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Stationmaster's House
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THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE
Why does the telegraph office have a separate entrance from the house? The entrance provided business access without disrupting household routines. The outer office door and telegraph sign were visible reminders that the Stationmaster’s home was an integral part of the Cumberland Valley Rail Road. Moreover, the office was the hub, or core for railroad communications. While the office seems a relatively small space, the scope was expansive, owing to the telegraph, as well as the history of the CVRR in Mechanicsburg. How long had the railroad operated in Mechanicsburg? Thirty years prior, when the railroad was just taking shape in Pennsylvania, Mechanicsburg was designated as a water station where workers rested and loaded locomotives with wood and water. From that point on, life in Mechanicsburg changed very quickly, for the train became the town’s link to the world of business and industry. As passenger and freight transportation increased at a rapid pace, the role of the station expanded, and it became a center of activity. During the Civil War, the CVRR in Mechanicsburg continued to thrive despite destruction at nearby stations and a brief occupation by Confederates. When the war ended, the survival of the railroad in Mechanicsburg came to exemplify local fortitude, as well as wise investment by the CVRR. The Passenger Station and Stationmaster House were testaments to CVRR business acumen. Thus, the office was crucial for maintaining success. The fact that the office was adjacent to the kitchen, the busiest room in the house, certainly created stress for Mrs. Zacharias, for she would have to work quietly while tending to children and household matters. Yet her unpaid labor was also vital to the success of the Stationmaster, and in turn, the CVRR. Was the inner door between the office and kitchen a sound barrier? The wooden door separating the two rooms did little to block day-to-day noise. During colder months, the door was probably left open, so the big stove could warm Mr. Zacharias and his business visitors. While the office has a small stove, the additional heat from the kitchen would have been welcomed. Mrs. Zacharias had to be calm and organized, so her husband could maintain efficiency when the door was ajar. Thus an orderly routine was critical for both Mr. and Mrs. Zacharias, as well as the children.
Was a telegrapher the same as a signal operator? The terms seemed to be used interchangeably. A telegrapher or signal operator could quickly send and receive information through wires by Morse code. The instant communication was critical for maintaining safety, for the signal operators communicated with other telegraphers up and down the railway line. Quick communication was vital for passenger train updates and efficient freight transportation. The signal operators relayed or received orders to switch tracks if necessary, or to slow or stop trains. Then the telegrapher would post a signal for the incoming engineer and throw the track switches.
Did other telegraphers work with Mr. Zacharias? Tax records show that Charles Zacharias, younger brother of Mr. Zacharias, worked as a telegrapher in Mechanicsburg, and he boarded with the family at the Stationmaster House. Mr. Zacharias was approximately 21 years older than Charles, so their relationship may have been something of a father and son dynamic. Undoubtedly Mr. Zacharias took pride in guiding the career of his teenage brother. Perhaps Mr. Zacharias saw himself in Charles, for he, too, was an ambitious teen when he worked as a merchant and ticket agent, probably learning telegraphy on the job. Undoubtedly Charles was a quick learner with good penmanship. More importantly, Mr. Zacharias needed reliable help with the instant telegraph communication system. Since construction was underway for the freight station across the tracks, and rail transportation had increased, Mr. Zacharias needed flexibility and time away from the telegraph office, so he could oversee duties throughout the station area. Charles played an important role in maintaining railroad efficiency. Moreover, the fact that he was an extended family member and only five years older than Frank probably made for an easy fit with the rest of the household. It is said that another brother, John Jacob Zacharias worked as a telegrapher in the office, but records do not support this. Newspaper reports and census records show that John Zacharias worked as a painter and farmer in Mechanicsburg, and he married Emma Coover, the daughter of John Coover who started a dry goods business with John Riegel, father of Mrs. Zacharias. These details show how families in the small yet growing town of Mechanicsburg were very connected, and by working together, they helped to establish the prosperity of the area. How did Mr. Zacharias learn his skill as a telegrapher? He probably learned the skill by observing other telegraphers when he was first employed by the railroad. Mr. Zacharias must have been a quick learner who adapted easily to the new technology. He needed to focus and be able to take down messages as fast as the sender could transmit them. Good telegraphers prided themselves on their speed, as well as legible penmanship. When Mr. Zacharias was acquiring his on-the-job skill, schools did not specialize in teaching telegraphy, nor did telegraphers want to be required to teach it. However, by the 1880s, there were many telegraphy schools similar to the computer schools that exist today. Thus, Mr. Zacharias must have impressed men at the railroad if they were willing to share their knowledge and skill. Many telegraphers tried to keep the craft within the family of their children and relatives. By having the telegraph office part of the house, it provided a kind of procedural safeguard. Mr. Zacharias probably taught his brother Charles how to run the telegraph. As Mr. Zacharias’s duties had increased, he needed assistance with the telegraph, especially when trains ran off-schedule. During those circumstances, an individual needed to be at the telegraph to receive and send messages. It was to the railroad’s benefit to have telegraphers living in the workplace, so they could relay communication at a moment’s notice. Interestingly, the wives of telegraphers often learned the skills, so they could help as well. Sometimes they taught it to their daughters or sisters. Since the telegraph was within the house, women could handle the business without disrupting the social order. Some railroad employees claimed females had a lighter touch, and so a difference could be heard in the tap-tap. In fact, the smaller hands and fingers of women were thought to be better suited to the telegraph equipment. Mr. Zacharias probably communicated with Pennsylvania’s first female telegraph operator, Elizabeth Cogley. She began work with the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1856 at the Lewistown Station, but moved to Harrisburg during the Civil War and continued as a telegrapher until 1900. Since the PRR had acquired the majority of outstanding Cumberland Valley Railroad stock in 1859, a great deal of communication occurred between the Harrisburg and Mechanicsburg lines; thus, Elizabeth Cogley probably facilitated telegraphic communication with the CVRR and Mr. Zacharias. Telegraphy became an acceptable form of work for both women and men. How did Mr. Zacharias inform the public of the train station schedule? The newspapers published the schedule and called attention to planned changes. The station also posted the schedule. While few schedules or records exist from the railroad, newspapers indicate that the number of trains passing through Mechanicsburg increased during the time that Mr. Zacharias worked for the CVRR. Back in 1860’s, the Cumberland Valley Journal noted two round-trip passenger trains stopping at Mechanicsburg. Then by 1868, The Valley Democrat noted that three trains made stops. Activity greatly increased by 1876. According to A.J. Hauck’s Centennial Directory of the Borough of Mechanicsburg, there were four passenger and three freight trains stopping each way daily. Mr. Zacharias was extremely busy. Also, leisure excursions in Cumberland County became an important feature of railroad travel whereby passengers took day excursions to parks, picnic groves, baseball games, amusement centers, swimming areas, and bandstand arenas. Sometimes supplemental schedules were needed to accommodate special excursions, and Mr. Zacharias had to facilitate those arrangements. The Mechanicsburg Museum Association has an original schedule which visitors can view. Did Mr. Zacharias keep a ledger book? All station masters and ticket agents were required to keep thorough records. Mr. Zacharias needed legible penmanship, a skill he had practiced as a boy in school on a daily basis. His job was contingent on maintaining accurate and neatly written records. In fact, various railroad histories emphasize how a ticket agent’s pay was docked if the ticket receipts and ledger failed to balance. Mr. Zacharias knew the importance of careful record keeping, for he was also the Director of the Mechanicsburg Building Association in 1868 and Assistant Burgess in 1872. Mr. Zacharias kept a ledger similar to the ledger book on display in the office which is the CVRR classification of freight used by Mr. George Kaiser, who was the agent in 1879. In addition to the ledger, Mr. Zacharias had paperwork and record keeping when the freight station was being built in 1873-74. While he welcomed the proximity of the freight station across the tracks from the office, it expanded his duties, as well.
