The historic structures on the former Lehman Farm are examples of the makeup of an 18th century Germanic&nbsp; farmstead.&nbsp; The original log portion of the farmhouse with fire damage from the 1860s had to be demolished in the course of restoration, but lumber and hardware were salvaged.&nbsp; The early 19th century barn is exemplary of Franklin County’s agricultural history.&nbsp; Originally home to varied livestock and fowl and storage for small grain crops, the farm was converted to a dairy in the early 20th century when it provided milk for the Penn Hall Girls’ School.

Richard Alsina Fulton Center for Sustainable Living

Tooke Farmhouse and Owen Barns

Featuring sites along Pennsylvania's Lincoln Highway in Franklin County, PA

In the winter of 1756, during the French and Indian War, Fort Loudoun was erected by Col. John Armstrong at the order of the province of Pennsylvania. The fort was built for the protection of the frontiers against the French and Indians, and took the place of the fort at McDowell's Mill, which was situated at Bridgeport a short distance northward.  The French and Indian raiding party that abducted Mary Jemison's group mandated they stop in the swamps a relatively short distance north of here to spend their first night in the wilderness. In Mary's account the fort is referred to as Fort Canagojigge by her father. Tragically, all but two of the abductees (Mary and a young boy) were murdered, scalped, and their bodies hidden in the swamps before they left this area. Although they were not a great distance from the fort, escape was impossible due to the heavy forest, muddy swamp, and the skill of the Indians at quickly tracking and dispatching any escapees. However, Fort Loudoun did play an important role in protecting other frontier settlers during the French and Indian War. It was also a staging area for logistics being marshaled in preparation for military offenses in the west toward Fort Ligonier and Fort Duquesne. During the expedition of Gen. John Forbes, in 1758, and that of Col. Henry Bouquet, in 1763-4, this fort was used as a rendezvous for troops and as a base of supplies. Fort Loudoun was built as one part of a network of protective enclaves throughout the frontier to provide safe havens for settlers in danger. The broad dispersion of these forts, combined with the thickness of the woods and rough terrain, significantly hampered their effectiveness in offering substantial protection for the settlers. As with Mary's group, the swiftness of the raids and the settlers' inability to quickly take flight, exposed serious flaws in the defensive system at the time.

This is a reconstruction of historic Fort Loudoun.  The original fort was built in 1756 during the French and Indian War to protect settlers and to stage troops and supplies for the western campaign.  A tragic event occurred a short distance from here, as referenced in the book, "A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison." 

Fort Loudoun - Pennsylvania State Historic Site

As a private home that offered rooms for travelers, 619 South Main Street was a key stopping point for African Americans as they travelled U.S. Route 30 and U.S. Route 11. It is significant that Chambersburg, where these two historic highways intersect, was home to three Negro Motorist Green Book sites. The Lincoln Highway was a main east-west artery running from New Jersey to Oregon. U.S. Route 30 linked large populations of African Americans from Philadelphia to Chicago. As an African American traveler during Jim Crow, picture yourself and your family traveling these routes to new places, not knowing if a town’s restaurants or hotels held comfort or hostility for you. As an African American, you could have been welcomed or forcefully excluded. Consider the humiliation of being denied the basic necessities of food and shelter because of your race. Where Jim Crow laws legally segregated white and Black travelers, you might have faced violent repercussions or arrest if you did not comply with Jim Crow. This was the situation an African American family would have encountered while traveling. Carrie Stevenson’s home appears to have been a lodging or boarding house, in addition to its status as a tourist home from 1938 to 1940. Chambersburg’s Public Opinion newspaper highlights how Stevenson had visitors from Philadelphia, New York, and St. Louis. She was an active member of the St. James A. M. E. Church, located less than two streets away from 619 S. Main St., and church meetings were hosted at her home. From written records, her home appears to be a place of social activity in a thriving African American community, as well as a travel destination for African Americans. At 619 South Main Street, travellers would have had access to a safe, welcoming place, a hot meal, and a warm bed.

The current, original structure of Mrs. Carrie Stevenson’s Tourist Home in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. From 1938 to 1940, the home was listed in The Negro Motorist Green Book, a traveler’s guidebook for African Americans during the dangerous Jim Crow era. Very importantly, of three sites originally listed in the Green Book in Chambersburg, Mrs. Stevenson’s Tourist Home is the only Negro Motorist Green Book site left in Chambersburg remaining intact; urban renewal of the 1960s saw the demolition of the other two sites. It stands as a testament to the work of African Americans like Mrs. Carrie Stevenson and those who arranged the Negro Motorist Green Book. It is a significant site for understanding African American history, our country’s past, and the narratives and physical locations we must preserve for our future.

