Results tagged “Georg Sheets” from York Town Square

This artist's rendering shows the original ACCO Chain plant in York, Pa., built in 1916 and 1917. Peerless Chain Co. in Minnesota purchased the chain side of ACCO Chain & Lifting Products, then in York Township, in 2006. The lifting products side remains in York. The building now housing York's Cable House apartments was part of the East Princess Street manufacturing complex. Also of interest: Jeep prototype has York County WWII roots and York-made vehicle welcome to retirement home in York, Pa. and All Made in York posts from the start.

York County - and the stuff made here - just shows up everywhere. For example, in Sevierville, Tenn., in the foothills of the Smokies.

The Tennessee Museum of Aviation has acquired a World War II bomb and torpedo truck, a small bomb loading machine, that was made in York, Pa. (See photo below.)

The truck was dated 1943 and manufactured by Manley Manufacturing, a division of American Chain and Cable, widely known as ACCO.

The following is taken off the vehicle's data plate:

A silo in a neighboring farm overlooks BAE's West Manchester Township (Pa.) plant, where rows of Bradley vehicles are ready for action, in this 2005 York Daily Record/Sunday News file vehicle. (See additional photo below.) Background posts: Jeep prototype has York County WWII roots and All Made in York posts from the start and From Bofors to bikes, Harley plant top hog.

BAE Combat Systems is known for the number of zeros in the defense contracts it frequently pulls down.

And it's known for the York County-made Hercules Recovery Vehicle that pulled down the statue of Saddam Hussein during fighting in Iraq.

But motorists could drive by the farmland between York and Spring Grove and not know this major defense contractor is operating in nearby Bair Station.

Here are some facts about the company, gleaned from BAE Systems history-rich Web site and my "In the Thick of the Fight":

Pennsylvania Furniture Co.'s Sumner Street factory in York, actually West York, was erected in the early 1900s and became the home for long-lasting bedroom and dining room suites. Background posts: Red Lion's Ebert Furniture: From bedroom suites to gunstocks and York-area woodcarver, furniture maker made life-size JFK statue. But where is it now? and Springetts collector attracts 'Antiques Roadshow's' Kenos and Of York antiquarian Joe Kindig III: 'He is generous with his knowledge'.

E-mailer David Degroot is looking for a few good facts about York, Pa.'s venerable Pennsylvania Furniture Co.

"My wife and I bought an antique bedroom set," he wrote. "One of the pieces has a small sticker on the back indicating that the furniture was manufactured by the Pennsylvania Furniture Co. in York, PA. My guess is that furniture was manufactured in the early 1900s."

Furniture-making was a big business in York County in those days, and Pennsylvania Furniture was one of the most successful. The county was home to plentiful hardwood trees, and its location on transportation routes spawned wagonmakers, riflemakers and manufacturers of other hand-made wood products.

The York County Heritage Trust's file on Pennsylvania Furniture contains several documents. (One bore the photo above.)

Here are some salient facts gleaned from those documents:

York, Pa., attorney Jeffrey C. Bortner is the author of the newly released "Commentaries For Lawyers and Ilk." The book is available at York County libraries. Background post: Essayist profiles champion for the blind and At the blind center: 'The bees have been enjoying this garden, too.' and York County census hike spawns more lawyers.

As the title "Commentaries For Lawyers and Ilk" suggests, longtime York County attorney Jeffrey C. Bortner's new book is filled with lively views and news about the local legal community.

For example, in commenting on how the quadrupling of the number of judges has outstripped population growth since 1950, Bortner opines:

"This grossly disparate growth reflects the unfortunate need for more arbiters to resolve the disputes, enforce the Statutes and clarify the regulations which increasingly characterize, if not paralyze, today's America."

In reviewing books, I like to look for information that an author brings forth that may not be widely known.

Such was the case in Bortner's presentation about Judge Ray P. Sherwood, who served on the local bench from 1928 to 1958... .

