About this blog
I've been editor of the York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News for 8 years and managing editor of the newspaper for 15 years before that. So, York Town Square explores the rapidly changing world of journalism. And I studied York/Adams' history in graduate school, have written six books about these fascinating southcentral Pennsylvania counties and serve on the York County (Pa.) Heritage Trust board. So, this blog deals with regional history. Often, journalism and history meet here. They're part of a continuum anyway. My hope is that this site intrigues readers on both accounts in giving a daily dose of journalism/history. Or history/journalism. Contact me at jem@ydr.com or become friends on Facebook or follower on Twitter, @JamesMcClure.
Monthly Archives: July 2006
York County agrarianism vs. industrialization, Part I
Stories abound from York County’s storied agricultural past. Many illustrate the conflict when an agricultural county evolves into a major industrial center. Here’s a machine vs. animal story from the Spring Grove Ripplet in 1918… .
York County boasts of agricultural prowess
The burning of a York County barn scheduled to be part of an agricultural museum might slow down the heritage project. http://www.ydr.com/history/ But it gives good reason to ruminate a bit on the county’s vaunted agricultural past. Throughout York County’s … Continue reading
Freedman kisses earth as canalboat crossed Mason-Dixon Line
A favorite story linked to the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal involves Aquilla Howard, a leader in York’s black community in the late-19th and early-20th century. When Howard, a former slave, passed the Pennsylvania line he jumped off the canal boat … Continue reading
Placid canal harmed Susquehanna River
Codorus Navigation and the Conewago Canal might have come earlier, but the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal was the longest waterway and most successful. It ran along the Susquehanna River’s edge from Wrightsville to the Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace. … Continue reading
Conewago Canal aided Susquehanna River navigation
Codorus Navigation, the system that made the Codorus navigable in the 1830s, was not York County’s first canal. (See previous post: “York County rail trail extension to follow canal towpath.”) In fact, York County boasted the first canal in Pennsylvania, … Continue reading
York County rail trail extension to follow canal towpath
Many York countians are eagerly looking forward to the opening of the rail trail from York to John Rudy Park. The land along the Codorus Creek that the trail will follow was graded in the early 1830s to accommodate a … Continue reading
Reader taken on intriguing trip down the Susquehanna
Just finished a great vacation read: Jack Brubaker’s “Down the Susquehanna to the Chesapeake.” (Penn State University Press, 2002.) Even if you’re not a river enthusiast, the Lancaster New Era journalist/historian brings in history about the communities up and down … Continue reading
Series on York, Pa.’s, Crispus Attucks Center posted online
It’s interesting the work you do on a snowy day can pay off when it’s hot months later. In December, the York Daily Record/Sunday News’ Ted Sickler and I went through tubs of material at Crispus Attucks Community Center telling … Continue reading
Who were these congressional visitors to York Town, anyway?
The new York Revolution minor league baseball team’s association with the county’s rich Revolutionary War past could pique interest in the delegates who fled to York from Philadelphia. Continental Congress came here in 1777-78 after the British pushed them out … Continue reading
York’s housing stock not that revolutionary
York’s association with the American Revolution has been so strong that it was inevitable that its minor league baseball team would be named the “Revolution.” Indeed, some even erroneously view its architecture as Colonial. A few buildings remain from Revolutionary … Continue reading
