Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Carlisle Barracks

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Carlisle Barracks

Carlisle Barracks dates to 1757, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Carlisle Barracks was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2007. Below: 5 old photos and papers and maps from 1904 on.

1757founded
1on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Carlisle Barracks’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Carlisle Barracks began

When was Carlisle Barracks founded?

1757

Carlisle Barracks dates its founding to 1757 (Wikidata).

2020 census: 938269 years
Founding year: Wikidata.The full story ↓

What stands out about Carlisle Barracks’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

On the map since 19046 editions of the USGS map, 1904 to 1994. Watch Carlisle Barracks change.Older than the countryEstablished in 1757, 19 years before the Declaration of Independence.
★ What stands out · On the map

Carlisle Barracks on the map, 1904 to 1994

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Carlisle Barracks. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Carlisle Barracks on the 1904 USGS mapCarlisle Barracks on the 1943 USGS mapCarlisle Barracks on the 1952 USGS mapCarlisle Barracks on the 1968 USGS mapCarlisle Barracks on the 1973 USGS mapCarlisle Barracks on the 1994 USGS map1904Carlisle sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Carlisle Barracks.

Timeline

Carlisle Barracks, 1757 to 1932

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 18th century
  2. 1757
    FoundingCarlisle Barracks is established
  3. 19th century
  4. 1828In the archiveDraught of the United States Barracks, and Land
  5. 1842Born hereSamuel S. Sumner is born here
  6. 1848In the archiveMap of the Carlisle Barracks, Carlisle, Pennsylvania
  7. 1870In the archiveCarlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, 1870
  8. 1886In the archiveChiricahua Apaches as they arrived at Carlisle from Fort Marion, Florida (F26703 DPLW)
  9. 20th century
  10. 1904On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  11. 1932In the archiveProbable chracteristics of the next war and the organization, tactics, and equipment nece…
The story

How Carlisle Barracks came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Carlisle Barracks.

Read it all →

Developed at the intersection of Indian trails along Letort Creek, in the eighteenth century the town of Carlisle became the jumping-off point for traders and settlers heading over the Alleghenies on their way west. A brief 1756 encampment at Carlisle preceded the more permanent Carlisle Fort, built in 1757, during the French and Indian War on the North American front between the colonies of Britain and France. Colonel John Stanwix marched upstream with British regulars and provincials against the backdrop of the international Seven Years' War, building extensive entrenchments in Carlisle. After the American Revolutionary War, from 1783 to 1837, the town of Carlisle was significant as the frontier gateway, as a greatly increased wave of land-hungry migrants moved west.

Chapters1756—1860Civil WarCarlisle Indian Industrial School1918—1950United States Army War College

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Carlisle Barracks, decade by decade

5 decades in the archive, from the 1820s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1820s–1880s4 items
Draught of the United States Barracks, and Land1828Draught of the United States Barracks, and LandDocumentMap of the Carlisle Barracks, Carlisle, Pennsylvania1848Map of the Carlisle Barracks, Carlisle, PennsylvaniaMapCarlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, 18701870Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, 1870Chiricahua Apaches as they arrived at Carlisle from Fort Marion, Florida (F26703 DPLW)1886Chiricahua Apaches as they arrived at Carlisle from F…
1890s–1920snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1930s1 item
Probable chracteristics of the next war and the organization, tactics, and equipment necessary to meet them (1932)1932Probable chracteristics of the next war and the organ…Book
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today1 recent
Hessian Fusilier mockup army.mil-2008-03-20-1003462008Hessian Fusilier mockup army.mil-2008-03-20-100346
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, 1870
Retake this viewCarlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, 1870, 1870

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Carlisle Barracks’ page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 listing protects 20 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmark
1
none yet
historic buildings protected
20
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Finish Carlisle Barracks’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCarlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, 1870: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Carlisle3 historic placesA+North Middleton Township2 historic placesB+

Questions about Carlisle Barracks’ history

What year was Carlisle Barracks founded?

In 1757, according to Wikidata.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people and U.S. Geological Survey historical maps. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.