The Freedom Valley Chronicles:
Kennedy Crossing
January 13, 2019
Kennedy Crossing is a neighborhood of 45 houses on 46 housing lots in the Conshohocken postal district within Plymouth Township; one housing lot is not utilized for residential purposes.
The community is located off of North Lane, between Butler Pike and Ridge Pike.
The neighborhood took its name from the former Archbishop Kennedy High School that was located to the rear of this housing development. Each of the three streets within the subdivision then took their names from titles accorded to leaders within the Roman Catholic Church – Archbishop, Bishop, and Monsignor. Thus, Archbishop Drive, Bishop Drive, and Monsignor Drive.
Now the Antioch Church, this building formerly was the Archbishop Kennedy Roman Catholic High School. The former school was the inspiration for the name of the Kennedy Crossing neighborhood. Part of the church property has frontage on Archbishop Drive within the subdivision. Mr. Thomas Kennedy was born in Plymouth Meeting and became an archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in 1915.
Single-family detached houses with four bedrooms and 2 ½ baths were sold in this development starting in about 1995. Prices began at $209,990.00, according to an advertisement by Gambone Brothers Development Company in the August 6, 1995, edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
By April 21, 1996, prices from the developer had increased to a minimum of $212,490.00. In an advertisement dated September 22, 1996, in The Philadelphia Inquirer, the price for a house from the developer in Kennedy Crossing started at $214,990.00.
Minimum pricing for a single-family house from the development company in the community reached $224,990.00 according to an advertisement in the March 23, 1997, edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Pricing were lowered to $219,990.00 for a house from the developer in Kennedy Crossing according to an advertisement dated May 4, 1997, in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
In an advertisement dated July 20, 1997, by Gambone Brothers Development Company in The Philadelphia Inquirer, minimum prices for single-family houses were lowered to $209,990.00. In an advertisement in the same newspaper from the developer on November 2, 1997, prices increased to $279,990.00, though an advertisement in The Philadelphia Inquirer a few weeks later – on November 30, 1997 – prices changed again; this time, the advertisement indicated that houses were available for sale at $259,990.00 in Kennedy Crossing.
Prices have increased substantially since the first house sales in the mid-to-late 1990’s. A house on Archbishop Drive sold for $530,000.00, according to records with Montgomery County, in August of 2018. A nearby house, on the same street, sold for $465,300.00 the year before, according to Montgomery County records.
Kennedy Crossing has two entrances off of North Lane, the roadway that is seen
in this photograph from the top right to about the middle right-side of the photo.
Credits:
The photograph of the Kennedy Crossing entrance and the aerial map of
Kennedy Crossing are provided courtesy of Google, 2017.
The photograph of the Antioch Church is provided courtesy of Montgomery County, 2014.
Do you have questions about local history? A street name? A building?
Your questions may be used in a future news column.
Contact Richard McDonough at freedomvalleychronicles@gmail.com.
© 2019 Richard McDonough