Historical Society of East Pennsboro

A BRIEF HISTORY OF EAST PENNSBORO
In 1735 the Northern Valley consisted of two townships, Hopewell and Pennsboro
By 1740 Pennsboro became East and West Pennsboro. A secession of subdivisions followed: Allen Township in 1766, Silver Spring township in 1787 and Hampden township in 1845.
THE BOROUGHS
Additional divisions took place as the larger villages became boroughs. Camp Hill incorporated in 1885, Lemoyne in 1905, Wormleysburg in 1908 and West Fairview in 1910.
THE VILLAGES
Enola - Got its name from Francis and Wesley Miller. Wesley sold about 2 acres of land to the Northern Central Railroad to be used as a flag station. He had a chance to name the station and named it after their four-year-old daughter, Enola Francis Miller.
In the fall of 1902 the PRR made a decision to build a classification yard "between Marysville and West Fairview." In 1903 their agent, The Manor Realty Co. purchasing 743 acres, officially opened the Yard in January 1905. Of the 743 acres, the Enola Realty Co., bought 104 acres for $26,500. This would officially become known as Enola (currently North Enola).
The Realty Company went on to build more that 220 homes which they rented or sold to families coming to our village looking for employment.
South Enola grew almost as rapidly as North Enola. Some of the landowners were Mann, Bretz, Darr, Rupley, Pyne (Pine Street) Addams (Adams Street).
West Enola also grew with the boom of the Enola Yard. The largest landowner of that time was Britton. Other large landowners were Lantz and Renninger.
SUMMERDALE
Summerdale got it's name from Harry Horner. In March 1909 he purchased 115 acres and laid out the town of Summerdale. By June 1910, he completed a Dance Hall (the soda fountain alone cost $1500). During the hot summer months, people would travel by trolley from Harrisburg to this village. It's location, at the foot of the Blue Mountains, certainly made it a Summer Dale.
OVERVIEW
Overview got it's name from D. S. Seitz. He laid out the village in 1910. Much of Overview became displaced when route 81 was built in 1972.
POSSUM HOLLOW
We are told, was so named after it was discovered that an opossum had made her in a hollow tree. Surprisingly the village is older than Enola, Summerdale or Overview. It's most famous citizen was Mrs. Cahterine Kreitzer. In June 1955, she won $32,000 on the "$64,000 Question" television show. Seventy Million viewers watched her in the greatest jackpot ever given out on a radio or television program at the time. Possom Hollow is also home of the Pine Hill Arboretum. The road was renamed "Creekside Drive" later ca 1970's.
WEST FAIRVIEW
This former borough is by far the oldest of our villages. Abraham Neidig, Sr. laid out the town is 1816. By 1852 it had a post office and fifteen houses and by 1897 it had more that three hundred homes, four schools, three churches, one hotel and the Harrisburg Nial Works, that employed 350 people. Until 1910 it was the East Pennsobor School District.
It has several "claims to fame." The first (and most likely the only" female football coach, and for the period, the largest nail factory in the United States.
History records time and time again the residents of this village gathering together yearly. The mode of transportation, railroads and trolleys, has changed over the decades, but the annual gathering continues.
On November 4, 1952, East Pennsboro became a first class township.