Gardners is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in Adams County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

and a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

that includes portions of Adams and

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

counties in

, United States. The village of Gardners is located off Pennsylvania Route 34, in Tyrone Township, in northern Adams County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the village of Gardners was 137. The zip code for the United States Post Office in the village of Gardners is 17324. This zip code covers surrounding villages and areas in Adams and Cumberland counties, including Goodyear, Hunter's Run, Idaville,

Pine Grove Furnace State Park Pine Grove Furnace State Park is a List of Pennsylvania state parks, protected Pennsylvania area that includes Laurel Lake (Cumberland County, Pennsylvania), Laurel and Pine Grove Iron Works#Fuller Lake, Fuller Lakes in Cooke Township, Cumberl ...

, and Uriah.

Demographics

History

The village of Gardners was originally known as Gardner's Station. In the 1886 it was described as "a modern railroad town on the Gettysburg & Harrisburg Railroad" and a "shipping point for the southern settlements of Huntington and Tyrone Townships". In the intervening years, the rail line was operated by the

Reading Railroad The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and freight transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states from 1924 until its acquisition by Conrail in 1976. Commonly called the Reading Railr ...

and Penn Central Railroad, and currently is operated by the

Gettysburg and Northern Railroad The Gettysburg and Northern Railroad is a short-line railroad located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The railroad operates a long line running between Gettysburg in Adams County and Mount Holly Springs in Cumberland County. Operations T ...

. The surrounding area is known for its apple and other fruit orchards. In 1912 a food processing plant was built in Gardners by C.H. Musselman as a second processing plant for the Musselman Company, which he started in Biglerville in 1907. The Gardners plant began processing apples in the fall of 1913. During World War I the plants at Biglerville and Gardners managed to maintain a steady flow of canned fruit despite labor, fuel and transportation shortages. During the 1960s, the company became part of the Pet Milk Company, which subsequently changed its name to Pet, Inc. In 1978 the company was acquired by IC Industries (ICI) and in 1981 ICI sold off the Musselman division to private owners from Vineland, New Jersey. They sold Musselman's to its currently owners, Knouse Foods, a growers' cooperative, in 1984. Before it was closed in 2018, and subsequently razed, this 148,183 sq.ft. plant covering 471 acres employed approximately 150 who packed apple juice and apple sauce in a variety of sizes under the Lucky Leaf and Musselman labels. Today Knouse Foods maintains a warehouse at the site.

Zeigler Brothers, which was founded in 1935 as a local producer of poultry and livestock feeds, operates a manufacturing facility and maintains its headquarters in the village of Gardners. The company develops and manufactures over 300 products and exports to over 50 countries around the world. In addition to its facilities in Gardners, the company has another manufacturing facility in south-central Pennsylvania and two franchises located in Mexic

In the 1960s, there was a major fire that destroyed the feed mill in Gardners.

Education

The entire census-designated place is in the Upper Adams School District.
Text list
/ref> Residents of the census-designated place of Gardners and surrounding areas may attend elementary school in Bendersville and the middle school and high school in Biglerville. These schools' teams are known as "the Canners". Nearby residents outside of the Upper Adams School District's boundaries attend schools in the Bermudian Springs School District, the South Middleton School District, or the Carlisle Area School District.

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Adams County, Pennsylvania Unincorporated communities in Adams County, Pennsylvania Census-designated places in Pennsylvania Unincorporated communities in Pennsylvania