Results matching “Freireich” from York Town Square

Lee Schwan has some neat photos on his Web site about York, Pa., in the 1960s. Here, he shows Bear's Department Store, on the northwest corner of Continental Square. (See additional downtown York photo below) Also of interest: York columnist Jim Hubley's 'Off the Record' again on the market and 03/downtown-thrived-in-postww-ii.html">Downtown thrived in post-WW II York and Columnist: 'I still have my memories ... of the bustling downtown York business district' .

From the mailbag: A mixed bag of links to a bit of everything around York County:

- York Sunday News columnist Gordon Freireich is now a Yorkblogger, part of the York Daily Record/Sunday News stable of community bloggers. See his York at Heart blog where he adds to his 30-year newspaper habit of observing, commenting and remembering York. He writes York at Heart continues those observations on life and family in York - then and now. Gordon has made many appearances on York Town Square via his many York Sunday News columns I've linked to and excerpted.

And also ... .

The Women's Club of York exhibits a style in architecture and interior fixtures common in the Victorian Age. Here, an angel-shaped sconce is on display at the organization's East Market Street building. (See additional photos of Victorian-era buildings in York, Pa., below). Also of interest: Women's Club of York: 'No one knew it really looked like this' and York County civic, service groups fighting for lives and Author: 'York's streetscape features almost every style and era of American architecture'.

For all of its assets, York County - particularly the York area - has a branding problem.

Its historic and cultural resources, though considerable, are not as high-profile as Lancaster County's Amish and Adams County's Gettysburg Battlefield and Dauphin County's Capitol.

The York area's two most significant historic moments - adoption of the American Revolution's Articles of Confederation and World War II's York Plan - are significant, indeed. But they're not likely to capture the imagination of tourists, much less local residents... .

The Dempwolf-designed York County (Pa.) Courthouse, one of York County's most architecturally significant buildings is photographed soon after its turn-of-the-20th-century construction. York County is known for its diverse architecture. (See video link below demonstrating this diversity.) Also of interest: Coca-Cola out in Springetts... self-storage space is real thing and York's housing stock not that revolutionary and Virtual York offers colorful tour of York's past.

The greater York area has long boasted of its Colonial heritage, which might suggest it's filled with Colonial-era building and houses.

Not so.

Much of its architecture comes from the Victorian era - from Dempwolf-designed Market Street structures to working-class rowhouses... .

Industrialist A.B. Farquhar was at the top of his game as a man-about-town in 1909. Other posts with Gordon Freireich's columns: Washington Township, Jefferson Borough, Madison Avenue. How about an Obama Street in York County? and Vermont windmill: 'That turbine was built at the S. Morgan Smith company, right here in York' and York's Reservoir Hill: 'My 'reward' was to sit in the gazebo at the top of the hill'.

York Sunday News columnist Gordon Freireich provided an interesting glimpse of York County in 1909.

He tied this 100-year retrospective to what would have been his father's 100th birthday.

He found information via York Gazette microfilm at the York County Heritage Trust. Each Jan. 1, the newspaper recapped events from the previous year.

He found an article appropriate for today: York - and the nation - was still recovering from the recession of 1907:

John Grisham, seen in this 2006 Associated Press file photo, wrote York, Pa., into the narrative of his most recent bestseller 'The Associate.' Background posts: York author's works adapted to the big screen: 'Legacies,' and Worker saved key historical surveys from Glatfelter pulping machine and York's contribution to 'The Four Chaplains' still gains attention and Author with local ties writes 'precocious and engaging' book .

There's just something about York County that gets it into the news.

Many of its residents have gone on to fame.

Or fame finds York.

The late author John Updike, for example, referred to York several times in his 1971 book "Rabbit Redux," part of his famed "Rabbit" series. He placed his lead character, Harold C. "Rabbit" Angstrom, in a fictional town near the non-fictional Reading and put him in situations that tested his ability to relate to people of other races.

In that connection, he wrote in the actual race riots that had just taken place in York.

"Nex day, Friday," he wrote, " the papers and television ware full of the colored riots in York, snipers wounding innocent firemen, simple men on the street, what is the world coming to?"

Sometimes, fame comes to York.

John Grisham has written about York before.

But in "The Associate," York is the hometown of the main character. And, as it turns out, Grisham has been to York... .

This photograph showing Sen. Harry S. Truman during his 1944 visit to York County, Pa., came from longtime York Daily Record columnist Jim Hubley's "Off the Record." Truman was in York for a political speech. As for street-level memories of this respected president, he left none behind. But many other presidents have, as recounted below. Background posts: Richard Nixon's visit to his namesake park sparks memories and York-area woodcarver made life-size JFK statue. But where is it now? and This working list details presidential visits to York and Adams counties.

York Sunday News columnist Gordon Freireich (1/23/08) has issued a challenge for York countians.

We have places named after many of the 44 U.S. presidents.

Maybe York County should be the first county in the nation name a street after President Barack Obama.

He brought back research from a 1996 column that showed streets and places with presidential names taken from our nation's chief executives.

It will reinforce with viewers here how much this county draws on its past:

This Grandpa' s Knob wind tower in Vermont has links to York County. Background posts: 20 questions and answers to prove your York County WWII smarts, Who were York County's most influential citizens? - Part I and How come few in York know about S. Morgan Smith anymore?

This blog has featured several posts on York pastor-turned-entrepreneur S. Morgan Smith, his company, his family and his church.

One of his company's successor's, Voith Siemens, is best known today for its water turbines - massive machinery that equip the world's largest hydropower dams.

York Sunday News columnist Gordon Freireich shows (12/14/08) the company stretched from waterpower to wind before windmills became popular in America as an alternative energy source:

This gazebo on Reservoir Hill overlooking York has been the scene of many events, including wedding parties and folks with jacknifes who deface this historic structure by carving in initials. Background posts:
This Smoketown now rests on York County lake floor, Mile-a-minute weed's York County origin questioned and Rainmaker's visit indicated much awry in York.

The gazebo atop York's Reservoir Hill is an obscure landmark that deserves to be discovered.

It just stands there day after day, a local reminder of the internationally acclaimed 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia... .

McCrory's was one of leading five-and-dame stores in downtown York in the 20th century. Murphy's, at the left of this picture, was perhaps the most visible on the corner of York's Continental Square. McCrory's longtime Springettsbury Township warehouse will soon have new tenants. Background posts: York County: '... A smorgasbord of architectural styles', Declaration signer's marker mounted in obscurity and Sears: From top dog to hot dogs ... .

McCrory's was one of downtown York's premier five-and-dimes during the city's downtown heyday.

Those stores included Murphy's, Woolworth's, Grant's, Green's and Kresge's.

But McCrory's enjoyed a special relationship with York after Meshulam Riklis purchased the company in 1960 and moved its home office and distribution center to York County in 1963... .

The parlor of the Brownstone building, annex to Martin Library, is the first stop on an upcoming tour on Friday, June 6. Here, designer Diane Replogle stands in the finished parlor before the Martin Library's renovations were shown off to the public in 2005. (See additional photos below). Background posts: Dempwolf architects built York's skyline, history, Striking architecture lined York's South Duke Street and York County smorgasbord of architectural styles.

Historian Georg Sheets' upcoming tour of Victorian York highlights a misunderstood fact about architecture in York city... .

Newswanger's, seen in this drawing from "Greater York in Action," was a landmark shoe store on York's Continental Square and typical of the small retail shops that prospered in the downtown in the middle part of the 20th century. These shops have largely disappeared, as columnist Gordon Freireich writes below. Background posts: Buildings reveal a bit about York and Landmark Futer Bros. building in new hands.

"Greater York in Action," a 1968 publication, provides insight into the order of downtown York's decline as a retail hub.

The book, published at the time of York's race riots in 1968 but before the deadly riots of 1969, suggests that major retailers were expanding into the growing suburbs even before the unrest... .

Katharine Beecher Candies has moved its decades-old manufacturing plant from Manchester to Cumberland County. The owner and namesake was one of the top businesswomen in York County in the 20th century, and her accomplishments will be part of an upcoming course of county history. Background posts: Katharine Beecher: 'Legacies,' Part I and York author's works adapted to the big screen: 'Legacies,' Part Last.

Question 1: This York countian's sculpture brought $23.6 million at auction in New York.

Question 2: This woman was so sweet her candy circulated to all parts of the world.

Question 3: This York countian met a friend 3 different times on 3 different beaches in the South Pacific in World War II. Who was the York countian and who was the friend?

I used these three questions (answers below) to introduce a course I will be teaching on famous people from York County [...]

Members of the Jewish Community Center participate in the lighting of the first candle to recognize the beginning of Hanukkah in December 2006. "The Six Million" sculpture can be seen at rear. Background posts: Holocaust sculpture a York County must-see and Images capture hope for racial harmony.

