Augustus Wolf was a leading businessman and entertainment creator in Franklin County

You know Franklin County is full of success stories of the past and present. Each one is so unique that once you have the opportunity to examine the individual and all the accomplishments of their lifetime you have a real appreciation for all we have.

A young man came to Chambersburg in 1884 named Augustus Wolf. This area was new to him and through his hard work he was going to succeed. Augustus was an experienced millwright and an inventor, and after a previous business partnership his manufacturing firm would now be known as Augustus Wolf and Company.

The year of 1900 proved to be a big year for Augustus who was nearly fifty years old and he had proven his success in the manufacturing and sales of his Wolf Flour Mill Machinery and the related appliances. At this time he constructed a fabulous manmade lake on the Conococheague Creek north of the grain milling company.

The newly created attraction was named Wolf's Lake and Park. When this project was completed the new lake covered one half mile along with the numerous buildings and attractions. The price realized for the grand attraction was between $35,000 and $40,000 to construct. The next big moment for Augustus was to open the Wolf Store on the Northwest side of Memorial Square in 1900.

He went on to hire Mr. M.H. Rehrig from Allentown in 1907 to be his manager of the store. The store had two departments - the men's and the women's - in which you could find the finest and latest in fashion for all occasions. If you were the traveling type then you found the right place as the store carried the top of the line in trunks and traveling bags to accommodate your belongings.

Because of the Wolf's Store's large selection of quality items, people from all over Franklin County made it a point to patronize this great store.  It was in the early 1900's that the Wolf Store boasted that it had a larger floor space than any other retail establishment in Chambersburg.

When Augustus built his park it was located outside the Borough of Chambersburg but fortunately in 1903 this area was annexed to the Borough. It was very easy to reach the Wolf complex as the Cumberland Valley R.R., Western Maryland R.R., and the Chambersburg & Gettysburg Electric Street Railway all serviced this new creation.

Little did Augustus know that when he constructed the Wolf Baseball Park and Athletic Field that one day the ball park would be renamed to Henninger Field. This came about through a voting process held by the local newspapers of Chambersburg in 1920 and it was decided by popular choice that Henninger would be the name.

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Augustus also held nearly seventy patents for his flour mill machinery and from here he went on to manufacture artificial stone which was used for numerous buildings in Chambersburg during the early 1900's. He always had a great interest in the Conococheague Creek and the day came when he was selected by the Borough of Chambersburg Officials to be the Commissioner of Water and Light as he was already a member of Town Council.

It was on April 6th, 1909 he was granted permission by Chambersburg's Town Council to place an eighteen inch standard water wheel and have it connected to the generator at the Siloam pumping station at a cost of one hundred eighty dollars.When the wheel was operational it would help provide electricity to Wolf's Park.

Yes, Augustus Wolf with all his business ventures was a real success in Franklin County and his Flour Mill Machinery and the related equipment was sold all around the world.

In time all that Augustus Wolf, “Mr. Success,” had achieved would only be a memory as he closed his park, store, the flour mill machinery business, and the stone manufacturing business. Augustus Wolf passed away on March 21st, 1937 and is buried at the Ceder Grove Cemetery in Chambersburg.

M.L. “Mike” Marotte III is an author and historian who writes about Franklin County. read more from him at www.vintagefranklincountypa.com.