Looking Back 1980: First tornado in a century hits Chambersburg, Pa.
Monday, May 12, 1980, was winding down. Families were sitting down to dinner. Some people were just returning home from work. It has been a warm day so many people had opened their windows to allow the fresh air in. Then just after 6 p.m., a large black cloud moved in over Chambersburg, the wind began gusting to incredible speeds and rain fell, sometimes very heavily. “It was like fire rolling over the top of the building. The power lines started snapping like candy,” said a motorist who pulled into The Lumber Yard when the rain became too intense to see through, according to the Public Opinion. Another Chambersburg resident, Ida Beard, said, “I was driving home (via) Radio Hill around 6 and saw a round ball in the sky to my left. It kept getting smaller. I looked like Read more…
"Looking Back" newspaper column now in 4 newspapers
I’ve posted many of my history articles to this blog. Many of them come from my newspaper column, “Looking Back.” Beginning in the middle of next month, I’ll be adding the Gettysburg Times to the newspapers to the ones that run my column. It will be the fourth newspaper that runs my column. The others are: The Cumberland Times-News in Maryland, the Chambersburg Public Opinion in Pennsylvania and the Catoctin Banner in Maryland. Though “Looking Back” is a column in multiple newspapers, it isn’t syndicated. It is unique to the newspaper in which it runs. I get to dig through old newspapers and find forgotten or little-known stories in Maryland and Pennsylvania. I find them interesting whether they are simple slice-of-life or a murder mystery. So pretty soon you’ll be able read about some of the interesting goings-on in Adams Read more…
Chambersburg's (Pa.) trolley days
At the turn of the 20th Century, automobiles were a rarity that few people could afford. If someone needed to get into Chambersburg from one of the nearby communities or get around town, he or she needed to ride a horse or walk. That changed in 1902 as preliminary work began on planning a trolley route to service Chambersburg, but not one that was pulled by horses. The Chambersburg and Gettysburg Street Railway Company would be independently powered trolleys that would run from Chambersburg to Gettysburg. The Public Opinion reported that, “Mr. Baumgardner declared it was so cold in December 1902 when surveying was done in the open country for the line that ‘we had to cut the ground with an ax before we could drive an iron pin in.’” The plan was eventually for the Read more…
Patrick Gass: Explorer, Soldier, Patriot from Franklin County
Patrick Gass was a native son of Franklin County, but the impact of his life stretched far beyond the borders of the county and Commonwealth. “Before he died on April 2nd, 1870 at the age of almost 99 years, great cities had been built and untold wealth found in the land he had helped discover. During the War of 1812 he fought in some of the bloodiest battles of the campaign on the Canadian border, and at the age of 63, after a lifetime spent in the service of his country, he married a girl of 20, whom he survived many years. Born before the Revolution, he lived to see this country grow from the original thirteen colonies to 38 states; he voted at the election of 18 presidents from Washington to Grant who served during his lifetime. Four great Read more…
Looking Back 1957: Fire engine catches fire for second time in a year
Hull Disert was a fireman with Friendship Fire Company so he knew the smell of smoke. Though it was lunchtime, this was not the smell of burnt food. This smell was more pungent and it was coming from the truck bay. A fire station was not a place where there should be smoke. As Disert walked into the bay, he heard a popping sound. His attention focused on the 1952 American Fire Apparatus 500-gallon pumper truck. Suddenly he knew exactly what the smell was because he had smelled it earlier in the year. He saw that smoke was filling up the cab of the fire truck. “He promptly cut the battery cable of the apparatus, extinguishing the smoldering fire,” reported the Public Opinion in 1957. An investigation showed that insulation that touched a wire leading from the cold side of Read more…
Looking Back: The 'reel' Bill Cody comes to Chambersburg
You could be forgiven for the confusion in 1932 when it was said that Bill Cody was coming to Chambersburg with his Wild West show. But Buffalo Bill Cody had died in 1917 so how could he be visiting Chambersburg 15 years after he died? This Bill Cody was a B-movie actor with Universal Studios. His latest picture had been released a week earlier called “Mason of the Mounted” so his name was familiar among residents. It had also helped him find work in Hollywood, though Cody had no relationship with Buffalo Bill other than their names. He had been born in St. Paul, Minn., in 1891, at a time when Buffalo Bill and his Wild West show were already legendary. Bill Cody had his own Wild West show and he brought it with him in his $50,000 train (an Read more…
Looking Back: Samuel Cormany makes a wartime decision
When Samuel Cormany left Franklin County in 1859, his country united. He returned to find it split in two and a decision to make that hundreds of thousands of other men had made and were making. With his family barely started, should he risk his life in a war between the states? Cormany returned to Franklin County in August 1862. Since he had been gone, he had gone to college, married, had a child and lived in Canada. His time away had changed his viewpoint of the world as well as his physical appearance. The first family he stopped in to see on his way home was his half-sister Lydia and her husband Henry Rebok who lived near Mechanicsburg. “Sister Lydia didn’t recognize me, nor did Henry – not knowing anything of our coming, and my being away since early Read more…
Looking Back 1980-First tornado in a century hits Chambersburg area
Monday, May 12, 1980, was winding down. Families were sitting down to dinner. Some people were just returning home from work. It has been a warm day so many people had opened their windows to allow the fresh air in. Then just after 6 p.m., a large black cloud moved in over Chambersburg, the wind began gusting to incredible speeds and rain fell, sometimes very heavily. “It was like fire rolling over the top of the building. The power lines started snapping like candy,” said a motorist who pulled into The Lumber Yard when the rain became too intense to see through, according to the Public Opinion. Another Chambersburg resident, Ida Beard, said, “I was driving home (via) Radio Hill around 6 and saw a round ball in the sky to my left. It kept getting smaller. I looked like a tunnel Read more…
My new local history column debuts!
For all you lovers of interesting history story of interesting people, unique events, mind-boggling crimes and just feel-good slice of life stories check out my new Looking Back column in the Chambersburg Public Opinion. It will run twice a month in the newspaper and is the sister column to my original Looking Back column in the Cumberland Times-News, which looks at history of Cumberland, Allegany County and the rest of Mountain Maryland. The debut column looks at Chambersburg Day at Pen-Mar Park in 1906. It’s a nice slice-of-life story about the area. Up next will be a look back at the 1980 tornado that touched down in Chambersburg and caused a lot of damage. Check out the column if you get a chance and let me know what you think.
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