What kinds of transport did Mr. Zacharias facilitate through Mechanicsburg? Most everything entering and leaving the Cumberland Valley was transported by the railroad, and so transport mirrored the production of the area. Since the CVRR was very profitable, great variety passed through the Mechanicsburg Station. An expert on the CVRR, Paul J. Westhaeffer, History of the Cumberland Valley Railroad 1835-1919 notes how in addition to agricultural and raw materials, such as iron ore, coal and wood, the railroad carried mail, newspapers, packages, telegraphic communications, and offered passage for personal, business, and leisure purposes. Did passengers wait in the telegraph office? Passengers waited in the depot or on the platform, just a few feet from the house. Passengers expected a clean and orderly station, so Mr. Zacharias undoubtedly had frequent inspections to make sure the employees maintained the area. Surely the Zacharias children enjoyed watching the hustle and bustle of activity. Women and children waited apart from men, and the area for men allowed smoking. When the station was first built, the walkway bricks you see today were not there, so the ground area was dusty and muddy. Eventually, during the time of the Stationmaster, wooden sidewalks were built to facilitate passenger access; however, roads were not paved. Also, horse drawn carriages were used, and thus horse droppings added to the road covering. In summer, when the heat rose, the smells must have been strong. As trains approached, whistles blew, the air filled with soot, and the noise of the engine became very loud. Trains entering a town were supposed to keep their speed under four miles an hour, or be levied with a fine, but even at the slow speed, the size of a locomotive created great force and potential danger. Why is the lantern in the office? The lantern is a typical railroad lantern, but it was not intended for indoor use. When Mr. Zacharias worked in his office at night, he used candles or an oil lamp since the house did not have electricity. Most likely the office had a metal box with strike matches. While Mr. Zacharias did not use the railroad lantern for light in his office, he would have carried a lantern after dark if situations arose wherein he needed to tend to business along the railroad track. The lantern was vital for signal purposes, and Mr. Zacharias would have been well versed in its application. The railroad had worked out a whole system of communication using hand and lantern signals. Additionally, the lantern was regarded as a symbol of status for railroad employees. Often old photographs show railroad employees holding a prominently displayed lantern. Would Mr. Zacharias listen for train whistles? Train whistles were a safety measure, as well as a signal. In addition to telegraph, hand, and lanterns methods of communication, the railroad had developed systems of coded safety whistle blasts. The whistle warnings correlated with uniformly agreed upon sound blasts and track-side signals. Pennsylvania became a forerunner in the standardization of safety signals, whistle and bell codes, and conductor and yard personnel hand and lantern signals. Did Mr. Zacharias realize the telephone would phase out the telegraph? Mr. Zacharias was intelligent, and so he must have been aware of upcoming changes in technology. He may have heard about projections for the newly invented telephone. While the telephone is typically credited to Alexander Graham Bell, an earlier telephone inventor, Daniel Drawbaugh, lived in Cumberland County, and for a while in Mechanicsburg. Mr. Drawbaugh had worked on a telephone as early as 1863, long before Alexander Graham Bell filed for a patent in 1876. Mr. Drawbaugh engaged in a long court dispute about the patent, but lost the claim. The newspapers carried articles about the invention and case, and so Mr. Zacharias was probably more aware than most about the technological potential of the telephone. Mr. Zacharias must have watched the progress of the telephone with trepidation. Although telegraphers had controlled the systems of rapid communications for many years, he undoubtedly saw the new invention as a threat to his future, as well as for telegraphy. Thus, that kind of premonition may have proved a factor when Mr. Zacharias chose to leave the Cumberland Valley Rail Road and pursue new opportunities in Harper County, Kansas. What other possible factors prompted his departure as Stationmaster? Letters and journals do not exist to reveal his reasoning; however, working conditions with the railroad