Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania | unincorporated area / community

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Hanover Junction is a small unincorporated community in south-central York County, Pennsylvania, United States, near the borough of Seven Valleys. Established in the 1851 as a railroad junction of the Northern Central Railway and the Hanover Branch Railroad, a hotel and a few houses were erected to serve the needs of railroad passengers and local workers.

Following the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Hanover Junction was a major route for the transport of wounded soldiers from Gettysburg to hospitals in Baltimore, Harrisburg, York, and other Northern towns. President Abraham Lincoln changed trains at the junction en route to Gettysburg to deliver the Gettysburg Address.

Later, small industries flourished in the Hanover Junction area, but with the demise of the railroad traffic in the mid-20th century, the depot was abandoned. It was restored to its Civil War appearance in 2003 and reopened as a museum, while the junction serves as an important rest stop on the York Rail Trail bicycle path. A bust of Lincoln and a historical marker commemorates Lincoln's visit, and a quartet of Civil War cannon commemorate the region's participation in the Gettysburg Campaign.