Recently in Small-town life Category

York Township's Springwood Pool sustained considerable damage in the flood of 1933. The pool, reachable via the Ma & Pa Railroad, was located along Springwood Road, between Yoe and Chapel Church Road. Background posts: Old Ma & Pa Railroad trestle may again carry passengers - on bicyles - some day and 19th-century mines gave Ore Valley its name and One-room schools: 'That's when things were good'.

The post - Springwood Pool and its sloping sides: 'I remember so well how cold it was' - raised questions in reader Lynda Stoddard's mind about the old pool's ownership.

"... (W)e were told our grandparents at one time owned the park, 1920 or 1930 and there was a story passed around about a shooting, which we have never been able to find anything out about, could have been a rumor ...," she commented.

She has pictures of the park, along Springwood Road, provided by her grandparents.

A York Township history says this about the ownership:

Red Lion's new year is traditionally ushered in with the raising of a huge cigar, reminding folks of the area's past might as a cigar manufacturer. The fiberglass cigar, held by a lion character, weighs 100 pounds and is 8 feet, 3 inches long. The borough's cigarmaking history is certain to be a topic of discussion in a tour of its streets on Tuesday, June 30. (See photos below of Red Lion's cigarmaking culture of the past.) Background posts: It couldn't happen in York County? Women were trampled in Depression-era labor unrest and York County cigars: 'They contained a vast amount of nicotine' and Red Lion's Ebert Furniture: From bedroom suites to gunstocks.

A guided walking tour through Red Lion, sponsored by the Kaltreider-Benfer Library, is set for 6:30 p.m. June 30... .

Nancy Bivens, a former York countian, is looking for a county locale that created many childhood memories.

She e-mailed:

"The place was owned by Tom and Roxanne Johnson (Johnston) not sure which spelling is correct. It was named Tow Bow Motel (again not sure of the spelling)... .

York County native Samuel Jordan is known as the father of modern education in Iran. He was ordained into the ministry in southeastern York County, and went overseas as a missionary. He is buried in Centre Presbyterian Church's cemetery, New Park. Background posts: Three Rhodes Scholars call York County their boyhood home and Fawn Township's magnificent Centre Presbyterian Church worthy of a looksee and Church's story links up with U.S. religious history.

All roads do lead to York.

This road includes New Park, in southeast York County; Persia, now Iran; and University of California, Irvine branch.

And it involves a minister named Samuel Martin Jordan.

The tie that binds these places comes from an e-mail written by Stewartstown's Kathryn Jordan. Samuel Jordan is Kathryn's late husband's uncle - Uncle Mart.

Here are the links:

This old post office represents the past in Franklintown, on the former main way between Baltimore and Harrisburg. (For a view of the new, see photo below.) To locate this small, changing borough, Warrington, Carroll, Washington and Franklin townships all meet east of town. Background posts: Franklintown second cousin to neighboring Dillsburg and Birthday borough Dillsburg: 'Seems to be York County's wild child' and Flag expert: 'I was interested in my nation's heritage'.

Northwestern York County's tiny Franklintown borough has been in the news because of earthquakes in those parts.

But the town regularly made it in national headlines from 1982 to 1994 when its books contained a law that all residents had to own guns.

Townsmen even appeared on Donohue to talk about their ordinance.

Today, towns statewide are considering adopting law that lost and stolen firearms are to be reported to police within 72 hours.

That's controversial, but not as much so as the never-enforced, mostly symbolic Franklintown law... .

Jefferson's newsy Center Square, as it appeared in the early 1900s. Interestingly, roads around the southwestern York County square were first paved only about 80 years ago at a time when many roads around the county were getting their first asphalt coat. Politically active townsman Jenkins Carothers made good use of this square. Background posts: Washington Township, Jefferson Borough, Madison Avenue. How about an Obama Street in York County? and Historical marker to soon point to Jefferson square's famous visitors and Accidental death hits York County family - again and Laurice Elehwany wrote with Jefferson in mind.

Charles H.Glatfelter is one of those prominent Glatfelters featured in last post: A leading York County name: 'Keeping it in family is the Glatfelter way'.

The retired Gettysburg College history professor's work on any topic is invariably the most reliable reference a historian can use.

So when he writes a controversial politico from Jefferson in his 1966 history of that borough, you know it's something to build from.

That's what I did in writing about the colorfully named Jenkins Carothers and his actions in and around Jefferson's historic square, actions that provide lessons for today.

My York Sunday News column (6/14/09), written to tell about an upcoming Civil War market dedication, focused on the mad hatter Carothers... .

In this 2000 photo, Spring Grove players workout in their former football stadium, with the Glatfelter paper plant looming large. The team now plays in new digs - Papermakers Stadium - located near the new high school. (See related photo below.) Background posts: Private, public interests built Lake Marburg for manufacturing, recreation and Worker saved key historical surveys from Glatfelter pulping machine and White Woman of the Genessee captured 250 years ago in York County.

Glatfelters have been making news around York County for, well, more than 250 years.

Perhaps the most prominent Glatfelter is the Spring Grove papermaker. And just in the past few days, that Glatfelter was in the headlines because of a wonderful piece of land the company donated in Adams County and an air tank that ruptured (no one was injured) at its mill.

When Harry Potter climbs back into the news, it's certain to bring back ties of the Glatfelter as the maker of the pages that people so devotedly turn.

But the descendants of Casper Glattfelter - Glatfelters, Gladfelters, Glotfeltys, Clodfelters and Clotfelters - are known for more than papermaking... .

This roadside giant went up at Shatzer's Fruit Market in Franklin County's Hamilton Township this week. It's an example of roadside architecture, evident for years along the Lincoln Highway and Route 30, to attract attention to stops for motorists. Background posts: Mahlon Haines got in trouble at Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge and Old Lincoln Highway pulled 'Americans out of the mud' and Landmark Modernaire Motel built in Lincoln Highway's heyday.

A modern-day Roadside Giant has been birthed along Route 30 near Chambersburg.

Students at the Franklin County Career and Technology Center assembled an super-sized replica of a 1921 Selden apple truck, complete with crates of produce on the bed, according to the Chambersburg Public Opinion.

It's dimensions?

Eleven feet tall and 26 feet long.

Such oversized structures have been part of old-road architecture for years.

York County's Shoe House, near both Route 30 and the old Lincoln Highway, is a York/Adams example.

This tourist attractions are fighting to stay standing... .

The grassy Center Square in Jefferson has been a gathering place for years. That monument in the background is a rare statue in York County devoted to those who served in World War I. A historical marker will be dedicated at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 27. The Codorus Valley Area Historical Society is sponsoring the dedication that will observe this Civil War event, set for Center Square. Scott Mingus will be the guest speaker. Background posts: Washington Township, Jefferson Borough, Madison Avenue. How about an Obama Street in York County? and Abe Lincoln stopped at Hanover station:"We want to preserve history ... so it doesn't disappear' and Abandoned Codorus railroad not just any abandoned railroad.

When a new Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission marker observing Confederate and Union troop movement through Jefferson is dedicated later this month, it will mark just one of many times the southwestern York County borough and its square have made history.

Squares, by definition, are places where townspeople gather and do good things or dumb things - or places where outside forces do things to a community.

But not all town squares are equal.

And Jefferson's Center Square is more than equal, among many in York/Adams.

For example: ... .

Have you driven on Taxville Road in West Manchester Township and been startled by the figure of a Civil War soldier carved out of what used to be an oak tree?

Wonder what's going on there?

Fellow blogger Scott Mingus explains that wooden soldier and his dog stand outside the Civil War-era home of Dr. Jacob Eisenhart... .

This York Daily Record/Sunday News graphic represents the location of the series of earthquakes that have been felt in northeastern York County in the past year. So far, the impact of the earthquakes have not been as severe as "A BIG GROUND SWELL" that shook York County in March 1889. Background posts: Northern York area strawberry part of Neapolitan county and Photographer tramps to far reaches of York County and Franklintown second cousin to neighboring Dillsburg.

Recent Dillsburg-area earthquakes have been mere rumblings compared to the most memorable quake to hit York County - in 1889.

The multi-deck headline in the York Gazette on March 9, 1889, tells the story:

"A BIG GROUND SWELL"

"York Shaken by a Bona Fide Earthquake"

"A Tall Local Sensation"

"Bricks Fall From Chimneys And Dishes Rattle"

"BUILDINGS VIBRATE"

"Pianos Emit Weird and Mysterious Sounds"

"The SHAKE AT OTHER POINTS"

"Windows Rattled at Gettysburg - Lancaster and Old Berks Feel the Shock - Baltimore Touched"

"OTHER POINTS FEEL THE TREMOR."

The Gazette reported that the streets were deserted, but as soon as it was felt, men, women and children rushed shrieking into the street... .

When you see something with June Grove's name on it, you know the research is sound.

So, her latest work is certain to move York County historical enterprise ahead.

Columnist Lori Badders wrote about Grove's latest work in the Weekly Record, circulating in the southern part of York County.

Grove's research is concentrated in that area.

Badders wrote:

The Hess School on Rathton Road in Spring Garden Township is pictured here in 1926. (See two "after renovation" photos below.) Background posts: How one York County school district emerged from 1950s merger and Northeastern York County's Paddletown: Children paddled back and forth to visit grandma and All YT Square posts on one-room schools.

It's a simple equation.

Old schoolhouse + sweat equity = Lovely private residence.

Col. William H. Beckner of York purchased the old Hess School in 1936, and renovated it into a home in 1937.

The Beckner family sold the 416 Rathton Road building in the late 1960s

William Beckner's son, Martin, regrets that he did not talk to his father about the old school when the colonel was still alive.

Martin Beckner is looking for one piece of information, in particular... .

This map from York County Heritage Trust archives shows a branch of the main trolley line between York and York Haven ran from Manchester to Mount Wolf. Bradley Rentzel writes in his "History of Mount Wolf" that the trolley line ran from 1903 to 1937. The Mount Wolf depot sat next to the Market Street bridge near the Northern Central Railway-Pennsylvania Railroad crossing. Background posts: Wolf Man. Wolfchester. No, the Village of Mount Wolf and Caeserville, named after ex-slave, flourished as lumber center and When York County undertakers served as woodworkers ... and vice versa.

For years, newspapers were delivered to York County's hinterlands via trolley car.

In particular, I remember reading Bradley Rentzel's account about their delivery to Mount Wolf.

"The first trolley car arrives at 5:30 a.m. from York with one or two workmen who head for the Wire Cloth plant," Rentzel wrote in "History of Mount Wolf." "A paper carrier picks up a bundle of papers, The York Gazette, which he immediately starts distributing. The first stop is at the Henry B. Hoff home."

What I never connected, until recently, was how the trolley got to Mount Wolf. The main line ran through Manchester, some distance away.

Then I noticed a map of the trolley system in York County, and a brief perusal showed a trolley spur exiting the main line at Manchester and terminating in Mount Wolf... .

Bryan Bennett looks demonstrates how to pan for gold in York County's Conewago Township earlier this year. Modern-day prospectors are seeking a permit to dredge the Conewago Creek for gold. (See photo of dredge below.) Background posts: Conewago crossing near Manchester hot spot for years and Old York County Boy Scout camp still teaching lessons and Does Washington Township's 'The Pickets' link with Civil War?.

York County sent forth a bunch of exuberant prospectors to seek California gold in 1849.

Well, their heirs are at work 150 years later, panning in Conewago Creek.

They're finding some flakes and recently asked the state for approval to use a small dredge to uncover more... .

This photo from John Wright restaurant in Wrightsville, Pa., is undated but it must come from the late 1920s because the Veterans Memorial Bridge opened in 1930. Notice the now-dismantled older bridge to the left and the temporary, construction bridge on the downstream side. Background posts: Wrightsville's overlooked attractions and When did Wrightsville ferry service end? and Nature had its way with short-lived York Furnace Bridge in southeastern York County.

A recent York Daily Record/Sunday News story on the restoration of lighting on the old Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge, known as the Veterans Memorial Bridge, brought applause from a commenter.

|"To me, the decision to restore the bridge is a no brainer," he wrote. "Let's do it!"

He also raised the question about when tolls were lifted from the Depression-era structure which carried the Lincoln Highway across the Susquehanna River:

This story from the York Daily Record on May 31, 1992, tells about a York County junkman's find of evidence in the murder case of Susan Reinert in 1979. One of the defendants in this dramatic case, Jay C. Smith, died last week. Background posts: West York ritualistic suicide forgotten by many, but investigators remember anand Longtime district justice: 'You can wait for my book' and Witman murder among York County's most notorious crimes.

The crime story made headlines in Pennsylvania for years.

Joseph Wambaugh extended the case's international reach with his portrayal in the 1987 book "Echoes in the Darkness."

The case spawned a TV mini-series.

And a York County man played a role in the case.

"Jay C. Smith, 80, the former Upper Merion High School principal convicted of a teacher's shocking 1979 murder, then freed from death row by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1992, died Tuesday," the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Smith was implicated in the murders of Upper Merion teacher Susan Reinert and her two children and sent to death row.

And the find of the York County junkman helped free him... .

The log-and-mortar George Heiss House, near Railroad, Pa., was built about 1830. It was disassembled in 1993 with the hope it would be restored nearby along the York County Heritage Rail Trail. Background posts: Hames made in Shrewsbury Township's Hametown fueled early American horsepower and Old Shrewsbury house disappearing hand-hewn log, square nail at a time and Is mystery railroad the old Shrewsbury narrow gauge?

The Shrewsbury Area Preservation Society disassembled the log George Heiss House in 1993 with the idea to rebuild it as an attraction.

Whatever happened to the restoration efforts?

The "Codorus Valley Chronicles" provided the answer in its May edition:

June Lloyd wrote the book on a form of fraktur used to illustrate York County, Pa., birth and baptismal certificates in the 1700s and 1800s. A sample is found on the her book's cover. "Faith and Family" is available at the York County Heritage Trust. Background posts: PS Harrisburg grad school: 'Set my feet even more firmly on the path into the world of Fraktur' and The Four YorkBloggers write and Nature had its way with short-lived York Furnace Bridge in southeastern York County

Former York County Heritage Trust Archivist June Lloyd is looking for folks who have early American birth and baptismal certificates.

She compiling a database of these works of fraktur, known as taufscheine.

June told an audience at the Heritage Trust's Second Saturday program over the weekend that she has records of 1,500 such certificates and regularly adds to that total as she learns of them.

The following is a sampling of the points she made on this Pennsylvania Dutch (German) practice of commissioning such art to mark these important passages:

Two aging Civil War veterans flank a Lincoln impersonator in this photo from York County Heritage Trust files. The black veteran is thought to be John Aquilla Wilson, who enlisted in the United States Colored Troops, 32nd Regiment in 1864. Background posts: 'One of the shells found its mark' and Black soldiers from York County served in 'Glory' unit - Part I and 'Glory,' Part II.

Will descendants of Civil War vet John Aquilla Wilson please make yourself known?

That is the request from sponsors of a public rededication ceremony of four Civil War cannons at 2 p.m. Saturday at Hanover Junction.

According to my "East of Gettysburg," "Quil" Wilson lived in the New Park area of southeastern York County where he died at the age of 101 in 1942. He was buried in the Fawn AME Cemetery.

He enlisted as a 15-year-old in the 32nd Regiment, Volunteer Infantry, a black unit and became of scores of black soldiers from York County to serve in Northern forces.

Bob Rudy of event sponsor The Sons of Union Veteran of the Civil War (SUVCW) , Camp 33 (York), asked relatives to contact him at bob@bobrudy.com.

The big guns might have a familiar look to connoisseurs of cannons... .

Gov. George M. Leader signs plans on March 19, 1958, for constructing the dam which formed the lake that became the centerpiece of Gifford Pinchot State Park in northern York County. Legislative aid and brother Henry B. Leader looks on. The location was chosen, according to The Gazette and Daily where this photograph was taken, because it was equidistant between York and Harrisburg. Background posts: Gov. George Leader cleared dam plan and Historians, journalists draw on work of forebears and Central Pennsylvania histories make smart part of summer reading stack.

York County - specifically Newberry Township - was home to the first Pinchot road, a highway program designed in the early 1930s "to get the farmer out of the mud."

