217 - 219 Church Street
This uniquely historic home was built ca. 1783. The house is located in the Adamstown neighborhood which was developed in 1744 by German immigrant Dr. Adam Simon Kuhn. The land was once part of the Hans Musser tract.
Dr. Kuhn laid out this development into 46 building lots. He created streets that became today's Howard Avenue, Pershing Avenue, and part of South Lime Street. Most of the first houses on these lots were one-story log buildings.
This Adamstown house was built on a double lot. William Geiger bought the lot in 1747. Eventually numerous investors built one-story brick homes in this area as rental properties.
Many historic homes were lost to demolition during Lancaster's urban renewal of the 1960s and 70s. But Lancaster City Council saved this one from the bulldozer in 1971, and declared it "well worth saving."
Builder / developer Abe Binkley did the initial rehabilitation of this house as part of his Olde Hickory Towne redevelopment project here on Church Street. The house has an early brick addition to the left side.