Pickles, jets, and books, outlining the
By Kathleen Heraghty
and Jim Fitzroy
The H.J. Heinz Company
farmed it- grew some of their
famous pickles on it. During the
First World War the government
stored some of its ordnance on it.
As the Army Air Corps took it
over, bi-planes and observation
balloons graced its grounds. The
Air Corps became the Air Force
and the simple flying field even
tually grew to accomodate jets;
The gently rolling acreage had
become the sprawling Olmsted
Air Force base. Then in 1964 a
decision was made that led to the
land’s present incarnation as the
Capitol Campus of the Penn
sylvania State University.
On October 3, 1966, eighteen
students and 8 full-time faculty
members quietly took over the
Olmsted Air Force Base. The
students made up the first class of
Capitol Campus. All were
tranfers from University Park or
other commonwealth campuses
studying in Humanities and the
Social Sciences.
In its second year the Mid
dletown campus had its first full
class. There were 513 full and
part-time students enrolled in the
fall term. The 1967-1968 academic
year also introduced programs in
elementary education, engineering
technology, and business
administration.
One of the ongoing adaptations to the complex is the construction of the $2 million Science and
Technology Building.
According to the Middletown
Press and Journal in 1966, the
Air Force still had a few dozen
personnel on hand. The airmen
attended campus functions and
often ate in the dining hall, by
then being run by the university.
Male students lived in Wrisberg
Hall and on the third floor of the
Even before the Air Force, the Heinz Company
used the land for farming.
Photo by Jeffrey G. Shatzer
Church Hall. Airmen were housed
on the lower floors there as late
as May, 1968. Female students
lived in the former Bachelor Of
ficer’s Quarters, which are now
the University Apartments.
From the original 513 students,
the campus has grown to 2,463
enrolled for 1983-1984.
In 1917, the Heinz people were
operating a truck farm and grow
ing a variety of vegetables. Part
of this land was then aquired by
the government for the Mid
dletown Air Depot.
The Depot began as a single
warehouse next to the Pennsyl
vania Railroad tracks. This and
later structures were occupied by
the Ordnance Department.
Planes had been flying out of
the Depot since 1918, according
to Harold Hickernell, former
public relations director, for the
Olmsted base, though it wasn’t
until 1922 that the Army Air
Corps actually took over the land
to use in their growing defence
role.
The name of the facility was
changed in 1923 to Olmsted Field,
in memory of First Lieutenant
m-.iNNb \
■ . ■ ■
According to a former Air Force employee, this F-101 was the last aircraft to be ov<
base on August 9, 1965
Robert S. Olmsted who, at the
time of his death, was assigned to
the depot as an engineer. He was
killed during the Gordon Bennett
International Balloon Races in the
Netherlands, when lightning struck
the balloon he was piloting for the
Army.
Aircraft repair facilities were
installed in 1925 and, in 1927 the
landing field was enlarged to han
dle the various types of crafts
then being flown, including the
hot air balloons anchored in the
mooring rings on the flying field.
The new runway was exceptional
ly strong because iron slag had
been used in building it and in
reclaiming the existing marshland,
according to a retired civilian
worker from the Olmsted time
Former Secretary of Detence
Robert McNamara, on November
19, 1964, gave the official an
nouncement that Olmsted Air
Force Base would be closed down
In response to local opposition,
McNamara said,“These decisions
are absolutely, unequivocally,
without qualification, irrevocable,
unless some new evidence is
brought to our attention, and the
chances of that are damn small.”