Lower Dauphin - A Brief History 

Circa 1959

 

The Lower Dauphin School District is 92 square miles in area and is made up of five municipalities: the Borough of Hummelstown and the Townships of Conewago, East Hanover, Londonderry, and South Hanover. 

 

Lower Dauphin High School came into being through the collaboration of the five municipalities whose representatives accepted the challenge to create a new school district with an identity for the children of all represented constituencies.  The Lower Dauphin Junior-Senior High School was built on land known as the Book farm purchased for $30,000.  Groundbreaking ceremonies were held on May 9, 1959.

 

The very idea of a large jointure required a shift in the thinking of residents, parents, staff, and students, for the experience of most of those living in the area was a graduating class of approximately 50 students.  For many graduates of Hummelstown High School, it was hard to say good-bye to the “Bulldogs” and to the proud traditions and legendary sports successes.

 

The new Lower Dauphin Junior-Senior High School opened its doors on September 12, 1960, only a few days behind schedule.  It was a rainy day, and the cafeteria was not quite complete.  For many of the students who had begun their education in one-room schools, Lower Dauphin offered many educational, social, and recreational opportunities.  In that fall of 1960, nearly two-thirds of the teaching staff were in their twenties and many were first-year teachers.  The excitement and enthusiasm of youth combined with the experience and dedication of the staff from Hummelstown High created a synergy that propelled the students to achieve scholastically and to succeed personally.  The spirit of a joint endeavor was felt in all quarters as school colors were chosen, a mascot was decided upon, and an Alma Mater was composed.

 

Most of the faculty and students quickly became involved in school-sponsored clubs and/or extracurricular activities.  (There was even a faculty basketball team, with its own faculty cheerleaders.)  The first yearbook, the 1961 Falconaire, recalled, “After one year’s flight the Lower Dauphin Falcons show promise of living up to their namesake in every way.  By bringing home a championship trophy on their first flight, the Falcon football team was an important factor in binding the school together and establishing a school spirit -- a Falcon spirit.”

 

In 1964 an additional wing was added to the west side of the high school.  The “audions’  and “general labs” were long ago converted into small classrooms. In the fall of 1978 the 9th grade staff  became part of the High School and the Junior High began its transition to becoming  a  Middle School. The most dramatic change was the complete renovation of the high school, finished in the spring of 1997.  While the exterior configuration remained the same, the façade was improved and the interior completely redesigned.  With the redesign, the Lower Dauphin Alumni Association was granted permission to build an Alumni Display Case and to incorporate the mosaic donated by the class of 1988.  As the school population continues to grow, so has expansion with the 2003 construction of a new two-story classroom and extensions to the cafeteria and band room. 

 

Lower Dauphin High School has earned an enviable reputation through its nearly half century history.  We have produced Olympians and screenwriters, collegiate national champions and Broadway producers, corporate executives and Merit Scholars, authors and artists.  We are lauded for our field hockey team, and honored for many innovative academic programs.  Our spring musicals have been outstanding and we win Gold Keys in Scholastic Writing, Art, and Architecture.  We excel in band competitions and are well-represented in Harrisburg Area all-sports teams.  We serve in government and as volunteers to better humanity.  We make our mark in the world, and we return for Homecoming. 

 

Importantly, we have attained the goal of the school’s early planners.  We have grown under the nurture of the staff. Every graduate will agree with Sara Marian Seibert ‘02 who wrote, “For a brief time, we all share the experience of arriving, with our teachers and fellow students, at our destination, the culminating year of our high school experience.  We will remember this time forever, no matter where our paths may take us in the future.”  Regardless of that future, however, we all found a home in our Alma Mater and we proudly proclaim, “We are L.D.!”