Green Park, Pennsylvania facts for kids
Green Park is a small village in Tyrone Township, Perry County, Pennsylvania, United States. It's not officially a town, but it's a community located where two main roads, Route 233 and Route 274, meet. The name "Green Park" was first used for a piece of land in the late 1700s by James Baxter. Later, in the 1800s, it became a popular name for picnic and camp meeting spots.
Because it's in the middle of Perry County, between the Conococheague Mountain and the Susquehanna River, and has a history with schools and a wheel-making industry, Green Park is sometimes called Perry County's "Hub of Education."
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What to See and Do in Green Park
Green Park has several interesting places. You can find West Perry High School and West Perry Middle School here. There's also the Elliottsburg/Green Park Post Office.
Other cool spots include:
- Stone House Farm & Inn
- Kingdom Grounds Cafe, a coffee shop and bakery
- The Perry Mennonite Reception Center
- Bernheisel’s Mill, which is very old
- An 18th-century cemetery where an old church used to be
- The historic Green Park School House
Farming is a big part of the community, with many farms raising dairy cows, beef cattle, hogs, or growing grain.
Where is Green Park?
Green Park is in the northeast part of Tyrone Township. Pennsylvania Route 233 runs through it from north to south, and Pennsylvania Route 274 crosses it from east to west.
It shares borders with:
- Spring Township to the east
- The village of Loysville to the west
- Limestone Ridge to the north
- Stonehouse Road to the south
The main streams that flow through the area are Montour Creek and Stambaugh Farm Run.
Green Park's Past
Early Days: The 1700s
The first person known to live in what is now Green Park was Alexander Roddy in the early 1750s. He built a simple cabin near a spring. However, he and others had to leave because of pressure from local Native American tribes. After a treaty in 1754, which transferred land to the Penn family, Roddy returned to a new spot.
In 1766, the Limestone Presbyterian Church was built in Green Park. It was used for many years but was later abandoned in the early 1800s.
The name "Green Park" came from James Baxter, who owned land where West Perry High School is now located.
Growing Up: The 1800s
Around 1857, the first store and post office opened in the center of Green Park. Many different people ran this business over the years.
The first school in Green Park was built in 1815. Several log and brick schools were built after that, but they all burned down. The historic one-room schoolhouse you can see today on Green Park Road was used from about 1886 to 1954. It's now kept up by the Historical Society of Perry County and looks just like it did when students were there. The school bell was made right in Green Park!
In 1820, Green Park was considered as a possible county seat for Perry County, but it wasn't chosen. The first house in the village center was built in 1834 by William Reed.
A man named John Henry Bernheisel started a sawmill around the 1790s. Later, his son Solomon built a large brick mill in 1835. This mill processed clover seeds and ground sumac, a spice. It also had a fulling mill and carding mill for wool. The brick mill building is still standing today on Pennsylvania Route 74. In 1874, Solomon changed it to a grist mill for grinding grain. He even added a steam engine to power it in 1878!
Other businesses included a machine shop run by Jacob Bernheisel, who invented a corn sheller. His son Peter owned an iron foundry, P. Bernheisel & Company, which later became Rheem & Brothers. They made the bell for the Green Park School.
There were also two tanneries, which processed animal hides into leather. One of them, the Fosselman tannery, is now part of the Stone House Farm & Inn.
From the mid-1800s until about 1910, a factory in Green Park made spokes for wagon wheels.
During the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War, Green Park became a safe place for people escaping the fighting. The Bernheisel foundry and the wagon wheel factory were even used to repair wagons for the Union Army.
Green Park was also a stop for two different railroads in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
The 1900s
In 1910, Green Park had 178 people living there. A local community group called Green Park Grange No. 1615 was started in 1914. The Grange building is now a private home.
The railroads that served Green Park eventually merged, but by the 1930s, the train tracks were removed, and the railroad stopped running.
Famous People from Green Park
Perry A. Stambaugh, who is a State Representative for Pennsylvania, lives in Green Park.
Images for kids
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An 1877 map of Green Park
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A Civil War-era farmhouse in Green Park
