In Pioneer Frontier Food Court, the building that is home to Subway, was originally built as a residential home that was on West Derry Road. This house, known as 71 and 73 West Derry Road, was sold by Millard E. Lingle to Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company on May 2, 1980. It is one of the remaining structures from West Derry Road, and was the second to last remaining residence on West Derry Road (the last residence, 23 West Derry Road was sold a year later).
Property history
The Lingle House was originally constructed by Hershey Improvement Company and was owned by Abraham T. Heilman, Hersheypark’s second general manager. The land had been owned by Milton S. Hershey since March 31, 1906, when he purchased the land from the John H. Nissley estate.
Heilman purchased the property on August 14, 1913, living there for a little over a year when he sold the property to Harvey Curry on October 8, 1914. (Heilman moved into a different house on West Derry Road.) Five months later, Curry sold the property to the Lingle family. The house was split into a duplex, with one half (71 West Derry Road) being sold to Edward L. Lingle, Sr., and the other half (73 West Derry Road) being sold to Edward L. Lingle, Jr., on March 16, 1915.
71 West Derry Road was inherited by the wife of Lingle, Sr., Susan Hummer Lingle after Lingle, Sr., passed away in 1939. She then sold the property to Millard E. Lingle on May 15, 1939. 73 West Derry Road was owned by Lingle, Jr., until his death in 1970; Millard was his executor of the estate, and on October 4, 1976, he sold the property to himself.
On May 2, 1980, Lingle sold the property to Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company (at the time known as HERCO, Inc.) for $115,000, which accounting for inflation is $341,563 in 2018 dollars.
Hersheypark expansion
At the same time the house was sold, Hersheypark was gearing up for the 1980 season, which saw the second expansion of the park since the park was gated in 1971. (The park was previously expanded in 1978 with the opening of ZooAmerica.) Hersheypark was introducing two new rides, Pirat and Cyclops, and Dry Gulch Railroad’s station was relocated and the track rerouted to open up a walkway to provide access to Cyclops.
The Lingle House was used for storage for several seasons. When Cinemavision was introduced adjacent to Cyclops in 1982, a catering area was placed near the Lingle House, called Pirat Cove Catering. It was later renamed Dry Gulch Catering, and relocated to where Sidewinder is currently located.
In 1985, Pioneer Frontier Food Court was constructed, and the Lingle House was renovated into the Spring Creek General Store.
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