From The
President's Desk
Bonnie Shockey, President
It is now spring and I am realizing, in hindsight, how quickly the winter months passed by because of working on the pictorial history book for Greencastle and Antrim Township. It is officially finished! The book went to print on April 2. It was a huge task, made more so by the short time period in which Ken and I had to complete the book in order to have it ready by Old Home Week.
The book is being printed by Arcadia Publishing, a British company with four offices in the United States. It is part of its Images of America series. Each book in this series has 128 pages and is soft-bound. The cover is printed in sepia tones and Greencastle-Antrim’s book will include 224 black and white photographs.
There are ten chapters: Antrim Township, Greencastle, Villages, Business and Industry, Public Services and Transportation, Carl’s Drug Store, Civil War Veterans, Noteworthy Individuals, Events and Pastimes, and Old Home Week.
Contributions of photographs were made by many different people from across the United States for which we are very grateful. This was very important to the final outcome of the book because the museum is a young organization and although photographs are frequently given to its archives, the range of subjects and number of photographs from which to choose is not yet great enough to produce a book such as this. Isabelle Barnes, Pete Goetz, and Louise Mowen helped identify places in photographs and did research. Jane Alexander did proofreading and Ted Alexander wrote the back cover text and edited the introduction.
Thirteen photographs were submitted to the cover layout editor. We ranked them in order of our preference, but the final decision was the layout editor’s. Our first choice, for which I lobbied very hard, was the editor’s final choice. Antrim Township and Greencastle are two separate municipalities but together they are one community. It would be difficult to find and choose a photograph specific to either of the municipalities that would represent the community as a whole. Although but a mere 102 years old, as compared to the age of the township and borough, Old Home Week embodies the essence of our community and is the one event common to both Antrim Township and Greencastle. Old Home Week is also uniquely associated with Greencastle-Antrim in this regional area. To our delight, the 1902 Old Boys Reunion photograph was chosen for the book cover. My only regret is that there weren’t any old girls present for the first photograph.
I have learned more than I ever thought I would about Greencastle-Antrim and hope that all the details and trivia remain a part of my long-term memory. As best able, we tried to layout the photographs in each chapter chronologically to provide a pictorial timeline. Hopefully, this will help put events that occurred into better perspective, such as T.W. Brendle built the three-story Brendle building in 1914 and in 1916 a third story was added to the Hostetter building and Charles B. Carl built the three-story building on Baltimore Street.
The board of directors has purchased an initial 800 copies, which the museum will sell as a fund-raiser. A pre-order form for the book is included with this newsletter. The books will also be sold in local shops and bookstores, like Borders and Waldenbooks. More information will be available about those locations later. You have the option of picking up your book order at a designated place, to be announced at a later time, or to have them mailed to you.
Enjoy!
The Barn
The barn project is progressing. The Zoning and Hearing Board approved a special-use exemption which will allow the barn to be reconstructed on the museum’s property. During the month of April, between the rainy days, the barn was methodically de-constructed. Each major timber was numbered, cataloged, and graphed. All of its remaining parts will be moved to the shop of Craftwright, Inc. in Westminster, Maryland, which is owned and operated by the museum’s contractor Glenn James. He estimates reconstruction sometime in the fall. In the meantime, replacement post and beams will be made to specifications. To lower the cost of the project, the board of directors decided to have the replacement timbers made out of new wood instead of mid-1800s post and beams. When reconstructed, the barn, itself, will be an exhibit of post and beam construction and will tell the story of an old barn’s survival.
The
next step in the process is the building of the limestone foundation, which will
be constructed from the original stones that were cut specifically for this barn
in the mid-1800s.
May Exhibit
As spring finally makes its appearance, “Take me out to the ball game: America’s Great Pastime,” will be the focus of the May exhibit at Allison-Antrim Museum. Baseball artifacts and memorabilia from the collection of Dr. James H. Craig Jr., dating from the 1920s, will form the core of the exhibit and will include balls, bats, score books, his father’s baseball uniform and the Princeton uniform of King Lear, among many other items. From the museum’s collection, the Greencastle Athletic’s uniform of John Baer, and photographs of local ball teams that were loaned to the museum for use in the pictorial history book will also be exhibited. Visitors will learn about the Sunday School League, the all-star team, the Blue Ridge Baseball League, and Greencastle’s only all-black softball team.
2004 marks the 81st anniversary of the opening of the Jerome R. King Playground. In 1922, David D. King, a Chicago businessman, donated five acres of land to Greencastle which was named for his deceased brother, Jerome R. King. The new playground was dedicated and opened during Old Home Week 1923. Eighty-one years later, during another Old Home Week, the ball field is still the site of exciting games between area ball teams.
