CARLISLE INDIAN SCHOOL BOYS WORKED AT THE HERSHEY CHOCOLATE FACTORY.
Michael Chabitnoy, Bertram Miller, Louis Island, Edward Wolfe and James
B. Driver, James Schrimpscher, Joseph Tarbell, Axtell Hayes, Charles Holstein,
and Fritz Hendricks, all students of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School,
belonged to William F. Murie's crew at the factory during 1908-1909. There
are few places where the geographical and national diversity found at the
turn of the century arlisle Indian School can be more dramatically illustrated
than at the Hershey Chocolate Factory.
Descendants of some of these Carlisle boys still live in the central Pennsylvania area where their grandfathers settled after graduation. During the 39 years of its existence, between 1879 and 1918, over 10,000 Native American Indian children attended the Carlisle Indian School. It was the first off-reservation boarding school for Indians, and dozens of schools sprang up in the western states, modeled after Carlisle.
Next year, as part of the celebration of 250 years in Cumberland County,
the Carlisle Indian School will be remembered with an Indian Cultural Event.
Thousands of descendants from dozens of Indian nations are expected to
attend the festivals. For many this will be the first visit to the
site where their ancestors lived and attended school over a hundred years
ago.
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Carlisle Indian School Student and Member of William Murie's crew at the Hershey Chocolate Factory The Hershey boys who worked in the factory comprise a small slice of the populations of boys and girls at Carlisle. But their presence is unique - because not only did the Hershey Factory provide a means of employment for these students, it also sported a summer baseball team to which these Carlisle boys belonged. The Hershey connection joins two elements of the Carlisle experience that stand in the memory of those who know the stories of their grandfathers - in the combined activities of sports and industry.
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