Did you know? ...

- That before its move to Hollywood Drive, the Jewish Community Center met in the former YWCA building at 120 E. Market Street York.

- That building had a rooftop playground. ("You can tell you're a long-time member of the Jewish community if you thought the East Market Street rooftop playground area was the neatest place in town," Gordon Freireich, 2000.)

York City Firefighters work to save the art deco facade of the AAA building on East Market Street in York. Fire was confined to the overhang of the structure in this 2000 fire. The bright neon facade and rotating sign is a York landmark. Most recently, Peoples Bank occupied this now vacant architecturally significant building. (See view of full facade below.) Background posts: Coca-Cola out in Springetts... self-storage space is real thing and York's housing stock not that revolutionary.

York Sunday News columnist Gordon Freireich provided a reminder in a recent piece about the many art deco buildings dot York-area streetscapes.

He pegged his column on the announced renovation of the Coca-Cola building along East Market Street. The uncovered entrance area gives away its art deco design under its siding... .

Rivertownes PA USA helps promote Wrightsville, Pa.'s many attractions. Here, Claire Storm, Rivertownes' president in this 2003 photograph, surveys one of the town's stone kilns. Background posts: York County, Pa., Civil War hero grandmom of Gore Vidal, Wrightsville's overlooked attractions and Absorbing photo and overlay shows locations of six Susquehanna bridges.

Wrightsville is a lot like Dover.

More goes on in those turnpike towns than one would think... .

J.W. Gitt plays a round at Hanover Country Club at age 88. Gitt helped found the country club. This photograph came from Mary Hamilton's recent biography on Gitt, "Rising from the Wilderness." Background post: J.W. Gitt: 'Just say it ... straight out'

Gordon Freireich, York Daily Record/Sunday News columnist, raised the question in a recent piece about why the Hanover Country Club is in Abbottstown, not Hanover.

Mary Hamilton devoted many pages to the club and its founding in her recently published biography of J.W. Gitt, "Rising from the Wilderness."... .

Springettsbury's York Valley Inn is one of those landmarks that always spawns memories. Swimming lessons. Fine dining. Anniversary parties. The motel complex, as seen in this drawing from "Greater York in Action," kicked off in 1958 and closed in the 1990s. Background post: Forgotten York Valley Inn may be rediscovered.

Gordon Freireich's York Sunday News column (see below) points to the magnitude of the recently fire-damaged York Valley Inn in its day.

"The York Valley Inn was such a big deal because - well, it was big deal," he wrote.

The size of the resort and convention center went beyond it's 165-rooms.

According to "Greater York in Action," it sported: ...

Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor commissioned this mural in Abbottstown, as well as the one below in Gettysburg. The non-profit group has overseen the drawing of murals and the installation of exhibits along a 200-mile stretch of the Lincoln Highway.

York Sunday News columnist Gordon Freireich recently gave an absorbing tour of the Lincoln Highway - Route 30 - in and around Abbottstown and New Oxford.

Around is appropriate here because those circles in the center of those towns make them memorable on that feature alone. (Goldsboro and Jefferson are two York County towns that route traffic in a circle around a monument or park.)

Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor officials, promoter of the communities along this old thoroughfare that tied together the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, saw his column and will reprint it in a future newsletter.

One of the roadside exhibits sits in front of the Altland House on Abbottstown's Circle. That and the nearby mural are as far east as the group's roadside museum extends... .

The Civil War monument in York's Penn Park, seen in this post card view facing south, was a topic in a 1912 history book given to columnist Gordon Freireich. The book listed Freireich's merchant-family, filling in some blanks in his family's history.

York Sunday News columnist Gordon Freireich provides interesting stories of York every week in the newspaper's Viewpoints section.

Sometimes, he brings the reader back to another time in York, as he did in this past Sunday's column: York history book... .

June Lloyd, retired York County Heritage Trust archivist, has been writing intriguing pieces for the York Sunday News for about a year.

Her writing has focused on the 19th century. In their regular columns, Gordon Freireich and Jim Hubley write primarily about the 20th century and contemporary issues.

Meanwhile, I flit all over. But between all of us, here's hoping we have the history front covered.

June wrote one her best columns this past Sunday, laboring through conflicting reports of the Durang family's links with "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Her findings about the Durangs of York, a pioneering family in American theater and the arts: