September 2007 Archives

The cracker barrel in old country stores served as focal points in communities for social interaction.

As fellow Yorkblogger Scott Mingus explains in his "The Cracker Barrel" post, the modern country cooking restaurant chain draws on this nostalgia as a gathering place for travellers and visitors.

He goes on to tell of a Civil War moment in which a cracker barrel in southwestern York County's Porters Sideling incapacitated a clerk as rebels plundered his store. You have to read the yarn.

But here's a current twist on the cracker barrel in York's past.

Did you know the first Cracker Barrel restaurant/store in Pennsylvania opened in York County in 1994?...

Firefighters contained damage to only a few rooms in the Olde York Valley Inn, which has not operated for about 10 years.

"Fire departments from across the county responded to contain a blaze at the Olde York Valley Inn, a long-closed landmark on East Market Street in Springettsbury Township."

So began a story in the York Daily Record.

That lodging place might be a landmark, but it's not to be confused with the original York Valley Inn built in the 1730s several miles west of the motel that burned. It sat in the vicinity of the York Mall, now the Walmart/Sam's shopping center... .

Denise Cummins, left, of Shrewsbury and Kris Becker of Lancaster work near the Haines Shoe House on Wednesday. The work was part of the Hampton Hotels' 'Save-A-Landmark' program, a well-conceived program to preserve unusual American architecture.

York's famous Shoe House is getting a shine.

Some facts before the story on this familiar roadside attraction along the Lincoln Highway (although it's odd in that it's not immediately beside the road):

William Hinton, left, and Vincent Quinn, former Civilian Conservation Corps workers in the late 1930s, mark the site of Glen Rock's CCC camp. The site was dedicated recently on Glen Avenue. When it operated, its official name was Glenview Camp, Co. 2318, Camp SCS-7. Franklin D. Roosevelt established the CCC during the Depression to create jobs and protect natural resources, particularly to combat soil erosion.

A recent York Daily Record story commemorating the former Civilian Conservative Corps camp in Glen Rock contained an intriguing sentence.

The story noted that a number of men married local girls while working at the Glen Rock area.

"Men with such surnames as VanMeter, Nicklow, Casper, Ballard, Clouser, McKnight, Fullerton and Quinn became a part of the local population," the story stated. Those names stuck out in the heavily German area... .

The John and Christina Schultz house just passed into the hands of preservationists. But there's another Schultz house within county borders.

Historic York now has the John Schultz house in its capable hands.

A York Daily Record story tells about the house, constructed in 1734, and marks it as the oldest in York County.

Several other points of interest about the house:

Jean Fix of York has put forth the secret recipe for Joe Bury's hamburgers, that iconic York County treat readily available only once a year at the York Fair.

She remembered that the York Sunday News published the recipe in 2000, and Jean saved it.

She mailed it to us after I lamented its secrecy in a newspaper column and post "Bury's burgers: Nostalgia on a bun":

Here goes, according to Jean:

This Lewis Miller drawing shows Christ Lutheran Church's steeple, second from left, among four dominating York's skyline in the 1800s. The steeples and construction dates, from left: German Reformed, 1799-1800, no longer standing; Christ Lutheran, 1815; first court house steeple, 1815, no longer standing; second courthouse steeple, 1849, no longer standing. (Courtesy, York County Heritage Trust.)

York's Christ Lutheran Church - the church with the renovated steeple - is one of the two oldest in present-day York County.

No disagreement there.

The first church building went up in 1744.

No disagreement there.

Its replacement - the current South George Street structure - was dedicated on May 1, 1814.

No disagreement there.

But when was the church actually founded?

Some disagreement there... .

Hundreds of people gathered outside Christ Lutheran Church in downtown York recently for a rededication ceremony of the building's steeple.

Another towering York steeple has been rehabbed and restored.

Last year, St. Paul Lutheran's steeple received a facelift.

Now comes mother church Christ Lutheran, just north on George Street, and its 177-foot steeple.

Renovation of the 1815 steeple cost about $267,000.

And it didn't come off without a hitch.

The project was delayed by nesting kestrels (see story and photograph below). But the Christ Lutheran congregation was patient with the small falcons. The steeple had been there from just after the War of 1812 ended. It could hold up a little longer.

A York Daily Record story on the project's completion as well as a piece about the kestrels follow:

Cheryl, peanut44@cox.net, writing from Arizona wondered whether the recipe for the secret sauce associated with Bury's hamburgers was, in fact, secret ... .

