Carlisle in the 1970s | Carlisle in the 1980s | Carlisle in the 1990s | Interviews | Home
According to Ann Kramer Hoffer, “From the days of the livery stable the town of Carlisle has always been an active place.”[1] Prior to the 1970s, one thing that used to define Carlisle was its celebrations. There was the Fireman’s Convention (late 19th Century), the Union Fire Company No.1’s one hundredth anniversary (1889), the Sesqui-Centennial Celebration, Bi-Centennial, and two hundred and fiftieth anniversaries of the founding of Carlisle in October 1901, June 1951, and May 2001, respectively. There was also Old Home Week held in 1909 and 1924, Made in Carlisle Week in 1947, a Jim Thorpe Parade in 1912, and a Civil War Commemoration in 1963.[2] Starting in the mid-1970s was the annual Carlisle Car Shows. Held at the Carlisle fairgrounds, “‘car culture’…replaced the old fair.”[3]
My project will look at the history of the downtown Carlisle area over the past four decades. In addition to my research, I will be conducting interviews with three Dickinson Alumni that are still in and active in the Carlisle and Dickinson community in a variety of ways: Mr. Pierce Bounds, Class of 1971, Professor Susan Rose, Class of 1977, and Ms. Heather Champion, Class of 1997. Using this information, I will be analyzing whether the downtown Carlisle community has been on an upward progression or a downward decline over the past forty or so years and why. I will also be looking at what affect, if any, the “big box stores” had on the downtown Carlisle area.
Carlisle in the 1970s | Carlisle in the 1980s | Carlisle in the 1990s | Interviews |
[1] Hoffer, Ann Kramer, 20th Century Thoughts: Carlisle, The Past Hundred Years (Cumberland County Historical Society, 2001) 174.
[2] Hoffer 174
[3] Hoffer 175