Uhlerstown Historic District
Also known as: Uhlerstown Village and Rural Historic District; See Also:Dela
Why it's listed
Uhlerstown is a canal-era village and surrounding farmland on the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal in Tinicum Township, Bucks County. Its growth began at Lock No. 18, and it expanded after Michael Uhler arrived in the early 1850s. Uhler built a Gothic Revival brick house, a stone hotel, mills, lime kilns, boat yards and a store, and he operated a line of canal boats. Worker housing, mostly modest frame houses, lines the canal and River Road. The village kept its relationship with surrounding farms, which still border it. A covered bridge over the canal dates to 1832, and the hotel near the Delaware River served ferry and rail travellers. Palisade cliffs form a backdrop that separates the village from later development. The district is valued as a largely intact picture of how a canal village worked between 1832 and 1932.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the district is significant for its association with commerce and transportation tied to the canal, for the influence of Michael Uhler in developing the village's commercial activity, and for its representative early to early twentieth-century architecture. It describes the village as an unusually intact canal-period setting, with agricultural land and palisade cliffs that separate it from later development.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 94000517, listed May 26, 1994. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly bounded by the Delaware R., Jugtown Hill Rd., and the Delaware Canal, Tinicum Township, Uhlerstown |
|---|---|
| County | Bucks County |
| Listed | May 26, 1994 |
| Reference number | 94000517 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1832-1932 |
| Architectural style | Vernacular Southeast Pennsylvania; Gothic Revival (Michael Uhler house); Greek Revival (brick farmhouse) |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture, Commerce, Transportation |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Integrity described as excellent; the canal closed in 1932 and commercial activity ended, with some buildings converted to residences and others left to decay. |
| Acreage | 240 |
| Coordinates | 40.53131, -75.07154 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 94000517.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7877993
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.