The first school is established at this location.  This is a boys' boarding school and is a private Latin Academy as public schools were not established at this time.

A 3-story structure with heavy stone foundations and walls is constructed.

Recitation Hall served as the dormitory for boarding students.

Both the school and Recitation Hall are visible in this photograph.

The first public school is established in 2 rooms at the private Academy.  The first classes were held in the ground floor level in the front center section of the school in separate rooms for boys and girls.

On July 2 during the battle of Gettysburg at Big Round Top, soldier Lt. Col. Carter (and the former mayor of Austin, Texas) is mortally wounded.  He is eventually brought to Academy Hospital (as the school was operating at that time) and his care was assigned to Reverend and Mrs. Naomi Fisher.

Only a year earlier, Mrs. Fisher had lost her son, Captain Kerns in the battle of Second Manassas during which, her son had fought so bravely - manning his gun alone - that the opposing Confederate officer left his own overcoat for the young captain's burial.  The officer identified the soldier's parents and had the man's personal property returned to his family in Chambersburg.

The Confederate officer who had extended such respect to Mrs. Fisher's son, was Lt. Col. Benjamin F. Carter.  He died of his wounds and the Fisher's worked to honor his dying wish for a Christian burial.  Initially laid to rest in a plot for the Methodist church on 2nd Street, his grave was later relocated to the Cedar Grove Cemetery.

Much of Chambersburg including the Academy is burned to the ground.

This map shows the buildings that were burned on July 30, 1864.  (Republished from The Project Gutenberg eBook, "The Burning of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania", by Benjamin Shroder Schneck)

Number 13 (near the top of the map) is the Academy.

The school was reconstructed within the remaining stone walls two years after the burning.

This guide to the academy outlines policies and expenses for boarding and day students.

Non-boarding students arrived at the school by train which stopped at the station one block away and continued along 3rd street and past the school.  

This 1904 Sanborn map shows an iron bridge allowed Burkhart Avenue to continue over the tracks that ran along 3rd Street.  The bridge appears on insurance maps as late as 1916, but is gone by the publishing of the 1924 map.

Some excerpts from this article in the August 13 1909 issue of the Public Opinion newspaper read:

The plans show a fine school building.  

The building will be 144 feet long and 96 feet wide.  It will be two stories high, with a basement, the basement, however, being above ground.  The basement portion of the building will be of stone, the remainder of pressed brick with stone trimmings.  The roof is of slate.

There will be a triple entrance, one of three doors, in the center of the basement, front with additional entrances in the rear.

The exterior plan shows a building that is good looking.  With the limited amount of money available for the building, it could not be made as ornate as it will be substantial and enduring.  Architect, Kast, however, has planned exceedingly well, and the structure will be pleasing to the eye as well as comfortable to the body.

These three doors were the main entrance of the school and faced Queen Street.  Most of the details - railing, concrete fleurettes, cornice and dentils, light fixtures, doors and transoms - were removed or destroyed during the construction of a later addition to the building.

Some features of the original academy are still in place today, including the original stone and brick walls and these iron columns.  Some of the columns were found (and are still) encased in walls, while 2 have been exposed as part of newer development.

Waynesboro vs. Chambersburg

Performance of "Little Women" on the stage.  The stage was on the 3rd floor and included a balcony.  The auditorium could seat 700 and that was considered enough to house all of the students for a single function.

This teachers' contract outlines the terms for female teachers.  Beware of rule number four: "Not to loiter downtown in ice cream parlors."

An addition of a gymnasium, auditorium and large classroom wing is constructed.  Designed by Lawrie and Green of Harrisburg, the building is sited in front of the original school.  The 1909 building designed by Miller Kast is visible through the steel structure in this photo.

The new addition is connected to the front facade of the original building via two classroom wings.  The 1909 building is significantly reconfigured and much of the front facade is either destroyed or buried inside the new walls.

Here, the 1909 building still remains, but is encapsulated behind a single layer of brick to mimic the appearance of the new addition.  In this photo, the side of the 1909 structure stands behind the right half of the windowed classroom wing.

A new high school is constructed in Chambersburg and "Central High" becomes the Chambersburg Junior High School.

The addition of this cafeteria fills the corner of Burkhart and Harrison.

The last remaining open area of the site was filled with the addition of this auxiliary gymnasium.  This was built behind the cafeteria and in between a wing of the 1930s classroom addition and the original 1909 building.

The 1909 structure is the area of dark pitched roof at the lower right of the total building in this photo.  The 1930 structure is the long dark-roof with the center peak along the road at the left (Queen Street) as well as the E-shaped classroom wings with the lighter colored roof.  The cafeteria is the low single story roof area with skylights.  The auxiliary gymnasium is located between the cafeteria and the wings of the 1930 building.

Chambersburg Junior High closes.  With the site inaccessible for safety and no expansion possible, the school is closed and sold at public auction for $130,260.  Only two bids were received.

McKissick Properties is approached by a succession of developers seeking to convert the old school to residential apartments.  The only open ground on the site is a small, square courtyard.

Other developers' early proposals envisioned use of the entire facility to create from 80 to as many as 140 housing units, however most of this plans did not address issues of parking or access for emergency vehicles.  These plans may still have gone forward if not for the economic downturn for housing in 2008.

McKissick Properties acquires the old Chambersburg Central High School at 285 East Queen Street.

The architect's concept is to separate the two buildings by demolishing all the construction from the 1950s onward and selectively removing enough of the 1930 structure to allow passage between the buildings and formal separation of the property addresses.

The opening created here allows an access road to flow through the site.  This access to both buildings provides support for municipal functions and is especially necessary for the fire department.

Demolition work is completed.  With the buildings separated, the property is officially subdivided.  The 1930 building (at the left of this photo) on 285 East Queen Street is dubbed "Mac" and the 1909 structure (at the right) is dubbed "Rose" and is assigned a new address: 57 South 3rd Street.