Welsh's Store in 1902 With Dollar Bible Sign.

I still don't understand why some people get upset when notices are published or signs posted in English and another language, usually Spanish nowadays. They seem to think that English is the only language all of us should use. If public notices hadn't been bilingual in Pennsylvania in the past, the ancestors of a great many of the people complaining wouldn't have known what was going on.

A few months ago I listed the publishers of York newspapers in 1837, with more German than English editions. Click here to read that post.

Below are a few more examples, illustrating the prevalence of the German language in York County for over 150 years.

Posted in 1700s 1830s 1840s 1870s 1900s Bibles German language Manheim Twp. Spanish Universal York York County education schools

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Wrightsville has always occupied an important location in the transportation network. The Monocacy Trail, orginally a Native American path, became one of the first roads for the European settlers to York County and beyond. That road crossed the Susquehanna River at Wrightsville, first by ferry and then over bridges covered and modern.

The Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal, opened in 1840, followed the west bank of the river from the Chesapeake Bay to Wrightsville. Then the mules, working from towpaths on the covered bridge, pulled the canal boats across the river to Columbia to continue on their journey up the east bank.

Railroads soon replaced canals as movers of people and freight, again crossing the bridge at Wrightsville. The excerpt below from the November 20, 1877 Gazette shows the hazards passengers could face and the volume of products shipped out from Wrightsville.

Posted in 1870s Columbia, PA Susquehanna River Universal York Wrightsville York County business canals commerce highways railroads roads transportation

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York County, Pennsylvania people were having bell trouble, according to the November 20, 1877 issue of the York Gazette. Dillsburg's St. Paul's Lutheran Church had a cracked bell, and Mary Mayer of York broke her arm trying to ring a door bell.

Posted in 1870s Dillsburg Universal York York accidents bells brewers lawyers

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Part of Freystown, 1876

Maps are fascinating. They document the charges in communities over the years. You can see how residential, social, and industrial patterns evolve as an area grows, or in some cases, retracts.

I recently looked at the when and where of North, South, East, and West streets in York, Pennsylvania. Click here to read that post.

Another look at 1836, 1850, 1876, and 1903 maps of York show changes in street names as well as disappearances of whole villages as they were absorbed into the city. The southeast side of town illustrates that well:

Posted in 1830s 1850s 1870s 1900s Freystown Spring Garden Twp. Universal York York maps roads streets

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Among the marriages announced in an April 1837 York newspaper was that of David B. Prince and Elizabeth Sandoe, on April 6th.

The editors remarked that "accompanying this notice was a liberal slice of the most delicious pound cake for the printer. It was the sweetest communication that we have received for many months, and we inserted it with as much pleasure, as we now do the sincere hope that they, who thus remembered the printer, may long enjoy undisturbed and unalloyed connubial felicity."

Posted in 1830s 1870s Universal York York education genealogy newspapers schools teachers

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Dr. William Bigler stars in one of my favorite examples of how easy it was to get just about anywhere from here with the public transportation of over a century ago. At 2:30 p.m. February 5, 1890, Dr. Bigler simply stepped on the train near his home in Springvale (Windsor Township). A few days later he arrived at his son’s residence in Orlando, Florida. Simple, huh?

(See below for my previous Sunday News column on the multi-talented Bigler family.)

The “RAILROAD TIME TABLE” below from the November 20, 1877 Gazette shows how often trains left and arrived at York on the several railroads that connected here. That doesn’t even begin to address the multitude of stops made at every little hamlet along the way.

Posted in 1870s 1890s Peach Bottom RR Pennsylvania Railroad Universal York Windsor Township York County railroads trains transportation

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Did you know people from this area were actively recruited to move to Virginia?

I knew that as the families of Pennsylvania German and Scots-Irish of South Central Pennsylvania grew, parts of those families migrated down through Western Maryland and Western Virginia. As those areas filled up, the progression continued to the south or to the west. That is why so many people from all over the country come back to York County to find their roots.

I didn’t know, however, that Virginians were coming here to extol the virtues of living in their state as late as 1877.

Posted in 1870s Universal York Virginia York County migration

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You may have heard of Bull Frog Alley and wondered where it was. The following 1878 York Gazette article tells about the basket makers living there.

Posted in 1870s Freystown Ma & Pa Railroad Spring Garden Twp. Universal York York basket makers manufacturing trees

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An Earlier View of Market and Beaver Streets by William Wagner with National House on Left.

I recently wrote about a rowdy York citizen swinging a Civil War cavalry sword around a local cigar store in 1877.

Click here to read about the sword incident.

That York Gazette article referred to even more excitement the previous week in the same neighborhood at Market and Beaver Streets.

Posted in 1870s Universal York York crime drunkenness guns hotels liquor police weapons

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A while ago I wrote about how we like to impress others with what we have--the biggest and best.

Click here to read about giant pumpkins and corn.

The Hanover newspapers reported on the really big black snakes seen in that part of the county in May of 1878.

Posted in 1870s Hanover Manheim Twp. Penn Township Universal York dams snakes

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