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OLD AND NEW
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CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
BY THE CIVIC CLUB OF CARLISLE, PENNSYLVANIA
FIAT JUSTITIA
PRINTED BY J. HORACE MCFARLAND COMPANY HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 1907
THE NEW YORK PUBLI .. ... JARY 354306B ASTOR, LENOX UND TILDEN FOR MIONS B
1.416 L
COPYRIGHT, 1907
BY THE CIVIC CLUB OF CARLISLE, PENNSYLVANIA
The Civic Club is indebted to Mr. A. Allen Line, of Carlisle. for the use of his valuable negatives of buildings and scenes no longer in existence, and which would neither have been made nor preserved except for his spirit of loyalty to the town. All pictures in this book are copyrighted with the volume.
CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Foreword, 1 ; Old Fireplace in the Home of Mr. Joseph Bosler, I ; Old Street Pump, 3; Present Court House Built in 1845-46, 4.
I
Kline's Carlisle Weekly Gazette, 5 ; Mother Cumberland's Family, 6 ; Believed to be the Oldest Home in Carlisle, 7; General William Irvine, 14; James Wilson, 15; Where Molly Pitcher Lived, 16; Grave of Molly Pitcher, 17; Dr. Nisbet, Dickinson's First President, 18; Elm Tree on Waggoner's Gap Road, 22; Public Square in 1843, 24.
II
Cumberland Valley Railroad Station, 25; Horse-chestnut on the Lawn of Dr. George L. Shearer, 26; Hanover Street, Looking Southward, 27; The Old Graveyard, 29; Sesqui- Centennial Arch, 1901, 30; Old Corner of High and Pitt Streets, 31 ; Waiting for Passengers, 32; Before the Days of Rapid Transit, 32 ; Old Tavern on East Lowther Street, 33 ; Public Square and Corner of First Presbyterian Church, 35: Interior of First Presbyterian Church (From 1827 to 1876), 36 ; St. John's Episcopal Church and Parish House,
CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
38 ; Geo. Ross, 39; Cumberland County Jail, 41 ; Soldiers' Monument, 42 ; "Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son," 45; Public Square, 1860, 48; Requisition received by Joseph W. Ogilby, then Secretary of Town Council, 55 ; Old Second Presbyterian Church, torn down in 1870, 58; The Shelling of Carlisle, 62 ; Bearing the mark of the con- flict, 65 ; General Lee's " visiting card," 66.
III
Winter on the Campus (South Gate), 67; Old West, 68; "Lovers' Lane," Dickinson Campus, 71 ; The Old Denny Home, 73 ; The First Denny Hall, 74; Denny Hall, March 4, 1904, 74 ; Laying Corner-stone of New Denny, 1905, 75 ; New Denny Hall, 76; The William Clare Allison Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church and the Warehouse of R. C. Woodward, Which Formerly Occupied the Corner, 77; St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 79; The J. Herman Bosler Memorial Library, So; School of Miss Becky Weightman, 82 ; Metzger College and Quaint Old Home of Its Founder, 83 ; Drawing Room at Metzger College, 84; Indian School Campus, 85 ; Hessian Guard House, 87; St. Patrick's Rectory and Church, and St. Katherine's Hall. Old Brick Church of 1806 in Oval, 89; First Evangelical Lutheran Church, Old Foundry Formerly on Same Site, in Oval, 91 ; Gen. John Armstrong, 92; Grave of General Armstrong, 93 ; Park of the Manufacturing Company, 94; Lindner Shoe Factory, 95; Boiling Springs, 96; Scene at Mount Holly Springs, 97; Old Forge at Boiling Springs (Built in 1762), 97 ; Old Elm on the York Road, 98.
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CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
IV
Ancestral Sofa in the Home of Mr. J. W. Henderson, 101 ; A James Wilson Chair, 102; General Henry Miller China, 103 ; "Oakland," Homestead of the Late Colonel William M. Henderson, 104; Lamps in the Home of A. D. B. Smead, Esq., 105 ; Doorway of Mr. David Watts' Home, 106; Colonial Mantel in Judge Henderson's Back Office, 107; Mrs. David Watts, 108; A Bridal Gift to Miss Juliana Watts, who Married General Edward M. Biddle in 1836, 109 ; A Blaine Chair, 110; Residence of the Hon. F. E. Beltzhoover, 112; Hallway in Residence of Hon. F. E. Beltzhoover, 113; John Bannister Gibson, LL.D., 114; Old Piano in the Home of A. D. B. Smead, Esq., 117; Sideboard in the Home of Mrs. Parker J. Moore, 118; Mantel in the Home of Mrs. William M. Penrose, 120; Doorway of Judge Hepburn's Home, 121 ; Entrance Hall of Judge Hepburn's Home, 122; Residence of Mr. John W. Plank, 123 ; Residence of the Late John Brown Parker, Esq., 124; The Hamilton Clock, 125; The Reed Home, Later the Residence of R. C. Woodward, 128; Colonial Bedroom in the Home of Hon. Edward W. Biddle, 130; Professor Spencer Fullerton Baird, 131 ; Major John Mc- Ginnis, 134; An Invitation from President Washington, 136 ; A Spinning Outfit, 137; Through High Street, 137; General and Mrs. Henry Miller, and Invitations from Pres- ident Washington, 139; The William Penn Chair, 140; Toledo Blade-in the Home of Commander Colwell, 141 ; Pompey Jim, 142; Yard at the Residence of A. D. B. Smead, Esq., 143; Residence of Dr. John C. Long, 144; Yard at the Residence of Dr. W. Z. Bentz, 145 ; South College Street, Home of Dr. Morris W. Prince on the
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CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
Corner, 146 ; Old Corner of North and West Streets, For- merly the Shapley Home, 147; " Pa-ha-ta," Home of John W. Wetzel, Esq., 148; Oil Street Lamp, 148; Residence of Mr. A. F. Bedford, 149; Gas Street Lamp, 149; South Hanover Street-a Nasturtium-draped Wall, 150; "Cottage Hill" and Vine-clad Office of F. C. Bosler, Esq., 151 ; "Mooreland," the Johnston Moore Homestead, 152 ; Resi- dence of Mr. John Lindner, 153 ; Residences of the Hon. Edward W. Biddle and J. Kirk Bosler, Esq., 154; Beetem Warehouse, which Preceded above Homes, 154; Reception Hall, in Residence of J. Kirk Bosler, Esq., 155 ; Franklin Public School Building and a First-prize Vacant Lot, 158.
V
Civic Club Rooms, 159; High School Assembly Room, Franklin Building, 161 ; A Vacation Garden, 162; The Annual Flower Show of the Civic Club, 163 ; Carlisle Kindergarten 1906-07, 165; "Sent to calm our feverish brows with cooling palm," 167; Home of Mrs. Walter Stuart, 169 ; Humble yet Beautiful - a Small Boy's Civic Effort, 170; Young Carlisle, 171 ; afterward, 173.
CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
Old Fireplace in the Home of Mr. Joseph Bosler
FOREWORD
A S a venerable dame in reminiscent mood, sitting some firelit evening in a circle of her friends, might gather in her hands a few pictures of some one whom they greatly love, and showing first those made in earliest days, should add to them a little tale, proceeding thus with word and picture lightly through the entire life,-so it has been essayed by the Civic Club of Carlisle to tell with much simplicity, in this little volume, the life-story of their town.
This idea was the outcome of a desire to pre-
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CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
serve in permanent form one of the lectures of their entertainment course. For not content with working solely for the town's material good, they have for several years brought some of the cele- brated entertainers of the day to brighten and enliven the long winter evenings.
Always included in the number was one of her own citizens, for loyalty to Carlisle has ever been a conspicuous trait of those who dwell there.
Then, to show still further this loyalty and devo- tion, one evening was given entirely to an address upon the town herself. On a great screen, one of her most distinguished sons flashed pictures of the old and new Carlisle, the while he told the story of her life.
This pictured story the Club wished to pre- serve; but learning that only the introduction to the lecture had been committed to writing, and that the remarks about the pictures had been drawn on the instant by the speaker from his richly stored memory of the town's life, the Club decided to put first within their book his introduction, and then to write the story for themselves.
In no sense was it intended to write a history.
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CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
but rather to follow the example of the fireside dame in giving a simple pictured outline of Car- lisle's long life. And so the story is offered, with the pictures and the lecture's introduction, to all who know her, in loving memory of old Carlisle.
Old Street Pump
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Present Court House Built in 1845-46
Old Court House Built in 1765-66, with Office Annex Added in 1801-02. Old Town Hall on the Right All Destroyed by Fire, March 24, 1845
Kline's Carlifle Weekly Gazette ...
Wednefday, December 1, 1802.
