Corps sides with SugarHouse on site's archaeology

The Army Corps of Engineers has agreed with archaeologists for the SugarHouse casino that the project's 22-acre Philadelphia site along the Delaware River does not hold remnants of a British fort from the Revolutionary War or an 18th-century men's social club.

In a letter Monday to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the chief of the corps' regulatory branch in Philadelphia, Frank Cianfrani, said the developer had made "a reasonable and good faith effort" to identify historic properties.

He did, however, advise the commission that two areas of the site, which straddles Northern Liberties and Fishtown, are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and require further excavation. The areas include brick-lined shafts from 18th-century privies and a 1,500-square-foot plot where archaeologists unearthed more than 200 American Indian artifacts.

The Army Corps works with the state historical commission to oversee archaeological work.

SugarHouse needs a permit from the Army Corps to build into the river, dredge, and fill in a small channel on the property. The historic review is a part of the permitting process under the federal Clean Water Act.

The letter from the corps is a setback for some local archaeologists who had argued that the casino project was destroying important historic properties.

"It's a loss," said Torben Jenk, a historian from Kensington. "There's more we could've learned."

Jenk had tried to convince casino consultants that the property was once home to Batchelor's Hall, a colonial-era men's society, and a British redoubt, a small fort. He supplied them with dozens of maps and other archival materials.

The Army Corps letter said that the hall was not within the property and the redoubt "was likely removed by industrial impacts."

SugarHouse, however, will look for the fort under a stretch of Penn Street.

The letter noted, "It is unlikely, but not inconceivable, that evidence of Redoubt No. 1 could be encountered when Penn Street is removed."