AREA HISTORY:  Hopewell Centre, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis

Copyright 2006.  All rights reserved.
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History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
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HOPEWELL CENTRE – Page 755

William Wallace, now a resident of York, in 1849 purchased a tract of land at this 
place for $13.50 an acre.  The same land now and many of the surrounding farms are 
exceedingly fertile and productive and worth many times their original cost.  In 
1850 Mr. Wallace secured the establishment of a postoffice, and named it “Hopewell 
Centre.”  He opened a store in 1851 which he conducted until 1874, when his son 
James W. Wallace succeeded him and is now the proprietor.  William Watson was 
postmaster for a time.  A few years ago James W. Wallace was appointed.

In 1825 Capt. James Wallace organized a rifle company, called the Washington Greens, 
composed of 125 men.  They were uniformed in green suits, trimmed with red, and wore 
a helmet.  The members were all from Hopewell.  This company continued to exist with 
a different uniform, but under the same name for nearly half a century.  They 
drilled regularly and are said to have been one of the finest looking companies in 
the county.  Some of the original members belonged to it until it disbanded.  The 
commanding officers at different times were Capts. Wallace, Sampson, Smith, Collins 
and Campbell.  In 1860 some of the members of the “Washington Greens” and other 
formed themselves into a company which was called the “Hopewell Centre Guards,” and 
were commanded by Capt. William Wallace.  This company drilled frequently, but 
eventually thirty-two of the fifty men, which composed it, entered the Union Army, 
eleven of whom yielded up their lives on the battle fields of our sister State, 
Virginia, in order that our nation might live.  Hopewell Township, as a whole, did 
well for our country’s cause during the dark times of our civil war.