Early Bands in Our Community (1836-1943)
Early Bands in Our Community – 1836 – 1943
Joan C. McCulloh
Mercersburg has a long tradition of having a band. Through the years these bands have not only entertained people through both good times and bad times but also have given vital support to community organizations in their efforts to help people and to do good. These bands that have been integral to our community deserve recognition.
On July 4, 1836, to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence the local citizens had a gala day. After they had heard a sermon in the Methodist Church, which was just two years old, they formed themselves into a procession. This procession that included “the president of the day, vice-presidents, secretaries, orator, reader, committee of arrangements, faculty of Marshall College, ladies, students and a large concourse of citizens escorted by Captain Bowles’ Light Infantry…. marched to the music of the Mercersburg band to ‘a pleasant grove on the farm of William McKinstry, Esq.’” There they had a picnic followed by thirteen regular toasts, one for each of the thirteen colonies, and thirty-two additional toasts. After each of these thirteen toasts the band played. After the first, ‘To the Day We Celebrate,’ the band played “Hail Columbia;” after the toast ‘To Texas,’ which had recently won its independence from Mexico, the band played “March to the Battlefield.” After the last regular toast, ‘To the Ladies,’ the band played “Who Would Not Wed?”
In Reflections of College Life, written by Theodore Appel in 1886, in referring to activities of Marshall College and the Theological Seminary in the early 1800s he mentioned many school activities, some scholarly, some socially, and some ceremonially. One of the latter was the celebration that occurred in August 1844 when Dr. Philip Schaff, a native of Switzerland, came to Mercersburg to teach in the theological seminary. Dr. Appel wrote: “At about half past seven an unusually large procession of students, citizens and strangers, escorted by the Mercersburg band, proceeded to ‘Schoene Aussicht,’ an elevation overlooking the town on the east” in order to welcome Dr. Schaff who was brought to town in a carriage.
The first community band with a name and a named director known to us, to our limited knowledge, was Captain S. A. Bradley’s Saxe Band in the nineteenth century. According to the Weekly Journal 1857 was a busy year for the band. According to the issue published on April 24, Bradley’s Saxe Band “have made arrangements for another Concert, to be given in Rev. J. R. Kooken’s Hall, on Saturday Evening, May 2nd, commencing at 7 o’clock. The gratification afforded to the audience, by the performances of the Band, on a previous occasion, will, we feel confident, ensure a full house, at their next Concert.” Following this information was a large advertisement for the concert stating that the doors would open at 6:30 and that the concert would begin seven o’clock. Reverend Kooken, who was killed in 1862 at the Battle of Fredericksburg, was head of the Marshall Collegiate Institute. According to the June 18, 1857, issue of the Weekly Journal “On Tuesday night last, our citizens were favored, by a pretty general Serenade, by Bradley’s Saxe Band. The night was beautiful, and the Band played admirable, ministering much to the enjoyment of all who heard the music.” In both 1857 and 1858 this band played at activities of the Methodist Church. The June 18, 1857, issue featured a large advertisement inviting townspeople to the annual Fourth of July picnic held by the Methodist Church and stated: “A general variety of CAKES and other good things will be prepared and the services of Capt. BRADLEY’S SAXE BAND will be secured for the occasion.” On July 10, commenting upon the picnic, the newspaper reported: “Bradley’s Saxe Band contributed to the enjoyment of those present on the occasion, as well as to that of the citizens of the town generally, throughout the day and evening.” Likewise, the Weekly Journal on May 14, 1858, reported : “The Sabbath School connected with the Methodist Church, in this place, will hold an Exhibition in the Church Building, the 25th day of May….The services of Capt. Bradley’s Saxe Band has been secured for the occasion.” According to Old Mercersburg, the coming of the Civil War brought about the end of this band as many of its members enlisted in the Union cause. Active in the town, Bradley with Michael Cromer in 1858 formed a partnership, known as Cromer and Bradley, for the purpose of manufacturing farm machinery. When Cromer cut with a scythe twelve and one-half acres of wheat on July 12, 1858, Bradley was one of the official observers who certified the feat. Bradley, who lived on a farm east of Mercersburg, also was one of the men who incorporated Fairview Cemetery in 1866 and served as the first president of that Board. S. A. Bradley passed away in 1871.
In 1883 a local dentist, Dr. David H. Grosh, a veteran of the Civil War, organized the Eagle Cornet Band. The band practiced on East California Street in a paint-room owned by David Stouffer, who manufactured carriages. Later this structure was given to the Band, and it was re-built and placed behind Town Hall. Ultimately this building was torn down, and another was built in its place. A 1903 photograph of the band shows the following members: Ed Wolfe, John Stenger, Ollie Mowen, Seth Keyser, Sam McCleary, Paul Kurzenknabe, Harvey Reed, Oliver Lightner, Fred Grove, Harry Miller, Ed Bennett, Wade Shaffer, Delmar McCune, Simon Sharar, Harry Stenger, William Wilkens, and one person unidentified. Like S. A. Bradley, Dr. Grosh, in addition to organizing and directing the band, was active in the community. He served on town council and on the school board and was burgess of Mercersburg from 1896 until 1899.
The band became important to the community. In the July 7, 1899, issue of the Mercersburg Journal an editorial stated: “Too much cannot be said in commendation of the efficient and pleasing manner in which the Eagle Cornet Band of this place entertained the vast throng at McConnells-burg’s glorious celebration. The boys were very accommodating, and won many friends by the courteous and genial manner in which they performed their part of the program. The music was highly appreciated by all, and we extend congratulations to each member of the Band.”
Three weeks later the local newspaper reported upon a festival held by the band members with assistance by the ladies of the town in order to purchase new uniforms. The festival brought $167.32 profit into the treasury. The newspaper stated: “The people are now anxious to see the boys ‘diked’ out in their new uniforms, which, by the way, we hope will be more modest than the suits adopted by several visiting bands. The object of obtaining uniforms is to have the band present a neat appearance, and a plain suit with very little braid is very appropriate and displays much better taste than the gaudy rigs often chosen.” The article also noted that those attending were well behaved and that there were no disturbances.
In the early twentieth century the Eagle Cornet Band continued to be busy with supporting varying activities. On Memorial Day in 1911 the local band provided the music. In the spring of 1914 the Woman’s Club, now the Women’s Club, that had organized the town library in the preceding year, sponsored in order to encourage people to give both books and money a Book Social in Town Hall at which the band “furnished excellent music.” On January 1, 1915, the Journal reported that the band “had enlivened Christmas afternoon with several selections of new music on Centre Square” and added that new members of the band were being instructed by the band director, Harry Stenger, the assistant postmaster of Mercersburg. In the issue published in the following week an editorial stated that the band needed support. The article stated that the band had just bought three new cornets and that the band was made up of “sober young men, who give much of their time and talent, that Mercersburg may have a musical organization that will be of a benefit to the town.” It further stated that the “Band Boys” do not receive any compensation and that all instruments were the property of the town. The article noted that an agreement between the band and Town Council had made clear that any person who ceased to be a member of the band must return the instrument unless he had “purchased it with his own money.” The article ended by saying that the Journal would publish an article each week about the band and would publish the names of people who gave money to the band and that money should be given to H.C. Stenger, the secretary, or to H. B. Hege, the treasurer.
In mid-March the band gave a concert on a Saturday evening in the Square and by mid-May had received $78.70 in monetary gifts with the names of the contributors and the amounts given published. As spring approached, the band began to give a series of concerts on Saturday evenings. In a column written by the Reverend F. W. Bald, minister of the local German Reformed Church and published in the April 2 issue, Reverend Bald asserted that for the town to be “a profitable and pleasant place,” it was necessary to have “a place where teams can be left with safety…a watering place for horses, a waiting room to leave wraps…to rest, to warm, and to chat with friends” and added a paragraph praising the Saturday evening band concerts and saying that many people came to town because of the concerts.
