Recently in Events Category

According to authorities, an al-Qaida terrorist worked as a contractor at southeastern York County, Pa.'s, Peach Bottom Atomic Power Plant (seen here), Three Mile Island and three other American nuclear plants. That is one of many international incidents that have linked up with York County in recent weeks. Also of interest: In the shadow of disaster: York County and its newspaper tested 30 years ago and York County human trafficking: 'Three years of ... long hours, often seven days a week, for no pay' and Rebel entry into York before Battle of Gettysburg was gut wrenching, community shaping.

York County has brushed against - or collided with - more than its share of national and international events in recent weeks.

The number of York countians who were in Haiti and Chile before, during or after the natural disasters in those nations is surprisingly large.

A York County nail salon owner was charged - along with two others - with trafficking for forcing two Vietnamese women to work at local nail salons for fear that they would be turned over to immigration officials. Those were the third human trafficking or human smuggling cases to publicly touch York County in the past 15 years.

Just recently, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a Spring Garden Township man's case against so-called church members who protested his son's military funeral... .

This was the scene the morning after York, Pa.'s, Centre Square market sheds came down in what amounted to a middle of the night hanging in 1887. Teamsters roped support beams to the old sheds and pulled them down, thereby settling a controversy about their fate. York had just become a city with growing factories, and some wanted the main square cleared on the dirty, tottering sheds. (For details, visit: Once pulled down, York's market sheds won't go back up.) The York Emporium's Jim Lewin e-mailed this photograph with the notation: "An interesting old photograph walked in the door here ... and when I saw what it was I thought of you." The caption reads: "Tearing down the Market Sheds in Center Square, June 1887." For another photo of the scene, visit: York County farm vs. factory tension relieved in overnight raid. Also of interest: From squealing pigs to wireless, York, Pa., markethouses have changed and York's western gate: One image says so much and Civil War authors run York bookstore, too.

A mixed bag of neat stuff ... .

A recent Los Angeles Times story bore a headline that might pique your interest: "A government genealogy service lets family history leap off the page."

The story tells about a little-known genealogy service run by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Here are excerpts to the story: ...

This U.S. postage stamp, issued in 2005, shows famed singer Marian Anderson. Ceremonies observing the stamp's issue were held at the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. In 1939, the contralto was denied the opportunity to perform there because she was black. She then sang before thousands at the Lincoln Memorial. Two years later, she performed in York. Also of interest: When York County rolled up its red carpet to people of color and What did Tiny Tim and Richard Nixon have in common? and York's 221 E. Princess St. home to telling ironies.

Still on the theme that there are York County tie-ins to most anything that is in the news - or has been part of America's past.

Here is more on that topic gleaned from a recent York concert honoring famed singer Marian Anderson. It's a column set to run the York Sunday News on Sunday (3/7/10):

When heavy snow caused the recent collapse of this Shrewsbury Township (Pa.) barn, the owner of the old barn successfully sought the recovery of an antique sleigh. Sleighs such as this one were common means of transportation in winters around York County. Also of interest: Is this a York County farm truck or is it just a wagon with a motor? and Codorus collector exhibits collection of conveyances - wheels and sleighs and The Acme Tongue Carrier of Hanover, Pa.: Are there any around today?

York County's best-known sleigh story did not involve Santa Claus. Rather, it evolved from an encounter between Battle of New Orleans hero Andrew Jackson and a thrifty York countian.

As the story goes, Jackson became angry when advised of the proposed $50 taxi ride in the sleigh. The price from the Shrewsbury Township sleigh owner came down to $30, and Jackson was in good humor during a short stay in York.

A sleigh made the news recently when the owner of a collapsed barn asked for its rescue. The barn, coincidentally, was in Shrewsbury Township... .

This is the center panel of the three sheets that make up the York (Pa.) City Human Relations Commission's mural 'Civil Rights Heroes - Barrier Breakers.' It features Bobby Simpson, longtime head of York's Crispus Attucks Community Center. Stephanie Seaton, Human Relations Commission executive director, will give a presentation on the mural, to go along with a panel discussing growing up on West Princess Street in post World War II-era. The event is set for 5 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 27, at the York County Heritage Trust. Also of interest: Resources for York/Adams history junkies increasingly posted on Web and A short test of your women's history knowledge and A short test of your York black history knowledge.

The third part in a series - Part I and Part II - of the people of the Civil Rights Heroes Mural of York ... .

Four points about the panel:

This is one of three panels of the York City Human Relations Commission's mural 'Civil Rights Heroes - Barrier Breakers.' A brief presentation on this mural, to go along with a panel discussing growing up on West Princess Street in post World War II-era, is set for 5 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 27, at the York County Heritage Trust. (See key below.) Also of interest: Check out these updated lists of pioneering York County minorities, women and All black history posts from the start and All Underground Railroad posts from the start.

