Solanco

The Solanco School District is nestled in the southern portion of Lancaster County amidst the rolling hills of south-central Pennsylvania. The name Solanco is an abbreviated form of Southern Lancaster County, the territory covered by the school district. The component municipalities of the school district are Bart, Colerain, Drumore, East Drumore,... Eden, Fulton, Little Britain and Providence Townships, as well as Quarryville Borough. The district consists of approximately 186 square miles, comprising an area from about seven miles south of the city of Lancaster to the Maryland state line (north to south) and the Susquehanna River to the Chester County line (west to east). This makes for an intricate busing system between the homes of the students and the seven schools in the district. Of the 22 school districts served by the Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13, Solanco is the largest district in terms of land, representing nearly 20 percent of the total county in landmass. The earliest southern Lancaster County inhabitants were believed to be Quakers and Mennonites of Swiss and German origins, Englishmen, French Huguenots, and Welsh. A military arm was needed, and the Quaker government recruited Scotch-Irish from Northern Ireland. These immigrants were given land in the lower end of the district to fight off a Catholic takeover from Maryland. In the early eighteenth century, Pennsylvania and Maryland were involved in a dispute over the border. It was both a border battle and a religious skirmish. By importing the Scotch-Irish, William Penn acted primarily to protect the border, which Marylanders insisted extended as far north as three miles south of Lancaster. Education in the Southern End began in one-room schoolhouses in the early 1700s. Private academies soon developed. One of the better known, Chestnut Level Academy, opened in 1852. Higher schooling was also available for those who wished to continue beyond the eight grades offered in the one-room schoolhouses. There was a four-year high school built in ...Read More