A York Chamber of Commerce publication in 1950 touted its role in bringing defense contractor Bowen & McLaughlin to York. That company and others - Lyon Metal Products, Cathy Suit Company, Nelly Ann Dress Co. and Masell Manufacturing - helped soak up post-World War II unemployment, according to "The Record of the York Chamber of Commerce in the First Half of the Twentieth Century." Bowen & McLaughlin, now BAE, continues to undertake military work in its sprawling complex in West Manchester Township. Also of interest: York County's BAE links BMY and Bofors and battered vehicles in Bair and Jeep prototype has York County WWII roots and All Made in York posts from the start.
Harold N. Fitzkee Jr. served as York County's public defender in York's race riot era of the late 1960s.
He thus represented Gazette and Daily journalists - on the scene of the riots and just doing their jobs - who were arrested by over-eager police.
By 1970, Fitzkee had become York County district attorney.
"The Gazette, thus, lost its advocate in court," I wrote in a local newspaper history in 1996. "But after J.W. Gitt retired The Gazette and Daily's name in 1970, Fitzkee renewed his connection with the newspaper. He now owned it."
Fitzkee brought two investors with him: Elmer M. Morris and Wentworth D. Vedder... .
Continue reading Linked in with neat York County, Pa., history stuff - Nov. 22, 2009.