Another in a series of the people of the Civil Rights Heroes Mural of York ... .

A three-panel traveling mural, on the wall at the York County Heritage Trust's meeting room, awaits the Saturday, Feb. 27, 'Reflections of Greatness' Black History Month events. Stephanie Seaton of the York City Human Relations Commission will describe the people on the murals and a panel of achievers - Judge Marie White Bell, Dr. Julia Hines-Harris, Dr. Dorothy King and Virginia Hunter - will tell about how their neighbors on the 300 block of West Princess Street helped in their development. (See one of the colorful panels below, with a key of those on the murals. (Check out the York County Heritage Trust's site for event details.) Also of interest: York, Pa., civil rights leader took plunge against discriminatory ban at city pool and An evening to learn about York County, Pa.'s, 'Civil Rights Heroes - Barrier Breakers' and All black history posts from the start..

In 2005, Brett Greiman and his Bradley Academy for the Visual Arts student assistants created a mural depicting 18 participants in the civil rights movement in 20th century and early 21st century York County.

A York Daily Record/Sunday News account described the process:

Greiman collected photographs of the people featured in the art, then projected and enlarged the images onto three large sheets of canvas against his home garage wall. The students outlined the images and Greiman painted them. The process took about five months. The art is a monument to people who worked for peace and civil justice, he said.

I wrote brief descriptions for the program for the upcoming "Reflections of Greatness" event. Here they are for those shown in the left panel (the other two panels described in subsequent posts) ... .

Maurice Peters, Sr., addresses York (Pa.) City Council about the use of excessive force by the police department in 1965. Council President Fred Schiding is seen at right. Peters was a leader in the civil rights movements in York County in the 1960s. (See additional photo, from The Gazette and Daily, below.) Also of interest: All black history posts from the start and York's West Princess Street in 1950s: 'I knew there was something special about that area' and Add another achiever to the list of York countians with impressive resumes .

Eighteen community members shown on the mural, "Civil Rights Heroes - Barrier Breakers", will be honored as part of a black history event Saturday, Feb. 27, at the York County Heritage Trust.

Eighteen people who fought the good fight, using a diversity of styles, will be recognized.

And the story of Maurice Peters Sr., one of the 18, is one of the most interesting... .

Lynn Haines, York County, Pa.'s, Lincoln Highway Garage's last owner, takes care of a former customer's truck in this May 2005 York Daily Record/Sunday News file photo. Haines took part in the grand opening of the Turkey Hill on East Market Street, replacing the historic Lincoln Highway Garage that stood on that spot since 1921. (See additional photo of garage below.) Also of interest: Was the Valley Inn Garage part of Springettsbury Township's old York Valley Inn? and Just try to resist this memory-tugging aerial photograph of the old York Valley Inn and Then & Now: 'See how York County has changed...from York City to the outlying boroughs'.

The York Valley Inn, topic of several recent Yorktownsquare.com posts, ended in better shape than many other buildings in York in the 1960s era.

The York County Academy, York Collegiate Institute, Hannah Penn Middle School, York City Market and the Children's Home of York came down and never went back up in any form. (Those buildings also have been part of past posts.)

The process of replacing architecturally significant buildings, landmarks and traditions with replicas or visual reminders is better than nothing and possibly the best that can be expected, considering that heritage dollars always seem to be losing weight... .

The 300 block of West Princess Street in York, Pa., seen in this 2001 photograph in the York Sunday News, was the childhood home of numerous achievers. Panelists at an upcoming Black History Month event will discuss growing up in the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. Also of interest: All black history posts from the start and On Second Saturdays: 'It's really cool that the Heritage Trust started this program' and Civil rights heroes stand out at Bradley exhibit.

An evening for the public to explore what it was about life in the 300 block of West Princess Street in post-World War II York that produced so many achievers is set for Saturday, Feb. 27.

A panel of those who grew up in that predominantly black neighborhood will highlight the event, starting at 5 p.m., at the York County Heritage Trust, 250 E. Market St., York.

Judge Marie White Bell, featured in a Feb. 18, 2001, York Sunday New article, will be one of those panelists.

That story began:

York County's most celebrated human trafficking case in recent years came in 1993 when nearly 300 Chinese men and women were smuggled into the United States aboard the Golden Venture. The steamer ran aground in New York and some of the men were assigned to the York County prison. There, they stayed for several years, without being charged, until released. "The way these guys bring people to the United States is not much better than slave ships in the 19th century," attorney Craig Trebilcock, who represented the captives, said in 1998. Here, legal advisers leave a York restaurant with Zheng Xin Bin, a Golden Venture passenger, shortly after Zheng was granted asylum in 1999 after a six-year wait. Also of interest: Underground Railroad museum in York would honor achievements of William C. Goodridge and When York County rolled up its red carpet to people of color and Golden Venture survivor's family escaped venom of Snakeheads.

