Historical Highlights
Our museum doesn’t have walls right now. So we built one here.
Until we’re back in a permanent home, this is where our history lives — a growing collection of the people, places, and moments that shaped Dauphin and Middle Paxton. Explore at your own pace. We’ll keep adding to it.
How This Works
Think of this as a virtual exhibit, built and tended by our volunteers. Each story below is a window into a piece of our area’s past. It’s a work in progress, and that’s the point — as we recover and restore more of our collection, this space grows right along with it. Have something to add, a photo or a story worth preserving? We’d love to hear from you.
Canal & Rail
When the canal and the railroad ran through here
This was a corridor of industry. The Dauphin & Susquehanna Coal Company once owned much of the land in the area, and the Pennsylvania Canal and the rail lines threading along the Susquehanna River moved coal, goods, and people through our towns. Those routes built the communities we know today.
The Three Valleys
Clarks, Stoney, and Fishing Creek
Middle Paxton Township stretches across three valleys, with the southernmost edge of Pennsylvania’s Anthracite Coal Region reaching in from the north and east. Each valley has its own families, farms, and stories — and together they make up the landscape our Society works to preserve.
Military Heritage
A community that always answered the call
The people of Dauphin and Middle Paxton served in every American conflict, from the Revolution and the Civil War forward. That tradition of service runs deep here, and it’s part of why our commemorative veterans’ bricks and the Veterans Memorial mean so much to this community.
The Old Schoolhouse
The building that became our home
Built as a schoolhouse and used to educate local children from 1876 until 1969, the Old Dauphin School House later became the home of our Society and museum. It’s the building in our logo, and though the 2021 fire took the structure, its story — and its place at the center of our identity — endures.
From the Archive
Odd, true, and gloriously local
Local history isn’t all dates and documents. Our archives are full of the strange and wonderful — like the 1931 headline “Cow Chokes on Apple,” or the summer of 1936, when Dauphin’s chief burgess threatened to prosecute anyone caught on the streets in “disrespectful costumes.” These are the stories that make a place feel like home. Many of them turn up first in our newsletter.