Toward twilight on the day after Christmas, 1787, Major James A. Wilson and a group of Carlisle's leading Federalist citizens were preparing to celebrate Pennsylvania's recent ratification of the new federal Constitution. After hauling a cannon into the center of town, the revelers gathered round in anticipation of the artillery salute that was to open the festivities.
The 2013 issue of Cumberland County History marks the 30th year of publication of the Journal. That alone is an important milestone, but it is also appropriate at this time to acknowledge the significant contribution to the success of this publication made by Executive Director, Linda F. Witmer. Her ongoing support for the Journal has made it possible to continue publication during the rich and the lean times at CCHS. She has made an indelible mark on the Society in so many ways and this publication, in its thirtieth year speaks to the success of her tenure at the Society.
In the Carlisle of 1946 with the war over, the US Army Medical Field Service School left the Barracks for Ft. Sam Houston in Texas, the Pennsylvania Palomino Exhibitors Association was incorporated, McCoy Brothers, Inc. construction service was established, and BSA Troop 173 was chartered at Carlisle Barracks. And boys played baseball all summer.
The Indian Industrial School operated on the site of what is now known as Carlisle Barracks from 1879 to 1918. The school has been extensively documented and its best known student, Jim Thorpe, put Carlisle in the international spotlight for his performance at the Olympic Games in 1912.
Lenore Embick Flower's History of Pine Grove Furnace was first presented in 1933 and is now in a 4th edition printed by the Cumberland County Historical Society. This seminal history of the local iron industry contains an apparent error: Flower's confusion about the destruction of the ironmaster's mansion at Pine Grove Furnace.
Most studies of the economic impact of the War of 1812 focus on early economic growth including manufacturing, shipbuilding, and canal and road improvements, and later issues of economic decline including the failure of the First Bank, decline of-specie supply, and issuance of Treasury Notes. These macroeconomic studies target such things as the inadequacy of the banking system, depreciation, inflation, the depression beginning in 1815, the Panic of 1819, and subsequent recessions of the 1820s.
In 2011 CCHS acquired an 1813 petition to the state legislature that sheds light on an intriguing yet little known episode in the County's history. The document reveals that Carlisle Constable James Hutton petitioned the General Assembly on January 28, 1813, in an effort to reverse the decision of two lawsuits against him that threatened to take away his property and leave him homeless.
It was an early summer day in 1792, and a gloomy man was in a bad mood. Charles Nisbet, a Presbyterian minister in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, wrote a letter to his bookseller, William Young, in Philadelphia. The two had been corresponding about twice a year since 1790; Nisbet was beginning his sixth letter to Young.
Northeast of Carlisle borough near the intersection of Cavalry Road and Route 11 sits a distinguished, white-washed, brick home known as the Wilson House. That impressive structure bore witness to a part of the compelling story of Revolutionary War officer Major James Armstrong Wilson. He has frequently been confused with another James Wilson (1742-1798) who signed the Declaration of Independence and was a resident of Carlisle for a time.
The 2012 issue of Cumberland County History is an eclectic mix of articles spanning from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. It has been a pleasure to review the numerous articles submitted over the past year. They have included a wide variety of topics and have been extremely well written and researched. Sufficient articles were submitted to warrant two issues. A number of submissions are being held for publication in 2013. I am certain that the eight articles published in this issue will be of interest to our readers.