August 2006 Archives

Carl E. Hatch, the York County history professor, profiled in the last post ("York County historical community will miss Carl Hatch"), provided wonderful primary source material that researchers and writers will use for generations.

It has been said that students of history ride on the shoulders of researchers who have gone before them.

In my historical and journalistic work, I refer regularly to the York County presidential voting assessment put forth by Hatch and co-author G.A. Mellander. Their work posited that York County voters have eschewed extremes, voting for presidential candidates who are closer to the middle... .

The York County historical community lost a major contributor with the death this week of Carl Hatch. http://www.legacy.com/york/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=19051493

The former York College professor, who produced books of a national scope, also made several contributions to York County history.

For example, he produced indexes, by topic and date, for The York Dispatch for the 1930s and 1940s. Researchers can look for topics in the Dispatch as a key to possible additional articles in its competitor, The Gazette and Daily.

Hatch and co-author G.A. Mellander also traced county presidential voting patterns from the 1800s to 1968. They attacked conventional wisdom by concluding that York County voters avoided candidates from either extreme... .

Jim Lewin and Pam Farrow's York Emporium touts 250,000 books.

But they've added two new books for customers to read, the Civil War books: "Witness to the Civil War, First-Hand Accounts from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper" and "How to Feed an Army, Recipes and Lore from the Front Lines."

After the former Washington, D.C., residents purchased the Emporium in January, they organized the 19,000-square-foot used book store. The West Market Street store, a former auto dealership, is now easier to browse through or to find what you're looking for if you're on a particular mission.

But leave some time. Its inventory is immense.

Here's a story from the York Daily Record after Lewin and Farrow bought the store early in 2006:

This is the view of the wide stretch of the Susquehanna River from Highpoint, part of York Safe & Lock owner Forry Laucks' Lauxmont estate. Easy access to the river from both the York and Lancaster county sides made the river between Wrightsville and Columbia a crossroads - and a part of many key phases of this region's past. That's the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge in the foreground and the Wright's Ferry Bridge up river. Background posts: When the bridge over the Codorus moved, New Freedom station houses alien safe, The bomb: 'And yet it stopped the war' and Noted photo archive captures York County treasures.

My York Sunday News column "The Susquehanna River runs near it" tells about the life and death of York Safe & Lock's S. Forry Laucks.

What happened to York Safe & Lock after his death in 1942?...

S. Forry Laucks' name has appeared in several York Town Square posts, in part, because he was such a player in early 20th century York County.

His legacy includes:

-- Harley-Davidson uses part of his York Safe & Lock plant to make motorcycles. That particular plant made Bofors, the main anti-aircraft gun used on Navy ships in World War II. Ask any Navy vet from that era about Bofors.

-- His Lauxmont Farm, overlooking the Susquehanna River, is a current point of controversy between those who want to develop parts of it and those who want to turn it into a park.

But that's not all of his legacy: ...

During the week, James DeBord directs YorkCounts. At home, he goes to baseball games with his son and joins with his 8-year-old in collecting baseball cards.

Anyway, in pursuit of that hobby, he found out that Joe DiMaggio was a collector, too. Joe had a program that he had picked up at York Area Sports Night in 1974. The question is, why did Joe keep the program?

We’ll let James tell the story:

The Heritage Rail Trail County Park has taken over part of the old Northern Central Railroad right of way through the heart of York County.

At one time, trains ran on still-existing tracks alongside trail users. (The only vehicles regularly running on the tracks today are go-cart like vehicles adapted to rail use.)

But one August night, 10 years ago, a runaway train thundered from New Freedom past Seven Valleys... .

The linkup of the county rail trail with York is only about seven years old, but already there's a lot to talk about concerning the 20-plus-mile-long path through the heart of York County. http://ycwebserver.york-county.org/Parks/RailTrail.htm

Here's some miscellaneous meanderings that might intrigue:

-- Users seeking to get on the trail from Dallastown/Red Lion and other points east should try the somewhat secluded, but beautiful Glatfelter's Station parking area.