That was the start of construction of some 20,000 miles of roads in Pennsylvania designed to aid farmers and to create jobs during the growing Great Depression.

That program took then-Gov. Gifford Pinchot's name, as did the nearby state park that grew under the administration of York County native George Leader.

York County farmers might have felt some conflict at the time of the road program in 1931... .

John G. Coulson's "Hanover Raiders, Minor League Baseball in Hanover, Pennsylvania" tells about the life and times and players in the Blue Ridge League. His work nicely adds to the repository of the names of major league players who hailed from or played in York and Adams counties. Background posts: Before the York Revs came the Hanover Raiders and Big league baseball fans from everywhere remember Gene Crumling and York County sports a miniature Cooperstown.

At the moment of the Alantic League York Revolution's home opener for season No. 3, it's a good time to review former major leaguers with York roots as well as those who were here for a cup of coffee.

Atlanta Braves superscout Paul Snyder is from York County. So is Greg Gross. And Jim Spencer. And Gene Cumling. And Ken Raffensberger.

Robert Rohrbaugh might be the region's next major leaguer.

York Town Square just profiled Eddie Plank, the great southpaw 300-game winner.

Just when you think you exhausted the pool of York/Adams countians with Major League Baseball ties (click here for another long and impressive list) who were born here or lived here, you run across another batch... .

The Gazette and Daily reported a raid of a bawdy house in the Conewago Heights area between Manchester and York Haven in 1918. Preparing for the raid was the easy part. Bringing the proprietors into custody proved to be much more difficult and dangerous. Background posts: Conewago crossing near Manchester hot spot for years - Part I and Conewago crossing - Part II and Conewago crossing - Part III.

The Conewago crossing near Manchester has seen Confederate raiders and contented sunbathers.

Conewago Inn-goers have long sipped prized turtle soup. A 750-pound snapping turtle, carved with a chainsaw, posing in that area can evoke a thought about how many bowls of soup his real-life counterpart would have produced.

For years, children licked ice cream cones from Elm Beach's concession stand. Cold Springs Park played host to picnickers by the thousands.

Trolleys ran near there. Trains too.

And the crossing has long served as the symbolic boundary between York-oriented folks and Harrisburg-leaning commuters.

It's an example how so much has happened at a single point in York County. Multiply that point by thousands and you have a rich history.

And as the following story shows, crime is not just a city problem. For years, newspaper headlines have related rural misdeeds - often with dangerous implications - even in recreational areas such as the Conewago crossing.

The crossing was abuzz after a police raid on a house of ill repute - the "Liberty Bell" - in the spring of 1919... .

Glenn Grove of Delta is a member the Welsh choir Cor Rehoboth and a tour guide of Welsh burial markers made of slate. Here, he walks through the Slateville Presbyterian Church cemetery. 'Er Cof' is Welsh for 'In Memory.' Background posts: Stone structures tell York countians how their ancestors lived and Delta-Peach Bottom slate shingles: 'Nothing works as good as this' and Old York County town jails: 'They're kind of hidden history'.

Those intrigued by the Welsh in southeastern York County will have a chance this weekend - May 2-3 - to worship and sing with these actual and spiritual sons and daughters of slateworkers.

Homecoming this weekend will be centered in and around the Rehoboth Welsh Chapel.

"Twice a year a Gymanfa Ganu, or Welsh singing festival, is held - on the first Sunday in May and the second Sunday in October," the Delta Welsh Heritage Web site states.

"Visitors come from all over North America." ...

Eddie Plank, a Gettysburg native, won more than 300 games in his Major League Baseball career, the first lefthander to do so. Plank ended his career with 327 victories. He entered the majors in 1901 and retired in 1917. He became a hall-of-famer in 1946. Background posts: Story answers much about great athlete Hinkey Haines, including origin of his nickname and Southpaw could be next York/Adams major leaguer and Baseball's Methuselah played for White Roses.

A Gettysburg restaurant recently has themed native son and baseball Hall-of-Famer Eddie Plank.

"Gettysburg is a town that lives on the dead, their legends, speeches and actions.
Most restaurants, gift shops and museums have themes that deal with the borough's famous battlefield and presidential history," blogger Pat Abdalla wrote under the headline, Finding a niche with Eddie Plank.

"Restaurant owner Bill Wills, however, has found a different niche in Gettysburg's history: Eddie Plank, a legendary baseball player who was born and lived in the town."

This attention on Plank brings to mind a review of an article in "National Pastime" on Plank.

That York Sunday News article (7/25/04) debunked some myths about Plank, the first southpaw to win more than 300 games in the majors... .

The Modernaire Motel, built in 1949 to serve Lincoln Highway motorists before the Route 30 by-pass went in, sits at a prime spot on East Market Street at Mount Zion Road. Patrons used to enter the motel, according to Lincoln Highway expert Brian Butko, on the art deco building's rounded corner. But later, the entrance was moved to the side. Background posts: York County ... 'A smorgasbord of architectural styles' and Just try to resist studying this memory-tugging photograph and Coca-Cola out in Springetts... self-storage space is real thing and Change flattens Stony Brook's drive-in, humpback bridge.

Richard E. Zimmerman Sr. was a war hero and banker, well known around town.

And his recent death reminded York County folks of how he was best known - as longtime owner of the Modernaire Motel on East Market Street.

York Daily Record/Sunday News writer Mike Argento noted (4/10/09) that Zimmerman's stint in banking including time as manager of the Round Bank, now M & T's Queensgate branch.

Zimmerman left banking in 1966 to take over the round-sided Modernaire.

He thought it would be interesting, Argento wrote.

Argento told about one such interesting incident:

This video, part of the York Daily Record/Sunday News, "Remember" oral history series captures the cigarmaking industry - a major employer in small towns throughout York County. Background posts in 'Remember' series: In the shadow of disaster: York County and its newspaper tested 30 years ago and Great Depression work: 'It was the largest thesis in the history of the history department' and Readers tell about those blizzards of 1993, 1996.

People don't think of the rival boroughs of Red Lion and Dallastown working together.

But 84-year-old Flo Neff unwittingly informed viewers of the York Daily Record/Sunday News "Remember" series about an early 20th-century form of regionalization.

It involved the ubiquitious cigarmaking business, the most recent topic in the series.

Here is her transcribed audio clip: ... .

This view in Manchester Township is taken from a development, crosses farmland and runs into more development. Farmland preservation is taking hold, although non-farm use of land surpassed agricultural use 25 years ago. (See additional photo below.) Background posts: A York County story: Sprawl leaves problems in its wake and Demolished Red Lion Grange Hall still tells tale of changing York County and From Meadowbrook Mansion to York County farmhouse and All farm & fields posts from the start.

YorkCounts correctly believes farmland preservation is a key quality-of-life indicator in York County.

"York Countians value open space as a matter of principle and honor farmland in concert with our heritage," the coalition stated in its recent report. "Preserving farmland means protecting not only the agricultural sector of the economy, which is still vibrant in York County, but also the very look and feel of the place where we live."

Fortunately, YorkCounts' stats show a trend line of acres of York County farmland gaining protection faster than population is growing... .

The demolished building in foreground is the bath house for Springwood Park near Yoe in the aftermath of the Flood of 1933. According to the booklet 'Picture Memories, York Flood 1933,' Mill Creek's waters carried the structure 100 feet off its foundation, and it broke into two sections when it struck a telephone pole. Half of it is in the swimming pole, at left. Nothing is left of Springwood Park, but the still-standing house, right, helps locate it. The house is identifiable today by its distinctive second-story windows. Background posts: Old Ma & Pa Railroad trestle may again carry passengers - on bicyles - some day and 19th-century mines gave Ore Valley its name and One-room schools: 'That's when things were good'.

The pool's sloping sides and cold, cold water make it memorable.

That was the 125-foot by 75-foot Springwood Pool along the road by the same name in York Township, between Chapel Church Road and Yoe.

It operated from the 1920s until 1954... .

Tom Fadely of Fadely's Auto Masters on West Market Street in West Manchester Township, is seen near a mural of the former Lincoln Highway Garage in 2004. Fadely was an admirer of the landmark garage, demolished to make way for a convenience store. York County artist Gary Gladfelter painted the mural, which reflects the cross-town Springettsbury Township garage in the 1930s. (See pictures of the garage from 1939 and 1950 below.) Background posts: Photo of trolley on Lincoln Highway passing through York's Continental Square and U.S. 30 Drag-O-Way, Part III: 'We would watch the dragsters on trailers head for Thomasville' and All Lincoln Highway posts from the start.

Check out a Lincoln Highway Web site, destined to be a repository for photos and postcards of the old coast-to-coast highway that passed through the heart of York County.

The road today in York County is known as Route 462 or Market Street or Route 30 or even sometimes the Lincoln Highway.

There's some York County material in there including a nifty map of the highway between Lancaster and Gettysburg... .

Workers construct a platform under the Susquehanna River's Norman Wood Bridge in the summer of 2008. The platform aided painters working on the bridge, a dizzying height above the river bed. Background posts: How many Amish have crossed the bridge from Lancaster to York County? and Bridge painters stalled: 'Everybody's looking for the eagles ... nobody has seen any' and For years, folks have eyed amazing, destructive Susquehanna River ice jams.

Scott Mingus made a quick aside that said much during a speech to the York County Civil War Roundtable in March.

John B. Gordon's Confederates marched in late June 1863 to the bridge spanning the Susquehanna River between Wrightsville and Columbia.

That bridge was the only one standing between Harrisburg and the Maryland Line.

Just a few years earlier - in 1857 - wind and ice had knocked down a bridge at York Furnace in southeastern York County... .

One of the original rails remains on the old Stewartstown Railroad bed. Background posts: Stewartstown Railroad: 'Truly a unique entity in the state, and possibly, the nation' and 'Yesteryears' southern York County sites and All Stewartstown-related posts from the start.

Doug Winemiller is one of the leading preservationists working to get the Stewartstown Railroad operating again.

In past e-mails, he's noted that many of the original rails are still in place on the line, a shortline that hauled agricultural products between Stewartstown and points east with the Northern Central Railroad at New Freedom.

He included a photo to prove his point... .

In this 2000 York Daily Record file photo, a Dover Area High School student demonstrates the Empathy Belly. The 37-pound unit is designed to simulate a pregnancy, a preventative method to educate about teen pregnancy used in area schools. Background posts: High school graduation, YorkCounts quality-of-life indicator: Rising after a low start and York County quality-of-life groups seeking to regain magic cooperation of York Plan and Who will lead the York area in the future?.

Although York County's teen birth stats are falling, York City's figures have been at or near the top of Pennsylvania's list for years.

In 2006, for example, about 22 percent of the city's births were to teen mothers, top in the state, according to Pennsylvania Coalition to Prevent Teen Pregnancy figures.

This sobering topic came up again when YorkCounts addressed the topic in a recent report.

The teen birth situation got so bad in the early 1990s that the pregnancy prevention officials implemented a plan that added a smile to a serious problem.

It was called the Great York County Sex Out, and it attracted international attention... .

Dr. Philip A. Hoover's 1994 book is full of insight about 20th-century life in York County. Background: Tobacco usage, YorkCounts quality-of-life indicator: Rooted in York County's past and High school graduation, YorkCounts indicator: Rising after a low start and York County group preserving Pennsylvania Dutch language, heritage.

Teen pregnancy is a problem in York County, although the rate is falling, according to a recent YorkCounts report.

But it's long been a problem in York County. And the rate was fueled from the three corners of York County.

Here's the quick skinny, as found in my recent York Sunday News column (3/29/09):

Conewago Township's Rudy's School, then a private residence, sustained damage in this 2006 fire. Education in these one-room schools ended before high school, contributing to low high school graduation rates years later. Background posts: One-room school days fascinate history fans and Little school house in Hanover: A story of the circus and coal room and 18th-century mines gave Ore Valley its name.

A YorkCounts report indicates that most York County public school districts have shown gradual improvement in graduation rates.

Still, the 2000 Census shows that one out of five York countians do not have high school degrees.

Don't blame that entirely on the York City School District, where graduation rates fall in low 60-percent range (and improving.) ...

Starview United Brethren church -- now a United Methodist Church -- as it looked in 1914. A cigar factory, ubiquitious around turn-of-the 20th century York County, is seen at left. The church is now a United Methodist congregation. Background posts: York Daily Record columnist Jim Hubley's last piece: 'Good luck weeding out tobacco' and Mother Goose teaches York County history lessons and York County cigars: 'They contained a vast amount of nicotine'.

Ten-year-old YorkCounts has again added to community discussion in teeing up 38 quality-of-life measurements.

Important, that is, because if issues facing York County aren't tracked, it's difficult to assess progress.

Indeed, several indicators in the March 20 report show that the quality of life is improving in the county.

But, of course, while some categories work, others need work.

A vast amount of work.

To tackle many community issues, the YorkCounts coalition and other local leaders are facing decades of decisions that affect the quality of life today for better or worse.

So, I've provided brief historical background on six indicators, which we'll explain in this and future York Town Square posts, to show how the past and the present may link up.

First, tobacco usage in York County:

Propaganda posters, as they were then called, helped sell patriotic ideas during World War II. This poster promotes Victory Gardens, but the posters ranged from loose lips sink ships to recycling themes. (See additional poster below.) Background posts: 20 questions and answers to prove your York County WWII smarts and Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking York County residents often conversed with German POWs and Jamaican fruit pickers worked York County orchards in World War II .

Victory Gardens, 21st-century style, may make a comeback as Americans cope with the recession this summer.

The gardens represented an important part of military strategy in World War II. The idea was that if homefront Americans could grow enough to feed themselves, the government could concentrate on feeding the troops.

This excerpt from my "In the Thick of the Fight" describes the World War II-era gardening boom:

A meteor shower amazed - and frightened - York countians in 1833. But it left behind nothing like the meteorite found in 1907 in the Shrewsbury area. Here, the Perseid Meteor Shower shower visit the skies in a photograph published in the York Daily Record/Sunday News in 2004. Background posts: Iron-mine-turned-into-party-spot turned into York County park and Site filled with wealth of York County geological info and Quarrying in Delta-Peachbottom.

Dillsburg is experiencing more than its share of earthquakes recently.

According to one count, about 325 tremors were reported in the Dillsburg area between Oct. 3 and early February.

But such natural phenomenons are not new in York County.

A natural event - the Leonid meteor shower - scared thousands in 1833... .

For years, a hame was displayed on a sign in Leon Saubel's front yard in the Shrewsbury Township (Pa.) village of Hametown. The display has been taken down. Background posts: Codorus collector exhibits collection of conveyances - wheels and sleighs and 'I didn't know a peach tree from an apple tree, but we learned quickly.' and Trees commemorate World War I I vets.

In putting up the recent post on a Hametown one-room school and its upcoming reunion, it occurred to me that viewers might not know how the school's host village received its name.

Hametown between Shrewsbury and Loganville on the Susquehanna Trail was a major center for the making of hames.

Hames, along with collars and traces, form the pulling part of a horse's harness. (Other parts of a harness - a bridle, for example - relate to guiding the horse.)

J. Emory Seitz, whose great grandfather founded the village's hame-making factory circa 1850 defined a hame in a 1970 letter: ...

Candidate Barack Obama took a tour of the Voith Siemens Hydro Power Plant in York in September 2008. In visiting York County, Obama stepped on soil familiar to his family. Background posts: Exhibit features artifacts detailing presidential visits to York County and In 2008, 8 top candidates or their families campaigned in York County and When York County rolled up its red carpet to people of color.

President William McKinley and Richard Nixon have family links to York County. That information has been out there for years.

But "Trust Talk," newsletter of the York County Heritage Trust, broke new ground in exploring local links to the family of Barack Obama - and former president Lyndon Johnson.

According to the newsletter, Both Obama and Johnson descend from Philip Ament, a York County native... .

Phyllis Chisler's rendition of Hametown School serves as the focal point of the cover of Joseph D. Boose's book on the one-room school. The painting was entered in the York County Painter's contest of York County one room schools in 1963. Background posts: The Outhouse Rules - York County, circa 1935 and Northeastern York County's Paddletown: Children paddled back and forth to visit grandma and One-room school reunions preserve educational culture of thousands of York countians.

Gov. Rendell has called for the state's 500 districts to implode into 100.

