AREA HISTORY: Schools of Lewisberry, York County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Abby Bowman Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/york/ _______________________________________________ History of York County, Pennsylvania. John Gibson, Historical Editor. Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886. _______________________________________________ SCHOOLS OF LEWISBERRY, Page 636 Schools. – A short distance above Lewisberry one of the first schoolhouses of the valley stood. In it Isaac Kirk taught soon after the Revolution. He was followed by Elisha Hammond and others. The habit of “barring out the teacher” was a common sport among boys in bygone days. Very few teachers escaped such adventures. It was attempted on a teacher of this school about three-fourths of a century ago. All his petitions for them to open were of no avail. In order to conquer, he climbed to the top of the roof and dropped some burning sulphur down the chimney, and then placed a board over the top to prevent the fumes and odor from escaping upward. It is sufficient to say that the door was voluntarily opened, the teacher admitted, and the room ventilated. That teacher was never afterward troubled with such capricious conduct. In the year 1816 a schoolhouse was built by subscription, on the site where the present one stands. It is still in existence, though removed from its former place. In it Hon. David Flemming, Hervey Hammond, Joseph Wickersham, Hon. Jacob Kirk, and other successful teachers, presided. The Public Hall, in which are two school-rooms, was built in 1855. It is surrounded by a large open public common belonging to the borough. Edmund Burke, Arthur Gilbert and others, at different times, taught a select school for advanced pupils in it.