Chapter 1: Early times: 1761 to 1922
John Miller, who bought a tract of land from Michael Mayer for £600, laid out a town site of about 300 acres in 1761 and called it Millersburg. The site was bounded by Blue Rock Road and Frederick, George and Duke Streets and also included the section bordered by Ann and Elizabeth and Ferdinand (now Walnut Hill Road) streets.
Miller sold five-acre lots in a lottery scheme, not uncommon at that time. The original price per lot was £10.
Millersville had a tavern, known as the Colonial, as early as 1726. In 1764, a tavern was later kept at the site of the Colonial by a man named Houseman or Hausman, who purchased several of the original five acre lots. In 1825, Abraham Peters built the Black Horse Inn at this site. There most likely was also a store at this site as early as 1769 or 1770, but the only one of which any record exists was that kept by Philip Shissler.
Most of the houses were situated on five acre lots so the town possessed a rural, expansive aspect. The town did not increase rapidly in population. In 1795, it contained only 15 houses. And in 1824, sixty years after its founding, the number of houses scarcely exceeded 20. The town’s name was changed from Millersburg to Millerstown sometime prior to 1798.
By the 1800s, Millersburg, then Millerstown and lastly Millersville, had become the principal town in Manor Township. In 1810, John Lintner added to the boundaries of Millerstown with what is known as “Lintner’s Division,” which began at The Black Horse Inn and expanded in a westerly direction.
The town became a post-town, at least as early as 1823, with Abraham Peters as the first postmaster.
According to R. P. Bridgen’s 1852 map, Millersville had grown to 103 residences. Twelve residences were on Blue Rock Street, and there were 22 in Lintner’s Division.
In about 1855, the town’s name was changed to Millersville. Up to that time, the village had not appreciably grown, but with the very notable expansion of academic activities, the village was carried forward to an important place among the communities of Lancaster County.
In 1856, two stagecoaches and three omnibuses connected Millersville and Lancaster. In 1873 the Lancaster-Millersville Passenger Railway Co. was formed to carry the expanded traffic to and from the Normal School. Several of the founders of this company were the trustees of the Normal School. This was the first “trolley” system in the county to connect two communities.
By 1883, Millersville had become the largest unincorporated town in Lancaster County, with a population of over 1,200. Within its boundaries were three general stores, a grocery store, a shoe store, an agricultural implement store and factory, three hotels, four coach factories, one lumberyard, two coal yards, almost 20 cigar factories, three coopers, a sawmill, a drug store, at least four blacksmith shops and one barbershop. Millersville also had five churches, a post office, and the Millersville Normal School, the first Pennsylvania Normal School, founded in 1855.
By 1922, Millersville had a real estate value of about $2,000,000, exclusive of the Normal School, and a population of approximately 1,500.
In This Section
Grand Finale
Reservation Deadline:
November 15, 2011 (4:30 p.m.)
Join us for the final special event for the Millersville 250th Anniversary which includes tours, entertainment (including the Penn Manor Brass Quintet), balloon sculptures, a photo booth and a special cake and ice cream social. Tours begin at 2:00 p.m. (with limited number of people per time period) with a closing presentation at 3:00 p.m.—then comes the unique cake and the unveiling of the Millersville 250 Turkey Hill new ice cream flavor—the Swan Swirl (it contains chocolate!).