transportation: June 2008 Archives

You rode a horse or took the stage. Mention stagecoach and the first picture that comes to my mind is the old west with Indians or robbers chasing the stage--too many John Wayne movies in my childhood. We easterners travelled by stage too, except rough, muddy roads were the worst hazards encountered in these parts.

Click here to read about trains out of, and into, York County. And here to read about the first railroad to reach York.

When Thomas McGrath opened his Globe Inn in 1821, his ad in the York Recorder featured not only the accommodations, but also a new Stage Office. He offers:

Dr. William Bigler stars in one of my favorite examples of how easy it was to get just about anywhere from here with the public transportation of over a century ago. At 2:30 p.m. February 5, 1890, Dr. Bigler simply stepped on the train near his home in Springvale (Windsor Township). A few days later he arrived at his son’s residence in Orlando, Florida. Simple, huh?

(See below for my previous Sunday News column on the multi-talented Bigler family.)

The “RAILROAD TIME TABLE” below from the November 20, 1877 Gazette shows how often trains left and arrived at York on the several railroads that connected here. That doesn’t even begin to address the multitude of stops made at every little hamlet along the way.