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About the Author

Janice Sweet McElhoe, PhD

A trek down Main Street in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania reveals the fabric of the lives of the villagers who, over the past 200 years, have survived fires and wars, the kind of folks who would not only remember their fallen loved ones, but who would gather flowers for all. It becomes easy to understand the strength and tenacity of those craftsmen who possessed the skills to manage a good life without electricity and how their lives were transformed when they realized how to capture the power of falling water and produce electricity.

I am grateful to those who have been the keepers of the village and those who have made it part of their life’s work to record the stories of Boalsburg. As a child growing up in Boalsburg during the mid-1900s, Mom would send me on my bike, up tree-lined Main Street to the Clover Farm Store on the diamond, perhaps for a loaf of bread—no need for money ‘cause folks kept a tab, paid “now and then.” Walking east to west on Main Street, your path will be similar to mine, i.e. past the home of my Grandma Sarah, who lived on the Myers/Sweet farm—maybe sitting on the front porch swing; past the home of the Dale sisters who lived across Main Street; Al Gingrich, working in the blacksmith shop, building fine furniture, no longer horses to shod; Tommy and Eddie Keller living on the east side of the double red brick—the Segner sisters, in the house their father built (Hess House); Gussie Murray, postmistress, in the Little Brick; Duffy, owner/operator of the Tavern; Fred Dale and sister, Margaret, shopkeepers of the Clover Farm Store where once stood the stable for the tavern; and across the street where Reverend Raup’s family lived in the Lutheran parsonage, bequeathed by the Swineharts; and the I.O.O.F Hall just as it had been for many years. From these wonderful memories has emerged and created the motivation to research the stories of early Boalsburg, a quintessential American village—what a treasure! I invite you to visit Boalsburg and, in particular, to visit the Boalsburg Heritage Museum, 304 East Main Street, or, read more about it:

 

Publications:

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1999 - The New Advocate, Images of Grandparents in Children’s Literature, Volume 12, Number 3

 

1998 - Sarah’s Story

 

1994   The Pennsylvania State University – Doctoral dissertation -Compensatory Education: Comparison of the Design and Intent of Title 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act: 1965 to 1994

 

2008 -  Shadows of War: Prelude to the First Memorial Day

 

2010 -  Birth of Memorial Day: The Boalsburg Story

 

2015 -  Village Craftsmen: Boalsburg Artisans in the 1800s

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2018 -  A Small Stream Changed a Village: First Electricity in Boalsburg.

 

2020 - From the Outside Looking In -Olde Boalsburg – A Microcosm

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