McPherson Ridge is a landform used for military engagements during the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, when the I Corps of the Union Army had a headquarters on the ridge and was defeated by the Confederate division of Major General Henry Heth.[ The ridge has terrain above ~ and is almost entirely a federally protected area except for township portions at the southern end and along Pennsylvania Route 116, including a PennDOT facility. The northern end is a slight topographic saddle point on the west edge of Oak Ridge, and summit areas above include 4 on/near the Lincoln Highway, a broader summit south of the Fairfield Road, and the larger plateau at the northern saddle.][ (The terrain map shows the summits and unprotected areas, and the barn's coordinates are the significant digits from the 4 corners' "ll=" lat/lon values in Google hyperlinks.)]
History
In 1747, the Monterey Pass Road [ NOTE: Initial Nichol's Gap Road buildings east and west of the ridge included the 1761 Samuel Gettys Tavern (Rock Creek) and the 1812 Black Horse Tavern (Marsh Creek).] followed by the road on the north that became the 1809 turnpike from Gettysburg to Black's Gap[ During the 1858 Hopkins survey, the "H. Dustman" farm was on the ridge along the turnpike's south side and east of the "Toll Gate",]
Battle of Gettysburg
On July 1, 1863, at ~8 am, Buford's 3,200 dismounted cavalrymen held the ridge until 10:30 am against 7,000 Confederates until the arrival of the I Corps infantry.[ and after the barn was captured it was used as a field hospital.]
In 1869,[ a "Horsecar" was built over the ridge from the borough station,][ (The Davis 1875 illustration also appeared without identification in Bachelder's 1878 Gettysburg: What to See and How to See It.)] and in 1884 the steamtrain railroad was extended westward through the railway cut (a 1902 plan to extend the electric trolley over the ridge was not implemented.)[ and the 1887 "Iron Platt Truss Bridge" over the railway cut was built by the Gilbert and Smith Foundry for the "First Day's Avenue".][ The ridge's modern name was used as early as 1892—in Minnigh's What They Did Here]
Gettysburg National Military Park
After the February 1895 "Sickles Gettysburg Park Bill" (28 Stat. 651) passed,[ and the eminent domain decree of United States v. Five Tracts of Land on October 2, 1900, seized 3 "Reynolds Woods" tracts totalling .][ Gettysburg National Park Commission (Nicholson, John P; Emmor Cope; Hammond, Schuyler A) ] On December 24, 1904, the Gettysburg National Military Park acquired on/near the ridge for $3,626[ and in 1906, part of Pennsylvania's Camp Henderson was on the ridge.
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In 1913, the Chambersburg Turnpike was designated part of the original Lincoln Highway, and in 1927 the Hagerstown Road became Pennsylvania Route 51 (Pennsylvania Route 116 in 1928). The National Park Service replaced the commemorative era guide station on the pike with a Gettysburg Parkitecture entrance station[ and monuments on the ridge were designated historic district contributing structures in 2004.]
