00:20 - Today we're at the Franklin County

00:21 - Historical Society here in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

00:25 - My name is Neal Wrench, and I am presently

00:28 - the president of the Historical Society.

00:32 - Frank County Historical Society is dedicated to preserving

00:36 - and promoting the history of Franklin County.

00:40 - The society operates a museum, a genealogy library,

00:45 - a gift shop, and a website that showcases

00:48 - the local heritage and culture here in Franklin County.

00:52 - The Site Society also publishes newsletters, books and journals

00:57 - that feature historical research and stories.

01:02 - Members will have access to Members Only website,

01:06 - which is Franklin Historical Record.

01:09 - That is Franklin Historical Board,

01:12 - which includes a free subscription

01:15 - to Franklin County owned newspaper DOT com.

01:19 - This will include 1 million pages

01:22 - of newspapers for Chambersburg, Waynesboro,

01:25 - Greencastle, Mercy's Burt and Scotland, with papers

01:29 - ranging from 1793 to the year 2020.

01:34 - The society

01:35 - also provides a annual event called the Haunted Jail,

01:39 - which happens during Halloween period.

01:43 - Brush bus trips are also offered here

01:45 - to historical society throughout the year, and all

01:48 - these events are advertised on the our website.

01:53 - The old jail also has been a popular spot

01:56 - for paranormal investigations.

01:59 - We are very active with the Historical Society

02:02 - within South Central Pennsylvania,

02:05 - and we're always looking for volunteers

02:07 - to help in our genealogy library, give tours

02:10 - and help out in many of our events.

02:13 - If you're interested in volunteering,

02:15 - you can call 172631667.

02:20 - So now let's just enter the jail.

02:24 - I'm Joyce Hurst, a long time docent here at the old jail.

02:28 - And I would like to welcome you to Chambersburg

02:30 - and to the old jail.

02:32 - Around our jail was built in 1818.

02:35 - So we're now well over 200 years old,

02:40 - functioned as the

02:42 - Franklin County Jail for 152

02:45 - years, closing in 1970.

02:48 - And we believe that this is the longest continuous

02:53 - use jail in Pennsylvania.

02:57 - Also located here is the Franklin County

02:59 - Historic Society. On the second floor

03:02 - are our offices and our genealogy library

03:06 - as we explore the three floors of this building.

03:09 - And this is a big building.

03:12 - Yes. You're going to see jail cells,

03:14 - but you're also going to see museum items,

03:18 - history pertaining to Franklin County.

03:21 - So we're going to start here with this door.

03:23 - It's a very hefty door.

03:26 - It's two ply held together with iron straps.

03:29 - And you'll see the large key here,

03:31 - which of course, is the original one.

03:34 - And it still works.

03:38 - We don't like to demonstrate it anymore

03:40 - because we don't want it to wear out.

03:43 - So I think with that introduction,

03:45 - I would like to move to the next room, to the parlor.

03:49 - Okay.

03:49 - So we've moved into the Palmer of the old jail.

03:53 - Now you're thinking

03:54 - why would there be a parlor in the old jail?

03:57 - Well, the sheriff was the guy who was in charge

04:00 - of operating the jail.

04:02 - And so if you were the sheriff,

04:03 - you and your family had to live here and so

04:07 - this was your living room,

04:09 - or they may have called it the parlor.

04:12 - Most everything we have in here belongs to the chambers family.

04:17 - Ben Chambers was the man who settled here,

04:20 - he and his family, about 1730,

04:24 - and that was just about

04:26 - two blocks from here down by the falling spring,

04:29 - which also flows into the Conical Creek.

04:33 - He had a gristmill, but it wasn't

04:37 - then until about 1764 that he encouraged

04:41 - other people to move here and divided the area into lots

04:45 - and became a town or village at that time.

04:50 - We have things here in the case pertaining to those dividing

04:55 - of the lots and also the deed from the Chambers family.

05:00 - But we have

05:01 - two painted pictures of the original Ben Chambers,

05:05 - and I'd say the original

05:06 - because every generation had a Benjamin.

05:11 - But of course, we didn't have cameras back in those days.

05:14 - So they're painted pictures and we have one of his wife, Jane.

05:18 - Other pictures in the case, our chambers family members.