York County has played host to three human trafficking cases in the past 20 years.

And one would have thought that York County's association with slavery ended before the Civil War when fugitive slave hunters, lawfully, crossed the Mason-Dixon Line in search of their prey.

First, we had the Golden Venture case in 1993, which was thrust on York County because it had room in its prison.

Just four years ago, South Korean women worked in two brothels in York County to pay off their transportation costs to America. (See details below.)

Recently, three people were charged with trafficking for keeping two Vietnamese women and forcing them to work at nail salons lest they be turned over to immigration officials... .

Winter storms - indeed, most big news events - produce memorable images. For the Blizzard of 1996, it was the York Ice machine sitting on Susquehanna River ice in Long Level, Pa. - Ice upon ice. This spray painted illustration might fill that bill for the winter storms of 2010. The illustration in this York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News photograph serves as a visible indicator that a car sits beneath this Red Lion snow mound. Also of interest: A host of bad weather posts and For years, York countians have eyed amazing, destructive Susquehanna River ice jams and York County newspaper staff powers coverage through blizzard, electrical shutdown.

A mixed bag of neat stuff... .

With two feet of snow on the ground, here's a chance to think about summer and the prospect of riding or walking between York and Hanover on a rail trail.

The York County Rail Trail Authority received an update of the prospects of putting down such a recreational trail on the old York/Hanover trolley bed.

Some findings, according to a York Daily Record/Sunday News story (2/11/2010):

York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News' Paul Kuehnel captured 'Blizzard People' in coverage of this week's Blizzard of 2010. His coverage was just part of a large effort by the newspaper's staff to cover this major news event. Other noteworthy meteorological events from York County's past: York County residents passed through fire and water, or water and fire, in 1822 and For years, York countians have eyed amazing, destructive Susquehanna River ice jams and York County's 'uncommon,' deadly snowfall of 1772: 'The poor animals struck through'.

The Blizzard of 1996 spawned the introduction of ydr.com, the York Daily Record/Sunday News Web site.

And this week's "Snowmageddon" caused the news organization to innovate even more.

Such was the topic of my upcoming York Sunday News column.

After all this coverage, the feeling of many in the newsroom reflected the next morning's headline: "Enough Already":

The column follows:

Amy Staub shared this photo, from a family photo collection, of a Parafax gas company truck delivering fuel after the blizzard of March 1958. She submitted this photo on the Your Photo section of ydr.com. (See additional photo below.) Also of interest: Past meterological events in York County - Hailstorm broke 'fully 10,000 panes of glass' and 'Pumpkin Flood' inundated properties of early York countians, but 1817 high water killed 10 and York County residents passed through fire and water, or water and fire, in 1822.

A mixed bag of neat stuff... .

For those wanting to know more about people of York County - York County's Builders, Contributors and Heroes - considering enrolling in a class I'm teaching as part of the OLLI continuing education program at Penn State York.

The class is set from 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m., Wednesdays, from Feb. 17- March 17.

I had the privilege of presenting in the first series of classes offered under the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute program about two years ago. This class is a repeat of that one, with some additional material.

This Lewis Miller drawing shows flooding on Codorus Creek in York, Pa., in 1817 that broke loose bottles from a brewhouse upstream. Miller notes that a young man jumped in and brought them to shore at old George Hay's meadow at South Queen Street. Miller did not say what happened after the bottles were fetched. That flood was the most deadly on record in York County. Also of interest: A list of traumatic, painful incidents that rocked York County and Tropical Storm Agnes savaged York County with more than 15 inches of rain and What is the probability of another flood in York?

Another in a short series of past, significant meteorological events, tied to this winter's big snows.

Many York countians remember the devastating flooding in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972.

Some seasoned citizens can recall that the overflow of the Codorus Creek and other streams in York County in 1933 caused such extensive damage that Depression-era channel work and Indian Rock Dam construction came as a result.

The flood of 1884 is marked in history books because of the extensive debris deposited by high waters on Small's Field, north of York.

The 1822 flood, wreaking relatively minor damage compared to others, made the history books because of the prolonged drought thereafter.

At least three other floods made the history books for different reasons... .

Dover (Pa.) Township property owners moved their sheep from a pen near the Conewago Creek amid fears of the creek flooding, leaving only this barred rock hen, a rooster and a few other birds in the yard. These remnants of Tropical Storm Cindy in 2005 interrupted York County's dry spell by dumping 2.1 inches of rain on York County. In contrast, not far from this scene, in the drought of 1822, farmers raised turnips on the bed of the Conewago. Also of interest: York County's 'uncommon,' deadly snowfall of 1772: 'The poor animals struck through' and For years, York countians have eyed amazing, destructive Susquehanna River ice jams and Tropical Storm Agnes savaged York County with more than 15 inches of rain.

