Update from the Lisburn Book Committee

Over 30 years ago when we set about to write the first book about Lisburn for the 1976 United States Bicentennial Celebration, our main goal was to present a history of who and what Lisburn, Pennsylvania was and where it is located on the map.

The original committee consisted of seven ladies. Their determination to gather the documentation that proved our origin was not spent in vain. Lisburn was found on several early maps and many early deeds. Thus was the proof verifying that Lisburn appeared on maps of Pennsylvania, as part of the Conoy Indian Path, uncovered. It was now clear that Lisburn was a natural resting point for travelers about halfway between York and Letort Springs, known as Carlisle.

Our many months of meetings and of research at the Cumberland County Courthouse, Cumberland County Historical Society, the State Library and the Pennsylvania Historical Museum and State Archives rewarded us with a lot of data. This tiny, blink-twice-and-you-miss-it spot is the third oldest village in Cumberland County and the oldest in Lower Allen Township.

Along the way, when we talked to life long and former residents, they not only shared their stories but also shared some of their priceless photographs of the early days in Lisburn. We will forever be grateful to all of those who so generously shared with us and helped in making our first book a success.

As the celebration year of 1976 drew close, we were forced to make some tough decisions: what to bring with us and what to leave behind.

Well friends, we have returned. Putting the unused materials from our first project about Lisburn to use and hard at work adding to it. This second book will be a complement to the first. The new members of the book committee are just as dedicated as the five from the original committee, who are working just as hard as they did over thirty years ago. We are doing a much more-detailed presentation on the buildings of town, it businesses and residents past and present. We know that at least seventeen of the buildings on Main Street were built between 1800 and 1900. More research and work at the County Courthouse will help us identify how many structures on Main Street are a century old or older. It may be hard to imagine today, but prior to 1940 there were fifteen or more businesses on Main Street.

In addition, please know that our genealogist has been researching in depth our earliest resident veterans. Even traveling to Washington, D.C. to gather facts. Some surprises have been found that shed a whole new light on these men.

There is still much research and fact gathering to be done. Then the tedious process of assembling these wonderful things we’re finding with those wonderful things we left behind begins.

Jackie Jumper

Chairman, Lisburn Book Committee