Results tagged “market houses” from York Town Square

The market sheds in York's Centre Square were intact in this photo, as the Hartman Building, tallest in York, looms in the background. The dating of this photo is a bit elusive because no flag pole is apparent between the sheds. That would place the photo before the early 1860s. But was photography advanced enough in the 1850s to get this shot? At any rate, after the sheds and flag pole came down post late-June 1887, the square was clear and has been so ever since. Background posts: York's western gate: One image says so much, Farm vs. factory tension relieved by overnight raid and Late June has seen pivotal moments in York County history.

By now the story is familiar.

In the middle of the night in late June 1887, someone hooked ropes up to the supporting pools of York's Centre Square market sheds.

The sheds came tumbling down, and so did the symbolic and real impediments to the movement of people and goods through the heart of York. And thus did industrialization and development symbolically gain the upper hand in agrarian and bucolic York County.

The episode has a postlude, as outlined in a 1927 special section in The Gazette and Daily... .

This undated postcard view, from a recent Codorus Valley Area Historical Society newsletter, shows a busy block of York's South Duke Street. The City Market's tower is central in this photograph and York Collegiate Institute's is at right, background. Background post: York Market House No. 2 - The architecturally striking City Market and Samuel Small tops community contributor list.

The postcard view above shows a bustling block where South Duke Street met College Avenue.

That block played host to the City Market house, the largest and most ornate of York's five market houses, and York Collegiate Institute, forerunner along with the York County Academy, of York College.

Imagine today how that neighborhood could be different if those two buildings, gone for decades, remained.

OK, quick York Town Square review quiz.

The Dreamwrights have opened their new house to the public.

The theater group recently remodeled their building, a former market house where west end farmers could sell their goods to residents of surrounding neighborhood.

At one time, five market houses served as the hub for York County's farmers to sell their wares.

Where were York's other four covered market houses? ...

A former York market house is hidden in plain view.

Dreamwrights, a local theater group, is quite correctly touting rehab plans for their large brick playhouse on Carlisle Avenue.

For years, I've wondered about the original use of that beautiful building... .