The state Highway Department historical marker erected in the 1920's at the east end of town states that Mechanicsburg, settled in the 1790's and incorporated in 1828, is "named for a settlement of mechanics." Legend states that pioneers traveling along the Trindle and Simpson Ferry roads on their way west stopped here to repair wagons damaged during the crossing of the Susquehanna river which flows east of the settlement. Because Mechanicsburg was a one day journey from the river crossing and an easy lay over before the Allegheny Mountains to the west, it became a natural place to stop for the night to repair the damaged wagons. One can almost visualize the wagons limping into town in need of attention; holding together just long enough to reach the village and its mechanics. This is the legend that has survived the years. Is it based on fact?
The name Mechanicsburg appears on legal documents as early as 1815 when a Public Road Docket application was filed at the Cumberland County Court House. This document, filed by residents along the Trindle road, requested that the county widen and maintain the road for public use. The county, after surveying the road usage, agreed with their proposal. The necessity of having a public road indicates that the traffic in 1815 must have been substantial or the county would not have warranted approval of this additional expenditure. That it was named in the document indicates that the village of Mechanicsburg, even then, was an important settlement along the road. Was this because it was a village of mechanics or as the 1792 road docket for the Simpson Ferry road states, because it was a place to visit merchants and to "restore provisions" for the journey west?
Taverns were licensed during this period and a number of applications are listed for the village in the 1818 Tavern License application records filed during that year. Again, this proved that people passed through the town and needed a "drovers hotel," a place to eat dinner and spend the night before resuming the journey west. Mechanics and their shops were not licensed or recorded.
According to Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, a mechanic is a person pertaining to or involving "manual labor or employment." Anyone, then, who worked with his hands could be considered a mechanic even if he never worked on a wagon. The tax rolls for the period list the following as occupations that could have fit a more specific definition of mechanic, one that would support the legend: blacksmiths, wagonmakers, wagoneers, and carpenters.
A problem exists in researching the tax rolls and census reports for the period pre-1830. Mechanicsburg was not yet the legal name for the village and was, prior to 1828, part of East Pennsboro, Silver Springs and Allen Townships. Some documents, such as the 1829 tax rolls, still did not recognize the village as a legal entity and continued to record it as part of the other townships. The United States Census of 1830 does recognize the village as an incorporated borough, and most references to people living in the village prior to 1830 were documented by cross-referencing the earlier tax rolls with the census and hoping that the people had not moved. While this methodology is not flawless it is the best method available.
The 1829 tax rolls list ten residents out of 554 (1.8% of the Population) who are considered mechanics by the above definition (three carpenters, two blacksmiths, four wagoners, and one cabinet maker) and found to have lived in Mechanicsburg through a cross check with the census report. The mechanics of Mechanicsburg did exist, but it seems only logical that any community along a wagon route would have men who would fit these occupations. The question Was it a town of mechanics? Were the number of mechanics found in Mechanicsburg greater than average? No comprehensive state or local studies have been done which quantify the craft professions for the era. Without this study the raw data on the mechanic/population ratio has no basis for comparison· or conclusion. Only by comparing this data with similar communities can a conclusion be reached.
Ernest Raymond Martin was born April 4, 1916, in Pennsylvania along with his twin, Frank, to their parents, Addison C. Martin and Grace May (Klink) Martin. Addison C. Martin was born in York County, Pennsylvania, in 1879, and Grace May Klink was born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, in 1882.