Life of the Inn & Mansion 1890 ~ 1996

Life of the Inn and Mansion 1890 ~ 1996. What Happened to the Kuser Mansion?. , ~ From 1923 to 1945 High Point State Park was governed by the High Point Park Commission. Its members were wealthy and influential businessmen and women who managed and advocated for the park and for its funding. The Commission was forced to disband in 1945 and in the years that followed statewide budget priorities shifted., ~ In 1969 the Park offices were moved from the mansion to the building they occupy today. The Kuser Mansion continued to be used for lodging and events on a limited basis. As the years progressed, funding was available to increase park acreage via the Green Acres program, but funding for maintenance and capital improvements declined statewide., ~ In 1977 the Kuser Mansion was closed after 54 years of continuous public use, due to deteriorated and unsafe conditions and excessive maintenance costs. Plans for its demolition were proposed two years later., Significant public outcry halted the planned demolition. Nearly twenty years of controversy and debate followed, but in the end the grand building that began as a sprawling rustic inn in the summer of 1890 was demolished in the summer of 1996., ~ Today, though the building is gone, the Kusers' legacy of philanthropy lives on in more than 15,000 acres of preserved public land benefiting people, plants, and wildlife, and in the 220-foot high Monument that stands on the summit of Kittatinny Mountain, honoring New Jersey's veterans.