History

The Dykeman House is named for prior owner George Dykeman who transformed it from a farmhouse into his manor house in 1870. The manor house was designed around a smaller, brick farmhouse typical of many late federal houses of the area and period. The changes that he made are a summary of what many other people of the period were doing to "modernize" their homes. By adding rooms, details, and changing some aspects of the design, George Dykeman transformed a typical farmhouse into a stylish Italianate Manor. He engineered the town's first in-house hot and cold running water system by pumping water from the springs to the manor house which enabled him to transform an older home into a building typical of the better homes of the Victorian period.

The Dykeman House today sits on approximately 4 acres of what once was a 450 acre estate established in 1740. The land next to and surrounding the house contains numerous springs, and has been known as Indian Springs and today as Dykeman Spring.

Once the home for the Delaware Indians and used as an encampment location for Confederate General Ewell's troops during the Civil War in June 1863, Dykeman Spring was purchased and developed by George Dykeman between 1870 and 1895. This development included trout raising, fruit orchards, dairy farming, stone quarry, and creamery operations. He operated "Cobweb Mills" which produced fine quality flour and other grains; maintained a herd of registered dairy cattle; and planted orchards.

George Dykeman's first endeavor at the spring was to raise trout in the "Hatch House" which is still located next to the Dykeman House. He designed the hatch house according to the Ainsworth method of fish hatching. Unfortunately, competition in trout hatching was stiff and he retired from fish culture in 1877.

His next use of the spring and hatch house as a creamery brought about a number of important changes in the Cumberland Valley. Most important was George Dykeman's influence in changing the economic structure of the valley from grain production to dairy farming. The success of his Shippensburg Creamery, documented in local newspapers of the time, encouraged local farmers to take up dairy farming and spurred the construction of several other creameries in the Cumberland Valley. This influence remains, as are agriculture today in concentrated on dairy farming, fruit orchards and the raising of beef and dairy cattle. The dairy industry that developed is now a multi-million dollar business in Cumberland and Franklin counties. In addition, trout are still raised at the Spring by the Shippensburg Fly Fishing Club in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Fish Commission. These trout are for use in stocking area streams for recreational and sports fishing.

George Dykeman also gave generous financial and technical assistance in establishing the Cumberland Valley Normal School (now Shippensburg University) and the borough of Shippensburg. Most importantly, he served as a benefactor to the Normal School and was a member of the first board of Trustees. It was his generous financial support, along with several other trustees, which kept the Normal School from bankruptcy and dissolution in its early years. He also engineered the water system for the Normal School and assisted in the construction of the first public water system in the borough of Shippensburg.

A locally innovative farm during the later part of the nineteenth century, the Dykeman House area is one of a handful of sites in Shippensburg that remains virtually the same as it was when constructed and developed over one hundred and twenty five years ago.

The Davidson's purchased The Dykeman House May 2008 from previous owners and good friends Eddy and Earl Parshall, with the plan to keep the place as original as possible. Also keep it a quiet and peaceful place to stay. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in May 1999.