Results tagged “York Safe & Lock” from York Town Square

When this Evening Sun in Hanover, Pa., photo was produced in 2008, about 16,000 pounds of potato chips per hour rolled off the lines at Utz Quality Foods' High Street plant in Hanover. Pending approval by the Federal Trade Commission, Snyder's of Hanover will acquire cross-town snack food producer Utz Quality Foods. Also of interest: Chipmaking of the potato kind has deep roots in York County and Who makes the best potato chips in York County, Martin's or Utz? Or someone else? and York Barbell's tall, heavyweight lifter has long helped put York County on the map.

I've written previously that York County manufacturers have historically made BIG, HEAVY THINGS.

York Barbell, of course, is Exhibit A, almost by definition.

Some lines of the old Pfaltzgraff pottery were known as stoneware and plates are rock-like in weight - wonderful rocks, I might add.

York Safe & Lock made vaults and other such equipment whose bulk kept their contents safe... .

Springettsbury Township's Harley-Davidson plant is seen during shift change in January 2009. (See additional photos below.) Background posts: All Harley posts from the start and All York Safe & Lock posts from the start and All Made in York posts from the start.

It began during wartime and the old plant in Springettsbury Township has never really been at peace.

It's had a long series of owners since York Safe & Lock built it. Harley-Davidson occupies it now, but for how long?

It's had labor strikes. Celebrity visits. Presidential praise.

Just three years ago, George W. Bush was there, touting its great American qualities... .

These ornate iron pieces atop the York Elks porch are the type of fine metal work adorning the organization's 233 N. George St. building. (See related image below.) Background posts: York County ... 'A smorgasbord of architectural styles' and York County's connection to the French Quarter and Collector searching for Western Maryland Railroad memorabilia and When the bridge over the Codorus moved

My recent post - Plaques offer historic insight into 'The Swamp,' before Sovereign Bank Stadium drained it - provides a historic look at York's Arch Street area.

But for those parking at Small's Field, north of Codorus Creek, or in the downtown area, south of the creek, their stroll to the park affords many landmarks scrutinize.

My York Sunday News column for July 1, 2007, covers interesting sites as one moves into or out of The Swamp... .

York County industrial leaders turned out in large numbers for a dinner at the Yorktowne Hotel in World War II. The York Plan resulting from their cooperation became a national model. Background posts: All York Corporation/Johnson Controls posts from the start and Industrialist Thomas Shipley's 'enduring monument' in York did not 'endure' and York Corporation played role in Manhattan Project.

York County's homefront and war front efforts well represented what it took across America to win the two-front World War II.

And the best York County offered on the homefront - and it was significant - was the York Plan.

But ask a York County audience about the York Plan and surprisingly few know even the vaguest details.

So, here's a quick synopsis of the plan: ... .

People leave Harley-Davidson's Springettsbury Township, Pa.'s, plant on the day that workers learned that 300 would be cut from the work force. (See additional photos below.) Background posts: Presidential visit No. 3: Bush makes like Bono, AMF-Harley in York, by the numbers and AMP's and AMF's alphabet soup spilled in same small town.

Since 1942, news has flowed from the Springettsbury Township plant that has housed York Safe & Lock, Blaw-Knox, Naval Ordnance Depot, AMF and Harley-Davidson.

Three strikes (1969, 1991, 2007). Three presidential visits (1987, 1999, 2006). Now 300 to be trimmed from Harley's ranks.

There's more.. .

York Safe and Lock's S. Forry Laucks, second from right, is shown in this clipping from 1906. He was part of the initial slate of officers of the York Manufacturers' Association. They are, from left, John C. Schmidt, president of Standard Chain Co. and Schmidt and Ault Paper Co.; Thomas Shipley, York Manufacturing Company; Laucks; and Francis Farquhar, A.B. Farquhar Co. Background posts: The old-time York County community bank: 'They know me by sight and voice', York, Pa. made big, heavy things - and was immensely proud of it and New Freedom station houses alien safe.

Some news accounts say that the current down economy is pushing up the sale of safes.

According to a York Daily Record story (11/9/08), safe business locally is steady but not explosive. The idea is that when the stock market is down, people want gold and other valuables in "safe" places.

