The massive fire at Adhesives Research was one of the top York County stories in 2006.
The York Sunday News ran this list, compiled from the newspaper staff, of the top stories of 2006.
Take a gander at the following and see what you think:
Dominick Argento would be in any top 10 list of feted York countians in arts and entertainment fame. (See other York A & E achievers at http://www.yorktownsquare.com/2006/12/cameron_mitchell_craig_sheffer.php
Argento, a William Penn High School graduate, won the Pulitzer Prize in music for his work "From the Diary of Virginia Woolf." Argento, for years a professor at the University of Minnesota, has won international acclaim as an opera composer and teacher.
But he's an entertainer as well. ...
Ill health prevented the Rev. C.M. Mitzell from playing the lead role in "Inherit the Wind" in the York Little Theatre's 25th anniversary production in 1958.
Fortunately, a competent stand-in was available.
The retired York County pastor's son, Cameron, stepped in to play Matthew Harrison Brady in the production based on the Scopes Monkey Trial in Dayton, Tenn.
The rest of the story from "Never to be Forgotten" after intermission... .
Tenor saxophonist Tim Warfield, a 1983 William Penn High School grad, has toured with jazz legends and recorded CDs on major labels. Background post: Musician Bob January dies and TV show box set 'Terry & the Pirates' to be part of a museum exhibit someday?.
York County has been home to scores of noted players in the arts and literature world.
Perhaps the best known is Cameron Mitchell, born in Dallastown in 1918.
Cameron Mitzell, later Mitchell, starred in more than 90 films during a four-decade career.
His best-known role today is that of Buck Cannon on NBC's "High Chaparral."
He was joined by another York native in one or more episodes of "High Chaparral."
John Baer a journeyman actor from York, listed that show as one of his credits.
Craig Sheffer, a York Suburban grad, is another high-profile entertainer from York.
He starred in about 10 Hollywood films starting in 1985, including "A River Runs Through It" and "The Program."
More achievers in the arts and entertainment, excerpted from "Never to be Forgotten:" ...
Bob January's band plays at New York's Waldorf-Astoria in 1987.
Add the late to the list of Bob January
musical luminaries hailing from York County.
Born Robert Slenker, January graduated from York's William Penn High School in 1952.
He went on to play in New York City with the likes of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and Charlie Mingus... .
York County's Dennis Mohr holds his hand over his heart as the final casket is carried in for a late-June 2006 ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Mohr’s brother, Cpl. William G. Mohr, was among the WWII soldiers laid to rest six decades after they died on New Guinea.
When Chester A. Griffith Jr.’s body was recovered in 1951, surely people in York County thought he would be the last World War II soldier who died in uniform to be brought home.
It was six years after the war ended, when the B-17 pilot’s body, and the remains of two comrades who had died in the same crash, were recovered.
Griffith’s plane went down in an air attack in Germany in July 1944.
His body was interred in a national cemetery in Louisville, Ky.
He would be among more than 570 York County servicemen who died in World War II. (See related posts that are part of this York Town Square series on WWII sacrifices: http://www.yorktownsquare.com/2006/12/bataan_survivor_persevered_as.php, http://www.yorktownsquare.com/2006/12/the_first_in_war.php#more, http://www.yorktownsquare.com/2006/12/post_6.php#more.
But Griffith would not be the last discovered... .
The York Water Company initially used 10,000 feet of bored logs to transport water to users after it
had flowed from springs near Baumgartner’s Woods to a reservoir in southeastern York.
So, the arch near Arch Street turned out to be a sewer line.
A big sewer line. (See http://www.ydr.com/newsfull/ci_4885322 and http://www.yorktownsquare.com/2006/11/yorks_rail_stations_scored_mom_1.php.)
And no, it didn’t connect with the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad, believed to be active in York, did not run underground. Those traveling just seemed to disappear that way when the trail of runaways grew cold with slavecatchers from the South on their heels... .
Anne Frutiger received this telegram about her husband's death in the Philippines.
Still on the topic of World War II sacrifices by York countians in uniform:
Lt. Thomas L. Frutiger, in the Philippines with MacArthur when the Japanese invaded after Pearl Harbor, survived:
-- The incessant and deadly Japanese assault.
