Walking Tour of Grounds of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School
Illustrated walking tour of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School by Kate Theimer.
64 pages.
The Imperial Gridiron: Manhood, “Civilization,” and Football at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School
Many recognize the athletic success that the famous football teams at the Carlisle Indian School enjoyed during at the turn of the 20th century. Football served as a publicity tool meant […]
The Industrialization of Carlisle 1750-1920 Volume 2 – Carlisle’s West End
This volume concludes my study of industrialization in Carlisle up to WWI, or roughly 1920. A lot changed after the war, and it provides a convenient ending point. The post-war period marked the beginning of the seismic shift to the automobile, and sweeping changes not only in Carlisle, but in the nation. To this point Carlisle remained a rather small town and, for the most part, industries located on the edges of the town that were not developed.
There was limited industry in the southwest section of the town. In the northwest, the main area of industrial development was owned by the Carlisle Land and Improvement Company along Factory Street, between B and D streets. The Carlisle Land and Improvement Company only existed for four years – from 1890 to 1894, at which time it was dissolved. While the company was short-lived their impact on the town was lasting. By 1897, a trolley line was built out West Street to Cave Hill. This helped shorten the trip into town, and seems to have spurred more residential construction in the area. It wasn’t until 1911, after the new ward was created that a “local” fire company formed. As the reader will see it was sorely needed, as major fires were frequent.
By the start of WWI, two out of town industries relocated here; C. H. Masland and Sons and Tire and Rubber. Both eventually dominated the town industrially, and Tire and Rubber gradually absorbed all the old factories along Factory Street. Today several of the buildings survive, albeit converted to residential occupancies.
Perhaps in the future another historian can chronicle the industries of Carlisle in the century after 1920. There is not much left now; most of what exists is on land annexed from South Middletown Township in the 1970s, not part of the town in its industrial heyday.
by Randy Watts, 2022
ISBN 418740009525 $39.95 124 pages, index and endnotes. Spiral Bound
Industrialization of Carlisle 1750-1920 Vol. 1 – Carlisle’s East End
A chronicle of the industrialization of Carlisle, Pennsylvania focused on operations that required significant capital, used specialized machinery and factory style production, and produced goods which were shipped outside the town or region. This definition excludes such businesses as furniture making in a small shop employing a couple craftsmen and helpers, food processing, bottling, tanneries, mills, brickyards and may other such firms that operated in the years covered.
This volume focuses on the portion of Carlisle east of Hanover Street, often referred to as Carlisle’s East End. Prior to 1890, most of Carlisle’s industrialization took place therein. Carlisle’s East End was a gritty place which became tightly packed with rowhouses, facing both its streets and alleys, built to house the town’s growing workforce. It was mostly working class; nearly all the rich and better off of the town lived on the western side of town – the prevailing winds from the west protected them from the smoke, odors, and noise of the east end.
The industries discussed added materially to the growth and development of Carlisle. Not just from their economic contributions, but the contributions they made to the town’s social fabric.
Author: Randy Watts
231 pages
Carlisle’s Industrial End Walking Tour
Led by Randy Watts. The East End of Carlisle was home to Carlisle’s first large industrial enterprises, the sole survivor of which is the Frog Switch Manufacturing Company. This walk, […]
Prohibition at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School
The last of the Hops & History Series at Burd’s Nest. Barbara Landis will examine temperance and prohibition at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School This series will be offered once […]
A Very Correct Idea of Our School: A Photographic History of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School
Kate Theimer
2018, 166 pages, Soft Cover
ISBN 9781727272505, $22.00
Mid Atlantic Regional Archives Conference Arline Custer Memorial Award 2019 Book Winner
From its beginning, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School (1879-1918) was documented in photographs. The photographic record of the school was used to share with the wider world the progress and perceived successes of tis process of assimilating native American children and our adults, transforming them into “civilized” members of mainstream white American society. In their time, the images served their intended purposes: to promote the school, to create a brand, to aid in fundraising, and to capture a narrow perspective on student life. Today’s views look at these photographs with different eyes, possessing greater knowledge and understanding of what Carlisle really represents to different audiences.
The Carlisle Indian School: A Photographic History traces the history of the school through these images, exploring how photography can inform a basic understanding of what Carlisle meant to the culture of its time, and give an indication of the legacy it left for its students and their descendants, and for American culture today. Drawing on the latest scholarship and rich in images, this volume is a visually powerful introduction to the complex history of the first federally-managed off-reservation boarding school for Native Americans in the United States.
Difficult Conversations (Part II): The Carlisle Indian Industrial School, 1879-1918
Barbara Landis, Carlisle Indian Industrial School Specialist will give a presentation entitled, “Difficult Conversations: The Carlisle Indian Industrial School, 1879-1918.” Her talk will include stories of gatherings and visits with […]
Hospitals, Hygiene and Healthcare: A History of Medicine at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, 1879-1918
The Carlisle Indian Industrial School (CIIS) is well known for its sports teams and assimilationist mission, but very little has been said about the history of medicine at the school. […]
Carlisle Indian Industrial School Virtual Tour
Barbara Landis will give a PowerPoint presentation of a virtual tour of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. This tour is designed to prepare visitors for self-guided tours of the old […]