In 1901 Sociology student John Bieri decided to study the various means in which people can communicate from and to Carlisle. He talks about the history of transportation in Carlisle, from the construction of the Cumberland Valley Railroad in 1837 to the building of the South Mountain Railroad in 1860 and the construction of the Cumberland Valley Electric Passenger Railroad Company in 1893. Bieri talks about the ways in which the liveries are not used as much, but were probably used quite frequently before the arrival of the railroads. Bieri also talks about the construction of the turnpike and the innovativeness of telegraph companies like Western union and the Postal and two telephone lines, the Home Telephone Company and the Bell Telephone company. Bieri was hopeful for the Carlisle community in that it would continue to progress and for the American citizens in its borders who “while they glory among the starts also glory in their stripes.”
-Y.M.W.
1901 Sociology Class Students Papers on the History of Carlisle – Archived with the Special Collections Library of Dickinson College