Carrie Stevenson Tourist Home

Today, the Capitol
Theatre is situated in the middle of downtown Chambersburg, PA. The Capitol
Theatre was founded by the Pottstown Theatre Company on February 3, 1927 as a movie house and performing arts
theater for the local community.1 It opened in
grand fashion, with a showing of the comedy film “The Waning Sex” and an organ
recital by local organist Wilfred Binder.2 During the mid-20th
century, the Capitol Theatre showed famous movies starring John Weissmuller as
Tarzan and Roy Rogers as a star cowboy.3 Eventually though,
time took its toll over the theater, and it needed to undergo serious
renovations. Hence, starting in 1996, the Capitol Theatre underwent a
seven-year reconstruction project to improve and to expand the original
structure of the building.4 On June 6, 2003, the theater was
completely restored, and it was expanded with the new Wood Center Stage Theatre
(a multi-purpose room for theatrical events) to complement the historic stage.5The current mission
statement of the Capitol Theatre is to enrich the cultural environment of
Chambersburg and provide a service for a broad constituency of patrons, which
includes tourists.6 To provide a great service,
the Capitol Theatre is designed in an Italian Renaissance style by Gibelli. The
curtains for the stage are made with rich and luxurious fabrics, and
the theater's railings are made of elegant mahogany wood.7
Beautiful crystal light fixtures and a shiny chandelier hang from the intricately pattern ceiling of the theater.8 Also, there are blush and green
panels of faux marbling displayed in the theater, and gilded ornaments run along
the theater's walls.9 So, one can see that this theater is a
big testament to people’s admiration for the beautiful cultural traditions of Chambersburg. The
Capitol Theatre is related to the general history of Chambersburg, PA. The town
of Chambersburg was founded in 1732 by Benjamin Chambers, an Irish immigrant.
He helped create the Diamond Park as a central place of the community, where people
can meet with one another and perform the local business of the day.10 However, the town of Chambersburg was burned down in
1864 when the townspeople refused to pay a $100,000 gold ransom to the
Confederates.11 The fire destroyed 550 buildings, including
homes, and so it left over 2,000 people homeless.12 The destroyed buildings also included 266 businesses that were valued at
$783,950.13 As a result, the townspeople had to rebuild their
city from scratch. They did not have enough time to create places of
entertainment, such as the Capitol Theatre. Instead, the people of Chambersburg
needed to focus on rebuilding the essentials for life, such as homes and grocery
stores. After all the essentials were rebuilt, employees of Cumberland Valley
Railroad worked hard to create trains so that everyone can travel more
efficiently and faster to get to places, such as the Capitol Theatre.14 Thus, the Capitol Theatre was built due to the
cultural atmosphere of the time in Chambersburg. The theater provided people a
relaxing break from work and a way to forget the harsh reality of life. The Capitol
Theatre satisfied the recreational interests of the townspeople, who had no
other major forms of entertainment to enjoy at the time. The
Capitol Theatre is very significant to the Pennsylvania portion of the Lincoln
Highway. The Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania was created to make traveling easier
and more efficient, which helped bring more visitors to the local towns of PA
(e.g., Chambersburg). As a result, the highway helped facilitate a vibrant
cultural atmosphere in Pennsylvania where visitors learned about the history of
the region and embarked on fun tourist adventures. In addition, the Lincoln
Highway aided the growth of many businesses, such as Keefer’s Restaurant and the
White Cottage Inn, because many visitors wanted to buy souvenirs or needed a
place to eat and stay during their vacations. Keefer’s Restaurant served
tourists delicious steak, chicken, soup, and waffles, and it had gas pumps as
well as a garage so that tourists could get car service.15
Similarly, the White Cottage Inn had several cabins where tourists could sleep
overnight.16 So, the Capitol Theatre was built on the Lincoln
Highway to cater tourists who were visiting the landmarks along the highway.
The Capitol Theatre’s films and shows provided many happy and life-long
memories for the tourists, such as a first date.17 &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The Capitol Theatre is related to
the history of theater in the United States during the 20th century.
The European styles of theater gave much inspiration to the designs of American
theaters. Joseph Urban, a Viennese production designer, was hired to create
scenic and simple murals for the Boston Opera Company.18 Also,
Robert Jones designed a stage that expressed the sentiments of European home
life for a drama play called The Man Who
Married a Dumb Wife.19 Furthermore, drama programs were
introduced into many U.S. colleges, which greatly influenced the creation of American
theaters. Professor George Baker taught playwriting at Radcliffe College, and
Professor Thomas Stevens established the first theater degree program in the
U.S. at the Carnegie Institute.20 Thus, the Capitol Theatre was
established due to the large European influence on the American theater. The
people in Chambersburg wanted to partake in the same cultural events as
everyone else in America was experiencing at the time. The Capitol Theatre showed
that there were many people who wanted to watch the art of theater as well as
act in theater plays.The
Capitol Theatre is still historically significant today, and it matters to
locals and visitors who attend the theater’s shows and performances. The
theater reminds people what the entertainment industry in America was like
during the 20th century, where people used to pay only 25 cents for
a movie ticket and only 10 cents for a bag of popcorn.21
Similarly, the theater reminds visitors that people in the 20th
century only watched films on movie projectors and not on smart phones or flat
screen TVs.22 In addition, the Capitol Theatre makes people feel
nostalgic because they seem to be transported back in time when seeing the 1930s
colors of pink, dark green, and maroon.23 Moreover, the Capitol
Theatre is an important cultural site for everyone because all people,
especially children, can experience for the first time classic musical plays,
such as “The Four Freshmen” and “The Best of Broadway."24 Also, at
this theater, people want to see talented performers, such as the Chambersburg
Ballet Theatre School, act out classical renditions of entertainment, such as “Sleeping
Beauty” and “The Nutcracker."25 Finally, everyone realizes that
the Capitol Theatre has a big impact on society because the theater is seen as
a local and rare gem, which has unique European designs that are not found in
many other American places.26 In conclusion, the Capitol Theatre
is an entertainment center that provides all visitors an opportunity to learn
and experience the rich cultural traditions of a small and quaint town.

 Founded in 1927 by the Pottstown Theatre Company, the Capitol Theatre is a historic and quaint entertainment center in downtown Chambersburg, PA. Designed in the ornate style of the Italian Renaissance, the theater was built to give Americans a fun venue to spend their leisure time and to forget the worries of the day. Currently, the theater offers visitors a variety of classical movies and performing art shows from the twentieth century. This place gives members of the local community an opportunity to create happy and life-long memories with their families and friends. The Capitol Theatre is the only old-fashioned theater of the twentieth century that still exists in Chambersburg today.

The Capitol Theatre, Chambersburg

The
first Franklin County Courthouse to be built on the eastern side of Memorial
Square (originally called the Diamond) was constructed by Captain Benjamin
Chambers, son of Chambersburg founder Colonel Benjamin Chambers (who deeded the
land for the courthouse to the county in 1774 for $26.66 2/3).
Construction was completed on a fifty-foot-square, two-story brick building in
1794, which remained in use until the erection of a new courthouse in 1842 built
in the Greek Revival style with a colonnaded front and oversized cupola.&nbsp;Confederate
raiders under Brigadier General John A. McCausland destroyed the second
Franklin County Courthouse on July 30, 1864, as part of the burning of
Chambersburg. The residents of Chambersburg completed construction on the third
and current iteration of the Franklin County Courthouse in 1865, incorporating
portions of the former courthouse that had remained standing after McCausland’s
attack the previous year. A 1902 addition expanded the rear of the building and
is faced with brownstone rather than the white stone of the original structure.
On top of the building stands a metal statue of Benjamin Franklin, for whom the
county is named, which replaced a wooden statue of Franklin that stood there
from 1865 to 1991 and now resides in the Chambersburg Heritage Center on the opposite side of Memorial Square.

The
Franklin County Courthouse that stands in Chambersburg today is a result of the
efforts of the city’s residents to rebuild in the aftermath of Confederate General
Jubal Early’s decision to destroy a northern community in retaliation for Federal
attacks on towns in Virginia. There has been speculation since the time of the
attack itself, thus far unproven, that Early chose Chambersburg for its
association with the abolitionist John Brown, who boarded in Chambersburg while
making preparations for his famous raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. (Early
himself stated afterward that he chose Chambersburg simply because it was
convenient to his location at the time.) Regardless, Early ordered his
subordinate Brigadier General John A. McCausland to hold the town for ransom,
demanding either $100,000 in gold or $500,000 in “greenbacks.”<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[1]</a> If
the town could not or would not pay, Early had authorized McCausland to destroy
it.

McCausland
arrived at the outskirts of town from Martinsburg, West Virginia on July 30,
1864 with 3,000 Confederate cavalry and two artillery batteries. After
establishing his batteries on a hill overlooking the town from the west, McCausland
opened with a brief bombardment before advancing into the Diamond with 500 cavalrymen
under Major Harry Gilmore. Upon reaching the Diamond, he had his men ring the
courthouse bell to call Chambersburg’s residents to him. Those that arrived
chose to refuse the demands McCausland issued to them, after which he ordered the
destruction of the town. The courthouse was among the first buildings destroyed,
but it was by no means alone. McCausland’s men progressed through the town by
quarters, systematically setting fire to businesses, residences, and
outbuildings without any warning to potential occupants. The attack left
thousands of Chambersburg residents without homes and caused an estimated $1.6
million in damage. Their plight prompted a nationwide aid campaign, which
helped fund early reconstruction efforts (including the rebuilding of the courthouse
on the remains of the old one). The new courthouse, opened in October of 1865, enlarged
upon the dimensions of the former in order for the cupola’s proportions to
match the rest of the building and featured a newly installed wooden statue of
Benjamin Franklin on top of the cupola to commemorate the county’s namesake.