05:22 - We also have silver over here in the case

05:25 - that belonged to the Chambers family

05:28 - and some other items in this room.

05:32 - All came down through the Chambers family.

05:35 - We're now in the kitchen of the old jail,

05:38 - the kitchen used by the sheriff's family.

05:43 - And later on there was a more modern kitchen.

05:47 - But we've taken it back to

05:49 - what might have looked like in the original days

05:52 - when the cooking

05:53 - and the heat source would have been the fireplace.

05:56 - So we have lots of items in here that pertain to a kitchen.

06:00 - If you were to visit here, you might notice that

06:04 - there are no bars on the windows

06:06 - in this part of the building because it was living quarters.

06:10 - Every place where you see bars,

06:12 - that means there were prisoners.

06:13 - And so there are lots of areas where there were prisoners.

06:18 - I've thought already about how much wood or coal

06:21 - it would have taken to keep all these fireplaces going.

06:25 - You'll notice that the fir chimneys are double

06:29 - and so you have a fireplace on either side of the wall

06:32 - and there are quite a few fireplaces

06:34 - throughout the building.

06:36 - But then again I thought, oh well, they had free labor.

06:39 - I'm sure they took the prisoners out and collected the wood

06:43 - and carried it in here, or perhaps brought the coal in

06:46 - to keep all these fireplaces going.

06:50 - I'd like to point out just a couple of items.

06:53 - This one,

06:55 - we were told, is a popcorn popper.

06:58 - You would hold it over the fire and spin it.

07:01 - And but I was also told that,

07:05 - no, it was to roast coffee beans.

07:08 - Well, I suppose it could be used for a number of things

07:13 - to roast chestnuts, to roast peanuts, pop popcorn, whatever.

07:18 - Pretty nice item

07:21 - up here.

07:22 - We have a bed filling up.

07:24 - The German word was besser, which meant better.

07:28 - And so it made a better light than candles.

07:33 - And so it was nicknamed the Betty Lamp.

07:36 - It was portable.

07:37 - It could be carried around.

07:39 - It burned whale oil or

07:43 - animal fat for

07:46 - for the source of the heat

07:51 - or in the apothecary of the old jail.

07:54 - Why would a jail have an apothecary?

07:57 - Well, it wasn't always here.

08:01 - This was the room that we're told was the doctor's

08:04 - examining room, that if an inmate needed to be seen

08:08 - by a doctor, a doctor was called in.

08:10 - The inmate was brought here to be attended to.

08:15 - But what we have in here is

08:17 - mostly all medically related for that reason.

08:20 - And a lot of what we have in this area

08:23 - came from an old drugstore down

08:26 - on South Main Street just two blocks away from here.

08:30 - Lots of bottles, lots of things that were used in

08:34 - an apothecary, I'll point out, just a couple of them.

08:38 - Over here in the windows, we have urns

08:41 - with colored water that are called shell globes.

08:44 - That was the symbol for the apothecary, similar

08:48 - to the barber straight pole outside the barbershop.

08:52 - So 150 years ago, not everyone could read.

08:57 - And so different businesses went by, different symbols.

09:01 - The color of the water may have been significant,

09:04 - that sometimes the water would be red in those urns

09:08 - if there was an outbreak of a bad disease.

09:12 - If everyone was well, the water was green

09:16 - or if they weren't sure.

09:18 - Amber, for caution, just like our street, our traffic lights.

09:23 - Another thing of interest over

09:25 - here is the dentist drill.

09:28 - It has a foot pedal.

09:30 - And so the dentist would make that

09:32 - go just like a treadle sewing machine

09:36 - that went around and around and could grow your teeth.

09:41 - I often say I would

09:42 - want to go to the dentist first thing in the morning

09:45 - because he had plenty of energy to keep that pedal going.

09:48 - By afternoon it might be a little slower,

09:51 - but at any rate, I don't think it would be a good experience

09:54 - either way. Okay.

09:58 - So now you're seeing some cells

10:00 - and the doorway of these cells are very low.

10:04 - And I've often been ask, why are they so small?

10:09 - Well, I've thought of three reasons.

10:12 - First, they might be part of security.

10:15 - You couldn't come charging out of there.