The band played at many places and upon many occasions. When in May 1915 the Academy students learned that its baseball team had defeated the team of the Lawrenceville School, the students “got busy and arranged for a parade and bonfire” and had the local band lead the parade. The band also went to Richmond and provided the music for the annual Sunday School picnic held by the local Methodist Church. At the end of July the Tuscarora Company, which owned and planned to sell lots at the top of the mountain between Fort Loudon and McConnellsburg, held an initial sale of the lots and created a festive occasion for doing so. At that time the Steiger Brothers of Mercersburg provided the meat for the ox roast, and the local band provided the music for the over four thousand people who attended. Perhaps the most exciting event for the band in 1915 was the parade held on October 4, the day the Justice Bell, an exact replica of the Liberty Bell, that the Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association took to each of the sixty-seven counties in Pennsylvania that summer in order to encourage men to vote at the November election on an amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution giving women the right to vote came to Mercersburg. The procession was led by Seth Steiger and Frank Long, the marshals on horseback, followed by the band. The parade stopped on the Square so that speakers could explain the necessity of granting women the right to vote. (The amendment failed to pass.)
In 1916 the band continued to participate in many and varied activities. In July the band led a parade at the Franklin County Sunday School Association that met in Mercersburg. This was a particularly long parade in which the participants met on the Square and “went out Main Street to Oregon, to depot, to meet special train from Chambersburg at 7 o’clock. Then in Church street to Seminary, then west to Fayette and out Fayette to Greencastle Pike, in Pike to Main street to West California street, to Park street, to West Seminary street, to Center Square; out North Main to Toll Gate and counter march to North Park street, then to West California, to Main, to Public Square, and out East Seminary to the Methodist and Reformed churches, where parade will disperse for the services of the evening in these churches.” In September it again led a parade, this time to welcome those attending the annual Apple-Higbee Reunion. Members of the Apple and Higbee families had been active and important as students and teachers in Marshall College, the Theological Seminary, and Mercersburg College and convened here once each year. In this year the band “accompanied by the whole town of Mercersburg,” met the “Apple Higbee Special,” the train from Harrisburg that brought many of the visitors and led the parade to the Square. When on October 13, 1916, the monument in Markes noting the site and importance of Fort McDowell was unveiled in a ceremony attended by many descendants of William McDowell and by other guests, “ the large company present marched to the site of the monument preceded by the Mercersburg Band which played appropriate music.” That fall the band also played in parades in Rouzerville and Chambersburg and in the latter parade received the award for having all of its members present.
During World War I the band’s participation became more and more vital to the patriotic efforts of the community. The United States declared war upon Germany on April 6, 1917. In the April 20 issue the Journal noted that the band had given its first springtime concert and “had furnished the town with a number of new pieces of band music.” By early May the town began to show its patriotism. In the May 2 issue the Journal announced that there would be a flag raising ceremony on the Square on Thursday evening, May 10, that the band would provide the music, and encouraged everyone to attend. The following week the newspaper stated that at the flag raising the band would give a concert, that children from the public schools would sing, and that “prominent speakers” would give addresses. In the May 17 issue the newspaper stated that the flag raising ceremony had been a success, that the band had given a concert at the beginning of the program and had played during the program, that the children had sung “The Star-Spangled Banner” and had recited the Pledge of Allegiance, which they had learned in school, and that various men had given addresses. The article stated that the flag, measuring 12 x 20 feet, had been “suspended from a cable over Main Street and hangs between the Mansion House and Hege & Myers store,” then on the southeast corner of the Square.
As people became more aware of the war, and more and more people’s lives, especially those of the young servicemen and their families, were affected, the band became more important to the entire community as it was integral to many patriotic activities. Two very active local branches of organizations that focused upon the war effort were the Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania and the War Work Council. The Emergency Aid organization focused upon not only sending medical supplies, clothing, and other necessities to war-torn countries, especially Belgium, but also upon sending medical supplies and other necessities to both local troops and the armed services at large. In Mercersburg and the surrounding area it accomplished a great deal and sent a lot. The War Work Council had as its principal mission the selling of war bonds and saving stamps, sometimes called Thrift Stamps. This council, like Emergency Aid, was extremely active and successful.
