Results tagged “tobacco” from York Town Square

Starview United Brethren church -- now a United Methodist Church -- as it looked in 1914. A cigar factory, ubiquitious around turn-of-the 20th century York County, is seen at left. The church is now a United Methodist congregation. Background posts: York Daily Record columnist Jim Hubley's last piece: 'Good luck weeding out tobacco' and Mother Goose teaches York County history lessons and York County cigars: 'They contained a vast amount of nicotine'.

Ten-year-old YorkCounts has again added to community discussion in teeing up 38 quality-of-life measurements.

Important, that is, because if issues facing York County aren't tracked, it's difficult to assess progress.

Indeed, several indicators in the March 20 report show that the quality of life is improving in the county.

But, of course, while some categories work, others need work.

A vast amount of work.

To tackle many community issues, the YorkCounts coalition and other local leaders are facing decades of decisions that affect the quality of life today for better or worse.

So, I've provided brief historical background on six indicators, which we'll explain in this and future York Town Square posts, to show how the past and the present may link up.

First, tobacco usage in York County:

Proprietor Charles H. Seiker, right hand in his pocket, stands in the doorway of Young and Busser's Cigar Store, Continental Square, circa 1920. That's store mascot Punch on the ledge. This photo, with accompanying column on the popularity of the cigar store, appears in Jim Hubley's "Off the Record." The funeral for the longtime York (Pa.) Daily Record/ Sunday News columnist will be Sunday at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in York Township. Visitation will be from 2 to 3:30 p.m. with the service afterward. Background posts: YDR columnist James A. Hubley: 'What I prefer is a simple, Jim', Kaltreider Library draws name from noted Red Lion cigarmaker and 'I still have my memories ... of the bustling downtown York business district'

Columnist Jim Hubley understood York County.

He knew, for example, that tobacco, cigarmaking and smoking are part of its culture. And he wrote about it.

He wrote in a 1989 column about Continental Square's Young and Busser's Cigar Store as a coming together place for York's men in the 1920s... .