Take a look back at Franklin County’s history through news and photos that appeared in local newspapers 25, 50, and 100 years ago on Dec 17th.
25 Years Ago
December 17, 1996 – Tuesday
Fire fighters help two men escape current”
“Water Rescue – Hunters Plucked From Truck
Metal Township firefighters rescued two hunters Monday who were stranded atop a truck they tried to drive through a rain-swollen creek. Tim Davis, Shippensburg, and Kevin Stumbaugh, Mercersburg, stepped onto a front-end loader and rode to shore through chest-high water. Neither was injured. At 11:57 a.m., Davis tried to drive his Ford Ranger through the West Branch of Conococheague Creek at Carrick Road. Motorists on the one-lane dirt road must drive through the usually knee-deep water.
“I don’t know what they were thinking but, yeah, it was this deep when they started across,” said Art Neil of Warfordsburg, air-onlooker who spotted the truck from Pa. 75.
“They were trying to go across the creek. Usually you can,” said Pat Hockenberry, Stumbaugh’s sister.
Davis and Stumbaugh were driving to their second hunting spot of the day. Monday was the first day of the antlerless deer season.
Davis said he underestimated the current and depth of the water. The truck stalled with water a few inches from the windows. The men sat on the truck’s air-onlooker roof and bed cover for an hour.
Stumbaugh tried to attach a chain so the truck could be pulled out, but the water was too swift.
About 20 people hunters, neighbors and two state Game Commission wardens watched as the men sat and sometimes sprawled on the truck’s top. Firefighters from Metal Township Fire Department threw them a rope and life jackets.
Michael Bock, owner of a chain saw shop on Path Valley Road, used his yellow front-end loader to reach the stranded hunters. They climbed onto the loader and rode to shore.
The men warmed themselves for 15 minutes in an ambulance but refused medical treatment.
Stumbaugh would not comment.
50 Years Ago
December 17, 1971 – Friday
Chambersburg–
“Raising Tower”
Chambersburg– A 40-foot section was added to the present tower of the Franklin County Communications Center at the courthouse annex Friday. Here a huge crane of Grove Manufacturing Company lowers the new section into place. Lengthened to 90 feet, the tower has increased range in the civil defense network, including added facilities for communications of township vehicles.
100 Years Ago
December 17, 1921 – Saturday
“Fire Bug Blamed For Stable Fire Early This Morning”
Chambersburg – Fire was discovered in a frame stable in Central Alley at the rear of Charles K. Aughinbaughh’s tin shop this morning at 1:10 o’clock by Patrolmen Grace, who had gone to that vicinity to investigate the reported presence of a man lurking at the rear of the building. Patrolman Leisher turned in a fire alarm from Box 122, 1 King and Second streets.
When the fire apparatus arrived the flooring on the second story was burning briskly and one side of the wall, which had been covered with felt paper, was in flames.
The blaze was extinguished by chemicals. The origin of the fire has not been determined, but it is believed that it was the work of. incendiaries. There was nothing Inflammable in the stable. A quantity of tin sheeting and discarded tin chimneys were stored on the second story.
