Hummelstown, population of 4,500, may seem like a very “small town,” but when Barb Miller was a child, it was the “big city.”
“My aunt used to take us for Christmas shopping at Hower’s Department Store,” said Miller, who grew up in Shellsville. “When my sister started high school [there], I thought she was so lucky. Six years later, I came. Because we had only one car, my Dad had to drive us in for activities.”
At 21, she moved to Hummelstown and not long after, married Bradley Miller, now mayor. “We moved into our house on Main Street the week of Three Mile Island,” she recalled. “We liked it so much. There are beautiful businesses, the people are nice, and the level of volunteering is unbelievable.”
Her husband agreed. “We thought it was a wonderful neighborhood to raise children in, and we liked the Lower Dauphin School District,” he said. “The borough is a nice-looking town, with great places to shop and eat.”
Other highlights are CAT’s Park-N-Ride for commuters on 2nd Street, working with the fire company – which the mayor calls a “great group of volunteers who give so much of themselves” – and an impressive police department, borough manager and council.
Borough Councilman Robert “Red” Jones, a scientist, is a former president of the council and the school board. Originally from Jonestown, he and his wife moved to Hummelstown in 1973 when he became a professor at the medical school.
“We thought of living in the country,” Jones said. “But our friends who did were spending most of their time as a ‘taxi service’ for their kids, who went to school in Hummelstown. We saw that our kids could walk to school. Both of us had grown up in small towns, and Hummelstown had that 1950s feel.”
The local government – composed of people who “want to do the right thing,” impressed Jones. And the voluntarism; after the flood last fall, a few hundred answered the call to help pump water out of neighbors’ homes. Dozens are volunteering for Hummelstown 250, the anniversary celebration Barb Miller is chairing. “That doesn’t happen everywhere,” he said.
Bill Jackson’s position as editor of the Antique Auto Magazine brought him and his wife to Hershey in 1968. “We were riding around with a real estate guy,” recalled Jackson, editor of The Sun for many years; his wife, Rosemary, was publisher. “I asked why a town like Hershey didn’t have its own newspaper.” He looked at me and said, ‘How did you know The Sun’s for sale?”
He didn’t. Hummelstown had seemed like a “creaky old town down the road.” Nonetheless, the couple went to the newspaper, and bought it from the Hartwell family, owners since 1913.
“Hummelstown is a town with a heart,” he said. “It has everything – restaurants, drugstore, furniture store, a town center, with cradle-to-grave activity, a food bank. A church ministerium. We take care of our own.” Another source of pride: the new public library at 2nd and Railroad.
Debra and Dave Buffington are “newbies” who love Hummelstown.
“We’ve lived in the area for ‘only 17’ years,’” joked Dave Buffington, who took over The Sun as editor/publisher in 2007. “We’re actually residents of Derry Township but with a Hummelstown address – like a lot of people in the area. We’ve adopted Hummelstown as our town. This is a walkable community, with an identity. We’re here for the long haul. Some cities are dying, but towns are doing just fine.”
On any evening, you can find people are walking around – “and they’re not just lost tourists with a map,” Buffington said with a laugh.
You can sense the borough’s spirit in its celebration, he said. “Not just one parade and thank-you very much, but more than two weeks of events – all organized by volunteers.”
In sum, said the mayor, “What is special about the community? What isn’t?”
After preview events of March-June, the Hummelstown 250 Anniversary celebration gets under way July 8-22. For details, visit www.hummelstown250.com.
