History Lesson | News, Sports, Jobs – The Sentinel – Lewistown Sentinel

Submitted photo Lewistown Intermediate School fifth grade teacher Timothy Clark educates his students on the history of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument including the history of the stone from Abraham Lincolns tomb at Monument Square in Lewistown, Thursday during the Walking Field Trip of Historic Lewistown.

LEWISTOWN Lewistown Intermediate School fifth grade students traveled around downtown Lewistown Thursday to learn about the history of our community and its heroes during the LIS Walking Field Trip of Historic Lewistown.

Fifth grade teacher Timothy Clark educated the students at each location and other teachers assisted with the trip as well.

The locations included but were not limited to the Old Mifflin County (MC) Courthouse, which is currently home to the Juniata River Valley Visitors Bureau and Chamber of Commerce, the McCoy House and Monument Square.

The Old MC Courthouse was built in 1843, replacing the log cabin courthouse that was built in 1790, Clark said

It used 345,000 bricks, 34 marble window sills, 29 door locks and keys, four iron vault doors and frames and 25 kegs of nails. A copper dome was built atop the structure to protect against inclement weather and then a bell and clock were added before completion.

The project was completed in December of 1843 and cost approximately $15,000. Think about that amount of money in the 1800s. Originally the courthouse was meant for legal matters but soon found itself hosting church and club events as well. They even used the courthouse for recruiting men into service during the Civil War and WWI.

Clark said, In the 1980s, a new courthouse was built and the Old courthouse was preserved and renovated by the Mifflin County Historical Society.

At the McCoy House, on Market Street, the students gather around to hear the tale of General Frank McCoy, born in Lewistown October 29, 1874. McCoy graduated from West Point in 1897 and from the Army War College in 1908. Clark said, He received academic degrees from Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Brown and Clark Universities as well as Washington and Jefferson College.

McCoy started as a Second Lieutenant in the Calvary in 1897, advanced to Major General and aide to President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and was wounded at San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War.

Clark educated the students further stating, McCoy commanded the 63rd Infantry Brigade in some of the last battles of WWI in France and in 1929 was named Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry and Conciliation.

The students also learned about the history of the Lincoln Stone which rests at Monument Square.

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History Lesson | News, Sports, Jobs - The Sentinel - Lewistown Sentinel