Recently in York Category

Halloween 1946 in Downtown York

As far back as I can remember, the parade through the streets of York has been the biggest event of the Halloween season. According to the November 1, 1946 Gazette and Daily, the parade had been replaced during the war years with a downtown party. Even though the war had ended a year earlier, the party tradition carried on in 1946.

As you can see from the Gazette and Daily photo above, downtown was jammed. The caption reads:

CONTINENTAL SQUARE IN A GALA MOOD--This shot from the Hartman building shows a segment of the many thousands of Hallowe'eners and spectators who jammed the Square and adjacent blocks during the community "witches' night" celebration last evening. Mayor John L. Snyder said the crowd was "at least a third" larger than last year.

The accompanying article further gives further details:

Masthead of a York-printed Pennsylvania Gazette.

The Pennsylvania Gazette newspaper is an extremely important source of information on the Revolutionary War era. Besides carrying general news of the war, the Gazette disseminated official proceedings of Continental Congress. The publishers, Hall and Sellers, were also authorized by Congress to issue broadsides of acts and to print U.S. currency.

Congress fled Philadelphia, just ahead of British occupation, and ended up meeting in York, starting on September 30, 1777. Congress was soon frustrated by the lack of a handy printing press.

A lottery, to help finance the American Revolutionary War, was held by the Second Continental Congress while they met in York. The Pennsylvania Gazette, also printed in York during that time, published several ads concerning lost lottery tickets.

Click here for more information on the York-printed Pennsylvania Gazette.

Philip Jacob King placed the ad below in the May 23, 1778 Pennsylvania Gazette. I suppose the newspaper notice was akin to cancelling your credit card when it is lost or stolen.

Collection pouches on wall on right in William Wagner 1830 drawing of York's German Reformed Church

In 1829, an anonymous Yorker, signing himself REFORM eloquently argued against passing the collection pouch at church. Since all the church services I have attended still have a designated time for the offering and pass the collection plate, I would say the custom still prevails.

See below for the writer's points, as published in the May 26, 1829 Recorder.

I hate to iron clothes and I do as little of it as possible. On the other hand, I don't like to wear wrinkled clothing, so sometimes I do break out the steam iron. I remember when people actually ironed sheets. One older neighbor fascinated me because she ironed everything, like socks. I think she even ironed towels and washcloths.

The ad below, from the June 21, 1863 People's Advocate, brought this all to mind. As far as I'm concerned, this is another example of the good old days being vastly overrated.

People's Advocate Masthead, June 21, 1853

Politics are just as popular as ever. Now we can get out political fix on 24-hour cable channels and the internet as well as regular radio and television stations and the newspapers. Trouble is, except for the printed newspapers, which last for a while and can be microfilmed for longevity, how are we going to have a record of today's politics in the future?

I recently quoted the York Democratic Press to show what an interest our forebears took in political matters and how partisan many of the papers were. Another York County newspaper of the 19th century, the People's Advocate, tried to cover a wide range of interests, as you can see by the masthead above.

Click here to read about the Democratic Press.

The illustration might be a little small, but it says:

York Post Office Sculptures

A recent post on the sculptures inside the front doors of the downtown York Post Office dwelt on their artistic and historical value. I received an email from a friend pointing out their spiritual qualities. Click here for previous post.

She is absolutely right. In fact their qualities of praise and reverence may have helped their sculptors win the competition. See the quote below, from the August 29, 1941 press release from the Pennsylvania State College, announcing their selection:

The March 18, 1908 York Gazette shows that Yorkers could eat with the best of them, traveling from one menu to another by trolley.

Progressive dinners were evidently in vogue at that time. The article relates that 12 couples thought they were going to be feted at homes of friends. Only the host knew differently as the special trolley car he booked picked up the guests, starting at York's Centre Square at 6 p.m. and continuing out West Market street.

York Imperial Cherries

I keep coming across references to fruit with York County origins, which I don't mind. I like fruit and this is a good place to grow fruit as well as enjoy eating it. The climate and soil are right for fruit trees to thrive. It's no wonder that local growers experimented with new cultivars with some success.

In a recent post I related an account of Confederate soldiers enjoying Napoleon cherries in 1863 at York Township's Springwood Farm, where Jonathan Jessop had developed the York Imperial apple some years before.

Click below for those previous fruit posts.
Confederate cherries.
Jessop's apple.

Did you know a York Imperial cherry was also patented by a York County nursery?

The Musical Berger Family: Anna, Fred, Louisa and Henry

York County has a rich musical background, both in spawning home-grown musicians and as a regular stop for traveling musical performers for the last hundred years or two.

I just received an email from Robyn Card, who is working on her dissertation on professional women classical trumpet players from the late nineteenth century on up to 1993. Ms. Card contacted me because of a York Sunday News article I did on the musical Berger family from York. She plans to include Anna Theresa Berger, a member of the Berger family group and later an acclaimed solo coronet player. (See below for the whole Sunday News article.)

Ms. Card would like to hear about any other professional women trumpet players you might know about from the late nineteenth through the late twentieth century. She in interested in their opportunities, their music, their performances and the groups in which they performed. She can be contacted at joscard@gmail.com .