10:18 - Secondly, well,

10:21 - they're made out of cash there you can see the gate

10:24 - and that whole box is cast there and it would be very heavy

10:29 - and so it would take a good support under there.

10:33 - We have several of them here and there's a row

10:36 - up on the second floor just like them.

10:38 - And so maybe they had to keep the size down to

10:43 - keep the weight under control.

10:46 - And also maybe it was the cost

10:48 - that probably would be the less likely idea.

10:53 - But that's something that people always wonder about.

10:57 - It is very dark in there,

10:59 - even on a bright, sunny day like we have right now.

11:03 - If I turn the lights out, it is very dark in there,

11:06 - so it would not be a good place to be at any time

11:13 - in this area.

11:14 - We have a lot of civil war things.

11:19 - Chambersburg was occupied three times

11:22 - by the Confederates in 1862.

11:26 - Jebb Stewart came into town and destroyed

11:30 - the railroad shops not far from here.

11:33 - And of course in 1863,

11:36 - generally, an AP Hill met on the square

11:40 - in Chambersburg, just again two blocks from the building here,

11:44 - and made the decision to turn east to Gettysburg.

11:48 - So there were lots and lots of confederates

11:51 - in the area.

11:53 - And then it was a year later in 1864 and July,

11:57 - that General McCausland was given orders by Juba OREILLY

12:01 - early to burn, to come to Chambersburg, declare a ransom.

12:07 - And if that ransom was not met, the town was burned,

12:10 - they could not raise the money.

12:12 - And so the town was destroyed.

12:14 - So the flag that we have here was flying on

12:18 - the square the morning that the town was burned.

12:21 - And this lady's picture that you see here,

12:24 - her family retrieved that flag

12:27 - before things were set on fire and saved.

12:30 - That flag was in her family until recent years

12:34 - when it was given to us.

12:35 - And we have properly restored it.

12:37 - It has just 36 stars.

12:41 - That's how many states or in 1863.

12:48 - What we have in the hallway

12:49 - here are things pertaining to our railroad.

12:52 - We are in the Cumberland Valley

12:54 - and the first railroad that came through here

12:57 - was called the course.

12:58 - The Cumberland Valley Railroad later became the Pennsylvania

13:01 - Railroad and has gone through lots of name changes since then.

13:05 - But what we have here on the wall is a relief map

13:09 - that was made in 1912

13:12 - for the Cumberland Valley Railroad.

13:15 - It shows the our valley here of about 100 miles

13:18 - Winchester to the south, which is about 50 miles.

13:22 - And Chambersburg is here in the middle.

13:24 - And at the other end is Harrisburg.

13:27 - And it shows the contour of our mountains and the valley.

13:31 - Our family is about 25 miles wide

13:35 - and there's a red line showing the main line

13:38 - up of the Cumberland Valley Railroad,

13:41 - which made for the railroad.

13:42 - And then there's some other zigzag lines

13:45 - that would indicate other railroads that connect

13:48 - to the main line

13:51 - on the wall.

13:51 - We also have a clock that hung

13:55 - in the railroad station here.

13:58 - It's a Septimus clock and still keeps good time.

14:02 - We also have a picture of the pioneer

14:05 - locomotive of that train still exists.

14:09 - It's owned by the Smithsonian and it would have run

14:12 - through our valley.

14:14 - And I'm going to say the 1850s, 1860s,

14:17 - my understand that it was not a real powerful engine,

14:22 - so that probably during the Civil War

14:25 - it was used as a work train, but it definitely went through our

14:29 - our valley on the Cumberland Valley Railroad.

14:31 - So we're we're glad that it still exists.

14:33 - I wish it was back here in Chambersburg.

14:37 - So outside back of the building, you'll see an exercise yard.

14:42 - So if the prisoners were on good behavior,

14:45 - they were allowed out for exercise.

14:48 - And the big structure that you see down here

14:50 - at the end has got this the gallows

14:54 - work up saying that's the original gallows.

14:56 - Well, it's been rebuilt a couple of times,

14:59 - but over the same design.

15:00 - And I think using the same hardware,

15:03 - it was used several times for hangings.

15:05 - But we know that the last time it was used was in 1912 when Mr.

15:10 - William Reed was hanged.

15:13 - We have a newspaper article that shows and tells the story

15:17 - of what happened to him or what he did.