This is not the first time a call for school consolidation has gone out.

In post-World War II York County, 32 districts merged into 15, according to the booklet "York County: An Overview."

What actually happened in the 1950s when all this consolidation took place?

Only a bridge pier remains today of the trolley line from York to York Haven, cut back to North York on June 1, 1932. The pier sits near the once bustling Cold Springs Park and Elm Beach. Background posts: Conewago crossing near Manchester hot spot for years and Conewago crossing, Part II and Big Conewago serves as physical, symbolic divider of York County culture.

Sue Shiflett of East Berlin is looking for photographs of Elm Beach, the popular swimming spot on the Conewago Creek near Manchester.

The beach - actually a concrete deck extending from the bank - operated on the north side of the Conewago across from Cold Springs Park, destination for trolley excursions.

"My great grandfather, Fred Spiese, operated a swim suit rental and restaurant at Elm Beach," she wrotes.

Today, Elm Beach is abandoned and Cold Springs Park developed. A silent pier from a long-one trolley bridge stands guard... .

Former Hanoverian Ann Roth's photograph is seen next to a sketch from 'The English Patient.' She earned an Oscar for her costume work in that film. The Hanover (Pa.) Area Historical Society will display some of Roth's sketches in March at the Warehime-Myers Mansion in Hanover. Background posts: York County continuing ed classes offered for matures who love to learn and Cameron Mitchell, Craig Sheffer, Dixie Chick born here and Young Alan Alda performed along the Codorus? Researcher checking that out.

The Hanover Area Historical Society is exhibiting sketches by famed costume designer Ann Roth this month.

In so doing, the society is taking a step the 20-something historical groups throughout York County should emulate: Embrace popular culture as part of the historical enterprise.

Communities throughout York County have produced dozens of celebrities... .

Longtime Cross Mill operator Harry Cross is seen in this file photo in the York Daily Record/Sunday News archives. Cross transferred ownership of the mill to York County in 1979. (See photo of the mill-turned-museum below.) Background posts: Philip King house jewel of old York paper mill site and Felton landmark: 'The mill at one time was gossip central' and Glen Rock Mill Inn: 'They are happy to see it open again'.

York County history enthusiasts Ray Kinard and Terry Koller have embarked on the project of visiting York County grist mills.

So far, they've visited dozens.

The gold standard for studying York County mills is the massive work of Grant Voaden, an inventory of 300 mills found in the York County Heritage Trust archives.

Kinard has a copy of a Voaden inventory, but the document does not have the precise location of the mills.

That would aid the K-Team's tramping... .

Fastnachts (fost-nokts) await transport to customers at the Stewartstown Senior Center today, Fastnaught Day. (See additional York Daily Record/Sunday News photos below.) Background posts: Classes offer rare op to learn Pennsylvania Dutch - Part II and PS Harrisburg grad school: 'Set my feet even more firmly on the path into the world of Fraktur' and Noted Pennsylvania German art historian will be missed.

In a York Daily Record/Sunday News story today (2/24/09), writer Barb Krebs answered two basic questions about Fastnachts:

Question 1: What is a Fastnacht, in the first place?

Answer: A Fastnacht is a yeast-raised potato pastry that is deep fried like a doughnut. The name fastnacht is German for "fast night," and the tradition of making them began with the Pennsylvania Dutch as a way to use up the lard, sugar, fat and butter that are forbidden during Lent.

Question 2: What makes a fastnacht different from a regular doughnut? ...

Ken Stough, left, instructor for the Pennsylvania Dutch language classes, talks with Butch Reigart during a class at Providence Place near Dover. Reigart, formerly of York County, is teaching an upcoming Lancaster-based Pennsylvania German course. Background posts: Der Belsnickel of the Pennsylvania Dutch: 'He looked scary and carried a sack of presents' and Classes offer rare op to learn Pennsylvania Dutch and York County group preserving Pennsylvania Dutch language, heritage.

People are fascinated with Pennsylvania Dutch language, a dialect of German spoken for decades - centuries - in York County and other parts of Pennsylvania.

Today, the dialect is most prevalent among the Mennonite and Amish, the latter a growing population group in southeastern York County.

According to a news release, the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society is offering 10-week classes in the Pennsylvania Dutch language and culture... .

Several years ago, artist Lindsey Keeney gave this view of American Revolution prisoner-of-war Camp Security in present-day Springettsbury (Pa.) Township. British prisoners were detained inside the 15-foot stockade, and some would have lived in huts on the hillside. Background posts: Camp Security: 'The camp consisted of log huts and a large stockade' and POW Camp Security site: 'There's a lot of history waiting to be discovered' and Old house boasts all kinds of historic hooks.

Developer Tim Pasch has introduced a housing plan for land once covered by POW Camp Security called "The Plantation."

So the debate over the hallowed ground - reportedly the last American Revolution POW site not yet developed - boils down to this:

- The developer has located the Camp Security site and won't build on it.

- Preservationists say the camp site has not been identified, and 30-plus acres of open space simply won't cover it... .

Camp Ganoga hasn't operated since 1945, but the old Strinestown-area Boy Scout camp continues to evoke memories. Here, a group of Scouts sits on the Camp Ganoga waterfront - Conewago Creek. Background posts: Old Ganoga Bridge: 'It is a highly unusual sight in York County' and Once popular Ganoga Bridge now lightly used York County landmark and Big Conewago serves as physical, symbolic divider of York County culture.

Mixed-race gatherings weren't an everyday sight in York County in the first half of the 20th century.

In collecting photos for my black history book "Almost Forgotten" at the York County Heritage Trust, I was a bit surprised to see photos of white and black campers at old Camp Ganoga on the Conewago Creek.

I asked around about that... .

Advertisements such as these were common in York County newspapers of the 1920s. Background posts: Criticism of Geno's leads to 'commie' claim and Leonard Pitts speaking in York, Pa.: Sometimes, history hurts and York, Pa.: 'It's a midsize city with an interesting history'.

In recent years, the Ku Klux Klan has tried to sound mainstream - against abortion, drugs and pornography, for example.

But such stabs for legitimacy are not new.

Terry Koller from Dover Township phoned about a family member - his mother - who received such a taste of the Klan operating in the mainstream. And that was early in the 20th century... .

A caboose made its way from Lancaster to the yard of Markey Trucking near Dallastown, Pa., in January. Eventually, it will be moved to the Red Lion Train Station Museum. Background posts: Old Baltimore tunnel an intriguing reminder of the 'Ma' in Ma & Pa Railroad and Ma & Pa rabbit trains: 'I hope they thoroughly hosed out the cars.' and York County railroading: 'Something that gets into your blood'.

Red Lion is named after a tavern - a tavern that still stands but has morphed into a private residence.

So things tilt toward red there - the high school team colors, for example.

When a blue caboose destined for the restored Ma & Pa Railroad Station in Red Lion arrived in the area, it was natural for a news reporter to ask about any future paint job... .

Is the tall man with the stovepipe hat, center background, President Abraham Lincoln at Hanover Junction? That's been long debated. But hundreds will gather at the Junction station from 1-7 p.m. today. Check out www.yorkcountyparks.org or call 840-7440.

About a year ago, it ocurred to me that I was blogging a lot on Abraham Lincoln's links to York County.

His influence in York County was - and is - great... .

The best place to start in researching York County (Pa.) Pfaltzgraff pottery is "Pfaltzgraff, America's Potter." The book tells the story of the former York County pottery makeer from its founding in the early 1800s through 1989, the date the book was published. It's available via the York County Library System, www.yorklibraries.org. Background posts: Who are York County's most influential citizens? - Part II and Pottery put the other Foustown - the one in Manchester Township - on the map and Original WSBA station hands mic to demolition team.

The Pfaltzgraff arm of Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff made pottery of all shapes and sizes for all kinds of uses for decades and decades.

Page through the book "America's Potters," and you'll see pottery used for Christmas ornaments, cookie jars, ash trays, laundry sprinklers and door stops.

But nothing in there about dragons, a point of query by Julie Patterson... .

Two statues at the York Post Office play on a Thanksgiving theme. Here, sculptor George Kratina of Brooklyn, N.Y., shows a father and daughter 'Singing Thanksgiving.' (See photo of second statue below.) Background posts: Of dinosaurs and big blue mailboxes and Railroad Borough: 'Probably no other town in America has a horse heaven' and Could York bus drivers also point out historic sites?

The York Post Office continues to reduce operations in the downtown.

It has a new facility in the York County Industrial Park, way away from the downtown. (Add that to the nearby unemployment office, and it's interesting how the federal government is one of the major supporters of sprawl.)

No doubt the South George Street post office eventually will be emptied out. Some articles in the York Daily Record have speculated on future uses for the landmark building - as a new city hall or for a restaurant... .

The Farmers Market at Penn and Market in York sustained damage after a driver ran into it in 1992. Efforts are under way to reinvigorate the markethouse, the oldest of five such markets in York. Background posts: Don't know much about local market history? and There were 5, count 'em, 5 York markets and York's Central Market sells steak ... and sizzle.

A grass roots group is forming to strengthen the oldest York markethouse, the Penn Street Farmers Market.

To the eye, the markethouse, constructed just after the Civil War, has struggled in recent years.

Among other things, the group is pushing a niche product that was the mainstay of York's five covered markets since they started cropping up in the last half of the 19th century - fresh food... .

Dauphin County's The Star Barn will someday find a new home in Lebanon County. Background posts: Barn owner: 'You cannot stay stressed here for long' and Horn Farm: 'A very special living history memorial to those hardy ancestors' and Gettysburg-area National Register homestead gives snapshot of pressures facing farms.

Last time we checked in on The Star Barn, preservationists were not ready to release the site of its new home.

Indeed, the York Daily Record/Sunday News urged its relocation to the Horn Farm, a budding agricultural museum in Hellam Township.

Too bad it's not coming to York County.

But at least it's not going to fall down.

According to the York Weekly Record, the 1872 barn that many folks see on their way to Harrisburg International Airport is slated to be relocated to a Lebanon County site... .

Here's the Weekly Record's short story (1/3/09), part of a larger spread on area barns:

In 1949, the Rev. Dr. C. Guy Stambach works on a painting that now hangs in Dallastown's Bethlehem United Methodist Church. A similar painting survived a devastating fire at Shenberger's Chapel, another United Methodist congregation, in Chanceford Township in southeastern York County. (See below for Paul Kuehnel's video and still photos on the fire and the painting.) Background posts: Church's landmark: 'A man named Beech carving a beech tree, it seemed too perfect' and People of varying religious groups founded York County and York's worst blaze struck 150 years ago.

In inspecting their burned out church, chagrined Shenbarger Chapel members are marveling that a painting behind the pulpit survived the blaze.

The painting of Jesus is one of many brought to area churches via the hand of pastor/artist C. Guy Stambaugh.

Coincidentally, the York Daily Record/Sunday News (1/30/09) had run a feature on the Rev. Stambaugh just last week... .

This is a closeup of the Shenbarger chancel painting that survived the blaze.

Ruth Myers, left, and Ruby Myers, right, twin 5-year-old Thomasville-area sisters sit in a Chase quarter ton pickup truck 1948. At that time, the truck was 50 years old. This photo was published in The (York, Pa.) Gazette and Daily in June 1948. Background posts: Codorus collector exhibits collection of conveyances - wheels and sleighs and Can York's longtime claim as 'Detroit of the East' be proven? and Hart-Krafts of York, Pa.: 'Most of the trucks were used and abused'.

The photo from 51 years ago shows a truck of 50-year-old vintage. Or is it a just a farm wagon with an engine jury-rigged on it?

Well, early automobiles evolved from wagons and that explains why York County had so many automakers in the first 20 years of the 20th century. As a region with many major roads going back to its earliest years, York County played host to hordes of travelers and, thus, had many wagon makers.

The photo caption told the news of E.A. Krug's purchase of the quarter-ton pickup truck... .

The once-beautiful Ganoga Bridge, the span that divided Boy Scout Camp Ganoga into two parts, may be coming down.

And at least one area preservationist is not happy about it.

Barb Raid of Historic York wants PennDOT to leave the old structure standing when its replacement eventually opens to traffic.

And the owner of the old campgrounds says its replacement will be unremarkable architecturally.

The old bridge bears many interesting features including the remains of 12 lamp posts in honor of the Scout Laws... .

Joe Paterno and President George H.W. Bush stumped at a Northern York County fundraiser for U.S. Senator Arlen Specter in June 1992. This shows part of the York Daily Record's coverage of the event. Background posts: Presidents visit York, alive and via funeral trains and York native to captain new carrier USS Bush and Bill Goodling: Jerry Ford might have been the most important president he served with.

Joe Paterno regularly visits York County for recruiting trips, fundraisers or political appearances.

Not political appearances for himself, of course.

But primarily for two former presidents named Bush... .

This old photo captures the presence of hooded Klansmen in Shrewsbury, a regular sight in small towns across York County, Pa., in the first half of the 20th century. Background posts: Meeting of riot victims brought hope for racial accord and York's 221 E. Princess St. home to telling ironies and York Charrette or charade?.

For years, I've checked in on a small stained-glass window at a northwestern York County church.

Lettering in a lower pane indicates that the Ku Klux Klan sponsored it in the KKK's local heyday in the first third of the 20th century.

Late last year, I stopped by, and it appeared that the lettering had been obliterated... .

This replacement sign now stands near the former site of Camp Security, an American Revolution prisoner of war camp, in Springettsbury Township. Background posts: POW Camp Security site: 'There's a lot of history waiting to be discovered' and Signs point to York, Pa., 'Prize of the Confederacy,' and other York/Adams Civil War wonders and Windows into York blog offers Springettsbury's Schultz House datestone update.

Vandals meant the theft of a sign in 2007 marking the site of a former British POW camp for bad.

But Friends of Camp Security reacted for the public good... .

This photograph showing Sen. Harry S. Truman during his 1944 visit to York County, Pa., came from longtime York Daily Record columnist Jim Hubley's "Off the Record." Truman was in York for a political speech. As for street-level memories of this respected president, he left none behind. But many other presidents have, as recounted below. Background posts: Richard Nixon's visit to his namesake park sparks memories and York-area woodcarver made life-size JFK statue. But where is it now? and This working list details presidential visits to York and Adams counties.

York Sunday News columnist Gordon Freireich (1/23/08) has issued a challenge for York countians.

We have places named after many of the 44 U.S. presidents.

Maybe York County should be the first county in the nation name a street after President Barack Obama.

He brought back research from a 1996 column that showed streets and places with presidential names taken from our nation's chief executives.

It will reinforce with viewers here how much this county draws on its past:

The Ma & Pa Railroad is such an intriguing historical attraction in York County that it's easy to forget that Maryland is part of its name - that the line has a busy past south of the border.

Baltimore Sun writer Jacques Kelly provided a reminder in a Jan. 18 piece about the re-use of the former Ma & Pa tunnel in Charm City.

For more information on the Ma & Pa Railroad, click here.

Workers are dismantling the Felton Mill after it was discovered to be unstable and concerned many in that southeastern York County borough as a fire hazard. (See additional photos below.) Background posts: Glen Rock Mill Inn: 'They are happy to see it open again' and Part of York County's past, Biesecker Mill, goes on the auction block and Pioneering sisters operated York County grist mill near Cross Roads.

The Felton Mill draws draws attention to the heyday of those water-powered buildings on nearly every stream of size in this region.

Thanks to the efforts of researcher Grant Voaden, more than 270 York County mills and 50 in Adams County are documented.

His work rests in a four-draw filing cabinet at the York County Heritage Trust archives, 250 E. Market St., York... .

Georg Sheets' 'York County: To the Setting of the Sun' includes this Bill Schintz photograph of Jimmy Carter's visit to Lewisberry in 1974. (To see a list of other visits by presidents or presidental candidates, click here.) Background post: Former York countian has hand on Lincoln dollar, too and Abe Lincoln stopped at Hanover station:"We want to preserve history ... so it doesn't disappear' and York-area woodcarver made life-size JFK statue. But where is it now?.

Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter visited Lewisberry in northern York County in 1974.

York photographer Bill Schintz recalls Carter attended a rally at a barn... .

