Yorkers did not lack for entertainment. Traveling performers and theater groups of all kinds made regular stops in York. The draw of the menagerie was usually the assortment of exotic animals, but the one the came to town in May 1843 added lots of drama to the animal acts.

The sizable announcement in the Gazette was an enticing piece of advertising:

Posted in 1840s Abbotstown Columbia, PA Universal York York animals circus entertainment menageries parades

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

What do you think they were?

I just ran across an advertisement for an exhibition of really, really big bones in York in 1828. One bone was said to be 20 feet long. See below for the whole ad, quoted from the February 26, 1828 York Recorder newspaper.

Posted in 1820s Universal York York animals exhibits fossils science

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

Nineteen hundred and eight was a very strange year in York County.

Click here to read about Rex Fire Company’s building out in the middle of Duke Street.

My last post was about Judge Wanner ruling in favor of a mule. Click here to read about that.

This item, from the March 19, 1908 Gazette, is even more bizarre:

Posted in 1900s Universal York York animals manufacturing rats

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

In a previous post I pointed out that traffic accidents made the news long before automobiles were invented.

Click here to read about some pre-auto mishaps.

The advent of the motor car caused just added to the mix, as shown by the March 1908 Gazette account below:

Posted in 1900s Chanceford Twp. Spry Universal York accidents animals automobiles highways mules roads

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

It seems like every year we hear of York County connections to the premier Westminster Kennel Club dog show. Just this year a toy poodle from Dillsburg named Vikki won the best of breed to make it to the finals.

Did you know that York County dogs and their owners have been bringing home prizes from the show since its infancy? The following report is from the February 14, 1908 York Gazette:

Posted in 1900s Glen Rock Hanover New York Universal York York animals competitions dogs

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

1876 Pomeroy, Whitman map of York Township showing the paper mill/shinnerhannes site.

It seems like I’ve been writing a lot about ailing or dead large animals in York County. When you think about it, there were a whole lot of large animals living amongst the people of York County 100 or so years ago. Even if you weren’t a farmer, you would often have your own cow for milk, even in town.

Click here to read about York Cattle Doctor's cure.

And horses--horses were transportation, horses were tractors, horses were necessities. Cattle could be turned into roasts before they got too old, but even cows came down with fatal illnesses.

All those horses are another matter--this is York County, Pennsylvania, not France. That’s where the rendering plants came in. Rendering plants basically recycled dead animals--hides, tallow, bone meal....

Click here to read about Earnest Dempwolf's plan to build a horse and dog hospital next to his York Rendering Works.

Rendering plants, however, were subject to the NIMBY (not in my back yard) syndrome, with good reason, according to the following December 1897 York Gazette news item from Tilden [Longstown area]:

Posted in 1890s Universal York York Township animals cattle horses mills recycling

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

Last week I wrote about several heroic citizens who saved a woman, a cow, and five horses from a raging five-building fire at South Queen and Prospect streets in 1857. The horses were saved by William Heffner, who ran naked into the stable and got them out.

To read the story of Mr. Heffner rescuing the horses from the fire, click here.

I just came across an ad placed in the Gazette 150 years ago by "Wm. Heffner, Cattle Doctor, Queen Street, York, PA." It shows that the veterinarians of the day not only treated the animals under their care, but often had to concoct the medications they used:

"Very Important to Farmers and Keepers of Cattle
DISCOVERED
The best Remedy against Murrian"

Posted in 1850s Universal York York animals cattle drugstores horses medicine swine veterinarians

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

We often hear of terrible fires that could have had even worse consequences if it were not for extraordinary ordinary people, and well as brave firefighters, risking themselves to save other humans as well as animals. The same held true in the past.

There was an ever-present danger of fire 150 years ago. Homes were heated and cooking was done in fireplaces and stoves with flames or smoldering coals. Arson seemed also to be a popular crime. In the winter of 1857 the Gazette reports on a five-structure fire and how horses were saved by a not very well clad rescuer:

Posted in 1850s Universal York York City animals arson crime fires horses rescues

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

I guess it is human nature to want to have the biggest and the best. We are always impressed by the tallest buildings and the most gigantic pumpkins.

Our forebears were no different, as we can see by the Lewis Miller drawing above of a huge pumpkin. Miller captioned it: “1809. Christian Leaman, big and large pumpkin grown in his garden. It was as large as a barrel and more in circumference around. Old Dr. John Fisher bought it and sent it to Baltimore to let them see what old York can raise and examine it. No man could lift it from the ground.”

The citizens often made sure the local newspapers knew about their accomplishments. Short items from all over the county in the York Gazette in the autumn of 1877 list several examples:

Posted in 1800s 1870s Baltimore Chanceford Twp. Hanover Hopewell Twp. Lewis Miller Manheim Twp. Spring Garden Twp. Universal York W. Manheim Twp. York York Township agriculture animals contests farming food history hunting prices railroads transportation

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

One hundred years ago, in the fall of 1907, the Gazette ran the following article:

“A horse and dog hospital and a horse ambulance are new things promised for York. The York Rendering Works, of which E. A. Dempwolf is manager, is trying to interest local members of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and others in the matter of raising a fund for the purchase of an ambulance which can be used to haul sick horses to a hospital which will be established in this city.”

The proposal goes on to say that as the horses recuperate,

Posted in 1900s Universal York York animals history horses industry recycling

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)