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Annville Community & Visitors

Did you know Annville was ranked #1 on Only in Pennsylvania’s list of “The 10 Most Underrated Towns in Pennsylvania”? Check out the article at OnlyInYourState.com’s website. Come explore all that Annville has to offer our community and visitors!

Beyond local organizations and recreation options, you can find community events and activities on our Calendar & News page as well as the Friends of Old Annville website.

Education: Birth-PreK, K-12, and Continuing Education

Annville-Cleona School District

Bright Beginnings Preschool, Inc

Lebanon Valley College

Luthercare: Emma C. Berger Child Care & Early Learning Center

Harrisburg Area Community College, Lebanon Campus  

Imagination Library

Community Organizations & Programs

Small-town living offers residents many opportunities to connect with others who share their interests. In Annville, community members support a wide range of clubs and organizations that bring people together for shared enjoyment and purpose.

Civic & Service Organizations:

Nonprofits & Other Organizations:

  • Annville-Cleona Music Boosters
  • The Caring Cupboard (food pantry serving Annville / Annville-Cleona area)
  • Annville Cleona Recreation Association
  • Annville Free Library

Music & Arts:

  • Quittapahilla Highlanders. A Bagpipe and Drum band in the tradition of HRM 42nd Regiment of Foot.
  • Washington Band. Among the oldest continuously existing town bands in the area. This group has been making music in Annville since 1856!
  • Lebanon County Choral Society. Local singers and musicians who share a common desire to bring the joy of great music to the community. We seek to nurture an appreciation of challenging choral music by preparing public performances that combine accessibility with high artistic standards. We welcome new members without an audition.
  • Voices of the Valley. Formerly known as the Lebanon Valley College Alumni Chorale, this group strives to present serious chorale literature at a high level of performance excellence. They are happy to audition perspective new members. Follow the link to their website for more details.
  • Splat. Discover a relaxing and inspiring space where adults and children of all artistic abilities can explore their creativity. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned artist, we offer a variety of engaging activities designed to build creative confidence and spark joy.
  • Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery. Housed in a former church in the gothic-revival style, the Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery hosts five to six exhibitions a year, with loans from major national and regional art museums, galleries, and collectors.

Sports:

  • The Arnold Sports Center at Lebanon Valley College invites community members to join and use its many facilities.
  • The Annville Youth League organizes teams for Baseball, Basketball, Cheerleading, Football, Tee Ball, and Wrestling.
  • The Annville-Cleona Youth Soccer Club provides youth 7-13 the opportunity to play fall soccer in the Lebanon Valley Youth Soccer League and youth ages 5 & 6 to play on teams formed within the club.

Parks & Recreation

Annville Township’s parks and recreation areas offer something for everyone — from open green spaces and playgrounds to walking trails and community events. Our parks provide a place to relax, connect, and enjoy the outdoors right here in the heart of Lebanon County.

Thank you for treating our parks with respect and not littering!

Churches

Churches in Annville Township form a vibrant and diverse faith community, welcoming residents and visitors alike. Whether you’re looking for traditional worship, contemporary services, or community outreach opportunities, our township offers a wide range of congregations. From historic parishes like St. Paul the Apostle (Roman Catholic) and St. Mark Lutheran Church to dynamic evangelical congregations like North Annville Bible Church and GraceLife Church , there’s a spiritual home for many interests and traditions.

Check out the Google map to view a few of the local churches in the area.

A History of Annville As developed and revised by the Friends of Old Annville

Although Native Americans used Lebanon Valley for hunting, it was Scotch-Irish tenants who first put up log cabins along the Quittapahilla. They soon made way for Germans from Schoharie, New York and from the Palatinate. In 1747 Andrew Miller, himself a miller, bought 232 acres from what had been part of William Penn’s original purchase. His son Abraham laid out town in 1762, with King and Queen Streets as principle. Another miller, Abraham Raiguel, and a farmer named Adam Ulrich then added their lands, and the town grew. County records from the end of eighteenth century identify 232 taxpayers, the vast majority of whom communicated in German. German would remain the dominant language until the mid-nineteenth century. In 1845, 308 taxpayers divided the area into North Annville and South Annville, and in 1908 Annville was designated a separate township nestled between North and South.

Historic Annville Train Station

Increased travel along the Allegheny Trail led to the development of the Berks and Dauphin Turnpike (US 422) in 1817. A street trolley built along this road in 1891 linked Annville with Lebanon and Palmyra. The Lebanon Valley Railroad arrived in 1857 before the automobile steadily took over.

From the start, the town offered the usual agricultural services–wheelwrights, millers, blacksmiths. Weaving began as early as 1768, and in 1812 a cotton and woolen factory was erected northwest on “the Quittie.” The textile industry continued at the Daisy Shirt factory (1890) and A. R. Kreider’s hosiery factory (1900) and through the twentieth century at the K.X.C.F. factory on South Lancaster Street. Bakeries were virtually continuous from Heilman Brothers to Fink’s, Shenk’s and the Pennway. The first shoe factory appeared in the mid-nineteenth century, followed in 1895 by the massive A. S. Kreider shoe factory at Railroad and Sheridan Streets, employing more than 700 people. Millard quarries attracted Italians and Austrians to Annville in the early twentieth century.

Lebanon Valley College began in 1866 as the first co-ed college in Pennsylvania when the old Annville Academy was sold to the United Brethren Church. Though few of the early buildings remain, the beautifully maintained buildings and grounds of the college have expanded on both sides of the train tracks.

In 1804, the Lutheran and Reformed congregations who had been worshipping together north of town jointly erected Jerusalem Church, now the site of Christ Church United Church of Christ. In 1860 the United Brethren built the church at 118 West Main St. before moving nearer to the College and building “one of the most imposing and beautiful churches to be found anywhere” per the Lebanon Evening Report. Their former home has since served Roman Catholic and Coptic Orthodox congregations.

With the reopening of the town theater in 1995 as “The Allen,” the town experienced a renaissance of sorts. An ambitious streetscape project in the early 2000s, followed by the development of the north side of the first block of East Main Street, has revitalized Annville in recent years.

Largely based on the following sources:

  • Bierman, E. Benjamin. “A Visit to Annville sixty years ago” 1899 in Lebanon County Historical Society.
  • Fullmer, Paul M. Annville Township, 2011.
  • Kreider, Anna. “Annville Landmarks,” a paper read at the Home Study Circle, Nov. 30, 1962.
  • Richter, Kreiser, and Streicher, A Pictorial History of Annville, 1987.
  • Shenk, Hiram. A History of the Lebanon Valley in Pennsylvania, 1930.
  • Warner, Joseph. “Annville: Township and town, Part I and II,” 1909, 1910 in Lebanon County Historical Society.

You can find more information on Friends of Old Annville on their website.