It's not obvious from the outside but this longtime southeastern York County, Pa., landmark, the Felton Mill, is coming down. York Daily Record/Sunday News photographer Paul Kuehnel tell the story via video. Background posts: Old Shrewsbury house disappearing hand-hewn log, square nail at a time and 'It's so sad to see such a great piece of architecture fall down' and Old Ma & Pa Railroad trestle may again carry passengers - on bicyles - some day

Even the man who operated the old mill in Felton isn't grieving the fact it's coming down.

It's a fire hazard, Donald Grove said of the old landmark of Civil War-era vintage.

Still, it's sad to see York County's old buildings coming down one by one. Or in the case of the Felton Mill, piece by piece.

A York Daily Record/Sunday News story (1/14/09) tells of its pending demise:

This page from The Gazette and Daily tells about President Franklin D. Roosevelt's appearance on his train's platform on its way through York in late May 1934. (To see a list of other presidential visits, click here.) Background posts: York-area woodcarver made life-size JFK statue. But where is it now? and Teddy Roosevelt in York: 'I know York county farmers are prosperous. Their barns are bigger than their houses' and Headline: 'Beards on Parade at Gettysburg (Battle) Field' .

President Franklin D. Roosevelt traveled through York County by train at least two times in the 1930s.

He waved from his private car but did not appear on the platform as he headed through Hanover to give his own Gettysburg Address at the Adams County battlefield on May 30, 1934. Crowds also lined the tracks in Menges Mills and Spring Grove to catch a glimpse of the president.

But on his way back through York, he stood on his train car's platform, waving to a crowd estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 people. The train did not stop... .

Hanover's Eichelberger Performing Arts Center is the heir to Eichelberger Senior High School. Background posts:Historical marker may soon point to Jefferson square's famous visitors and York freedman Aquilla Howard chosen to honor slain Abraham Lincoln and Abandoned Codorus railroad not just any abandoned railroad.

This is a story with many connections, centering around a southwestern York County businessman by the name of Eichelberger and how history has considerably shortened his name.

Hanover Junction, about 10 miles south of York, is so named because the rail line to Hanover met the Northern Central Railroad there.

The Hanover Branch was the line Abraham Lincoln took on his way to and from Gettysburg where he delivered his famous address.

A force behind the Hanover Branch for many years was Abdiel W. Eichelberger, who some believed looked like Lincoln.

By the way, with a name like Abdiel, you can see why Eichelberger went by A.W... .

York Little Theatre moved to the former Elmwood Theater, its current location, in 1953. This photo was taken after renovations to the Belmont Street building in the 1960s. YLT celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2008. Background posts: Bomb group seeks Cameron Mitchell's WWII info and Add another to list of entertainers with York links and Former Hobbit House resident: 'We loved that house and the Elmwood neighborhood'.

It's a quirky little area, Spring Garden Township's Belmont Street.

It's sandwiched in there between and around the Elmwood Mansion and two Interstate 83 interchanges.

Melvin's, a hamburger stand and popular hangout, was nearby, before the interstate knocked that down.

Indeed, the interstate helped redefine the neighborhood.

In recent years, it's become lost, as retail, entertainment and residential options have moved farther out.

A York Daily Record/Sunday News editorial (1/09/09) used Belmont Street as an example of what happens to an area that sprawl leaves behind:

The Hanover Theater renovations are party completed, but now on hold. (See additional photo below.) Background posts: Young Alan Alda performed along the Codorus? Researcher checking that out and Carrie Nation in York: 'If you keep smoking those things ...' and Ella Fitzgerald's show was 'memorable, not Memorex'.

In the recent post Dallas Theatre perking along, but Stewartstown's Ramsay Theatre: 'It is really in bad shape', an e-mailer lamented the deterioration of the old movie theater in that southeastern York County town.

Well, another venerable old building in Hanover was also in bad shape until recent years. An investment group had been pouring money into the Hanover Theater until it suspended renovations pending evidence of a downtown revitalization plan, according to the Hanover Evening Sun.

The Hanover Theater opened in 1928 and operated as the State Theater for years... .

Red Lion cigarmaker Harry L. Haines represented York County in U.S. Congress for most of the 1930s. Background posts: 34 years ago, Congressman Goodling replaced Congressman Goodling, Who were these congressional visitors to York Town, anyway? and Sixty years ago, Dem upset GOP incumbent for York County congressional seat.

Hinkey Haines' athletic successes sometimes overshadowed his accomplished father Harry Haines.

Harry was a cigarmaker - owner of three factories - and a successful amateur athlete around the region. He was mayor of Red Lion in the 1920s.

And he was York County's Democratic congressman in most of the Depression era.

In fact, those were the days when congressional races were, indeed, races... .

For years, the Ma & Pa's Taylor's Trestle has been forgotten between Red Lion and Yoe. Now a budding Eagle Scout wants to help restore it. Background posts: Ma & Pa rabbit trains: 'I hope they thoroughly hosed out the cars.', Ma & Pa Railroad, Muddy Creek Forks draw fans and Yo! More support for Yoe vs. Yohe.

The summary on the back cover of George W. Hilton's "The Ma & Pa" nicely describes the winding railroad:

"Connecting Baltimore and York, the line had everything needed to endear itself to local residents and rail enthusiasts: picturesque equipment, marvelous scenary, antique passenger trains, handsome small-scale locomotives, and enough curves - 476 - for a railroad many times longer than its 77 miles."

The writer could also have added in "curving trestles... ."

Grace Tarbet, Ruth Miller, Thelma Nerlinger are on duty transferring calls at York Telephone and Telegraph's Stewartstown exchange in this photograph from The Gazette and Daily. On June 18, 1961, their long tenures ended when an automatic exchange was installed. Background posts: Miata, pool suggest changes in small-town Stewartstown, Fawn Township's magnificent Centre Presbyterian Church worthy of a looksee and Few know it, but digital computing's first pioneer George Stibitz was born in York, Pa.

Those days when an operator transferred local calls ended in York County in the early 1960s.

Stewartstown was the next-to-last exchange to convert to automatic dial service in June 1961, with Fawn Grove slated later in that year.

"No longer will a Stewartstown subscriber be able to ask an operator for the special accommodation of routing a call to some nearby place where that subscriber would be visiting," The Gazette and Daily reported.

Nine operators lost their jobs in that switchover... .

This photograph shows the Codorus Creek near Richland Avenue before Depression-era flood-control efforts changed its appearance. (Courtesy of York County Heritage Trust.) Background posts: Destructive flood of 1933 struck York County 75 years ago, It couldn't happen in York County? Women were trampled in Depression-era labor unrest and Bad economy turned York Safe and Lock toward lucrative defense work .

In a previous post Great Depression not only pinched in York County, it punched, I take a poke at the notion that the county somehow escaped the very tough times of the 1930s.

That assertion has come down over the years because no bank in York failed during the Depression.

No banks apparently failed in the city.

But using Charles Bloomfield's Millersville University master's research, I point out that 17 of York County's 46 banks either failed or reorganized.

This discussion caused Warren Miller of Hanover to inquire about which banks did, indeed, fail... .

Here's a hint to answer part of York County Smarts quiz, Part IV: This former York County legislator made history when she became the first woman elected to the General Assembly in the 1960s. (See additional photo below). York County smarts quiz, Part I, Part II, Part III.

Since its beginning, Pennsylvania has accomplished awesome results in the civilized arts -- more so than other areas of the United States of comparable size.

So says Philip Klein in his "History of Pennsylvania."

"Every region generates some creative people," he and co-author Ari Hogenboom wrote, "but Pennsylvania produced them by the hundreds."

Why?

Credit it to a diverse population, William Penn's quest for liberty and a varied, resource-rich geographic landscape.

Benjamin Franklin is Klein's Exhibit A of a Pennsylvania who showed original thought coupled with practical experiment.

All this could help explain why York countians have long made their mark on the state and national landscape... .

The Dallas Theatre is equipped with antique movie memorabilia, a pipe organ and heavy lush curtain shrouding the screen. It is one of the few small-town theaters still operating in York County. (See additional photo below.) Background posts: Miata, pool suggest changes in small-town Stewartstown, LBJ's, Lady Bird's visit a high point in Dallastown's history and Ella Fitzgerald's show was 'memorable, not Memorex' .

Dallastown's Dallas Theatre is one of the few functioning movie houses out of several that once dotted York County's small towns. The Glen Theatre in Glen Rock is another.

John Fishburne noticed another of those old small-town theaters in Stewartstown that is deteriorating.

"It is really in bad shape," he wrote... .

The Rosie the Riveter image could suggest to some that women worked outside the home for the first time in World War II. Actually, the Great Depression brought women into the work force in droves, paving the way for their wartime role as a key cog in the Arsenal of Democracy. Women aiding their families made up one-third of York's workers at the height of the Depression in 1933. Here, a woman runs a machine in this undated photo, courtesy of the York County Heritage Trust. Background posts: The real big York County house that little false teeth built, York County expert Dan Meckley: 'I refuse to be politically correct' and Valencia Ballroom became cool place during Depression.

Let's be clear.

Depressions, like recessions, are not desirable.

But history shows that good can come out of bad.

That was true of Joseph in the Bible when Potipher's wife set him up.

It is true in the Great Depression in York County, when many community institutions that delight today cropped up from damaged economic soil.

Can a fraction of this happen again during the current downturn?

The following adaptation from my book "Never to be Forgotten," show the devastation and renewal spawned by the Depression.

This post card view shows the "The Little Courthouse" sitting in its longtime home in Farquhar Park. It's sometimes called the "Statehouse," but that name is misplaced. The original Statehouse sat next to the Colonial Courthouse in York's Centre Square for about 50 years. Background posts: Display marks how York County courthouses evolved, Going to market a longtime York County pastime and Charles Dickens' coach from York to Harrisburg: 'A kind of barge on wheels'.

The trolley kiosk, affectionately called Teapot Dome, that sat in York's Continental Square for years has drawn plenty of attention recently as it is undergoing renovations.

It's involved in a similar journey taken about a decade ago by its longtime Continental Square partner, the Little Courthouse... .

This trolley in York's Continental Square is shown in the last year that such electrified cars ran in York County. York County's trolley system was already shaky entering into the Great Depression and did not make it through the 1930s. Background posts: York-area picture book not your typical coffee table publication, Smoketown a popular York County name in a century ago, and It couldn't happen in York County? Women were trampled in Depression-era labor unrest.

York County is probably no different than many heritage-minded places in trying to separate out areas in which it is historically different or even world famous.

In a previous post, Did York's Thanksgiving proclamation indeed create America's first Thanksgiving?, I explored one such claim.

I tried to give context to the claim that the first national thanksgiving occurred in York during Continental Congress' visit here. The summary point on this one is that no national consensus exists that recognized this local claim.

Just by way of contrast, a consensus can be found that the first battle of the American Revolution occurred in the Lexington-Concord outside Boston.

In a York Sunday News column (12/7/08), I dealt with another local notion: The Great Depression pinched but drew no blood in York County... .

With fewer jobs and companies pinching, labor unrest erupted around York County during the Great Depression. When a dispute struck a town, everyone was affected including spinoffs to the cigar-making industries, the Consumers Cigar Box Co. (seen here in this York County Heritate Trust photo). Background posts: York County cigars: 'They contained a vast amount of nicotine', Windsor: Home of 'stately old houses that may appear to be miniature castles' and Red Lion's Ebert Furniture: From bedroom suites to gunstocks.

The recent Black Friday trampling of a young employee at a New York Wal-Mart store by rushing shoppers makes one wonder how that could ever happen.

Well, it happened it York County in 1934 under different circumstances.

And it wasn't deadly.

But it hurt, and it was women who were trampled... .

An errant motorist ran into this steel bridge on Ridge Road at Bentz Mill Road in Washington Township in the northwestern tip of York County, causing the bridge to collapse. York Daily Record/Sunday News photographer Paul Kuehnel captured this unusual photo. Background posts: PennDOT not selling the Brooklyn Bridge but lesser structures on market , York County photo collection adds to historical record and Once popular Ganoga Bridge now lightly used York County landmark.

Take another of the picturesque steel bridge off of the books in York County.

A driver who allegedly had too much to drink struck a half truss bridge over the North Branch of the Bermudian Creek near the Adams County line recently.

Truss bridges are the Tinkertoy type with overhead steel beams... .

These distinguished gentlemen served as the board of directors of Delta's Peoples National Bank in 1930. The Depression was hard on banks in York County, too, as several rural banks failed. Charles Arthur Bloomfield gave this scorecard for bank failures in York County during the Depression: eight failures and nine reorganizations. Background posts: Events in 1777 helped tip Revolution toward patriots, Easter stories of sacrifice & selflessness and Bad economy turned York Safe and Lock toward lucrative defense work.

Tough economic times are taking some of the excitement away from today's Thanksgiving festivities.

Some of those facing the tough end of the economy might feel that there's no way out.

History helps show us that we've faced gloomy times before as a nation and have come out the other end generally for the better.

Consider the points made in this Thanksgiving Day editorial (11/26/08) in which I reflected on a moment when the world seemed to be piling on:

.

Cyrus Griest, an agent in the Underground Railroad and his wife are buried with other abolitionist Quakers in the Menallen Friends Meetinghouse, Adams County. Quakers in Adams and York counties were known to aid fugitives traveling along the Underground Railroad. Background posts: York's Goodridge House listed as site on Underground Railroad network, Research needed to unearth Underground Railroad in York County, Part II and Amanda Berry Smith: 'God's image carved in ebony'.

Debra Sandoe McCauslin is doing much to put facts behind Underground Railroad legends.

Her most recent efforts have produced a book exploring Yellow Hill, a black community in Adams County that served as a destination point for fugitives who had crossed the Mason-Dixon Line in an attempt to gain their freedom... .

Re-enactor Byron Wildasin was among members of the 16th Pennsylvania, Co. G, to support renovations to Hanover's Lincoln monument. The markers tells about the president's stop in that southwestern York County town on his way to deliver the Gettysburg Address. Background posts: York newspaper about Gettysburg Address: 'Mr. Lincoln made a joke or two ...', Historical marker may soon point to Jefferson square's famous visitors and Abandoned Codorus railroad not just any abandoned railroad.

Abraham Lincoln's links to York County are many and too often overlooked.

His train, sans Lincoln, passed through here on his way to the White House after his election. (He had taken another train to D.C. because for security reasons.)

Four years later, his funeral train, with Lincoln, stopped in York on its nation-wide tour.

In between, he changed trains at Hanover Junction, south of York, on his way too and from Gettysburg to deliver his famous address.

And along his way to and from Gettysburg, he passed through York County's countryside, steaming through Jefferson, Smith Station before pausing in Hanover... .

Welsh miners from the southeastern York County village of Coulsontown worshipped at the nearby Slate Ridge Presbyterian Church. Clearly, some of the slate they mined found its way into the church's cemetery as headstones (the darker markers), rather than the primary use for the stone - roofing shingles. (See additional photos below.) Background posts: Delta-Peach Bottom slate shingles: 'Nothing works as good as this' , Southeastern York County made for Sunday drive and Site filled with wealth of York County geological info.

When settlers legally moved into York County after 1730, they often constructed their homes out of the most-readily available building product.

Mostly, that was wood, and many of the log homes still standing around the county have long been covered with protective siding. But of course, most 1700s and 1800s log structures are long gone or are disappearing even today.

This strange site greeted motorists and other observers recently in southeastern York County. Background posts: Black soldiers from York County served in 'Glory' unit , Pentagram, 666 markings desecrate church and Stewartstown's historic rail station: 'Hopefully, we get things going soon' .

New Park's Jim Marsteller, has provided another visual treat.

Using his trusty Nikon, he captured a old prop plan on a flatbed truck.

"Not real sure where this plane is going, but have a good idea," Marsteller wrote in an e-mail... .

Jim Marsteller took this photo of Centre Presbyterian Church in New Park. Fawn Township residents believe that the church is an accurate gauge of life in the town. 'Things are going on all the time, every night of the week,' he was quoted in a caption for this photo appearing in the Weekly Record in 2007. 'Always something to do at church to spend time with others in our town and praise the Lord at the same time, together as a group, as a community.' Background posts: Stewartstown Railroad: 'Truly a unique entity in the state, and possibly, the nation' , Old Shrewsbury house disappearing hand-hewn log, square nail at a time and 'Yesteryears' southern York County sites - Part II.

