The 1901 book ‘York and York County’ included this photo of the vaulted basement of Cresap’s Fort or Dritt Mansion. The restored Long Level structure perched along the Susquehanna River south of Wrightsville, Pa., today is headquarters for Susquehanna Gateway Heritage Area, the former Lancaster-York Heritage Region. It’s a National Register of Historic Places site. Also of interest: Where exactly is the York/Lancaster border? and Native Americans help clean up Dritt family cemetery in new York County park and Gettysburg-area National Register homestead gives snapshot of pressures facing farms.
The Leinhardt Brothers Furniture Warehouse in West York was formerly home of the Ashley and Bailey Company Silk Mill and was also known as the Franklin Silk Mill.
And noted York architect John A. Dempwolf did, indeed, design the York Silk Manufacturing Co. in East York.
Recent posts on those two landmark York-area buildings have raised such questions.
People in York County like their old buildings.
So, here’s a resource to find out more about them and other historic structures in York County and beyond… .
The National Register of Historic Places operates a Web site with abstracts of buildings, bridges, historic districts and other landmarks.
For example, here is the abstract for the West Side Sanitarium, forerunner of Memorial Hospital”:
West Side Sanitarium (added 2004 – Building – #04000400)
Also known as West Side Osteopathic Hospital
1253-1261 West Market St., West York Borough
Historic Significance: Architecture/Engineering, Event
Architect, builder, or engineer: Leber, Edward
Architectural Style: Queen Anne, Colonial Revival
Area of Significance: Health/Medicine
Period of Significance: 1900-1924, 1925-1949, 1950-1974
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Domestic, Health Care
Historic Sub-function: Hospital, Hotel, Sanatorium
Current Function: Vacant/Not In Use
And the database contains some surprises.
Did you know that there was a Pleasureville Historic District in Springettsbury Township?
Or that there’s a historic site known as Payne’s Folly in Fawn Township?
Good stuff in there. And if you want to go beyond York County, say to Adams County, scroll to the bottom and you’ll see links.
So, click here and enjoy.
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 
Jim,
Thanks so much for information on the National Historic website. I thoguht that the Hudson Towers looked like a Dempwolf design, but was not sure of the building’s architect. Thanks for confirming that it is indeed another of those magnificent Dempwolf designs. Those of us, who grew up in York, took those grand buildings for granted. Now through your blog, I realize what treasures are in our midst. I was a child when the Old City Market and the original York Junior College were demolished. I do wish that they would have been saved. Thanks for your reminders to us.
JoAnne Everhart