Celebrating Middletown's History

John Grayshaw at Madeline Olewine Memorial Library

 

Middletown PA History is an educational page on Facebook that was started last year by John Grayshaw, who is the Library Manager at Madeline Olewine Memorial Library, one of the branches in the Dauphin County Library System (DCLS).

 

John first came to the Capital Area when he got a job as the Library Director at the Middletown Public Library in 2015. In 2016 he and his family moved to Middletown and later that year he bought a house there. In 2023 he started working for DCLS.

 

The page is a passion project. “I’m on the Middletown Historical Restoration Commission,” said John, “and that group has two goals- help preserve Middletown’s historic buildings and promote Middletown’s history, so this page was a perfect fit to help with those goals.”

 

However, while the focus is on Middletown it often bleeds through into more broadly the Dauphin County area. “President Lincoln and President Kennedy both visited Harrisburg so of course I wrote all about it,” said John. “I have an upcoming post in March about Wilt Chamberlian’s 100-point game which was played in Hershey.   

 

The page is an independent entity. “I started it as its own thing because I didn’t want to be bound by any existing organizations,” said John “If it was through the Commission I’d be bound by those rules. If it was through the Middletown Area Historical Society, same thing. I wanted to get the information out there and to be my own boss while doing it.”

 

John talked about how the posts are written. “Normally, I don’t do new research, most of the posts come from research from the Middletown Area Historical Society or the Lower Swatara Township Preservation Society, or the Penn State Harrisburg Archives, or the Middletown Area School District Archives, or newspaper articles or (historians cover your ears) Wikipedia.”

The Liberty Band has held a significant place in Middletown history due to its longevity. The band, in various incarnations, served Middletown for over 100 years. Though the band is not active today, its Liberty Band Hall is still standing today as a reminder of this history.

 

Originally, John also put some of the historical information on the Middletown Public Library’s website back when he was the Library Director. He worked with a High School intern Alexis Jefferson. She did the research and the first draft and John helped her edit the articles. “But I didn’t feel like enough people were seeing it on the Library’s website,” he said.  

 

A lot of residents contact John with research questions after reading the articles. John gets questions about the history of specific homes or people wanting him to research their family history, or people that want to donate historical objects. “I always point them to the historical societies and say I’m just a guy writing articles I don’t have the resources of these existing organizations,” said John.

 

Friends John made from the Commission help advise him about the borough’s history. “I didn’t grow up in Middletown or the Capital Region or even Pennsylvania. I grew up in Bayside, Queens, New York. So everything I know about the area I’ve learned in the last 10 years. Meanwhile, people that read my posts talk about how things were when they were kids, so when my research fails me, it’s great to have folks that grew up here to bounce things off of.”   

 

The first official post was on Christmas Day of 2024 because that is Helen Twelevetrees’ birthday. Twelevetrees was a Hollywood actress in the 1930s and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She moved to Middletown in the 1940s with her husband who was stationed at the Olmsted Air Force Base. Unfortunately, she died an untimely death in 1958. She is buried in the Middletown Cemetery.  

 

The topics range from old history like The Middletown Resolves which was when Middletown declared its independence from Britian in 1774 (two years before the Declaration of Independence) to more recent history like the Three Mile Island disaster or Hurricane Agnes.

 

John has been surprised by how popular the page has been and how much positive feedback he has gotten from residents. The page currently has over 1,500 followers. The most popular post was about the Olmsted Air Force Base which has 600 likes, 150 comments, and 245 shares.

 

Another really popular post was about Robert Reid who was the Mayor of Middletown for many years and is very beloved in the borough.

At the corner of Spring and Union Streets, this triangular-shaped building housed the Middletown Post Office from 1876 until 1893.

 

Most of the posts follow the “this day in history” type format. Though some posts about buildings in Middletown and future posts about historical businesses aren’t tied to any specific dates. By the end of 2025 there were about 70 posts and John plans on just restarting the cycle in 2026 though he will continue to sprinkle in all new posts too.

 

“My hope is that everyone that lives here will know all this history now,” said John, “And that people will figure out new ways to use this history to attract more tourism to the area. The Commission has been trying to get some wayside markers to promote the town’s history.”

 

John has enjoyed the anonymity he has since he posts to the page anonymously, “I liked being anonymous, but there is also that part of you that does want some credit. Many people seem to think I’m like some really old historian. I posted about President Lincoln’s visit to Harrisburg and someone asked if I took the pictures myself. Another woman commented that she hopes all my historical pictures will be preserved somewhere when I die. I messaged her back and said ‘I’m only 43!’”

 

John reflected on his work on the page this past year. “My 9-year-old thinks I’m crazy and doesn’t think Middletown History is as interesting as I think it is, but I guess somewhere along the line I just caught the history bug…You can stand at the Square and imagine where the tavern was where President Washington visited and look across the street and see the house where Lafeyette visited. Then you can walk down the street and see where an Underground Railroad stop was… My house in Oak Hills was originally owned by a Sgt stationed at Olmsted Air Force Base, and a few houses down is where Helen Twelvestrees lived…. The history feels like it is all around you in Middletown.”