History

A larger tract of land, which included the Alden House site, was sold to Philip Goepp and his wife Frederica on December 11, 1843. The land was subdivided and the Alden House was build shortly before 1850. The house has a stone foundation and solid brick walls covered with plaster.  Reverend Goepp was president of the Board of Elders of the Moravian Church. The house was sold to the United Brethren Church on April 10, 1857 when the Goepp’s moved to Bethlehem.

On April 8, 1871, the house was sold to Henry S. Frank, a farmer, and his wife Susanna.  They owned the house only a couple of months and sold it on June 30, 1871 to Emanuel Kauffman and his wife Mary.  The Kauffman’s owned the house for one year and sold the house to Levi S. Hacker and his wife Lavina on June 29, 1872.

Levi Hacker was engaged in dry goods jobbing in Philadelphia for 19 years prior to moving to Lititz.  In Lititz, he entered the lumber trade in the name of Hacker and Becker.  He died Feb. 22, 1889.  His wife Lavina continued to live in the house until 1920.  The picture on the wall in the phone booth is probably Lavina Hacker.  Note that the street in the picture is not paved.  The streets were paved approximately 1905, so this picture was taken during the time Lavina lived here.  Note, also, in the picture that the kitchen wing and bay windows were not yet on the house.

On Dec 21, 1920, the house sold to Morris H. Baker. On April 26, 1926 Morris Baker gave the house to his sister Lillie and her new husband, Mahlon Yoder.  Dr. Yoder and Lillie lived in the house until their deaths, Lillie in 1967 and Dr. Yoder in 1970.  Dr. Yoder was the town doctor and conducted his medical practice on the first floor of the house.  They lived on the second floor.  Dr. Yoder added the bay windows, and in doing so had to buy 1 foot of land from the neighbor to the West in order to have enough space.  Dr. Yoder’s best friend growing up was Elmer Bobst who eventually became president of Warner-Lambert and was the decision maker in establishing the pharmaceutical plant in Lititz (on Lincoln Avenue) that became Pfizer, and is now Johnson & Johnson. Dr. Yoder’s name also appears on the Lititz Wall of Remembrance (1920-1929) in Lititz Springs Park.

In 1972 the house was turned into an apartment house, which was owned by Ronald and Beverly Cook until 1983, and then by Robert and Frances Redman until 1986.

In 1986, Barry Herr bought the house and spent over a year converting it into a bed & breakfast.   Barry Herr operated the Alden House B&B until 1994 when he sold it to the second bed & breakfast owners, Joy and Fletcher Coleman. The Coleman’s operated the Alden House until October 1998.  The third owners, Tom and Lilian Vazquez owned and operated the Alden House as a bed & breakfast until August 2002.  The fourth owners, Bob and Shirley McCarthy, bought the Alden House in August 2002.  The fifth owners, John & Lynndell Eccleston, purchased the Inn in March 2007. The sixth (and current) owner of the bed and breakfast, Brian Fisher, bought the property in June 2021.