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.
“MAKING BASKETS--To many, says the Dispatch, the classic neighborhood of ‘Bull frog alley’ is well known. It would, perhaps, by any other name, smell quite as sweet, but as it has been so christened from time immemorial, it is probable that name will be handed down to posterity, signifying that portion lying east of the Peach Bottom railway, and south of Market Street in Freystown.
The hovels, for such they are, are occupied by the poorest classes of York, whose sole occupation is making baskets. An adjoining marsh forms a splendid growing ground for willow brush, and is filled with willow trees. At present the whole population is engaged in stripping willows for making baskets. Every man, woman and child are seated about their doors, busily engaged, and the scene presented is a novel one. To watch the deft fingers of these basket makers as they are engaged in twining the wielding willow branches, and shape them into market, hand and other baskets is quite interesting.”
On an 1876 map of York, Freystown lies between Philadelphia and King Streets and extends from Broad Street to Sherman Street. It was part of Spring Garden Township at that time, not yet incorporated into York City. As the newspaper article indicates, Bull Frog Alley was the low swampy area around Fulton Street.
The Peach Bottom Railway became the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railway. I wrote earlier about hunters taking the train from the station in the Freystown area.
Click here to read about city hunters going to the country by train.
The basket makers were also known as gypsies. As the area was drained and willows became scarce, the inhabitants took up other trades. There is more information on these families in the manuscript files of the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives. Perhaps they number among your ancestors. I understand the baskets made in the Bull Frog Alley are quite collectible. Do you have one?
Please email me.
Family of Reinhart, Gypsie basket weavers of York County Pa. Some Reinharts remain in York County. My Grandfather is told to be the oldest Reinhart/gypsie remaining. ??? He also has a book about Basket Makers of Pa, said there are only twelve copies. Is becoming difficult to find any information on these things. Any help would be greatly apprecieated. I tried the archive but it cost money ?...?
Many basket in the family, many.
Looking to know about the York Gypsies, are they German Austrualia Gypsies, Roma/Sinti ?
Please respond as soon as possible.
Information about family is scarce and was able to jog this out of my grandfathers memory.
I believe a willie reinhart and others still reside in York County Pa.
Thanks for your interest Kim. Unfortunately, I don't have time to do research on individual families, but some of the family names of the York basketmakets/Gypsies are said to have been Einsig, Meyers, Nicholas, Lauber, Lark, Maugn, Meinhart, Kahley, Barnhard, Reinhart, Ritter, Kleiman, Greenawalt, and Kleiman. Some of those families may have just married into the Gypsy families.
If you live in the York area or within an hour or two drive, I would spend a day at the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives. They are open from 9 to 5 Tuesday through Saturday. There is a small fee of $6 to research all day. Memberships are also available. Also, for those who live more than 100 miles away the library does do research for a reasonable charge and send you the results. There are family files on all of the names above and also more information on the basketmakers in three different overlapping manuscript files: Gypsies, Basketry, and Bullfrog Alley.
Good luck in finding your family.
Thank you so much....truly appreciated.
Looking forward to driving in.....soon.
Hoping to be able to bring grandfather with.
Again...Thank you :)
Thank you so much....truly appreciated.
Looking forward to driving in.....soon.
Hoping to be able to bring grandfather with.
Again...Thank you :)