Local architectural expert Scott Butcher knew for some time about the wonderful style of Centre Presbyterian Church, within a literal stone throw from the Maryland Line in New Park.

So he made the long trip from York to see the Dempwolf-designed, 1880s-era rural church building and received a treat... .

Butch Reigart of Columbia, Lancaster County, portrays der Belsnickel. The character was prototype of Santa Claus, abeit with a paradoxical well-intentioned mean streak. Background posts: York County group preserving Pennsylvania Dutch language, heritage, PS Harrisburg grad school: 'Set my feet even more firmly on the path into the world of Fraktur' and Hex book: How powwow doctors plied their craft.

"It was always fund on Christmas to have a visit of the 'Belsnickels.' They burst into the scene all dressed up and scattered popcorn and candy on the floor for us kids to get. If any of the older folks tried to pick it up, the Belsnickels would hit them over the back with a whip... ."

That quote from a York countians found in Georg Sheets' "Facts and Folklore of York County, Pennsylvania," pretty well sums up the carrot-and-stick approach of der Belsnickel, a forerunner to a much kinder and gentler Santa Claus... .

Wrightsville's Gene Crumling only had a cup of coffee in the major leagues, but fans from all over still remember the former catcher. Background posts: Before the York Revs came the Hanover Raiders, York County sports a miniature Cooperstown and Old York lefty remembered young Brooks Robinson .

Former major leaguer Gene Crumling has regained the limelight twice since September.

The 86-year-old normally lives in obscurity around York County.

He threw out the first pitch in the York Revolution's first playoff game in September - representing the county as the oldest living former major leaguer.

Then the Wrightsville High School grad made the York Daily Record/Sunday News' front page in a profile to preview Eastern York High School's greatest athletes, part of a 22-part newspaper series on York County's prep performers.

Crumling had 12 at-bats catching for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1945... .

East Prospect's Tracy Winter shows off an antique toy truck at a meeting of the Pennsylvania Dutch Heritage Group. The group meets from 1 to 3 p.m. on the third Saturday of each month at Providence Place, 3377 Fox Run Road, Dover Township. For details, call 266-2910. Background posts: Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking York County residents often conversed with German POWs, Classes offer rare op to learn Pennsylvania Dutch and 'Persons should not be too modest'.

Q. What does the Pennsylvania Dutch phrase "Guder mariye" mean?

A. Good morning.

Q. And Wie bischt du heit?

A. How are you today?

Q. Ich bin zimmlich gut.

A. I am pretty good.

Q. Sitz dich anne un bleib e weil.

A. Set yourself (to there) and stay a while.

The Pennsylvania Dutch dialect and its related traditions are kept alive once at month in York County when the Pennsylvania Dutch Heritage Group meets in Dover... .

This building at East Main Street and Railroad Avenue in New Freedom will soon house a museum detailing this southern York County borough's past. Among other things, the borough, founded in 1873, can boast of resting at the highest point on the old Northern Central Railroad between Baltimore and York. Background posts: Spring Grove museum displays horse gas mask and more, Birthday borough Dillsburg: 'Seems to be York County's wild child' and The American hobo comes to York Springs.

At the current rate, every borough in York County will have a museum or an active historical group some day.

That's a good thing.

Earlier this year, Dallastown opened its museum joining Wrightsville, Red Lion, Glen Rock and many other towns that publicly display their history.

Now New Freedom, right over the Mason-Dixon Line from Maryland, is opening a place to show off its historical artifacts... .

Adamsville United Methodist Church's Jon Butcher promotes the church's annual apple festival in this 2007 file photo. The church serves as the center of the York Township village of Adamsville. Background: Red Lion's towering Fairmont Park off the beaten track, York County cigars: 'They contained a vast amount of nicotine' and LBJ's, Lady Bird's visit a high point in Dallastown's history.

The village of Adamsville also has been called Pinch Gut and Arbor.

Its location, like its name, is also hard to pinpoint. Maybe it's near Red Lion. Maybe Dallastown. It's actually in York Township, somewhere between Route 24 and Route 214.

One hundred years ago - perhaps because it was near a lot of places - it was bustling with cigar factories and a dairy and a ballfield... .

This "his and hers" outhouse, dated 1886, associated with a Myerstown, Lebanon County, home is a cut or two above those available to thousands of York countians before the day of indoor plumbing. Still the nearby house had running water. A cistern on the third floor caught rain to provide tap water within the house. This photo appeared in the York Daily Record/Sunday News' "Spaces" magazine. Background posts: One-room school reunions preserve educational culture of thousands of York countians, What's a privy? a woman asked. 'It's an outhouse,' came the answer., Imagine: 70-foot boat navigated York County's Codorus Creek and Wheatland Mansion tour: 'We don't know if President Buchanan used the tub.'

From the audience's point of view, the highlight of my recent presentation on one-room schools was not the one-room schools.

Their focus fell on one-room buildings of a different type.

Outhouses... .

This is a creekside view of Ganoga Bridge over the Conewago Creek, near Strinestown. The once-stately bridge connects Newberry and Conewago townships and carries the old Susquehanna Trail over the creek. The name Ganoga, according to local history book, comes from the Indian words "By the water." Background posts: Big Conewago serves as physical, symbolic divider of York County culture, York County still home to unvarnished beauty and Wago Club prez: 'You've gotta respect the (snapping) turtles'.

The worn, lightly traveled Ganoga Bridge today is far from the crisp cement structure of the 1920s to 1950s that carried thousands of vehicles daily over the Conewago Creek.

In fact, sometimes the bridge failed to carry Susquehanna Trail traffic all the way across. Its approaches are oddly banked leading to accidents those living near the Strinestown-area structure remember years later. One resident remembers a crash on or near the bridge involved a large Greyhound Bus.

A Greyhoud Bus out there in the middle of nowhere?... .

Wachovia's Lisa Walker is dwarfed by safe-deposit boxes at the bank's York headquarters in this 2006 York Daily Record/Sunday News file photo. Background posts: Will Sovereign Bank of York stadium name fame lose its crown?, Often forgotten: Achievements of people named on building facades and Hillary Clinton's rally site in York a little odd.

At one time, hometown banks operated in just about every town around York County.

Spring Grove State Bank, for example, was a mainstay in that papertown for decades.

Glen Rock played host to two banks, almost next door - Glen Rock State Bank and People's Bank of Glen Rock.

Until 2006, East Prospect State Bank was the last of the single-branch hometown banks in York County.... .

In this York Daily Record/Sunday News file photo, a York Water Company official has just inspected a water main break along the Susquehanna Trail near Loganville. This stretch of the trail is still a favorite of those taking Sunday afternoon drives. (See additional York Daily Record/Sunday News photos below). Background posts: Whatever happened to York County's Hungerford?, War memorials stand proudly in towns throughout York County and Trees commemorate World War I I vets.

Mention of the Susquehanna Trail often brings to mind images of South George Street extended between York and the Maryland line.

They think of it as a Sunday afternoon ride to Brown's, with maybe a side trip to Nixon Park to the west or even the Hex murder house to the east or other such excursions.

But the Susquehanna Trail stretches north of York, too.

To Harrisburg. And to Niagara Falls.

And south of the Maryland Line, too.

To Baltimore. And to Washington, D.C.

Or at least at one time, it sprawled from Niagara Falls to D.C.

The York Daily Record published a fascinating story in 1997 (11/13) explaining all of this:

The Indian Steps Museum, seen here in 2006, sits near the Susquehanna River in Lower Chanceford Township. The York County Conservation Society-run museum houses York County's most comprehensive exhibits about the American Indians. For details, call the museum at 717-862-3948. Background posts: 400 years ago, John Smith explored Chesapeake Bay, White Woman of the Genessee captured 250 years ago in York County and John Smith gave Susquehannocks their name.

Controversy over Lauxmont and Highpoint land brings York County's rich American Indian heritage into the spotlight.

Part of the Lauxmont land now in public hands covers the site of a Susquehannock Indian village.

A museum or some other interpretive center near the village would add to the scant offerings in York County devoted to Indian history... .

The York Revolution take on the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs during a game during the 2008 season at York's Sovereign Bank Stadium. The video board in the background will display an upcoming Philadelphia Phillies World Series game. For more information, please call 717-801-HITS (4487), or visit the Revolution online at www.YorkRevolution.com. Background post: York has Brooks Robinson statue. Where's Baltimore's?, Batter up, pass the hot dog: York relishes the Revolution, Stadium will be site of The Oaks music reunion.

Sovereign Bank Stadium officials are finding good use for their ballpark, home of the York Revolution.

They've accommodated a kickball tournament, a Crop Walk and a Class of '66 William Penn High School reunion.

Now, the stadium will become York's largest TV set this week, as Wednesday's Phillies vs. either Tampa Bay or Boston game will be shown on its video board. There will be no admission cost.

This Oct. 22 game marks a return of the Phillies to the World Series after a 15-year drought... .

The York Daily, York County's first daily newspaper, as it appeared four years after its founding in 1870. Background posts: Solomon Meyer 'forsook the publishing business and betook himself elsewhere', York cartoonist's work helps celebrate peace activism and Newspaper's founding date hard to pin down.

Carl Wire brought a framed copy of the York Daily to the newsroom of successor York Daily Record/Sunday News this week.

If the papers sound alike, there's a reason. The Daily Record drew its name from the York Daily and the York Legal Record after J.W. Gitt retired his nameplate and alter ego The Gazette and Daily in 1970.

Anyway, Ken Wire, Carl's father, for years had displayed the newspaper in his Comfort Barber Shop in York and also in a second shop in Warrington Township.

Carl had a simple question. Is it worth anything?...

Donald Robinson demonstrates how to split slate near two stone cottages under renovation in Coulsontown. The cottage in the background is one of two private cottages. These four of the Welsh miners cottages stand near Slate Ridge, outside Delta. Background posts: 100 years later, Delta clock keeps on ticking, Wanted: One slate-roofed privy from Delta, Pa. and All posts related to Coulsontown.

Don Robinson eats and sleeps the history of the Welsh, the group of slate miners from the British Isles who settled in the Delta area in the 1850s.

He and his wife Ruth Ann often can be found at the cottages giving tours or looking in on archaeological digs... .

This view comes from the porch of the Gitt Mansion, although its owner, The Gazette and Daily's J.W. Gitt, spent much time in its library. Background posts: Old York newspaper won't die or fade away, Gitt and his Gazette sported same eccentricities and Two ornate mansions that Hanover Shoe built.

He would oversee a left-leaning newspaper that would cause waves locally and across the oceans.

He would play some golf and then catch a trolley back to the tranquility of his Hershey Hill mansion.

There, he would spend evenings in his large library re-equipping himself to fire darts the next day against the Cold War.

A recent edition of Spaces magazine, published by the York Daily Record/Sunday News, explores his evening retreat:

Ashcombe, built in 1891 near Mechanicsburg, served as summer home for the wife of legislator and railroad exec Henry Moser. Its exterior of limestone, sandstone and wood frame iscovered by shingles, stucco and half-timbering. Ashcombe is near the market complex that resembles Brown's Orchards Farm Market in Loganville. It was featured in the October edition of Spaces, published by the York Daily Record/Sunday News. Background posts: The real big York County house that little false teeth built, 'You cannot stay stressed here for long', All Dempwolf posts.

The venerable Dempwolf architectural firm was everywhere in York city 100-125 years ago.

They firm even were associated with Spring Grove and Hanover, having designed the high schools in those towns.

But their buildings were found outside county borders in large numbers. As I wrote in "Never to be Forgotten," the Dempwolf firm was synonymous with architecture in southcentral Pennsylvania and Northern Maryland during the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Cumberland County's Ashcombe Mansion is one such example.

An article in the October issue of Spaces magazine tells a bit about this area landmark:

John McDonald opens the old lockup in Seven Valleys, a holding pen for overnight detention, typical of man that dotted towns around Yok County. 'This is really a neat structure,' said Police Heritage Museum's John Stine told the York Daily Record/Sunday News. 'It's plain. But this is what they were, they were plain.' Background posts: Police museum, Web site packed with York County law enforcement info, 'There were only so many cells in that old stone prison', First county prison housed irksome Brits

The Police Heritage Museum, based in York, remains on the huntfor information about the old lockups that decades ago operated in towns throughout York County.

The museum Web site contains capsules of information about some of the lockups.

The most intriguing is an all-slate box in Delta... .

Springettsbury Township's Clair E. Wentz provided this photo of Newberry school students in 1946. Wentz started a school reunion in 1998 and the former classmates plus their counterparts from Roxbury and Beshore schools have been meeting every other year at Paddletown (St. Paul's) United Methodist Church's Christian Education Center. Background posts: Stetler Dodge transition indicative of other York-area changes , Smoketown a popular York County name a century ago and York County libraries offer serendipity - and have done so for decades.

My conversation with the woman scheduling me to speak at a Newberry Township one-room school reunion went something like this.

Reunion contact: Do you know where Paddletown is?

Me: I know about Paddletown Road, near Newberrytown.

Contact: It's at the Paddletown Church hall.

Me: What's the name of the church?

Contact: It's just known as the Paddletown church.

It was as if, everybody knows where that is. No further explanation needed... .

This Newberry Township home, seen in a 2004 photo, was once a one-room school. A sampling of those gathering at a Newberry Township one-room school reunion over the weekend could not identify the building. Can you? The stonework suggests the red sandstone of that region. This photograph appeared in the York Daily Record/Sunday News book "All in One Room." Background posts: Solo teachers in York County one-room schools assigned lots of assistants, 18th-century mines gave Ore Valley its name and Can you identify this mystery school, believed to be in York County?.

"You kind of feel sorry for those who didn't attend," a seasoned citizen commented at Newberry Township one-room school reunion on Sunday.

The sentiment that nothing can really better the education received in the 300 one-room schools in York County is part of the discourse at such reunions.

I spoke at the reunion of those attending Cly, River, Hay Run and Pleasant Grove schools in the Newberrytown region north of the Conewago Creek on Sunday. The afternoon at Paddletown United Methodist Church's community center brought forth revealing information about this educational culture that fell to jointures in the post-World War II years: ...

-

This painting, owned by the York County Heritage Trust, was one of 16 that became part of the 1927 celebration marking the 150th anniversary of the adoption of the Articles of Confederation in York County. Given the war conditions, scarce food and high costs might have meant that the woman and toddler were not as nourished as they appear in the painting. An upcoming York College class will study food, disease and their impact on early York County. Background posts: "York's Central Market sells steak ... and sizzle," and Demolished Red Lion Grange Hall still tells tale of changing York County and Lighthouse marks site of landmark Dover Township soft pretzel stand.

York College is offering a course on how food, health, disease and accidents affected the life span of York countians.

The course, titled "Voices from the Past: A History of York County, 1730 - 1930," picks up pioneers as they first legally settled west of the Susquehanna River and follows their ancestors until just before the Great Depression... .

This is a clear shot of one of the four remaining original Welsh cottages just north of the Mason-Dixon Line in the Delta/Peach Bottom Township area. The Old Line Museum has begun to restore two of these cottages, built for workers of the slate quarries in the 1850s. Background posts: Coulsontown's Welsh miners' cottages: 'Once they're gone, there's nothing else like them', Digging Coulsontown: 'This is not Indiana Jones' and Time almost forgot Welsh miner's hamlet of Coulsontown.

Ruth Ann Robinson, Old Line Museum, has given a heads up about public tours of Welsh cottages in the Delta area in southeastern York County Saturday.

The tours are set for 2-4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 11.

The day before, a class of anthropology students from Harford Community College will gain training on the ins and outs of professional digs... .

The Stewartstown Railroad Co. and preservationists Friends of the Stewartstown Railroad are seeking to raise funds and preserve the historic southeastern York County rail lines and station. Here, Don Matthews of Stewartstown Railroad walks through a rail car earlier this year. Background posts: Freight locomotive 'telescoped' runaway railroad car, Ma & Pa Railroad, Muddy Creek Forks draw fans and Mystery of Glen Rock-area's Narrow Gauge Road deepens.

Preservationists seeking to return the Stewartstown Railroad to excursion service are continuing their work. (See: Stewartstown's historic rail station: 'Hopefully, we get things going soon')

The historical society in the Stewartstown area is presenting a program on the railroad that served Stewartstown, New Park and Fawn Grove to the east and linked to the Northern Central Railroad to the west.

