Recently in shopping Category

I am presently working with the issues of the Pennsylvania Gazette printed in York in 1777-1778. In 1934 Henry Young, who at the time was most of the staff of the Historical Society of York County, gathered photostatic copies of most of issues from libraries around the county. He even received a copy of one issue from the British Museum.

The news printed in the papers is invaluable in putting the Revolutionary War into context, but the local ads give us a glimpse of life in York during the time Congress met here.

The first thing that came to mind after reading the ad for dry goods below was: “What are they talking about?” I’ve found some of the definitions, with the help of Google and Dictionary.com. I’ve added those annotations following the transcription of the ad. See if you can figure them out first.

We know York Countians have had a long love affair with the oyster. Start digging near the site of any old tavern, such as the Golden Plough, and you are likely to turn up remnants of long-ago oyster shells. Crushed oyster shells might be far under the streets you travel daily, since they were used as an early paving material.

With its proximity and trade orientation to Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay, oysters have always been popular here, especially in the months with an “R” in them. Why are oysters still mostly consumed in those months, September through April? There seems to be several reasons: Oysters reproduce during the summer months, keeping up a good supply of oysters; in the old days refrigeration wasn’t available, leading to spoilage in hot weather; and the quality is said to not be as good in the summer.

We just wish the prices were the same as those in the following Gazette ad for Bozman’s Oyster House on South George Street 110 years ago, in the fall of 1897:

One hundred fifty years ago Yorkers were just as eager to spend their money on snack and drinks as they are today, as shown in a sampling of ads from the Gazette:

Christian Pfahler caught your eye with the large letters “L. I. P.” You had to read further to find it referred to his “Liquor, Ice and Pop business, at the old stand of Charles Hay, No. 44 South George Street, York, Pa. His stock of Liquors are of the CHOICEST BRANDS, AND VARIETY.”

The favorable character of the last season has enabled him to secure a full supply of Ice of the very best quality, which can be had at his residence or will be delivered as heretofore.

The ad continues:

One hundred years ago stylish shoes were just as important as they are today. A large illustrated ad for the B.A. Shorb Shoe Co., 24 West Market Street, appeared in the York Gazette in the fall of 1907.

Good leather shoes were a substantial investment. No cheap plastic--oops, “man-made material” was available. Featured footwear for both ladies and men ran up to $5 per pair. The average wage of household bread winner in 1907 probably wasn’t more than

That’s what the York County Shopping Center (now York Marketplace) on East Market Street was offering in celebration of its Second Anniversary fifty years ago.

Does anyone know who won the brand new 1958 rear-engine Renault Dauphine automobile? It was a 4-door, 4-passenger sedan and you could enter the giveaway every time you visited the shopping center that October. It was a reasonably priced car (around $1,650) and reportedly got over 39 mpg. But, who cared in those cheap-gas days?

You can get a good idea of the cost of living in 1957 by comparing the following specials offered by other York County Shopping Center merchants:

50 years ago, you could buy a three, five, seven, or nine-piece chrome or wrought-iron dinette set at York Supply Company, 43-45 West Market Street, starting at $39 to $50 for the set.

While you were there, you might as well equip your laundry with a Speed Queen wringer washer. It came with a laundry cabinet, double laundry tubs, 100 ft. of clothes line, clothes pins, and 20 boxes of Tide, all for $100. Thus equipped, the happy housewife could turn out seven full loads per hour.

King’s Factory Showroom, just down the street at 113 West Market, had men’s zipper-fly dungarees, size 28 to 42 on sale for two for $3. They were probably fun to put through that wringer on the washer.

Across the street