July 2003 Special
Exhibit
Sunday, July 13 and
Thursday, July 17, 2003
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Bookmark and Ink Pen Collections
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A Diorama of a
Sioux Indian Village from the Lewis and Clark Expedition made by Laura and Tyler Eby and Hannah Cramer
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 Markers and Pens |
 Lewis and Clark |
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July’s exhibit is an outreach program to children of the greater Greencastle-Antrim area. In conjunction with the Besore Lirbrary’s summer reading program, the theme of which centers around traveling, the museum is exhibiting the collections of Carrie and Katie Lum, Mercersburg, and a diorama made by three cousins – Laura (10) and Tyler (6) Eby and Hannah Cramer (12), Greencastle.
Between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Thursday, July 17,
the museum will have a special open house for the children who are registered in
the Besore Library summer reading program. Other children from the community who
might be interested in visiting the museum during this time are also welcome,
but they must register in advance at the Besore Library. A parent or guardian
must accompany the children.
Continuing the theme of “Travel” during this one hour special open house, AAMI members Evelyn Pensinger and Frances “Pickle” Diehl will tell stories of growing up in Greencastle and Shady Grove and riding the trolley to surrounding towns. Museum members Jim Craig, Tom Fox, and Robert “Red” Pensinger will each have one of their antique cars on the premises for the children to look at. Pictures of the trolley, the Cumberland Valley Rail Road tracks and the train, railroad and trolley tie spikes, and the hotel day registers of the Antrim House Hotel and Franklin House Hotel will all show the children and other visitors what travel was like in the early to mid 1900’s.
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The Chambersburg, Greencastle, and Waynesboro Street Railway Company
The Greencastle and Waynesboro sections of the Chambersburg, Greencastle & Waynesboro Street Railway Company tracks were laid in November and December 1903. The trolley tracks ran east and west along Route 16 (Baltimore Street) and had their own right of way. The train tracks ran north and south on Carlisle Street – the original Route 11. The first trolley car entered Greencastle about 3:30 p.m. on December 17, 1903.
The trolley line was extended to Chambersburg in 1908. The Greencastle section which ended in Shady Grove was probably built first in order to connect to the Hagerstown trolley line that was already in operation. The Chambersburg section entered Greencastle by way of North Washington Street, rounded the corner and stopped in Greencastle’s square. Later, a line from Waynesboro to Blue Ridge Summit and Pen Mar Park were laid. Pen Mar Park, a very famous amusement park in the tri-state area, and Red Bridge Park, which was north of Chambersburg and was well-known in this part of the Cumberland Valley, became popular because of the accessibility and affordability of the trolley.
“Union Station” was the junction of the Greencastle and Waynesboro trolley lines and the Hagerstown line in Shady Grove. The Hagerstown line approached Shady Grove from the south and ended along the east side of the building which is now the Shady Grove post office where it met the Greencastle and Waynesboro lines. The “Union Station” ticket office and building was a small white building right beside and on the east side of the Hagerstown tracks.
Each town had its own trolley cars for its particular section of the trolley tracks. There were no turnarounds, which meant the trolley cars could be driven from both ends of the car. When the trolley switched directions, the seats would be flipped over so that the passengers would always be riding facing forward.
Trolley service was abandoned in 1932 mainly due to the coming of the automobile. The last car left Greencastle on Saturday night, January 16, 1932 at 9:45 pm. The last car was No. 33 in charge of motorman John Flautt and conductor Gurney Strickler Harbaugh.
This was the end of inter-county and intra-county mass-transit during the 20th century for Franklin County and Washington County, Maryland. An unsuccessful attempt at running a bus “trolley” in the 1990’s in Waynesboro was made. An insufficient number of riders doomed the business. Chambersburg’s bus “trolley” system seems to work there because of a larger population.
The Franklin Railroad, Cumberland Valley Railroad, and Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Governor George Wolf approved, on April 2, 1831, the incorporation of the Cumberland Valley Railroad Company (CVRC). This allowed the company to build a railroad system from Harrisburg to Carlisle. An extension of the railroad from Carlisle to Chambersburg was approved by the state in 1835. This section of tracks was completed in 1837.
The Franklin Railroad Company was chartered sometime about 1837 to build the rail line from Chambersburg to Hagerstown. The rail line reached Greencastle in 1839 and was completed all the way to Hagerstown by February 1840. In 1865 the Franklin Railroad merged with the CVRC to become the Cumberland Valley Railroad (CVRR). T.C. McCullough, native of Greencastle, served as its first president. The Cumberland Valley Railroad then became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in 1918.
The railroad tracks ran through Greencastle on Carlisle Street from 1840 until 1936, when they were removed through a federal works project during the depression. Although the “new” highline was built on Jefferson Street and opened in 1908 to service passengers, the tracks on Carlisle Street remained to service businesses in both the northern and southern parts of town.