Kurt Bell from the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania will speak at the event set for Nov. 19 at the Stewartstown Presbyterian Church... .

Ron Trout was just a kid when Camp Stewartstown, next to the Presbyterian Church in that southeastern York County community, operated in the summers of 1944 and 1945. The camp formerly stood in and around the park's ballfield, in background. Background posts: Jamaican fruit pickers worked York County orchards in World War II , Story revives memories of oft-forgotten York County POW camp and German POWs: 'They worked cheaper than We did'.

Clifton Kehr (clkehr@juno.com) persisted through my World War II talk at York's Lutheran Village/Sprenkle recently.

He then via e-mail shared some insight about German prisoners of war, housed in Camp Stewartstown to pick fruit for two summers... .

She looked skeptically at the best, publicly known recipe for Bury's hamburger sauce - a recipe that reportedly passed muster with Joe Bury himself.

I'll get the real recipe, she said, one that appeared in your newspaper... .

An Amish farmer works in his Lower Chanceford Township field in June 2008. In recent years, Amish from Lancaster and elsewhere have moved to this remote part of York County. Background posts: Who was Norman Wood (of bridge fame)?, Horse, buggy, one-room school make county comeback, Amish: 'We are making a commitment to forgive'

With Amish moving to less crowded quarters west of the Susquehanna in recent decades, it raises the question about how many of these newcomers now call York County home.

York Daily Record/Sunday News religion writer Melissa Nann Burke has come as close as can be determined without actually counting heads... .

This shows a typical class schedule for a teacher covering multi-grades in a one-room building. Background posts: Reader identifies mystery school building, Hidden Loucks School reflects past way of York County life and Web site packed with life indicators.

One-room schoolhouse enthusiast Bob Weaver shared a class schedule for an unspecified one-room school. (See his previous submission involving rules for teachers: One-room school teachers of yore given limited time to court)

The confusing intersection of the various grades leads to the question: How did the teachers ever teach anything?

Pose that question to anyone who went to a one-room school, and you'll receive a ready answer.

Teachers in one-room schools in the 1870s had tall orders inside and outside of their classroom. Background posts: Interesting Web site dedicated to country schools, Can you identify this mystery school, believed to be in York County? and Two tales of four schools teach about change in York County education.

Bob Weaver has done a lot of research on York/Adams one-room schools, those ubiquitous boxy buildings that dotted this region's countryside before World War II.

And somewhere the East Berlin-area history enthusiast dug up a list of teacher expectations from 1872.

The list is so demanding - and intrusive - that I've often wondered if it might be a spoof.

For example, getting shaved in a barber shop could bring frowns from school directors?... .

This closeup of a cake is part of a York Fair panel, one of 18 that make up the Murals of York. This photo from 2005 shows that this 120-foot by 24-foot mural on the East Market Street Parking Garage is thin up close. (See additional photos below.) Background posts: Don't know much about York County history? Part I, Don't know much? Part II, Don't know much? Part III and If you want to see the Murals of York up close ...

I've blogged that York's East Market Street Parking Garage is an artifact of history because it represented the downtown's futile efforts to stave loss of its retail base to the suburbs in the late 1960s.

I've also blogged that the wide, skinny York Fair mural on the parking garage's side represents a curious juxtaposition because the vehicles parking there are part of the reason that agriculture, celebrated by the fair, is declining.

Further, that mural appears to be in the process of being subsumed by the parking garage's white side... .

The demolition of buildings in 'the Swamp' part of York in August 2006 to make way for the stadium opened a view of Small Field, right, background, across the Codorus Creek. At one time, Small Field was a stadium site option. Background posts: 10 years ago, York's exclusive Lafayette Club became less exclusive, Part I, Old P.A. and S. Small building fit better than successors, Samuel Small tops list of community contributors and 1967 William Penn senior class scored firsts.

Why isn't it Small's Field? he wondered.

Discussion on that point (Reader doesn't understand some things about York County) led to an observation from another reader.

Luther B. Sowers, former assistant city schools superintendent, came across school board minutes showing the moment the field left the family of P.A. and S. Small and landed in the custody of the community... .

That's a display of a two-headed calf under inspection, part of a York Fair exhibit junior curators put together at the York County Heritage Trust, 250 E. Market St., York. Background posts: One image illustrates two long-neglected subjects in York area, All's Fair blog gives all kinds of insight about York Fair and Common genealogical query: 'Is there still anyone living ... related to this David Miller?'.

The York Fair is over for 2008, but it lives on in an exhibit at the York County Heritage Trust.

"A Fair of Our Own" will run through Oct. 24.

A squad of junior curators assembled the display from scratch, using whatever artifacts met their standards and could fit into a small area.

A York Daily Record/Sunday New story (8/30/08) tells about the exhibit:

This image, appearing on the Class of '66 White Oaks Reunion site, comes from an earlier era but shows the variety of ways that Manchester Township's White Oak Park was used in its heyday. The building here is playing host to a Blaw-Knox picnic. In the 1960s, rock groups played music for hundreds of teen dancers. Background posts: 'Dell rat' blogs about southside York hangout where owners put out welcome mat, York-area full of memory-spawning landmarks, Memories of 'The Oaks' pile - Part I and Other memories and nostalgia posts.

For whatever reason, photos of White Oak Park are rare.

Phil Schwartz found that out when trying to find photos of bands playing at this north York teen hangout in the 1960s. He is producing a compilation album.

Now Homewood Suites on Masonic Drive, whose new footprint covers part of the former Oaks grounds, is collecting photos and other information from the park during its heyday from the 1940s to 1960s. Hotel spokesmen are asking folks with such memories or memorabilia to call 717-434-1800.

In discussing this dearth of photos, some former Oakers mused that perhaps photos were rare because White Oak Park on band nights was a place where (unfortunately)boys were boys and documentation of certain activities might not have been preferable.

This promotional poster shows the types of events at the top of the York Fair's promotional list in 1928. Background posts: 'The lower she sank in the chair', Old-time York bike shop: 'It's like a store that time forgot' and Can anyone locate this ballpark?.

All's Fair, a blog made up of York Daily Record/Sunday News staff postings, is an example of local blogging tied to York County and international events.

The O-Zone was another blog where staffers explored the Olympics.

York Town Square readers will find - an enjoy - a number of York Fair-history related posts, with links back to this blog: ... .

Nellie Scott, far left, is seen with other nurses waiting to board a train to treat wounded military men in Italy in World War II. Background posts: A short test of your women's history knowledge, Civil War nurse: 'Dogs of war in our midst' and 'Her words helped win the war'.

She might have been the first Army nurse from York County to enlist in World War II.

That was Nellie Scott's reputation during her lifetime and after death, which came Aug. 31... .

This 750-pound snapping turtle dwafs Mike Clancy, president of The Wago Club in East Manchester Township. Chainsaw artist Brad Heilman carved the 7-foot mascot from a white pine. Background posts: Big Conewago serves as physical, symbolic divider of York County culture, Church's landmark: 'A man named Beech carving a beech tree, it seemed too perfect' and York-area woodcarver made life-size JFK statue. But where is it now?

The Wago Club brings together two popular parts of York County's culture: The penchant for chainsaw-carved wooden statues and turtle soup.

Those tree-trunks-turned-into monuments are popping up around York County, as people and groups of people can't part completely with their favorite enormous trees. Rutters has those carvings at the dairy's Manchester Township headquarters. York Township's Aldersgate United Methodist Church turned its copper beech into a carving and that wooden figure was later replaced with one made from cement.

Now the Wago Club might have the biggest one of all - celebrating its taste for snapping turtle soup... .

President Lyndon B. Johnson visit to Dallastown in 1966 was a high point in Dallastown's history. Here, Lady Bird Johnson greets some of those who turned out for the Dallastown centennial. A museum honoring the borough's past is set to open Monday. Details: 244-8217. Background posts: LBJ: In small towns, girls are fonder; dinner pails fuller, Bomb group seeks Cameron Mitchell's WWII info and Speeding trolley cars drew criticism.

Dallastown is known for Lyndon B. Johnson's visit in 1966. It was boyhood home of famed actor Cameron Mitchell.

That's where noted sculptor Lorann Jacobs has her studio.

And it was a stop along road from York to Peach Bottom, accommodated rumbling trolley cars and received a spur of the Ma & Pa Railroad.

And it was founded, in part, on the strong hands of basket weavers. But more on that in a second... .

Carroll Swam of New Park is helping disassemble an old log house in the southern York County borough of Shrewsbury, one historic piece at a time. Background posts: York County's landscape, buildings, landmarks can serve as a classroom, How to accurately restore a historic home and Facts don't support wide house door to admit coffins.

A landmark Shrewsbury log house is slowly coming down.

That is the third option involving such a historic log home, disassembler Carroll Swam says. Carefully dismantle it and recycle the parts.

The first and preferred option, the York countian says, is to restore a home. The second is to move it.

This particular 200-plus-year-old structure could not be saved... .

The origin of the narrow gauge that lays behind this sign is up in the air. The term narrow gauge often refers to railroads - often branch lines - whose tracks were closer together, thus supporting smaller locomotives and reducing construction costs. Background posts: Ma & Pa rabbit trains: 'I hope they thoroughly hosed out the cars.', York County railroading: 'Something that gets into your blood' and Northern York area strawberry part of Neapolitan county.

Bob Burns (burns@nfdc.net) is 59 years old and has lived on Narrow Gauge Road in southern York County all his life. And he's not aware of a railroad ever running in that area.

An e-mailer - a railroad enthusiast - raised the prospect that the road took its name from an old railroad as described in the York Town Square post: : Is mystery railroad the old Shrewsbury narrow gauge?... .

Students watch the Electric Map at the former Gettysburg National Park Visitors Center in its final months of operation. Background posts: Gettysburg's vaunted Electric Map to soon stop blinking, Gettysburg Cyclorama, with new shape, set for Sept. display and Shrink wrapping in Electric Map's future; Gettysburg tooth heads south.

The Electric Map, so familiar to visitors of the old Gettysburg National Military Park Visitors Center, is collecting dust in its familar room awaiting the carving knife and storage.

That is, unless one of several groups that have asked about this Gettyburg artifact successfully acquire it.

Seems like this is the last opportunity for someone to acquire it for public use before it is sawed into sections and mothballed... .

The area around the former Highland Park in West Manchester Township also has been called Smoketown, one of several such locales in York County. Highland Park was an electric park, designed to attract trolley riders on weekends. Background posts:
Carrie Nation in York: 'If you keep smoking those things ...', Growing off-peak trolley ridership in York County: Build a park and Pinchgut vs. The Gut.

How many Smoketowns are there in York County?

That question came to mind in putting together the recent post: This Smoketown now rests on York County lake floor.

I didn't know about that Smoketown.

I was aware that the South Central Pennsylvania Genealogical Society's "Gazetteer of York and Adams Counties" lists two: ... .

This view, courtesy York County Heritage Trust, shows York looking south toward Webb's or Shenk's Hill in 1852. The Harrisburg road, now North George Street crosses the Codorus Creek Bridge on its way into Centre Square. Small Field lays to the left of the bridge bordering the creek. Hikers and bikers will get a better view of Small Field in the next few years when the 5.5-mile rail trail extension is completed between Manchester Township's Rudy Park and York's downtown.Background posts: When the bridge over the Codorus moved, WWII rocked towns across York County and There's oil in those New Salem hills.

Bob Riese of Spring Garden Township doesn't understand some things about York County.

So he wrote a letter to the editor published recently with the title "Things I don't understand."

Maybe others don't understand either. So I'll take a stab at his questions:

Local American Revolution war vet Henry Miller became York's first chief burgess in 1787. York would not have a mayor until Daniel Noell was elected to the position when the borough became a city in 1887. As a leader in early responders the York Rifles, Miller is gesturing to a target on the side of building, touting his unit's marksmanship. This is one of a group of American Revolution panels occasionally displayed by the York County Heritage Trust. Background posts: York's Yankee Doudle went to Boston, York's mayors since 1887, Scores of American Revolution posts.

An e-mailer raised a good question:

"Where was the original Town Hall of York located in the 1700's?"

A quick answer is that York would not have needed a town hall until after 1787, when it became a borough with Henry Miller as chief burgess... .

A large crowd listens to big band music over the weekend at Dills Tavern, part of Dillsburg's175th anniversary festivities. The tavern serviced the plentiful passengers on the Harrisburg and Baltimore Turnpike, as they passed through the notch in the mountains. Background posts: Franklintown second cousin to neighboring Dillsburg, Flag expert: 'I was interested in my nation's heritage', Dillsburg's Jane Alexander pioneering county woman in state politics

The York Daily Record/Sunday News story (8/23/08) called Dillsburg York County's
"wild child."

The 175th-anniversary celebration over the weekend was, indeed, a bright moment in the northwest York County borough.

The wild child comment brings to mind the most celebrated wedding of a townsman - or townswoman.

Anne Dill, 24 years old and the beautiful widow of a descendant of the town's founder, married the distinguished clergyman and Declaration of Independence signer John Witherspoon... .

David Kline works around his Red Lion-area Family Heir-Loom Weavers. He will demonstrate the use of old looms to OLLI Brown-Bag Lunch participants on Oct. 27, one of several such sessions that are part of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute classes this fall. Background posts: York County's landscape, buildings, landmarks can serve as a classroom,
OLLI's theme song: 'Don't stop thinking about learning' and Iron-mine-turned-into-party-spot turned into York County park.

That machinery has produced costumes for actors in the films "Amistad," "Gods and Generals," "Gettysburg" and "Cold Mountain."

His Family Heir-Loom Weavers have produced items for nine presidential homes. That resume includes carpets at Abraham Lincoln's home in Springfield, Ill., and George Washington's Mount Vernon home.

But he'll leave the big machinery behind in a Brown Bag Lunch and Learn program in October, part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute fall lineup... ... .

This well-known image of Hellam Township tree house has greeted many postcard hunters over the years. Background postcard posts: Striking architecture lined York's South Duke Street, Can anyone locate this ballpark? and Postcards tell story of York County community.

Fellow blogger June Lloyd tells the story of Brook Leaf Tree House in her post: Hellam Tree House Makes the Movie News Reels.

The tree house has been gone for years, but is the tree still standing?... .

The stand with the lighthouse is the new home of Smittie's Soft Pretzels. It replaces the shack that was home of the York County delicacy for decades. The location is the same: Route 74, north of Dover. (See photo of shack below.) Background posts: York area full of memory-spawning landmarks, Interstate lined out Melvin's swan song and Before Geno's made news in Philly, Gino's headlined in York.

Smittie's Soft Pretzel's shack never offered the dramatic visual treat put forth by the Lincoln Highway's Shoe House, east of York, or the windmill restaurant, east of Lancaster.

But the old structure was an local icon, and its culinary offering delighted motorists along another old highway - Route 74 - for generations.

The shack is now gone, replaced by a small structure marked by a lighthouse.

Why a lighthouse in the landlocked Dover area?

Brent Burkey's York Daily Record/Sunday News story (8/17/08) explains:

The 2,000-pound bell Conewago Chapel bell as contractor measures the church belfry. The steeple of the mother church for Roman Catholics in York and Adams counties is undergoing renovations. (See additional photo below). Background posts: People of varying religious groups founded York County, Abe, Gwyneth passed through Porters Sideling and In bucolic countryside, royal body sat in the sun.

York's Christ Lutheran is the mother church for worshippers in that Protestant denomination in York and Adams counties.

The Codorus Church of the Brethren near Loganville is the founding Church of Brethren in York County.

But the hearth for York/Adams' United Churches of Christ, United Methodists and Roman Catholics Catholics came further west in present-day Adams County. Adams was part of York at the time these first churches were planted.

Here are some facts on those early, out-west churches, according to "Never to be Forgotten":

The Kralltown Road bridge, seen here in 2006, is of the truss construction typical of those PennDOT is systematically replacing. In fact, PennDOT is placing some of them up for sale. Background posts: When the bridge over the Codorus moved, Charles Dickens on his Susquehanna River crossing: 'I was in a painful dream', and A 7th bridge? Pedestrian walkway may span Susquehanna River some day.

