September 2008 Archives

The York County Administrative Center, known as the York County Court House for over 100 years, is now the City of York's first certified green building. In 2005-2006 the building was adaptively reused and converted from a courthouse into a government office building. Many environmentally-friendly "green" features were incorporated into the project, which was designed by local firms NuTec Design Associates, Inc. and JDB Engineering, Inc. The project achieved a rating of "Certified" from the U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit organization committed to expanding sustainable building processes.

With this certification, the York County Administrative Center has several distinctions:

• First LEED Certified building in the City of York
• First LEED Certified office building in York County
• First LEED Certified historic building in York County

The project has earned many accolades for the County and companies involved with the renovation, including two national awards ("Project of the Year - Historic Renovation" from the American Public Works Association and "Phoenix Award" from the Associated Builders & Contractors) and several regional awards ("Energy & Atmosphere Award" from the Central PA Green Building Association, "Preservation Award" from Historic York and "Award of Excellence" from the Keystone Chapter, Associated Builders & Contractors).

The front page of a recent York Sunday News featured an article about a horrendous explosion at the York Roller Mill. The tragedy occurred in 1908, and ten people were killed with another 20 injured. While researching the article, reporter Teresa Ann Boeckel contacted me and asked if I knew much about it and if I knew of anything worse locally. To my knowledge, that accident is the largest in the area, at least in terms of loss of life. (Read Jim McClure's recent post for more information.)

Two days after the article was published, I had the opportunity to speak to a local Rotary Club. Because I wrote Postcard History Series: York, people sometimes bring postcards to show me when they know I'll be speaking somewhere. As I looked through a postcard collection shared with me by a club member, I was surprised to find another postcard of the York Rolling Mill accident - one I had not previously seen. However, it turned out to be a totally different incident.

The postcard showed the aftermath of another industrial accident at the York Rolling Mill. According to the caption, a Fly Wheel burst, killing three and wounding four. This occurred in 1872.

The accident was certainly not as severe as the 1910 explosion, but it was still intriguing. Here, hidden away in a private postcard collection was a little piece of the past, forgotten to time. And so it goes with history - there are always new "discoveries" to be found about the past. Of course, "re-discovery" is a more appropriate term. For all we know about local history, how much is out there that we don't know?

For many years, historians have wondered about the exact layout of Camp Security in Springettsbury Township. The farm(s) that were once the camp are well documented; however, the exact layout of the camp - including the huts, stockade, and cemetery - is not definitively known.

For background on the Camp, read these posts by Jim McClure and June Lloyd.

What is known is that David Brubaker purchased a tract of land in present-day Springettsbury Township in 1776. It was over 200 acres, and formerly owned by John Schultz, the son of Johannes and Cristina Schultz, who constructed one of York County's earliest stone homes that still stands today. John Schultz and his family continued to live on the property. In 1781, a portion of the property was taken for construction of Camp Security and the Schultz family moved to York Town. Land was cleared, and trees were cut down to build the stockade. Additional land was used for farming to feed the prisoners and guards.

Brubaker sold the land to the Groff brothers in 1802, and they split the land. Over the next 100 years, the properties changed hands several times, and the associated acreage increased and decreased. Mills were constructed and torn down. Today the eastern portion of the former Brubaker tract is known as the Rowe Farm and the western portion is known as the Weist Farm. At the beginning of the 20th century, however, they were known as the Glatz and Kauffman properties, respectively.

The image above exhibits the general outline of the Brubaker tract in the late 18th century as well as the Glatz and Kauffman farms in the early 20th century.