In rallies and events relevant to both these organizations the band was an active participant. The June 1, 1917, issue of the Journal reported upon a flag raising at Mt. Pleasant with the flagpole presented by Charles Starliper. The paper reported upon the speeches, the sale of refreshments, and the “inspiring selections by the Mercersburg Cornet Band” and reported that $40.00 had been raised for the Emergency Aid. In April of 1918 another meeting at which the band played was held at Mt. Pleasant, this time to advocate the purchase of Thrift Stamps. The September 7, 1917, issue of the Journal reported upon a “Patriotic Rally” recently held in Mercersburg at which $40.00 for Emergency Aid was raised. The Journal reported: “A pleasant feature of the evening was the ‘Community Singing’ led by the Mercersburg Band” and added that during the singing of “America” Miss Zola Vanderau had appeared as the “Goddess of Liberty.”
The War Work Council in its efforts to sell war bonds and savings stamps exceeded its expectations. In the April 12, 1918, edition of the Journal a long article stated that on the preceding Saturday, April 6, exactly one year after the United States had declared war upon Germany and the opening day of the Third Liberty Loan Drive, the council had raised in subscriptions $110,000 and that with the subscription of the local banks the total amount of subscriptions was over $130,000. To bring about this achievement the War Work Council held an event attended by over a thousand people meeting in the “fountain square.” There the band played, citizens spoke, and “two uniformed companies from the Mercersburg Academy…marched through the town and went through the regulation military drill.” The article noted that a similar event would occur in Welsh Run the following Friday night and that the band would play there also. The May 3, 1918, issue of the Journal reported that the War Work Council would hold a meeting in Markes and that the band would play there and that on May 7 a “Mass Meeting and Patriotic Rally” would be held in the local Methodist Church and that the band would play there also.
That same issue of the newspaper included a series of resolutions given by the War Work Council praising the band for its work for the war effort. The Resolutions began: “WHEREAS, the Mercersburg Band has rendered very efficient service to the cause of patriotism and human righteousness by their assistance to the War Work Council of Mercersburg in their various meetings held from time to time” and ended with “RESOLVED, that we the members of the War Work Council do hereby express our hearty appreciation for that valuable assistance as given by the band, and that we assure the members of the band that the communities reached by their efforts shall ever remember their soul-searching tunes and anthems.” The Resolutions, adopted by unanimous vote, were signed by J. G. Rose, president pro tem and H. H. Spangler, secretary, and dated April 25, 1918.
But the work of the band was unfinished. On July 4 the town had a parade “led by the fine and faithful Mercersburg Band that “marched from the fountain square to the campus.” In the parade were “a column of mothers carrying service flags representing nearly one hundred boys, …boys wearing ‘garden garb’…with their tools and vegetables, a column of Junor Emergency Aid girls in uniform, and a dozen young ladies in white who carried the American flag.” After their arrival on campus the War Work Council held a meeting. On July 19 another parade took place, this one to celebrate the victory by the allies at the second battle of the Marne. Although this parade was “gotten up on short notice,” the six hundred people participating were led by “the ever faithful Mercersburg Band…from the North end of town, then counter-marched to the end of the Avenue on the South, and then back to the Square.”
The band’s activities in 1918 continued. Later in July the band participated in a flag raising at the “foot of Mount Parnell.” The purpose of this event was to celebrate “the first great victories of American soldiers in France.”
Again in that same month the Junior Emergency Aid workers in order to gain support for their work had a program in the Star Theater that featured Rome the Magician, who was assisted by the band. In August the Journal included a short article both extolling the War Work Council’s success in selling War Savings Stamps in nearby rural school houses and praising the band “that would draw an audience at a fancy price in any large center.”
In 1919, as the war was over, the focus of the band shifted, and people in looking back over the war years expressed their appreciation of the band. In order to purchase new uniforms the band on May 6 and 7 gave a play in the Star Theatre, Sergeant of the Marines “that depicts the average American home at the time of the entry of the United States into the war against Germany and is very amusing as well as patriotic.” The band first wore the new uniforms in a concert it gave on the Square preceding July 4. The July 11 issue of the Journal headlined the acquisition of the new uniforms that “cost a little over seven hundred dollars” and “are very handsome being an olive drab color with the green predominating. The trimmings are in black braid and on each cuff and on both sides of the collar a silver ‘M’ is embroidered.” In addition to the three hundred dollars the band had earned from the play the War Work Council had given two hundred and fifty dollars, and H. W. Byron had given one hundred dollars. On July 4 the band in its new uniforms went to Hustontown and gave concerts there at eleven o’clock, two o’clock, and five o’clock and on the way home stopped in McConnellsburg and gave a concert there where the people gave it “a royal welcome.”
