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Part of Freystown, 1876

Maps are fascinating. They document the charges in communities over the years. You can see how residential, social, and industrial patterns evolve as an area grows, or in some cases, retracts.

I recently looked at the when and where of North, South, East, and West streets in York, Pennsylvania. Click here to read that post.

Another look at 1836, 1850, 1876, and 1903 maps of York show changes in street names as well as disappearances of whole villages as they were absorbed into the city. The southeast side of town illustrates that well:

You may have heard of Bull Frog Alley and wondered where it was. The following 1878 York Gazette article tells about the basket makers living there.

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: