McKim, James Miller

Carlisle's Black Rock

In 1818, Jacob Baughman of Carlisle drew a map of Carlisle noting the locations of churches, graveyards, public buildings, still houses, tanneries, and the names by which each of the borough’s street corners were known.1 His map shows “Black Rock” on the north west corner of Main and W

Cormick McManus: Irish Tailor

Photo of McManus’s 1812 tailor bill to William Line lists the prices charged for the clothing he made for Line.

Although Cormick McManus, a tailor, was one of a number of Irish Catholics who immigrated to America, settled in Carlisle, and was naturalized in the early decades of the nineteenth century, he was memorable enough to be written about in the reminiscences of several Carlisle natives. The tailor shop of Cormick McManus on West High Street, wrote James Miller McKim, was:

Thomas S. Officer: Miniature and Portrait Painter

Born in Carlisle in 1810, this gifted artist trained in Philadelphia, traveled extensively, won awards for his paintings, and drank himself to an early death in San Francisco in 1859. In 1872, James Miller McKim wrote a series of reminiscences for the Carlisle Herald newspaper about the places and people of Carlisle in an earlier day. He wrote that “David Smith, a boot and shoemaker, had two sons…

Nicholas Ulerich: Tavernkeeper

Scan of an advertisement in the May 4, 1820 edition of the American Volunteer newspaper

Encouraged by the editor of the Carlisle Herald newspaper to submit reminiscences for the entertainment of his readers, James Miller McKim wrote several lengthy articles under the pen name AGC. (A Genuine Carlisler.) The February 8, 1872 edition of the newspaper contained McKim’s reminiscences of Carlisle in the 1820s and 1830s and included memories of Nicholas Ulrich and his tavern. McKim wrote: