You have probably noticed your bread costs more lately. The rise in the price of flour has been blamed on several factors.
Finish reading 'Rise in Flour Prices a Good Thing for York County in 1828' »
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“ARREST MAN AFTER TEN MILE CHASE--FIND HATCHET AND SEARCHLIGHT.” So screamed front page headlines in the April 20, 1908 York Gazette.
What was the crime?
Finish reading 'Crooks Chased from Red Lion to York by Police and Farmers in a Trolley Car' »
Prosperity seems to have come to the York County of 140 years ago, if the ads in the December 31, 1867 issue of the York Gazette are any indication.
Entrepreneurs and agents from New York, Philadelphia, Maryland, and Adams County were offering investment opportunities.
Real estate was enticingly offered by New Oxford Agent J. C. Zouck as an appeal to:
“CAPITALISTS
LOOK TO YOUR INTEREST!”
The Lewis Miller drawing above shows a busy King’s Mill in 1799.
In a previous post I mentioned that, now and in the past, we are impressed by the biggest and the best. Sometimes, though, we must stop and wonder if figures have been exaggerated or misreported.
The following small item caught my eye while reading the York Gazette microfilm at York County Heritage Trust. The newspaper was from the fall of 1877.
Finish reading 'Many, Many Mills in York County, Pennsylvania' »
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:
Finish reading 'The Biggest & the Best of York County' »One hundred and ten years ago, most folks, especially in rural areas didn’t have telephones. That wonderous invention was only 21 years old in 1897. As far as other media, Heinrich Hertz has only discovered radio waves ten years before and television was way in the future.
The way to keep up with news of your neighbors was to read the newspaper. Each small community had a stringer, and no event was too small to report, especially since those free-lance reporters were reportedly paid according to the length of their column. This practice continued well into the mid-twentieth century. I remember, when I was a child, reading in the Gazette & Daily that my parents, grandparents, and I were entertained by my aunt and uncle for Christmas dinner. (My aunt happened to be the stringer for the New Bridgeville area.)
In early December, 1897 the Special Correspondence of the Gazette “Jacobus Notes” column reported that:
A few days ago I wrote about York County's continuing love affair with the oyster. Many people will tell you that with good oysters you need good beer.
Breweries abounded over the years in York, as evidenced by the following 1857 advertisement from the Gazette. One hundred fifty years ago, brothers D. W. Barnitz and A. M. Barnitz were turning good York County barley and rye into equally good York County beer.
Click here to read more about the Barnitz family of brewers.
The Lewis Miller drawing above shows a previous generation of the Barnitz family at their brew house with a crowd of Yorkers, carrying empty pitchers, advancing on them. Miller captioned it "The Old Brew house in the year 1801. The[y] made Good Beer."
The ad reads:
Finish reading 'York County Rye & Barley = Good Beer' »
