Elsie Singmaster

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Elsie Singmaster Lewars (August 29, 1879 – September 30, 1958) was an American writer from Macungie, Pennsylvania. She wrote children's books and young adult stories from 1905 to 1950. Her best-known book is Swords of Steel, which earned a Newbery Honor in 1934. She also wrote The Lese Majeste of Hans Heckendorn (1905) and When Sarah Saved the Day (1909). In 1924 her story The Courier of the Czar was recognized in the O. Henry Prize list.

Born to German‑American parents, she studied at Allentown High School, West Chester Normal School, Cornell University (1898–1900), and Radcliffe College (graduated 1907). In 1912 she married Harold Steck Lewars, a musician and professor, and continued publishing as Elsie Singmaster. He died in 1915 while she was pregnant, and their baby died two months later. Her last published piece was It Was Once a Jail in 1950. She died in 1958 in Macungie and is buried in Fairview Cemetery there. She is often called Macungie's most famous citizen.