Henry K. Landis

Who was Henry K. Landis?

Henry Kinzer Landis was an editor, photographer, collector, and founder of the Landis Valley Museum in Manheim Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Landis was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to Henry Harrison Landis, a farmer, and Emma Caroline Diller, daughter of a prosperous farmer, in 1865. Henry was one of four children—George Diller, Nettie May, and Anna Margaretta, who died early in childhood.

The Landis family was historically typical Pennsylvania Dutch, originating as Swiss Mennonite folk with the earliest Landis antecedent living twelve miles south of Zurich, Switzerland in 1438. To escape religious persecution, in 1717, three Landis brothers—John, Jacob, and Felix—fled Switzerland. Jacob and Felix Landis established themselves in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where the name Landis is prominent today.

Henry K. Landis was raised on multi-generational family farm in a rather tumultuous environment of domestic strife. He attended local schools, and was eventually sent to Lititz Academy as a boarding student with his brother George. Afterwards, the two Landis brothers both matriculated at Lehigh University, but only Henry would graduate in ____ with a degree in Engineering. Landis’ sister Nettie was also educated locally and eventually attended a prep school in Brooklyn, New York.