Elizabethtown

By: Jean-Paul Benowitz

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Synopsis: Settled in 1708 and incorporated as a borough in 1827, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, is located five miles from the Susquehanna River in Lancaster County, 20 miles from both the county seat Lancaster City, to the east, and Harrisburg, the state capital, to the west. With its Old Peter's Road, Elizabethtown played an important role in the westward expansion of the nation during the 18th and 19th centuries. Construction on the first railroad began in 1834, and Elizabethtown remains a strategic stop on the Amtrak Keystone line between Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Along with its proximity to Hershey, Pennsylvania, Elizabethtown has been home to a Mars, Inc., confectionery plant since 1970 (formerly Klein's Chocolate Company, incorporated in 1914). Elizabethtown College was founded in 1899, and the Masonic Village followed in 1910. The Pennsylvania State Hospital for Crippled Children opened in 1929, later becoming the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Training Academy in 1991.