The best piece of Only in York County mail I’ve ever received

The photo above arrived at the YDR offices a few weeks ago with a letter from Norma Jean Scott-Mitzel. I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I say this is truly the best Only in York County mail I’ve ever received – or am ever likely to receive. To explain why, let me just share Norma Jean’s letter.

“The enclosed photo is a fond memory for me. I worked for Robert C. Murphy Real Estate in the mid 70′s. A man from out of state was looking for a farmette. I helped him to find one in Dover. Later that man, also, worked for our Real Estate Company. I think from this photo of a Christmas party you will recognize the handsome man on the right as your Father Lou. He was always a pleasant happy man with a big smile and handsome also. I’m the lady standing on the side of Bob Murphy wearing the wreath pin.”

I can’t even explain what this meant to me. The day I received it, I made my way around the office, showing it off to as many friends as possible. My husband, Chris, just kept saying “Wow.” Our managing editor, Randy Parker, gave me a big hug (and he’ll kill me for ruining his “surly” image by saying that!) And when I went home and showed the picture to my mom, well, she was amazed too. She remembered Norma Jean – and was excited both to hear from her and to see a photo we’d never before known about of Dad, who passed away in 1993.

I do miss that farmette that Norma Jean and the rest of the Murphy Real Estate team helped Mom and Dad find. On Blackberry Road north of Dover, it is a place of many fond memories for me, and seeing Dad’s face helped bring them back.

Thank you so much, Norma Jean. We appreciate you beyond words.

Posted in Dover/West York, Only in York County, Reader photos | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Get outside and enjoy the weather!

I LOVE spring, so it’s no surprise that we went to Kiwanis Lake today and down to the Susquehanna River yesterday to enjoy the beautiful weather.

If it stays nice tomorrow, Sarah and I will likely head to my other favorite York County spot, Pinchot Park, for some afternoon adventures. Should be fun!

Posted in Central/Eastern, Dover/West York, York City/Suburban | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Ask Joan: Post Card Club edition

Late writing Ask Joan tonight, because Chris and I were out visiting the York Post Card Club at their monthly meeting. What a fun group – many of the folks read my columns in the paper, and I’m hopeful some of them will be checking out the blog now as well! Was fun to share a love of paper, postcards and local lore with them.

In this Ask Joan, I’m hoping you’ll share your knowledge as well – these are all questions for which I need YOUR help!

What’s inside
1. Help for a birthday surprise
2. Memories of Whitey’s Nite Lunch
3. Former Glen Rock Catholic church
Continue reading

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Ask Joan: Homeschooling edition

Big things for the Concilio/Otto clan last week on Leap Day – we filed our paperwork to officially become a homeschooling family. Sarah turns 12 this month and will finish out the sixth grade with a ton of fun things like a trip to the U.S. Mint, making a working robot from a soda can and writing NASCAR fan fiction.

I’m starting a new blog to document our homeschooling journey, so stay tuned for news about that to come! If you like reading about Joan, Chris and Sarah’s adventures with their ridiculous menagerie of pets, that’s going to be the blog for you!

What’s inside
1. Memories of Valley View Park
2. Help regarding fruit farm truck
3. The Gap neighborhood in York
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eBay becomes a source for local business memories

Many thanks to longtime reader Larry Good, who last week shared with me links to several eBay items for sale – matchbooks and other memorabilia depicting former York County businesses. I do occasionally watch some eBay auctions for York “stuff,” but I’m not a super-frequent purchaser.

That said, why not get the info while it’s available, and start seeking memories, right?! I’m linking to the sales in some cases, more so you can see the image than that I think you’d want to purchase! :) I can’t promise how long the items will be available, though, so check them out while you can, and my apologies in advance if any of the links have stopped working.

Either way, what memories can you add of the following businesses? Leave a comment!

The Town Tavern, 36 N. George St., York. It lists itself as selling, among other things, “chicken, turkey, steak, chop suey.” “One of the two places in York for Chinese,” Larry said about this one. He added that if the cook at the Dutch Kitchen was, let’s just say, indisposed, this was your only other option. (See the matchbook here.)

The Pine Tree Inn, 2500 W. Market St. “Full course dinners, luncheon platters, parties and banquets,” the matchbook proclaims. (See the matchbook here and an earlier Only in York County post on memories of the Pine Tree Inn here.)

The York Valley Inn, U.S. Route 30 East. “A complete resort hotel,” says the matchbook. Larry said it was the best motel stop in the county in those days. (See the matchbook here.)

Queen Hotel/Cafe, 200 S. Queen St., York. “Home cooking that will please you,” according to the matchbook. Larry said this was a great place for Italian in its day. (See the matchbook here.)

Dinner Bell Restaurant, Queen and Princess streets, York. “Howard ‘Hap’ Miller, proprietor,” says the matchbook. “Dinners and light lunches.” (See the matchbook here.)

Schwenk’s Newsstand, 47 1/2 W. Market St. and 14 N. George St., York. (See the matchbook here.)

Morris Drug Co., York. “Wholesale druggists.” The item Larry found was a label for a bottle of imitation vanilla flavoring made by Morris. Larry remembered that drug store as “a great place to get a vanilla Coke while waiting on the bus.” (See the label here and an earlier Only in York County post on Morris Drug memories here.)

Ramona Sandwich Shop, 19 N. George St., York. “State-Wide Popularity,” the matchbook boasts. Larry had another reason for remembering the Ramona… “I had a terrible moment in here about age 6. I told my mom I was big enough to cut my own hot roast beef sandwich and it went flying off the table and on the floor.” Oops, but it sounds like something I’d do! (See the matchbook here.)

JR’s Cut Rate Fountain Service, Prospect and Norway streets, York. “Here’s a place not too many will remember,” Larry says.

Moser’s Restaurant, 1251 W. King St., West York. “For people who are fussy about their food” and “Restaurant of distinction,” according to the matchbook. Larry described as the place to eat in the west end, with a lunch counter and a dining room. (See the matchbook here.)

Henry’s Home Made Candies, Central Market, York. Larry said he remembers this market stand. (See the matchbook here.)

Ye Olde York Inn, 2805 E. Market St. Run by Buddy and Mary Arcuri, according to the matchbook. “Cocktail bar and sea foods,” it proclaims. (See the matchbook here.)

Posted in Local memories, York County online | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Ask Joan: Special shout-outs edition

Today’s Ask Joan on the blog and yesterday’s Ask Joan in our print edition have a “dedication” component. I’d love to give a special hello to Jim Goodling and Yvonne Altland, two loyal readers, fans and friends who are fighting cancer. I know they’d both appreciate any prayers and good thoughts you’d be willing to send their way.

What’s inside
1. Following up on dance teacher
2. The Sears hot dog lady
3. Calvary Church singles class memories
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A wonderful image of York’s Continental Square and its trolleys in the late 1930s

Today’s post is just a fun image shared by reader Francis Wark – who you might remember had shared memories of working at McCrory’s in a past post.

This image depicts York’s Continental Square at Christmastime, circa 1938, complete with downtown trolleys.

Francis then notes, “Trolleys ceased operating on February 4, 1939.” You can read more about the heyday of trolleys in downtown York in this post on York Town Square.

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More memories of Mack the Fire Horse

I wrote in depth about Old Mack the Fire Horse for the first time in this October post.

Well, some time after that, an excerpt from that post ran in our print edition, and in response I received a letter from David Leppo of West York. He writes that he saw we were talking about Mack and says, “Well, I know a lot about him. I have his left side jawbone in a glass case in my room; his other jawbone is in the fire museum in a case and the rest of his body is in the resting place at the museum.”

David adds, “My Poppop, who I lived with my whole life, is Art Rider, who is still alive today and is at a home in North York. He gave me the jawbone a long time ago and told me many stories about Mack. I used to spend a lot of weekends at the fire museum. I have a lot of (pictures) of Mack that my Pop gave me and I cut this out of the paper to show him.”

David, thank you so much for sharing this with your grandfather, and for telling us even more about Mack. We appreciate it! (If you missed the earlier post – including a fun story about David’s grandfather Art, read it here!)

Posted in Local memories, York City/Suburban | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Sharing the love of Pennsylvania Dutch cooking: Sweets and sours

Our daughter is an active member of York County 4-H, and through that, our family has had the pleasure to get to know Mary Jo Kraft of the Penn State Cooperative Extension, an awesome lady who is as “True Dutch” as they come.

Well, I had the pleasure to borrow from Mary Jo her family cookbook, so that I could copy some recipes to share. I love nothing more than to see a well-used cookbook, so this was a ton of fun for me!

Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking cover

That’s the book we’re working from, and over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some recipes, including one with Mary Jo’s own notes on how to make a great hogmaw!

To start, though, I thought I’d share this look at the Pennsylvania Dutch tradition of the “sweets and sours,” sometimes known as the seven sweets and seven sours, as seen in this book, “The Art of Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking.” Enjoy!

Sweets and Sours

Stay tuned… in coming posts, we’ll share recipes for cornmeal mush, hogmaw, chicken-corn soup and apeas cake!

Posted in Things we eat | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

A photo contest and a free Harley-Davidson sticker: Random fun from Joan’s inbox

Just a quick post today to tell you about two fun things that showed up in my inbox recently.

First, if you’re into Harleys, you can get a free Harley-Davidson sticker here. Random, but I know some of my readers will appreciate it!

In a completely different set of interests, if you’re into photography – and, again, I know some of you guys certainly are! – there’s a photo contest going on right now seeking photos of our state parks.

See the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation website here for details (click on the “Take Five in Winter Photo Contest” link).

Good luck! I’m going to see if I have some shots from Pinchot Park to enter… I’d love to see York County’s state parks (Codorus, Samuel S. Lewis and Gifford Pinchot) represented!

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