This drawing of the iron-hulled steamboat "Codorus" by William S. Stair appeared in "Greater York (Pa.) in Action." The flat-bottom boat was launched for a northward Susquehanna River journey from the Accomac area. Background posts: Murals of York get another colorful panel and How Sam Lewis State Park sightseers view Highpoint's dome and For years, York countians have eyed amazing, destructive Susquehanna River ice jams.
Wish all questions from York Town Square readers were this easy.
An e-mailer posed a readily answerable question:
"Exactly where was the location where the first iron steam boat was built?"
In 1825, John Elgar constructed the iron vessel in York shops near the Codorus Creek. He labored at a factory that Phineas Davis later made famous for crafting what is considered to be the first successful coal-burning locomotive. (In 1831, Davis gained a $4,000 award from the Baltimore and Ohio Steam Railway for building "The York," the first successful coal-burning locomotive steam engine in the United States.)
A historical marker at West King and South Newberry streets in York marks the site on the shops, demolished long ago.
This excerpt from "Never to be Forgotten," tells more:
