Schools of Linglestown

In 1720 the first school in town was built in combination with the the first church at Wenrich's, now St. Thomas UCC. It was a one story log building located a half a mile east of Linglestown. The building had a church and school in one half and a home for the minister and teacher in the other half. It was called Wenrich's Parochial School.

Wenrich's Parochial School

Wenrich's Parochial School was used until 1790 when the students were then moved to the The Town of St. Thomas Log School. The Log School was twenty feet wide and twenty feet long and stood on the eastern part of town. On the north side of the building were two windows and the desks for the male students. The door, teacher's desk and window were on the east side of the classroom. On the south end was one window, and log seats and desks for the female students.  The west end had two windows, a long bench against the wall, and bench and desk for the big boys. A ten plate stove was in the center of the room and a small space up front for a blackboard. The windows were chin high so that the pupils couldn't look out. The students attended the log school until 1843.

The log school was built before the days of the free schools as we know them. The teacher was paid a penny a day for each pupil by the parents. If the parents could not pay then it was paid by the poor house. School attendance was not compulsory in those days.

In 1843 the students moved to a new school on the northern hill above Linglestown. Because of its location it was named the Hill School. The building was forty feet long and thirty feet wide. At one time it had one hundred students. Mr. Charles Mytinger was the teacher and was paid twenty dollars a month for four months of teaching each year. This school was also used for church purposes. 

The Hill School became so crowded in 1851 a duplicate school building was constructed east of the town on the Joseph Meese farm. The school had two names: The Locust Hill School or Meese School. The students who lived in the east end of town went to the Locust Hill School and those who lived in the west part of town went to the Hill School. 

An incident happened at the Locust Hill School.  When a teacher demanded that a girl student, who was much heavier and larger than he was, do a certain lesson, she refused. He was going to force her to do it so she took her small slate board and hit him over the head with it. The slate broke and the frame of the slate hung around the teacher's neck. The girl left school and ran home, never to return.

In 1879, when the Locust Hill School closed, the Mt. Zion School opened.  The school was located on the Meese farm, directly south of the Locust Hill School. It was thirty feet long and twenty feet wide. The school had all new furniture, desks for two with drop lids and folding seats, plaster blackboards all around the room, and two clothes closets. The school cost $727.00 to build and furnish.

Mt Zion School

After the Hill School was closed in 1859, the students were transferred to a new brick school which had been recently built. One of the teachers there,  Mr. Joseph Eichelhart, was especially liked by the children and their parents. When he came to Linglestown to teach, he brought wooden handled jumping ropes for the girls and was the first to introduce the game of football to Linglestown.

In 1876, construction began on the Linglestown High School building. It was built at the west end of Linglestown. There were three sections taught at this school: primary, intermediate and secondary education. The secondary school was established in 1910, composed of a two year course. The first graduating class in 1912 had six members. The brick building was used until 1931 when it became the location of the Linglestown Fire Company.

Lillie Pitman was the teacher at Linglestown High School
in 1921.  The pump was just outside the door and it was a
student's chore to bring in a pale of water each day for
watering the plants and washing the slate chalk boards.

One of the earlier graduating classes of the Linglestown High
School.  Seated: Bertha Rabrich, Ella Good, Sarah Schreiner,
standing: Irene Hershey, Boyd Good, Eva Daniel, Professor
William Weills and Dorothy Frese.

Teacher's Contract

Many times, when a teacher offered his services, he would draw up a contract to be agreed upon by the parents of the children he was to teach. Here is an example of a contract used by a teacher:

"George W. DuMars proposed to teach a regular English School three months at Light's School, consisting of the following branches: spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic if necessary. We, the subscribers, promise to pay the said, G.W. DuMars, for the above services, two dollars per scholar, annexed to our name, with fire wood and school house, for said term. None subscribers will be required to pay three cents per day. School will commence on the first Monday of December, next." Subscription dated, October 12, 1832. About thirty persons signed this pledge.

In 1922 the Lower Paxton Township Public School was opened. For many years all the students in the Township went to this school. In later years, the elementary and senior high school students went to newly constructed schools.

Merit System

Teaching and the running of the classroom was different in many ways than the way it is done today.  The merit system was used in the Mt. Zion School. Reciting was very important then and the "move to the head of the class system" was used. The more correct answers a student had in a row, the closer he/she came to the front of the class. If he/she made a mistake,  he went to the rear to begin again. The person who was at the head of the class at the end of each week would receive a merit card recognizing this fact.


