Nifty at 250
The Greene Academy of Art was built in 1790, with an addition constructed in 1810, on North Market Street. It was listed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1976.
A present day photo of Greene Academy of Art.
An undated photo of the building that houses the Flenniken Memorial Library.
A present day photo of the Flenniken Memorial Library on East George Street.
From Town Square looking south on Market Street on the right is what was known as the Helen Minor Building. Across the street is the Davidson House, which is now the Hartley Inn.
A present day image of Town Square looking south on Market Street.
An undated shot of Carmichaels
A present day photo of the Carmichaels Covered Bridge, which was constructed in 1889 and crosses Muddy Creek. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
In 1967, Carmichaels celebrated its bicentennial with a series of events and activities held throughout the summer months.
That was almost 50 years ago, and as the community now approaches its 250th anniversary next year, a committee of Carmichaels area residents has been working to make sure the sestercentennial does not pass without some festivities.
“We realized from the historic aspect that we were moving in on another 50 years and so we thought there ought to be a celebration,” says Bill Groves, chairman of the Carmichaels Sestercentennial Committee. Carmichaels Borough Council and the Carmichaels Area Chamber of Commerce both agreed it was a good idea, and so a committee was formed to begin the planning, Groves says.
The committee, which began meeting last June, has started to pull together a four-day celebration to mark Carmichaels’ founding. It will be held June 29-July 2, 2017, and include, among other events, a dinner, entertainment, demonstrations by reenactors, old time baseball games, a car cruise and historical display.
The committee has four officers, Groves, chairman; Marianne Gideon, vice chairwoman; Lena Davis, treasurer and Joyce Fortney, secretary, and about 20 members.
“The community has been very helpful,” Groves says. “We’ve had a lot of people come forward with pictures and ideas.”
“People in Carmichaels seem to come together for things like this,” says committee member Ann Bargerstock. Talk of the celebration is starting to gather interest not only from residents but also from former residents.
“People are coming to our Facebook page and starting to comment about how excited they are and plan to come home for the event. And how happy they are the community is doing this kind of thing,” Bargerstock says.
The committee has received donations to get the ball rolling, including a very gracious donation from Community Bank. It also is selling shares of stock for $5 a share, T-shirts and hats.
The Greene Academy has allowed the group to use the academy for meetings and events as well as its tax-exempt, non-profit status to raise money for the celebration, so any contribution is tax deductible.
Carmichaels was founded in 1767 after a large group of early settlers arrived in the area. They included Thomas Hughes, John and Charles Swan, Henry and Joseph Van Meter and James Carmichael.
The part of town now referred to as “old Town” was initially settled by Thomas Hughes. “He had the first land patent and he named it Elizabeth,” says Shelley Anderson, who along with Carole Gideon is preparing a new history of the community.
Carmichael, without an ‘s,’ was a major in the militia during the Revolutionary War. He also had property near Jefferson and at some point traded his land in Jefferson for Hughes’ property in Elizabeth. Hughes went on to live in Jefferson, where his stone house still stands.
Carmichael later laid out the plan of lots that became Carmichaels. “He named it Lisbon,” Anderson says. “It was still called Lisbon when he died, then it was called Carmichaels town and then Carmichaels.”
Anderson says she and Gideon, both committee members and founding members of the Carmichaels Area Historical Society, are still seeking information to document exactly when the town assumed its current name.
Carmichael is buried at the Greene Academy, eight feet from the rear of the building – though, there is no headstone. He earlier had donated the property for the original section of the academy, which was constructed in 1790 as an Episcopalian church.
The sestercentennial committee has a number of sub-committees in charge of various aspects of the celebration. Bargerstock is in charge of stock sales and Anderson and Gideon are in charge of writing the history.
Originally, Anderson says, she and Gideon were only going to update a previous book on the history of Carmichaels’ businesses. “But we decided to expand that and will be going all the way back to the 1700s and bringing it forward to the present day,” she says.
The two women have been doing some of their work at the courthouse, searching the deeds of lots in Carmichaels to glean where known businesses might have been or what was on a particular lot in the past.
They also are seeking information, including old documents, ledgers and photographs, from people in the community. They will soon have a scanner capable of scanning pictures and books.
“This is a probably a last ditch effort,” Gideon says of the history she and Anderson are preparing. “Times have changed so much, if we don’t get it down, who is going to do it? So many of the older people are gone who could have helped.”
Tentative plans for the celebration call for holding events at the town square, Wana B Park and the historic Greene Academy.
Some of the activities planned for the celebration, according to a tentative schedule, include a dinner the first night, June 29, at the Carmichaels American Legion with speakers and music from the legion post band.
On June 30, reenactors will begin setting up camp at Wana B Park and will be there throughout the weekend. A car cruise also is scheduled that day.
On June July 1, entertainment will be featured at town square; a stage will be set up and music provided by a Polka band and several local bands. Food will be available. At the Greene Academy will be historic displays and other activities.
An old-time church service will be held at the park on July 2 and will be followed by old-time baseball games, featuring players in period uniforms. Events also will continue at town square and at the Greene Academy
A shuttle service will be used to ferry those attending the celebration to the various events at the three locations.
Carmichaels had its start as a farming community, developing businesses and trades to provide those in the area with all the essentials of life.
In the early 1900s, it also became associated with coal mining as mines sprouted along the banks of the Monongahela River. That influence led to Carmichaels becoming the home of the annual Pennsylvania Bituminous Coal Show.
Farming continues to be practiced today, though the mines are now closed. The community has survived and prospered and those organizing the 250th celebration believe it has much to offer those seeking a good life.
Both Anderson and Gideon, who both at one time left the area and later returned, agree it is a good place to live.
“I would say this community is actually a warm kind of safe place to be,” Gideon says. “We don’t have a lot of robberies or anything, really.”
“We have a lot of people who take pride in the community,” Groves says. People from all around also often come to take advantage of what it has to offer, he adds. “We have people from Masontown and Jefferson who come over here just to walk at the park.”
The community also continues to see some growth, says Bargerstock, who is the Cumberland Township code officer and who issues building permits for new construction.
“For a long time, some of our young people were migrating away, now they’re migrating back,” she says. Four new houses were recently built on Ceylon Road. “All by members of families that have been here for years.”
The number of people moving into the area may not be great, Groves, a Cumberland Township supervisor, says. “We might only get a few new people a year, but we’re holding our own,” he said. “As long as we can remain at least a bedroom community, people living here and traveling to work, we’ll be all right.”