TWO hundred years ago there was created in the Province of Pennsylvania a new County and it was named Lancaster.
Thus we had our beginning. Hence we celebrate in commemoration of an existence whose stride has increased with the years. Nor do we note the mere fact of a beginning. We commemorate a continuing growth whose keynote has been service and whose characteristic has been accomplishment.
This anniversary year is to be made notable by much celebrating, including a pageant to be called "The Pageant of Gratitude." A good thought brought that name. For what sentiment could be more Appropriate, what feeling nearer right, than gratitude for our blessings. . . .
As we look back over these glorious two hundred years with all their story of achievement at home and abroad a feeling of pride comes over us. A feeling of pride but not a feeling of pride that prompts us to quit. A feeling of pride that commands us to carry on, that we, in our day, may do well enough to take place with the pioneers of old. Pride in our County and loyalty to its best interests- these should be the cornpanion feelings of our celebration.
Historic Lancaster, whose past is an inspiration, whose present is an opportunity, whose future is a challenge!
Highlights of Lancaster's History
by Dr. H.M.J. Klein, Franklin and Marshall College, Chairman Research Committee, Pageant of Gratitude
LANCASTER County soil was fertile Indian territory long before the discovery of America. Before the coming of William Penn, French traders bartered with the native Shawanese. In the later days when there was trouble between the French and the English in America, the governor of the province, John Evans, visited these Indian settlements in order to establish their loyalty to Queen Anne.
As early as 1709 a colony of Mennonites came from Switzerland under the leadership of Hans Herr whose house is still standing, the oldest in the County-and began to make this district the richest agricultural region in the United States. Then came the French Huguenots, the Scotch-Irish, the Quakers, the Welsh, the Palatines.
At the time when Pennsylvania had only three counties, Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester, from the last-named county a section was separated, to which John Wright, a native of Lancaster, England, one of the first settlers in this region, gave the name of Lancaster County. This separation took place in 1729. Out of the original Lancaster County, York, Cumberland, Berks, Northumberland, Dauphin and Lebanon counties have since been taken, leaving Lancaster County today an area of 928 square miles of territory which for beauty, fertility, and picturesqueness is unexcelled.
On a plot of ground owned by Andrew Hamilton, and divided by him into town lots, there sprang up two hundred years ago an embryo Village called " Hickory Town " or " Gibson's Pasture," which was the beginning of what is now known as Lancaster City. When Andrew Hamilton laid out this village in 1730 on the land he owned, there were less than two hundred inhabitants in the town. It was through his son, James Hamilton, that the village was turned into a borough in 1742. The first Burgess of Lancaster was Thomas Cookson, an Englishman, whose remains are interred in the robing room of St. James Episcopal Church.
A number of important Indian treaties were made at Lancaster in 1744 between the chiefs of the Six Nations and the rulers of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland. In the formulation of these treaties all the disputes between the whites and the Indians came up for discussion.
During the French and Indian War, through the influence of Benjamin Franklin, hundreds of wagons and pack horses were sent from Lancaster to General Braddock. Many officers and soldiers from this section served in the battalions which marched with Forbes and Bouquet to the Ohio. In this list of Lancaster County men who served in the French and Indian War are found the names of Shippen, Grubb, Atice, Hambright, Reynolds, and a roll of five Presbyterian clergymen serving as chaplains.
The Indian history of Lancaster County ends in 1763, when a band of sixty men called the Paxton boys came to this city, stormed the jail and workhouse, then located at the northwest corner of West King and Prince Streets, and massacred all the Indians confined there for protection.
In the days of the American Revolution, Lancaster was an important center of patriotic activities. After the closing of Boston Port, a meeting of protest was held in the Lancaster Court House. Her deputies attended the Pennsylvania Convention in Philadelphia and joined in a call for a Colonial Congress. After Lexington, the citizens at a public meeting pledged their lives and fortunes to the cause of all the Colonies, and companies of expert riflemen were organized. William Simpson of Captain Smith's Lancaster company, was the first Pennsylvania soldier who fell in the Revolutionary War. Many British prisoners were brought to Lancaster, among them being Major Andre, kept for a time at the Cope House, corner of Grant and North Lime Streets.
