Results tagged “Camp Stewartstown” from York Town Square

Ron Trout was just a kid when Camp Stewartstown, next to the Presbyterian Church in that southeastern York County community, operated in the summers of 1944 and 1945. The camp formerly stood in and around the park's ballfield, in background. Background posts: Jamaican fruit pickers worked York County orchards in World War II , Story revives memories of oft-forgotten York County POW camp and German POWs: 'They worked cheaper than We did'.

Clifton Kehr (clkehr@juno.com) persisted through my World War II talk at York's Lutheran Village/Sprenkle recently.

He then via e-mail shared some insight about German prisoners of war, housed in Camp Stewartstown to pick fruit for two summers... .

About 2,500 German POWs spent their days in orchards and canneries and their nights in Camp Stewartstown, seen here in this Stewartstown Historical Society photo, in the World War II summers of 1944 and 1945. These tents are located on the present-day ballfield at the community park occupying the site. The Germans had non-prisoner counterparts in the orchards. Jamaicans came north to pick fruit. Background posts: Story revives memories of oft-forgotten POW camp, Good stuff found in 'Codorus Valley Chronicles' and 'Yesteryears' chock-full of Southern York County sites.

The fact that Jamaican fruit workers worked orchards in southern York County in World War II came as no surprise to members of the Codorus Valley Area Historical Society.

During a recent speech to the group, I covered the Jamaican presence in York County.

Members of the historical group remembered them well, saying they worked from camps in Brodbecks and Fawn Grove... .

A Miata is submerged a Stewartstown swimming pool after rolling down a hill. (See three more photos below.) The image and accompanying story has attracted widespread Web attention. Background post:
'Yesteryears' Stewartstown-area York County sites - Part I, 'Yesteryears' - Part II and German POWs: 'They worked cheaper than We did'.

A story headlined "Convertible belly-flops into pool" drew the heaviest Web traffic in memory to www.inyork.com/ydr this week.

The elements of the story - an unoccupied sportscar rolling down a hill into a large backyard pool - are patently compelling in themselves.

But the presence of sports cars and pools instead of tractors and swimming holes suggests the changes that are taking place in and around this southeastern York County town of 1,752... .

This drawing gives an idea of the size and scope of Camp Stewartstown, the World War II German prisoner of war camp in southeastern York County, Pa. Now, the former camp is a park and baseball field next to the Presbyterian Church in Stewartstown. Background posts: 'Yesteryears' chock-full of southern York County, Pa., sites, York County has done its share of playing host to POWs and German prisoners from two wars came to York County.

The late Eugene Blevins, of Blevins Orchards, once recalled picking apples on his family's farm with a dozen German POWs from Stewartstown.

"They were ordinary guys," he said. "I liked them. But some of them cut swastikas in the apples. We just threw them away. No point in making a big deal about it."

That one story shows the ambivalence of those living in the area the POW camp filled with German prisoners in the summer of 1944-45.

Mike Argento told this story and others in capturing the Stewartstown scene those summers, in a well-written piece running in the York Sunday News April 14:

The Civil War-era U.S. Army General Hospital became a major site for treatment because of its proximity to Virginia and Maryland, where many battles took place, and its location on a major rail line. Here, convalescents pose in one of the hospital wards at the Penn Park complex. The military hospital is an example of a York County history topic awaiting study. Background posts: Civil War nurse: 'Dogs of War in our midst' and Not all rebel wounded suffered after Gettysburg.

Many people use New Year's to kick off historical research projects.

My York Sunday News column Looking for a local history research project? probed several topics ripe for research focusing on York's Civil War-era military hospital.

The following is a sampling of topics from York County history awaiting further exploration or publication of existing research:

The Samuel Runkle house is shown in this photo from the new publication "Yesteryears in Southern York County." The caption notes that this photograph shows six people. Can you find them? Background posts: Southeastern York County made for Sunday drive and Yesteryears, Part II.

A new book, "Yesteryears in Southern York County," is well worth its $20 cost.

The pictorial book contains more than 200 photos of life from the past in Fawn Grove, Gatchelville, New Park, Stewartstown, Rinely, Cross Roads and Winterstown.

The photos have a lot to say about yesteryears in those parts ... .

POW Johann Schleicher of Austria, shown in this photograph, made this wood carving during his imprisonment at Camp Stewartstown in York County during World War II. It was the discovery of this carving that fueled York County resident Margaret Shaub's search for the creator, culminating in the invitation to several POWs to return to Stewartstown in 1992.

Wrightsville's Robert L. Arnold remembers losing a job to the German POWs doing seasonal work in 1944 and 1945 in southern York County.

"I was 11 years old, living in Jacobus, and along with three of My Brothers picked
string beans for the Hungerford Canning Factory," his note began, in response to a recent York Sunday News column.

A bus traveled along the trail from Violet Hill, south of York, picking up kids in the towns along the way.

The rest, in his words:

On the York County history trail ...

In a visit near the Springettsbury Township site earlier this year, the green field with a rise to its rear just sparkled.

But the site features another point of interest. I stood near the Schultz house, a multi-story structure that is one of the oldest in York County and certain to be part of any park if preservationists prevail versus the developer.

Its history ran through my mind: ...