Harmony's Second Century

The Butler County Centennial Souvenir book that was published in 1900 noted that ?The Harmony of to-day is but little changed from its original form?. many of the old features of the town are preserved. The narrow streets and the ridiculously small Public Square make one wonder whether he has not been suddenly transported into some ancient European village.? However as the town?s second century began, so did it?s appearance.

In 1906, the Pittsburgh, Harmony, Butler, and New Castle Railway company?s Harmony Line was completed to Harmony. This interurban line allowed passengers to reach Pittsburgh in less than 45 minutes. This was faster than automobile traffic could reach the city until the completion of I-279 in the late 1980?s.

The trolley made travel between Harmony and the city commonplace and Harmony became a vacation spot for the city dwellers. In the P.H.B, & N.C. publication, ?The Harmony Route?, the company extolled the virtues of traveling north to the Harmony

area.

?Out of the bustle and hum of the greatest industrial city in the world, away from this clanging jarring smoke-dimmed hive of ceaseless energy and toiling, tired humanity; - come with us for a little time, out into the glorious, shining land of blue skies, of rolling sun-flecked meadows, come and smell once again the cool, subtle perfume of the deep-shaded valley. Ah, city dweller, you think you are living, cooped up in your little house, on your little street. Living! Journey with us through these pages and let us show you what true living means ? big, broad, healthful, happy country living.?

The Hotel Beam, Hotel Zeigler, Enslen Cottages, Henry Bame, Oakwood Farm, and several other locations advertised rooms and camp sites along the Harmony Line.

A few years after the advent of the Harmony Line, the Emma Farm Association? Emma Kaufmann Camp was opened. It was located just across the Connoquenessing Creek, west of the town on a piece of land known as ?the Island.? Built in 1921 and opened in 1922, it employed many local residents. Each summer over 1000 mothers and children from Pittsburgh enjoyed outings here. In 1972, Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh moved the operation of the Emma Farm Camp from Harmony to Morgantown, WV.