Sugarhouse casino moves forward despite concerns over historical remnants

Sugarhouse casino now has one more piece of the puzzle needed to build a gaming hall along the Delaware River. In a letter this week, the Army Corps of Engineers stated there are no remnants of a British fort and a colonial era building called Bachelor’s Hall on the Sugarhouse site. One local historic preservationist calls the letter a setback.

Sugarhouse casino now has one more piece of the puzzle needed to build a gaming hall along the Delaware River. In a letter this week, the Army Corps of Engineers stated there are no remnants of a British fort and a colonial era building called Bachelor’s Hall on the Sugarhouse site. One local historic preservationist calls the letter a setback.

Transcript:
Torben Jenk says after more than a decade of studying old maps and deeds for the area, he has a pretty good idea what might be sitting underground.  That’s why he’s disagreeing with officials about the site and where else they should look.

Jenk: “I was asked to provide these three locations and I was gonna be out there with them to show them.  We went out, we looked for Batchelor’s Hall and within an hour of digging we found it. I was told, ‘well we’ll go down and we’ll look for the next site.’  I’ve never been called back.  And the locations where they claim that they have dug are not where I told them to dig.”

Sugarhouse officials say they’ll continue to look for the fort under Penn Street.

The Army Corps letter says industrial impacts likely eliminated any structure on the Fishtown site.

Listen:
Click on the play button below or right click on this link and choose “Save Link As” to download. [audio: reports20090402casino.mp3]