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Boy, was I wrong when I thought there were no longer horse races at the York Fair! Harness racing is scheduled on two exciting days for 2009. The first session will be Monday, September 14th at 6 p.m. and the second on Tuesday, September 15 at 10:30 a.m. Best of all--the races, which can last from three to three and a half hours each day, are included in your fair admission, with no additional charge.

Previous posts were about York Fair horse races in the 1860s, the 1920s, and the 1950s. I am glad to hear the long tradition of York Fair racing is being carried on.

I learned a lot from a conversation with Don Young, the York Fair Racing Secretary. He said that last year between 120 and 130 horses participated. There are 12 to 15 heats, or dashes, on each of the two days, depending on how many horses are entered. (Above a certain number, the field is split, resulting in additional dashes.)

There are two classes of racing each day: Quaker State and PA Sire Stakes with purses paid out for each. Two-year-olds race on Monday evening and three-year-olds on Tuesday.

1929 York Fair Horse Racing

York Fair time is rolling around again. Previous posts looked at horse racing at the fair in the 1860s and in the 1950s.

In 1929, horses and jockeys were part of a fair racing circuit from mid-August through mid-October. The Central Fair Circuit included Kutztown, Lancaster, Bloomsburg, Pottsville, Reading, Allentown, York and Frederick, in that order.

The York Fair touted itself as "One of America's Outstanding Half Mile Tracks." The York racing officials were E. C. Knebelkamp, Presiding Judge; Jack H. Yerian, Starter and Herbert D. Smyser, Racing Secretary.

The first page of an eight-page program and brochure promoting York Fair racing continues:

A recent post concerned harness racing at the York Fair way back in 1867, over 150 years ago. A reader commented that he remembered non-harness horse races at the fair when he was a boy, with jockeys without helmets.

Click here for post on 1867 races. Click here for 1929 York Fair races. Click here for current York Fair harness racing.

He didn't say when that was, but booklets and clippings in the York Fair file at the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives indicate that racing with jockeys was also a long tradition, alongside the harness racing. At one time or another automobiles, motorcycles and bicycles were also raced at the fair.

Racing was featured at the York Fair for many years. It was so popular in 1867 that the races rained out the last day of the fair were held some days later in front of a sizable crowd. See below for a detailed account of the excitement from the October 15, 1867 York Gazette. Note that the horses were both owned and driven by York area people.

I

n 1867 the York Fair was held in October, about a month later than the current September time slot.

What did those fairgoers do for fun 140 years ago? The fairgrounds, which then stretched from King Street, just east of Queen, to the Spring Garden Plank Road (Prospect Street) was a lively place.

I recently recounted the story of the rumors that swept Hanover, PA of a Confederate invasion on April 22, 1861, when the Civil War was barely a week old.

Click here to read about the Hanover incident told by eyewitness Henrietta Stroman Stair.

Captain W. H. Jenifer, then of the U.S. Army played a prominent part in the confusion. In an article written in 1927, George R. Prowell says that Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtain sent a telegram to Hanover ordering Jenifer's arrest. He too thought Jenifer was deserting and would relay information to the secessionists.

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]:

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"

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:

Lewis Miller drawing showing himself, George Kuntz, and Dr. George Shaffner in a sleigh accident in 1831. Miller is retreiving Dr. Shaffner's wig.

There were no automobiles 130 years ago, but people still managed to accidentally harm themselves by other means of transportation--buggies, wagons, sleighs.... Many of the worst local accidents involved trains and resulting loss of body parts.

Some of the less gory accidents, as reported in the Gazette in late fall/early winter 1877 follow: