Dorothea McKenzie, the daughter of a Quaker ironmaster, became a widow at the age of 38, never remarried, and, until her death, ran a genteel boarding house in Carlisle with the help of her slaves. Dorothea’s father, Thomas Maybury, established the Green Lane Forge in the Perkiomen Valley in what is now Montgomery County, Pennsylvania as well as the Hereford Furnace. Her mother, Sophia Rutter, was a descendant of Pennsylvania ironmaster, Thomas Rutter.[1]
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:
In 1916, P. Lee Phillips, Chief of the Division of Maps and Charts at the Library of Congress, wrote to the editor of the Carlisle Evening Herald newspaper seeking information. The editor printed the letter under the following headlines.
John Armstrong has rightly been labeled "the First Citizen of Carlisle. "He was a justice of the peace, the principal official of local government in the British dominions; a county judge, chief land surveyor of Cumberland County, assemblyman, colonel of the colonial Pennsylvania Regiment, an original member of the Pennsylvania revolutionary committee of safety; brigadier general of the Continental Army, major general of the Pennsylvania militia, delegate to the Continental Congress, and an original trustee of Dickinson College.
Very little is known about Carson Miller’s early life before his enlistment in the United States Army. Carson was born in 1834. On May 30th, 1864, he joined the United States Army, enlisting in Company L of the 45th Regiment of the United States Colored Troops. After being reorganized into Company H, Miller became a member of the Color Guard, assigned to protect the regiment’s Flag. Carson was injured attempting to protect the flag, not from Confederate Soldiers, but strong winds.
Captain William E. Miller was one of the few Cumberland County residents who won the Medal of Honor during the Civil War. However, Miller may be the most distinctive honoree for winning his medal by going against his orders. Miller was born to a farming family in West Hill, Cumberland County, one mile west of Plainfield in West Pennsboro Township. As a young man, Miller ran his father’s farm and was establishing a small family of his own, when his life was interrupted by the call to war in 1861.
Before the days of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Interstate 81, and the attendant motels and restaurants, when motoring travelers passed through Carlisle’s downtown on Hanover and High Streets, Carlisle had a notable hotel named the Molly Pitcher Hotel.
Interview of Tanis Monroy at the Black History Festival in Carlisle, Pennsylvania for the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library Memory Bank. Monroy talks about moving to Carlisle at a young age from New York via Allentown and how he would visit the War College, write poetry, and walk around town. He discussed how he hoped for further integration between Dickinson College and the community and that students would be more open to experiencing Carlisle. He also hopes more residents will engage with the community through community service.
“Kriss Kringle’s Head Quarters” and “The Temple of Fancy,” declared Monyer’s newspaper advertisements.1 Monyer’s store was an emporium of delights for children. Its glass cases displayed candy toys, bon-bons, chocolates, fruit drops, and colorful hard candies.
As this is written in 2022, two former carpet mills located at Louther and Spring Garden Streets in Carlisle, are collectively known as the Minerva Mills. The larger mill to the west was built by E. C.