Seltzer’s Lebanon Bologna, a 120+ Year Tradition Opens new Museum only 14 minutes from Annville Inn
Seltzer’s Lebanon Bologna has come a long way in 120 years. Even more impressive, the fourth generation of the same family of owners/operators are celebrating the anniversary of Harvey Seltzer’s success. They continue making and marketing a staple of the local Pennsylvania German diet known as “Lebanon bologna.”
Where it Started
It started in the small borough of Palmyra, located between Annville Inn and Hershey, PA. Where the name “Seltzer” often loomed large, historically.
The Seltzer Theatre became Palmyra’s first movie theater in 1928. Palmyra resident H. Jack Seltzer was a 12-term state legislator from 1957-1981, including two years as Speaker of Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives.
His wife, Geneva, helped found the Palmyra Public Library in 1954. However, it was Jack Seltzer’s father — Palmyra native and butcher, Harvey Seltzer — who made the Seltzer name — Seltzer’s Lebanon Bologna—famous with his family’s bologna recipe.
Historically, most early American farmers — owing to their European roots — typically did their own butchering and smoking of sausages and bolognas as ways of preserving the meats.
According to Chris Sholly’s book “Manufacturing A Tradition: A History of Lebanon Bologna,” as early as 1860, the Lebanon County area had become known for its distinctive-tasting bologna. Which has been likened to summer sausage.
Harvey Seltzer had already begun selling home-produced meats at markets in nearby Harrisburg during the late 1890s. He was just 25 years old in 1902, when he perfected a blend of 100% ground beef and spices. The mixture was formed into loaves and then cured with wood-smoke, and Seltzer’s Lebanon Bologna was born.
His product became “Lebanon Bologna,” and Seltzer’s would grow to become the world’s largest producer of Lebanon bologna.
Seltzer’s As We Know it Today
The Seltzer’s company is still thriving. It employs 65 personnel across its operations, processing 5 to 6 million pounds of its meat products annually.
Now under the fourth generation of family ownership with Harvey’s great-grandson Austin Wagoner at the helm. The company has grown its marketing footprint and its product lines through the years.
Seltzer’s Lebanon bologna is distributed all around the East Coast and has been expanding its sales westward. This is partly due to locals moving away and creating a demand for the product that gives them a taste of home.
Seltzer’s has also had a mail-order presence for decades and more recently has become available online through Pennsylvania General Store, and other food sites.
What started out with one flavor of Lebanon bologna, now known as “regular” or “original,” expanded to include a second flavor called “sweet bologna” around 1960. More recently, Seltzer’s has added flavors such as double-smoked, smoke and honey, and chipotle-flavored Lebanon bolognas.
Seltzer’s product line has also grown to include beef sticks, as well as its latest addition, beef jerky, which are introducing new generations of customers to the Seltzer’s brand. With 1-1/4 centuries of producing Seltzer’s Lebanon Bologna behind them, the family’s product is now known throughout the world. Best of all, they are not owned by a major food conglomerate, but still push forward on their own, still 100% owned by their own family.
The Only Old-fashioned Smokehouse Meats Available Anywhere!
Ask Seltzer’s dedicated team members (many have been with the company 40 years or more) what sets Seltzer’s apart from other bolognas, and you will hear its quality and their old-fashioned smoking process, which is still done in wooden smokehouses located behind the production plant. In fact, Seltzer’s is the only old-fashioned wooden smoke house processed bologna available…. anywhere!
Nowadays, other purveyors of “smoked” meats typically add artificial flavoring using liquid smoke. Seltzer’s bolognas spend three days in the company’s smokehouses absorbing the unique smoky taste. This comes from smoldering, hand-tended hardwood fires and permeating the bolognas hung there in fabric stockinettes. A fascinating Guest at Annville Inn a while back was one of the “firemen” …the smokehouse tenders that stoke the fires, feeds wood into them, and manages the entire firing and smoking process.
Smoking Seltzer’s meat products naturally has the added value of preserving them the old-fashioned way, so they can remain fresh without refrigeration for periods of up to several weeks. This factor has contributed to Seltzer’s bolognas’ popularity for shipping across the country and around the world. Factory tours are also available, and the team at Annville Inn can help get you on their tour schedule if you advise us in advance that you would like a tour.
Seltzer’s Lebanon Bologna Opens Museum Devoted to Bologna
In honor of the 120th anniversary, it was decided to open a company-operated outlet and museum just one block from Seltzer’s production facility.
At the museum’s grand opening, an 8-foot-long Seltzer’s Lebanon bologna was cut in lieu of a ribbon-cutting.
Seltzer’s employees hold an 8-foot-long Lebanon bologna that was sliced instead of a ribbon at the grand opening of the new Seltzer’s Smokehouse Meats Outlet and Museum on Sept. 1, 2022. In the foreground wearing white shirts are, from left, Austin Wagoner, Seltzer’s CEO, and Perry Smith, Seltzer’s senior sales consultant.
Tourists Interested in Bologna History
While Seltzer’s products have long been available in grocery stores, when tourists come to central Pennsylvania, they are interested in buying Seltzer’s Lebanon bologna and related souvenirs right in Palmyra.
Visitors to the Seltzer Museum can shop at the large showroom area. Which houses a fully stocked outlet, and tour the museum displaying over a century’s worth of Seltzer memorabilia. This vintage storefront area still has its original pressed-tin ceiling.
Products are displayed on shelving units built to resemble wooden smokehouses. A cold case is stocked with their own meat products.
Seltzer’s Lebanon Bologna decided to feature other locally produced delicacies for purchase at their outlet. These include Pennsylvania Dutch birch beer, Uncle Henry’s pretzels, Cleona Coffee Roasters products, Dieffenbach’s potato chips, Dutch Barrel Syrup and, of course, Hershey chocolates. After enjoying Rosalie’s breakfasts at Annville Inn, these locally produced “goodies” are fun gifts and memories to take back home.
Seltzer’s Lebanon Bologna Museum Items
Display cases, old signs and wall-mounted photos tell the history of Seltzer’s Lebanon Bologna. In the front window is the wooden lift-top desk used by the late Harvey Seltzer, who died in 1946.
Assorted historic advertising memorabilia are on display, along with brochures which Seltzer’s has used through the decades to advertise its products and provide creative recipes using their Lebanon bologna.
A collection of photos taken throughout the company’s history illustrate changes, both in the company and in the country. For instance, Seltzer’s was forced to discontinue operations during World War II, when a ban was placed on meat products. The artifacts also highlight founder Harvey Seltzer and his varied interests in real estate, farming, champion horses and community service.
In its first month of operations, the Museum at Seltzer’s Smokehouse attracted a variety of visitors from near and far. Tourists, especially those visiting the nearby town of Hershey, have wasted no time finding their way to this new attraction. Many Guests of Annville Inn stop by Seltzer’s Lebanon Bologna on their way to Hersheypark, Hershey Gardens, Troeg’s Brewery, Hershey Concerts, and other attractions to first take a look at unique Pennsylvania history at Seltzer’s Lebanon Bologna.
Locals drop by, too, not only to make purchases, but also to peruse the museum items. Reminiscing about family members and friends who have worked at Seltzers.
Seltzer’s Smokehouse Meats Outlet Store and Museum at located at 209 N. Railroad St., Palmyra, is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. For further information visit www.seltzerslebanonbologna.com or call 717-838-6336.