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In 1826, the Lutheran Church established its first seminary in America. There were several possible locations for a seminary; however, Gettysburg provided a central location among the synods within the General Synod. Additionally, the town offered $7,000 toward the costs of construction, a building to use while the seminary was constructed, and an excellent system ofroads. The Adams County Academy on the southeast corner of Washington andHigh Streets served as the first home to the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. In 1832, the founders of the Seminary started Pennsylvania College, now Gettysburg College, as a preparatory school for the Seminary; Dr. Samuel Simon Schmucker, 27 years old at the time, led this effort.
The Seminary purchased land on Oak Ridge, located on the west side of Gettysburg, for the location of its permanent home. Construction of this new Seminary building began on May 26, 1831, and was finished in 1832. A building steward occupied the first floor. Professors held class in the rooms of the second floor. The third floor served as the student dorm. The forth floor was not finished until student enrollment reached a point where it was deemed necessary in the late 1850s. The Seminary built a home for Dr. Schmucker in 1833 and a home for Dr. Charles Philip Krauth in 1834; both homes are still standing in their original positions near the Old Dorm.
As with other local communities, Adams County felt the impact of the American Civil War through enlistment of young men on both sides of the conflict. Gettysburg would feel the impact of the war physically and the Lutheran Theological Seminary on Oak Ridge would not be spared. On July 1, 1863, the war came directly into the dorm when the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac clashed on the western edge of Gettysburg. Oak Ridge, known afterward as Seminary Ridge, was the scene of the climax of the day's fighting.
On the evening of June 30, several citizens of Gettysburg climbed to the cupola of the Old Dorm at the Seminary to get a view of the Confederate campfires to the west. Early the next morning on July 1, Brigadier General John Buford's cavalry was positioned on McPherson's Ridge to the west of the building. General Buford ascended the five flights of stairs to join his staff officer First Lieutenant Aaron B. Jerome in the cupola of Old Dorm to take advantage of the commanding view of the surrounding area. With the intelligence Buford gathered while in the cupola, he deployed his brigade. The fighting had begun early that morning and not long after the shooting began, Dr. George New, a Union surgeon in the First division of the First Corps of the Army of the Potomac, designated Old Dorm for use as a hospital. The building quickly became an active hospital. The students and faculty had left the building prior to the battle. The building steward, Emanuel Ziegler, who was home from the army on a furlough, and his family remained. The Zieglers left with the retreating Union army as the Federal defenses on the ridge collapsed late in the afternoon of July 1. By that evening, Confederate forces had taken the ridge and the town. The Old Dorm was in Confederate hands.
When the Confederates retreated into Virginia, the scene at the seminary was gruesome. Lydia Ziegler, daughter of the building steward, Emanuel Ziegler, remarked upon the family's return to the seminary, "Oh, what a home-coming! Everything we owned was gone and the rest had been converted to hospital purposes." However, the Zieglers did find two of their "beautiful white cows" in fine condition. The family helped tend to the wounded.
Many soldiers needed help. Historians estimate that the Seminary Hospital saw between 600 and 700 patients. This was possible because patients typically did not have extended recovery time at the Seminary Hospital; surgeons stabilized wounded soldiers and then transferred them to other facilities. For some patients their condition was such that they could not be moved. Lieutenant Colonel George F. McFarland, of the 151th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment, has the distinction of being the patient with the longest recovery time in the Seminary. McFarland's wounds on July 1 were severe and he remained in Old Dorm until September 16, 1863; he was the last to leave.
The battle significantly damaged the edifice of the Old Dorm. Several balls punctured the wall and large portions of the northeast gable corner had been smashed. A crack in the wall extended over two stories. Window frames were shattered and nearly all the glass was broken. The fences around all the fields as well as those along the Seminary Avenue were destroyed. Soldiers used many of the rails and boards in their breastworks, while others were broken or burned. Dr. Schmucker never filed a damage claim; however, he did ask the Federal government to pay rent for the time that the building served as a hospital for the army. The seminary received $660.50 in 1864 from the government for use of the building.
