The History of Middletown, PA

Early 1700 maps of Pennsylvania show that the area of land, now called Middletown, was once the village to the Conoy Indian Tribe of the Susquehannock Nation. When the town was planned out in 1755, some of their lodges were located in the area of where the town square is now located.

  

Middletown was founded in this rich agricultural area, thirty years before Harrisburg.  Due to its location for trade, the town grew rapidly in the next century and a half both by land and water.  The Scotch-Irish were the first white settlers in this area.  It is estimated that nearly 200 Scotch-Irish families resided in the vicinity.  With the sudden growth of settlers, several well-constructed roads had to be built. Middletown was named for its location midway between Lancaster and Carlisle along the Old Stage Coach Road on the Wagon Trail. 

 

Many different architecture styles can be found in Middletown today since the town is so old.  Log cabins, Victorian mansions, churches and several houses are all listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Middletown is noted in colonial records as being a supply depot for the Revolutionary Armies.  Small boats for General Sullivan’s army were built here and his troops were supplied with provisions from local farms.  The Swatara Ferry House is said to have housed Hessian prisoners during the Revolution.

Residents of Middletown published their “Resolves of Independence” from Great Britain at a meeting in 1774 chaired by Colonel James Burd.  These ideas would later become incorporated in the colonies’ “Declaration of Independence”.

After the Revolutionary War, trade grew with the completion of the Pennsylvania and the Union Canals.  Joined together at the confluence of the Susquehanna River and the Swatara Creek, the town was an important trading center for lumber, flour and iron.  The Harrisburg-Lancaster Railroads were also in this area, as well as a ferry which ran back and forth across the River to York County.

Volunteers from Middletown enlisted in all wars leading up to the Spanish-American War of 1898.  Camp Meade was set up as a troop garrison during the Spanish-American War.  Named for the Civil War General George Meade, the camp was visited by President William McKinley.

The proud history of the Olmsted Air Force Base is said to have begun here when the United States Army Signal Corps established a military presence in Middletown with this temporary staging area during the Spanish-American War. 

When the Middletown General Supply Depot broke ground on the site of what had been a pickle farm for the H.J. Heinz Company in 1917, the aviation section of the Army Signal Corps and the 113^th Aero Squadron of the Pennsylvania National Guard were assigned to the new facility and the first aircraft landed in 1918.

By 1941, with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Depot became an important part of the war effort. As the largest airplane overhaul center in the world, it employed 17,000 civilian employees.

The Middletown General Supply Depot became Olmsted Air Force Base in 1948 and the Olmsted Field runway was expanded and modernized in 1958.  During the Korean Conflict, the base continued to overhaul jets until its closing in 1964.  Olmsted Field then became Harrisburg-York State Airport which would later become Harrisburg International Airport.

The lives of many residents of Middletown were impacted for nearly a half century by Olmsted Air Force Base; as well as playing a very important role during war times.

Have you visited Middletown to enjoy in its rich history?  What aspects of this community appeal most to the traveler in you?