During this summer the local women extended their appreciation to the band for its services. The June 29 issue of the Journal reported that Mrs. Edgar Fallon had entertained the band with a dinner at her home on West Seminary Street. The article stated that “The band assembled at their hall [located behind Town Hall] and marched to the Fallon home.” After they had played a few selections, they enjoyed the dinner. After dinner Harry Stenger, the band’s director, acted as toastmaster and asked each member of the band to speak. The paper added: “Every member of the band had something to say, and the party was kept in a continual state of merriment by the speeches.” Among the guests were some of the ladies who had assisted with the play.
In August of 1919 the Journal had a small article that stated that the women of the town had “resolved to give a fair or benefit of some kind” in order to show their gratitude for the band’s work during the war as “the band had been very generous all during the war with their services….” At a subsequent meeting the women decided to hold a market on Saturday, August 30, on the Square and added that “Solicitors with handbills will call on you next week.” The following week the women placed in the newspaper a large advertisement promoting the event. The advertisement stated in large print “MID-SUMMER MARKET for the benefit of the MERCERSBURG BAND to be held at one-clock on the square.” The advertisement said: “FOOD OF ALL KINDS” would be on sale including meat, chickens, fruit, butter, eggs, vegetables, cakes, pies, candy and other items such as home-made soap, brooms, fancy work, domestic articles, Victrola records, flowers, and small articles for “mystery boxes and fish pond.” The advertisement ended with the words “Then Come! Come! Come! And Buy! Buy! Buy!” Mrs. C. H. Witherspoon was chairman of the event assisted by a chairman for each type of item to be sold. With tables decorated with flowers and with some of the younger women dressed to represent the vegetables they sold it was a festive event. The market that brought $155.30 into the treasury of the band was a success.
During that summer Harry Stenger, who had served as director of the band for fifteen years, resigned in order to take a position with the Duffield Music House in Chambersburg. At that time Harmon B. Hege, merchant and local Justice of the Peace, usually referred to as H. B. Hege, became the director of the band and remained in that position, with the exception of a few years in which Bard McAfee served as director, until his death in 1943. Mr. Hege upon become director again organized a class for beginning musicians. During the late 1920s and the early 1930s the band was busy in supporting local activities. In 1924 it played at Mercersburg’s first Community Picnic held in Black’s Woods.
But the town band was not the only band in the community. For instance, in 1926 Earl M. Smith, teacher of the Lafayette School in Montgomery Township, formed, trained, and directed the Lafayette Rural School Band comprised of his students. In 1929 the twenty student-members with the sounds of two song-a-phone saxophones played by Nelson Musselman and Grover Clever, a song-a-phone clarinet played by Owen Shives, two solo cornets played by Fred Pheil and Lester Culler, two first cornets played by Brinton Gearhart and Donald Clever, a second cornet played by John Bennett, a third cornet played by Clarence Clever, three slide trombones played by Carl Bricker, Wilbur Bricker, and Wilton Bennett, a B Flat bass played by John Bricker, an E Flat Bass played by Orville Rock, a baritone played by Carl Brant, an E Flat Alto played by Ray Musselman, cymbals played by Webb Snyder, a song-a-phone clarinet, a bass drum played by John Secrist, and a tenor drum played by Ernest Eichelberger gave various concerts and during the summer vacation played at picnics and festivals. In addition to his student musicians Mr. Smith played the solo cornet.
