The Four Mills Barn
 The
Four Mills Barn is headquarters of the Wissahickon Valley Watershed
Association.
It was built in 1891 for Charles W. Bergner
of Bergner and Engle Brewing Company in Philadelphia. It was designed by
well-known Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer who also designed the
Philadelphia Museum of Art; Grey Towers Castle at Arcadia University;
Harvard University's Widener Library; the Jenkintown train station,
Keswick Theater, Free Library of Philadelphia and in Newport, RI both
the Elms and Miramar.
It took two years to build the Barn. Stone
came from the Van Zandt Quarry off Highland Avenue near the Upper Dublin
Township Building. The Barn was part of the 93 acre estate named
Abendruh, German for "evening's rest." The mansion, designed by
architect Frank Miles Day, was erected on the other side of Morris
Road.. The mansion was razed years ago and the remaining structure is
the service wing (kitchen, pantry, servant's quarters, and dining room),
now a private home.
Bergner fell into bankruptcy and sold the
estate in 1908 to Edwin Vare, a paving contractor,. This well-known
Republican State Senator put a powerhouse next to the farmer's house.
Steam-operated generators produced electricity for the estate. Excess
power was stored in batteries in the round tower. After the Senator died
in 1922, the family retained the estate.
Robert McLean, owner of the Philadelphia
Bulletin, purchased the barn and ground from a son, George Vare, in the
early 1930's. Thousands of pheasants and quail were raised in the
mansion and released on what became a private hunting ground.
The powerhouse was sold c.1940. Salvageable
machinery was donated to the Franklin Institute before the building was
converted into a house. All other buildings that were part of the estate
- coach stable, chicken coops, and greenhouses - are all gone.
When Bergner and Vare owned the barn, iron
eyebeams three feet wide rested between the stone wall and the stone
pillars against the barn. Carriages crossed wooden flooring to get from
Morris Road. During World War II the iron was donated to the war effort.
Mr. McLean had no use for the barn, so he permitted the neighboring
Roberts family to store machinery inside.
In 1951 Edwin R. Roberts purchased the barn
and two acres from McLean. During the 1955 flood of record, the interior
was inundated. A flood in 1971 brought water to the doorway and the barn
fell into disrepair through the years.
In 1966 McLean and his wife donated 50 acres
to the Natural Lands Trust- NLT. Known today as Four Mills Nature
Reserve, this ground is an integral part of the Wissahickon Creek Green
Ribbon Preserve, and the headquarters of the Wissahickon Valley
Watershed Association.
Edwin Roberts sold this barn and two acres,
plus an additional 9 acres across the stream to the Trust in 1967. After
costly remodeling and restoration, Natural Lands Trust opened the barn
to the public in 1971.
The Wissahickon Valley Watershed association
moved into the Barn in 1976 and converted the building to its
headquarters. WVWA bought the Barn and lands from NLT in 1995. The
public is welcome to enjoy the trails from dawn to dusk and to visit the
barn on weekdays from 9 to 5.
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