One hundred twenty years ago, in 1878, concerned Christians in the Uriah area of rural southeastern South Middleton Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, organized and built a church. It was originally named Flint Ridge Chapel, or more commonly known as just "Chapel," of the Evangelical Association denomination. This denomination had been formed by Jacob Albright in 1800.
Although the actual frontier or line of settlement of Europeans crossed beyond Pennsylvania during this time period, this study of the primary records of Allen Township demonstrates that the area retained a frontier mode of living. By the 1790's Georgian two story houses were built, but the majority of residents were huddled in one or two room log houses.
On August 1, 1893, Ida G. Kast, of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, an instructor in Irving College in that town, in a letter to the Board of Examiners for Law Students requested permission to appear before the Board for preliminary examination to be registered as a law student. At the bottom of her letter it was noted "that the above Ida G. Kast is a person of good moral character and social standing."
Before April 1861, no one saw the Civil War as inescapable. Cumberland County Democrats, like most northern Democrats, opposed the nation's division over slavery and tried to placate the South without alienating their constituents.