Small Field, the athletic field for York High, was the subject of a recent post. I checked further into the files at York County Heritage Trust and found that the gift was a real surprise to the York City school board.

Click here to see the previous post and the January 1916 drawing of the meadow.

A November 1915 newspaper article quotes the letter offering the field for the benefit of the children of York:

Posted in 1910s Universal York York baseball cattle children education high schools sports

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

Four York Water employees: Leroy Chronister, Gerry Bolton, James Johnson, and Alexander Wilson work to repair the break.
The recent broken 10-inch water main in South George Street has been repaired and the street resurfaced. The ride there was bumpy for a while, but minor compared to the havoc caused when a 20-inch main, carrying water at 80 pounds of pressure a square inch, burst 60 years ago.

An estimated million gallons of water gushed from that break at Springettsbury Avenue and Newberry Street in October 1948. It created a crater at that intersection that was 20 feet deep by 20 feet wide by 30 feet long.

Posted in 1940s Universal York York streets utilities water

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

Lewis Miller drawing of the first York water pipes. (See below for Miller's detailed caption.)

Downtown York traffic was recently disrupted by a broken water pipe. Like anything else, pipes do eventually suffer from wear, whether they are made of iron, ceramic, plastic, or log. Log?

York was quite progressive, instituting a public water system in 1816.

The first piping system, which lasted for many years, was constructed out of logs. In March 1816, the York Gazette ran the following ad:

Posted in 1810s Universal York York business utilities water

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

Order to register prisoners paroled to Yorkers

I gave a brief overview in my recent York Sunday News column of Camp Security, the 1781-1783 Revolutionary War prisoner of war camp just east of York. The whole column is at the end of this post.

Camp Security is the last remaining prisoner of war camp in the United States that has not been swallowed up by development. The site is considered to be at the highest priority risk by the National Trust of Historic Preservation and the National Park Service. Only a few of the approximately 40 acres of the camp have been subject to full archaeological exploration.

Estimates of the number of British Prisoners interned at Camp Security vary. Records are rather sketchy in comparison with statistics we keep today, and the existing records can be interpreted differently. Some sources say many died or deserted before and after they arrived in York. Other sources say deaths and desertions have been exaggerated. As more catalogs of document collections and documents themselves become accessible online, more statistics may surface.

Posted in 1780s Camp Security Hellam Twp. Revolutionary War Springettsbury Twp. Universal York York prisoners soldiers

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

York County, Pennsylvania people were having bell trouble, according to the November 20, 1877 issue of the York Gazette. Dillsburg's St. Paul's Lutheran Church had a cracked bell, and Mary Mayer of York broke her arm trying to ring a door bell.

Posted in 1870s Dillsburg Universal York York accidents bells brewers lawyers

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

Wall Street, 1903

A colleague recently asked me where Wall Street used to be in York. It doesn't appear on present-day maps. A search through old maps with a magnifying glass located a tiny little Wall Street in the 1903 Atlas of York published by Frederick B. Roe.

Posted in 1800s 1850s 1860s 1900s Secret Societies Universal York York maps organizations streets

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

An ad in a 1823 York Recorder reminds us again why the good-old-days weren't so great. Cabinetmaker George Dowdel guaranteed that his improved bedstead was better than any heretofore made.

Posted in 1820s Universal York York York City cabinetmakers furniture inventions manufacturing

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

The Prince family, that is. A few days ago I wrote and that I thought there were two contemporary David Princes in York. I based that assumption on that two different women married David Prince, and that one David Prince moved to Baltimore and another taught at the York County Academy for around forty-five years.

Click here to read the previous Prince post.

A further search at the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives of transcribed original records shows that they were indeed the same person, and he did all the things listed above.

Posted in 1820s 1830s 1860s Baltimore Universal York York genealogy teachers

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

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:

Posted in 1830s 1850s 1870s 1900s Freystown Spring Garden Twp. Universal York York maps roads streets

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

Among the marriages announced in an April 1837 York newspaper was that of David B. Prince and Elizabeth Sandoe, on April 6th.

The editors remarked that "accompanying this notice was a liberal slice of the most delicious pound cake for the printer. It was the sweetest communication that we have received for many months, and we inserted it with as much pleasure, as we now do the sincere hope that they, who thus remembered the printer, may long enjoy undisturbed and unalloyed connubial felicity."

Posted in 1830s 1870s Universal York York education genealogy newspapers schools teachers

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)