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Republicans try to get out the European vote with absentee ballot info.

This post is about making history instead of reporting on it. And make history we will, whatever the outcome of the imminent presidential election.

Earlier this month, while wandering the cobblestones of the beautiful old city of Prague, I was stopped short by the sight in the photo above. My first reaction was that there can't be that many Americans in the Czech Republic that it would be worthwhile to have a rolling signboard advocating absentee balloting.

Then I realized, given the close proximity and relatively small size of many European nations, one painted automobile could cover quite a bit of area. When you think of all the American military personnel, business people, and tourists in Europe at any give time, reminding them of absentee voting doesn't seem like a bad idea.

Tom Thumb ad illustration makes him look really small.

I recently noted that people in York County have always seemed to turn out in droves for whatever entertainment came to town.

In May 1849 the biggest little sensation to hit the circuit appeared at the York County courthouse. He was none other than Tom Thumb, nicknamed "The Little General," and being promoted by the fantastic showman P.T. Barnum.

The lengthy ad in the York Gazette described the little man as one "Who has been received with the highest marks of ROYAL favor by Queen Victoria, and all the principal Crowned Heads of Europe, and who has performed before 6,000,000 or persons during the last six years..."

What would we do without ice cream? Even though it was served previously, the popularity of ice cream increased in America in the 1840s. Perhaps this was because Nancy Johnson invented the crank-type ice cream freezer about that time.

According to the Gazette advertisement below, York provided a ready market in May 1845 for the cold, sweet concoction. Thomas Gray would even cater your ice cream party.

Dentistry came into its own in the 19th century. According to the American Dental Association website, Samuel Stockton began manufacturing porcelain teeth in 1825. Amalgam fillings were introduced in America in the 1830s, and cohesive gold foil fillings became practical about 1855. Probably best of all from the patients' point of view was the development of various means of anesthesia in the 1840.

York dentists kept up with the times, according to two 1840s ads below from the York Gazette:

In the past I have written about some of the outrageous claims for cures made by York County manufacturers of tonics and by animal doctors.

Click here to read about Caldwell's cure-all tonic.

And click here to read about Heffner's medicine for your cattle, horses, and swine.

Doctors practicing on humans weren't any less immoderate in their claims, as shown by the ad below from the April 18, 1816 York Gazette. At least Dr. Delasell had long office hours.

After recently posting the article on the 20 horse power York-made Pullman’s win in a 1908 hill climb, I was curious to see what the car looked like.

Click here to read about the hill climb.

The newspaper article didn’t say if the winning auto was a 1907 or 1908 model. Since the race was in early 1908, I went to a 1907 Pullman catalog in the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives.

The factory turned out three 20 horse power models that year. I’m including illustrations below from the catalog of all three models, along with specs and price. Which do you think beat the competitors up the hill?

I am presently working with the issues of the Pennsylvania Gazette printed in York in 1777-1778. In 1934 Henry Young, who at the time was most of the staff of the Historical Society of York County, gathered photostatic copies of most of issues from libraries around the county. He even received a copy of one issue from the British Museum.

The news printed in the papers is invaluable in putting the Revolutionary War into context, but the local ads give us a glimpse of life in York during the time Congress met here.

The first thing that came to mind after reading the ad for dry goods below was: “What are they talking about?” I’ve found some of the definitions, with the help of Google and Dictionary.com. I’ve added those annotations following the transcription of the ad. See if you can figure them out first.

George Anstine's Patented Threshing Machine, 1843.

I recently wrote about the blossoming of York County inventors in the mid- nineteenth century.

Click here to read previous post on inventions.

Read the 1843 ad below to find out just how George Anstine's threshing machine worked.

York Countians have always been readers. At any give time in the nineteen century several newspapers flourished simultaneously in York and Hanover. Just about every small town in the county also had their own weekly paper.

Bookstores, such as Jas. B. Small's Book and Stationery Store in the Hartman Building on Centre Square, were popular and prominently located. They advertised all kinds of reading material, including the latest magazines.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that, judging by the ads from real estate agents in other areas trying to entice York County buyers, this area must have been quite prosperous in the late 1860s. Merchants and other entrepreneurs wanted a chunk of our cash too.

Click here to read real estate offerings to York County "capitalists."

For example, though York had its own jewelry stores, James E. Caldwell & Co., Jewelers, Importers, and Manufacturers of Philadelphia took out a sizable ad in the Gazette offering “watches, diamonds, jewelry, solid silver wares, plated goods, mantel clocks, bronzes, decorated china vases and ornaments, musical boxes, and carved wood ornaments to shoppers from York County.

Most surprising to me was Union Pacific Railroad’s nearly full column advertisement offering bonds to York Countians to invest in the western railway, then under construction.