Steady business was not the case in the Great Depression, at least not for York Safe and Lock... .

Peaceful Lauxmont, site of much controversy, overlooks the Susquehanna. This photograph came from the vantage point of the equally controversial Highpoint. Both prime patches of real estate were part of York Safe & Lock owner S. Forry Laucks' country home. Background posts: Lauxmont breeds queries of great import - or little, Forry Laucks, Lauxmont sparked debates and York Safe & Lock faltered after owner's death.

Continuing the series of telling York County, Pa.'s, history through images: ... .

This photo shows two quad (that's eight guns) 40 mm anti-aircraft Bofors made at Blaw-Knox Special Ordnance Division plant during World War II. Those guns were America's best defense against Japanese suicide attacks late in the war. Today, the York Safe and Lock-made Blaw-Knox plant is incorporated into Harley-Davidson's sprawling complex. Background posts: AMF-Harley in York, by the numbers and York Safe & Lock worker recalls chat with Hedy Lamarr.

The York Safe & Lock / Blaw-Knox Special Ordnance Division / Naval Ordnance Division / AMF / Harley-Davidson plant near the Narrows north of York has always been associated with robust output.

That's why it has been visited by admirals and U.S. presidents.

But how robust is robust?...

This pedestrian bridge provided a shortcut for North Yorkers walking to York Safe & Lock and other factories on the other side of Codorus Creek. 'That bridge was way down at the end of the (Small's) meadow, built, I guess, by the York Safe and Lock Co.,' Raymond Sechrist wrote in his book "Skinny Dipping in the Codorus"." Background post: York Safe and Lock faltered after founder's death.

Games at York's new baseball stadium are causing people to make the trip from Small Field and North York in greater numbers since the heyday of York Safe & Lock in the first half of the 20th century.

In those days when people walked to work, a pedestrian swinging bridge crossed the Codorus Creek about 3/4 of a mile east of the North George Street Bridge.

Here's how Raymond Sechrist described the bridge:

The New Freedom Train Station welcomed thousands of visitors as the first stop in Pennsylvania on the Northern Central Railroad. Now rehabbed with interesting exhibits and a caboose tour, the station welcomes scores of visitors each week of a different sort - riders along the York County rail trail. A small museum now occupies the right side of the station and the left side plays host to a snack bar for rail trail users.

The renovated New Freedom Train Station is a community treasure. But its interior bears something that is decidely not York County.

Its longtime safe was not made in York County by venerable York Safe & Lock... .

York native Jacob L. Devers, third from left, surveys Hitler's home in Berchtesgaden, Germany. Devers' men helped capture this hideaway, 'Eagle's Nest.' From left, Sgt. John Turnipseed, from Devers' staff; Gen. Wade H. Haislip, commanding general of the 6th Corps, and Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor, 101st Airborne Division, join Devers. Ken Burns' is exploring heroes like these in "The War," broadcast at 8 p.m. today and Tuesday at 9 p.m. Wednesday on WITF-TV (Ch. 33) and WMPB-TV (Ch. 67).

The airing of Ken Burns' "The War" prompted me to write a primer on local World War II highlights in the York Sunday News.

I included my two favorite local stories as part of that piece, titled "York/Adams residents contributed to 'The War.'"

The first one brings together the type of contributions to the "Arsenal of Democracy" by farm and factory:

Factory space is so scarce in York that one small businessman, Charles Coffey, set up a machine shop in the end of City Market, where farmers still sold their wares. He crafted parts for York Safe & Lock machines that, in turn, made armor plates.

The City Market, now demolished, was the largest and most ornate of the five covered market houses in York.

This was, indeed, an example of farm and factory literally working together... .

You never know who you're run into when you're out giving speeches.

I was at West Manchester's Country Meadows recently doing a presentation on York County and World War II.

A resident at the assisted living place stood up and proceeded to tell the audience about meeting Hedy Lamarr during her visit to York Safe & Lock, now occupied by Harley-Davidson, in 1942. (See Hedy Lamarr's visit to York long remembered.)

C. Clark Julius sat beside her during a program to drum up War Bond sales. He conjectured that he must have been a big giver to have received such an honor.

I asked him what he remembered about the beautiful actress, and he immediately said that she talked a lot -- the whole time in fact... .

That's a curious thing to remember about Hedy Lamarr... .

Reader queries and comments about York Safe & Lock strongboxes continue to hit this blog.

Please comment below if you can answer this question: ...

Hedy Lamarr stumps for bond sales at York Safe & Lock's ordnance plant in 1942. Those buildings make up part of Harley-Davidson's Springettsbury Township complex.

Hedy Lamarr's visit to York Safe & Lock's naval ordnance plant in 1942 was one of many landmark events occurring at that site.

"I came here to sell war bonds. You came here to see what that 'dame' Hedy Lamarr looks like. Hitler and Hirohito are not interested in that," she told the crowd... .

The owner of Round the Clock Diner is developing this neighborhood across the road. A Sheetz convenience store will be constructed there.

The struggling residential neighborhood southeast of the Interstate 83 and Route 30 intersection will someday be smooshed to make way for something else. See wrecking ball.

Perhaps it was inevitable that the stranded neighborhood would wither. I-83 severed its connection with North York, and it's surrounded by highway, businesses and the Codorus Creek.

Driving its uneven streets, the neighborhood is a bit like a village that time forgot. Roads that previously ran into North York dead end at the interstate. An uninviting walkway or drainage culvert or some such tunnels under the highway... .

Workers produced Bofors anti-aircraft guns at the Special Ordnance Division plant, now part of Harley-Davidson's complex, during WWII.

Decades before market leader Harley-Davidson operated out of its Springettsbury plant, another top-of-category company occupied the complex.

First, it was York Safe & Lock and later Blaw-Knox Special Ordnance Division, and their prime product was Bofors guns. You know, Ack-Acks, the guns on ships that you see in World War II movies.

The 40-mm anti-aircraft guns represented the Navy's response to Japanese Kamikaze planes.

The double- and quad-mounted York County-made guns are credited with bringing down Kamakaze planes at a rate of 32 a minute in Pacific Theater fighting.

Some facts about Bofors, according to a Naval Ordnance Plant publication, February 1946: ...

This is the view of the wide stretch of the Susquehanna River from Highpoint, part of York Safe & Lock owner Forry Laucks' Lauxmont estate. Easy access to the river from both the York and Lancaster county sides made the river between Wrightsville and Columbia a crossroads - and a part of many key phases of this region's past. That's the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge in the foreground and the Wright's Ferry Bridge up river. Background posts: When the bridge over the Codorus moved, New Freedom station houses alien safe, The bomb: 'And yet it stopped the war' and Noted photo archive captures York County treasures.

My York Sunday News column "The Susquehanna River runs near it" tells about the life and death of York Safe & Lock's S. Forry Laucks.

What happened to York Safe & Lock after his death in 1942?...

S. Forry Laucks' name has appeared in several York Town Square posts, in part, because he was such a player in early 20th century York County.

His legacy includes:

-- Harley-Davidson uses part of his York Safe & Lock plant to make motorcycles. That particular plant made Bofors, the main anti-aircraft gun used on Navy ships in World War II. Ask any Navy vet from that era about Bofors.

-- His Lauxmont Farm, overlooking the Susquehanna River, is a current point of controversy between those who want to develop parts of it and those who want to turn it into a park.

But that's not all of his legacy: ...

Forry Laucks, the original owner of Lauxmont farms now part of a park controversy, was himself controversial.

The contrarian owner of York Safe & Lock was a Democrat in the 1920s and 1930s when many York County factory owners were Republican. He was a pioneer at getting government contracts for defense work during buildup to World War II, but it took W.S. Shipley from York Ice Machinery and York Corporation, to mold such collaborative efforts into the York Plan.

He was at home on the farm and factory. He had a downtown residence as well as his Lauxmont mansion.

He loved York, but spent much time in New York.

Fortune published a profile, "Up to Lauxmont," shortly before Laucks' death in 1942, which captured a bit of the Laucks' legend. An excerpt follows: ...

York Corporation, later York International and Johnson Controls, made essential machinery for the production of plutonium as part of the Manhattan Project.

So reports longtime Dallastown resident Charlie Raab, who worked as a metallurgist for York Corporation during World War II. The Manhattan Project produced the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945... .