The
Franklin County Courthouse doesn’t just offer a glimpse into the experiences of
a northern community uniquely impacted by the American Civil War and its
hardships. It is also a window into a transitional period in American
architecture. With the exception of an addition to the structure’s rear in 1902
and the upgrading of the building’s interior to include modern amenities in the twentieth century, the Franklin County Courthouse has remained largely intact since
its construction in 1865. Moreover, those responsible for the building’s
construction, upgrades, and maintenance have made efforts to preserve the integrity
of the second courthouse’s original Greek Revival architecture as well as its
successors core design features. The courthouse’s colonnaded front remains
standing from the courthouse burned by Confederates in 1864, evidencing the
structure’s original Greek Revivalist character, while the rest of the building
evinces a more Victorian flavor in the elaborately carved stone molding around its
fifty-four windows.

The
Franklin County Courthouse’s role in the course of events during the 1864
burning of Chambersburg and its nature as a sort of architectural time capsule preserving
the transition from the Greek Revival to Victorian periods lends it unique
historical and architectural significance. It stands at the heart of Chambersburg’s
historic downtown district, which mirrors the building’s unique character on a
larger scale. Much, but not all, of the area was destroyed in the 1864 fire and
rebuilt alongside the new courthouse. As the residents of Chambersburg worked
to rebuild their lives in the wake of the Confederate attack (and the war in
general after 1865), the courthouse served as it had before as the heart of
daily life, law, and governance. Its history can help to deepen our appreciation
of the strategic importance of the area between Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia,
and later West Virginia to both armies during the Civil War. It can also, however,
broaden our understanding of the impact of that conflict on civilian
populations, especially ones that were forced to rebuild after periods of
occupation.<div>





<div>

<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[1]</a> "The Burning of Chambersburg,"
Pennsylvania Civil War Trails, , accessed April 18, 2019,
<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.pacivilwartrails.com/stories/tales/the-burning-of-chambersburg">https://www.pacivilwartrails.com/stories/tales/the-burning-of-chambersburg</a>.

</div>

</div>

Built in the Greek Revival architectural style which flourished in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, Franklin County Courthouse was completed in 1865 and incorporates portions of the previous courthouse that stood at this location and was burned by Confederate raiders under Brigadier General John A. McCausland on July 30, 1864. The courthouse is located just to the east of Memorial Square at the intersection of US-30 and US-11 in downtown Chambersburg and is the third county courthouse that has stood at this site. Because it includes structural elements from the second courthouse built in 1842 and attempted to replicate its basic features, the current Franklin County Courthouse of 1865 is a uniquely visible example of the change in architectural tastes from the Greek Revival to Victorian periods. The courthouse also stands as a testament to the experiences of the lone northern community to be destroyed by Confederate troops during the American Civil War, an event that spurred a nationwide aid campaign in response and resulted in the reconstruction of much of the original core of the town. The current courthouse houses the 39th Judicial District Court of Common Pleas for Franklin and Fulton Counties and is open from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM from Monday to Friday unless it is a county holiday.

Franklin County Courthouse

Frank
Furness, an influential architect in early twentieth-century Philadelphia,
designed the building that houses the Chambersburg Heritage Center for the
Valley National Bank of Chambersburg. Builders completed the bank’s
construction in 1915, three years after Furness’s death. The bank remained in
the building until 1963, after which the structure stood vacant until its
purchase by the Chambersburg Area Development Corporation in 1999. After five
years of planning and renovations, the building reopened its doors under the
operation of the Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce, which utilizes the space as
a free museum on the history of the Chambersburg area, particularly the period
between the colonial and Civil War eras. The museum includes exhibits on the
arrival of European settlers to the area in the 1700s, the community’s role in
the military conflicts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, its
connections to the Underground Railroad, and its destruction at the hands of
Confederate raiders in 1864. The center also houses a children’s activity room
and gift shop and has, since its opening in 2004, received an average of 3,000
visitors annually (excluding school tours).

Although
largely forgotten within a short time after his passing at the age of 72, Frank
Furness’s work has garnered increased attention in recent years. Prior to his
career as an architect in Philadelphia, Furness served with the 6th
Pennsylvania Cavalry during the American Civil War; his service earned him the
Medal of Honor in 1899 for carrying ammunition through heavy enemy fire to the
relief of a Union outpost during the Battle of Trevilian Station (1864). Furness
opened his architectural office in Philadelphia a year after the war ended,
going on to receive almost 1,000 commissions (including over 200 train stations
for the Baltimore &amp; Ohio and Reading Railroads, University of Pennsylvania
Library, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts). Furness is also notable
for acting as a mentor to architect Louis Sullivan early in his career, who
wrote later in his autobiography of Furness’s heavy influence on his work
(Sullivan himself, known as the “father of the skyscraper,” acted as mentor to
Frank Lloyd Wright). 

Because
of their relative proximity to its center in Philadelphia, Chambersburg’s
wealthier businesses and residents enjoyed a unique level of access to the
designers at the forefront of the early twentieth-century’s architectural
renaissance. Indeed, prior to designing the Valley National Bank building,
Furness had drawn up the plans for Colonel Moorhead Kennedy’s home (known
locally as the Ragged Edge). Both structures evidence Furness’s preference for
combining an eclectic mix of construction materials into hard rectangular
features in defiance of the ornate Victorian style that dominated American
architecture in the second half of the nineteenth century. The large
rectangular blocks that form the Valley National Bank building’s façade, large,
wrought iron-bound windows, and balustraded roof are all reflective of
Furness’s chosen aesthetic.&nbsp;

After
the Valley National Bank left the building in 1963, it lay vacant for almost
over three decades until the Chambersburg Area Development Corporation bought
it in 1999. After completing renovations on the building to include modern
amenities, the building reopened as the Chambersburg Heritage Center, a museum
operated by the Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce that is dedicated to the
history of the Chambersburg area from the era of the town’s founding onwards.
The museum’s frontier exhibit details the town’s founding by Colonel Benjamin
Chambers in 1764 as well as the experiences of early European settlers and the
Native groups they encountered. Exhibits related to the Civil War include one
on the history of Chambersburg’s role in the Underground Railroad (local legend
has it that the Old Franklin County Jail was a stop) and one on the destruction
of the town by Confederate raiders in 1864. The center also has exhibits on
architecturally significant sites in Franklin County and the history of travel
and transportation in the area from wagons to railroads.

Patrons
of the Chambersburg Heritage Center can enjoy a visit of dual historical
significance. As a museum, the Chambersburg Heritage Center is central to
historical education in Chambersburg and Franklin County. But, as an example of
Frank Furness’s late work, the building that houses the center deserves equal
appreciation. Because Furness’s work was for so long forgotten, city
authorities ended up destroying much of it in the urban renewal programs of the
mid-twentieth century. The former Valley National Bank building is one of a
dwindling number of structures that still bear Furness’s fingerprints, and
unlike many of his others remains largely unchanged. Its presence in downtown
Chambersburg is a testament to the place of small towns in larger cultural
movements within the United States. Architectural enthusiasts visiting
Chambersburg will thus find just as much of interest as those who might have
more enthusiasm for the past.

The
Chambersburg Heritage Center is not only a purveyor of Chambersburg-area history,
it is an instrument of its preservation. It has offered its visitors a glimpse
into the town’s past both as a museum and as the occupant of an architecturally
significant structure since it opened its doors in 2004. Patrons can visit the
museum Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM year-round and on Saturdays, 10 AM to 3
PM, from May to October. They can also schedule guided walking tours of
Chambersburg through the Heritage Center upon advance request.

