Susquehanna Club

The Beginning:

The Fairview Farm occupied a desirable location along the Susquehanna River near the mouth of the Yellow Breeches Creek, in northern Fairview Township. This spot was on the route much traveled from Philadelphia and Lancaster to Carlisle, and points south and west. Earlier still, a famous pathway for the Convoy and Shawanese Indians, crossed through this land.

The early 1700’s:

In the early 1700’s, John Harris, owned the land along the Susquehanna River from New Cumberland to the Fairview Farm. He was an Indian trader, and at the mouth of the Yellow Breeches was a considerable Indian village. The locally born, U.S. Army and Revolutionary War veteran General Michael Simpson purchased the Fairview Farm along with the ferry rights across the River, in 1784. General Simpson built an elegant stone mansion on the farm, and in 1794, had the honor of entertaining as his guest, President George Washington. Henry Mosser and William Culbertson laid out the village of New Market just north of the farm in 1807. General Simpson died at his home in June of 1813. A year later, the property was purchased by Jacob Miller Haldeman.

Haldemantown:

Jacob Haldeman was a successful business owner and land developer. He bought the water rights at the mouth of the Yellow Breeches in 1806. During the War of 1812, he supplied the Government arsenal with his superior iron. He envisioned a town that could compete with Harrisburg and purchased forty-five acres of land along the Susquehanna River in 1811; about a year later he purchased an additional twenty-six acres. This two-land acquisition was called Haldemantown. However, the deed to that property was recorded as the town of “Cumberland”. a conflict with mail addressed to Cumberland, Maryland, the U.S. Government changed the name of the Post Office to “New” Cumberland. Eventually by 1831, the town fathers of Cumberland reluctantly accepted the “New”. The community was elevated to the status of “Borough,” and the village of New Cumberland was officially established.

Storage Depot:

In 1917, the U.S. Government purchased the 832 acres, authorized by President Woodrow Wilson to build a storage depot for the U.S. Army. Completed by early April 1918 and referred originally as the Marsh Run Storage Depot, the installation was renamed the New Cumberland Army Depot in 1962, and in 1997, the DDC was established as the Headquarters for the Defense Distribution Depot Susquehanna, PA.

The Susquehanna Club is a renovated German bank barn recorded as being located directly north of the Haldeman mansion. Since belonging to the U.S. Military, it was used to house the horses and mules that pulled the depot supply wagons. By the beginning of the 1940’s, most all of the original farm buildings had been demolished. This remaining barn had the good fortune to be designated as a future Officer’s “Mess Hall”, or Club. Major renovations began in May of 1942 to rehabilitate barn into an Officer’s Club. A recent addition to the structure offers a splendid view of its one constant companion for more than one hundred years, the Susquehanna River.