general yard clean-up, and removed modern cabinets and appliances from the house to allow architectural teams to continue their investigations. In the previous spring, about two dozen fraternity members spent an afternoon cleaning trash and debris out of the house. Starting in 2006, Save the Speaker's House started having archeological work done on the property surrounding the house. Early work done in May 2006 by the Millbrook Society, a Hatboro-based non-profit organization did much of the work. They brought in teams that were able to excavate a total of nine test pits which were chosen on the basis of being within areas that had previously seen great success in terms of high artifact deposits. The first survey conducted showed that in that area there were over 1,200 artifacts and located the remains of a former cellar entrance, bake oven foundation, and a stone-lined well. One of the most important finds discovered there were fragments of a white salt-glzed stoneware dinner plate which was manufactured in Great Britain from the 1760s until the 1780s. This kind of ceramic dish would most likely have been a popular one during that period and would have always been on Frederick Muhlenberg's table during meal times. Save the Speaker's House aims to find and document the foundations of missing outbuildings. It is hoped by this process that ultimately the public can learn a great deal about Frederick Muhlenberg family's household.

In 2006, the house and its acreage became the first in the Borough of Trappe to be registered as an official state archaeological site. Kise, Straw and Kolodner of Philadelphia did another archaeological survey of the site that unvcovered the remains of a general store to the east of the house.

During 2006 Save the Speaker's House Inc. paid off its mortgage with a grant from the Montgomery County Green Fields/Green Towns Open Space Program. The house and its acreage are now placed under a conservation easement to ensure that it be permanently preserved as open space.

Since opening, Save the Speaker's House has received many groups of volunteers who aided them in doing research in the past and who are continuing to research the history of the Frederick Muhlenberg property and its owners by means of newspapers, diaries, tax and estate records, maps, photographs, deeds, and family correspondence.

During the fall of 2007, Save the Speaker's House started having a tree-ring analysis, or dendrochronology occurring around the property. The specimens that were taken were sent to the Tree Ring Laboratory at Columbia University, where they were carefully examined to compare them with known dated samples. The study showed that the wood that came from the trees that constructed the home were cut from 1763 to 1764, and that the home would have been ready to live in mostly likely as late as in 1764. This was surprising to historians and Save the Speaker's House, as it was thought for some time that the cabin was constructed in 1745 by Johannes Ried (John Reed). The report issued thus shows that it might have instead been constructed by John Joseph Shrack who owned the property until 1772.

Since Save the Speaker's House was created, Frederick Muhlenberg's home has had an "Open House". The organization hopes to have the site opened on a regular basis for pre-restoration tours to educate the public. Ursinus College continues to help the organization through its History Department that sends its History majors to work with the organization.

The purpose of Save the Speaker's House, Inc. is to restore, preserve, and interpret the home of Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, first and third Speaker of the U.S. House, and to promote an understanding of leadership and American history and culture through research and educational programming. The first and still current director of Save the Speaker's House is Ms. Allison Weiss of the city of Philadelphia.

Since 2008 Save the Speaker's House, Inc. officially became The Speaker's House. This was done to show that the estate could no longer be destroyed through demolition or commercial development. A descendent of Frederick Muhlenberg gave a portrait of the man to The Speaker's House. This portrait is a 19th-century copy of an original portrait painted in 1790 by Joseph Wright, now owned by the National Portrait Gallery. The portrait is in the possession of Ursinus College and it will soon be put up in its Myrin Library. The portrait will be included in a project to commemorate the upcoming 100th anniversary of the 1910 Muhlenberg Album, a book which includes photographs of family heirlooms. The Historic Structure Report that was started earlier, has now been completed on the home in December 2007. It has thorough documentation of the house's complex history and change over time, and an analysis of its existing conditions. With the help of the former State Representative Raymond Bunt, Jr., The Speaker's House was given a grant of $15,000 by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development to help fund restoration work on the house. The grant will be used to remove the stucco from the facade of the building, which was applied sometime after 1925, and repair and repoint the masonry. The pent roofs, constructed by Ursinus College when the house was being remodeled for a dormitory, will also be removed. When the stucco is removed, visitors will be able to see the masonry once more. On April 12, 2008, a Pennsylvania Historical Marker was placed on the site of Frederick Muhlenberg's house to celebrate the life and accomplishments of Frederick Muhlenberg while he lived at 151 W. Main Street in the Trappe area.

The history of Frederick Muhlenberg's house and the activities of the Speaker's House have been covered in The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Mercury, and the Valley Item.