Description: Looking east from what is today the Paoli Post Office, the once small and unpretentious two-story inn of Revolutionary times had been substantially enlarged over the ensuing years. The Paoli Inn’s substantial business from the railroad necessitated the erection of new two-story addition facing the railroad, where Valley Road had crossed the tracks at grade level, built to accommodate the traveling public. In The Wayside Inns on the Lancaster Roadside Between Philadelphia and Lancaster, Sachse relates: “Whenever a train arrived, the train hands would call out ‘all out, five minutes for refreshments,’ and the passengers would rush to the bar, through the four large doors facing the track, until the room was packed, but even those within reach of the counter would hardly have time to gulp down their coffee and doughnut or sandwich before the bell would ring and the train start at the command ‘all aboard,’ while the passengers were left to scramble into the cars with their luncheon in their hands as best they were able.” In 1877-78 the roadbed of the railway was relocated further to the north, where it now stands. The grade of Valley Road was raised to cross-over the tracks by means of the bridge noted on the left to which we are accustomed today, thus avoiding the formerly hazardous grade crossing. - Herb Fry and Roger Thorne
References: The Wayside Inns on the Lancaster Roadside between Philadelphia and Lancaster, by Julius F. Sachse, Self published, 1915 (2nd Edition); Inns & Taverns by Beth Arnold, TEQ 44-1/2 (Winter/Spring 2007) Early History of Paoli by Mike Bertram, TE Quarterly, vol. 51, #1 (April 2014).
