Results tagged “Tropical Storm Agnes” from York Town Square

A reader has noticed changes in Downtown York's look over the years. (See photo of same scene, with floodwaters, below.) Background posts: Reader searching for Tropical Storm Agnes photos to use in children's tour and Author: 'York's streetscape features almost every style and era of American architecture' and At one time, York's five-and-dimes lived up to their names York County ... 'A smorgasbord of architectural styles'.

Joe Stein (jstein3@comcast.net) has a wonderful curiosity about his hometown of York.

He noticed changes in York's streetscapes over the years, specifically the addition of trees.

Here's a recent e-mail from Joe:

Elmer Ferlow recalls watching a man drown during the fury of Tropical Storm Agnes. Memories of the storm and its deadly aftermath are recorded as part of the York Daily Record/Sunday News "Remember" oral history series, where this video first appeared. (See flood photos below.) Background posts: 'Picture Memories' booklet: York County Flood of 1933 worst of record up to that point and Reader searching for Tropical Storm Agnes photos to use in children's tour and In late June, things happen in York County and What is the probability of another flood in York?.

The list of events from York County's past explored in an oral history series printed in the York Daily Record/Sunday News and then posted in a Web archive continues to grow.

Actually, they're not real oral histories, as academics define them, with a rigorous Q & A format.

But you'll find a rich repository of audio, video and written memories at the Remember site.

So far in 2009, local residents have given their memories of the 2008 election, Golden Venture, Invasion of Iraq, cigar factories and high school dances.

Today, the series covered Tropical Storm Agnes, the 1972 storm that dropped more than 15 inches of rain on York County.

We'll tell the story here in a series of submitted photos that were published in the newspaper (6/22/09):

A copy of the York (Pa.) Daily Record front page from almost 37 years ago tells about Tropical Storm Agnes' fury. The newspapers look, or design, has changed dramatically since then. (To get a look at the new look to be unveiled Thursday, see photo below.) Background posts: This all appeared in The (York, Pa.) Gazette and Daily on June 1, 1949 and In the shadow of disaster: York County and its newspaper tested 30 years ago and Suicide story: York hotel proprietor 'found a package that had contained about a quarter of a pound of Paris green'.

A newspaper's appearance can go out of style, just like clothes.

So about once a decade, as it turns out, the York Daily Record has made style changes, called a redesign.

The newspaper will make such a change in Thursday's edition, as I explain in a York Daily Record/Sunday News column today. That column begins: ... .

The Little Courthouse, seen in York's Centre Square during World War I, served as a center for war bond sales and promoted the bonds in a way that today might be considered politically incorrect. An effigy of Kaiser Wilhelm II is seen in the left foreground. For a small sum, donors could drive nails into the German leader's head. For decades, York's underground comfort stations spelled relief and York's 221 E. Princess St. home to telling ironies and Pastors denounce first Sunday newspaper publication.

York's mayors have dealt with many serious matters of state since the Borough of York became the City of York in 1887.

E.S. Hugentugler, for one, suspended civil liberties to shore up suspicions about German-American York when America was "over there" battling the Germans in World War I... .

The Tropical Storm Agnes deluge from June 1972, as seen from a photo on the wall in the Indian Rock Dam office. (See additional photos below.) Background posts: In late June, things happen in York County and Great Depression struck four corners of triangle-shaped York County and Reader doesn't understand some things about York County and Agnes, by the tragic numbers.

E-mailer Jay Lawrence is looking for photos of Tropical Storm Agnes, York County's last truly devastating flood.

He wrote:

I've been talking with my grandkids about Agnes and the damage it caused. I been trying to find pictures with no luck. I was hoping you could help me with my search. I would like the pictures so i could take them to spots around town and let them see how high the water was and the damaged it caused.

This scene from the 1933 flood shows the old Hotel Codorus, now vastly renovated and the York headquarters for the architectural firm of Dittenhafer & Murphy. That's the Market Street Bridge at right. (See additional photos below.) Background posts: Reader doesn't understand some things about York , Agnes, by the tragic numbers and What's the probability of another flood in York?.

Leon Kohr shared these photos taken during the flood of 1933.

His father drove the family to town in its 1932 Reo to take pictures.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Depression-era flood, another blow to the area during those tough times... .

This photo from the Stewartstown Historical Society might show the result of a 1923 accident on the Stewartstown Railroad, the worst in its history dating back to 1885. With multiple railroads crossing York County, its rail history is filled with accidents (The Great Watermelon train wreck) and near accidents (The unsolved mystery of locomotive No. 1689). Background posts: What was it like aboard the Stewartstown Railroad?, Whatever happened to York County's Hungerford? and Is mystery railroad the old Shrewsbury narrow gauge?

One day in 1923, a car carrying several passengers and crew members becomes uncoupled from a train on the Stewartstown Railroad and drifts down a grade.

A freight train, going at a rapid speed, meets it head on and plows through the passenger coach "telescoping" about two-thirds of the length of the car... .

This photo shows the aftermath of the explosion at the York Roller Mills in 1908. "For years, the explosion was the chief topic of conversation where more than two people gathered," a newspaper reported years later. Background posts: Agnes, by the tragic numbers and The night the furnace 'blew'.

Both the Confederates and Yankees sustained more than 300 casualties in the Battle of Hanover on June 30, 1863.

And about five people lost their lives in the waters of Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972.

Paul Gamboa-Taylor pleaded guilty to killing five people with a ball-peen hammer and knife in his York home in the early 1990s.

But the York Rolling Mills explosion 100 years ago in August was the worst industrial accident on record... .

The lobby of the Arthur Hufnagel Public Library of Glen Rock plays host to an unsung, off-the-beaten-path museum. Local collectors John 'Otts' Hufnagel, Terry McFatridge and Roger Butz and historian Don Swartz created an exhibit that displays letters, bills of sale, calendars and items from former businesses. 'I really like these old pictures of Glen Rock. I grew up in New Freedom so I don't remember a lot of these buildings, but I think it's neat to look at them and figure out where they were,' Lee Cook said. Cook, at left, and Jay Miller look at the display in 2005. Background posts: Former York County CCC camp now on map and The unsolved mystery of locomotive No. 1689.

Everyone in Glen Rock knew Willis Rohrbaugh.

The handyman at the Glen Rock post office carried bags from the train station to the post office starting in 1955.

Sometimes the train didn't even stop but slowed enough for someone to throw the mailbags in Willis' direction. And occasionally, two trains would stop at once, giving Willis double the work.

When the Sears & Roebuck catalog came in, he would haul up to 12 bags at once.

All this for $15 a week... .

Steve Young, a dam operator with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, walks along Indian Rock Dam. The dam regulates the flow of the main branch of Codorus Creek into the City of York. The dam, which sits 83 feet above the stream, could not completely contain the creek's waters when Tropical Storm Agnes hit in 1972. The dam was constructed in the early 1940s in response to flooding in 1933 and 1936.

Hurricane Agnes, a tropical storm when it hit York County, reigned and rained 35 years ago.

The storm accumulated some big numbers, as found in a York Daily Record story:

Ettie Lambert was one of thousands of York countians affected by Tropical Storm Agnes. The remains of the furniture from her flooded home lay on the sidewalk.

It started as a light rain, 35 years ago.

It ended in death and destruction.

That was the force of Tropical Storm Agnes.

It caused at least four deaths in York County and destroyed property valued in the millions.

In its aftermath, York and other hard-hit parts of York County struggled to rebuild. York City government accepted outside federal aid in large amounts for about the first time. Urban homesteading flourished. But still, the city lost at least 5,000 people in the 1970s.

Could it happen again? Dan Meckley, who has studied the Codorus, says statistically chance are high that it will.

Here's a day-by-day accounting of the rain totals, in inches, from 35 years ago:

A previous York Town Square post detailed several monumental historical York County events occurring in late June.

Congress' departure from York County in 1778 was one. The Confederate Army's invasion in 1863 was another.

Now, we've discovered two more... .