Top: Marker sign for Shiremanstown (37F-24-04);
Bottom: The Shiremanstown School in winter (37F-24-02 - Purchase Print).
Shiremanstown is a small community located twelve miles east of Carlisle and five miles west of Harrisburg. It derives its name from Daniel Shireman (1753-1810), one of the early land owners and settlers of the land that made up most of the town. It is situated on an old Indian path which was named Simpson Ferry since it originated at the site of Teaff’s Ferry on the Susquehanna River land owned by General Michael T. Simpson.
The first house was built about 1812 or 1814. The Cumberland Valley Railroad, which opened in 1837, passed through the town from east to west, and was the main source of business in Shiremanstown. The railroad that passes through Shiremanstown today continues to promote business in the borough.
In the 1840s the town steadily prospered. By 1841, the town had 60 dwellings, two stores, one tavern, a schoolhouse, and the Union Church. In 1845, Jacob Merkel laid out additional town lots and several more houses were built to bring the population to 275.[1]
Shiremanstown saw Confederate action in June 1863, prior to the Battle of Gettysburg in the Civil War. The Confederates camped near Peace Church and fired cannon shells toward the woods near Shiremanstown. Some Confederate soldiers marched through Shiremanstown on their way south to Gettysburg.
Shiremanstown was incorporated as a borough in 1874 from parts of Lower Allen and Hampden Townships in Cumberland County. According to the Cumberland Valley Rail Road Directory of 1877-1878, Shiremanstown was a prosperous town with two blacksmiths, two carriage makers and one wagon maker, in addition to two physicians, and a variety of general stores, grocer, tailors, grain dealers, shoemakers, millineries, saddler maker, and furniture makers.
Although the railroad brought prosperity to the borough, it was also the source of a terrible and tragic fire. On September 2, 1908 a fire began in a warehouse, ignited by sparks from a train, along the railroad tracks destroying twenty buildings in the borough including the Messiah Lutheran Church.[2]
Like other steadfast men and women of Cumberland County, Shiremanstown residents rebuilt from the ashes to the prosperous community of today that celebrated its 140th anniversary of becoming the Borough of Shiremanstown in 2014.
This is a list of the seventy-four Cumberland County, Pennsylvania servicemen who sacrificed their lives in service to their country during World War I. The list is compiled from the book Service records: Cumberland County in the World War 1917-1918 printed in 1935 by the Cumberland Cou
[1] Daniel Rupp, The History and Topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry Counties, (Lancaster: Gilbert Hills, 1846), p. 434.
[2] Shiremanstown Centennial Association, Shiremanstown Centennial, (Shiremanstown Centennial Association, 1974), [pgs. 19-20].
Shiremanstown Centennial, Shiremanstown Centennial Association, 1974.
History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania, Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1886.
A History of the Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania, Dr. George P. Donehoo, Susquehanna History Association, Harrisburg, 1930.
History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Rev. Conway P. Wing, D.D., and Others, James D. Scott, Philadelphia, 1879.