The first European settlers to Sellersville came by way of the Minsi Indian Trail about 1730. The trail later became Bethlehem Pike. By 1742 the Weekly Post stage coach line was established, taking riders from Philadelphia to Bethlehem. In 1742 Jan Jensen built his 3 1/2 story house on 102 acres around the Branch Creek. The first tavern license was issued to Louis Weikel in 1753...later, in 1790, Samuel Sellers bought the tavern lot and four acres around the Branch Creek.

Legend has it that in 1777 the Liberty Bell, and the men who carried it, stayed at the Washington House on their way to Bethlehem to escape the British.

Around 1815 the town took the name of Seller's Tavern from its most famous citizen: Samuel Sellers. By then he was both High Sheriff and a member of the Pennsylvania State Legislature. His son Elias was the first postmaster. He operated the postal service right out of the tavern. Travelers riding the Weekly Post stage coach were required to check their gun with the bartender before taking a room at The Washington House. Legend has it that the twenty drawers behind the bar correspond to twenty rooms in the hotel.

The North Pennsylvania Railroad established tracks through Sellersville in 1856. The Hotel was purchased by the railroad, which later added the beautiful forty foot bar, six story tower and cupola. The rural economy was aided by the railroad which brought the city to its door. The little town, which began as "Sellers Tavern", was incorporated into the borough of Sellersville in 1874.

This set the stage for the cigar making boom, and the hotel was right in the middle of it all. The Pennsylvania Germans were big growers of tobacco, and cigar making was a large part of the local economy. Sellersville was known as 'a Cigar Town'.

"In the old days it was common for a cigar maker to open a factory in his home. It was easy work and required no apprenticeship. But there was considerable knack in doing it quickly and well...That was a splendid era...Everybody busy, industrious, saving, and content" writes Walter Baum, Sellersville artist and historian.

From about 1905 to 1915 the hotel was owned by the Klein family. Soon other industries, including textiles joined the cigarmakers. Opening their doors in 1904 the U.S. Gauge offered wages of up to 30 cents an hour. Several vintage photos of the U.S. Gauge are displayed near the front stairs of the restaurant.

Top management from the Gauge stayed at The Washington House while the business was founded because it was a "first class hotel". In later years, many of the men who worked at the Gauge boarded at The Washington House.

Throughout the bar there are many wonderful photographs of the Klein era. Ray and Clarence Stull, the great grandsons of proprietor J.S. Klein, relate how the Klein history ended when the Hotel was sold at Sheriff's sale for $900. In 1915 the Neuweiler Beer Company acquired the hotel as an outlet for their beer.

During prohibition, it was believed that small town inns were not in jeopardy of a raid. Therefore, folks at The Washington House continued to serve liquor. To be safe, arrangements were made for a quick stash. The liquor was hidden either in a room upstairs, or in a trap door in front of the coal stove in the kitchen.

Federal agents, suspecting prohibition violations took the front bar, (counter) out to the stables behind the hotel, and chopped it into pieces. You will notice vintage photos in the bar showing a different front bar than the one that exists today. Behind the current front bar is an inscription, "Installed June 13, 1933, J.R. Newbold", noting the end of Prohibition. The current liquor license was issued to this hotel on December 3, 1933.

Over the years, the people who owned the hotel the longest were Fred and Blanche Fargo. They purchased it in 1927 and five years later, during the great depression, Fred died. Granny Blanche Fargo kept the hotel going for another 16 years,  serving plain Pennsylvania fare.

"In those days lots of people still chewed tobacco. There was a brass rail and a long gutter with water running in it, where men would spit. You didn't want people leaving the bar, you wanted to keep them drinking" said Blanche's grandson Earl. As a boy, he remembers listening to Gene Autry and Bing Crosby on the juke box in the bar.

In the forties and fifties, before the Northeast Extension and the Route 309 bypass were constructed, Main Street in Sellersville was Route 309. The Washington House was a stopping off point for weekend travelers to and from the Poconos. All you can eat, family style roast beef dinners were $2.00 on Sundays. From 1948 to 1981 the hotel passed through six owners, and we have little information about this time.

Some locals fondly remember The Washington House as a rock and roll bar in the seventies. Customers dressed in leather, rode their motorcycles both to, and through, the restaurant to the rhythm of live bands. Eventually, in 1981, the W.H. was abandoned and considered beyond repair. It was sold at Sheriff's sale to a group of concerned neighbors who operated" The Scoop" ice cream parlour for a year before reopening it as a restaurant, bar, and boarding house.

It was bought by the Quigley family in 1985 and has gone through a major restoration. Today, William Quigley and his wife Elayne Brick share the challenges of running a busy restaurant.They've put together a history of the hotel and how it grew with the town. Those interested in knowing more can take the self guided tour which starts in the center hall of the restaurant.