The railroad company during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s ran seven passenger trains every day in both directions. The advent of the automobile and its popularity caused the eventual demise of passenger service in this area. Freight hauling by train was also severely affected by the trucking industry.
On Monday, January 6, 1902, “The Liberty Bell Special,” with six Pullman cars followed by an open car which carried the Liberty Bell, entered town from the north and stopped in the square at 2:50 p.m. Hundreds of people crowded into the square to get a chance to catch a glimpse of the Liberty Bell. One lucky Greencastle-Antrim child, through a random drawing, got the privilege of standing on the open car by the Liberty Bell to have a photograph taken. Thousands more people stood along the railroad tracks as the “Liberty Bell Special” made its way, departing from Philadelphia, at 8:00 a.m. on January 6, 1902, toward Charleston, S.C. for a special exhibition of the Liberty Bell on Friday, January 10, 1902. The train departed Greencastle’s square at 3:05 p.m., January 6, 1902.
Compiled by Bonnie A. Shockey
July 13, 2003; revised: October 19, 2006, January 6, 2008
Resources:
Chambersburg's Trolleys, Benson W. Rohrbeck, Ben Rohrbeck Traction Publications,
West Chester, Pennsylvania, 19380, 1984
Conococheague – A History of the
Greencastle-Antrim Community 1736 – 1971,
William A. Conrad, Robson & Kaye, Inc., Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, 1971
Various archival pieces from Allison-Antrim
Museum’s collections
Bookmark and Ink Pen Collections
of
Carrie and Katie Lum
Carrie began collecting
bookmarks at a school Book Fair when she was in kindergarten. She has now been
collecting for 13 years. Her collection began with bookmarks of things she
liked, such as dolphins and animals. Others are related to favorite books and
movies from her youth, like Pooh, Belle, and Cinderella. Having read all of the
Little House on the Prairie books, Carrie’s favorite bookmark is from the
Laura Ingalls Wilder House in DeSmet, South Dakota. Other more recent favorites
were purchased while on a trip to Europe when she was 16.
Carrie’s sister Katie, who
has been collecting for 11 years, started her collection of ink pens when she
was four years old. Her first pen came from the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh
and is a favorite because of the colored stones that float inside of it.
Katie’s collection now numbers over 50 pens that have been collected from across
the U.S.A., Canada, and Europe. Her favorites, that have fond memories for her,
include one from a fifth grade field trip to the National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C., and from family vacations to Gatorland in Orlando, Florida,
Nag’s Head and Cape
Hatteras, North Carolina.
A Diorama of a
Sioux Indian Village from the
Lewis and Clark Expedition
made by Laura and Tyler Eby and
Hannah Cramer
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Laura Eby and Hannah Cramer |
Hannah, Laura, and Tyler’s contribution to the July exhibit is not anything that they have collected but has to do with what they studied during this past home-school year, which was about travel – the Lewis and Clark expedition (1803 – 1806).
From their studies of the
journey of Lewis and Clark throughout the Louisiana Purchase, the children chose
the Sioux Indians to research. The approximately 57” by 25” diorama that they
made includes a Sioux Indian village, the Missouri River and the plain. Hanna,
Laura, and Tyler write, “It took a lot of time. To make the tepees, we used
ideas from a Kids Discover magazine. We sculpted the people from clay
and glued hair and clothes on them. Then we arranged the people and had them
doing everyday chores. Last of all, we placed Meriwether Lewis and William
Clark in a canoe on the Missouri River to represent the expedition visiting the
village.”
The Lewis and Clark
Expedition
by Laura and Tyler Eby and Hannah Cramer
“After the U.S. purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803, President
Thomas Jefferson commissioned his secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to lead a "Voyage
of Discovery" into this unknown land. Lewis chose one of his oldest and closest
friends, William Clark, to help him lead this expedition. They were to find a
water route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, establish friendly
relations with the Indians, and to report findings about new plants and animals
they encountered.
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led a group of men called the "Corps of
Discovery" through vast plains, along winding rivers, and over steep mountains.
They encountered both friendly and unfriendly Indian tribes during their long
dangerous 
journey to the
Pacific coast. During their adventures, they met a young Native American woman
named Sacagawea who helped them through some of the most difficult parts of
their expedition--while she was caring for her baby!
Lewis and Clark left on their great expedition in 1803 and returned home in 1806, long after people had given them up for dead. Even though they did not find the water route they hoped to, their journey was still a success because they had done the impossible and opened up a new land for future travelers and settlers.”
Hannah, Laura, and Tyler will
try to be present for some of the open house times to talk to visitors about
their project.
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