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A Year in the Life of a Village: Plainfield 1910

Birds Eye View of Plainfield in Wings 1879 History

In 1812, tavernkeeper Michael Forner laid out lots on a piece of land on the road from Carlisle to Newville. He called the new town Plainfield. Plans were afoot for a Grand Turnpike from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, and Forney thought it "would more than probably go through his new town."It did not. Often referred to as Smokey Town, the name Plainfield was officially adopted with the opening of the Post Office. The map of Plainfield in the 1872 Atlas of Cumberland County shows the locations of the shops, two churches, the school, the hotel as well as the houses. Plainfield grew, and by 1910, the village had approximately 200 residents.

A Year in the Life of a Village: Oakville 1910

Main Street in Oakville, PA, looking south.

It was a good day for Shippensburg photographer Clyde Laughlin to take photographs of Oakville because there were no leaves on the trees. Mr. Laughlin produces post cards from the photos he takes of the towns and villages of Cumberland County. His camera captures a horse and buggy traveling towards him on Main Street, and the two young boys who are peering over a fence watching what he is doing. The white-washed Rail Road Crossing sign post warns people to Stop, Look, Listen.

A Year in the Life of a Village: Huntsdale 1910

Huntsdale--this photo shows two wooden buildings with logs and bits of wood strewn on the ground.

The humming of the saws at the mill could be heard as you approached the general store. Sheaffer & Williamson Dealers in General Merchandise reads the sign above the windows on the second floor of the general store. As in many villages, the general store also served as the Post Office, and the Huntsdale Post Office sign hung from the porch roof. Six men are standing on the porch staring at the photographer on the other side of the road. Wooden posts stand at the edge of the dirt road ready for customers to tie up their horses. The scene resembles other small villages in the county, but this is the village of Huntsdale on Pine Road in Penn Township, Cumberland County.

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