Recently in 1910s Category

Utz or Martin's--which is best?

York County potato chips manufacturers are in the news again. It looks like Utz has pulled out of the deal to merge with Snyder's of Hanover.

Before I wrap up my "potato chip series," I want to give a nod to Herr's snack foods, located not too far away in Nottingham. Their sour cream and onion ripple chips are second only to regular Utz in my book. Jim Herr bought a small Lancaster potato chip company in 1946, shortly before marrying wife Mim. They built the business up over the years, surviving a devastating plant fire in 1951. They now make over 340 snack foods and distribute them in 26 states and in Canada.

The chip manufacturers I have been researching had their beginnings in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. In a search for more early chip makers, I checked the Polk's city directories for York County. These directories were issued every two years and covered York city and "all boroughs located on the lines of York Railways Company" [the trolley lines]. York County Heritage Trust doesn't have quite a full run of directories, but I found more than I thought I would. (See below for a sampling of the results).

Who know how many more chipmakers there were out in the rural areas, like my mother and father. Even though my parents didn't stay in the potato chip business and become multi-millionaries, I would love to have one of the little wax paper bags with the imprint of Burk's Potato Chips. I remember some unused ones around the house from my childhood, long after they stopped making chips, but I guess they were eventually discarded. You just never know what might come up at a public sale or antique shop, so if anyone ever locates one, keep me in mind.

Some chipmakers listed in city directories:

York County has had a good share of visits from U.S. Presidents. In one of a series of recent posts on presidential visits to York County, Jim McClure mentioned that William Howard Taft spoke to Yorkers from the back of a train. Click here for more on Taft's visits.

The photo postcard above, recently donated to the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives, was sent by one of the members of the crowd to a friend.
It is addressed to Miss Mary Roser, Glen Rock, PA and was sent from Daniel Knaus, 258 E. King St. It was postmarked at York, Pa on April 6, 1910.

The message, written on both the front and back reads:

That's what some excavators though in 1911, jumbling some history and jumping to conclusions. The York Dispatch reported the story:

Truth in advertising? The item below from the May 11, 1911 York Gazette looks like a news item, but the further you read, the more it sounds like an advertisement for Quaker brand remedies. Perhaps it's both--you decide.

Princess Street Chapel from Atlas of the City of York by Frederick Roe, 1903

A recent post told how the Ladies' Aid Society of the Princess Street Evangelical Chapel successfully carpeted their church by raising the funds with an autograph quilt in 1909.

Click here to read that post.

I was curious as to what happened to that congregation and to their building. I found a trail that illustrates how many religious groups and sites change. New congregations are formed; some disappear or merge with others. One church body outgrows a building and another moves in.

The Princess Street Chapel story fits in with all of the above.

Small Field, the athletic field for York High, was the subject of a recent post. I checked further into the files at York County Heritage Trust and found that the gift was a real surprise to the York City school board.

Click here to see the previous post and the January 1916 drawing of the meadow.

A November 1915 newspaper article quotes the letter offering the field for the benefit of the children of York:

A 1917 newspaper account captured some reminiscences of David Sloat, who at 90 was one of the last three Civil War veterans in Wrightsville.

After the war Sloat had moved to Ohio and lived there for fifty years, but he retired back to Wrightsville. There he shared his vivid memories, as a boy of 16, of the Confederate invasion of York County. The account states:

A few days before armistice was declared between the Allies and Germany, ending the First World War, the York Gazette and Daily published a poignant letter written home by a York County soldier wounded in France.

The heading read:
"PRIVATE GEORGE SLOAT IS TWICE WOUNDED
Long Level Soldier Falls in Battle with Bullets in Leg and Arm"

A previous post noted that a native Yorker, Richard M. Watt, was an expert witness in court concerning why the "unsinkable" Titanic sank. Click here to read that post.

No one was more surprised that April day than the vice-president of the White Star Line, Philip A. S. Franklin, whose parents were both natives of York.

Photo from 1928 York Gazette & Daily microfilm at York County Heritage Trust.

O.K., so maybe a lot of moms don’t bake apple pie anymore, but baseball is still big in York County, PA.

Glen Rock native Cliff Heathcote, who played in the major league from 1918 to 1932, shows up in a lot of the record books. In fact, one of his records may never be broken.