New Cumberland Circa 1922

I was cleaning out my attic, and I came across a bunch of old posters that my husband had saved from his younger days.  I started unrolling them to see what they were.  I found the much younger Rolling Stones, quite a few Budweiser Girls, and then I discovered something that looked a little out of place.  This was a different type of poster, the paper was a better quality, as well as longer and wider.  I unrolled it, and much to my amazement, I found this treasure.

1922 Map of New Cumberland Borough

A 1922 map of New Cumberland.  It belonged to my husband's grandfather.  It shows the boundaries of the borough in 1922.  There are some interesting differences.  It looks as if the original northern border ran along what is now Beacon Hill Road and Sixth Street.  Also, as you can see, there were no housing plots or streets in the area between Fifth and Beacon Hill Road.

Area above Brandt Ave between Fifth Street and a Private Road (that road is now known as Beacon Hill Road.)

Look closely along Sixth Street, you can see a chalk mark for the original Borough Line.

While most street names appear to the the same as they were 90 years ago, one street name has been changed.  What is now known as Poplar Avenue, was listed as "Popular Avenue" on this map.

Poplar Avenue used to be Popular Avenue.

Another difference is in the area at Market & Third.  On this map, that area has grass plots.  Now that area is used for parking.

Parking areas on Market street used to be Grass Plots.

Borough Park was not yet in existence yet as of 1922.  The topography of the that area and Yellow Breeches Creek has been changed since this map was made.  I heard that the landscape of Borough Park had been  altered at some point, and this map seems to confirm that.  As you look at the map below, you can see that the Yellow Breeches was split into two.  That upper branch of the creek goes through what would probably be the ball fields today.

Area that is now Borough Park.

Also, if you look at the picture below, you can see that the neighborhood next to borough park had not been plotted out for houses yet.

Neighborhood above Borough Park

Another contrast is the area of Hillside Road and Hillside Drive, both of which run above Poplar Avenue.  Originally, it was laid out as one street know as Hillside Avenue.  This avenue ran parallel to Poplar to the creek side border of the borough. The landscape of the area probably prevented them from completing this street as planned, as Hillside Road pretty much runs right into the side of a hill.  Now, we have Hillside Drive which juts up over that hill off of Hillside Road.  The original parcels along Hillside Avenue appear to be much larger than those plotted currently along Hillside Road.

 Hillside Road and Hillside Drive have replaced the planned Hillside Avenue.

The area now known as Memorial Field appears like it was originally divided  with residential lots, but later it was changed to designate that area "Play Grounds."  Those playgrounds are now known as Memorial Field.  You'll notice that the "Play Grounds" were as smaller area, too.  Rosemont Avenue originally ran straight through Memorial Field, crossed over Fifth, and eventually intersected with Poplar. Somewhere along the way, someone decided to make the playgrounds larger and eliminate a good portion of that street.

Originally, Memorial Field was much smaller and Rosemont Avenue was much longer.

It's pretty interesting coming across a piece of history like this.  This map allows us a little glimpse back in time to how things used to be and makes us wonder how some things got changed.  Below is a map of how things actually are in the same area of New Cumberland in 2012.

2012 Map of the same part of New Cumberland.