15:20 - And he, of course, did die on the galaxy,

15:24 - which in the last man that was hanged,

15:27 - we know that

15:28 - there was an execution from Franklin County in the late

15:32 - 1930s, but

15:35 - that man was taken to Harrisburg to the electric chair.

15:38 - He was probably the last person

15:40 - from Franklin County that was executed.

15:43 - As far as what did Mr.

15:44 - William Reed do?

15:45 - Well, he killed his ex-girlfriend.

15:48 - Not a good thing.

15:51 - We're in the basement of the 1818 building

15:54 - and we're referred to this as the dungeon.

15:58 - You're going to see several cells.

16:01 - And yes, it's rather spooky down here.

16:04 - And before we had electricity,

16:06 - it would have been very, very dark.

16:09 - We got electricity in Chambersburg in the late 1800s.

16:14 - And so for 80 years it would have been very dark

16:18 - down here to be incarcerated here or to be working down here.

16:23 - I would have been for 80 years.

16:26 - And so we're going to show you some cells,

16:28 - what they looked like.

16:30 - I suppose that probably the very worst prisoners

16:34 - were kept down here in what we call the dungeon.

16:38 - We're inside one of the cells in the dungeon

16:42 - and the other cell, you'll probably see

16:46 - there's a straw tack on the floor, a bucket in a corner.

16:50 - You can figure out what that was for.

16:52 - No plumbing down here. And 18, 18

16:55 - and also a chain

16:58 - so embedded into the cement are rings.

17:01 - And you could be chained to the floor,

17:04 - maybe not all the time, but if they needed to open the door

17:08 - for cleaning

17:08 - or to come in here, they could chain you to the floor.

17:13 - What I'd like for you to see

17:14 - here is some carving we have on the wall.

17:18 - I believe that the man

17:21 - used probably the butt of his

17:24 - knife or fork and tried to carve numbers

17:28 - and letters into the cement wall.

17:32 - And I believe it says 1856, and I believe his name is John.

17:37 - It looks like Joe H.

17:39 - And and then it looks like p e

17:42 - and w a r d, so I call it John Penn.

17:46 - We don't know anything about him except that

17:50 - here is the outline of an anchor and stars.

17:54 - So I oftentimes say Sailor went bad.

18:00 - So you can probably guess

18:01 - we're still in the basement of the old part of the building

18:05 - and we call this the old kitchen.

18:08 - And you can see here's the fireplace.

18:11 - We've got some cooking utensils here.

18:14 - And this is where the cooking would have been done

18:16 - in those very early years for the inmates.

18:20 - As we said at the beginning, the sheriff and his family lived

18:24 - upstairs and it was a kitchen up there.

18:27 - And probably the sheriff's wife was the cook down here.

18:31 - So, again, if we turn the bright lights out,

18:34 - it's very, very dark here.

18:36 - The farm would make a little bit of light

18:38 - and some candles, but it would not be a fun place to work.

18:44 - We're showing

18:44 - you the cold shower or the root cellar,

18:47 - which is just right off of the old kitchen you just saw.

18:53 - This is where the probably the fruits and vegetables

18:56 - would have been stored.

18:57 - We didn't have refrigeration back in the 1800s. So

19:02 - it would stay pretty cool in here.

19:07 - We're now in the new part of the building, new being 1880.

19:12 - This part was added on in 1880.

19:16 - You'll see many cells, three floors,

19:19 - and this is only half of the building back here.

19:22 - On the other side is the West Cellblock.

19:25 - And as

19:26 - to how many cells there are, I see there are 12 on this side

19:31 - and probably 12 on the other side as well.

19:35 - But this time there was a heating system and and plumbing.

19:41 - And we'll show you some of the crude plumbing.

19:44 - But at least they had

19:45 - a wash bowl and

19:50 - and a toilet.

19:54 - And they tell me there's a unique

19:56 - ventilating system back here

19:58 - that that works through the chimney.

20:00 - I couldn't begin to explain that.

20:01 - And we certainly can't show you.

20:03 - But there was

20:04 - a way of getting fresh air into this part of the building.

20:09 - But it does get very hot back here.

20:10 - And, of course, no air conditioning then or now.

20:13 - Right now.

