New Germantown

New Germantown. . , after the Treaty of Albany in 1754, Europeans legally could land north of Kittatinny Mountain. In 1766, Joseph McClintock settled in what was to become Toboyne Township, Perry County. In 1812, Michael Hubler purchased McClintock's land and in 1815 he sold it to Solomon Sheibley, a farmer and stonemason., In 1816, Sheibley laid out the town of New Germantown, consisting of four blocks, each containing six lots 80 feet wide by 150 feet deep. A public sale on March 18, 1816 advertised good spring water, Sherman's Creek, a good grist mill, a saw mill, and a near-by fulling mill. Sixteen lots were sold., Children first studied in a log schoolhouse and then a larger brick building. In 1886, a two-story frame school offered grades one through eight. Samuel Smith granted two adjacent acres for a ball field in 1936. The school closed in 1952 and students entered Blain Union School District. Willis Smith, a long-time school teacher, converted the 1886 building into a dwelling., Methodists met in the old log schoolhouse for services until 1843 when they built the New Germantown Methodist-Episcopal Church. Fire destroyed the building in 1887, and in 1888 the congregation constructed the church in use today. After the merger of the Evangelical United Brethren and the Methodist-Episcopal churches in 1968, it became known as New Germantown United Methodist Church., A Lutheran congregation organized in March 1893 and built Trinity Lutheran Church in 1894 on lands donated by Solomon Gushall and Jacob Seager, across the road from the two story schoolhouse. The last service was held December 10, 1965, after which the congregation merged with Zion Lutheran Church, Blain, PA., In 1900, the town supported lumbering, blacksmithing, hotels, general stores, a tavern, a physician and a barber shop. The Newport and Sherman's Valley Railroad reached New Germantown in 1892, facilitating shipment of goods to market and allowing families to travel easily. The last train left New Germantown in 1928, but the Sherman's Valley Transportation Company provided bus and truck service to Newport twice a day until the early 1930s. New Germantown is now a quiet village, surrounded by farms and full of history.