Results tagged “Dover Township” from York Town Square

Anna Olmeda of Dover recently discovered this KKK certificate in the back of a framed photograph. Background posts: Criticism of Geno's leads to 'commie' claim and Leonard Pitts speaking in York, Pa.: Sometimes, history hurts and York, Pa.: 'It's a midsize city with an interesting history'.

Signs of the Ku Klux Klan's presence in early 20th-century York County are pretty common around here.

The various chapters held regular picnics, cross burnings and parades in small towns throughout the county. So, this secret society left a public trail.

A reminder of those days came recently when Dover Township's Anna Olmeda found a certificate in an old picture frame granting Claude A. Slyder, presumably from York County, membership in the Klan... .

Advertisements such as these were common in York County newspapers of the 1920s. Background posts: Criticism of Geno's leads to 'commie' claim and Leonard Pitts speaking in York, Pa.: Sometimes, history hurts and York, Pa.: 'It's a midsize city with an interesting history'.

In recent years, the Ku Klux Klan has tried to sound mainstream - against abortion, drugs and pornography, for example.

But such stabs for legitimacy are not new.

Terry Koller from Dover Township phoned about a family member - his mother - who received such a taste of the Klan operating in the mainstream. And that was early in the 20th century... .

The stand with the lighthouse is the new home of Smittie's Soft Pretzels. It replaces the shack that was home of the York County delicacy for decades. The location is the same: Route 74, north of Dover. (See photo of shack below.) Background posts: York area full of memory-spawning landmarks, Interstate lined out Melvin's swan song and Before Geno's made news in Philly, Gino's headlined in York.

Smittie's Soft Pretzel's shack never offered the dramatic visual treat put forth by the Lincoln Highway's Shoe House, east of York, or the windmill restaurant, east of Lancaster.

But the old structure was an local icon, and its culinary offering delighted motorists along another old highway - Route 74 - for generations.

The shack is now gone, replaced by a small structure marked by a lighthouse.

Why a lighthouse in the landlocked Dover area?

Brent Burkey's York Daily Record/Sunday News story (8/17/08) explains:

The Big Mount house in Paradise Township where Confederate Gen. Jubal Early stayed on June 27, 1863, was up for sale when this photo was taken in 2004. The next day, the three rebel brigades accompanying Early tramped through along the countryside on Canal and other roads, including those in the Admire and Davidsburg area of Dover Township before hitting the Carlisle Road at Weigelstown. Background posts: Owner seeks info on old turnpike toll house, York County photo collection adds to historical record, Jubal Early heard booming of Battle of Hanover's guns.

The 145th anniversary of the Confederate occupation of York County brings to mind the fortunes of those villages in the path of the rebel horde.

Dover Township's Admire is one of those settlements that Gen. Jubal Early's men marched through on their way to York. Like most villages in York County, Admire has interesting stories attached to it.

It was originally known as Slabtown and then Newport.

According to historian George Prowell, when storekeeper Swiler Kunkle was selected postmaster, Voltaire was selected... .

In this 2004 photo, George Leader hands an ornamental chicken to Paul Masenheimer, who painted his nursing home - Providence Place - in York County's Dover Township. Leader bought the chicken to place outside the nursing home and to serve as a reminder of the link between chickens and the Leader family. His father was a renowned chicken breeder, and Leader began his career running a chicken hatchery. Background posts: Author muscles way into York's weightlifting, bodybuilding world and Gov. George Leader cleared dam plan.

York County Register of Wills Bradley C. Jacobs, a Dover-area native, pointed to several achievers to add to those that I pointed out in my column, Dover home to many achievers.

He particularly pointed to George Leader, the only Pennsylvania governor to come from York County. Leader grew up in York Township - Leader Heights. But after serving in World War II, Leader operated a chicken hatchery in Dover Township. That was his day job as he launched a political career... .

Entertainer Nick Lachey, center, is flanked by his mother, Cate, and then-wife, singer Jessica Simpson in this Associated Press photograph. Bruce Reinert, the manager of Dover's Central League baseball team, married Cate in 2003. Background post: Mom of Lachey brothers makes home in York County and Add another to list of entertainers with York links.
Unless one of you readers comes forth with other achievers/celebs with Dover ties, this could be last post until someone else from that York County community takes the stage.

The Dover area is home to the mother of entertainers Nick and Drew Lachey.

We'll get back to that in a moment.

A second Dover-area resident also made national news the other day... .

John Kuhn, right, works out at Leader Health & Fitness in 2005. Kuhn is a Dover High and Shippensburg graduate. After a stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the back now plays for the Green Bay Packers. Background posts on other Dover achievers: Wiest's first store: 'Segars' 5 cents a grab and Olympic gold medalist Scott Strausbaugh another Dover product.

Add NFLer John Kuhn to the list of achievers from Dover.

Kuhn made it to the Super Bowl as part of the Steelers practice squad in 2006. He was the second York countian to play as a back for the Steelers in recent years following Eastern York High School grad Jon Witman... .

This Associated Press photograph shows Dover's Scott Strausbaugh, front, and Joe Jacobi of Bethesda, Md., in their successful quest for a gold medal in men's canoeing whitewater doubles in 1992 Olympic competition in Seu d'Urbell Spain. Strausbaugh is another successful Dover-area product. Background posts: 'The Edison of Cumberland Valley' and http://www.yorktownsquare.com/2007/11/dover-history-and-drawbaugh-1.htmlDover's uneven history runs deep into well-tilled German soil.

In covering celebs hailing from Dover in a previous post, Scott Strausbaugh is on the list as a pride of the community.

Strausbaugh was an Olympic gold medalist just 15 years ago, the fifth canoeing and kayaking medal won by Americans in that competition up to that point.

Here were some comments by and about the canoeist, a 1981 Dover Area High School grad, at that time:

The Rev. Rene Kinard gives his final prayer after an outdoor baptism ceremony in the stream at the Dover Area Community Park during a Civil War re-enactment church service in 2005. The Dover area loves its history and has made some, too. Background post: York, Cumberland counties longtime companions.

In previous posts, we've seen that Dover borough in York County is more than the hometime of internationally acclaimed artist Jeffrey Koons.

And it's more than home to the celebrated Dover intelligent design trial, brought to public view again recently via "Nova."

I'll get to another noteworthy part of Dover in a minute... .

The Drawbaugh family is another accomplished Dover-area family .

Well, its most prominent member, Daniel Drawbaugh, actually lived in Cumberland County's Eberly's Mills, which isn't exactly Dover.

But give me a little geographical license and look in the phone book at all the Drawbaughs in the Dover area, and you'll see why "The Edison of the Cumberland Valley," can be claimed by Dover and the entire northwest sector of York County.

Inventor Daniel was engaged in legal fisticuffs with Alexander Graham Bell over rights to the telephone, as this story in "Never to be Forgotten" attests:

This October photo shows Dover native Jeff Koons' 'Hanging Heart' on display in New York. Sotheby's recently sold the piece for $23.6 million. Background post: Cameron Mitchell, Craig Sheffer, Dixie Chick born here, Add another celebrity link to Dover, Pa., Artist Jeff Koons came back to York for a show and York County native Jeff Koons' work raises question: But is it art?.

The Dover area certainly has produced more than the landmark Dover intelligent design case.

NFL'er John Kuhn graduated from Dover High.

Dover High grad Scott Strausbaugh won an Olympic Gold Medal in whitewater canoe racing in 1992.

Dover-area's Ray Krone was the 100th death row inmate freed from by DNA testing.

But artist Jeff Koons is Dover's most internationally famous product of this largely rural area.

His sculpture recently brought in $23.6 million at Sotheby's.

Jennifer Vogelsong's York Daily Record/Sunday News story on Koons' accomplishment follows:

Ray Krone, seen in his York County home, was the 100th exonerated death-row inmate. A new book tells about his time in court and prison.

A York Daily Record story about Ray Krone started:

A year ago (2005), Ray Krone revealed his Extreme Makeover to his family, friends and the entire country.

The nation's 100th exonerated death-row inmate had been wrongly convicted twice in the 1991 murder of a Phoenix barmaid.

He became known as "the Snaggletooth Killer" because experts said his ragged teeth matched a bite mark found on the victim.

The ABC TV show "Extreme Makeover" gave him a makeover -- including new teeth -- to erase that image.

Now, a new book reveals more about the falsely convicted Krone, as another York Daily Record story explains:

David Beckham has brought Major League Soccer into the spotlight in his debut with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

He remains a member of England's national team.

England's national team. That's the one that lost to America's entry in the World Cup in 1950.

That 500-to-1 upset is outlined in the book, "The Game of Their Lives," and the movie with the same name.

That upset featured the great play of a York countian, John "Clarkie" Souza.

Here's York Daily Record/Sunday News writer Frank Bodani's 2004 story on York County's most famous soccer player:

Dover's Bill School, shown here with his long trumpet, played "Call to the Gate" at the Preakness in May 2007. For a full story on the trumpet player, see below. Background posts: Artist Jeff Koons came back to York for a show and York County has produced star NFL players.

Remember that recent post about how York County people seem to regularly make the national news or are tied to big-time events?

Well, we have some more such links ...