-- The grueling Bataan Death March.
-- Incarceration in at least two POW camps from mid-1942 to late in 1944. The son of a Red Lion cigarmaker owed his health, in part, to his ability to roll smokes for other prisoners and guards.
-- Reportedly, a friendly fire attack on the first Hell ship taking him and other Allied survivors toward slave labor in Japan.
This turn-of-the-20th-century building was originally used to burn refuse from York city and York Hospital. It's been converted into a crematorium.
Last post told the story of Revolutionary War patriot Henry Laurens, apparently the first American to be officially cremated in the 1790s.
Two hundred years later, the practice is gaining visibility around York, where Laurens dwelt for nine months as president of Continental Congress in 1777-78.
In 2000, a small brick building with a large smokestack on Kings Mill Road became a crematorium.
For years, it had been rumored that the then-spooky building was originally used for burning bodies.
A 1955 newspaper article gives a glimpse at how that legend grew. As the story goes, a south-side neighborhood gang lurked around the building on Halloween night. Some gang members who peeked in a window reportedly saw a "job" under way.
Thus ended their sleep for a month... .
Unsung Revolutionary War hero was reportedly first American to be cremated.
Southern Carolinian Henry Laurens was not one of the younger men to serve in the Continental Congress during its nine-month stay in York County.
(See discussion of ages of American Revolution’s heroes at http://www.yorktownsquare.com/2006/12/american_revolution_was_a_youn_1.php.)
By the end of 1777, he was 53.
But few of the nation’s founders, young or hold, suffered more in the war than Henry Laurens... .
Lorann Jacobs uses a wire brush to brighten a statue of Revolutionary War hero Marquis de Lafayette, to be unveiled in January. Lafayette, 20, visited York in 1778. http://www.ydr.com/search/ci_4509641
In his book “1776," David McCullough accurately points out that the “Glorious Cause" — the American Revolution — was a young man’s war.
That comment goes well beyond the 20-year-old Marquis de Lafayette, visitor to York and its sitting Continental Congress in early 1778.
The youthful marquis is lauded for his fast friendship with George Washington, often viewed as a tottering old man... .
If Eugene B. Bubb was the first York countian to die during World War II, the next question is who is the last? (See previous post at http://www.yorktownsquare.com/2006/12/the_first_in_war.php.)
That’s hard to establish, but Yeoman 3rd class Jack T. Yeaple certainly was one of the last to die, among the 571 county residents who gave their lives.
Here's his story:
On July 30, 1945, Yeaple was aboard heavy cruiser “U.S.S. Indianapolis." The ship was moving onto its next assignment in the South Pacific after dropping off elements of the atomic bomb that would later fall on Hiroshima... .
At left, Eugene B. Bubb
The 65th anniversary of Pearl Harbor brings forth the sad story of 19-year-old Pvt. Eugene B. Bubb.
Sad, because he is believed to be the first fighting man from York County to die in uniform in World War II.
News of the York County serviceman’s death reached York within days of the Dec. 7 attack. No details, just that he had died.
His father, a World War I vet, had died earlier in 1941. Eugene Bubb’s 15-year-old sister, Fern, received the telegram.
“We didn’t have the radio on that Sunday. We were visiting relatives in Gettysburg," she said years later. “By Thursday, we hadn’t heard anything, and I thought he would be all right."
But the story doesn’t stop there... .
Jeri Jones, the go-to person on all things geological in York County, has answered the question posed in a previous York Town Square post about that water-filled quarry along Route 462.
York Valley and Lime Stone Company worked the quarry. Jeri's best estimate was that digging continued until the 1940s.
But here's another thing.
Jeri's Web site is filled with great information on York County, including great maps and photos.
Here are some excerpts: ...
Gerald Smith works on a 37mm gun mount for use in World War II.
A photo of York Safe & Lock's Gerald Smith illustrated my column in the York Sunday News showing how owner S. Forry Laucks revved up his company to gain World War II defense contracts.
It drew a neat e-mail from Gerald's daughter, Joyce Fix:
The York theater group Dreamwrights' current production contains brief historical observations about Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. http://www.dreamwrights.org/index_files/NightBefore.htm
Unless I missed it in the rapid-fire dialogue in "The Night Before Christmas," the actors covered the fact that Maulana Karenga founded Kwanzaa, but never mentioned that he was from York.
Then known as Ron Everett, Kwanzaa’s founder graduated from William Penn High School in 1958... .
This Mural of York traces farm products on their way to market. It's located near York's Central Market on North Beaver Street. Since the 1700s, the county has been a major grain producer.
Today’s quiz, extracted from the "Along the Susquehanna" exhibit at the York County Heritage Trust http://www.alongthesusquehanna.com/:
Q1. When did the last Susquehanna River ferry end service at Wrightsville?
Q2. What put the river town of York Haven on the map? ...
Robert P. Kane, former Pennsylvania attorney general, should be added to the list of political luminaries hailing from York County.
A couple of posts ago, I put forth such a list which was connected to York businessman Tom Wolf’s interest in Pennsylvania’s state treasurer’s post. http://www.yorktownsquare.com/2006/11/wolf_would_join_long_list_of_y.php and http://www.yorkblog.com/mt.cgi?__mode=view&_type=entry&id=3369&blog_id=7
I asked for additions or corrections, and Barbara Wills, former Central school director and a candidate for a state legislative seat in the early 1990s, recalled that Kane served in the Shapp administration in the 1970s... .
Whistle workers practice in advance of Christmas concert in 2004. From left, Don Ryan, Nathan Keeney, Scott Ryan work the controls.
So much attention is given to New York Wire Cloth’s Christmas-Carol-playing steam whistle that the company’s immense contributions during World War II are all-but-forgotten.
Indeed, there’s a current drama going on about whether the York plant’s whistle, billed as producing the world's loudest music without amplification from a non-musical instrument, will blast this holiday season... . http://www.yorktownsquare.com/2006/01/the_worlds_loudest_music_witho.php
The AIDS memorial at York's Albemarle Park was dedicated 10 years ago.
An interesting statistic was put forth at a World AIDS Day event Sunday in York.
A local agency, Caring Together, which deals with HIV-infected patients listed a case load of about 450. A spokesman was not clear on how many had AIDS.
This large number of patients from just one agency shows how HIV and AIDS has spread since the first American case was diagnosed in 1981. Or maybe more to the local point, it shows the growth after an 11-year-old boy becomes the first known county resident to die from complications stemming from AIDS in 1984.
"Never to be Forgotten," tells more:
Don Miller shows off the stairs to the spring
that gave York Springs its name.
Adams County's York Springs can boast of a lot of things.
Brig. General William Warren Stewart, touted as the highest-ranking Civil War officer from Adams County, hailed from this eastern Adams County borough.
It was the birthplace of John W. Bittinger, turn-of-the-20th-century York County judge.
The Rev. Daniel Batwell, rector of Episcopal churches in York and Carlisle and York Springs, went to his farm near the borough to recover his health after enduring a dipping in the Codorus Creek during the American Revolution. He got the bath and time in the slammer upon suspicions that he was a British Loyalist. Congress released him under conditions that he take a loyalty oath or return to British lines. He took the latter path, becoming a chaplain of a Tory regiment.
Peaceful Lauxmont, site of much controversy, overlooks the Susuquehanna.
Is Lauxmont pronounced “low" or “lox?"
And is there a link between the Kohrs who own Lauxmont Farms and those ubiquitous frozen custard stands on the boardwalk?
And where did Lauxmont rank among largest farms in York County?
The plan to convert Lauxmont Farms into a county park attracts controversy and questions of greater weight than these.
But in sifting through mountains of complex documents and interviews for their current series on Lauxmont, York Daily Record/Sunday News reporters Teresa Boeckel and Tom Joyce put forth answers, excerpted here, to light-weight but intriguing questions that have popped up over the months:
A reader, a fairly “new" York County resident of seven years, queried about that old quarry along Route 462 near Hellam.
It appears to be a limestone quarry, lacking the reddish colors that surround a former ore bank.
Any insight out there about this manmade, water-filled reservoir? Please comment.
Her query follows:...
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| Local History from York Daily Record
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