Delivering An Education

Delivering An Education. Cumberland Valley Railroad Museum. , Shippensburg University, founded as the Cumberland Valley State Normal School in 1871, was built along the Cumberland Valley line and relied on the railroad for a broad range of services from bringing coal, mail, and food to delivering faculty staff, and student commuters., Supplying the School , The Cumberland Valley Railroad played a major role in the day-to-day rhythms of campus life. Here Principal B.S. Potter signed for a $50 delivery from the Adams Express Company in 1881., Feeding hungry students required a steady supply of sugar, salt, molasses, and pickles as this 1888 bill paid by college trustee, John A. McCune shows., Heating buildings took an enormous amount of energy, including this 1894 shipment of anthracite from the Lykens Valley Coal Company in Dauphin County. Before the school built a steam plant along the tracks in 1898, coal had to be hauled up the hill to Old Main., Commuting to Campus , Normal Station was built down the hill from Old Main in 1873 and served as the main entrance to campus until it was demolished in 1930. This little shelter was a hub for students like Elizabeth Zeigler, a commuter from Carlisle whose 1927 railroad punch ticket (pictured here) is on display at the Cumberland Railroad Museum., Travelling by Train , Before the advent of automobile travel, much of the college's off-campus business required riding the rails. The shipping information on this trunk, opened by Ralph Heiges, president of Shippensburg State College from 1956-1970, preserves a trip to Clarion. In the image below, students board the train for a field trip to Washington, D.C. in May 1913.