Jonas E. Warrell was born April 3, 1896 in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania to Albert and Anna Daley Warrell. He graduated from Conshohocken High School in 1913 and attended Drexel University.
With the demands of World War I and growing automobile industry, Carlisle Tire and Rubber hired Jonas Warrell, a 1916 graduate of Drexel Institute of Technology and a World War I veteran, at the age of 23 as the company’s first chemist and superintendent. Warrell’s expertise improved the high-pressure air process, leading Carlisle Tire and Rubber to build a new plant for the technology and in 1927, they had the first molded tube ever produced for tires.
In 1929, Warrell left to go work for the Pharis Tire and Rubber Company of Newark, Ohio. Carlisle Tire and Rubber was bought out by Pharis Tire and Rubber in 1944 during World War II and Warrell became Carlisle’s vice president and general manager. Under his management, the number of employees at Carlisle drastically increased from 80 to 180 within a year. Improvements were made to the plant, including renovations to the laboratory and installation of a Banbury industrial mixer to produce higher grade rubber products.
Warrell became president of Carlisle Tire and Rubber in 1967 at the age of 71 but retired a year later. Warrell pushed for the development of elastomeric sheeting and development and marketing of SureSeal membrane. His son, Carroll J. Warrell, succeeded him as president and general managers of Carlisle Tire and Rubber in 1968.
Warrell joined the Pennsylvania Dutch candy Company in Mt. Holly Springs as chairman and treasurer after his retirement. During his life, Warrell served on the Carlisle Hospital board chairman for 19 years, president of the Carlisle Community Chest (local United Way now) and trustee of Cumberland County Historical Society. He was also a former chairman of Carlisle Area sewer Authority, directory of Farmers Trust co. and Chairman of the Carlisle Chamber of Commerce.
Warrell lived until 1996, when he passed away at the age of 100.
George B. Stuart was born on July 31, 1912 in Carlisle to Walter and Laura J. Peffer Stuart Jr. Graduating from Carlisle High School, Stuart attended the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School and Dickinson School of Law to earn his law degree, where he practiced in Carlisle all his life.
Part two of an interview of Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner conducted by Susan Meehan on September 10, 2014. The Gardners talk about their involvement with the Cumberland County Historical Society, Elizabeth's time at Boiling Springs High School including her time in the band, her time working as nurse for various doctors in Carlisle, George's experiences with Carlisle in the sixties, and other stories related to Cumberland County.