Results matching “Lincoln Highway” from York Town Square

Starting after World War II until the mid-1950s, York (Pa.) Airport operated along Roosevelt Avenue. It then moved back to its previous - and current site - near Thomasville. For part of that era, a second York-area airstrip bookended this west York landing area in east York, near the current location of Wal-Mart in the old York Mall. Also of interest: Ho, ho, ho - uh, Santa, hold on, The Grumbachers: 'Builders and Heroes,' Part III and For 15 years, old Kelsey Airstrip atop York Township hilltop flat spot for local pilots.

The booklet "The Record of the York Chamber of Commerce in the First Half of the Twentieth Century" is filled with wonderful photographs of the York area at mid-century.

Its emphasis on airports tied to the York chamber's role as an advocate for the business community.

The booklet explains that the proximity to Harrisburg Airport was then shorter than the commute time of most major cities to their fields, particularly when the "new express highway," Interstate 83, was finished.

Indeed, that's true today... .

This photograph from a mid-20th-century York (Pa.) Chamber of Commerce publication shows popular landmarks of that day. In the lower right part of the photo, that's what is known today as the Playland pool beside the roller skating rink. Both are gone. That's York Valley Inn, long since dismantled and moved to Susquehanna Memorial Gardens, across the Lincoln Highway from the pool. And surrounding the inn is the York Valley Airways, later York Whitehull Airport. The old Valley Canvas building, then part of the airport, stands today. The airport land is now occupied by the old York Mall, now Wal-Mart. Also of interest: First York Airport's administration building stands today and Just try to resist studying this memory-tugging photograph and U.S. 30 Drag-O-Way, Part III: 'We would watch the dragsters on trailers head for Thomasville'.

Gerald A. Young, 76, considers the time he spent around the York Whitehull Airport as a youth as a fun but important time for him.

George Whiteley III - of the Dentsply Whiteley's - flew out of the East Market Street airport.

"George was a great influence on me," he said in a recent phone conversation... .

A picture may be worth 1,000 words, but this York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News photograph tells a story covering a century. This photo by Paul Kuehnel shows, background, the dual towers of the old York Silk Manufacturing Co., bookending its single smokestack. It is now an apartment complex. A Sheetz Convenience Store is going up in the now-demolished neighborhood, foreground, at the Interstate 83 and Route 30 intersection. Unknowingly, the photographer set up a contrast between today's growing York County service industry and the decline of large-scale smokestack factories in the past 100 years. (See photo below of houses coming down.) Also of interest: Interstate 83 has strangled York crossroads neighborhood and Rutter's store offers snapshot of change in York County and All Made in York posts from the start.

My York Sunday News column (9/6/09) ties to Labor Day and the changing landscape of York County:

Southbound motorists on Interstate 83 crossing the Route 30 overpass can see an intimidating building with two towers prominent in York's skyline.

York County doesn't have many fortresses, and the building's high smokestack gives it away as an old factory.

That's one of York Silk Manufacturing Co.'s two turn-of-the-20th-century factories. The company became widely known for its specialty, Moneybak black silk, according to York County Heritage Trust documents... .

After various moves over the years, York Airport landed in Thomasville and so have thousands of planes. This one landed near the field in 2002, and the pilot and passenger walked away from the crash. Background posts: First York Airport's administration building stands today and Just try to resist studying this memory-tugging photograph and U.S. 30 Drag-O-Way, Part III: 'We would watch the dragsters on trailers head for Thomasville'.

Post a blog item on York-area airports - operating and defunct - and people e-mail with fond memories.

There just seems to be pent-up interest in those old airstrips, perhaps because one has to squint to see where they once operated. And it's fun to try to figure buildings standing today that were used for airport operations at one time.

If you want a full dose of all things about airports in York County, consult John F. M. Wolfe's spiral-bound booklet "Profile of Aviation, York County, Pennsylvania," first published in 1998... .