Through joint appeals with Pennsylvania College to the churches and the various synods, the seminary raised $4,210.69. It took $2,346.18 to repair the Seminary buildings; the remaining funds went to repair the college. Peace returned to the seminary despite a significant scarecaused by a Confederate raid into Chambersburg in late July 1864. That same year Dr. Schmucker resigned his position as a professor at the Seminary.
As the remaining decades of the nineteenth-century passed by, the number of students attending the seminary fluctuated from as few as 29 students to the mid-50s. Over those years, the Old Dorm became increasingly expensive to maintain. Brick chimneys, wood floors, roof, and stove repairs are commonly mentioned in the minutes of the Board of Directors. In 1884, there were 37 students, most of whom wanted to live in town rather than the Old Dorm. The building remained the main focus of the campus. In 1885, the Lutheran Historical Society requested one of the smaller rooms on the west side of the building; thus making the Adams County Historical Society the second historical society to occupy the building.
In 1890, the Board of Directors of the Seminary considered moving the school to another location. A lack of major passenger car service on the railroad through Gettysburg left the Seminary somewhat isolated to the surrounding pool of potential students. However, the Seminary remained in its original location. Eventually the system of roads in Gettysburg, which made it so easy to move an army in its direction, made travel easy once more with the advent of the automobile. The decision was made to build new facilities on the existing campus in Gettysburg. On February 22, 1894, a construction firm from York, Pennsylvania laid the cornerstone for Valentine Hall. In 1895, Old Dorm received some of the most significant upgrades to date when the dormer story was finished. New floors, stairs, and wainscoting were among the other improvements. Moving into the twentieth-century, the seminary determined that it would again build a new building rather than attempt to renovate Old Dorm. The board determined that a new refectory building would be better than creating a new dining hall space in Old Dorm.
The Board of Directors had declared that the Old Dorm would not serve any secular activities and desired to avoid using the building in any celebrations of the Battle of Gettysburg. The public interest that surfaced as the 50th anniversary of the battle approached persuaded members of the board to reconsider. During the anniversary celebrations, Old Dorm once again housed soldiers of the American Civil War beneath its famous cupola.
On August 18, 1913, lightning stuck the cupola setting the structure ablaze. The quick action of locals prevented a disaster; however, the cupola burned to the deck. The seminary quickly reconstructed the cupola. The significance of events of the 50th anniversary left deep impressions on American memory culture as well as on the Seminary's Board of Directors. In 1914, a new portico was erected on the west side of Old Dorm, which was now the front of the building facing the road built by the United States government. This new entrance was called the "Peace Portico."
In 1951, it was decided that Old Dorm would need a complete remodeling and a new dormitory should be constructed. At the end of the 1953-1954 school year, students moved out of Old Dorm for the last time. The seminary Board of Directors contemplated the future of Old Dorm. Among the various suggestions for the building was the idea that it should be razed. This proposal, which was reluctantly put forward, met with resistance from past alumni, church members, and members of the community. They stepped forward to remind those who had forgotten about the significance Old Dorm had in the nation's collective history. The building remained unoccupied for several years. In 1959, the board agreed to lease the building to the Adams County Historical Society. The Society moved from their location in the basement of the Adams County Courthouse to Old Dorm on April 25, 1961.
In 1974, Old Dorm was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. When the building turned 150 years old in 1976 the Old Dorm was re-named in honor of Dr. Schmucker. After April 21, 1976, Old Dorm was officially designated as Samuel Simon Schmucker Hall.
Between archives, photographs, books, and objects the Adams County Historical Society estimates that it has over 1,000,000 items in the collection. The Society has paid and volunteer staff working diligently to make this impressive collection of material culture available to the public. The Society currently occupies all four floors of Schmucker Hall. |
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