20:20 - What was the nickname for the jail?

20:23 - Yeah, I know there were many names,

20:25 - but the sound effect should give you a clue.

20:29 - Oftentimes it was called the slammer.

20:32 - And that's why when that gate slams, Buddy, you've had it.

20:36 - And if you can see here, this again is all cast iron.

20:40 - And this is a pin that goes in that hole

20:43 - and a little tape

20:45 - that all goes into place and a padlock on there.

20:49 - If you notice down here, there's an opening

20:52 - and that's made a little wider and so that's where your plate

20:56 - of food could be passed under the gate to you.

21:02 - We're in another part of the basement of the 1880 building.

21:05 - And what I would like you to look for here is the prison art.

21:10 - There's drawings all over this wall,

21:13 - and every time you come down and look at it,

21:16 - you see something you didn't see before.

21:19 - They were quite artistic.

21:21 - We believe that probably

21:23 - the African-Americans were incarcerated down here.

21:27 - I suspect they were segregated

21:30 - with there are some dates of the 1940s,

21:34 - but hopefully you can see right here we have a skater for one

21:41 - some calendars, of course, again, where

21:43 - they were stroking off the days till they would get out.

21:48 - But they were quite good artists.

21:53 - We're on the second floor now of the 1818 part of the building

21:57 - and you'll see another row of cells.

21:59 - You see the doors here just like the ones

22:02 - below, the ones with the low openings.

22:06 - We're using these now for collection storage

22:10 - and they are climate controlled and and are secured.

22:15 - But over here we have some cases with, again,

22:18 - some things that pertain to the history of Franklin County.

22:21 - And we have some muskets and we have some powder horns.

22:26 - One is actually an animal horn,

22:30 - so I think that's pretty special.

22:33 - We're in the front part of the 1818 building

22:37 - in a room that's

22:40 - an open room, but there are bars on the windows.

22:43 - So that tells us that there were prisoners.

22:45 - So we're told that probably the juveniles

22:48 - or the lesser offenders were kept in these couple

22:51 - of rooms, probably dormitory style with bunk beds.

22:55 - They could get lots of people in here.

22:58 - But the sign on the door now says Music Room.

23:01 - And so this room is full of musical instruments,

23:05 - some of which work.

23:06 - Maybe they don't all work, but some do.

23:09 - And they've all been donated to us

23:12 - because we are the historical society.

23:15 - When people want something kept for display purposes,

23:19 - they give it to us.

23:20 - So we accept that

23:22 - if it pertains to Franklin County

23:25 - and if we don't already have that item,

23:27 - fortunately we have one here that that does work.

23:30 - And I'm going to play that one for you just by turning

23:33 - the handle a few times. So

23:58 - you may not be

23:59 - able to see them, but if there's a metal disk with holes

24:02 - just like the paper, piano or rolls, there's

24:06 - little fingers that play those holes that makes the notes

24:10 - beautiful sound better than stereo.

24:12 - Today

24:18 - we're on the second floor

24:19 - of the front of the building.

24:22 - These, as I mentioned

24:24 - downstairs, the sheriff and his family lived here.

24:27 - So we're right above the living room

24:29 - and the kitchen that you've seen earlier.

24:31 - And these were their bedrooms.

24:33 - And guess what?

24:34 - They were sleeping right across the hall from the inmate.

24:39 - I bet they kept their doors locked at night. So

24:43 - now this is the research library for the Historic Society.

24:47 - And we have folks coming from all over the country to

24:51 - do research on their families

24:53 - back to the 1800s or even further.

24:57 - And so we have a couple of folks here right now

24:59 - from the state of Washington, and that's what they're doing.

25:02 - They're looking for

25:03 - their families and what they can learn about them.

25:08 - I'm standing in the garden outside of the old jail.

25:11 - You can see the stone wall that that completely surrounds

25:15 - the building.

25:16 - And I think probably back in those early days

25:18 - of the jail that this probably was a vegetable garden.

25:22 - But now you can see

25:23 - it's beautifully taken care of by our local garden club

25:27 - and they want I want to thank you for joining us today

25:31 - on this quickie tour of the old jail.

25:34 - And we hope

25:35 - that you'll come to Chambersburg and want to take the fall tour

25:38 - and see the entire building.