Leonard Zinn holds a photo of the group from 1949 during a recent Zinn family reunion near Hanover. Band members, from left are, George Long, Smokey Roberts, Cliff Brown, Leonard Zinn and Andy Reynolds.

Randy Shaffer of Manchester learned something from a recent York Daily Record story on the nationally known country and western group, the 101 Ranch Boys.

"I never knew that there were local members in the group. Especially people such as Smokey Roberts, mostly known for his underwater filming. I use to work next door to Smokey's film business and would have loved to pick his brain about the group."

Randy went on to explain how his grandfather, a meter reader for Edison Light and Power, would become distracted when doing readings at WSBA radio. The radio station then was located along the Susquehanna Trail, just north of York. WSBA's towers and transmitters are still located in the field beside the old station.

Randy's grandfather always seemed to be there on live performance days.

"One day when the 101 Ranch Boys were
performing, I guess he was watching a little longer than normal. He was really embarrassed when the
announcer said, 'If the Edison Power Company is missing a Meter Reader, you can find him here in
the studio watching the performance.' The announcer was most likely Wayne Trout."

Randy also had a question that readers might be able to answer:

Visitors gain a sneak preview of the Gettysburg Cyclorama in the new visitor's center in Gettysburg, the circular canvas that has attracted millions of viewers over the decades.
The Electric Map might be slated for storage, but Gettysburg's other top touristy icon is slated to return to public viewing in 12 months.

Paul D. Philippoteaux's Cyclorama depicting Pickett's charge undergoing restoration, and the first of 14 sections is being installed in its new home - the new visitor's center near the battlefield.

An Associated Press report on the project follows:

John Smith drew this Susquehannock Indian after his visit to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in 1608. He described them as giants and claimed one warrior's calf measures 27 inches around.

Many in York County are relieved that a developer did not win the bid for the Oscar Leibhart property in Long Level near the Susquehanna River.

Researchers believe Susquehannock Indians built a village on the site around 1665.

Who were the Susquehannocks?

For several entries of early York County history, see entries from "Never to be Forgotten". But here's a sneak preview:

Dale and Gloria Oxley bought York County's most southwest corner property in 1972. Their land included land in York, Adams and Carroll. This nearby monument marks the Mason-Dixon Line, with 'P' facing north toward Pennsylvania.

York Daily Record photographer Bil Bowden managed to find four corners in triangular-shaped York County.

His photo and story package, published in the York Daily Record, today found the owners of properties at the county's extremes.

Here's his intro that keyed in to a sweeping story and wonderful photos that tied together York County's past and future:

Nostalgia points us to those days when life seemed sweeter or simpler, even though it wasn't always.

So I noted in a recent post.

With all its wonderful community-building tendencies, nostalgia at times can mask memories of a sometimes gritty, less-than-perfect place and time.

Such lapses can make county life today seem worse in comparison.

Here's just one example of our checkered past, an attraction at the York Fair that Dave Gulden described in the book, "America's First Fair From Then Until Now."

"Hit the Coon" was a popular throwing game in the 1930s. Drawing from another book, Gulden states that the game involved a canvas scene with a hole cut in it. A black man stuck his head through the hole and tried to dodge the ball.... .

Motorists who drive by the Smittie's Soft Pretzel stand in Dover Township might not recognize this as the headquarters for this York County landmark.

Bury's Burgers, Melvin's Drive-In, Playland, White Oak Park, Shady Dell are among the York-area icons we've explored in this blog.

Places like these continue to provide a mountain of memories - a kind of group recollection - that act as magic glue making a community a community.

Now come two others for the list: Bricker's French Fries and Smitties Soft Pretzels... .

Melvin's was located on East Market Street before the interstate spelled its demise. Posing in front of the hangout in 1939 are front row, from left, Howard Rohrbaugh, John Brenneman Jr., Al Wildasin and Earl Warner. "York Then and Now," the source of this photograph, indentifies only three of the four in the back row, Bob Neiman, Bob Givens and Melvin Bond.

When Interstate 83 came through, Melvin's Ice Cream Bar came down.

Melvin's is another of those York County icons that immediately evoke memories from those who have lived in York County "a while."

It was one of the drive-in restaurants that grew up with the popularity of the automobile and sat along main thoroughfares.

This anchor of east York was balanced out in the west by the White Swan, located at 4155 W. Market St.

York Daily Record columnist Jim Hubley, writing in 1996, explored the popularity of places like the White Swan and Melvin's:

The White Rose Amusement Park operated near the Farquhar Park Pool, now site of Arthur Ferguson Elementary School. York Daily Record Jim Hubley explained that, despite of the fun the pool offered, it was often a site of controversy: "It was closed several seasons, locked by polio, Sunday blue laws, racial difficulties, political mishandling, even drownings."

The Farquhar Park Pool is drained and suitably feted for its years of service.

After the bulldozer does its dirty work, the YMCA's Graham Aquatic Center will fill its void, complete with a 16-lane indoor pool with an accompanying outdoor pool.

The Farquhar Park Pool area has long been a center of activity - with the park next door, trolleys running nearby, and an adjacent amusement park thrilling thousands for years.

And the pool was the center of a racial controversy in the late 1940s after the city closed the pool rather than allow blacks the opportunity to swim there... .

Gen. James Ewing of Hellam Township was perhaps the highest ranking York countian serving in the Continental Army.

He headed forces in the Battle of Trenton in 1776, though the 1,000 militiamen he led could not cross the Delaware into New Jersey downriver from George Washington because of hazardous conditions.

Ewing had another problem - a controversial half-brother Dr. John Connolly. This was the same John Connolly who led a prisoner of war gripe session about conditions in the York County Prison.

The first York County (Pa.) Jail, seen here in a Lewis Miller drawing, came under fire from a group of prisoners of war in May 1778. British prisoners in the American Revolution complained about conditions. The jail was located at South George and East King Streets. (Courtesy, York County Heritage Trust.)

The York community is pondering uses for the former York County prison on Chestnut Street now that it's up for sale.

Makes one think. Where was York County's first prison?

The answer is at the corner of South George and East King Street in York, just down the street from York County's Centre Square Court House.

Many people are aware that British prisoners were detained at Camp Security, but this first county lockup housed its share, too.

In fact, allegedly poor conditions there attracted the attention of Continental Congress, then meeting in York. "Nine Months in York Town" describes the Brits' complaints this way:

An article in World magazine suggests a use for York County's 1906 lockup now on the sales block.

World reports that Boston's 18th-century Charles Street Jail is being renovated into a luxury hotel.

The city worked up a $150 million bill to convert the prison, once home to anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti, into a hotel... .

Johnny Eagles' stand at the York Fair was right where someone said it would be.

Kind of across from the Toyota Arena.

And signage ensured there was no mistaking its proud main fare.

Bury's burgers.

So I approached the stand and asked for a burger.

This would be my first Bury's special.

The only option. Onion or no?

Onion, I said. ...

Despite a resume that would consume a ream of paper, York native Ernest Lefever does not make Wikipedia's best-of-york list.

Wikipedia gives a list of 74 people from York with enough world-wide contributions to make the team.

Obviously, the list has some holes.

I recognized - and have written - about many of those listed.

But I didn't recall at least one name - Kevin Jones, BMX rider - a freestyle BMX rider... .

Ernest Lefever, York native and Renaissance man.

This idea that a bit of York can be found everywhere repeatedly finds backing.

Ernest Lefever is a world-renowned scholar and founder of the Washington, D.C.-based Ethics and Public Policy Center. Lefever established the think tank in 1976 to "clarify and reinforce the bond between the Judeo-Christian moral tradition and the public debate over domestic and foreign policy issues." (Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum is a fellow with the center.)

And Ernest Lefever is a York native.

And he's a Renaissance man with a mile-long resume.

From his bio:...

The Continental Congress met in York's Centre Square Court House, seen here in this Lewis Miller drawing. The York County Heritage Trust, operator of the courthouse replica, is sponsoring an essay contest linked to the Articles of Confederation and other congressional actions in the courthouse during that body's nine-month stay. (Courtesy, York County Heritage Trust)

American wars have spawned essayists as a means of building patriotism or expressing loss or hope.

Phyllis Wheatley was one such political writer. The young black poet, whose work caught George Washington's eye, was optimistic - overly so - in writing in 1772 that Britain's new North American secretary would be supportive of all American colonists:

"No more America, in mournful strain/
Of wrongs, and grievance unredress'd complain/
No longer shalt though dread the iron chain/
Which wanton Tyrannny with lawless hand/
Had Made, and with it meant t' enslave the land."