The Chambersburg Heritage Center on Memorial Square in the historic Valley National Bank Building provides educational resources on the history of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania and the surrounding area of Franklin County. The Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce opened the center five years after the Chambersburg Area Development Corporation purchased the building on its behalf in 1999. The center houses a gift shop, children’s activity room, and exhibits on the frontier history, architectural history, transportation history, and Civil War history of the city. While the center may be a cornerstone of the historical community in Chambersburg, the building itself is also of significance as the work of Frank Furness, an architect whose designs have become widely celebrated in the last few decades. The Chambersburg Heritage Center is open year-round from Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM, and on Saturdays, 10 AM to 3 PM, May to October. The center can also provide guided walking tours upon advance request. 

Chambersburg Heritage Center and Old Valley National Bank Building

On the morning of July 30, 1864, under the orders of General Jubal Early, General John "Tiger" McCausland seized Chambersburg and demanded $100,000 in gold or $500,000 in US currency. According to Confederate leaders, this attack was retribution for the burning of rebel property by the United States Army in Virginia.The Federal commander General Hunter, under orders from General Grant, was instructed to destroy provisions in the Valley of Virginia. He was also instructed not to destroy private homes. General Hunter ignored this caveat and destroyed many private dwellings, including those that were inhabited by women with children. Hundreds of families lost their homes, livestock, fields and personal possessions in an era when few families had insurance.&nbsp;General Early, in his autobiography, wrote that he "came to the conclusion it was time to open the eyes of the people of the North to this enormity, by an example in the way of retaliation."&nbsp; Early chose McCausland for this task, as his brigade of cavalry was comprised primarily of soldiers hailing from southwestern Virginia. Many of these men and their families were directly affected by Hunter's vicious attacks in Virginia, and they wanted revenge.The goal of the campaign was to raise funds, enact suffering upon southern Pennsylvania, and take control of the Cumberland Valley Railroad. If successful, Confederate leaders believed that these raids would and divert Union troops from the attacks on Confederate positions in eastern Virginia.&nbsp;Historians still debate whether the citizens of Chambersburg considered paying the ransom. Many may have hoped for deliverance from their occupiers as a large army under the command of General Averell. The army was a short distance away in Greencastle, and the citizens might have stalled the Confederate army by offering a partial payment. Whatever the reason, city leaders refused to pay the ransom or promise to raise the funds. Prior to executing their orders, Confederate troops made sure that every resident was given the opportunity to exit a building or home prior to setting it aflame. A total of five hundred buildings were destroyed by Confederate forces, with only churches and a Masonic temple being spared.&nbsp;

Several historical markers and plaques near the Franklin County Courthouse relate the tragic fate of Chambersburg, which was destroyed by Confederate raiders on July 30, 1864. Cavalry under the command of General John McCausland occupied the city and demanded the payment of a ransom, threatening to destroy the city in retribution for the destruction of Virginia homes, families, and food stores should his army not be provided with a large ransom payment. While pro-Confederate raiders also destroyed Lawrence, Kansas, the destruction of Chambersburg was unique in that it was conducted by an official army of the Confederacy. 

The Burning of Chambersburg Historical Marker

The generative power of the 25-foot waterfall that gave Falling Spring its name attracted Benjamin Chambers to the site shortly after his arrival to colonial Pennsylvania in the early eighteenth century. Although Chambers settled on the site in 1730, however, he evidently did not see the need at first to build any sort of fortifications around the mills he constructed there shortly after his arrival. Indeed, it would not be until the outbreak of hostilities between Pennsylvania and the Delaware Indians during the Seven Years’ War over two decades later that Chambers constructed the defenses that gave the area its name. Doing so immediately elevated the status of Chambers’ settlement in colonial politics, a rise that eventually brought him into conflict with authorities in Pennsylvania’s capital of Philadelphia. In part as a result of this series of events, the growth of Chambersburg remained minimal for much of its early history. It was only after the town became the seat of the newly-created Franklin County in 1784 that Chambers’ dream for his settlement began to become a reality. After his death in 1788, the site of Chambers’ fort remained integral to the town’s growth. The same water power that brought Chambers to the area in 1730 and facilitated the operation of his mills did likewise for a series of entrepreneurs throughout the nineteenth century, local industrialists that connected Chambersburg to the regional, national, and global markets that emerged in that period. As those markets began to change over the course of the twentieth century, however, the site’s centrality to local industry became less certain and, eventually, the borough of Chambersburg chose to purchase an unused portion of it for the construction of Chambers Fort Park. The park opened to the public in 2008 and features a reconstructed log cabin and water wheel as well as memorials to local veterans and the Founding Family, which are accessible year-round. The borough also hosts movies and concerts at the park during the summer. When Benjamin Chambers first arrived to the area of Falling Spring in 1730 he lived in a log cabin with shingles held to the roof with iron nails, fasteners that were evidently of such value in the area at the time that one of his neighbors set fire to the residence while he was away in order to steal them. Chambers replaced his destroyed home with a similar structure shortly thereafter, which remained unfortified until he attended a meeting in nearby Shippensburg with other settlers from the area in 1755. This meeting resulted in the group’s decision to construct a series of private forts throughout what was then Cumberland County to protect the region from attacks by Delaware Indians and other Native groups during the Seven Years’ War. In addition to choosing Chambers’ home as the site of one of these forts, the group also recommended the construction of fortifications at Carlisle, Shippensburg, and a number of other locations. Chambers completed work on his fort the following year. He replaced his former log dwelling with a two-story stone structure, a portion of which hung over Falling Spring to prevent attackers from cutting off the compound’s water supply. This house had a lead roof to protect against flaming arrows and narrow windows for use as loopholes by marksmen inside, all of which Chambers had secured with a perimeter of sharpened wooden stakes and a moat that encircled both his house and the adjacent mill. The pride of the fort’s defenses by far, however, was its two four-pounder cannons, weapons that quickly thrust Chambersburg’s founder into the thick of colonial politics on the Pennsylvania borderlands. Indeed, almost immediately after Chambers completed his fort in 1756 the deputy governor of Pennsylvania, William Denny, demanded that he surrender the cannons to colonial authorities. Chambers’ decision to ignore this demand, and eventually those of other representatives sent to his home by Denny in the following months, placed him firmly at the center of borderlands settlers’ opposition to colonial authorities back east in Philadelphia. Although settlers like Chambers had been taking up residence in the region for several decades at that point, Pennsylvania’s Quaker leadership had for much of the period largely avoided building forts there for fear of starting a war with local Indians. When the opposition party gained control of the colonial assembly during the Seven Years’ War, however, it promised borderlands settlers that it would finance the construction of a string of forts throughout the western portion of the colony to protect the region’s European inhabitants. When the effort proved more complicated than Pennsylvania’s new administrators had initially realized, it stalled, prompting the 1755 meeting at Shippensburg and completion of Chambers’ fort the following year. Because Chambers intended his defenses for the protection of every settler in the surrounding area his neighbors supported him in his struggle against the colonial government, support that ultimately convinced the governor to drop the matter. Acts of resistance by borderlands settlers like Chambers were relatively common during the period and the government’s inability to exert its authority in response contributed to the colony’s shift in favor of independence over the period. More locally, the affair effectively ensured that Chambers’ relationship with that government was worse than most, and though he received permission to lay out the town of Chambersburg only a few years later other support from colonial officials was less forthcoming. As a result, the area remained lightly populated for much of Chambers’ life there despite his best efforts to attract further settlement. It was only after his town became the seat of Franklin County in 1784 that it truly began to grow. The growth of Chambers’ settlement after 1784 also drew in a number of emerging industries that helped integrate the community into the larger regional, national, and global networks of trade and commerce that drove forward American industrialization during the period. The first mill on the land between Falling Spring and Conococheague Creek other than Chambers’ belonged to his daughter Ruhannah’s husband John Calhoun (the town’s first resident physician), who constructed a paper factory a short distance from his father-in-law’s mill in 1780. Calhoun and his nineteenth-century successor in paper manufacturing at the site G.A. Shyrock acted as suppliers for a number of prominent newspapers throughout the region, transmitting their shipments via long trains of pack-horses that sustained a thriving saddlery industry early on in the town’s existence. Chambers’ original mill, meanwhile, eventually wound up in the possession of his grandson Thomas Chambers, who integrated portions of the mill into a new fulling mill and cotton factory. Subsequent ventures into the wool and brewing industries succeeded him at the site, most notably the Mammoth Mill (named for its size and production capacity) north of King Street. This mill, along with the Washabaugh Brewery next to it (also powered by Falling Spring), fell victim to Confederate raiders in 1864 who set fire to much of the town in retaliation for the Union burning of Staunton, Virginia. A new woolen mill took their place after the war and remained in operation under a succession of owners into the twentieth century. This factory (and its predecessors at the site) supplied manufacturers not only throughout Pennsylvania but across the early United States, tapping into networks of demand that reached from North America into Europe and Asia. In the process, these ventures connected Chambersburg to larger processes of industrialization and global trade that reworked the face of the nation at an increasingly rapid pace over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The confluence of Falling Spring and Conococheague Creek has been central to the history of Chambersburg since its founding in the eighteenth century. As the momentary epicenter of borderlands settlers’ resistance to authorities back east in the colonial era, Benjamin Chambers’ fort stands as a testament to the forces of expansion, conflict, and change that produced the surrounding town, state, and nation. As a node of local industry throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it connected Chambersburg to the globalizing forces that emerged over the course of the period. In recognition of its significance to the town’s history, the borough of Chambersburg opened the area south of King Street closest to the confluence of Falling Spring and Conococheague Creek as Chambers Fort Park. In addition to hosting movies and concerts in the summer, the park houses a reconstructed log cabin and water wheel as well as several memorials. The first, the Founding Family statue, depicts Benjamin Chambers welcoming his son James and grandson Benjamin home from the American War for Independence, while the others honor veterans of World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam. These features, like the occupants of Benjamin Chambers’ original plot on Falling Spring over the years, connect the site to the history of Chambersburg from its inception to the present day.

Located at the confluence of Conococheague Creek and Falling Spring, Chambers Fort Park occupies the site once home to the stone house, mill, and wooden palisade that made up the fort of Chambersburg founder Colonel Benjamin Chambers. Chambers arrived to the area in 1730, and over the course of the next fifty years built his namesake town around the 25-foot waterfall at Falling Spring that powered the gristmill and sawmill that made his fortune. While the site may have been the center of town for much of its early history, it also stood at the epicenter of a struggle for control of the Pennsylvania borderlands during the Seven Years’ War that revolved around the fort’s very existence (in particular the presence there of two cannons). The area where the Falling Spring and Conococheague Creek attracted a number of entrepreneurs after Chambers’ death in the 1780s, who used the water to power a series of mills that drew Chambersburg into the industrial networks that emerged over the course of the nineteenth century. The borough of Chambersburg announced its intention to purchase a portion of the site in its master plan for the downtown area in 1995, a location it went on to open as Chambers Fort Park in 2008. The park hosts concerts and movies throughout the summer months, and features a replica water wheel, reconstructed log cabin, the Founding Family statue, and several veterans’ memorials that are open to the public year-round.

Chambers Fort Park

The
Presbyterian congregation of Falling Spring (the original name for Benjamin
Chambers’ settlement) formed shortly after the arrival of colonists to the area
after 1730. Many of these early colonists were, like Chambers himself,
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, so the town’s founder offered Fort Chambers, his
home and one of the few stone structures in the area at the time, as the
original meeting place for Presbyterian worship. After almost a decade,
however, church attendance had outgrown that building, and Chambers chose to
set aside land next to his own for the construction of a new one (built from
logs and completed in 1739). Within the next twenty years, the size of the
congregation would stretch that building’s capacity as well, so the
congregation made the decision to replace it with a larger structure in 1767.
The following year, Benjamin Chambers deeded the land for that building (in
exchange for a single rose paid to his family every year in perpetuity) and its
graveyard to the congregation, which remained in the second version of the
church for over three decades.&nbsp;

The
limestone edifice that they replaced the second church with has remained in
continuous use by the congregation since its completion in 1803, although
several changes have been made (most notably the addition of two towers during
renovations to the church in 1856). At various times over the course of that
period, the church has served a number of functions in addition to its
religious ones. Most notably, it operated a Sabbath school for much of the
nineteenth century, a school for formerly enslaved refugees living in the town
during the American Civil War. It also continues to operate a cemetery that
includes the burial sites for Benjamin Chambers himself, a number of prominent
political figures, and four Delaware Indians from the colonial era.

The
Presbyterian congregation at Falling Spring has on a number of occasions grown
to an extent that its size outpaced the capacity of its current house of
worship. The first such building completed after the congregation moved from
Fort Chambers to its current location quickly proved unable to meet the needs
of its occupants, who often resorted to holding services outside so that they
could accommodate the community’s growing Scotch-Irish population. This first
structure was of log with two narrow window slits running the length of the
church for lighting, a building that doubled as a schoolhouse outside of the
regular hours of worship. The wooden building that took its place in 1767 was
considerably larger and constructed of finer materials, but like its
predecessor soon began to reach its capacity. So, the congregation ordered the
construction of the current church (completed in 1803), built from local
limestone and with a prominent front porch. Renovations to the building a few
years prior to the American Civil War removed the porch and added two towers to
the front in its place.&nbsp;

When
the congregation received the deed for its land from Benjamin Chambers in 1768,
it became one of the town’s three “rose rent” churches (religious institutions
in the area who owe the Chambers family a single rose as annual payment for
their lease). The low cost of the lease to the church stemmed largely from
Chambers’ eagerness to encourage European settlement in the area, which he
believed would be more likely if religious services were more readily
available. The unique nature of the rent itself, however, may be a result of
Chambers’ own unique personality. In fact, according to Chambers family legend,
the “rose rent” contract was not the only unusual agreement their patriarch
made affecting the church. Oral tradition within the family maintains that the
graves of the four Delaware Indians in the church’s graveyard wound up there
because of an agreement Chambers made with the Delaware leader Shingas at some
point during the Seven Years’ War.&nbsp;

By
this agreement, the story goes, Shingas allowed Chambers use of the land as a
graveyard as long as he and his descendants were able to utilize it as a burial
place along with Chambers and his family. The result, presumably, was the
burial of four Delaware Indians alongside the early graves of the Chambers
family. Operating on the assumption of this account’s truth, members of the
Chambers family carefully preserved and protected the Delaware graves at least
into the mid-twentieth century. The records of the Kittochtinny Historical
Society in the late nineteenth century, on the other hand, assert that the
local Delawares had been using the land as a burial place for years prior to
Chambers’ arrival. According to these records, the members of an unnamed
indigenous group living on a reserve east of the Rocky Mountains visited the
site on an annual basis until 1834, when they discovered upon their arrival
that someone had disturbed the burial place in order to plant crops. They then,
the story goes, processed down Main Street weeping, left the town, and never
returned.

A
number of other prominent local figures also locate their final resting places
in the church’s cemetery, including Union General Joseph Fulton Boyd and five
of the area’s congressmen, an indication of the congregation’s centrality to
the surrounding community. Indeed, the church was particularly integral to
local education. In 1816 members of the congregation established an
desegregated, nondenominational Sabbath school, which served as the primary
educational institution for many of the area’s children. The church expanded
operations to include a school for formers slaves from the rebellious southern
states, who sought refuge in Chambersburg during the American Civil War and whose
interest in receiving educations outpaced the school’s capacity as a result. These
facets of the site’s past, in combination with its status as a “rose rent”
church, give it a unique place in local history. Over the course of the
congregation’s existence since the 1730s, it has stood witness to events both
large and small, from the endemic warfare of the colonial period, through the
refugee crisis of the Civil War, and into the present day. Visitors to the
congregation’s church can thus look forward to learning about a variety of past
events on both the local and national stages and even take part in local
traditions that unlike anything else found in the country.

Anyone
interested in being one of those visitors can do so during one of the church’s
regular worship hours or extracurricular events, as well as its annual “Rose
Rent” ceremony, which takes place every June. As one of Chambersburg’s “rose
rent” churches (and as its oldest church), The Presbyterian Church of Falling
Spring has had the opportunity to play a unique role in local history and has
stood at the epicenter of the area’s transformation from a colonial borderland
into its current form. As such, it represents a singular connection between
past and present for the town that connects its present inhabitants to the
Native and European communities that called it home over two-and-a-half
centuries ago.

As Chambersburg, Pennsylvania’s oldest church, The Presbyterian Church of Falling Spring represents a living conduit to the past stretching back to the town’s founding era. Named after the nearby Falling Spring (which at one time featured a nearly 25-foot waterfall), the congregation that built the church had been meeting in the area – known itself at the time as Falling Spring – since shortly after the settlement’s founder, Colonel Benjamin Chambers, arrived in 1730. Chambers, who was himself Presbyterian, hosted religious services at Fort Chambers (the site of his home and gristmill at the confluence of Falling Spring and Conococheague Creek) for several years before building a log schoolhouse on the plot adjacent to his own in 1739 for the use of his congregation. This building lasted until 1767, when the congregation replaced it with a considerably larger wooden structure. The following year, Chambers deed the land upon which the church stood to his congregation in exchange for the payment of a single rose to him, his wife, and their descendants every year in perpetuity (an agreement that is upheld to this day). Chambers also deeded land to the church for use as a graveyard, which over the course of the congregation’s history has come to serve as not only his final resting place, but the final resting place of a number of prominent politicians and four Delaware Indians from the colonial era. Over this same period, the congregation replaced their wooden church with one built from local limestone (completed in 1803), opened a Sabbath school in 1816, added two towers to the building in 1856, and established a school for refugee former slaves living in the town as a result of the American Civil War. The church is still in operation today and is open for regular religious services and extracurricular activities, and upon advanced request.

The Presbyterian Church of Falling Spring

The
building that now houses the Franklin County Historical Society – Kittochtinny served
as the Franklin County Jail from 1818 to 1971, during which time thousands of
prisoners passed through its doors. At various times throughout its history,
the jail served as the execution ground for three inmates, witnessed multiple
successful escape attempts, and played host to a variety of debtors, thieves,
abolitionists, and deserters. The county made alterations to the building twice
over the course of the period: once to upgrade the facilities to include modern
amenities during the American Civil War and again in the 1880s to add a new
cell block. After the county jail moved to its current location at Franklin
Farm Lane, the historical society assumed ownership of the old jail, converting
a portion of its space into a museum and genealogical library dedicated to the
study of Franklin County’s history.

Taking its name from&nbsp;the Lenape name for the Blue Mountain range&nbsp;that traverses the area (which means "endless hill,") the
Franklin County Historical Society – Kittochtinny organized in 1898 at the
suggestion of the Reverend Dr. S.A. Martin, then president of nearby Wilson
College. In the over one hundred years since, the historical society has
expanded to include the headquarters at the old Franklin County Jail (dedicated in 1976) and
several other historic sites in the area, at each of which the society offers
regular tours and outside of regular hours upon advanced request. The society
also hosts regular events at its headquarters in the old jail related to local
history and an annual haunted house in October at the same location.

The
1818 iteration of the Franklin County Jail was the third such building to serve
as the area’s prison. In Chambersburg’s early years, the community kept its
prisoners in a variety of locations depending on the severity of the crime:
criminals punished for minor offenses generally remained imprisoned at John
Jack’s Tavern across from the courthouse or in a log building on Main Street;
more serious offenders wound up at the more secure facilities available in nearby
Carlisle. In 1798, however, the county completed construction on a two-story
stone building at the corner of Second and Market Streets known locally as the
“old stone jail.” This structure quickly gained a reputation for overcrowded
conditions, disease, and poor construction, criticisms to which the county
responded with the construction of a second, more spacious, presumably more
secure prison facility only twenty years after the completion of the first. 

&nbsp;From
the year of its construction to its last in operation, the Old Franklin County
Jail confined thousands of prisoners. One such inmate, David “Robber” Lewis
(known in his lifetime as the “Robin Hood of Pennsylvania” for doling out a
portion of his ill-gotten gains to the less fortunate), spent a brief sojourn
there prior to his eventual death in 1820 at Bellafonte Jail at the age of
thirty. Another, Captain John Cook, was one of the men that took part in John
Brown’s 1859 raid on the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Cook served as
Brown’s spy in Harpers Ferry prior to the attack and was responsible for
capturing Lewis Washington (George Washington’s grand-nephew) for use as a
hostage the night before the raid was launched. Upon the raid’s failure, Cook
made his way towards Chambersburg to retrieve his wife and child, becoming
(behind Brown himself) one of the most wanted fugitives in the nation before
eventually falling into the hands of a hunting party outside the town. Ultimately,
Cook would be extradited to Virginia, where despite a last-ditch effort to
escape execution with a full confession he met his end. Other prisoners that
passed through the Franklin County Jail were more fortunate. A Union Army
deserter escaped in 1863 with the help of a horse thief, for example, by
breaking through an outer wall. Joseph Worthington, on the other hand, escaped
from the prison four years later by setting up a pair of stuffed pants in his
bed to fool the guards into believing he was still there. Most of the inmates,
however, served their full terms, three until their execution by hanging on
site.

The
old Franklin County Jail is central to the area’s historical community not only
as the historical society’s headquarters, but as a historic site offering a
unique window into the nation’s early criminal justice system as well. Visitors
to the site can learn about the history of the Franklin County area and
research local families in the historical society’s museum and genealogical
library. They can also take part in tours of the former prison facilities for
more information on the history of the site itself. The building further serves
as the venue for a variety of special events hosted by the Franklin County
Historical Society – Kittochtinny throughout the year, from presentations on
the history of the area to an annual haunted house. As both a historical site
and the historical society’s headquarters, the old Franklin County Jail is
therefore fundamental to historical interpretation in the area.

Franklin County Historical Society operates several historic properties throughout the county including this Georgian-style brick building that was once home to the Franklin County Jail. The historical society has been active since 1898, and the former jail which now serves as its headquarters has stood at this location since 1818. Notable attractions at the site include a poem scrawled by a prisoner on the wall of their cell, a reconstructed gallows, and an annual haunted house. The jail held a number of prominent prisoners throughout its history and also survived the burning of the town by Confederate raiders in 1864. At the time of the building’s nomination to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, it was one of the country’s oldest penal institutions still in operation. The building ceased operations as a prison when the new county jail on Franklin Farm Lane opened one year after its nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. At that time, the historical society assumed ownership of the property. The Franklin County Historical Society operates a museum and genealogical library at this site and also offers tours of the old jail and other properties around the county including the John Brown House which is less than a block away. The historical society also operates Brown’s Mill School, St. Thomas Toll House, and Carrick Furnace. 

Franklin County Historical Society-Kittochtinny and Old Franklin County Jail

Born on May 9, 1800, in Torrington, Connecticut, John Brown was a passionate and ardent civil rights activist and abolitionist.&nbsp; He worked with the Underground Railroad and the League of Gileadites.&nbsp; He believed in using&nbsp;any means necessary, including violence, to end slavery.&nbsp; He led a raid on the federal armory at Harper's Ferry, VA (now WV) hoping that his actions would incite slaves to rebellion and action.&nbsp; His endeavor was unsuccessful, he went to trial, and was executed on December 2, 1859.Brown was heavily influenced by his father, a Calvinist who believed abhorred the concept of slavery.&nbsp; When Brown was a young boy, he witnessed a slave boy being beaten, and the experience shaped him into the abolitionist he became.He was twice married and had many children from both relationships.&nbsp; The families experienced financial difficulties and moved from place to place often.&nbsp; Brown was instrumental in his assistance with the Underground Railroad and gave land to free African-Americans.&nbsp; This led Brown to establish the League of Gileadites, whose goal was to protect Black citizens.Brown eventually met and befriended Frederick Douglass in 1847, and in 1849 moved to North Elba, New York which was a Black community.&nbsp; In 1855, Brown and five of his sons had moved to Kansas.&nbsp; Because of his belief in using violence as a means to end slavery, he and several of his men killed five pro-slavery settlers.Brown and his sons fled back east where the family patriarch&nbsp;devised a new plan- form a free and well-armed Black community in the mountains of Maryland and Virginia. &nbsp;In support of this vision, Brown began planning the attack on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry to secure the quantity of weapons that would be required to put his plan in motion.&nbsp; During the summer of 1859, Brown (under the alias of Isaac Smith) stayed at the Mary Ritner Boarding House in Chambersburg, PA.During that summer, Brown was in and out of the house.&nbsp; His supporters stayed to receive shipments of arms labeled as mining tools delivered by the railroad.&nbsp; These weapons were stored in the Oaks and Cauffman Warehouse on nearby North Main Street until they could be transported to the Kennedy Farm near Harper's Ferry.On August 16, Brown met with Frederick Douglass in Chambersburg.&nbsp; Douglass was there under the guise of delivering a speech, and Brown was dressed as a fisherman to disguise his identity.&nbsp; Once Brown relayed his planned attack on Harper's Ferry to Douglass and attempted to persuade him to join the fray, Douglass refused.Brown left the Ritner Boarding House on October 9, 1859&nbsp;and moved on to Harper's Ferry, from whence he would never return.&nbsp;This building was miraculously&nbsp;spared&nbsp;in the Burning Of Chambersburg and served a variety of purposes over the years.&nbsp;In 1971, Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission acquired the property and opened this museum.&nbsp;

Mary Ritner's Boarding House is best known for its role as the temporary headquarters of John Brown, the radical abolitionist who launched a raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry as part of a plan to arm and free the slaves of Virginia. Brown's intention was to create a well-armed community and force in the mountains that could defend itself and launch raids on slave plantations throughout the region. If successful, Brown hoped that slaves would rise up and join his community in ways that would lead to the end of slavery in America. 

Brown stayed at the Ritner Boarding House from June to October in 1859. From this location, Brown and his supporters planned the raid, received supplies, and prepared for their ill-fated mission. The historic boarding house is now a small museum operated by the Franklin County Historical Society.

Ritner Boarding House-John Brown

Built in 1895 as part of the residential and recreational complex Chambersburg manufacturer Augustus Wolf constructed for his employees on land adjacent to his factory on the Conococheague Creek, Henninger Field is central to the town’s economic and athletic history. This complex, named Wolf Lake Park after the half-mile-long artificial lake Wolf created by damming the upper Conococheague, featured a bathhouse, bowling alley, dancing pavilion, carousel, and boat tower and originally lay outside the town’s boundaries and jurisdiction. Two years after the park became fully operational in 1901, however, the borough made the decision to annex it, choosing to gradually demolish all but Henninger Field over the course of the twentieth century as attendance declined. Although the most notable occurrence at the site by far is the exhibition game between the World Series-champion New York Yankees and the Chambersburg Young Yanks on May 31, 1929, the field has hosted a wide array of events over the years. Not only did it serve for over a century as the home of the town’s local baseball team (known at various times as either the Maroons or Young Yanks), it also did likewise for local high school football, baseball, and soccer teams and the occasional traveling circus. After the disbandment of the Chambersburg Maroons in 2010, the field lay unused for several years before resuming operation under the joint control of the borough of Chambersburg and Wilson College. As part of an agreement by which they committed to sharing the costs renovating the field’s facilities, Henninger opened as the home of Wilson’s new baseball team in spring 2019 as part of the college’s sesquicentennial celebrations. As per Wilson’s agreement with the borough, the field is open for public use over the summer and reserved for college activities in the spring and fall. Augustus Wolf came to Chambersburg in 1884 in the hopes of powering a factory using the current of the nearby Conococheague Creek, a lure that brought many such entrepreneurs to the area over the course of its history (including the town’s founder, Colonel Benjamin Chambers). Wolf ordered the construction of a 10-acre complex, which included a 250,000 square foot factory for the manufacture of milling equipment and a model mill where he displayed that equipment in operation. Several years later he arranged for the creek to be dammed to create Wolf Lake, which eventually became the crown jewel of the recreational and residential facilities he built at the site for the use of his employees. Those facilities included employee housing, a 100-foot tall boat tower, a bowling alley, a carousel, a dance hall, and dining room, all of which quickly became the hub of employee and community recreation in the early twentieth century. The baseball field (originally named Wolf Ball Park) was one of the first facilities Wolf built at the location and is the only one still standing today, in part as a result of its continuous use by Chambersburg’s local baseball team from 1895 to 2010. In 1920 a vote conducted by the town’s newspapers resulted in the field’s renaming in honor of Clay Henninger (the team’s first coach), a Chambersburg native known in his early years as “Scoop” for his abilities at second base and as “Pop” later on during his multi-decade career as a coach. Originally playing as part of the amateur Cumberland Valley League, the Chambersburg Maroons joined the professional Blue Ridge League in 1914. This move gave the team the opportunity to establish a relationship with major league baseball, which relied on regional leagues like Blue Ridge to train and supply new talent. The Maroons’ efforts finally bore fruit after their 1927 championship season; the following year the New York Yankees chose to purchase the team, renaming it the Young Yanks prior to the start of the 1929 season. It was that team that faced the World Series-champion Yankees in an exhibition game on May 31st of that year, ultimately losing the game 8 to 1 and surrendering a three-run home run to Babe Ruth over center field in the fifth inning. It was the largest crowd the field had ever hosted, so large in fact that a set of bleachers collapsed under the weight of its occupants during the second inning, momentarily halting play. According to local newspaper accounts Ruth was particularly well-received by the town’s children, with whom he evidently exchanged a number of jokes and spare balls over the course of the game. Afterwards Ruth and teammate Lou Gehrig remained at the field to sign autographs, staying until every request for their signatures had been satisfied. The Yankees sold the Young Yanks the following year and withdrew from the Blue Ridge League, which ceased operations shortly thereafter. Chambersburg’s baseball team soon reverted to its former identity as the Maroons, playing under that moniker at Henninger Field in a series of semiprofessional leagues until its disbandment in 2010. The facility reopened in spring 2019 as the home of Wilson College’s new baseball team. Henninger Field’s use by the athletic organizations of Chambersburg over the past century has ensured its centrality to the community both past and present. While its history as the home of Chambersburg’s sports teams might bring it more attention, however, Henninger Field’s origins as the brainchild of Augustus Wolf connect it to events on a much larger scale. Henninger and the other structures that once surrounded it at Wolf Lake Park are the products of an employment philosophy that emerged among manufacturing executives in the early twentieth century. This philosophy, known by historians as industrial paternalism, aimed to combat the conditions that encouraged labor unions and increase workers’ dependence upon employers by obviating their need for other forms of support like state welfare. The facilities automaker Henry Ford constructed for his employees in Dearborn, Michigan are perhaps the most famous expression of industrial paternalism, but the philosophy’s reach extended across the early twentieth century United States. Residential and recreational complexes sprung up next to factories in small towns across the nation, rising and falling in popularity just as Wolf Lake Park did. The structures that remain from these complexes, like Henninger Field, are a testament to the lasting legacies of US industrialization and its impact on the daily lives of the American citizens that drove it forward. While the rest of Wolf Lake Park has disappeared over the years (most recently Wolf Lake itself, which a local contractor drained in 2006), Henninger Field has served in its original capacity as an athletic facility almost continuously since its construction in 1895. The only gap, between 2010 and 2019, occurred after the disbandment of the Chambersburg Maroons and continued until the field’s joint purchase under an agreement between the borough and Wilson College. Its longevity and survival are indicative not only of the site’s importance to local sports history, but of the centrality of sports to the community more generally as well. Anyone interested in experiencing a taste of that history for themselves can visit Henninger Field during community events in the summer or collegiate ones in the spring and fall.

Situated at the corner of Vine Street and Riddle Alley on the eastern side of Conococheague Creek, Henninger Field was home to Chambersburg’s local baseball team from the field’s construction in 1895 to the team’s disbandment in 2010. The field is all that remains of a much larger complex known as Wolf Lake Park, an amusement park, manmade lake, and residential neighborhood built by local businessman Augustus Wolf for his employees at the turn of the twentieth century. Renamed in honor of longtime local baseball coach Clay Henninger in 1920, the field is notable as the site of an exhibition game between the New York Yankees and their Chambersburg feeder team in 1929 (during which Babe Ruth hit a home run over center field). As the only surviving remnant of August Wolf’s vision, Henninger Field stands as a testament to the lasting legacies of industrial paternalism’s rise and fall over the course of the early twentieth-century. As an athletic venue, it is a window into the ebb and flow of community pride and competitive recreation in the same period. Since spring 2019, the borough of Chambersburg and Wilson College have operated the field jointly as part of a contract in which they shared the renovation costs and agreed to use the facilities on a seasonal basis (Wilson in the spring and fall and the borough over the summer).

Henninger Field

The Totem Pole Playhouse is a summer theater located in Fayetteville, Pennsylvania. Locals affectionately call it the “playhouse in the woods” due to its location on the edge of the Caledonia State Park. Summer theatres run by bringing in actors for the season. &nbsp;They tend to take on multiple roles through each of the four to six musical productions. Each show runs from two to three weeks.[1]The Playhouse was founded in 1951 by Karl Genus and Muriel Benson. They converted a small auto shop into their Totem Pole Playhouse. They thrived using their previous exploration in early live television.[5]&nbsp;William H. Putch took over the artistic direction of the Totem Pole Playhouse in 1953. After failing to be hired as the theater director for the Playhouse at its founding, he founded his own theater so as to gain more experience in the field. It wasn’t until two years later that he applied again and was hired. Due to his ambition and his wife, Jean Stapleton’s, acting talent, the Playhouse was able to gain national prominence under his direction. He worked with the playhouse until his sudden death 30 years later. Jean Stapleton continued to appear in over 80 Playhouse productions until her passing.[6]&nbsp;The most seats purchased for one production is still an honor of Jean Stapleton’s “Hello Dolly!” in 1971.[2]A fire broke out in the original theater in 1969, burning down all of the building save for a concrete wall. On this wall, &nbsp;Bill Putch painted: “Totem Pole Will Rise Again” And that it did! The playhouse had an awe-inspiring amount of support from the community that brought the theater back to life in a new location down the road. They volunteered many services in order to restore the Playhouse.[3]The season following the passing of Bill Putch, was directed first by his daughter Pamela, and then by resident actors Carl Schurr and Wil Love.[5] Under the direction of Schurr and Love, the Totem Pole had a series of rewarding events. They released productions that were later moved to the historic Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. There were a number of famous faces visiting the stage, such as Jane Howdyshell and Julie White. The Playhouse began to be supported by the Caledonia Theatre Company (CTC), a non-profit organization that preserves professional theatre through fundraising.[4]The Playhouse prepared for its last season to be the summer of 2012 as they neared bankruptcy. It had relied heavily on its endowments and was running on the last of the funding. They promoted and reached out to produce full house performances in an attempt to gain the resources to keep running. The community responded with fundraising and donations as the Playhouse is a treasure to the Fayetteville area. The community donated rooms to be rented out to actors and cars to be driven to the theater.In 2013, Rowan Joseph, the current artistic director was hired. Since taking over, the playhouse has not taken from its endowments. As a banker from New York, he used his skills to put new, effective money saving methods into practice. The Playhouse has since thrived and attendance has increased by the thousands.Ever since 1953, the Totem Pole Playhouse has been giving back to the community by accepting students and everyday people interested in apprenticeships.[7] They offer professional experience and training as there is no better way to learn than from those that already hold prestige within the field. They also hold theater camps which give students the priceless opportunity to network while playing a key role within the Totem Pole Playhouse.[4]The Totem Pole has had a number of well-known actors and actresses on their stage. In addition to the well-known Jean Stapleton, John Ritter, Sandy Dennis, Curtis Armstrong, Eric Szmanda, Granville Van Dusen, Betsy Randle, Michael Learned, Meredith Baxter, and Michael Gross, have also appeared on the stage. [8]

The Totem Pole Playhouse has been bringing entertainment to Franklin County summers since 1950. After converting a decommissioned auto shop into their theater, Karl Genus and wife Muriel Benson practiced a perseverance that would set the culture of the playhouse. With big names such as Jean Stapleton and Bill Putch, the Totem Pole Playhouse has gained national prestige through unshakable determination.

Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor Driving - Franklin County

Tooke Farmhouse and Owen Barns

Introduction

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Backstory and Context