When the British were on the point of occupying Philadelphia, Continental Congress and the Executive Council of Pennsylvania were removed to Lancaster. The members of Continental Congress arrived here on September 27, 1777, the very day on which General Howe entered Philadelphia. The records and treasury were removed to Lancaster by way of Reading. One session of Congress was held here; but the rnembers, believing that they might be interrupted by the enemy, resolved to remove Congress to York.
The Executive Council of Pennsylvania met here on October 1, 1777 and its sessions continued to be held in this city for nearly nine months, during which time the President of the Council, the Hon. Thomas J. Wharton, Jr., died, and was interred in Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Lancaster furnished a signer of the Declaration of Independence in the person of George Ross. Another son of Lancaster, who brought distinction to his native soil, was David Ramsay, the historian of the Revolution. William Henry conducted a gun factory to manufacture and repair arms for the Continental army. His son, John Joseph Henry, took part in the expedition against Quebec and immortalized the campaign by his accurate and interesting account of the hardships and sufferings of that band of heroes who traversed the wilderness in an attempt to take Canada for the Colonial cause.
The greatest military hero of Lancaster during the Revolution was General Edward Hand, one of Washington's most trusted aides, who fought in the battles of Trenton and Long Island, succeeded Stark in command at Albany and accompanied Sullivan's Expedition against the Six Nations in 1779. His home, "Rockford" still stands along the Conestoga River in the southwestern part of the city. Under the roof of this hospitable mansion, General Washington, Lady Washington, and many soldiers and civilians famous in the early annals of our nation found shelter and congenial companionship. In Revolutionary days the Moravian brethren at Lititz cared for many wounded soldiers, Continental, British, and Hessian, in a building that is still standing. Peter Miller among the Brothers and Sisters in the Ephrata Cloister translated the Declaration of Independence into many foreign tongues.
Lancaster is the home of Franklin and Marshall College. This institution developed out of what was originally Franklin College, founded at the suggestion of Benjamin Franklin. The Legislature of Pennsylvania granted the College its first charter in 1787. Among the first trustees were four signers of the Declaration of Independence and seven officers of the Revolutionary Army.
George Washington visited Lancaster on several occasions, the most notable of which fell on the fifteenth anniversary of American Independence, July 4, 1791.
Lancaster was the capital of Pennsylvania from 1799 to 1812, when the state capital was removed to Harrisburg. The State Legislature met in the Court House, which at that time was known as the State House, and stood in the center of the square, where the Soldiers' Monument now stands. Old Lancaster, with its Conestoga wagons, its story-and-a-half buildings, its colonial architecture, its historic associations, was the largest inland town in the colonies up to the time of the formation of the nation. It had 678 houses and 4,200 inhabitants in 1786. On its streets Robert Fulton played as a boy. The original Fulton birth- place is still standing in southern Lancaster County. The oldest continuous business firm in the county is the Steinman Hardware Company established in 1744. It is undoubtedly the oldest hardware store in the United States. The Demuth Tobacco Shop on East King Street, established in 1770, is the oldest tobacco shop in the United States. The Hager Store is the oldest department store in America under the same family name, continuing on the same site throughout the whole period of its history. The Farmers Trust Company is 119 years old. One of Lancaster's daily newspapers has been in existence for over a hundred and thirty-five years and the other has passed the half-centenary line.
Old Lancaster became New Lancaster when, after a period of seventy-six years under burgess rule, the town was incorporated as a city by a charter granted in 1818. John Passmore became the first Mayor of the city.
In the one hundred and eleven years since its formation as a city, Lancaster has been the scene of widespread activities. It has developed into a progressive modern city under the leadership of men, many of whom have exerted a nation-wide influence. Foremost among these men was President James Buchanan, who first came into prominence as a young Lancaster lawyer in 1814, through a speech he delivered at a public meeting in this city after the city of Washington had been captured by the British. He was among the first to register as a volunteer with a company of dragoons, who marched from here for the defense of Baltimore. He represented this community in Congress when he was barely 29 years of age. From here he went to St. Petersburg under an appointment of President Jackson as Minister to Russia. Upon his return, he was chosen United States Senator and filled that office for io years, after which he became Secretary of State under President Polk and later United States Minister to England under President Pierce. At the time of his election as the 15th President of the United States, he lived in the fine old colonial mansion known as " Wheatland," built in the suburbs of Lancaster. Few persons visit Lancaster for the first time without getting a glimpse of this historic spot, which in the hands of its present owner has lost none of its generous hospitality In Woodward Hill, on the slopes that reach down to the Conestoga, at a point from which may be seen some of the loveliest views of that lovely stream as it meanders among the flower-decked hills of Lancaster County, rest the remains of James Buchanan.
Lancaster has many associations with the Civil War. The first bloodshed in the United States caused by the Fugitive Slave Law, occurred in Christiana, Lancaster County.
President Lincoln, on his way to the White House from Springfield, stopped at Lancaster and delivered an address from the balcony of the Caldwell House, now known as the Brunswick Hotel. When he passed through this city again on April 21, 1865, Lincoln's body rested in a heavily-draped funeral car, and the sorrowing crowds stood with uncovered heads while the train passed. But between these two events, Lancaster showed its loyalty to Lincoln and his cause by a remarkable response to the call of the Union for troops in the war of the Rebellion. Soldiers from Lancaster County were found in sixty regiments of Pennsylvania. The well-known seventy-ninth regiment commanded by Colonel Hambright was composed wholly of volunteers. Shortly before the battle of Gettysburg, when General Early reached York and the brigade was sent to hold the bridge at Columbia, and the bridge was set on fire in order to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Southern Army, long lines of refugees passed through Lancaster. At Gettysburg, Major General John Fulton Reynolds, worthy son of Lancaster, commanding the Pennsylvania reserves, was among the first to lay down his life on his country's altar. His body wa was carried to Lancaster and lies buried in the family enclosure in the Lancaster Cemetery. Every visitor to Gettysburg knows of the handsome statue erected to the memory of General Reynolds on that immortal battlefield.
On the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, now standing in Center Square, the names of the following battlefields are carved in high relief: Gettysburg, Antietam, Malvern Hill, Vicksburg, Wilderness, Chaplin Hills, Chickamauga, Petersburg. These names are a testimony to the martial valor of Lancaster County in the Civil War.
Lancaster has furnished many notable men and women to our national life. Thaddeus Stevens, the Great Commoner, lived in this city during the greater portion of his life. He was elected by the Whig Party to Congress in 1848, and threw himself into the arena as the aggressive foe of slavery. Throughout the Civil War, he was one of the most strenuous advocates of emancipation and an able counsellor of President Lincoln. After his death in 1868, a noted historian said, "In the Congress of the United States from the time of its first officer, Frederick August"us Muhlenberg, to this day, there was just one man who when he occupied a seat in that body held more power than any man in the government, and that man was a citizen of Lancaster County, Thaddeus Stevens."
Among the many other notable personages associated with Lancaster were Benjamin West, the famous painter, Lindley Murray, America's foremost grammarian, Lloyd Mifflin, one of the finest sonneteers of modern times, and Barbara Frietchie, who was born here.
To education, Lancaster has given the service of three State Superintendents of Public Instruction, James P. Wickersham, E. E. Higbee and Nathan C. Schaeffer; also Thomas W. Burrowes, the father of the free school system of Pennsylvania. In art, Lancaster has contributed the portrait painter, Jacob Eichholtz, who painted more than two hundred and fifty portraits, among his subjects being Chief justice Marshall and many others of the foremost people of his day. The well-known Baron Stiegel was for many years a resident of Lancaster County and established in the town of Manheim a glass factory the wares of which are highly cherished by antiquarians.
In the corridor of the Brunswick Hotel is a tablet presented by the late W. U. Hensel, and unveiled by the Lancaster Historical Society to commemorate the fact that from the balcony of the former hotel on the same site Abraham Lincoln, Horace Greeley, James Buchanan, Winfield Scott Hancock and Theodore Roosevelt delivered addresses. It appears that Lancaster has entertained seven men who at the time of their visit here or shortly thereafter were President of the United States, and at least three others who were nominated for that high office but failed of election.