In the early 1930s town the band remained busy. In the April 26, 1935, issue of the Mercersburg Journal there appeared a serious-humorous article stating that the band would be performing “a new set of pieces” and would include “men as young as 12 years along with a number of old regulars who have been in the band since the carp in the fountain heard the band in the Square and thinking it was a singing river leapt over the wall to join it.” The article ended by encouraging people to support the band. The band played at many different venues. The band played at the Firemen’s Block Party and at Memorial Day Services in Fairview Cemetery. That spring and summer the band played at a Methodist picnic at Hege’s Meadow, at the Fulton County Fair, and at Buchanan’s birthplace and gave concerts in the high school and in the Square. On Christmas Eve the local churches sponsored a Community Carol Service in the Square that included not only members of the various church choirs but all residents of the community The Journal stated: “Members of the town band are to give their assistance and a great chorus to unite in the singing of the Christmas carols.”
In 1936 according to the Mercersburg Journal published on March 27, the leadership of the band in addition to Mr. Hege included Raymond Mosser as assistant director, Lloyd Wagner as president, Ray Cunningham as secretary, Arch Metcalfe as treasurer, and William Stenger, Harvey Mosser, and Charles Beck as trustees. The members of the band were Ray Cunningham, Donald Wagner, Guy Blattenberger, John Hoke, Glenn Angle, Paul Barnes, Albert Myers, William Stenger Jr., and William Black, who played cornets; Harold Pittman and Raymond Mosser who played clarinets; Pauline Hege, Arch Metcalfe, Robert Scott, Harvey Mosser, and Earl Rice, Jr., who played saxophones; Willaim Stenger, Lee Hendershot, and Martin Myers Jr., who played bass; Henry Lightner, who played baritone; Lloyd Wagner, John Stenger, and Harold Blattenberger, who played trombones; Charles Beck, Ralph Keefer, Arthur Barnes, and Elmer Hawbaker, who played altos; William Waidlich, Henry Duncan, David Wolfe, and Charles Zentmyer, who played drums. Pauline Hege, who played both the saxophone and the clarinet, was the first girl to play in the band. Later Miss Hege recalled that one of her neighbors thought it unseemly for a girl to play in the band, even though the director was her father.
The Journal explained the strides the band was taking. It reported that “The band room of the Mercersburg band has been completed and the boys are now in a suitable place for their work. The building has been rebuilt and remodeled to best suit the needs of a growing organization.” It also explained that Harvey Mosser was conducting a class of young boys who were already in the band or who were about to become members of the band. Members of the class were William Stenger Jr., Donald Wagner, Harold Wagner, George Barges, Paul Houpt, Vaughn Smith, Jack Sheffield, Arthur Hoch, and Gerald Wenger.
To defray the expense for the rebuilding and remodeling the band room and for purchasing new instruments the band in May held a concert in the local high school with a charge for admission of twenty-five cents. The article advertising this event, submitted by Albert Myers and Raymond Mosser, committee of the band, stated that the recently renovated band room was well equipped, that seventy-five percent of the band members were “persons in their teens,” that the Boy Scouts also were meeting in the band room, and that the band would appreciate the presence of everyone at the concert. In June it gave a concert on West Seminary Street also for the purpose of raising money. However, almost all of its concerts were for providing pleasure to the public, not for fund-raising. That summer the band in May gave a concert on the Square and later in May gave one at Buchanan’s Birthplace. In August the band, accompanied by the Mercersburg fire truck, marched in a parade celebrating the sesquicentennial of the founding of McConnellsburg. The commemorative booklet noted that the band was “under the leadership of Harmon Hege, another Fulton Countian.”
Through the late 1930s the band continued to be busy. It played at various activities and, as in earlier years, did not confine its activities to Mercersburg. For instance, in 1937 it played in State Line at a festival featuring Cousin Lee and His Boys from Station WORK in York and in 1938 played in State Line at a festival that featured Happy Johnny from WBAL in Baltimore. In 1939 the band played at a block part in Greencastle and in a parade in Hagerstown sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
In January 1939 the band in order to raise money sponsored for two nights a movie, “Submarine Patrol,” in the Star Theatre. This pre-World War II movie that had as its subject matter “the never-told-before story of the Navy’s ‘Splinter Fleet’ and one of the its strange crews of civilian odds and ends” was popular in the United States that had not yet experienced World War II. Later that year the band that must have been playing at times outdoors after dark sponsored a festival in order to make money in order to purchase lights for their caps.