had changed a great deal from when Mr. Zacharias had begun his employment as a teenager. Initially, the CVRR in Mechanicsburg was a small regional operation. As the operation grew, financial success increased, but so did work-related stress, as well as a myriad of growth related problems. Having worked with the railroad during the Civil War when the rails played a key role for military and supply transport, Mr. Zacharias, like other employees, occupied potentially dangerous positions that were undoubtedly fraught with anxiety. While he did not experience outward harm or injury, he certainly suffered the angst that many railroad employees had experienced. Despite that, he must have weathered matters well to have received the appointment as Stationmaster. Financial records indicate his times as the Stationmaster were advantageous for the CVRR, but he worked extremely hard, and he was not his own boss. Mr. Zacharias’s father and several brothers had their own businesses, and Mr. Zacharias may have been feeling the need to establish his own measure of success, especially as he probably realized the telephone could phase out the telegraph. Also economic conditions had changed. The Panic of 1873 marked a depression across the country. Railroads cut wages, and Mr. Zacharias saw rail labor riots erupt around the nation. While Mechanicsburg did not have riots, by 1877, clashes in Reading and Pittsburgh between mobs and troops proved fatal. Also, nearby Baltimore suffered uprisings. In part, Mr. Zacharias may have chosen his departure from the railroad as timely due to the economic and violent unrest. Why did Mr. Zacharias leave the CVRR to become a farmer in Kansas? No one knows for sure, but various factors probably contributed to his decision to pursue a new endeavor. During the time that the depression and upheaval became a serious problem for the railroad and much of the country, some groups from the Cumberland Valley had begun a westward move to Kansas. Mr. Zacharias had undoubtedly heard stories about the new Pennsylvania colonies in Kansas where opportunities seemed to abound. The first groups were lead in 1872 by Samuel Coover, a relative of the first business partner of John Riegel, father of Mrs. Zacharias. Thus there was something of a personal link for Mr. Zacharias. Moreover, the railroad provided transportation for the relocating groups, and so the move must have seemed a manageable choice. Even better, he would have a nearby support base of former Cumberland Valley residents. Moreover, newspaper and personal accounts told of the rich black soil and grand farming opportunities. Despite those possible factors, the choice of Mr. Zacharias to begin farming in Harper County, Kansas, may seem a bit ill-founded. Although he came from farming roots, and his brother farmed in Mechanicsburg, Mr. Zacharias was accustomed to town life and business practice, not the rigor of agricultural pursuit. Even after his son, Frank, joined him in Harper, Kansas, Mr. Zacharias found that farming wouldn’t pan out as planned. Most of the newly transplanted Kansas residents discovered they could not farm the same way they had in Pennsylvania. Drought and cinch bugs destroyed corn crops, and many people became sick. Farmers had to change technique or find different employment. Mr. Zacharias became Deputy Register of Deeds, and then the elected Register of Deeds. Frank worked under his father as Deputy Register of Deeds and eventually prospered as a banker. Did the Kansas venture create financial difficulties? Financial difficulties arose although the ramifications are somewhat vague. During his time in Kansas, Mr. Zacharias had his Mechanicsburg property put up for sale by the sheriff, due to unpaid taxes, but Mr. John Riegel bought it and then put it in trust for his sister, Mrs. Zacharias. Then Mr. Riegel sold it to her for $1.00, which may seem a formality. While the sale suggests Mr. Zacharias failed to send home money, he may not have been as negligent as the situation implies. Many other women of individuals involved with the Kansas pursuit had became property owners, in part due to the newly established Women’s Property Act. Originally the Act was mainly used by widows after the Civil War, but an important clause guaranteed that if a married female received property from anyone other than her husband, she would have sole rights as if she were single; thus, the married woman would not be liable for the debts of her husband, nor could her husband assume rights for that property. In fact, many of the Coover women in