Recently in A.B. Farquhar Category

When some people think about the southwestern York County borough of Jefferson, they think Jefferson Hillclimb. Codorus Valley Area Historical Society is seeking a historical marker to tout that region's history, too. Here, a cycle tries to scale the 300-foot hill just outside Jefferson in Codorus Township. Background posts: War memorial stand proudly in towns throughout York County, Driver invades Jefferson's quiet square and Tragedy hits York County family - again

Elijah White's Comanches rode through Jefferson's square in June 1863. This mounted force was bound for the communication and rail center of Hanover Junction.

Then came Jeb Stuart's 4,500 horsemen, with a 125-wagon train in tow, in quest of their commander Robert E. Lee.

Some time after they had cleared the square, Union General David M. Gregg's blue cavalrymen came through, headed toward Gettysburg.

In November of that year, Abraham Lincoln rode via Hanover Branch Railroad train through town, just north of the square. He was on his way to and from Gettysburg where he delivered his celebrated address... .

Confederate Gen. Jubal Early issued this handbill touting his magnanimity in not burning the town. Some people in York saw the address as an attempt to undermine the authority of the U.S. government. Background posts: The horrors of Civil War struck York after Sumter, Chambersburg seminars spread awareness of south central Pennsylvania Civil War history, Was York's surrender justified?

A large crowd attended a panel presentation this week on the Confederate occupation of York - the invasion that commenced 145 years ago today.

A suggestion that seemed to resonate was to hold a daylong symposium on various aspects of the town's surrender and occupation. With more time, we could present a true pro/con on the surrender decision, something beyond the scope of this week's panel.

Stay tuned for all that.

The following (to be published in the York Sunday News - 7-29) is adapted from my opening and closing remarks as moderator of the panel made up of Mark Snell, Scott Mingus, June Lloyd and Scott Butcher:

William C. Goodridge, a former slave who became a respected York businessman, was an influential 19th-century figure in York County. He is on a short list of top newsmakers in York County in the past 250 years. Background posts: List of luminaries from Dover lengthens, How come so few in York know about S. Morgan Smith?, Samuel Small tops community contributor list.

On Sunday, we'll post a sampling of 25 of York County's most influential residents. Actually, there are 26.

The suggestions came from members of the public, York Daily Record/Sunday New staff and the newspaper's editorial board.

As a warm up, we post here a list from "Never to be Forgotten" of a group of 30 influential residents from York County's past... .

William J. Fisher, seated, A.B. Farquhar Co. president, and his son, Edward H. Fisher, sold the York, Pa., company to Oliver Corporation in 1951. The farm equipment manufacturer started in 1856 and was one of the prime movers behind the York Plan. Background posts: Who will lead the York area in the future?, Carnegie to Farquhar: '... I am ready to go out and enjoy myself' and Pro/Con: Should York's leaders have surrendered to the rebels?

Continuing the series of telling York County, Pa.'s, history through images:

Eighty years after his death, industrial leader A.B. Farquhar's business prowess is still remembered. The York park that bears his name attests to his community involvement. Now, a national author has remembered him too, including an exchange between Farquhar and Andrew Carnegie. Background posts: Reader seeks Boys Club photo, York: America's First Capital of Golf? and Pastors denounce Sunday newspaper.

A e-mailer pointed out an exchange in David Nasaw's biography "Andrew Carnegie," in which the Gilded Age industrial giant gave York agricultural implement factory owner A.B. Farquhar his comeuppance.

Farquhar mentioned to Carnegie that he was always sure to be in the office by 'seven in the morning.'

"You must be a lazy man," Carnegie replied, "if it takes you ten hours to do a day's work." ....

This big World War II mobile siege gun represented the legacies of two industrial giants. Neighboring factories S. Morgan Smith Co. and York Corporation jointly constructed the gun, which could lob 240-pound shells at targets 30 miles away. Background posts: Glatfelter, Morgan Smith head industrial legacy list and 'Little Johnny' called for Allies in World War II.

In a recent York Sunday New column titled "Contributors bring history to life (see below)," I muse about how York County factories historically have made big things and worked hard to tell the world about them.

I tied it to the recent sale of Bradley Lifting, which made big, heavy devices that helped lift big, heavy things.

I went on a riff like this: ... .

Gerald "Jerry" Karl was a York countian who played on the national stage - or rather, drove on national tracks. Karl, who raced at the Indianapolis 500 six times, died recently from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Background posts: For scores of post on other celebrities with York County links, see http://www.yorktownsquare.com/york-celebrities/. To see achievers in sports, see http://www.yorktownsquare.com/york-sports/.

Pedestrian A.B. Farquhar survived an accident involving a vehicle, but injuries sustained hastened the agricultural equipment manufacturer's death.

As I've written before, it was the saddest irony that the life of a captain of industry - a man who harnessed machinery to make machinery to harness the earth - was shortened by a machine.

And David E. Small, a noted York railroad car manufacturer in the 1800s, lost an arm after it became entangled in machinery.

Gerald "Jerry" Karl was similarly a York countian of national stature - a driver at a half dozen Indy 500s... .

Harvey Bradley, who built his York company, Bradley Lifting, from scratch has sold his company to an out-of-town outfit. Here, Bradley is seen with a giant hook in 2007. His company fabricates the block that the hook will be hung from. Background posts: Glatfelter, Farquhar, Shipley: Insights from local greats, Who will lead York in the future? and Samuel Small tops community contributor list.

Harvey Bradley is a living example of some of York County's past captains of industry.

He started with few resources, except perhaps the most important, an entrepreneurial spirit. He built big things... .