After the United States had entered World War II and some of the musicians were now servicemen, and others were working in war-related industries, the band remained intact but played at fewer activities but did participate in Memorial Day services and other patriotic activities. It remained a presence in the town until the death of its director, H. B. Hege, in 1943.
However, during this same time Paul Lucas, who taught music in the public schools in Mercersburg, instructed young instrumentalists and formed a high school band. In 1939 this band gave its first concert in the high school auditorium. When it gave its second concert in the spring of 1940, the musicians were Earl Rice, Harold Wagner, Dick Zeger, Genevieve Armstrong, Alice Hoffman, Luther Rice, Francis Gift, Randolph Meyers, Bobby Grove, James Varden, Donald Wagner, Teddy Stroup, Tommy Varden, Allen Smith, Eddie Stenger, Neil Kemp, Charles Knable, Charles Zeger, Harold Kadle, Billy Rock, William Stenger, Henry Stenger, Henry Steiger, Louise Wagner, Jack Houpt, Jere Keefer, Nelson Gerhart, Paul Hoch, Fred Shutzman, and Charles Overcash. The young musicians used their talents and skills elsewhere. In March of 1940 Donald Wagner and Earl Rice of the Junior class organized a small band to play at a pep rally before a basketball game with Scotland. That fall the band played at a rally of the Willkie Club, a group of “214 members from this community,” that promoted the candidacy of Wendell Willkie in his bid in the 1940 election to become president of the United States. Since, however, Willkie lost the election to Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Willkie Club disbanded and gave the $20 left in its treasury “to the Mercersburg High School Band to start a fund for the purchase of uniforms, in appreciation for the Band’s services at the Willkie Rally held in the High School Auditorium here.”
In 1941 the school band held its third annual concert in the high school auditorium. The February 7 issue of the Mercersburg Journal stated: “Arrayed in new uniforms of white trousers and blue and gold caps, the 40 members of the Mercersburg School Band, under the direction of Mr. Paul Lucas, will present the third annual band concert at 8 o’clock next Thursday evening, February 13, in the High School Auditorium. Admission will be 25 cents. This concert, since its inception two years ago, has become, by the public’s response, one of the highlights on the school entertainment program.” With Mr. Lucas’ tutelage, enthusiasm, and organizational skills the band had grown in number with the following additional members: Doris Hawbaker, Virgie Keefer, Marjorie Stroup, Jean Weller, Carl Funk, Gerald Mowen, Betsy Myers, Betty Overcash, Maralee Jones, Ruth Clark, Joh Royer, Jane Beck, Jack Smith, Paul Houpt, Bard McAfee, and Billy Grove. The concert with a varied program included marches, overtures, other symphonic music, traditional music, a trombone novelty, a ragtime novelty, a clarinet quartet, a saxophone solo by Earl Rice, a cornet solo by Donald Wagner, and a trombone solo by Billy Rock. Later that year the band gave a concert in McConnellsburg High School with the local band receiving sixty per cent of the cost of admission, and the “McConnellsburg school music department” receiving forty per cent. In May 1942 the band participated in local Memorial Day activities that included the dedication of the Honor Roll that listed the names of local servicemen and that stood outside Town Hall and concluded with a parade to Fairview Cemetery in which three student bands played: the Mercersburg High School Band, directed by Paul Lucas, the newly formed Lemasters High School Band, directed by Miss Faith Harbeson, and the Mercersburg Academy Band, directed by Henry Ready. The ceremonies ended with the playing of Taps by Donald Wagner.
Through the years these bands have given us much pleasure, and the tradition of our bands has continued with the formation in 1945 with its first concert in April 1946 of the American Legion Band, later named the American Legion Community Band, and the establishment of the present Mercersburg Area Community Band in 1986. We are indebted to all of these bands and their faithful members.
I am indebted to Michelle Kipe of the Fendrick Library and to her son Wil for research into the copies of the Mercersburg Journal. I could not have written this article without their help. I am also indebted to Abby Anderson Lewis for information about Band Hall.