A friend and I were discussing my recent York Sunday News column on York County canning houses. I remember my father growing tomatoes in Chanceford Township for the canneries when I a small child. My friend's father had a much larger farming operation and continued farming longer than my family.
She then proceeded to tell me about the green tomato trade in the 1950s:
I came across the two ads above in an 1856 York Gazetteer and City Directory. I understood the wheat and rye bread and the rolls and cakes. I wasn't sure about the rusks and the Dyspepsia completely stumped me. I thought dyspepsia meant indigestion, which wasn't something I thought bakers would mention, even if their wares didn't agree with the customers.
It turns out that dyspepsia really does mean indigestion, or disturbed digestion. So what were the bakers advertising?
Tomatoes and Shakespeare and York County?
I recently wrote my York Sunday News column on the canning houses of York County, going back to the 1920s through the 1950s when the canneries dotted the county. Local farmers could easily haul their fresh vegetables just down the road to be canned and distributed all over the country.
The fanciful labels were lithographed in tempting color, usually depicting lush produce, but sometimes making you wonder why other designs were chosen. You can see the diversity in the photos shown here.
The Wel-Don bean labels above have a great story behind them.
Utz or Martin's--which is best?
York County potato chips manufacturers are in the news again. It looks like Utz has pulled out of the deal to merge with Snyder's of Hanover.
Before I wrap up my "potato chip series," I want to give a nod to Herr's snack foods, located not too far away in Nottingham. Their sour cream and onion ripple chips are second only to regular Utz in my book. Jim Herr bought a small Lancaster potato chip company in 1946, shortly before marrying wife Mim. They built the business up over the years, surviving a devastating plant fire in 1951. They now make over 340 snack foods and distribute them in 26 states and in Canada.
The chip manufacturers I have been researching had their beginnings in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. In a search for more early chip makers, I checked the Polk's city directories for York County. These directories were issued every two years and covered York city and "all boroughs located on the lines of York Railways Company" [the trolley lines]. York County Heritage Trust doesn't have quite a full run of directories, but I found more than I thought I would. (See below for a sampling of the results).
Who know how many more chipmakers there were out in the rural areas, like my mother and father. Even though my parents didn't stay in the potato chip business and become multi-millionaries, I would love to have one of the little wax paper bags with the imprint of Burk's Potato Chips. I remember some unused ones around the house from my childhood, long after they stopped making chips, but I guess they were eventually discarded. You just never know what might come up at a public sale or antique shop, so if anyone ever locates one, keep me in mind.
Some chipmakers listed in city directories:
Lucky canning house, probably 1930s
My 96-year-old mother-in-law remembers picking string beans at farms in Chanceford Township when she was 10 or so in the 1920s. She says she picked beans during the day and then helped snip them at the Lucky canning house in the evening.
I purchased a Lucky canning house ledger covering September through November, 1943 at a yard sale a few years ago and donated it to the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives. The ledger shows that they were canning corn and tomatoes then.
Wholesale customers for canned corn included Daugherty & Ward, Crisfield, Del.; Fulton, Mehring & Hauser, York; Oriental Paper & Bag Co.; District Wholesale Grocery Co. and Sprague, Warner, Kenny Co., all of Washington, D.C.; Maryland Gro. Co. Baltimore, Md. and Audment Bros., Lancaster, Pa. The U.S. Government purchased both 1,500 cases of corn and 3,750 cases of tomatoes, perhaps to feed World War II troops.
See below for my recent York Sunday News column on York County canners and vegetable pickers and also a photo of the Lucky cannery workers.
Undated Martin's brochure with big kettle.
OK, even though I am an avowed fan of Utz potato chips, I feel obligated to give Martin's equal time. Some of my best friends, and even beloved family members, like Martin's best. (As most York Countians know you are an "Utz person" or "Martin's person," rarely both.)
Herr's, Lays, and Middleswarth have small, but faithful, bands of followers in the area. There is also a lot of lingering nostalgia for Charles Chips, similar to Utz, and Senft's, a Martin's kettle cooked type. (Martin's do make a traditional type chip now, but all the stalwarts I know swear by the kettle cooked.)
Did Martin's start up as a very small enterprise in the 1930s or '40s, like most of the rest of the local chip manufacturers?
Utz new Carlisle Street plant in 1950
Here I was, all ready to resume my "potato chip series," working my way up to the biggies, including my favorite Utz chips, and what do I see when I pick this morning's paper of my porch? Utz is being sold! I breathed a little easier when I saw that Snyder's of Hanover is the tentative buyer. The maker of honey mustard pretzels can surely do no wrong. The article sounds like they don't plan to change the chips, just the owners. That's fine--just don't touch my chips!
Previous chip posts:
Bon-Ton /Bickel's.
Senft's.
El-Ge/Eagle Snacks/Frito-Lay.
Charles Chips.
The York Daily Record article has a nice little chronological history of each company gleaned from their websites: Utz and Snyder's The Utz info basically agrees with the information I found in the York County Heritage Trust file, recapped below:
Lewis Miller drawing of Polly Waltemyer Opening Oysters
Ah--fall, when York County thoughts turn to--Oysters. On Sunday, October 18, York County Heritage Trust will hold the 35th annual Oyster Fest at the Colonial Complex, W. Market St. and Pershing Ave. Oyster lovers can have them fried, stewed, or raw. Non-oyster eaters, like me, won't go hungry. Pulled pork sandwiches and steamed shrimp will tempt, along with the traditional apple fritters. Beverages include soft drinks, cider and beer.
The family event with free colonial activities runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Click here for the full schedule.
To get back to Polly Waltemyer, pictured above with a giant oyster--Polly was the cook, and possibly the owner of a York tavern in the early 1800s. Artist Lewis Miller's caption of the drawing reads:
Remember Charles Chips?
I have been posting brief histories of York County potato chip makers and fellow blogger Jim McClure has touched on them too. Jim took the subject to the York Daily Record online Exchange community forum, which has stirred up more chip discussion. One exchanger commented on the home-delivered Charles Chips. That brings up memories for my family.
When my children were growing up, the Charles Chips man stopped by our house regularly, bring a one pound tin of very fresh chips and picking up the empty tin. We kept it on top of the refrigerator, probably to save space as well as to keep short young people from overindulging. I remember them as being similar to Utz chips, my favorite.
My husband remembered helping a relative who had a Charles Chips route deliver to homes in Red Lion, including the day a tin escaped and rolled the whole way down East High Street from Main Street to the borough limits.
Who made Charles Chips and what happened to them?
El-Ge/Eagle/Frito-Lay Plant on Gillespie Drive
When I started researching York County potato chips, I didn't realize how much I would find, and I'm still only scratching the surface. I haven't even gotten to my favorite yet, Utz. Previous posts covered Bon-Ton/Bickel's and Senft's.
Fellow blogger Jim McClure did address Martin's the other day. The other current York County chip makers, like Hanover Brands' Bickel's and Frito-Lay, have their fans, but most people I know are passionate about their Utz's or Martin's. Workplaces and families are divided into two camps by these chips, and rarely will you find someone who loves, or even tolerates, them both. (For all you fellow Utz fans that bemoaned along with me that you could only find Martin's at York's Central Market, I was excited today to find that a new pizza stand, Popi Joe's, on the Clark Avenue side of the market sells Utz's chips at a very reasonable price.)
This post concerns another York County brand of the past, El-Ge, and where they were and where they went.
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