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York Mayor Ephraim Hugentugler had his hands full in the fall of 1917. He hauled many locals into his police court for furnishing liquor to soldiers stationed at the temporary training camp at Gettysburg. The soldiers also got themselves arrested for drunkenness or being disorderly, a charge that sometimes meant consorting with the local young women.

Excuses flew liberally: The Gazette reported that one soldier got off with just a $10 fine by explaining that "he never drank before and that the booze went to his head and he did not know what he was doing."

A 24-year-old soldier "caught spooning" with a 13-year-old girl in Penn Park said he didn't know she was under 18 because "he did not ask her age." The mayor didn't quite believe a group of women, aged 15 to 24, rounded up at Penn Common when many of them said they couldn't get away from the soldiers. "Huggy" told the girls they should be home after nine and "declared that if they are not permitted to take their soldier friends home to entertain them, they certainly will not be allowed to do so on the streets and public parks."

The Mayor and Police Chief Kottcamp were both upset when the U.S. District Judge Witmer, who had jurisdiction over the liquor furnishing cases, let seven of what Hugentugler called the "worst characters in York" off with a warning. Hugentugler decided to take matters into his own hands. See my Sunday News column below:

Ninety years ago York Mayor Hugentugler presided over a frequently lively police court: One case involved a “near murder” with a hatchet on the 500 block of Vander Avenue. The York Gazette reported the husband

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

One hundred years ago this week the children of the A.M.E. Zion church on East King Street threw a party to celebrate the 72nd birthday of their beloved superintendent of 29 years.

King Street school named for Aquilla Howard

According to the Gazette the children sang and Evelyn Voss, Nellie Page, Norine Berry, and Lacey Johnson all took part in the program.
Refreshments, including a large birthday cake, were served in the Sunday School room, which was decorated with "autumn leaves, chrysanthemums, and fruit."

Superintendent Howard responded with a five-stanza poem that started out:

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

The Tribute Tree Committee appealed to the patriotism and generosity of York County citizens in this December 1919 York Gazette ad. A neighbor recently asked if I knew anything about the rows of sycamore trees still standing in places on the Susquehanna Trail south of York. She had heard that they were some kind of War Memorial.

Research led me to an extensive file at the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives. The file contained only a few articles on the Susquehanna Trail sycamores, which were indeed planted as a World War I memorial by the War Mothers organization. The rest of the file was a treasure-trove of information on the York County component of a similar World War I memorial project to line the Lincoln Highway from coast to coast with trees.

The file includes original records, donated around fifty years ago by the Woman's Club of York, of the Road of Remembrance from Abbottstown to Wrightsville. Records of contributions collected by the very organized group of women are included, as are file cards for each serviceman memorialized. For example:
NAME: William John Feldman
RESIDENCE: 404 W. Market St., York
DEPT OF SERVICE: Artillery
RANK: Private
WHERE DIED: Contrexeville, France.
A number in pencil (S-141) probably refers to the original location of the tree planted in memory of Feldman.

Click here for a previous post on the Woman's Club, sponsors of the memorial tree project.

Why isn't the Lincoln Highway across the county today an avenue lined with these trees? One reason is probably that instead of the visually distinctive sycamores planted along the Susquehanna Trail, four varieties of trees (oak, sugar maple, elm, and tulip poplar) were planted. These common trees would have blended in more quickly, with their purpose forgotten as memories faded.

The other reason for the Lincoln Highway trees disappearing is quite evident--progress.

The story of the ambitious project itself is absorbing. The full column telling that story follows:

The Woman's Club of York (yes, it is Woman's not Women's) is rededicating its refurbished home this week. The club, in the 200 block of East Market Street, is celebrating its recovery from a disastrous fire a little over six months ago. The club was originally dedicated 90 years ago this week.

While researching the previous owner of the house, Civil War pension attorney Hugh Whiteford McCall, for a York Sunday News column, I became intrigued with the high-style home. I wondered where McCall stopped and the Woman's Club started in the fabric of the building. An article in the October 20, 1917 York Gazette, describes the Woman's Club dedication the previous evening and answers a lot of architectural questions.

The renovations, under the direction of architect John B. Hamme, are described in detail: "The interior of the residence has been extensively remodeled, partitions have been removed and new ones have been built. The former parlor and library have been thrown into one, and a wide hall has been built from the front hall to the new assembly hall; the main staircase has been altered and a portion rebuilt. Two new toilet rooms have been placed on the second floor and a new bath room has been built on the third story for the new apartments on that floor. New parquet floors have been laid in the new parlor, portions of the dining room and the new hall to the assembly hall, and all the floors have been gone over, republished and finished."