Challenger Tom Kearney, left, and Stan Rebert square off in a Rotary forum earlier this month. The forum was streamed live via the York Daily Record's Web site, www.ync.com/ydr. (Stan Rebert conceded defeat in the primary to Tom Kearney at about 10:30 p.m. on primary day. Unless he faces an unexpected challenge in November, Kearney will be York County's 11th D.A. in the past 60 years.) Background posts: York County Dems slumped, GOP prospered in 1980s and Noted York family produced Pa. Supreme Court justice and For years, York countians part of major court cases

If Tom Kearney unseats Stan Rebert to win the Republican primary today, he will have displaced a York County institution.

Of course, Kearney is an institution himself, handling the defense of many of the highest profile capital cases in the past two decades.

It's a battle between York County's most prominent defense counsel vs. its top law enforcement officer.

Whoever wins, the district attorney's office has housed some of York County's highest profile lawyers for decades.

The following were York County's district attorneys since 1950, according to Georg Sheets' "Lawyers and Leaders":

Butch Reigart of Columbia, Lancaster County, portrays der Belsnickel. The character was prototype of Santa Claus, abeit with a paradoxical well-intentioned mean streak. Background posts: York County group preserving Pennsylvania Dutch language, heritage, PS Harrisburg grad school: 'Set my feet even more firmly on the path into the world of Fraktur' and Hex book: How powwow doctors plied their craft.

"It was always fund on Christmas to have a visit of the 'Belsnickels.' They burst into the scene all dressed up and scattered popcorn and candy on the floor for us kids to get. If any of the older folks tried to pick it up, the Belsnickels would hit them over the back with a whip... ."

That quote from a York countians found in Georg Sheets' "Facts and Folklore of York County, Pennsylvania," pretty well sums up the carrot-and-stick approach of der Belsnickel, a forerunner to a much kinder and gentler Santa Claus... .

The parlor of the Brownstone building, annex to Martin Library, is the first stop on an upcoming tour on Friday, June 6. Here, designer Diane Replogle stands in the finished parlor before the Martin Library's renovations were shown off to the public in 2005. (See additional photos below). Background posts: Dempwolf architects built York's skyline, history, Striking architecture lined York's South Duke Street and York County smorgasbord of architectural styles.

Historian Georg Sheets' upcoming tour of Victorian York highlights a misunderstood fact about architecture in York city... .

York, Pa., artist Horace Bonham, 1835-1892, was a Renaissance man - a lawyer, newspaper owner and man about town. But he's best remembered today as a genre painter who captured routine events with his brush. And his work was unusual for its inclusion of diverse people. Background posts: A short test of your York black history knowledge - Part II, Exhibit captures decades-long flow of wide Susquehanna and Artist Jeff Koons came back to York for a show.

No one should believe that sponsored animal fighting - brought to the the limelight by Atlanta Falcons' quarterback Michael Vick's dogfighting travesty - is unusual in American history, as this Horace Bonham painting "Nearing the issue at the cockpit" suggests:

State Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf addresses the YorkCounts Summit in March. He is the latest in a string of York County residents who have held high office in Harrisburg. Wolf has since returned to his family business in York, The Wolf Organization.
Our quest for high state and federal state office holders from York County's past started when Tom Wolf was under consideration for state treasurer.

Soon thereafter, we added former state attorney general Robert P. Kane to the list.

I found more in reading the appendix to Georg Sheets' "Lawyers and Leaders: The Role of Lawyers in the Development of York County, Pennsylvania." (Order through York County Heritage Trust.

Here is Sheets' list of county residents who became state administrative officials (concentrating on lawyers) between 1950-2000 (some of which duplicates mine):

Lewis Miller shows invading rebels taking down York's Centre Square flag. The Civil War divided York, but loss of the flag was a sad event for everyone.

York County experienced a civil war within the Civil War.

That came, in part, because the county is a border county in a border state. A lot of complex political factors swirled then - and persist today.

Nowhere was that battle within county borders more apparent than in churches.

Here's an example of how from "East of Gettysburg," based largely on information from George Sheets' "Children of the Circuit Riders.")

Sheets' book primarily looks at York's largest Methodist Church, known as Asbury United Methodist today. (it's a good read, btw.) The church either had their share of Unionists or else preferred Copperheads - the Peace Democrats - to hold their tongues: