Shippensburg Historic District

Shippensburg's central district, laid out on a grid along King Street in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, holds buildings from the mid-eighteenth century to the early twentieth century. Its eastern end is the town's oldest section, with log and stone structures and the Widow Piper's Tavern, which briefly served as the county courthouse. Scots-Irish families settled the site at the crossing of two Indian paths, and it became an early western trade center. Edward Shippen acquired over 1300 acres in 1737 and promoted commerce, and a fort built in the 1740s protected residents. James Burd surveyed the Forbes-Burd Road, which provided the first reliable overland route to western Pennsylvania. Two commercial centers developed along King Street, and Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne and Second Empire buildings line its streets. Steady, orderly growth continued into the twentieth century with little industrialization, so the district reflects more than two centuries of small-town building.