I recently turned onto the one-lane Bowers Bridge crossing the Conewago Creek near Manchester and wondered how the rickety but beautiful structure had escaped the wreckers ball. After all, a trolley bridge downstream was no more. And a highway bridge even further down the Conewago was there but no longer used.

As it turns out, PennDOT has caught up with the Bowers Bridge... .

This area view, courtesy of J. David Allen & Son Photography and from Buchart-Horn Inc./BASCO Associates' files, shows the York County Shopping Center in the late 1950s. Background posts: Before Geno's made news in Philly, Gino's headlined in York, Bury's memories far from buried and Sears, York County Shopping Center in the middle of things.

Last post, we showed off a piece of J. David Allen and Son's photographic handiwork from the air - a shot of White Oak Park.

Last time we posted an aerial shot from those photographers - and a photo of the York County Shopping Center - it drew several comments.

For example, Bill Landes wrote:

What a great photo, lots of memories. Across the street from the Shopping Center entrance(I think) was the first Gino's 15cent Hamburger Joint. I remember Gino Marchetti and Alan Ameche signing autographs there at the grand opening...1960 or 61??

Gene Schenk from Buchart-Horn Inc./BASCO Associates, who supplied the original Allen photo of the shopping center, e-mailed another photo with landmarks marked by numbers, which will aid locating landmarks.

Here's the key:.. .

Northeastern Football Association president Joe Griffith is a prime reason why Northeastern Senior High School will field a football team this fall. 'We were the largest school in the commonwealth not to have a football program. That's not a title to be proud of,' he said. To view a four-day series on how Northeastern football came to be, see York Daily Record/Sunday News reporter Sean McLernon's Finally in the game. Background posts: Big Conewago separates Northeastern School District into two, Wolf Man, Wolfchester. No the village of Mount Wolf and New Weekly Records tell about community life.

Northeastern Senior High School will become the 22nd York Area Interscholatic Athletic Association team when the football is teed up on Friday, Aug. 29.

York Daily Record/Sunday News coverage of the addition of this costly sport in tight budgetary also showed that the YAIAA has more than doubled from its nine original teams in 1960.

The following YAIAA chronology, certain to be of interest, was part of that coverage:

Codorus Church of the Brethren in Dunkard Valley is the mother church for members of that denomination in York County. Background posts: Potosi, Pa., linked to mining, Northern York strawberry part of Neapolitan county, People of varying religious groups founded York County.

The stats say that the Church of the Brethren has grown from one congregation - Springfield Township's Codorus church - planted in the fields of a quiet valley 250 years ago to 15 churches in York County today

The figures also show that the number of churches of that Protestant denomination in the county is down by three between 1990 and 2000.

That is probably the reason Codorus and other Brethren groups are trying new things - like this past weekend's Dunkard Valley Live, a Christian music festival with rap groups and such. Surely, this was the loudest moment in this agricultural valley since the introduction of the gasoline-fired combine.

But here's the question that is often asked about the Brethren and their Amish and Mennonite cousins: Why aren't there as many of those groups west of the Susquehanna as there are in Lancaster County? ...

A championship horshoe-pitching team poses at a location now flooded by Lake Redman. Three Lake Redman-related background posts: Mile-a-minute weed's York County origins questioned, Memorial honoring victims of alcohol-related crashes should be visited and Rainmaker's visit indicates much awry in York.

Over at sister blog The Lineup Card, Chris Otto connects the York-based national horseshoe pitching tournament just passed, local horseshoe pitching champions from old and the York County locale known as Smoketown... .

This mile-long covered bridge replaced the bridged burned by the Union army to stop the Confederates from crossing the Susquehanna River. A cyclone blew down this bridge in 1896, and it was replaced by an iron structure. The bridge would have been akin to the covered bridge Charles Dickens used to cross the river some 25 miles upstream. But by 1896, slits to allow light into the dark interior had been added. Background posts: Susquehanna River helped mold part of York County's southern tier, Photo collection adds to York County's historic record and When the bridge over the Codorus moved.

Charles Dickens' account of his crossing the long covered bridge from the Susquehanna's west shore into Harrisburg raises a point few would consider today.

In a bridge nearing a mile long, how would you see? ...

Tubers take a leisurely ride recently near the covered bridge spanning the Yellow Breeches on Messiah College's campus. The beauty of the countryside is similar to that witnessed by Charles Dickens in his visit to northern York County in 1842. Dickens' coach would have crossed the Yellow Breeches downstream close to the point that it spills into the Susquehanna River. Background posts: Big Conewago serves as divider, York County: 'It's shaped like a horse's... ' and Scenic Yellow Breeches snakes along York County's northern boundary.

Charles Dickens and 11 others filled a large coach that traveled along York County's eastern edge in his visit to America in 1842.

He arrived in York via railroad. He traveled to Harrisburg via coach. And traveled to Pittsburgh from Harrisburg via canal.

Dickens noted the uncomfortable coach ride and took time to observe - and later write about - the foiables of York countians. But he also Dickens noticed the beauty of the county's northern end, as he describes in his "American Notes:"

Local architectural expert and blogger Scott Butcher chose Gethsemane Hall as the cover image of his new book, "York's Historic Architecture." Butcher writes that Freemasons constructed the 111 N. Beaver St. building in 1912. It was built after the Masons acquired the next-door, former York Post Office. Background posts: When did York's square turn from Centre to Continental?, The Four Bloggers write and Virtual York offers colorful tour of York's past.

Scott Butcher's newest book will serve as a resource for countless people interested in York County's architectural significant buildings.

The 157-page book is packed with photos and descriptions of private residences, houses of worship, commercial buildings and some structures that have seen many uses.

"From early Colonial taverns and ornate Victorian homes to the postmodern office towers of today, York's streetscape features almost every style and era of American architecture," Scott wrote in a news release.

Here's how I'll use the book: ...

Before York's Centre Square market sheds were pulled down in 1887, someone checked to ensure that no prisoners were in the underground city lockup that was dug out under one of the sheds. York's Police Heritage Museum is collecting information on other lockups around the county. Background posts: Late June marks pivotal moments in York County history, First York County prison irked British prisoners, Prison listing brings back food loaf memories.

Many towns around York County in the 19th and 20th centuries had lockups for temporary detention of prisoners. And sometimes they served as overnight lodging for transients.

York's Police Heritage Musuem has posted photos of several demolished and existing buildings from around the county on its Web site and is looking for more... .

This timetable shows stations on the Stewartstown Railroad during its heyday when it ran from Fawn Grove to New Freedom on the Pennsylvania Railroad. The hub was Stewartstown and thus the railroad's name. Background posts: Freight locomotive 'telescoped' runaway Stewartstown railroad car, Northern York County strawberry part of Neapolitan county and 'Yesteryears' Southern York County sites - Part II.

Preservationists in Southern York County put forth good news recently.

They expect to re-open the Stewartstown Railroad station on a limited basis in late August.

When they do so, they will join similar efforts in nearby Muddy Creek Forks (Ma & Pa) and New Freedom (Northern Central) to restore historic stations or related facilities.

These efforts are far preferable to allowing such landmark buildings to deteroriate and eventually force demolition... .

Camp Ganoga athletic director Don Roehm leads Boy Scouts in exercises in 1921. Scouts trooped about three miles into the isolated camp on the bank of the Big Conewago Creek near Strinestown after disembarking from the trolley in Manchester. This York County Heritage Trust photo was published in the book "On My Honor, 70 Years of Scouting in York & Adams Counties." The Big Conewago is the symbolic divide between northern York County and the other two-thirds of the county. Background posts: Monica Goodling proves that all roads lead to York, Part of Elm Beech still visible and Northern York area strawberry part of Neapolitan county.

Monica Goodling, in the news recently for her practices in hiring federal prosecutors, lived in a region where northern York County met southern York County.

In a forthcoming York Sunday News column, I tell about the Conewago Creek region where she lived and how at least intra-county cultures met on its banks.

The column follows:

John Stine sits inside a hand-constructed late 1800s jail cell. Bunks in the cell come from the old York County Prison on Chestnut Street. These are some of the artifacts displayed in the Police Heritage Museum. Stine has been a driving force behind the 3,400-square-foot museum. Background posts: Longtime district justice: 'You can wait for the book', Witman among York County's most notorious crimes and For the Hoses, law enforcement is all in the family.

Curtis D. Sowers was a motorcycle officer in North York Borough.

But he was on foot on a detail to nab a suspect, Jacob Troup, in May 1929.

As part of the detail knocked at the front door of Troup's Newberry Township home, Troup readied himself near the rear door.

Here's an account of what happened next: ... .

The York County Heritage Trust archives' genealogy section offers resources for families to search out their ancestors. Background posts: Genealogists find mother lode in York County, Unsung "York County history in print" touted and Peeking into Pennsylvania's attic .

Mabel Lou Brown's request for family members is among scores that flood York County in a month.

She's looking for a family members of a relative named Miller who died in 1879 and is buried in York County.

At least she has a year of death and location of his burial.

This one seems solvable, although any researcher will tell you that a common name like Miller complicates things... .

Concert organizer Chris Huber attributes the success of the 1960s northside teen hangout White Oak Park to The Del-Chords. The first night the band played at The Oaks the line never ended. The Del-Chords are associated with southside hangout Shady Dell as well, playing on the jukebox there, according to a new Web site specializing in The Dell. Background posts: Shady Dell was home away from home , Shady Dell: 'It was like family' and The Oaks: 'I would often look up there ...'

Tom Anderson is a native of York County and an avowed Shady Dell enthusiast.

The mention of that teen hangout in Violet Hill, located just south of York Hospital before it closed in the early 1990s, stokes memories, and Anderson has captured those years on his new Web site Shady Dell Music & Memories.

Tom views the site as part personal diary and part tribute, honoring the memory of its owners, the late John and Helen Ettline... .

Perched above the Susquehanna River bed on the Norman Wood Bridge, High over the Susquehanna River under the Norman Wood Bridge, a worker constructs a platform for painters. York Daily Record/Sunday News photogapher (and blogger) Bil Bowden capture this photo and the one below. Background posts: Pennsylvania: Rivers run through it (see neat picture of an Eagle), Photographer tramps to far reaches of York County and York County still home to unvarnished beauty.

Many people are familiar with the two bridges that cross the Susquehana River between Wrightsville and Columbia.

Many people know that the Conowingo Dam carries U.S. Route 1 over the river in Maryland.

But the remote Norman Wood Bridge, the third bridge over the river between Harrisburg and the Chesapeake Bay gets less respect.

The eagles that nest below its deck have even deserted it. ...

This ticket to the nation's Centennial celebration of 1876 is part of Robert Shaub's collection. It was recently printed in the Codorus Valley Chronicles, a monthly publication of the Codorus Valley Area Historical Society. The newsletter wraps up the society's activities each month and reports on events of other historical groups. Background posts: Good stuff found in Codorus Valley Chronicles, Who was that slain Yankee messenger at Green Ridge? and Abandoned Codorus Railroad not just any railroad.

The Codorus Valley Area Historical Society does something that other local historic groups miss.

The Jefferson-area group (Codorus is the name of Jefferson's post office) gives other historical societies an opportunity to report on their activities - Northern Maryland and West Manchester are two of those groups.

They do so in the business part of their meetings.

And in their newsletter... .

Kenneth Johnson poses in the original outhouse on an Adams County property he has remodeled. Outhouses can still be seen dotting the York/Adams countryside. For those trying to keep historical accuracy in remodeling old farmhouses, they're an integral part of the restoration. Background posts: Wanted. One slate-roofed privy from Delta, Pa., 'Bottle and Jug' enthusiasts must dig for York County gold and Two tales of four schools teach about change in education in York County

Outhouses remain ubiquitious parts of homesteads across York and Adams counties.

People around here are unabashed about the small backyard sheds being a memorable part of their growing up years.

Just mention them to a local audience, and that will start a string of stories... .

About 2,500 German POWs spent their days in orchards and canneries and their nights in Camp Stewartstown, seen here in this Stewartstown Historical Society photo, in the World War II summers of 1944 and 1945. These tents are located on the present-day ballfield at the community park occupying the site. The Germans had non-prisoner counterparts in the orchards. Jamaicans came north to pick fruit. Background posts: Story revives memories of oft-forgotten POW camp, Good stuff found in 'Codorus Valley Chronicles' and 'Yesteryears' chock-full of Southern York County sites.

The fact that Jamaican fruit workers worked orchards in southern York County in World War II came as no surprise to members of the Codorus Valley Area Historical Society.

During a recent speech to the group, I covered the Jamaican presence in York County.

Members of the historical group remembered them well, saying they worked from camps in Brodbecks and Fawn Grove... .

This was the scene at the 2005 Musclecar Madness event at the York Expo Center, an event inspired by weekend racing at the York Airport - the U.S. 30 Drag-O-Way. The dragstrip operated from the late 1950s to 1979. Background posts: U.S. Drag-O-Way, Part I, U.S. Drag-O-Way, Part II and Wheels of York.

Tim Rearich, a former York countian living out west, remembers the U.S. 30 Drag-o-Way, subject of a couple of previous posts.

He particularly remembers the radio ads that went something like this:

"Saturday, Saturday, Saturday night at the US 30 dragoway... ."

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... .

This World War II air raid siren sat atop the Yorktowne Hotel in York for years. York County Heritage Trust preservationists will soon begin work to restore it to working order. Background posts: Air raid siren discovered atop Yorktowne Hotel, York County stood firmly behind Allies on all fronts in World War II and Unusual valve gave steam whistle prominence in World War II.

Preservationists eyeing the rusty air raid siren that sat atop the Yorktowne Hotel for 65 years believe the air raid siren was never fired up for the real deal.

Indeed, no account exist of enemy flyovers above York County... .

Volunteer Tom Sadler repoints the walls of Welsh quarry worker cottages in Peach Bottom Township. 'It's good for them to be preserving this history for the future generation,' he said. By them, he means two-year owner Old Line Museum in Delta. (See additional photos below.) Background posts: Digging Coulsontown: 'This is not Indiana Jones', Time almost forgotten Coulsontown and Wanted: One slate-roofed privy from Delta.

Those old Welsh miners' cottages in the southeastern tip of York County, in Peach Bottom Township?

It's hard to get too much of their story. And those photos capture the eye.

Spokesmen at the Old Line Museum in Delta, which bought the cottages two years ago, believe the structures serve as the only examples of Welsh construction in the country... .

The Shady Dell was a south side hangout for decades before closing the early 1990s. The building is now privately owned on Starcross Road, south of York. Background posts: The Oaks: 'I often look up there ... and think about how nice it was', Stadium will be site of Oaks music reunion, The Four bloggers write.

The Shady Dell was Tom Anderson's home away from home when growing up in the York area in the 1960s.

The 1967 Dallastown Area High School grad now living in Lakeland, Fla., e-mailed some memories of that hangout.

Here are some excerpts from Tom's e-mail (shadell6667@msn.com):

This Hanover Raiders team in 1921 is one of 300 photographs in the recently released book "Hanover Raiders: Minor League Baseball in Hanover, Pennsylvania." Background posts: Adding to baseball timeline: Revs ready for 'second helping', Little school house in Hanover: A Story of Circus and Coal Room, and A journey from Delone Catholic to the Super Bowl.

John Coulson's new book on professional baseball in Hanover in the first part of the 20th century caused some Web commenters to call for the organization of such a minor league team.

"It would be cool to start up this team again in the same league as York (Revolution) and Lancaster (Barnstormers)," one person commented.

The Hanover area wouldn't appear to have the population base to support such a team, and it would take years and years to build a stadium.

But the comment shows that some in town yearn for those days when the Hanover Raiders ruled.

Coulson points the community's memory to those days, as the following Hanover Evening Sun story (7/07/2008) indicates:

A Miata is submerged a Stewartstown swimming pool after rolling down a hill. (See three more photos below.) The image and accompanying story has attracted widespread Web attention. Background post:
'Yesteryears' Stewartstown-area York County sites - Part I, 'Yesteryears' - Part II and German POWs: 'They worked cheaper than We did'.

A story headlined "Convertible belly-flops into pool" drew the heaviest Web traffic in memory to www.inyork.com/ydr this week.

