Category Archives: Famous York visitors

Rocks in the Glen turns into town where things happen, Part III

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Jim McClure

Glen Rock, Pa., residents experienced a retro weekend recently, with the return of the music of one of its most famous citizens and the return of a train to its well-worn tracks. Pennsylvanian Dr. Lee Zelley, grandson of famed ‘Parade Music Prince’ Roland F. Seitz conducts the Brodbecks Band in Seitz’s best known work ‘Grandioso.’

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Story of slain black soldier at Wrightsville reminds reader of cause behind the Civil War – slavery

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Jim McClure

Union military and civilian officials in Pennsylvania rightly viewed the Susquehanna River as a formidable barrier to the Confederate advance to the east. Still, they supplemented the mile-wide river with earthworks along its course. Here, an artist who witnessed the excavation shows workers digging trenches near Wrightsville in eastern York County to provide defenders leverage against an anticipated Confederate offensive to capture the bridge spanning the Susquehanna River between York and Lancaster counties.

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POW camps: How many have operated in York County, 2 or 3 or 4?

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Jim McClure

Nineteenth-century artist Lewis Miller captures the façade of York, Pa.’s, Washington Hall, built in 1849. The building, sometimes referred to as the Independent Order of Odd Fellows or IOOF hall, housed overflow prisoners after the Battle of Gettysburg. Chief Surgeon Henry Palmer had threatened to resign, rather than treat Rebel wounded, according to letter writer Cassandra Small. The hospital and its satellites were military posts, so Washington Hall can be viewed as a prisoner of war camp site.

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U.S. 30 Drag-O-Way, Part 4: York County’s love affair with its cars

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Jim McClure

Remember the U.S. 30 Drag-O-Way? The dragstrip, operating at the York Airport in Thomasville, was the place to go on Saturday nights. It closed in 1979, but it lives on in the lives of the many car clubs around York County and the Musclecar Madness event every July at the York Expo Center.

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York County can never forget this unknown Civil War soldier. But we have.

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Jim McClure

A new marker for an unknown Confederate soldier was unveiled at his longtime burial spot along the Susquehanna River recently. In my York Sunday News column today (3/14/13) – Another unknown soldier – I suggest we remember another unknown soldier, a black militiaman fighting for the Union on Pennsylvania soil in Wrightsville.

Posted in All politics is local, Archives, all posts, Black history, Civil War, Events, Explanations/controversy, Famous York visitors, For photo fans, Local journalism & Web, Local landmarks, Pain & trauma, Uncategorized, Unsung/obscure sites, War | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

First the catalog. Now Sears ends its portrait center. What’s next? Linked in to York County history, 4/9/13

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Jim McClure

Remember when Sears, Roebuck and Co. operated in the York County, Pa., Shopping Center? Now at the Galleria in the York area, Sears has discontinued its portrait center here and in its stores across the United States.

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York County’s British POW Camp Security was not that secure, drawing shows

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Jim McClure

This scene of Springettsbury Township’s Camp Security is one of several drawn by British prisoner Roger Lamb incarcerated at this American Revolution POW camp. It will go on display at a public fundraising event to purchase land where the camp sat in 1781 to 1783. York, County, Pa.’s, Camp Security is the last remaining undeveloped POW camp from the American Revolution.

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It’s just a ditch in Hanover, Pa., but Jeb Stuart made it famous

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Jim McClure

York County, Pennsylvania, does not have the Civil War fame of neighboring Adams County. Never will. But we have the opportunity this year to mark sites such as Jeb Stuart’s ditch (the exact location is disputed) that are part of York County’s Civil War story. This site, like so many others in York County, are unmarked and almost forgotten. Gettysburg 150 gives us a chance to remember them.

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Henry Laurens in the Tower of London: Casting a dragnet for this American revolutionary

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Jim McClure

Who was Henry Laurens? The York Daily Record/Sunday News’ Deb Hummel wrote this in 2001: ‘Henry Laurens. Born in 1724 in Charleston, S.C. Successful merchant and planter. A delegate from that southern colony to the Continental Congress. President of the congressional delegates for much of the group’s 1777-1778 stay in York Town, Pa. Signer of the Articles of Confederation. Captured by a British man-of-war while on a diplomatic mission to Holland in 1780. Imprisoned in the Tower of London as a traitor.’

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York, Pa.-Bamberg, S.C., family connection looks to Isaac Nimmons as the patriarch

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Jim McClure

Isaac Nimmons is the patriarch of many black families in York who trace their roots to Bamberg, S.C.

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