King of the Hill Steakhouse demolished for I-70 project
Heavy equipment is used to demolish the former Newkirk Church off the Bentleyville exit of Interstate 70 on Wednesday.
The former Newkirk Church, which most recently housed King of the Hill Steakhouse, was demolished Wednesday as part of a project to build a new Interstate 70 interchange in Bentleyville.
Demolition of the former King of the Hill Steakhouse off the Bentleyville exit of Interstate 70 took place Wednesday.
The former Newkirk Church that most recently housed King of the Hill Steakhouse was demolished Wednesday as part of a project to build a new Interstate 70 Bentleyville interchange.
BENTLEYVILLE – An archaeologist will oversee excavation work to ensure there are no unmarked graves found around a landmark church demolished Wednesday to make way for a new Bentleyville interchange along Interstate 70.
Excavation work would be halted in the unlikely possibility a grave is found beside the former Newkirk Church that most recently operated as King of the Hill Steakhouse in Fallowfield Township, said Paul Raber, who works with the archaeology firm the state Department of Transportation retained for the project.
“We will monitor full time as they excavate because there is some potential for remains from the church,” said Raber, of Heberling Associates Inc. of Alexandria.
PennDOT paid $1 million to acquire the restaurant from Debra Hardy of Rostraver Township in order to reconfigure the outdated and dangerous interchange at Wilson Road. Golden Triangle Construction of Imperial has a $75.9 million contract to build the interchange, widen I-70 in the area, create a roundabout on Wilson Road and build a limited access interchange at nearby Route 917 by December 2018.
The company expects to begin excavation of the hill where the church was situated this month, and the work will involve scraping off a nearly six-foot layer of ground to look for graves, said Eric Klimas, the project manager.
“We will bring in the PennDOT archaeologist and will have to excavate at their direction,” Klimas said.
PennDOT has taken steps to protect the nearby Newkirk Cemetery from construction work and also excavated ancient Indian artifacts discovered near the Route 917 interchange.
Raber said the cemetery association appears to have been dissolved, that negotiations would be required to reinter any human remains that might be encountered during the excavation work.
The newer stained-glass windows installed in the former church by Hardy were removed and sold to a third party, Klimas said.
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission asked for the excavation precautions as it believed in the possibility some Newkirk graves were paved over when the highway was built in the area five decades ago.
Klimas said the church building was heavily altered over the years to the point where little of its original appearance remained when it was demolished.
The loss of the post-Civil War-era landmark saddened members of the Charleroi Area Historical Society, as it was the last remaining church of its time along I-70 in Fallowfield, said its chairman, Nikki Sheppick.
Sheppick said “other alternate ideas could have been implemented” to protect the church from being destroyed.