St. John’s Episcopal Church

Carlisle the “Athens of Pennsylvania,” or Not

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.

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Carlisle’s Irvine Row - The 19th Century

Scan of undated map, made by Carlisle printers Holcomb and Tizzard c. 1823, shows how all the lots facing the square were shortened to make room for the new alleys

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.

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Patrick Culp: Carlisle Cabinetmaker

Scan of Culp’s account of the work done for Reverend Sprole.

Patrick Culp, a "mulatto," and the only documented African American cabinetmaker in Cumberland County, was born in Pennsylvania in 1790. A member of Allison United Methodist Church¹ and later St.

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Kim and Van Du

Interview of Kim and Van Du for the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library. Kim and Van discuss leaving Vietnam as refugees and coming to the United States, establishing themselves and their family in Carlisle, and their successes since settling.

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Egolff’s Fashionable Boarding House

For several decades during the second half of the 19^th century, William Egolff and his sisters Elizabeth and Barbara operated a boarding house in Carlisle in the three-story brick building at No. 7-11 North Hanover street.

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First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Carlisle, PA

The Carlisle Borough Charter claims that the First Lutheran Church began about 1765 when the German immigrants of Reformed and Lutheran church background worshiped together in a union church on South Hanover Street near South Street.¹ In 1807, the church divided and the Lutherans built

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Robert Guthrie, Sr.: Eighteenth Century Joiner

Page from Robert Guthrie Sr.’s Insolvent Debtors Petition, dated January Term 1770, lists the people he owed money to as well as those who owed him money.

An “honest laborious man” by his own account; a fighting Irishman judging from the number of times he was indicted for assault and battery,¹ Guthrie built many houses in Carlisle during the 25 or more years he worked, including the “English” Church (St.

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Sarah Howard Thomson Hamilton (1770-1842)

Scan of a letter from Thomas Hamilton to his sister in Ireland. August 21, 1786.

Sarah Hamilton's daughter, Susan Thorn, bequeathed the miniature portrait of her mother “in a square frame” to Mrs. Mary Moore. Its whereabouts are unknown. We are left to form a picture of Sarah Hamilton, or Sally as her husband and her sister Mary Veazey referred to her, from remarks about her in their letters.

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William McHose (1769-1826): Silver Spring Township Stone Mason

William McHose built the three stone spans for Houston's Bridge in 1825. Photo CCHS, Donated by E. N. Meals Family, 1933.

Salem Church on the Carlisle Pike in Hampden Township, the three-span stone bridge at Fisher’s Fording (Houston’s Mill), and many substantial stone houses east of Carlisle were built by William McHose and his brother John between the years 1810 and 1826.

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Peter Monyer: Carlisle Confectioner

Scan of Advertisement for Peter Moyner in the Carlisle Herald, February 6, 1856

“Kriss Kringle’s Head Quarters” and “The Temple of Fancy,” declared Monyer’s newspaper advertisements.¹ Monyer’s store was an emporium of delights for children. Its glass cases displayed candy toys, bon-bons, chocolates, fruit drops, and colorful hard candies.

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St. John’s Episcopal Church

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