Founder A.B. Farquhar (in portrait) appears to be overseeing the sale of his 95-year-old company in 1951. William J. Fisher, seated, Farquhar president, and his son, Edward H. Fisher, sold the company to Oliver Corporation. Farquhar executives cited the difficulty of independent medium-sized companies trying to do business through depressions, wars and war threats. Other York County companies also started selling to large, out-of-town interests in those years. Interestingly, the trend today is not only to sell to larger, out-of-town companies but then some of that work is moved not only out of town but out of the country. Background posts: York County agrarianism vs. industrialization, Part I and York's western gate: One image says so much.

Around York, community service organizations are concerned about where leadership - and funding - will come from after a group of aging philanthropists who have made things happen for years pass on.

In a York Sunday News column, I explored options and even named names, taking a long historical detour along the way... .

YMCA of York members throw beach balls into the old Farquhar Park Pool for the last time in September 2007. Demolition of the old pool is now complete. A sketch of its replacement, the Graham Aquatic Center, is below. Background post: Good grief, how long has that pool been there?

The Boys Club Pool, more recently called the Farquhar Park Pool, is no more - giving way to a new indoor/outdoor pool complex.

But a former Yorker, now living in the Downingtown area and with family members still here, is looking for a picture of the pool of old.

Here's Jill Ruth's request:

This good-natured mock surrender ceremony in 1988 served as a symbolic point of change in York's official view of the town's surrender to the Confederates 125 years earlier. When confronted with the demand by Confederate Gen. Jubal Early, played here by Richard Knapp of Red Lion, center, York Mayor William Althaus, left, declined. 'We are no longer unprotected, having the finest police department in the country,' Althaus said. Background posts: York finally coming to terms with its Civil War legacy and All Civil War posts from the start.

Should York's leaders have abandoned ship upon the Confederate approach in the days before the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863?

That decision to surrender became controversial the moment it was made, and the debate continues to this day.

The following are excerpts from my article in the York Daily Record some years ago that address the question in pro/con format:

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. Jacob L. Devers meets with President John F. Kennedy about his work as chair of the Battle Monuments Commission, one of Devers' assignments after retirement from the military in addition to creating the U.S. Army Field Band. Devers was impressed with Kennedy's astute questions after Devers submitted his final report and showed his prickly relationship with Ike Eisenhower: "Now Eisenhower, if you'd gone in there under the same conditions, he'd have done all the talking and he never would have found out what you came in for." (York County Heritage Trust photo). Background posts: Gettysburg's Ike and Manchester's Henry and York native Jacob L. Devers' name still in service at Fort Knox, Ky.

History came together at Farquhar Park on Sunday.

The U.S. Army Field Band played at the landmark bandstand in the landmark park.

Gen. Jacob L. Devers of York is sometimes called "the father of the band," according to Michael Markey's book "Jake, The General From West York Avenue."

And Jakie Devers grew up not far from Farquhar Park, on what is now known as Roosevelt Avenue.

Markey explains that Devers in the post-war period contacted military conductor Chester Whiting to direct a new musical unit that would act as a public relations vehicle for the Army... .

York officials produced this broadside to awaken the citizenry when Confederate forces approached the Mason-Dixon Line in August and September 1862. (Courtesy, York County Heritage Trust)

The Battle of Antietam raged near Sharpburg, Md., but its impact was felt --and heard -- about 75 miles way in York.

Here are some of the connections between Antietam and York, adapted from my "East of Gettysburg":

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... .

Popular Sunday trolley excursions to Highland Park were not the only activity that drew the ire of pastors at the turn of the 20th century. (See "Red Lion's towering Fairmont Park off the beaten track" post below or in York Town Square archives.)

The publication of York's first Sunday newspaper prompted pulpit protests, as evidenced from the following article I wrote as part of the York Daily Record's 200th anniversary in 1996:

Golf courses in York County will soon turn from green to black, as in asphalt.

Residential builders want to cover over some or all of Copper Beach, Heritage Hills, Springwood, Honey Run and Hawk Lake courses. This isn’t the first time that development has sprouted up on a York County golf course.

In fact, it happened to the county’s first course. The Springdale section of York and York College of Pennsylvania cover the county's initial course dating back to the 1890s — or perhaps before. Then as now, the sand traps gave way to the cement mixer because a growing population made the land more valuable for other purposes.

The names of luminaries Grier Hersh and A.B. Farquhar were connected with this south York course, as the following excerpt from “Never to be Forgotten" points out:

I've been studying the lives of York County's captains of industries -- both past and present -- for years. Same with everyday men and women. So I pulled together some key points from all the generations for a York Sunday News column. At the same time, I pushed public service.

The writing process caused me to reflect on my own public service. Much of my discretionary time is spent alone, researching and writing. I hope it shows that public service can come in many ways -- in a crowded room or in a corner of the York County Heritage Trust.

The column follows:

Yorkblog.com features blog-only entries or stories and commentary from the York Daily Record/Sunday News.

A Veterans Day editorial in Friday’s newspaper touts a different twist. We cobbled material originally part of several “York Town Square" entries to form the core of the editorial. It was an early effort here in reverse publishing — writing for the Web and then repurposing that material for the newspaper.

These are early steps into the future, not that we’re sweating the present. York Daily Record/Sunday News circulation was solid on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays, according to the last audited period.

Our blog-entries-turned-into-editorial ...

Ask any York County audience about the current location of "The Little Courthouse" or "Victory House," and they'll pause and say, "Farquhar Park," or "near Kiwanis Lake."

Well, the 1 ½-story replica of the Colonial Courthouse -- county courthouse No. 1 of 4 -- hasn't rested in the park for years.