John Spahr: Constable (1807-1876)
George Shrom, who grew up on East Street in Carlisle, wrote about John Spahr in an 1898 article in the American Volunteer newspaper.
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James Wilson
The provincial town of Carlisle was fortunate to have among its mist for a short period a political theorist and talented lawyer, James Wilson. Born in 1742 at Carskerdo near St. Andrews, Scotland, Wilson studied at St. Andrews, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Emigrating to America in1765, he first took a tutoring job at the College of Philadelphia. Next Wilson studied law under John Dickinson...
Dr. Charles M. Worthington (1835-1878)
A survivor of the infamous Libby Prison, Charles McClure Worthington was a man of many occupations; a telegraph operator on the Cumberland Valley Rail Road, a Civil War surgeon, a druggist, and finally, a Carlisle school teacher. Charles M. Worthington was born in Carlisle on September 22, 1835, the eldest son of Ann and Jefferson Worthington, a painter and County Commissioner. Worthington was educated in the Carlisle schools and read medicine with Dr. Baughman.
Flitting Day
April 1 was known as “flitting day” in Pennsylvania. It was the day when yearly leases expired, and tenant farmers, businessmen, mechanics and private citizens either renewed their leases for another year and “stayed put,” or they moved. Local newspapers usually ran a column or two about the “flittings,” noting the changes in location of hotel keepers and businessmen, and musing on the day in general. The editor of Carlisle’s American Volunteer waxed emotional about “flitting day” in his column on April 5, 1866.
Mansion House Hotel
A landmark in Carlisle, the “Mansion House Hotel” operated on the south west corner of West High and Pitt streets from the late 1830s until the 1920s. Inns on that site had housed travelers since the days of the Revolutionary War. The first tavern on the site was kept by James Pollock in the eighteenth century.
Phebe Paine: Educator (1802-1872)
In recollections of her life in Carlisle, Mary C. Dillon, author of the novel “In Old Bellaire,” wrote about the faculty circle of Dickinson College. She said that it included “the brilliant spinsters, Miss Sarah and Miss Phoebe Paine, who had a finishing school for young ladies on West Street
Conrad Reep: Mt. Holly Springs Cabinetmaker & Undertaker
Conrad Reep, his wife Catharine (Lizman) and their two young daughters emigrated from Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany in 1848. Reep’s brother-in-law, John Lizman, also from Hess-Darmstadt, had immigrated earlier and was a cabinetmaker in Carlisle. Reep settled in Mount Holly Springs, six miles south of Carlisle. In 1856, he declared his intent to become a citizen and was naturalized on November 10, 1858.
Carlisle’s Irvine Row - The 19th Century
Fronting on Church Avenue, adjoining St. John’s Episcopal Church on the Square, the eight brick houses that make up Carlisle’s Irvine Row are the rare survivors of an intact nineteenth-century streetscape. They stand on Lot #171 in the original plan of Carlisle.
Helen H. Stevens (1902-1994)
Born in Chicago on September 18, 1902, Helen Stevens was a long-time and very active member of the Carlisle community, whose life work was associated with finding assistance for individuals needing mental health services.
Walt Huber (1886-1961)
Walt Huber was an acclaimed cartoonist for several newspapers, who was born in Chambersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. While never achieving his dream of having his own comic strip, Huber, was one of the founders of the Seven Lively Artists.