AREA HISTORY:  Borough of Lewisberry, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Abby Bowman

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History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
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THE BOROUGH OF LEWISBERRY, Page 632

Lewisberry is situated near the centre of Redland Valley, which, early in our 
colonial history, was thickly populated by English Quakers, among whom were the 
Healds, Halls, Bennetts, Rankins, Lewises, Garretsons, Kirks and other; the 
first of whom settled there in 1732.  Maj. Eli Lewis, in 1783, owned 850 acres 
of land, six dwelling houses, all valued at £1,018 sterling, and conducted a 
store.  This hamlet was the center of interest over a large section of the 
country.  In 1798 the number of houses in the immediate vicinity had increased, 
and Eli Lewis secured the services of Isaac Kirk, a neighbor, to make a survey 
and plat a town.  Some of the first persons to purchase lots were Jacob and 
Isaac Kirk, and Messrs. Nicholas, Bennett, Mateer and Sheafer.

The founder of the town, a son of Ellis Lewis, was born in 1750, in this valley.  
He learned the printing business and, in 1791, started the Harrisburg Advertiser 
which was the first newspaper published in the capital city.  He sold it 
afterward to Mr. Wyeth, and the name was changed to the Oracle.  The files are 
yet in existence and were of much assistance to the writer.

Major Lewis, though of Quaker parentage, was a soldier of the Revolution, and a 
man of very fair literary ability.  In 1791 he wrote a poem of considerable 
merit entitled “St. Clair’s Defeat.”  He returned to his former home, founded 
the town which bears his name, and died on Sunday morning, February 2, 1807, 
aged fifty-seven years, leaving four sons who won distinction:  Ellis Lewis, 
became judge of the supreme court of Pennsylvania (see “Historical Biography” 
page 404), James Lewis, a prominent lawyer, and Eli Lewis, a prominent 
businessman of York, and Dr. Webster Lewis, a leading physician.  Ellis Lewis, 
the ancestor of the family, immigrated to Chester County in 1685.

Lewisberry was incorporated April 2, 1832, and thus became the third borough in 
the county.  It thus was the center of an intelligent English population and had 
a number of manufactories.  It is situated fifteen miles from York, eighteen 
miles from Carlisle and ten from Harrisburg.  Lewisberry was in the zenith of 
its prosperity between the years 1830 and 1845.