LOCAL

Chambersburg's iconic water wheel ready to turn

Jim Hook

jhook@publicopinionnews.com

CHAMBERSBURG - The water wheel is on schedule to turn again at the falls on the Falling Spring.

Instructors and students in the carpentry and agricultural mechanics classes at the Franklin County Career and Technology Center ready the restored water wheel.

The wheel and water chute are to be delivered Monday morning to the Fort Chambers Building, 70-72 W. King St., according to Paul Cullinane, Chambersburg's economic development specialist. A crane will hoist the wheel into place on Tuesday morning. The sluiceway, which directs water to the paddles of the overshot water wheel, then will be installed. It should be operating by the end of the week.

The cypress-wood wheel was removed in June 2015. Students in Todd Swan’s carpentry class and in Brian Yeager’s agricultural mechanics class at Franklin County Career and Technology Center have restored the wheel and rebuilt six sections of the sluiceway.

The wooden water wheel is ready to be installed at the Chambers Fort Building.

The 12-foot-diameter wheel was installed in 1984. The picturesque machine was modeled after a waterwheel that powered a saw mill and grist mill at the colonial Chambers Fort. It stopped turning in 2002 after a boy was injured on it.

The Chambersburg Rotary Club and several businesses are sponsoring the restoration.

Jim Hook 717-262-4759