Mechanicsburg became property owners. Thus John Riegel and Mrs. Zacharias may have thought it wise to keep the transfers in her name. The farming endeavor of Mr. Zacharias had become susceptible to the adverse weather conditions, and thus, the business attempt did not generate a profit. Surely Mr. John Riegel, who was also involved with insurance, knew the importance of guarding against financial loss, and thus a reason for a property transfer to Mrs. Zacharias. Moreover, Mr. Riegel may have been wary of the early history of Harper Kansas which was fraught with financial scandal. While the passage of time brought new opportunity to Harper, Kansas in the 1880’s, its past history proved a warning. When Mr. Zacharias returned to Mechanicsburg did he ever work for the railroad? When Mr. Zacharias closed his door to the CVRR office and left the Stationmaster House, his departure was final. Yet his return to the area suggests he was in good standing with the people of Mechanicsburg. Records indicate he was retired from active business. He was noted as a gentleman; thus he may have drawn a living from his savings and investments. By that point in time, his brother Samuel Zacharias was living in Philadelphia and working for Guarantee Trust and Safe Deposit Company. Samuel may have offered financial advice for Mr. Zacharias’s investments. Obviously Mr. Zacharias had the financial means to live on High Street with Mrs. Zacharias and Gertrude for many years. Undoubtedly Mr. Zacharias felt a great loss when Gertrude died in 1916, yet he stayed active in civic matters for most of his remaining years, serving on the school board, and was considered an important citizen of Mechanicsburg. Mr. and Mrs. Zacharias were married for 64 years, and they both died in 1926. They are buried in the Chestnut Hill Cemetery. |
Why was Mechanicsburg on the
cutting edge by having a telegraph office in the Stationmaster House?
Mr. Zacharias was part of the new middle class of technology workers in
Pennsylvania. The title of telegrapher carried a level of prestige. In a
small station like Mechanicsburg, telegraphy was a required skill for
the agent, and Mr. Zacharias was highly regarded for his knowledge and
ability. Moreover, many townspeople associated the growing technology
with the Civil War, for telegraphy played a strategic role when it
allowed commanders to communicate almost instantly with their troops.
While it is said that Mr. Zacharias served in the Signal Corp during the
Civil War, records do not exist. However, Mr. Zacharias was part of the
technological change that swept through the country. After the war,
railroad tracks and telegraph lines had to be strung across a vast
continent. The use of telegraphy spread with the advancement of the
railroad, for the telegrapher needed to maintain communication between
the train dispatcher, who was miles away, the trains on the track, and
sometimes the whole rail system. The operator copied train orders and
messages for the train crews and reported to the dispatcher about the
passing of trains. The telegrapher provided the eyes and ears of the
train dispatcher. By 1866, people in Mechanicsburg knew the telegraph
was crucial for a successful rail system, and yet the method of coded
communication must have seemed rather strange or futuristic. Undoubtedly
they saw it as an amazing invention rife with possibility. To understand
the significance of the telegraph, try to consider how it gave rise to
modern communication technologies, such as the telephone, fax machine,
and Internet. Today, historians and cultural anthropologists note
parallels between the Internet and its telegraphic ancestor, for they
both served as the most contemporary means of communication for their
time periods.
Did Mr. Zacharias work at the desk
in the office? Mr. Zacharias worked at a desk, for he had to complete a
great deal of CVRR paperwork involving tickets, express baggage, station
management, and telegraph communication. In addition to a writing area,
he needed space for the telegraph. The telegraph equipment in the office
typifies what he used for communication. The telegraph key has a CVRR
imprint and was donated by Col. Reginald Day and John Zacharias.
Gertrude Kauffman donated the battery jar for the telegraph key. When
using the telegraph, a signal operator stood at the desk or used a high
stool to interpret and record the dot and dash signals made from the
sound of a clacking armature. The restored desk in the office came from
the Duncannon Railroad Station.
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