Perry Hall Improvement Association

PHIA Receives Grant to Erect Third Historical Marker

Thursday, June 25: The Baltimore County Historical Trust has awarded $750 to the Perry Hall Improvement Association (PHIA) to erect a historical marker in honor of the old village of Indian Rock, which was located at present-day Joppa and Belair Roads. This is the third historic marker erected by the PHIA in two years.

“The Perry Hall Improvement Association has worked very hard to promote our history, including our longtime efforts to preserve the Perry Hall Mansion,” commented PHIA President David Marks. “Now, there is a growing series of historic markers throughout Perry Hall that describe points of interest to residents and travelers alike.”

The Indian Rock marker will be placed at the corner of Joppa and Belair Roads near Perry Hall Elementary School. Indian Rock was a village that developed in the early Twentieth Century, when Belair Road was known as the Baltimore and Jerusalem Turnpike. In 1908, Frank Goettner and his family moved from Indian Rock, Pennsylvania, into Bishop’s Inn, a converted tollhouse. They changed the name of the inn to the “Indian Rock Hotel.” The hotel eventually became a butcher shop, and it stood until demolished for the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in 1985.

Earlier this year, Baltimore County named the woods next to Perry Hall High School as Indian Rock Park.

The marker will be erected this summer near Perry Hall Elementary School.