This roadside giant went up at Shatzer's Fruit Market in Franklin County's Hamilton Township this week. It's an example of roadside architecture, evident for years along the Lincoln Highway and Route 30, to attract attention to stops for motorists. Background posts: Mahlon Haines got in trouble at Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge and Old Lincoln Highway pulled 'Americans out of the mud' and Landmark Modernaire Motel built in Lincoln Highway's heyday.

A modern-day Roadside Giant has been birthed along Route 30 near Chambersburg.

Students at the Franklin County Career and Technology Center assembled an super-sized replica of a 1921 Selden apple truck, complete with crates of produce on the bed, according to the Chambersburg Public Opinion.

It's dimensions?

Eleven feet tall and 26 feet long.

Such oversized structures have been part of old-road architecture for years.

York County's Shoe House, near both Route 30 and the old Lincoln Highway, is a York/Adams example.

This tourist attractions are fighting to stay standing... .

York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News photographer Paul Kuehnel captures fellow photographer Bill Schintz as he assesses the prospect of two-way traffic outside his East Market Street photo studio. Background posts: East Market Street's New York Wire factory whistle concert: 'We'd stand out on our driveway to hear it' and Camp Security memories tucked inside memoir and Web site filled with nostalgic Lincoln Highway photos, postcards.

Heavy traffic in post-World War II downtown York prompted the pattern of one-way streets in effect today.

That's the one-way pattern, specifically on East Market Street, that soon will be studied to see if another plan might work.

It was another day when the current traffic patterns were put in place in 1950.

The city's population was at its zenith - about 60,000 people... .

This photo from John Wright restaurant in Wrightsville, Pa., is undated but it must come from the late 1920s because the Veterans Memorial Bridge opened in 1930. Notice the now-dismantled older bridge to the left and the temporary, construction bridge on the downstream side. Background posts: Wrightsville's overlooked attractions and When did Wrightsville ferry service end? and Nature had its way with short-lived York Furnace Bridge in southeastern York County.

A recent York Daily Record/Sunday News story on the restoration of lighting on the old Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge, known as the Veterans Memorial Bridge, brought applause from a commenter.

|"To me, the decision to restore the bridge is a no brainer," he wrote. "Let's do it!"

He also raised the question about when tolls were lifted from the Depression-era structure which carried the Lincoln Highway across the Susquehanna River:

The Modernaire Motel, built in 1949 to serve Lincoln Highway motorists before the Route 30 by-pass went in, sits at a prime spot on East Market Street at Mount Zion Road. Patrons used to enter the motel, according to Lincoln Highway expert Brian Butko, on the art deco building's rounded corner. But later, the entrance was moved to the side. Background posts: York County ... 'A smorgasbord of architectural styles' and Just try to resist studying this memory-tugging photograph and Coca-Cola out in Springetts... self-storage space is real thing and Change flattens Stony Brook's drive-in, humpback bridge.

Richard E. Zimmerman Sr. was a war hero and banker, well known around town.

And his recent death reminded York County folks of how he was best known - as longtime owner of the Modernaire Motel on East Market Street.

York Daily Record/Sunday News writer Mike Argento noted (4/10/09) that Zimmerman's stint in banking including time as manager of the Round Bank, now M & T's Queensgate branch.

Zimmerman left banking in 1966 to take over the round-sided Modernaire.

He thought it would be interesting, Argento wrote.

Argento told about one such interesting incident:

Tom Fadely of Fadely's Auto Masters on West Market Street in West Manchester Township, is seen near a mural of the former Lincoln Highway Garage in 2004. Fadely was an admirer of the landmark garage, demolished to make way for a convenience store. York County artist Gary Gladfelter painted the mural, which reflects the cross-town Springettsbury Township garage in the 1930s. (See pictures of the garage from 1939 and 1950 below.) Background posts: Photo of trolley on Lincoln Highway passing through York's Continental Square and U.S. 30 Drag-O-Way, Part III: 'We would watch the dragsters on trailers head for Thomasville' and All Lincoln Highway posts from the start.

Check out a Lincoln Highway Web site, destined to be a repository for photos and postcards of the old coast-to-coast highway that passed through the heart of York County.

The road today in York County is known as Route 462 or Market Street or Route 30 or even sometimes the Lincoln Highway.

There's some York County material in there including a nifty map of the highway between Lancaster and Gettysburg... .

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:

Noted 19th-century York, Pa., artist Lewis Miller captures George Washington in this drawing that is part of the York County Heritage Trust's collection. The trust is displaying presidential artifacts in connection with the inauguration of President Barack Obama at its 250 E. Market St., York, museum. Background posts: Additional posts on presidential visits and Where was Thomas Jefferson when Congress met in York? and President of Congress Henry Laurens kept Congress together in Valley Forge winter.

For example, post-Civil War presidents often visited the battlefield in Gettysburg, and most got there by rail before the days of air travel. They sometimes would travel unannounced on the Northern Central Railroad, later the Pennsylvania Railroad, to Hanover Junction and then head along the line from there to Gettysburg.

Hanover's Mother Smith -- Mrs. M.O. Smith -- joined presidents Abraham Lincoln, Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge and Franklin D. Roosevelt on the rostrum during presidential speeches in Gettysburg.

"I would not compare the men or their remarks," she told a newspaper after other media had pestered her for such. "I feel it my patriotic duty to refrain from comparing any one president with another."

Indeed, the Northern Central Railroad probably carried many chief executives through York County in the dead of night, unknown to local residents.

Here is a sampling of visits to York and Adams counties from those who occupied the White House (search on this blog for additional information):

This 1840s zinc tub is a memorable part of the tour of Wheatland, James Buchanan's Lancaster County home. It's not known if the president ever used the tub. (See additional photo below). These photos will appear in an upcoming edition of Spaces magazine. Background posts: Columbia's clock museum set presidential timepiece exhibit opening, President Buchanan's fall reflected his presidency; other chief exec visits and York's Jeremiah Black, former U.S. attorney general, among Democrats resorting to racism.

James Buchanan's Wheatland home falls several bricks short of modern presidential libraries.

The predecessor to Abraham Lincoln in the White House is often rated in the lower tier of U.S. presidents. And the nation mostly fell apart under his watch. And he served before presidential libraries were bestowed to even undistiguished presidents.

Despite these shortcomings, a visit to Wheatland is an interesting and informative way to spend a Saturday morning... .

The stand with the lighthouse is the new home of Smittie's Soft Pretzels. It replaces the shack that was home of the York County delicacy for decades. The location is the same: Route 74, north of Dover. (See photo of shack below.) Background posts: York area full of memory-spawning landmarks, Interstate lined out Melvin's swan song and Before Geno's made news in Philly, Gino's headlined in York.

Smittie's Soft Pretzel's shack never offered the dramatic visual treat put forth by the Lincoln Highway's Shoe House, east of York, or the windmill restaurant, east of Lancaster.

But the old structure was an local icon, and its culinary offering delighted motorists along another old highway - Route 74 - for generations.

The shack is now gone, replaced by a small structure marked by a lighthouse.

Why a lighthouse in the landlocked Dover area?

Brent Burkey's York Daily Record/Sunday News story (8/17/08) explains:

A slow-moving tractor tows bales of hay along Grandview Road in Jackson Township in 2007. The township has long been agricultural in nature. "The land of Jackson Township is fertile and productive, and its owners are industrious and prosperous," historian George Prowell wrote in 1907. But the township's location along the turnpike - later the Lincoln Highway and Route 30 - and the Western Maryland Railroad also meant it has played host to its share of industry. Soon, an Arm & Hammer plant is expected to operate there. Background posts: Part of York County's past goes on the auction block, York County railroading: 'Something that gets in your blood' and Old Lincoln Highway pulled 'Americans out of the mud'.

Jackson Township, carved from Paradise Township in 1857, is slated to be home to a new Arm & Hammer laundry detergent plant and distribution center.

Though a longtime farming township with a productive limestone and red shale soil, its position along the former York-Gettysburg Turnpike and the presence of the Western Maryland Railroad meant that businesses have long been operated there... .