Apparel

The Boys wore homemade boots and the girls wore homemade cow hide shoes, greased with hot tallow. The girls also had hand warmers, heavy long underwear and long, woolen stockings in the winter.


Books and Equipment

There was different equipment used in the schools.  Raubs Reader, Mitchell's Geography, Buckwalter's Speller and different arithmetic and grammar books were used. Many large wall maps, charts on tripods and globes were used.


Games

Many games were played at recess, most of which have now been forgotten. Paddleball, sock about, rabbit, old sow, kick the wicket, carley over, whip cracker, hind-most-three, see-saw, fox in the morning, rolling whoops, shooting marbles, building snowman, and snowball battles are an example.


Punishments 

Many different types of punishments were used in the schools. Some examples of these are spanking, staying in at recess and standing on a round stick in a corner, with one hand held high.

Schools of Higher Education

There were two institutions of higher education in early Lower Paxton Township. The first was called the Log College and was located a mile south of Paxtonia. The second one was located in Linglestown at the eastern end.  It was called St. Thomas Institute, a three-story building. The institute was opened in 1856 by Professor John Focht, for a term of six weeks. Students were charged three dollars for each term. The school operated for a number of years, graduating many future professional people. The students came from many surrounding counties. The building is now a home and can be seen at 6073 Linglestown Rd.

Information for this post is from the Lower Paxton Twp. Bi-Centennial book.

Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church

By the 1940’s, the Lutheran congregation in the Linglestown area had grown to the point that consideration was given to having a church of their own. At a meeting of the congregation of Wenrich's church in August, 1946 a ways and means committee was selected to plan for relocation and construction of their building. 

A building fund was started at a church picnic, Rev. Kleinfelter donated the first $5. Mr & Mrs H.S. Koons offered a tract of land along Mountain Road, formerly known as the Crums Farm. Their generous offer was accepted at a meeting on November 13, 1949. The name, Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, was decided upon at the same meeting. 

Ground breaking ceremonies for the main building, which included a basement and kitchen, took place June 17, 1951.

Construction of the church took place during the Korean War, which meant metal for casting a bell was unavailable.  The problem was solved with help from the American Legion Post of Linglestown.  

The Robert H Hoke American Legion Post 272 acquired and remodeled the Union Chapel, removing the steeple and stowing the bell away in the attic. By the end of World War II,  the Legion's chapel was no longer used for religious services.

When the Post Commander heard of the church's bell problem, the post members offered the bell as a memorial to veterans of all wars. They stipulated that each Memorial Day, when the flag is lowered from the flagpole, the bell should be tolled once for each year the American Legion has existed beginning with 1919. That was done for years until the bell was replaced with an electronic version.

Services were held in the basement of the main building for the first three years. The sanctuary was completed and dedication services were held July 24, 1955.

A second section consisting of educational rooms, church offices, library and youth rooms were completed in 1957.  And a third section was started May 28, 1967, creating a courtyard surrounded on three sides by buildings that house Sunday school classes on two levels.  The completed buildings were dedicated on Nov. 11, 1967

For years after, the original churches of Linglestown got together for a Sunday School Union Picnic. Here is the list of contests and prizes for the one held at HersheyPark in 1950.

First Place of Worship

A log cabin parochial school and place of worship was erected on the property that is now St. Thomas United Church of Christ on Linglestown Road.  The early settlers represented four different religious persuasions: Episcopalian, Lutheran, German Reformed and Presbyterian. The crude building is said to have been located at the west end of the current church property. Two dates identifying the origin of this place are recorded by different previous researchers, 1730 and 1765.

Left side is where the pastor lived, right side was the school.

In 1784 the land that included the first house of worship was sold to Francis Wenrich and his wife, Elizabeth. In 1792 the Wenrich family deeded 2 3/4 acres of their land, including the house of worship and a spring to the four congregations.

In 1793 the Lutheran and German Reformed congregations, which had to share the log church with other denominations, decided to become a union church and drew up Articles of Agreement. The church was to be called Wenrich's Church. This second church building was constructed in 1794 and built of timbers donated by the members. Worshipers brought their own small stoves or foot warmers to provide the only heat. The ministers' horses were housed in stables behind the church and fed with hay and feed paid for by the congregations.

Second church

A drawing of the church and the interior was created in the 1920's while elderly members still had memories of it.