This site is historic because it's near where the now-massive Glattfelder clan first settled in York County in 1747. http://www.glattfelder.org It's closer for motorists coming from many points east than the Seven Valleys and Hanover Junction parking lots, and it's within a couple of miles from Howard Tunnel, the old train tunnel that's a must-see site on the trail. It's also within three miles of another must-see site -- the Hanover Junction station. And in between, these two sites, there's the welcome Serenity Station stop for a sandwich and root beer.

-- Speaking of the tunnel, it's worth another visit if you were one of those folks, like myself, who were jolted in the trail's early years when kids jumped screaming out of the alcove in the tunnel's middle... .

There's good evidence that ear-witnesses could hear Battle of Gettysburg fighting in Delta, 60 miles away.

Another moment in which Civil War fighting could be heard in York County involved the Battle of Hanover on June 30, 1863.

Confederate Gen. Jeb Stuart's long cavalry column, desperately trying to get back to Robert E. Lee's main force, ran into a blue-clad buzzsaw in Hanover.

Meanwhile, Jubal Early's gray infantry column had just left York that morning and was marching near Davidsburg, near Dover, about 15 miles away. He paused on his way back to Adams County to listen to the booming of cannon from the hills to the southwest. He then proceeded west, as his orders from Robert E. Lee directed.

Stuart didn't know where Early was, and Early didn't know Stuart's whereabouts. That was the problem in the first place... .

It was one of those wonderful gold nuggets that make reading so wonderful.

Jack J. Jones was writing about the Welsh slate miners who settled in York County's southeast corner in the Harford Historical Bulletin (Summer 2001).

He included an intriguing note in the middle of a likewise interesting discussion on the Delta miners:

"An article in the Delta Star newspaper of August 12, 1955 stated that Enoch P. Swayne, resident of Delta in the 1860's, claimed to have heard gunfire from the Battle of Gettysburg on the day the battle began in 1865... ."

Editorial writing, like news story writing, sometimes perks up when the writer/reporter gets out of the office to see what he's writing about first hand.

I visited the site -- about 10 miles of it -- discussed in Monday's York Daily Record editorial (See yorkblog.com post "Rail trail legs will boost city"), as I my rode my bicycle along the rail trail between York and Brillhart Station... .

The Ma & Pa Railroad wound 77 miles through 476 curves between York and Baltimore for about 90 years.

The first part of the Maryland and Pennsylvania line was chartered in 1867 and freight and passenger service ended in the 1950s. Rolling stock chugs along parts of the old line.

The Ma & Pa took a back seat in notoriety to the better known, straighter Northern Central Railroad. In fact, it still does with the rail trail following the old Northern Central line through the county's heart. That is not true of model railroaders. The railroad is said to be the most popular among this group than any other in the eastern United States.

And the Ma and Pa Railroad Preservation Society is doing its best to keep memories of the Ma and Pa alive, with activities focusing on Muddy Creek Forks.

Forry Laucks, the original owner of Lauxmont farms now part of a park controversy, was himself controversial.

The contrarian owner of York Safe & Lock was a Democrat in the 1920s and 1930s when many York County factory owners were Republican. He was a pioneer at getting government contracts for defense work during buildup to World War II, but it took W.S. Shipley from York Ice Machinery and York Corporation, to mold such collaborative efforts into the York Plan.

He was at home on the farm and factory. He had a downtown residence as well as his Lauxmont mansion.

He loved York, but spent much time in New York.

Fortune published a profile, "Up to Lauxmont," shortly before Laucks' death in 1942, which captured a bit of the Laucks' legend. An excerpt follows: ...

More information on Hellam Township's Valley View Park, the now-defunct venue for Elvis, Earl Scruggs and Johnny Cash, to supplement earlier the York Town Square post: The real Elvis sighted in York County in 1956.' ...

Sylvia Colston-Still

Sylvia Colston-Still came home Tuesday to visit Crispus Attucks Community Center. She starred in basketball in the 1950s and participated in other programs at CA's former center at 125 E. Maple St. building. In those days, the converted church was viewed as a home away from home by many in the black community.

After a long career as a school guidance counselor, Dr. Colston-Still continues to play basketball every day at age 71... .

Earlier this year on a sunny Saturday, I visited a spot offering a view of the fields and ridge where Camp Security once operated.

The site of York County’s American Revolution camp is a wonderful piece of land, and the nearby 1730s Schultz house just adds to this prize. No wonder the Springettsbury Township property is a point of contention between preservationists and a developer.

Last year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation identified the camp as one of the nation's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. The controversy between a developer targeting McMansions on the site and local preservationists is on low simmer.

The nut of the Camp Security story:

Some prisoners from an encampment in Charlottesville, Va., moved to Camp Security in 1781 when Gen. Charles Cornwallis’ redcoats moved northward into Virginia. The Continental Army was concerned that the British would detach a unit to free the prisoners, many of whom had surrendered about four years earlier at Saratoga, N.Y. About 2,000 mostly British prisoners were housed there from 1781 to 1783. German mercenaries — Hessians — were largely assigned to farms around York County.

Here’s a tale of the camp excerpted from "Nine Months in York Town, American Revolutionaries Labor on Pennsylvania's Frontier:"

Dan Meckley included interesting material on Codorus Navigation, York County’s second canal, in his paper “The Codorus." (See York Town Square post “York County rail trail extension to follow canal towpath.")

Meckley’s work brings together material scattered among several sources, a real contribution to understanding this piece of York County's history.

His work brings us back to the hard-to-fathom day in which the Codorus Creek was navigable to 70-foot freight boats.

But as tempting as it is to view the creek as a pristine waterway in those days, consider this:

York Water Company formed in 1816 to provide clean water to the citizens of York. Even then, the confluence of effluent from tanneries, outhouses, paper mills and the like had fouled the creek’s water.

From Dan Meckley ...

In two wars, York County has played a reticent host to prisoners of war.

Not surprisingly, York countians fretted over the occupants of both camps — Camp Security in the American Revolution and Camp Stewartstown in World War II. Our military men were fighting and dying in battle with Britain and Germany, respectively, and the government brought enemy prisoners into our midst.

I covered the enormous frustration brought on by Camp Security and the American Revolution in a York Sunday News column. See "Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and history" at http://www.ydr.com/search/ci_4142756

Here’s another example from a diarist in 1783:

“During a visit in Bottstown, I heard much from Bro. John Rothrock and others about the wicked and lewd conduct of the British officers during their stay here, who had exercised a very demoralizing influence on our young people." ...

Heavy rains earlier this summer caused flooding in many parts of Pennsylvania, but York County was spared. The last major flooding occurred after Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972.

So what is the probability of rising water again topping the levees in York?

Daniel G. Meckley III, an engineer by training, takes a stab at that question in a 2000 paper he prepared for a local organization, the Y'sJ's.

Meckley writes:

Statistically, it is high... .

June Lloyd, retired York County Heritage Trust archivist, has been writing intriguing pieces for the York Sunday News for about a year.

Her writing has focused on the 19th century. In their regular columns, Gordon Freireich and Jim Hubley write primarily about the 20th century and contemporary issues.

Meanwhile, I flit all over. But between all of us, here's hoping we have the history front covered.

June wrote one her best columns this past Sunday, laboring through conflicting reports of the Durang family's links with "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Her findings about the Durangs of York, a pioneering family in American theater and the arts:

With long lives today, knowing people who knew famous people sends tingles up the spine.

I wrote about one such connection in the post "Doctor treated both Revolutionary War soldier and people alive today."

Doing some late-night reading this week, I ran across two other examples within minutes of each other:

Valley View Park near Yorkana was the storied venue for the likes of Roy Acuff, Hank Williams Sr. and Tex Ritter to perform some years ago.

The eastern York County concert location, now covered with housing, is highlighted in a small exhibit at the York County Heritage Trust, 250 E. Market St.

Roy Rogers is one of the performers displayed in the exhibit.

But the most famous performer to grace the stage there was Elvis Presley, who had just performed on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1956... .

Two other stories reflect the growing tension between farms and factories in York County's past.

At the height of the industrial buildup to World War II, a runaway steer made a grand entry into York’s Continental Square. It was almost as if the trotting steer was trying to remind folks that agriculture was important to the war effort, too.

Two men in a truck pursued the cow.

“The steer," Police Chief C.P. Gerber told The York Dispatch, “obeyed the traffic rules."

It circled the square in the proper traffic lanes.

The second story is a sad one... .