'Bridge Burner' volunteer Chuck Storm uses a torch to light a basket of firewood on top of one of the old bridge supports in the Susquehanna River in a past commemoration of the burning of the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge to stop the Confederate advance eastward in the Civil War. That bridge was the second built in that location. (See view from Highpoint below). Background posts: A 7th bridge? Pedestrian walkway may span Susquehanna River some day, Susquehanna bridge makeover flowing along and Almost ... a double deck bridge across the Susquehanna?.

Trying to sort through the six bridges that have crossed the Susquehanna River at Wrightsville makes you feel like you're drowning. (If you can wrap your brain around the fates of the six bridges, it's also a good test to stump visitors to York.)

Rivertownes PA USA has thrown us a life preserver... .

A construction worker breaks up what's left of Springettsbury Township's York (Pa.) Valley Inn this week. There's no word on what will take the place of this old Lincoln Highway landmark. Background posts: 1730s York Valley Inn may outlast its namesake, Forgotten York Valley Inn may be discovered and York Valley Inn confused with historic predecessor.

Remember the York Valley Inn where so many York countians had that special dinner, attended a car show or enjoyed a best friend's wedding reception?

Well, 50 years after it opened and 10 years after it closed, the wrecker's ball has found the sprawling resort that bore so many memories.

York Daily Daily Record/Sunday News reporter Tom Joyce described what remained standing early this week:

This photo, courtesy of J. David Allen & Son, of York, Pa., was taken in the late 1950s. It shows Springettsbury Township's York County Shopping Center in full operation. The shopping center was the first of its type in the York area, and Sears, Roebuck & Co., the large building at right, was the first major retail business to move from York's downtown. PACE Resources Inc./Buchart Horn Inc. used the photo as part of an exhibit at the York Business Expo in 2005. Background posts: Just try to resist studying this memory-tugging photograph, Bury's burger memories far from buried, From top dog and hot dogs to dogfight and dog days in York County, Pa.

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

Sears offered an option to girls and women separated from their nylons during World War II: anklets. A decade later, Sears moved from this crowded West Market Street location in York, Pa., to a sparkling new store in the York County Shopping Center. Background posts: Just try to resist studying this memory-tugging photograph and York scored another first: Wal-Mart's entry into Pa.

My York Sunday News column on the old York County Shopping Center in Springettsbury Township sparked a round of nostalgic e-mails.

The messages contained a common denominator: The smell and taste of those grilled Sears hot dogs still make mouths water... .

A post-World War II baby boom caused families to spill from York city to form suburbs. The entry of Caterpillar and other industries in the early 1950s also attracted families to that part of Springettsbury Township. These new factories brought in families from out of town, too. And then came the York County Shopping Center in 1956, at 3 o'clock position, to serve families who later lived in Haines Acres, which grew up in the fields, upper right, and beyond. (Photo courtesy of York Buchart Horn and J. David Allen.) Background posts: New book offers astute look into heart of York, York County ... 'A smorgasbord of architectural styles', Coca-Cola out in Springetts... self-storage space is real thing and Before Geno's made news in Philly, Gino's headlined in York.

Gene Schenck of Buchart-Horn Inc./BASCO Associates lent us this irresistible photograph (see enlarged version below).

He was even kind enough to provide a description. I've taken the liberty of adding context to the information (in parenthesis), used as part of a company exhibit at the Business Expo in 2005:

The cover of the "The Lincoln Highway Forum" warns members of the Lincoln Highway Association that the vintage brick surface of the historic highway in Stark County, Ohio, might be paved over. The magazine keeps members apprised of news and events affecting this early coast-to-coast highway, which passed through the heart of York and Adams counties. Background posts: Lincoln Highway Communities: 'I know I'll be back.', A 7th bridge? Pedestrian walkway may span Susquehanna River some day and Trees commemorate World War I vets.

Does anyone in York and Adams counties remember seeing cans of sardines littering the sides of the old Lincoln Highway, later Routes 462 and 30?

A writer in the fact-filled "Lincoln Highway Forum" found plentiful metal containers along western stretches of this early coast-to-coast highway.

"Your editor has come to to the conclusion that Lincoln Highway travelers of the 'teens and 1920s lived on sardines," Gregory M. Franzwa wrote... .