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ADDRESS BY THE HON. EDWARD W. BIDDLE
B EFORE speaking of Carlisle Old and New, it is desirable that I should briefly narrate how Carlisle happened to be called into existence in its present location. By virtue of an act of assembly passed on January 27, 1750, the western portion of Lancaster county was erected into a new county called Cumberland, whose broad limits embraced all the land within the province of Pennsylvania lying west of the Susque- hanna River, except that which was in the county of York, out of which the county of Adams has since been formed. In connection with the sesqui- centennial exercises which were held in Carlisle in the fall of 1901, the late Captain John B. Landis
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CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
prepared an instructive diagram showing that, of the sixty-seven counties in this commonwealth, forty-eight have been carved out of the territory which once belonged to Old Mother Cumberland.
NC MOTHER
SNYDER 7855
CUMBERLAND'S
CLEARFIELD 1804
UNION 1413
MONTOUR 1850
POĞA 1604
MIFFLIN
ARMSTRONG
POTTER
804
7843
CENTRE
FERSON
JUNIATA 1831
CUMBERL 1061
17/12
BEDFORD
4171
SINELLI
BUTLER
1800
VIGOON
CRAWFORD
USQUEHANNA
1210
COME TO THE
FAMILY REUNION.
MERCIO
CLARION 1939
LACKA WAYMA 1995
OCT 23-24,
HAI. GO
1901.
1800
OLEN
1825
INDIANA
5
CHILDREN.
GRAND &C
21
GREAT CC <<
GREAT &C << <<
LOREATES , 66 66 CHILD
ALL ALIVE and. PROSPERING
1846
JEvenais
Five men were named in the act as trustees, with authority to purchase a piece of land in some convenient part of the county, to be approved of by the Governor, and to build thereon a court-house and a prison. One of the trustees lived near the Susquehanna River, one near Shippensburg, two in the present Franklin County, and the fifth at a point now unknown.
Prior to 1750, the inhabitants of the new
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CONUNDA 1:15
CAMLAM
FAMILY
1789
HURTHUNGERLAND
PINOY
1750
CLINTON 1839
BRADFORD
SULLIVAN 1847
CAMBRIAK 1800
6ªny
OWRENC 1849
NYUMINC 1842
PERRY 1820
FULTON 1550
CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
district had been compelled to travel to far-away Lancaster to transact their legal business, occa- sioning them much inconvenience and expense. Therefore, as soon as Cumberland County was created, the first and most important matter to be disposed of was the locating of the county seat, where a court-house and prison would be built. And here came the rub! Five different places were mentioned as desirable sites, each having its adherents, these being as follows in their order from east to west: Ist, on or near the west bank of the Susquehanna River; 2d, at Le Tort's Spring, where we are now assembled ; 3d, at Big Spring, where Newville has since been developed ; 4th, at Shippensburg; 5th, at Conococheague Creek, on the great road to Virginia, about eighteen miles west of Shippens-
burg.
The £
location on or near the river was never seriously consid- ered, because of its distance from the main body of
Believed to be the Oldest Home in Carlisle (Church Alley)
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CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
the county. We have no evidence that there was any special pressure brought to bear upon the trustees in behalf of either that point or Le Tort's Spring or Big Spring; but there was a vigorous effort made by the citizens living in and beyond Shippensburg to have said town or the Conoco- cheague Creek selected. As a majority of the trustees lived in that neighborhood, the Conoco- cheague location was finally decided upon as the most advantageous, with Shippensburg as second choice, the other three places being deemed to lie too far east. If this decision had been accepted, any town established here would to-day be of insignificant size and small importance; it would be destitute of the glorious history and traditions which are our inalienable heritage; and it would not be called Carlisle, because that name was reserved for the county seat.
But Governor James Hamilton, whose approval was necessary, assumed arbitrarily and firmly the right to ignore the opinion of the trustees and to select the site himself, and awarded the coveted prize to Le Tort's Spring. In a letter to Nicholas Scull, surveyor-general, dated April 1, 1751, he gave the reasons for this selection, and directed
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CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
him to proceed to the spring, which is about four miles in length, and in conjunction with Thomas Cookson, his deputy, to find out "the properest place for the site of the town." He also directed the surveyor-general not to fix absolutely or pub- lish any particular place, but to make a draft of the site chosen and adjacent country and submit it to him for the exercise of his own judgment. Messrs. Scull and Cookson performed the duty imposed on them with such good judgment that the gov- ernor ratified their choice of a place, and we are here to-night in that town of which they made the original draft in the spring of 1751. Ten descend- ants of Nicholas Scull are residents of Carlisle at the present time.