The York County Heritage Trust is borrowing a page from Phyllis Wheatley in sponsoring an essay contest to commemorate the anniversary of the reconstruction of York's Colonial Courthouse and the 230th anniversary of the adoption of the Articles of Confederation... .¶

Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor commissioned this mural in Abbottstown, as well as the one below in Gettysburg. The non-profit group has overseen the drawing of murals and the installation of exhibits along a 200-mile stretch of the Lincoln Highway.

York Sunday News columnist Gordon Freireich recently gave an absorbing tour of the Lincoln Highway - Route 30 - in and around Abbottstown and New Oxford.

Around is appropriate here because those circles in the center of those towns make them memorable on that feature alone. (Goldsboro and Jefferson are two York County towns that route traffic in a circle around a monument or park.)

Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor officials, promoter of the communities along this old thoroughfare that tied together the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, saw his column and will reprint it in a future newsletter.

One of the roadside exhibits sits in front of the Altland House on Abbottstown's Circle. That and the nearby mural are as far east as the group's roadside museum extends... .

Harper Collins is publishing Jim Lewin's and P.J. Huff's "Lines of Contention: Political Cartoons of the Civil War," in November. This selection shows an 1861 cartoon of Jefferson Davis going off to war, penned by E. Rogers. But see below for a flip view of Davis returning from war... .

So far, The York Emporium has played host to a Millennium Festival, Sci-Fi Saturday and Snake Oil & Other Good-Time Recipes programs.

All this was held among its 500,000-books - and some eight-track tapes.

So when it comes to putting together a Civil War festival, one expects, well, not your everyday presentations.

That's what the public will get from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 22, at the West Market Street store, according to owners Jim Lewin and Pam Farrow. The store sits along the main route taken by rebel troops invading York in late-June 1863.

Here is a tentative partial lineup:

Lewis Miller captures Gen. Judson Kilpatrick near Hanover. That's old Mr. Rudyseal on the fence, a pro-Union man. "Come to my house and take some wine," Rudyseal tells Kilpatrick. "You do me a favor. Let us stand up for the government, and all bear against the rebel." The York Civil War Roundtable, scheduled to start meeting at the York County Heritage Trust, 250 E. Market St., will explore regional Civil War history, such as the Battle of Hanover. (Drawing courtesy of the York County Heritage Trust.)

After years at Borders Books and other locales, the York Civil War Round Table has found a new home at the York County Heritage Trust.

The roundtable's first program, free and open to the public, in its new location is set for 7 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 17. Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr., will discuss "The other Side of the Story." ...

It's York Fair time, and also time for the annual emergence of Bury's burgers at Johnny Eagles' stand and perhaps elsewhere.

I know one veteran fair-goer who likes Bury's and clearly isn't dissing them.

And he's sure there's something special in that sauce... .

Readers of this blog, intrigued as you are about all things York County, should look up fellow blogger Joan Concilio's Only in York County postings.

It's description says lifelong Yorker Joan Concilio is writing about all the things that make York County unique - and sometimes just plain weird.

"The things we say" category will bring a smile.

As one would expect, the blog probes the favorite Yorkism "Awhile:"

Juan Calix, right, of Springettsbury Township, portraying Pvt. James H. Shirk of the 55th Massachusetts, sings the National Anthem at an Emancipation Proclamation Celebration at Martin Library. Voni Grimes, an award recipient at the observance, accompanies him on the harmonica.

A majority of York County residents did not like Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation when it was announced on Sept. 22, 1863, or when it became law 100 days later.

That was my conclusion delivered in a speech over the weekend at an EP observance sponsored by Crispus Attucks Association. The organization is raising funds for a soon-to-be-opened Underground Railroad museum at ex-slave and 19th-century York businessman William C. Goodridge's former home.

I showed presidential election stats: Lincoln received only 43 percent of the York County vote in 1860 when Lincoln carried Pennsylvania and won the presidency. His three Democratic challengers scored the rest, and the York County largest vote-getter, John C. Breckinridge, also carried the South... .

Murray Schrotenboer gives private tours of the Fulton County tunnels on an abandoned stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and their inner workings. Here, he stops to show a mannequin head jokingly posted on an old light housing, certain to increase the heart rate of an unsuspecting cyclist.

Photographer Bil Bowden captured recreational uses of abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike tunnels in Fulton County in the mold of the Howard Tunnel on York County's rail trail.

One of those tunnels is so long - a mile - that a flashlight is required to ride through it because, when you start in, there's isn't any light at the end of that tunnel.

This all brings us to a little-known fact among many York countians. The Pennsylvania Turnpike runs through the tip of York County... .

Trolley tracks lead into and out of York's Continental Square in this post card drawing. The tracks led to York's northwest area - the Avenues, long one of the city's most desirable neighborhoods.

The Avenues area of York has long been a desirable place to live.

A York Sunday News story, Avenues living, tells about how the neighborhood was founded in the 1880s and noted that wealthy industrialists and businessmen were early occupants.

And one of the attractions that made the neighborhood ready-made to the rich and famous was the trolley system operating in an electrified state between 1892 and 1939... .

Cathy Cline is interested in Capt. Michael Doudle's rifle company, sometimes called the York Rifles. Her ancestor, James Matson, served in that company, known to be an early responder when Gen. George Washington sent out word that the Continental Army needed help in the siege of Boston in 1775.

Doudle - sometimes Doudel or Dowdle - appears on the short list of York County patriots early in the American Revolution. (To see a colorful hall of fame gallery of Doudle and other patriots from York County, see 'Revolutionary War Portraits.'

The following excerpt from "Nine Months in York Town" tells how Doudle, a York tanner with no military experience, led the rifle company on the march to Boston:

Vera Miller is among those who have enjoyed Norma Bear Gates' book on Zion View - "... the way it was" (The sequel was "More About ... the way it was.")

I grew up in Strinestown and my sister lives in Zion View, so I could relate to many of the places. I thoroughly enjoyed her book - it brought back the good old days.

What a pleasant surprise when I saw the picture of the Zion View Band and realized that my grandfather, Steward "Red" Walter, was the bass drummer. I never knew he was in the Zion View Band!

Our inquisitive former Yorker who is now living out west (see previous post) has raised another series or provocative questions.

Why are fire companies named: Alert, Reliance, Union, Rose,
Eagle, Friendship, Goodwill?

And why is fire "company" still in use today? Why not fire "department?"

A guess is that the names reflect qualities that the various fire departments wanted to put forth. Reliance, for example.

As far as company vs. department, I'm wondering if company somehow comes from the military organization. Some fire departments have captains, lieutenants, sergeant at arms etc.

But what do you think?

Our e-mailer didn't stop there:

A former Zion View resident, now living out west, remembered well the flyway beacon light operating in that town until 1970.

The beacon's presence in that Conewago Township community was described in the recent post Beacon helped spot whereabouts of York County town, drawn from information from a book by Norma Bear Gates.

" ... I thought my mom was speaking when Mrs Gates said 'where the beacon light
is located.' Mom would say to folks trying to find us 'turn left off the old
trail at the beacon light, we are the first house on the left.' ...

For 40 years before 1970, this beacon in Zion View told pilots flying without radar that they were six miles from York and 18 miles from Harrisburg, according to Norma Bear Gates.

The beacon defined the village.

Anyone from Conewago Township's Zion View could locate their town by saying it was where the airplane beacon was located.

That is, until 1970, when the beacon, which welcomed planes flying without radar, came down.

In "More about ... the way it was, Zion View: a country village," Norma Bear Gates explained that a Druck Valley farm equipment and machinery collector, Floyd Miller, cut down the tower and hauled it to his home. A farmer from Lancaster County later bought the tower, possibly to be used as a windmill stand.

Miller kept two small lights formerly atop the tower, Gates wrote.

That beacon might have attracted a small plane in distress seeking a safe place to land in post-War War II Zion View... .

John Wilkes Booth ... 'Jack had a yellow streak in him.'

John Wilkes Booth didn't have a very good reputation as a schoolboy in York.

And before he later committed his dastardly assassination of Abraham Lincoln, he dragged a friend and former York County resident into his troubles... .

Clarence Cobb was a schoolmate during Jack Booth's few weeks in a private boy's school in York.

"Jack had a yellow streak in him," that schoolmate, Clarence F. Cobb, later said.

The York Water Company's reservoir is atop Webb's Hill, also known as Shank's or Shenk's Hill. The fountain in foreground is gone, but a beautiful pagoda made from vines is worth exploring. The reservoirs are now covered.

Jack Stuckey, jrstuckey@verizon.net, has queried about the location of Webb's Hill. He has an relative with that surname.

He asked about Slate Ridge, too... .