The American House, 106 S. Main St., Alburtis, is located across the railroad tracks entering Alburtis. Today, it is known as The Iron Horse Inn. It is located catty-corner to what was the Alburtis Railroad Station and now the Essa Bank & Trust.

The American House was easy to find when William Blank built it in 1860, the same time period the Lock Ridge Furnaces were being built. Blank was not well liked, and the American House had a bad reputation under his proprietorship.

During Blank's time, a one-armed Army veteran of the Civil War named McKinney, employed by the railroad as a telegraph operator, disappeared one night after entering the hotel. When arriving at the tavern, McKinney had his monthly railroad salary and Army pension he received that day with him and apparently did not keep it a secret. No one claimed to have seen him leaving the hotel but McKinney's hat was found midway between the hotel and a deserted mineshaft on Blank's father's property across some fields. McKinney was never seen again.

The story of what actually happened to McKinney did not surface until 1878, 12 years after Blank turned over the proprietorship of the American House to Eli Gilbert in 1866.

In 1878, Blank's employee Lizzie Long, claimed to be an eyewitness to the death of McKinney, and three others present that fateful night backed up her story. Long told of the robbery and ruthless, cold-blooded murder of McKinney by Blank. Following McKinney's murder, Blank allegedly hid his lifeless body temporarily in a haymow in the barn. When the body began to stink, Blank carried it across the fields and threw it into an abandoned mineshaft on his father's property and the shaft was then filled with 60 feet of clay, covering the body. There is no closure to this story. The assumption was the fill in the mineshaft was not removed and the case was dropped quietly.

In 1870, Eli Gilbert turned over the proprietorship to Sassaman Kline and he ran the hotel until April 1878, when Isaac Bickel became the new proprietor. Bickel employed his wife's great-grandfather Benjamin Moser as a hostler to care for the horses. The following spring, Moser came down with typhoid fever and the Bickels gave him the constant care he needed during the next, and last eight weeks of Moser's life. Upon his death, they submitted an itemized bill for $95.05 to Moser's estate for his care.

In 1884, Jonas Ettinger took over as proprietor and the Bickels moved. Ten years later on March 6, 1894, Ettinger turned it over to Nathan Dengler. A little over a month later on April 11, 1894, a fire broke out in the cellar of Butz's store, sandwiched between Borneman's Barber Shop on the south side and the American House on the north side, at approximately 11 p.m., Wednesday night. The next morning between 1 and 2 a.m., two large oil tanks in Butz's cellar exploded and fire engulfed the building spreading to the barbershop and the hotel. Flames ignited at a cornice of the hotel and spread from there. Everyone on the first and second floors of the American House was evacuated safely but nine election booths and everything on the third floor were destroyed. Only the exterior walls remained with the interior being completely gutted after the fire.

By the end of April, Blank (the original builder) and Butz were cleaning the debris to prepare for rebuilding. Dengler remained the proprietor until April 1896.

According to the archives, proprietorship of the American House was then turned over to Dengler's son-in-law Edwin Feinour in 1896 and he moved to Macungie in March 1912. Feinour then purchased the American House for $9,000 from the estate of Sarah Ann Blank in December 1912.

Feinour sold the hotel to a man named Tilden Kuhns who remained the proprietor until 1925 when Ernest Bush became the proprietor until 1946. Then John Bailey was proprietor from 1946 until 1955 with Simeon Sell remaining the next proprietor for 18 years, from 1955 until his death in 1973.

Hermann Sulderits bought the American House in 1975 and renamed it The Iron Horse Inn in 1976. Sulderits, originally from Austria, said he has over 55 years experience in the restaurant business and had owned other hotels. When he opened the Iron Horse, Sulderits greeted diners at the door and local people said he was charming and a gentleman who welcomed his customers warmly and his business thrived.

On Oct. 1, 1981, Randall Murray, a food critic dined there and was so pleased he described it in his column as "most impressive" and "little gem" and a place a person "wanted to bundle up with you and keep as your own deep dark secret."

Murray raved about Farber's cooking and how much he enjoyed eating there. The quality and flavors of food, including desserts cooked by chef Dorothy Farber was told to be excellent and generated a lot of business. Eventually Farber moved on and business eventually dropped off.

Times have changed since then and people no longer congregate at neighborhood bars or hotels, as clubs used to meet, and people used to gather together years ago like "Cheers" on TV. Money does not flow as it used to either. Social drinkers have migrated to private clubs. They go to Gun Clubs, fire companies, American Legions, Veterans of Foreign Wars or other secluded clubs bringing their personal designated drivers with them. Old hotels, pubs and inns managing to stay open have become more food or party oriented to remain afloat and save their businesses.

Sulderits is in the process of updating and repairing The Iron Horse Inn until all of the mandatory updates and renovations are completed. There have been no tenants since 2008 and the bar and restaurant have been closed since June 2011.

Alburtis Borough Council and Sulderits have been trying to resolve the legal issues. Slowly but surely, The Iron Horse Inn is a work in progress. Sulderits, resourcefully decided to sell the liquor license because he has no income from the inn to make the required updates and repairs to bring it up to code. Conditions at the inn continue to improve but Sulderits decided to sell and listed The Iron Horse Inn with Glenn Fritts of Weichart Commercial Brokerage, Inc. who says he has three buyers seriously interested.

Editor's Note: A special thank you to Allen Oswald of Alburtis for the time he spent going through his personal archives and contributing photos and information to make this story possible.