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:

Posted in 1910s Universal York York baseball cattle children education high schools sports

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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

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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

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