Not only is Music, much of it written for the occasion by Dr. Harry A. Sykes, and based upon the themes " Lancaster " and " Gratitude," closely interwoven in the Drama, but Symbolism, in varied rhythmic movements, is an integral part of the production. The " Dance of Independence" in three Movements, the Dramatic Pantomime "The Harvest" in five Movements, and the Lyric Pantomime "The Land of Plenty " in five Visions, embellish the Pageant.
The two leading figures are ' The Chronicler," played by Dr. V. W. Dippell, who reads from the Golden Book of Ancient Record, and The Psalmist" played by Carl W. Aument, lyric tenor, who sings praises unto God.
Specially devised lighting for six planes of action, through the most modern projectors, spotlights, and other accessories, involving one hundred and twenty-five thousand watts, will insure brilliant effects.
The scenic investiture of this great outdoor production is both simple and striking. It consists of the "Altar of Gratitude" and the "Stairway of Blessing," both surmounting the Terrace. These are of vast dimensions, designed and executed with the combined skill of architect and painter. Many old-time vehicles, the famous Conestoga wagons-first made in Lancaster County-and scores of horses will be seen in the Pageant.
The PAGEANT OF GRATITUDE will portray with faithfulness the outstanding dramatic events of two hundred years in one of the nation's best-known and most prosperous counties. It will re-enact in vivid drama those acts of the past that best typify and reveal the progress of American citizenry from the day of the pioneer and early settler up to the present time.
Application for tickets may be made in person on or after Thursday, June 6th, at Pageant Ticket Headquarters located in the Union Trust Company Building, 26 East King Street. Mail orders accom- panied by money order or check and self-addressed stamped envelope may be sent to Mr. T. Warren Metzger, c/o Groff & Wolf, 26-32 North Queen Street, Lancaster, Pa.
Lancaster with its recently completed million-and-a-half-dollar station is on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad and on a branch of the Reading Railroad, with express service on both lines. Fifty trains a day offer a most convenient schedule both on arriving and departing. Excellent electric railway service from practically every town and borough in Lancaster County. Ample hotel and restaurant accommodations-ample parking space for motor cars.
| These pictures are from the Lancaster New Era, Saturday July 3, 1926. There were a total of four two sided pages of photos of the Pageant and historical sketches included |
"Service" 
"Constellation of Stars" From Lancaster went forth keen-minded men of affairs to help in the councils of a nation in the making. From Lancaster went men by the thousands for the Continental armies. Rifles, food, fabrics, uniforms, these in such great quantities were furnished for the cause of liberty that the name of Lancaster was cited as an example of sincere and unselfish patriotism.
At Ephrata in the cloisters of the Seventh Day Baptists and at Lititz in the balls of the Moravian Community were emergency hospitals for the care of the sick and wounded soldiers. From Lancaster County iron furnaces went out ball and shot for the Cannon of the Continental Army and Navy.
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In Lancaster City there were the great barracks at Walnut and Duke Streets where thousands of English and Hessian prisoners were confined during the war of Independence. In Middle Street stood the quaint half-timbered barracks where the Continental troops were quartered. On North Queen Street a great military storehouse and near it a powder house where the almost priceless powder was stored. Opposite the great barracks stood the government stables and here were collected and sent forth immense trains of Conestogo wagons drawn by sturdy horses bred within the confines of the country. These Conestogo wagons formed the larger part of the Continental Army's rolling stock.
But nothing written in this generation can compare with contemporary records of those stirring days. Therefore, we quote from the Diary of Christopher Marshall, a revolutionary free-quaker who, residing in Lancaster during the darkest days of the struggle for liberty, set down many events of importance:
Sept. 19, 1777. After dinner went into town and saw two companies of Lancaster Militia match forward towr'd the camp.
Oct. 2, 1777. Took a walk to view a number of Virginians encamped on the commons. Thence to Main Street near the prison and met a large number of prisoners just bro't in.
