Schmucker Hall

Constructed in 1832, Schmucker Hall is located on the campus of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (LTSG), in Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania. Schmucker Hall was the first building to be constructed on the LTSG’s new campus in 1832 and was used as a dormitory and classroom building until the early 1950s. After sitting vacant for five years, the LTSG leased the building to the Adams County Historical Society to use for its offices, and it has occupied the building since then.

On July 1, 1863, during the Battle of Gettysburg, Schmucker Hall became part of the Union Line as the Confederate Army first approached from the west and then from the north. During the battle, the building was struck by bullets and cannon shells, damaging most of the window glazing and the northeast gable wall. Given its location, it became a field hospital and was occupied by more than 600 men from both the Union and Confederate Armies from July until September 1863.

The rehabilitation of Schmucker Hall will provide a venue for a new state-of-the-art museum. There will be three central storylines for the museum’s exhibits, with each storyline presented on a different floor: the military events, the human cost, and the spiritual milieu that led to these events and guides us to a better understanding of them today. By focusing on themes of human courage, sacrifice and devotion to duty, pain, anguish and care, faith, and struggle and freedom, this suite of exhibits will examine the issue of human conflict as evidenced by the pivotal events that took place in and around this building. The exhibits will help visitors answer several crucial questions: What happened here? Why did it happen? How has it shaped our present? How might an improved understanding of these events shape our beliefs and our future?

The rehabilitated building will be organized so that the upper three floors will be used for interpretive exhibits, while the first floor will contain guest services and offer an orientation.

Of critical importance to the project was the need to install an environmentally friendly and effective heating and cooling system, since the building did not have air conditioning and relied upon individual window units. The need for air conditioning required the LTSG to separate the Chapel and Schmucker Hall from their boiler system and install a new geothermal system to provide both heating and cooling for the new museum. Given the building’s use during the Battle of Gettysburg, there was the potential to impact archaeological resources from this time period with the installation of a new heating and cooling system. After a Phase 1 archaeological survey was undertaken for Section 106 Compliance (for federal grants being used to fund the project), the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) required a Phase 2 Investigation.

Working with the project’s architects, Delta prepared a Part 2 Historic Preservation Certification application, taking into consideration PHMC’s comments during the Section 106 compliance review and also considering the need to create openings between the former dormitory rooms to provide larger vignettes for exhibits. PHMC reviewed the application and recommended a condition be placed on the project relating to archaeology. PHMC’s review comments were forwarded to the National Park Service, which approved the application on August 19, 2011, and placed a single condition on the project relating to archaeology. The LTSG is currently undertaking a Phase 2 Investigation.

The rehabilitation project has been bid for construction and should begin in December 2011 and be completed by spring 2013, in time for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.