York really is the center of the universe, especially when you consider its place in historical events. Local historian June Lloyd looks at how things have converged on our hometown, past and present.
A couple of weeks ago I received an email from a childhood friend who has lived in California for many years. She found a photo postcard that had belonged to her York County grandmother and wondered if I knew anything about the Brook Leaf Love Nest. I remembered that my family had one of those postcards too and that the photograph of the house in the tree had fascinated me as a child.
Doing a Google search on forest fires is eye opening. As I write this, fires are raging in the mountains of New Mexico; tigers and elephants are threatened by the fires in two national parks in India; and 45 forest fires have started in Irkutsk, Russia the past few days.
I don't recall any major forest fires in York County lately. That wasn't always the case.
The above images from the 1985 York Daily Record story were supplied to the newspaper by Gary L. Klinedinst.
A few older folks might still remember the spectacular train wreck at Centerville, just outside of Glen Rock that Friday afternoon of April 2, 1920. A February 1985 York Daily Record article captured Rev. Millard R. Kroh’s vivid memory of the day.
The Tribute Tree Committee appealed to the patriotism and generosity of York County citizens in this December 1919 York Gazette ad. A neighbor recently asked if I knew anything about the rows of sycamore trees still standing in places on the Susquehanna Trail south of York. She had heard that they were some kind of War Memorial.
Research led me to an extensive file at the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives. The file contained only a few articles on the Susquehanna Trail sycamores, which were indeed planted as a World War I memorial by the War Mothers organization. The rest of the file was a treasure-trove of information on the York County component of a similar World War I memorial project to line the Lincoln Highway from coast to coast with trees.
The file includes original records, donated around fifty years ago by the Woman's Club of York, of the Road of Remembrance from Abbottstown to Wrightsville. Records of contributions collected by the very organized group of women are included, as are file cards for each serviceman memorialized. For example:
NAME: William John Feldman
RESIDENCE: 404 W. Market St., York
DEPT OF SERVICE: Artillery
RANK: Private
WHERE DIED: Contrexeville, France.
A number in pencil (S-141) probably refers to the original location of the tree planted in memory of Feldman.
Click here for a previous post on the Woman's Club, sponsors of the memorial tree project.
Why isn't the Lincoln Highway across the county today an avenue lined with these trees? One reason is probably that instead of the visually distinctive sycamores planted along the Susquehanna Trail, four varieties of trees (oak, sugar maple, elm, and tulip poplar) were planted. These common trees would have blended in more quickly, with their purpose forgotten as memories faded.
The other reason for the Lincoln Highway trees disappearing is quite evident--progress.
The story of the ambitious project itself is absorbing. The full column telling that story follows:
