Heritage Center

A replica of a historic airplane landed in the Chambersburg Heritage Center on Thursday, where it will hang above the other exhibits on permanent display. The plane was built in 2011 to mark the 100th anniversary of the first airplane flight in Chambersburg. It was built by volunteers and used in the holiday parade that year to also commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce. The chamber brought the original plane to Chambersburg in September 1911, when more than 5,000 people turned out to see it fly over the town, according to a news release.

People from all 50 states, every province in Canada and more than 60 countries have visited the Chambersburg Heritage Center since the Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce opened it on Memorial Square in July 2004. Nearly 3,000 people signed the guest book at the center at 100 Lincoln Way East in 2012. These included visitors from eight other nations and 32 states. Some visitors did not sign the guest book, so visitation likely topped 3,000. May is the busiest month for visitors, and also is the month when students from the Chambersburg Area School District visit on school tours.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - After nearly five years of planning and raising funds, about 100 people gathered last week in a gravel lot across from the Franklin County Courthouse for the groundbreaking ceremony for the new $3.5 million Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce Building and Heritage Center. "There are some former chairs of the chamber ... who thought the ribbon-cutting for this project would occur during their tenure," said Doug Harbach, the current chairman of the chamber.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - The sidewalk on the Lincoln Way East side of the building is still a gravel path and workers were scrapping off nearly a century of paint off the exterior window frames, but Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce Executive Director David Sciamanna says the $3 million Heritage Center will open on time. "We're figuring 10 coats," Dave Wogan said as he came down from scaffolding outside the 1915 Marble Building. He and Jennifer Miller of Alvin Beam Painting of Gardners, Pa., were scraping the frames down to bare wood, while Jose Liriano of Lee Quigley Co. of Washington, D.C., was applying chemicals to artificially age the new bronze doors.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Franklin County will get 2,000 square feet of prime office space next year in an ideal location - the fourth floor of the courthouse annex. The Franklin County Law Library that now occupies the space will move across Lincoln Way East into the third floor of the Heritage Center building owned by the Chambersburg Area Development Corp. The deal was announced Tuesday during the official dedication of the Heritage Center building.

CHAMBERSBURG, PA. ? Thanksgiving is the day Americans recall the feast celebrated by the Pilgrims in Plymouth four centuries ago, but their survival and that of many other colonists depended in large measure on the generosity of the Indians who helped them adapt to an unfamiliar environment. As thousands of Franklin Countians explored the shopping malls on Black Friday, some parents instead took their children to the Heritage Center on Memorial Square for Native American Indian Heritage Day. The Delaware, Tuscarora and Susquehanna Indians inhabited this part of the country, Gene Niswander of St. Thomas, Pa., told visitors Lester and Phyllis Rotz of Chambersburg.

Keith Monninger of Custom Cleaning Co. of Greencastle, Pa., uses a power washer Monday to remove graffiti from the Heritage Center. Several downtown buildings in Chambersburg, Pa., including the Heritage Center and F&M Trust, were tagged with spray paint over the weekend, Chambersburg police said.

bonnieb@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Speaking from a balcony on the square in Chambersburg Friday afternoon, Franklin County Commissioner G. Warren Elliott presided over the Ray Depuy Memorial Gala Opening of ChambersFest. The 16-day ChambersFest, now in its 18th year, commemorates the burning of Chambersburg by Confederate soldiers during the Civil War, and the spirit of the citizens who rebuilt the town. During his speech, Elliott frequently "consulted" with the 8-foot-3-inch statue of Benjamin Franklin behind him. After spending 126 years atop the courthouse, the statue received 500 hours of restoration, and is completely covered with gold leaf, Elliott said.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- Costumed Heritage Center ambassador Joe Hunt will lead walking tours of historic sites in downtown Chambersburg at 10:30 a.m. July 11. People interested in the tour should meet in the Heritage Center, 100 Lincoln Way East. The cost is $3 per person. For reservations or more information, call 717-264-7101. The outside walk features the Memorial Fountain, historic buildings, the Founding Family Statue in Fort Chambers Park, the fort site, and Falling Spring Presbyterian Church.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- The Heritage Center in Chambersburg will highlight Franklin County's connection to the World Series during a special program during AppleFest on Saturday, Oct. 17. The featured exhibit will salute Franklin County natives Nellie Fox and Tom Brookens, who were in the World Series 50 years ago and 25 years ago, respectively. Joanne Fox, the widow of Nellie Fox, will answer questions after a brief film highlighting her husband's career and his 1997 induction into baseball's Hall of Fame.

