Dickinson College

Carlisle the “Athens of Pennsylvania,” or Not

Divided back; B & W sketch of the Carlisle Square as of 1843

In 1844, a Mr. Richards of Reading, Berks County Pennsylvania, having heard from some residents of Reading that Carlisle was called the “Athens of Pennsylvania,” he decided to visit it and see for himself. When he returned to Reading his impressions of Carlisle were published in the April 17, 1844, edition of the “Reading Journal.” The “Carlisle Weekly Herald” published it for “the curiosity of its readers” in the April 24, 1844, edition of the newspaper.

Charles Francis Himes (1838-1918): Portrait of a Photographer

The life of Charles Francis Himes, professor of physics at Dickinson College from 1865 to 1896, was one of many and varied pursuits. He was a scientist, an educator, and a historian; and with each of these roles his interest and achievements in photography were integrated. In the late twentieth century photography is taken granted. Anyone nowadays can buy a camera and take a picture, regardless of knowledge or skill; development and printing are done commercially; and photographs are used in every discipline.

Dickinson December 7, 1945

It was Pearl Harbor Day plus four. In that four years Dickinson College had lost most of its students to war service. It had lost one president, and its current one had been ailing since a March heart attack. It had lost much faculty and engaged the rest along with its facilities and energy in a training program for the air corps.

Forty-four in Forty Three: To War

ln 1943 February 17 dawn found a hundred or more students shivering in overcoat and muffler weather as they stood about at the Pennsylvania Railroad Depot in Carlisle. About two score were going to war. Half a century later those who survived could recall only Whit Bell from the faculty, but Ralph Schecter must have been there as well, for the single cheerful element that morning was his Dickinson College band.

Robert M. Frey

Interview of Robert Frey by Susan Meehan. Frey discusses his life in Carlisle including his experiences as a lawyer and being on the last passenger train to through Carlisle.

James Hamilton, Jr. (1793-1873)

Image of James Hamilton Jr.

James Hamilton, Jr., founder of the Hamilton Library Association and what became the Cumberland County Historical Society, was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on October 16, 1793, the only son of Judge James Hamilton (born 1752 in Belfast, Ireland, died February 13, 1819) and his wife Sarah Thomson, daughter of Rev. William and Susanna Ross Thomson.

Charles Francis Himes

Charles Francis Himes, professor of natural sciences at Dickinson College, was born in Lancaster County in 1838.1 Developing a great interest in Latin and the natural sciences though his time at grammar school, Himes applied to Dickinson College in 1855.

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