Oct. 8, 1777. Yesterday, after many days waiting, sufficient number of members of Pennsylvania Assembly met and made a house and entered upon public business.
Oct. 27, 1777. Five hundred militia marched this day for camp.
Nov. 10, 1777. A number of militia matched through town for General Washington's
camp. Nearly seven hundred Virginians also on their way borne from camp, their time
expired.
Nov. 21, 1777. This morning Thomas Wharton elected president of Pennsylvania at assembly here, for the ensuing year.
Nov. 27, 1777. Past four, I went by appointment of Council, in company with Col. Bayard, to confer with the clothier General respecting the clothing of the troops of this State.
Dec. 2, 1777. Yesterday were read in Council, the Thirteen Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union of the United States.
Dec. 10, 1777. Yesterday, about noon, came into town, from the Northward, about four hundred soldiers in order to he innoculated for the small pox; went into barracks. They brought with them, it's said, about one hundred English prisoners.
Dec. 15, 1777. Upon the rumor yesterday of Gen. Howe's army's being on the Lancaster Road, the papers and records belonging to the Executive Council were packed up and sent by wagons to York Town. Our Assembly continues sitting here.
Dec. 28, 1777. Our affairs wear a very gloomy aspect. Great part of our army into winter quarters: those in camp wanting breeches, shoes, stockings, blankets, and by accounts brought yesterday, were in want of flour, yet being in the land of plenty; our farmers having their barns and barracks full of grain; hundreds of barrels of flour lying on the banks of the Susquebannah perishing for want of care. Fifty wagon loads of cloths and ready made clothes for the soldiery in the Clothier General's store in Lancaster.
Jan. 15, 1778. This day came to town Col. Morgan of the Rifle Batallion. Many Continental troops in town, getting sundry clothes in order to go to the camp.
April 27, 1778. Then came Gen. DeKalb. He took his leave being ordered to camp. May 2, 1778. Yesterday afternoon arrived here Simeon Deane, brother to Silas Deane, with expresses from the Court of France, containing their declaration and acknowledgment of our Independency, and ratifying a treaty of alliance and friendship, acceding to as all the territories in America that were claimed and enjoyed by the English, unto which the King of Spain.bas acceded.
May 11, 1778. Four thousand troops from Virginia are actually on the road, going for camp. Nine wagon-loads are arrived in Lancaster, loaded with linens of different kinds. A number of men marcbed from here this day for camp. This evening the Court House was illuminated and some pieces of brass cannon fired a royal salute of thirteen guns besides small arms, bonfires, etc., on account of the alliance concluded with France.
May 24, 1778. Preparations making, it's said, at the Court House for a grand interment of President Wharton this afternoon at the Lutheran Church. In the afternoon went to the burial of President Thomas Wharton, attended with military honors to the Lutheran Church.
May 25, 1778- Came to town and encamped this side of the ferry between four and five hundred troops from Virginia.
Nov. 21, 1778. After dinner took a walk to the barracks to see part of Col. Bland's regiment of light horse going to their homes in Virginia.
Dec. 14, 1778- Went to the barracks. One division of Burgoyne's troops, said to be seven hundred and eigbty-one, came to town.
Dec. 17, 1778- Yesterday came to town, the Third Division of the British, consisting of the Twenty-fourth, Forty-seventh and Sixty-second Regiments, amounting to Nine hundred and twenty-three prisoners.
Mar. 1, 1778. Yesterday came Palasky's Regiment of Light Horse and Yager Infantry.
Jan. 21, 1780. There was a splendid Assembly last night at The Court House, Lancaster; twenty-one ladies, double quantity of men, band of music, dancing, singing, gaming, drinking, carousing, etc. Every subscriber is to pay Three Hundred Dollars. Gen. Woodward with bis attendants left Lancaster yesterday on bis journey to Virginia.
With this great record of achievements it is altogether fitting that the City and County of Lancaster celebrate in a noteworthy inanner the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of those great days. Lancaster was both Armory and Granary; supplied hosts for the ranks and fearless commanders to lead them; her wise men helped direct affairs and her yeomen tilled the field-laboring without stint until the glorious end of the struggle came.
The Pageant Committee have carefully selected the following staff, sparing neither time nor money to procure the best talent in the allied fields of Drama, Music, Dance, Pantomime and Decorative Arts.
Pageant Director -PERCY J. BURRELL - A director of national reputation, whose activities in the fields of historical pageantry and community drama have reached from coast to coast. Over 75,000 People have come under his personal direction, and more than 900,000 have witnessed the productions.
Choir Director-HARRY A. SYKES of Lancaster- Organist and choir director of old Trinity Lutheran Church, Lancaster, conductor of the Y. W. C. A. Chorus, and Norristown Operatic Society-Fellow of American Guild of Organists-Frequent performer on the great Wanamaker organ, Philadelphia--Guest recitalist on the Sesqui-Centennial organ, Philadelpbia-Composer of the special music in the Pageant
Dance Director- ALICE KRAFT of Philadelphia- Director of Philadelphia branch of Noyes School of Rhythm-Instructor in dancing at the Graphic Sketch Club-Philadelphia Art Alliance-Shady Hill Country Day School, Chestnut Hill-Holman School, Ardmore---Director of "Forest Princess" Pageant, at Univer-sity of Pennsylvania (1924)
Art Director -HAROLD BRECHT of Lancaster- Senior member of the Brecht-Pollard Inc., Advertising Service-Graduate of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art.
Soloist -ELSA MEISKEY- Studied under Marcella Sembrich, Dudley Buck, Henry Gordon Thunder, Richard Hagernan, and other eminent teachers and coacbes--Several times soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and with the Philadelphia Choral Society-Three seasons as Steel Pier soloist, Atlantic City-Famed for concert tours throughout the country.
The Athletic Field of Franklin and Marshall College, the College founded by Benjamin Franklin, has been converted, for the Pageant of Liberty, into a great amphitheatre with a seating capacity of over six thousand.
The Pageant of Liberty in its various movements will be produced on a magnificent scale. There are two great stage levels of greensward, the lower 200 by 240, and the upper 150 by 270 feet- Upon these two planes, the dramatic and symbolic action will take place.
From the three grandstands at all angles, the line of vision to the stage is unobstructed. The acoustic properties of the Pageant Field are remarkable--a child's voice carrying clearly to the distance of 500 feet.
Lancaster makes possible this gigantic presentation by the voluntary services of the Liberty Cboir of 400 voices, the Junior Liberty Chorus of 600 voices, 200 trained dancers, 800 well-coached actors, the Municipal Orchestra of 50 pieces, the Boys' High School Band of 20 pieces and 400 symbolic figures.
Scores of old time vebicles-many Conestogo Wagons, thousands of which went forth from Lancaster to furnish rolling stock for the Continental armies and over 100 horses will likewise take part in the Pageant.
Special lighting by batteries of Kleig floods and spot reflectors, involving 62,000 watts of power, and installed under the direction of a lighting engineer, will contribute a wondrous realism to the scene.
Enacted entirely in the costume of the Revolution, and in specially designed symbolic costumes, the historical part of the Pageant of Liberty will present an effect highly colorful and realistic.
Lancaster's Pageant of Liberty picturing outstanding events in the stirring times of America's struggle for independence will be a soul-stirring spectacles gigantic drama showing America in its great birth struggle to give liberty to the world.
In order to insure a seat at the Pageant of Liberty on any of the presentation nigbts, use the application blank in this booklet. Fill out and mail to the Pageant Headquarters. Tickets will either be held for your call or mailed to you, as you direct.
Lancaster is on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad and on a branch of the Reading Railroad with express service on both lines. Over sixty trains a day offer a most convenient schedule both on arriving and departing. Excellent electric railway service from practically every town and borough in Lancaster County. Ample hotel and restaurant accommodations ample parking space for motor cars.
MAIL ORDERS FOR TICKETS should be sent to T. Warren Metzger, care of Groff and Wolf Company, Lancaster, Pa., enclosing money order or check and stamped envelope for return.
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