The contention concerning the fixing of the county seat did not end with the ratification of the work of the two surveyors. Later in the year 1751, a petition from the commissioners and assessors of the county, who claimed to represent "the far greater part of the inhabitants," was presented to the general assembly, asking relief from the gov- ernor's ill-advised course in removing the courts of justice to LeTort's Spring, "a place almost at one end of the county." No action was taken on
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CARLISLE OLD AND NEW'
the petition, and the controversy appears to have then terminated.
Shippensburg at this time was quite a flourish- ing village, whilst the land selected for the county town was mere vacant plantation land, somewhat covered by timber, with a dilapidated stockade on it and perhaps one or two log cabins. For several years after its birth it grew very slowly. The only information we have as to its condition during that period is gleaned from a letter written from Car- lisle on May 27, 1753, by John O'Neal to Governor Hamilton, the former having been sent to Carlisle on public business. The letter states : "The garri- son here consists only of twelve men. The stock- ade originally occupied two acres of ground square, with a block-house in each corner : these buildings are now in ruins. As Carlisle has been recently laid out, and is the established seat of justice, it is the general opinion that a number of log buildings will be erected during the ensuing summer on speculation, in which some accommodation can be had for the new levies. The number of dwelling- houses is five. The court is at present held in a temporary log building on the northeast corner of the centre square. If the lots were clear of
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CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
brushwood, it would give a different aspect to the town. The situation, however, is handsome, in the center of a valley with a mountain bounding it on the north and south, at a distance of seven miles. The wood consists principally of oak and hickory. The limestone will be of great advantage to the future settlers, being in abundance. A lime-kiln stands on the centre square, near what is called the deep quarry, from which is obtained good building stone.
" A large stream of water (Conodoguinet Creek) runs about two miles from the village, which may at a future period be rendered navigable. A fine spring flows to the east, called LeTort, after the Indian interpreter who settled on its head about the year 1720. The Indian wigwams in the vicinity of the great Beaver pond (Bonny Brook) are to me an object of particular curiosity. A large num- ber of the Delawares, Shawanese and Tuscaroras continue in this vicinity ; the greater number have gone to the west." When O'Neal wrote this let- ter, little did he think that it would have a per- . manent place in the historical literature of the town.
Early in October of the same year, a four
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CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
days' conference with the Indians was held here,- Richard Peters, Isaac Norris and Benjamin Frank- lin representing the Province. Franklin thus speaks of it in his autobiography :
"Being commissioned, we went to Carlisle and met the Indians accordingly. As those people are extremely apt to get drunk, and when so are very quarrelsome and disorderly, we strictly forbade the selling any liquor to them; and when they com- plained of this restriction, we told them, if they would continue sober during the treaty, we would give them plenty of rum when the business was over. They promised this, and they kept their promise, because they could get no rum; and the treaty was conducted very orderly and concluded to mutual satisfaction. They then claimed and received the rum; this was in the afternoon. They were near one hundred men, women and children, and were lodged in temporary cabins, built in the form of a square, just without the town. In the evening, hearing a great noise among them, the commissioners walked out to see what was the mat- ter. We found they, had made a great bonfire in the middle of the square; they were all drunk, men and women quarrelling and fighting. Their
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CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
dark -colored bodies, seen only by the gloomy light of the bonfire, running after and beating one another with firebrands, accompanied by their horrid yellings, formed a scene the most resem- bling our ideas of an inferno that could well be imagined." He concludes that "if it be the design of Providence to extirpate these savages in order to make room for the cultivators of the earth, it seems not impossible that rum may be the appointed means. It has already annihilated all the tribes who formerly inhabited the sea- coast."
There is not time this evening to go into detail concerning Carlisle in the first century of its life, or to refer specifically to its most prominent citi- zens or principal events. One general fact is patent, namely, that the town owes not only its existence, but its subsequent growth and prosperity, to the circumstance that it was constituted the county seat. By reason thereof it was made at the outstart a military base, as well as the place at which the courts must sit, and jurymen, parties litigant, law- yers and witnesses periodically assemble; and naturally the United States barracks was established here later, the initial labor on which (according to
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CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
tradition) was done by Hessian prisoners, who were captured at Trenton on the morning of December 26, 1776. It by degrees became so prominent that the public-spirited men who de- cided in 1783 to found a college west of the Sus- quehanna River had no difficulty in select- ing Carlisle as the most suitable location for it.
