May 2006 Archives

The street rods are roaring into York County this week, their 25th such visit started in 1981... .

My Memorial Day story on Bob and Ethel Senft was one of the most satisfying pieces I’ve written in a long time. http://www.ydr.com/newsfull/ci_3877887

Or actually, I wrote it about two years agao as part of “In the thick of the fight." http://w2.ydr.com/news/ww2 and excerpted it recently for publication in the York Daily Record/Sunday News.

It attempted to give due credit to a common soldier — Bob Senft — and his wife — Ethel — who he left behind to serve his country... .

Wrightsville’s James Barton of the 127th regiment helped man trenches in Petersburg, Va., near the Civil War’s end.

Earlier, he had been sent home from his segregated black unit with a life-threatening case of the measles. Back with his unit, he still did not seem right. He was not immediately put back on duty. His head and face did not seem right, a fellow soldier observed.

Still, there he was in Petersburg near the war's end, and he served with his unit until September 1865 before receiving an honorable discharge pay of $100, less $24.24 for his clothing.

But his real battle began at that point. He fought for years for a full military pension.

“Barton, one of seven members of his family to fight for Negro units, eventually received a monthly check of $6," I wrote in “East of Gettysburg...

The old county prison, declared an endangered York site this week was endangered even when it was operating.

The Chestnut Street prison served as the county's lockup from 1906 to the late 1970s, when prisoners were moved to a new Springettsbury Township jail. The fortress-like structure has stood vacant since.

But as this excerpt from "Never to be Forgotten" attests, the prison was a symbol of a lot that was not right about York as recently as the 1950s.

The city has listed the old York County jail on Chestnut Street among six endangered historic sites.

Some years ago, a developer eyed the massive prison for a restaurant, but plans never moved forward. Now, city officials are looking for any investor to save the six-story structure in the revived Sovereign Bank Stadium area. ...

Remember what those vandals did to the statues at the Gettysburg battlefield earlier this year?

Well, park officials have a plan to repair the two statues that are missing pieces.

But they’re still hoping to locate the pieces. And law enforcement officials are still offering a $36,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the vandals... .

I hope readers of the York Sunday News on May 21 enjoyed the colorful Murals of York spread in the annual Connections edition.

I'm not aware of another time that all 18 large-scale murals gracing the sides of buildings in York have appeared in color all in one publication.

I introduced the murals with a column (Murals give updated view of York) in our Viewpoints section in which I compared the murals as a historical artifact worthy of study with a similar artifact published a century before -- George Prowell's "History of York County, Pennsylvania."

The special Connections section, to run in the York Sunday News on May 21, contains six pages of updated Murals of York content.

This could be the first time all 18 large-scale outdoor murals have been published in color all in one place. Artists painted the murals from 1996 to 2001 to promote tourism, improve York’s appearance and provide a sense of pride in York County’s history... .

I was browsing through stacks of books at the York County Heritage Trust’s annual Book Blast a few years ago when I found a long-sought-after piece to a writing puzzle.

For months, I had been looking for a way to tell York County’s sprawling World War II story. So, when I found a box of York Ice Machinery/York Corporation newsletters from that era, I knew I had something I could use to build the story around... .

A. Wolf & Son grew along the river new New Holland, later Saginaw, by purchasing logs floating from points north on the Susquehanna and sawing them into lumber. It was typical of the lumber-related businesses flourishing along the river in the 1800s.The lumber mill later moved to a site, seen here, on the Northern Central Railroad, which became Mount Wolf.

The Wolf Organization, a major employer and philanthropic firm in York, has outside-the-family operators for the first time.

Until Friday, family members had operated the organization since 1843. With principal Tom Wolf's departure to what would became state revenue secretary, day-to-day operations are in the hands of a nine-member senior management team, who also are investors.

One interesting note is that the company operates out of the former Wiest's Department Store, which also traced its roots back to 1843.

Recent news service stories told of phony Medals of Honor for sale on the Web. People who have never served in uniform are wearing, making or selling the coveted award.

True recipients of the honor are, indeed, scarce. In my studies of area history, I've only run across two local men in uniform who received this highest of all honors... .

Autobiographies should be part of a person's reading list.

Sometimes in passing, they provide memorable moments that add to understanding.

I had one of those wonderful flashes in reading Carrie H. Ford’s “Service to His Glory." Ford, longtime French teacher in the York City School District, became better-known for following her late-in-life second calling — that of a missionary to Liberia for 17 years. See brief bio at http://w2.ydr.com/story/profiles/56456.

Iin 1994, the North Carolina native wrote about graduating from York’s William Penn Senior High School in 1930.

She graduated as an honor roll student, she wrote, the first black student to do so. And she was the first black person to speak at York High’s commencement.

Shiny golden nuggets there... .

Cartoonist Walt Partymiller reflected J.W. Gitt's views throughout the Cold War.

From 1915-1970, J.W. Gitt was a small-town newspaper editor with elite friends — Albert Einstein, Henry Wallace and Linus Pauling, for starters.

He gained the international spotlight in 1948, when his newspaper endorsed Progressive Party candidate Henry Wallace for U.S. president. http://w2.ydr.com/news/partymiller. (See also "Cartoons & Catalyst" and "A Newspaper afraid" in York Town Square archives.)

The Gazette and Daily was the only commercial daily in the United States to endorse Wallace. The former U.S. veep also gained a nod from the Communist Daily Worker... .

A link in a previous York Town Square post "Prominent actor Craig Sheffer hails from overlooked Windsor Park" refers to his hometown as a Pennsylvania steel town. http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/fulldetail/id/189796

That brings to mind the various ways outside media have referred to York over the years. One adjective often associated with the town and county is “hardscrabble," meaning barren or producing only a small amount.

That doesn’t work... .

Craig Sheffer, right, at the premier of "A River Runs Through it."

A creek runs near it.

That's Windsor Park, profiled in York Town archives post "That's Windsor Park, not Windsor ... ." That post, later turned into a York Daily Record editorial, told of this quaint but relatively unknown Spring Garden Township community.

As it turns out, Windsor Park was the boyhood home of "A River Runs Through It" star Craig Sheffer http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/fulldetail/id/189796 .

Howard Schildt, the unofficial mayor of Windsor Park, said Sheffer comes home once or twice a year to visit his mother. His mother still lives in the house where she reared her actor-son.

Schildt said several new families have moved into the community, despite the fact that some folks have a low regard for the neighborhood. The mayor recalls a township official referring to Windsor Park as the slum area of Spring Garden.

"That really ticked me off," Schilt said... .