Before WWI, Greencastle had produced three major league baseball players – Albert “Bert” Goetz, Charles “Togie” Pittenger, and Charles “King” Lear. Bert Goetz, a pitcher, is thought to be the first person in Greencastle’s history to throw a curve ball. He played for the National League’s Baltimore team for a while.
During the 1890s, “Togie” Pittenger played with minor league teams in Martinsburg, West Virginia, Carlisle and Chambersburg. He was then signed by the Boston Braves during the later 1890s and was one of their top pitchers in 1902. He was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies making him one of the first major league players to be traded. Pittenger died at the age of 37 after developing Bright’s disease, which affects the kidneys.
It is said that Charles “King” Lear, a pitcher, invented the knuckle ball. He played for the Mercersburg Academy and Princeton University and was then signed by the Cincinnati Reds in 1914. Two years later, Lear injured his throwing arm during training camp, which brought his career to an early end. Lear’s uniform will be one of the exhibit items.
Visitors are welcome to wear their favorite ball team’s jersey or baseball cap, whether it’s a major or minor league team or their own hometown team. In addition, visitors will receive a box of Cracker Jacks, as long as supplies last. See Calendar of Events for dates and times.
May General Meeting
Paula Reed, a native of Franklin County, will speak on "Historic Bridges of Washington County, Maryland and Franklin County, Pennsylvania." This slide program will focus on more than 150 years of historic bridge construction in this region. Sites covered will include stone bridges such as Welty's Mill Bridge near Waynesboro, Social Island Bridge south of Chambersburg, as well as the historic stone bridges of Washington County over the Antietam and the Conococheague. Franklin County's two wooden covered bridges will also be discussed, as well as bridges on the C&O Canal. Reed, an architectural historian and consultant, is president of Paula S. Reed and Associates, Inc., Hagerstown, Maryland. See Calendar of Events for date and time.
Field Notes 1930
Friday, Apr 11…Reached Buchanan park about 10 o’clock and walked slowly westward through the valley a distance of 3 to 4 miles. It was one of the first really warm days of the season, and the air was heavy with odor of hemlocks, moist woodland soil, and decaying leaf mold. The only spring flowers noticeable were hepaticas, but these were very plentiful in the park itself. They are my favorites of all wild flowers – probably because they remind me of my first woodland excursions at Applemont.
Two species of birds were very abundant today – the brown creeper and the golden crowned kinglet. I met creepers every where and marveled again at the methodical way in which they work upwards from the base of a tree. My best view of the kinglets was obtained from the high south back of the reservoir, where I could look down at the tops of the pine trees growing on the slope. A pair of canvasbacks floated here and there on the reservoir, having it all to themselves. Saw a hermit thrush along the ravine west of the reservoir and heard a strange whimpering note which I could hardly credit him with uttering. Believe I heard and saw an olive sided flycatcher. It’s the only song in the book that fits the mournful two-part whistle that came from higher in the hemlocks. Also saw two small snakes, probably black snakes.
In my moments of ease I read part of the Forsythe Saga and enjoyed the sound of the stream.
G. Fred Zeigler
Written in his familiar descriptive style, seventy-four years later, we are privileged to join G. Fred Ziegler on one of his frequent nature jaunts, which he took about the countryside of this area. This journal entry was transcribed from a small, lined tablet that was given to the museum by Glen Cump.
Recent
Acquisitions
One George M. Johnston rye bottle and one 1930 magazine parade photograph taken in Washington, D.C. of the Rescue Hose Company men and the 1741 hand-pumper. The caption reads: ANCESTOR OF ALL FIRE ENGINGES in this country is the ancient portable pump from Greencastle, Pa., which won first prize in the Washington parade. It was built in 1741. Gifts from Cedric Duffield
Four gaskets with a Harry Friedly, J.I. Case Machinery dealer tag attached with wire. The business was located at 42 East Baltimore Street, circa 1930. A gift from Michael Poper
The scales that were used in the E.L.M. mobile
truck store. A gift from Galen Buckwalter.
What’s Been Happening
Jim Craig gave
a tour for the Greencastle-Antrim Farm Women’s Group.
Website Inquiries
Numerous inquiries relative to past exhibits – hats, candle sticks and lanterns, make-dos, woven coverlets, and milk-glass eggs.
Genealogy searches on the Allison, Crooks and Wolfe families
From Alaska, information is being sought about Charles “Togie” Pittenger for the Society for American Baseball Research. The information will be used to complete his biographical sketch.
Other Inquiries
We are searching for any photograph of the building that was just east of 42 East Baltimore Street (which is currently where Wolfe’s Bakery is located). That building housed Ruth Rubeck’s Modern Home Dining Room. That building was one of two that were taken down to make room for the current post office.