It is a remarkable coincidence that at practically the same time, about the begin- ning of 1769, two per- sons should have taken up their residence in Carlisle who were des- General William Irvine tined to become the most famous citizens we have ever had. They were absolutely unlike in every respect. One was James Wilson, a brilliant and highly educated Scotch- man, who came in to practice law at the age of twenty-six ; the other was Mary Ludwig, afterward renowned as "Molly Pitcher," who arrived from
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James Wilson
CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
New Jersey as a domestic servant at the age of four- teen. The former, forceful, learned and ambitious, became distin- guished because of his great ability and the import- ant services he rendered to his adopted country ; the latter, because of a mere incident -- which would have passed without notice if the actor Where Molly Pitcher Lived had been a man.
In 1776, at the age of thirty-three, Wilson was one of the Immortals who signed the Declaration of Independence ; two years later Mary Ludwig, twenty-three years of age, gained undying fame at the battle of Monmouth (New Jersey) by car- rying water to the thirsty soldiers in a pitcher, whence her sobriquet of " Molly Pitcher," and also by acting as gunner in a battery. She is represented in bronze, on the base of the battlefield monument at Monmouth, in the act of charging a cannon.
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CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
To-day the remains of Wilson lie in the grave- yard of Christ Church, Philadelphia, in which they were reinterred by the side of his wife on Novem- ber 22, 1906, with great ceremonial, having been brought from North Carolina for that purpose by a grateful people. The remains of humble Molly Pitcher rest in the old graveyard in Carlisle, where they were originally buried, the spot being marked by a gravestone which was erected by the citizens of this county on July 4, 1876, and by a Cannon and flag- staff which were placed there with imposing exer- cises on June 28, 1905, by the Patri- Grave of Molly Pitcher otic Order of Sons of. America. Peace to the ashes of both !
The Rev. Charles Nisbet, D.D., the first pres-
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CARLISLE OLD AND NEW'
ident of Dickinson College, gave a very doleful account, in his letters to Scotland, of the character of the people here. Writing from Carlisle in 1790, he said :
"We have no men of learning nor taste, & of religious people the fewest of all. Every thing here is on a dead level, & there is no distinc- tion except wealth, which few people possess here, tho' many live in luxury. Dr. Nisbet, Dickinson's First President I cannot hear of a man who is rich enough to pay his debts or to keep his engagements. All characters are equal : No degree of vice can make a man infamous, nor could the highest degree of virtue & piety procure any respect to its owner. . As to doctrine,
every one preaches what he pleases; & if he speaks loud enough & does not meddle with morality, his hearers will bear with him,-at least till they have got three or four years' salary in his debt, and then
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CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
they will use him like a dog till he is obliged to seek another congregation."
This is but a sample of the general tenor of the correspondence of the good doctor, who was unable to discover much that was admir- able in the habits or modes of life of those around him.
In 1786 an act of assembly was adopted, reduc- ing the extreme severity of the system of punish- ments which had prevailed since the foundation of the Province. Until that year there stood in Car- lisle,-probably in the centre square near the court- house,-a whipping-post, a pillory and a stocks, similar to those used in England. One of the most frequently perpetrated crimes is larceny, and prior to 1786 part of the penalty therefor was public whipping. The law provided that for the first offence of that kind the culprit should be publicly whipped on his bare back, with stripes well laid on, not exceeding twenty-one ; for the second offence the number of stripes should be not less than twenty- one nor more than forty, and for the third offence not less than thirty-nine nor more than fifty. The most serious transgressions, such as murder, rob- bery, burglary and arson, and what some people
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CARLISLE OLD AND NEW
regarded as the especially grave one of witchcraft, were punishable by death.
The county records disclose that, down to the year 1785 inclusive, at which time the public whip- pings ceased, one hundred and fifty-three convicts were sent to the whipping-post in Carlisle and received lashes varying in number from five to thirty-nine, the average being twenty. Of these criminals, seventeen were further sentenced to stand in the pillory for one hour, and six of them had to pay the additional penalty of having both ears cut off and nailed to the pillory. The latter punishment could not be inflicted for simple larceny, but was imposed on those convicted of horse-stealing or passing counterfeit money, the counterfeiter himself being subject to the death penalty. The frequent commission of these two crimes at that period, often involving much loss to innocent persons, made it incumbent on the assembly to adopt drastic measures for their sup- pression. The following sentence, pronounced October 18, 1785, on a man who was convicted of stealing a horse, will serve as an illustration of the way in which offenders were compelled to do penance:
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