The elements of the story - an unoccupied sportscar rolling down a hill into a large backyard pool - are patently compelling in themselves.

But the presence of sports cars and pools instead of tractors and swimming holes suggests the changes that are taking place in and around this southeastern York County town of 1,752... .

A new Civil War monument in Hunterstown, Adams County, includes a bust of Gen. George Armstrong Custer and a description of Hunterstown's contributions to history. It is located on the Harding farm, corner of Shrivers Corner and Hunterstown Road. Background posts: History-making evening on rebel occupation could turn into daylong symposium, Public gets Buford's-eye look at Gettysburg battlefield and Is Civil-War-era cash buried around Hanover?.

Many prominent Civil War generals passed through York County.

Jubal Early, John B. Gordon, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Jeb Stuart, William B. Franklin, head the list.

And George Armstrong Custer, a brand new brigadier general, is one of the best remembered, perhaps because he - or his horse - made a lasting mark... .

This map showing the early stages of the Confederate invasion in June 1863 also shows the roughly triangular shape of York County. In the next five days, the Confederates crossing all of York County except for the southeastern angle - the Delta-Peach Bottom area. (See additional image below.) Background posts: Rebs' short visit creates long memories, A square courthouse in the middle of York's Centre Square, 20 questions and answers prove your York smarts.

The Yellow Breeches Creek carves a ragged northwest border for York County. And Beaver Creek forms part of its western border. The Susquehanna River creates the eastern border and the legendary Mason-Dixon Line its southern.

So, what shape is York County as a result of these geographical influences?

My shorthand version is to call it triangular. In times when its decision-makers have been less than astute, I've also called it triangular with the northern part, its head, sleepily nodding off... .

A member of the Red Lion-Felton Band shows a Roland Seitz composition, part of the group's playlist, in 2006. Background posts: Parade Music Prince Roland Seitz: From Shrewsbury to Friday Night Lights, Spring Garden Band: 'It's like being in a room with history', Glen Rock Mill Inn: 'They are happy to see it open again'.

The small community museum is just inside the building housing the library in Glen Rock.

But an easily overlooked treasure stands outside as well... .

York County trolley car No. 163 served as a summer home along the Conewago Creek near Strinestown from 1939 until the 1972 flood. It was acquired by the Rockhill Trolley Museum and restored during a 17-year period. It's in operation today. Farther east from Strinestown on the Conewago Creek, trolley cars crossed the bridge near Manchester. Background posts: Conewago Crossing near Manchester busy spot for years, Part I, Part II, and
Hanover trolley bed work seen as 'springboard to accelerate future phases of the trail'

Ed Beck of the Manchester area is helping us explore the the area on both sides of the Conewago Creek where the trolleys crossed on their way to and from the line terminus in York Haven.

He conjectured last time that the concrete slab that represented Elm Beach on the York Haven side might still be there. That was a major swimming locale for trolley riders coming to Cold Springs Park, on the Manchester side.

Here's an edited version of Ed's report:... .

York County libraries are used for more than securing books and videos. Here, Elizabeth Snelbaker, of Warrington township, works with her quilting group in the back room of the Red Land Community Library in this 2003 photos. The group met every Tuesday to do some quilting - an age-old York County pastime - and visit. When finished the quilts are raffled off to raise money for the library. Background posts: Summer reading stack includes local history and From Augustine to Manchester.

Someone who would know told me the Red Land Community Library has a richer-than-usual supply of books on tape.

That's because truckers stop by the modern-looking library in view of Interstate 83 near the Newberry Commons Shopping Center.

The library's parking lot, adjoining a Maple Donuts, is large enough to accommodate trucks.

My informant was correct... .

The Yellow Breeches Creek is an appealing recreational waterway. But there are dangers on even the most scenic streams. Background posts: 'The Edison of the Cumberland Valley', When the bridge over the Codorus moved and Picturesque bridges going way of covered predecessors.

The scenic Yellow Breeches, scene of a drowning death this week, is an often-overlooked part of York County.

The presence of the low-head dam where the drowning occurred suggests its water power was harnessed to run a mill.

For years, covered bridges have crossed it and then their metal replacements.

For years, it has served as York County's northern boundary, giving the top angle of the triangular-shaped county a snakelike border... .

York County's borough of Windsor shortened its name from the Windsor Township village of Windsorville when it was incorporated in 1905. The sleepy town today bustled 75 years ago with trolley traffic and cigar factories. Background posts: York County cigars: 'They contained a vast amount of nicotine', That's Windsor Park, not Windsor ... and Research offers insight into York County's trolley.

A statement in Windsor borough's history book "Windsor Borough, The First One Hundred Years" caused me pause: "The town is dotted with stately old houses that may appear to be miniature castles."

Castles? In Windsor, that younger valley-dwelling brother of hillside neighor Red Lion?

After 50 years of practicing law, Jane Alexander's longtime law office is filled memorabilia and 26-year occupant Jake 'the Jerk.' The bird is known to ask: 'May I help you?' Background posts: Who are York County's most influential citizens? - Part II, List growing of high state officials hailing from York County and Strange pairings could help raise funds in York.

York County's second female state legislator has decided to call it quits in Harrisburg.

Bev MacKereth, a four-term Republican legislator, is taking a position as the executive director of the York County Human Services Department.

Interestingly, in a legislative world of long terms, York County's first female state legislator also served a relatively short time... .

Motorists on Interstate 83 can see treeless land near Lake Redman. The York Water Co., owner of this water supply lake, has cut down the trees because of their age and mile-a-minute weed damage. An expert gardener once wrote in the York Daily Record that the weed earns its name "Devil's Tail Tear Heart" or "Asiatic Tear Thumb" because the plant's reddish stem is armed with downward pointing hooks or barbs. Background posts: Rainmaker's visit indicated much awry in York, Where did Camp Betty Washington Road get its name?, Memorial honoring alcohol-related accident victims should be visited

That mile-a-minute vine, with supposed York County origins, that is becoming viewed as the kudzu of the east?

Well, its origins are actually are muddy. But it's damage is clear, as evidenced by the damage it's causing to tree and other plant life at Lake Redman.

Teresa Boeckel of the York Daily Record/Sunday News (6/29/08) explored the weed and its supposed origin at a nursery in southern York County:

Ed Beck of the Manchester area saw recent York Town Square photos of a trolley car crossing the Conewago Creek, submitted by kinsman Ed Beck of York Township. He put forth this drawing, part of an old flier designed to sell a home on Conewago Summit, near trolley destination Cold Springs Park. Conewago crossing near Manchester hot spot for years, Starbucks roasting plant tucked into corner of York County and Wolf Man. Wolfchester. No, the village of Mount Wolf.

Old Cold Springs Park near Manchester has long been known as a trolley or electric park, built to enhance trolley traffic during off peak times.

For Ed Beck, who has lived near the former park for years, it was known as Atlantic City... .

'All in One Room,' a 100-page book on one-room schools in York County and beyond, is back from the printers. To order the $34.95 book, call 717-767-6397, stop by 1891 Loucks Road or York Borders or check on the Web at http://www.inyork.com/schoolhouses. Background posts: Can you name this mystery school?<, No church-state separation here and One-room schools fascinate readers.

York Weekly Record editor Joan Concilio noticed the stirring of intense interest when handling print and Web stories involving one-room schools.

She created a one-room school Web section that just served to generate even more interest.

Then she floated an idea: Why don't we do a one-room school book.

That concept became reality, and the York Daily Record/Sunday News' "All in One Room" returned from the printers today.

And it contained the following introduction by Joan Concilio with a poignant story about John O'Keefe, who was in a one-room school most of his long life:

The Big Mount house in Paradise Township where Confederate Gen. Jubal Early stayed on June 27, 1863, was up for sale when this photo was taken in 2004. The next day, the three rebel brigades accompanying Early tramped through along the countryside on Canal and other roads, including those in the Admire and Davidsburg area of Dover Township before hitting the Carlisle Road at Weigelstown. Background posts: Owner seeks info on old turnpike toll house, York County photo collection adds to historical record, Jubal Early heard booming of Battle of Hanover's guns.

The 145th anniversary of the Confederate occupation of York County brings to mind the fortunes of those villages in the path of the rebel horde.

Dover Township's Admire is one of those settlements that Gen. Jubal Early's men marched through on their way to York. Like most villages in York County, Admire has interesting stories attached to it.

It was originally known as Slabtown and then Newport.

According to historian George Prowell, when storekeeper Swiler Kunkle was selected postmaster, Voltaire was selected... .

On the evening of Aug. 14, 1945, York County residents joined a massive national V-J celebration, marking the war's end. The largest county assembly occurred in York's Continental Square. Here, holding a special V-J edition are, from left, L. Allen Wolfgang, Richard E. Wolfgang and Lloyd E. (Pud) Wolfgang. Paul S. Wolfgang, who provided this photo, is at far left. Background posts: The first in (World) War (II), Perhaps the last in (World) War (II), 20 questions and answers to prove your York County smarts, Part III

The World War II Battle of Okinawa ended 63 years ago on Saturday.

And we're somewhere near the midway point between the often forgotten V-E Day - May 8 - and V-J Day - August 14.

So, here are 20 questions to focus us on York County's contributions to the war that spawned the Greatest Generation:

During a drought in 2004, a land bridge, probably an old farm lane, connected the marina at Codorus State Park's Lake Marburg to Long Island, or Long Peninsula at that moment. The island contained the remains of an old farmhouse and bank barn that made way for the lake. Its waters covered the town of Marburg Flats and part of old Route 216. The lake made news in the drought of 2004 for its dwindling water supply, and the drowning of a teen girl this week propelled the 1,275-acre reservoir back into the headlines. Background posts: 18th-century brownfield now parkland, Is it Pigeon Hills or Pidgeon Hills?, Worker saved key historical surveys from Glatfelter pulping machine.

To fill its massive water demands, Glatfelter paper built Lake Lehman in 1942.

It built Lake PahaGaCo (P.H. Glatfelter Co.) in 1955. It supplemented PaHaGaCo's 1.3 billion gallons with water from the Thomasville Stone & Lime Company quarries.

But the severe drought of 1963 proved that more water was needed. That was a moment that communities even resorted to cloud seeding... .

A trolley car crosses the Conewago Creek bridge near Manchester in this undated photo appearing in the York Sunday News years ago. To see how the scene look sans trolley and bridge, see below. Ed Beck of York Township provided these photos. Background posts: Building off-peak trolley ridership: Build a park, Research offers insight into York County's trolleys and Transportation of workers fueled York County's trolley system.

The point where trolleys crossed the Conewago Creek has been the scene of many events over the years. Today, it's a quiet river crossing area... .

Tom Trout, worker for the contractor that demolished the Ore Valley school in June 2007, grew up a half-mile away from the school, at the corner of Springwood and Camp Betty Washington roads. 'It's kind of sad to see it go, but you can't stand in the way of progress,' he said. The passing of the school is indicative of change taking place in York Township's Ore Valley. Background posts: One-room school memories flow from reader fingertips, One-room schools: 'That's when things were good.' and Where did Camp Betty Washington Road get its name?

York Township's Ore Valley is known to be one of the fastest-growing parts of York County.

And its growth has only just begun.

Bridgewater, a 537-unit mixed use development that could be phased in over 15 years, is moving along. It will be built on Springwood Golf Course land.

Ore Valley could someday be called Ore City.

But where did the "ore" come from in this bucolic former farming area? ...

This image, used as a basis for a large-scale panel in the York County Heritage Trust's Murals of York series, shows Dr. George Holtzapple deploying oxygen to treat a Loganville pneumonia patient. This image appeared in York Hospital's history 'That Sovereign Knowledge.' Tradition has it that this pioneering treatment took place in the house's basement. Background posts: Looking for a local history research project? and Of surgical saws, bloodletting and Brown's in Loganville: 'I didn't know a peach tree from an apple tree, but we learned quickly.'

Lois Stoner, a nurse in York, e-mailed recently wondering why the Loganville house where Dr. George Holtzapple saved young pneumonia sufferer Frederick Gable's life is not marked with a historical monument.

She raises a good point ... .

Hands still bandaged, Principal Norina Bentzel embraces prosecutor Edward A. Paskey after a York County judge sentenced William Michael Stankewicz to 132 to 264 years in prison. Stankewicz was sentenced for his Feb. 2, 2001, machete attack on Bentzel, members of her staff, and students at North Hopewell-Winterstown Elementary School. (See photo of assailant below.) Background posts: All school posts from the start and York County's most notorious crimes and 16 York County Good Samaritans honored with Carnegie Medals since 1906.

Heroic former Red Lion Area School District principal Norina Bentzel appeared on nationally televised Biography Channel's "I Survived ..." this week.

Bentzel fended off the machete-wielding madman William Stankewicz in 2001, minimizing an attack that left two teachers and 11 children injured, but none killed.

This photo from the Stewartstown Historical Society might show the result of a 1923 accident on the Stewartstown Railroad, the worst in its history dating back to 1885. With multiple railroads crossing York County, its rail history is filled with accidents (The Great Watermelon train wreck) and near accidents (The unsolved mystery of locomotive No. 1689). Background posts: What was it like aboard the Stewartstown Railroad?, Whatever happened to York County's Hungerford? and Is mystery railroad the old Shrewsbury narrow gauge?

One day in 1923, a car carrying several passengers and crew members becomes uncoupled from a train on the Stewartstown Railroad and drifts down a grade.

A freight train, going at a rapid speed, meets it head on and plows through the passenger coach "telescoping" about two-thirds of the length of the car... .

Abe Amoros, York's first Latino city councilman and a top official in the Pennsylvania's Democratic Party, is seen in his role as president of the York City Little League Board of Directors during groundbreaking ceremonies in 2005 for two regulation Little League fields at York's Allen Park. Background posts: Delma Rivera, 'Legacies,' Part II, York Spanish Council organized 33 years ago and First York City Latino councilman temporarily state's top appointed Dem.

Another photo in York Town Square's series of iconic images - images that tell a story about York County and its history:

This scene could come from the Smoky Mountains. But York Daily Record/Sunday News photographer Bil Bowden captured this near old Lock 12 on the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal. Background posts: A far different view of York County, Pennsylvania and water: The river runs through it, Readers can view best of Bil Bowden's photos on new blog and Photographer tramps to the far reaches of York County.

Another photo in York Town Square's series of iconic images - images that tell a story about York County and its history:

This image, from Aldersgate United Methodist Church's Web site shows the concrete image of Jesus, standing at the location of the congregation's longtime prized copper beech tree. Holocaust statue a must-see, Memorial honoring DUI victims should be visited and AIDS memorial at York's Albemarle Park .

While attending the viewing of longtime York Daily Record columist Jim Hubley at York Township's Aldersgate United Methodist Church, I saw the landmark cement monument depicting Jesus.

It reminded me of the church's copper beech tree.

Or rather, it reminded me of Mike Argento's story on the tree, later carved into a wooden rendition of Jesus and later a cement image.

Well, we'll let Mike tell the story (11/29/01), published in the York Daily Record before the cement image went up:

When the Harper's Weekly artist captured this scene at York's Camp Scott early in the Civil War, many thought the conflict would be shortlived. Even so, the presence of the camp was no picnic from the beginning. Men died from disease and accidents during drills. And stressed townspeople provided nursing and other resources for the camp and accommodated soldiers in their homes. Background posts: 'One of the shells found its mark'', Both Yanks, Rebs camped at old York Fairgrounds, In search of proof that the York Fair is the oldest.

Despite the pagentry associated in drawings of Camp Scott - the old York Fairgrounds converted to military camp - its presence gave many York County residents early first-hand knowledge of the horrors of war.

Just after the firing on Fort Sumter, the fairgrounds took on a martial air soon after sabotage of the Northern Central Railroad between York and Baltimore and unrest in Baltimore - both by Southern sympathizers - meant Northern troops could travel no farther south.

They settled at the fairgrounds, then southeast of the King and Queen street intersection, the first of tens of thousands to camp and train there. Soldiers slept on straw in sheds designed for livestock... .

Met-Ed lines follow the old trolley bed between Spring Grove and York. Evidence of such poles and bridge supports are evident today along the line that follows few roads through rural southeastern York County. The proposed Hanover rail trail, which recently moved ahead, would follow this grade. Background posts: