Rails, Waterpower, Industry, and Homes: The Stories That Built Elizabethtown
📅 Saturday, October 3, 2026
⏰ 10:00 am–11:30 am
📍 Meet at the Elizabethtown Train Station, 50 S. Wilson Avenue, Elizabethtown, PA 17022
Lace up your walking shoes and discover the people, industries, and innovations that shaped Elizabethtown.
Join public historian and Elizabethtown College graduate Eric Schubert for an approximately 2.5-mile guided history hike through the borough. Along the way, Schubert will reveal how transportation, waterpower, manufacturing, education, and commerce transformed a small Pennsylvania community.
This is more than a tour of historic buildings. It is the story of the people who built Elizabethtown: farmers who brought their goods to market, workers who powered its mills and factories, travelers who arrived by rail, merchants who filled its storefronts, and families whose homes and neighborhoods still define the borough today.
What You’ll Discover
On this engaging walk, you’ll explore:
- How the arrival of the railroad connected Elizabethtown to the wider world and helped reshape the community.
- The mills, factories, and manufacturing businesses that provided jobs for generations of local residents.
- How streams, ponds, and waterpower supported some of the town’s earliest industries.
- The development of Elizabethtown College and its influence on the surrounding community.
- What historic homes reveal about the people behind the town’s businesses and institutions.
- How Main Street became the commercial and social center of Elizabethtown.
- The surprising ways residents made a living before modern conveniences, including the once-important winter industry of ice harvesting.
- What has changed throughout Elizabethtown and what has remained remarkably familiar.
Schubert brings a unique combination of local knowledge, historical research, and genealogical investigation to the tour. A graduate of Elizabethtown College and Millersville University, he has researched and shared overlooked stories from throughout Lancaster County.
He is also an internationally recognized genealogist and forensic genetic genealogist whose work has contributed to family reunifications and the resolution of long-unsolved criminal cases. His research has been featured by Good Morning America, People, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other national media outlets.
Schubert serves on the board and executive committee of the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County and was selected as a Next-Gen Leader by the White House Historical Association. He also co-organized the W. Miller Barbour Lecture Series, which helped restore the legacy of an Elizabethtown College alumnus, human rights pioneer, and National Urban League leader.
Event Details
- Date: Saturday, October 3, 2026
- Time: 10:00 am
- Starting Point: Outside the Elizabethtown Train Station, 50 S. Wilson Avenue, Elizabethtown, PA 17022
- Distance: Approximately 2.5 miles
- Duration: About 90 to 120 minutes, depending on questions and discussion
- Terrain: Primarily sidewalks with multiple street crossings
- Weather: Rain or shine. Any cancellation due to severe weather will be announced before the event
- Parking: Free short-term parking is available at the train station and nearby
- Capacity: Limited to 20 participants
- Cost: $20 per person
Reserve Your Spot
Whether you have lived in Elizabethtown for years or are visiting for the first time, this tour offers a new way to understand the people and forces that built the borough.
Step into history. Meet the people behind the places. Experience Elizabethtown like never before.