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 September 2nd.
25 Years Ago
September 2, 1994 – Friday
“Area high school football enters a new era on radio”
CHAMBERSBURG – When the high school football season arrives tonight, so will a new concept in local sports programming.
WCHA’s Friday Night Football, on the air from 7:05 to 11 each Friday night of the football season on 800 AM, will focus on the Chambersburg Trojans, but will also include coverage of James Buchanan, Greencastle-Antrim, Shippensburg, Waynesboro and Scotland School.
Each of the 10 Trojan games, plus playoffs, will be carried live, as will one Greencastle game and two games of each of the other schools. Some of the live game coverage will be on Saturday afternoons.
The typical Friday Night Football show begins with a 25-minute pregame show hosted by Gary Kline. Each area football coach will give a taped preview of his team’s game that week.
50 Years Ago
September 2, 1969 – Tuesday
A special centennial program featuring Jack Newfield, author and journalist, will be included among the activities opening the 100th academic year at Wilson College.
“Author to Speak at Wilson’s 100th Year Program”
CHAMBERSBURG – A special centennial program featuring Jack Newfield, author and journalist, will be included among the activities opening the 100th academic year at Wilson College.
Newfield will speak at a special program on Friday at 8 p.m. in Laird Hall. Political columnist and assistant editor of the Village Voice, he also is the author of several best-selling books, including ‘A Prophetic Minority’ and ‘Robert Kennedy.
The official opening of the new academic year will take place earlier in the day when President Paul Swain Havens will welcome new and returning students at the opening convocation. Also appearing at the convocation, scheduled at 11 a.m., will be Dr. Martha Church, Dean of the College, who will recognize students for their academic achievements during the past year.
Registration figures, although incomplete, point to an enrollment of. about 650 students in the coming year.
Among them will be eight students from Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster, Pa., who will be taking part in an experimental exchange program with Wilson. and the Marshall program.
The Franklin and Marshall group, consisting of six juniors and two seniors, will stay on the Wilson campus throughout the first semester and carry a full load of classwork.
They will be housed in a block of rooms in Davison Hall, one of the major Wilson dormitories.
In exchange, nine Wilson students will study on the Franklin and Marshall campus during the first semester.
Formerly an all-male college, Franklin and Marshall announced earlier this year that it would admit women ‘for the 1989-70 academic year, and the Wilson contingent will be among 100 women enrolled I as resident students.
The visiting speaker, Newfield, remains overnight on the Wilson campus to lead a one-hour discussion on current issues. It will be at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning in Laird Hall lounge.
The session with Newfield will pave the way for a series of I workshops, seminars, and discussion periods on a wide variety of topics. On the list are workshops on modern dance and poetry, student reports in summer research projects and participation in foreign work ! and study programs, and exploration of values in student art. and a critique on current movies.
There will be a session on stellar astronomy, while Dr. Paul Ganley, Professor of Physics, will explain Wilson’s role in a newly established timesharing computer network. Also included among discussion topics are such subjects as violence and the democratic process. an appraisal of a liberal arts education, and contemporary society and the collision of values.
During the afternoon a biology-geology field trip will be led by Dr. Davison G. Grove, Chairman of the Biology Department. And a lecture- Vladimir Ussachevsky, composer of electronic music, is scheduled at 8 p.m. in Thomson Hall.
A worship service, which includes a performance by the Afro-American Choir, will be held Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. on the Wilson athletic fields.
100 Years Ago
September 2, 1919 –Tuesday
“FARMERS SHOW INTEREST IN H. H.”
CHAMBERSBURG – Preliminary plans for the Harvest Home picnic in October, were discussed thoroughly at a largely attended and lengthy meeting of the Franklin County Farmers and Breeders Association held in the Saturday afternoon in the coming picnic by the farmers and Trust Building. Much interest was manifested breeders by present.
A publicity committee was appointed, with F. A. Zimmerman of town as chairman, to give proper advertising to the exhibition and its attendant events.
It All Started When…
The Franklin County Fair can date all the way back to 1854 when it was considered the Franklin County Agricultural Fair and was organized by the Agricultural Society of Franklin County. Then, in 1868, the Franklin County Farmer’s and Mechanics Association took over and changed the name to Franklin County Fair. This fair continued through the 1880’s.
It wasn’t until 1914 that another fair was held; this time being called the Harvest Home Picnic and Farmers’ Picnic and being held on the Red Bridge Park. The Picnic became increasingly popular with more people attending each year. Before the Picnic in 1922, it was voted to change the name back to Franklin County Fair. For the next 12 years, the fair grew in size with more animals and exhibits being added. The community event came to an end in the 1930’s.
[td_block_2 custom_title=”Looking Back” header_color=”#000000″ category_id=”950″ header_text_color=”#ffffff” limit=”4″]