A replica of a historic airplane landed in the Chambersburg Heritage Center on Thursday, where it will hang above the other exhibits on permanent display. The plane was built in 2011 to mark the 100th anniversary of the first airplane flight in Chambersburg. It was built by volunteers and used in the holiday parade that year to also commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce. The chamber brought the original plane to Chambersburg in September 1911, when more than 5,000 people turned out to see it fly over the town, according to a news release.

People from all 50 states, every province in Canada and more than 60 countries have visited the Chambersburg Heritage Center since the Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce opened it on Memorial Square in July 2004. Nearly 3,000 people signed the guest book at the center at 100 Lincoln Way East in 2012. These included visitors from eight other nations and 32 states. Some visitors did not sign the guest book, so visitation likely topped 3,000. May is the busiest month for visitors, and also is the month when students from the Chambersburg Area School District visit on school tours.

A group that is hoping to transform Boydville, a circa-1812 estate in Martinsburg, into a sustainable heritage center for the community is hoping to net a $40,000 planning grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The Martinsburg City Council on Thursday voted unanimously to act as the grant administrator if the newly formed Boydville Strategic Planning Team nets the money. The planning team has been working since this summer to find a viable use for the leafy, 13-acre estate at 601 S. Queen St., planning team member Susan Whalton said.

Photos from bygone days in Chambersburg calendar CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Photos of Chambersburg from the early 1900s are featured in a 2010 calendar that celebrates the community's history. The calendar is available at the Heritage Center, 100 Lincoln Way East, and costs $12.95 plus tax. The photos are from the collection of Chambersburg resident Mike Marotte III, a volunteer at the Heritage Center. The cover photo features trolley cars on Lincoln Way East in 1914.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- The Heritage Center in Chambersburg will highlight Franklin County's connection to the World Series during a special program during AppleFest on Saturday, Oct. 17. The featured exhibit will salute Franklin County natives Nellie Fox and Tom Brookens, who were in the World Series 50 years ago and 25 years ago, respectively. Joanne Fox, the widow of Nellie Fox, will answer questions after a brief film highlighting her husband's career and his 1997 induction into baseball's Hall of Fame.

Program to highlight Franklin Co. link to World Series CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- The Heritage Center in Chambersburg will highlight Franklin County's connection to the World Series during a special program during AppleFest on Saturday, Oct. 17. The featured exhibit will salute Franklin County natives Nellie Fox and Tom Brookens, who were in the World Series 50 years ago and 25 years ago, respectively. Joanne Fox, the widow of Nellie Fox, will answer questions after a brief film highlighting her husband's career and his 1997 induction into baseball's Hall of Fame.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- Costumed Heritage Center ambassador Joe Hunt will lead walking tours of historic sites in downtown Chambersburg at 10:30 a.m. July 11. People interested in the tour should meet in the Heritage Center, 100 Lincoln Way East. The cost is $3 per person. For reservations or more information, call 717-264-7101. The outside walk features the Memorial Fountain, historic buildings, the Founding Family Statue in Fort Chambers Park, the fort site, and Falling Spring Presbyterian Church.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- An eclectic group of Ben Franklin veterans and wannabes gathered at the Heritage Center on Monday in the third and final casting call for the man or men who will portray Franklin County's namesake during its 225th anniversary. The Franklin County Visitors Bureau is looking for a few good Bens to play three personifications of the founding father. While most were interested in portraying Classic Ben, a couple possibilities for Contemporary Ben auditioned, though no one has stepped forward to be Young Ben. There was clinical psychologist Stephen Overcash; Ed Miller of Waynesboro, Pa., who played Franklin during the county bicentennial; retired banker Bob Harrison; town crier Roy Nester; and living historians Michael Levick and Richard Fox, both veterans at portraying Franklin.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- The popular image of Ben Franklin is the grandfatherly Joseph Duplessis portrait staring out from the $100 bill, but Franklin was famous throughout much of his 84 years, and the county that bears his name is looking for three people with the "Benergy" to portray the founding father at different stages of his life. Franklin County split off from Cumberland County on Sept. 9, 1784, and the Franklin County Visitors Bureau needs some Bens for events marking the upcoming 225th anniversary.