Penn Township was erected 23 October 1860 when the western half of Dickinson Township was made into a separate political and territorial body. Its creation was the result of a continuing effort lasting for at least twenty years. This subdivision was but one in a series of similar moves begun at the settlement of the Province and continued in Cumberland County until 1929.
In 1750 Cumberland County was separated from Lancaster with four townships in place. From one of these, West Pennsborough, in 1785 Dickinson Township was separated. By 1860 it was the largest township in the County and had been so for many years. Administering the schools, roads, and other public businesses became a problem. As early as 23 January 1840 arguments were heard and the County Court ruled for a division, but for reasons not now apparent on 13 August 1840 the ruling was set aside. Efforts were renewed two decades later and the binding decision made to create Penn Township.
Penn kept its original size for only twelve years. On 18 June 1872 the southern portion was formed into Cooke Township, presumably because the mountain ridge separating the valley from Pine Grove made for unresponsive government. Pine Grove was essentially an industrial community and the valley agricultural.
Scots-Irish immigrants were the first settlers, but it would appear that the Penn Township area attracted a greater proportion of German settlers than other townships. The usual reason given is that Germans sought dark, heavy soil which is prevalent in Penn Township.
MILLS
John Moore was the first of the millers in the Township, choosing as the site for his place of business Three Springs, source of the Yellow Breeches Creek near the Newton Township line. It later became the property of Matthew Kyle and in 1857 of Elias B. Eyster [former manager of Oyster Point Hotel, the central structure in the cover illustration of this issue of Cumberland County History.]
A short distance downstream, where the Creek crosses the Quarry Hill Road, William Hendricks operated a sawmill in 1843. By 1853 Soloman Creps made shingles at this point. Another mill in the 1830s stood just east of Sidetown (Hays Grove), Long's saw mill. As early as 1795 further east was to be found Robert Patterson's grist mill. In 1808 it was converted into Patterson and Harper's sawmill. Sawing continued through midcentury under the eye of Johnston Williamson.
Huntsdale has been known by a series of names: Spring Mills, Milltown and Huntsville. At an early date it became a thriving commercial center because of the large volume of water available to operate mills. Water flowed from the mountain south of the village as well as from springs and the Yellow Breeches Creek. Located here were the Cumberland Iron Furnace, grist mills, saw mills, clover and plaster mills, fulling and oil mills and a distillery.
Johnson's Fulling Mill was an important industry. Water power carded wool and put it into rolls for spinning. Wool cloth, blankets, and carpets were woven, and other fibers were also processed on the looms. This lessened the tedious labor of the women of the community. The fulling mill started the spinning wheel on its way to becoming a conversation piece.
During this same pre-Civil War period Robert Linn ran a distillery at Huntsdale. It stood where the stream coming clown from Irishtown Gap entered the Yellow Breeches. lf a farmer brought twenty bushels of rye to Linn to be processed, the miller got a share as his fee , or often a barrel of whiskey.
Saw mills turned the trees from the mountain and valley into lumber. The clover mill hulled seed from the second cutting clover brought in by farmers. The oil mill pressed flax seed for the linseed oil it contained. A mineral brought from New Brunswick was ground at the plaster mill to make fertilizer. Huntsdale was important to the local economy. Cumberland Furnace was the last user of water power before the Creek flowed into Dickinson Township. There it turned the stones of Cumberland Mill, also known as Chamber's Mill and in 1985 as Enck's Mill. It was built by Michael Ege, the ironmaker. When Ege died in 181 5 it became the property of his daughter, Mary Ege Chambers, wife of Dr. W. C. Chambers. It was later owned by Peter N. Tritt, a successful Penn Township lumberman. Literally dozens of mills took energy from the Yellow Breeches before it reached the Susquehanna at what is now New Cumberland.
The Western one-third of Cumberland County contains a multitude of historic structures; approximately two thousand of these were surveyed from September 1984 to September 1985 as part of a project sponsored by the Cumberland County Historical Society and the Pennsylvania Bureau for Historic Preservation.