Another in a short series of meteorological events, tied to this winter's big snows... .

No weather events had stumped York County more than the water and fire of 1822.

Simply, nature did an about face in the course of six months, as the following excerpt from "Never to be Forgotten," indicates:

York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News photographer Jason Plotkins went high, atop the West King Street parking garage, to get this view of this weekend's Nor'easter. That's the old Central School and York City Hall is at right. Also of interest: The York/Adams day that birthed memories of falling stars and silkworms and Dense 'The Shrewsbury' meteorite named after York County town where it was found and In 1889, 'Bona Fide Earthquake' rattled York County.

The great snow of 1772 that caused the near extermination of York County's deer herd at the hands of greedy hunters was not the only unusual meterological event of years past.

Some of the events are well known:

The celebrated high water and ice jams of 1832 knocked out the first Columbia-Wrightsville bridge spanning the Susquehanna River. A windstorm - actually a cyclone - took out a successor bridge in 1896.

But less heralded acts of nature are found in the history books, specifically John Gibson's "History of York County," published in 1886.

This photograph, from York, Pa.'s, 225th anniversary book in 1966, serves as a reminder that York County has always had its share of big snows, like the current nor'easter. Also of interest: Readers tell about those blizzards of 1993, 1996 and For years, York countians have eyed amazing, destructive Susquehanna River ice jams and Ice upon ice pic tells chilly tale of York County's 1996 blizzard.

York County's earliest history books highlight one particularly devastating snowfall.

The nature of the snow made it deadly for deer and no doubt other wildlife. But it also left a shortage of venison for decades - perhaps a century - thereafter.

John Gibson's 1880s history of York County tells about the "uncommon" fall of snow locally in January 1772 - 3 1/2 feet.

Then came a heavy rain which froze, forming a thick crust... .

Yorktowne Service Store occupies this structure on Dallastown's main drag, Route 74. The Turkey Hill purchased the left half of the duplex to build a convenience store, but the owner of the other side didn't want to sell, according to the York County (Pa.) Heritage Trust. The convenience store, today an Italian restaurant, was built up to the house's side. That's the "then" photograph. For the "now" photo, see below. These photos are part of the Heritage Trust's "Then and Now" exhibit, opening Sunday. Also of interest: Red Lion, then and now: 'Welcome to a popular page on our web site' and On Second Saturdays: 'It's really cool that the Heritage Trust started this program' and Postcards tell story of York County community.

York Daily Record/Sunday News photographer Bil Bowden has taken thousands and thousands of photographs of York County since he came here from Ohio in 1979.

After receiving a pre-opening tour of "Then and Now: A Historical and Modern Visual Tour of York County, Pennsylvania," he commented on how much there is to see in the many photographs that make up the exhibit.

He commented particularly on the photograph above, in which a stubborn homeowner declined to sale his part of a Dallastown duplex to a convenience store chain and found himself with a new next-door neighbor... .

Northern York County Regional Police Chief Carl Segatti investigates a fatal crash, in this York Daily Record/Sunday News file shot. Segatti is longtime chief of this veteran regional police department. Also of interest: A list of traumatic, painful incidents that rocked York County and Errant pickup driver knocked on-duty fire policeman out of his shoes and Beauty of York County's Susquehanna Trail shrouds its dangers.

York County's government might be denied by law to fund a countywide police department. That's in contrast to the vision of its founding fathers, who so earnestly sought police protection that they successfully split from Lancaster County in 1749, in part, so they could have their own force.

But the county has been a leader in the regionalization of police departments, an across-the-grain development in a county - and state - that has been slow to adopt such shared services or mergers of municipal and school governments.

In fact, its Northern York County Regional Police Department was an early responder after an act was passed in 1972 that permitted municipalties to delegate individual police powers to a regional department... .

Twenty floats were entered in the York (Pa.) Recreation Commission's and Rotary Club of York's Flotilla Day Pageant at Kiwanis Lake in August 1958. Playground groups entered the floats, with each float showing a country with a United Nations theme. Prominent in this Cliff Satterthwaite drawing are windmill and Eiffel Tower floats, representing Holland and France, respectively. Also of interest: York County Heritage Trust's Web site gives virtual look at its vast holdings, activities and Cartoonist made York newspaper owner's views an art form and 'Memorable Moments' calendar features keepsake York County photos.

My York Sunday News column seeking information on former York artist Cliff Satterthwaite drew interest from Betty Stein, whose family knew the artist well.

"Cliff was quite a character," she wrote in an e-mail.

Her e-mail gives insight into Satterthwaite - and Betty Stein's well-known and respected father, Judge John Rauhauser... .

Artist Cliff Satterthwaite captured the sad demolition of the York Collegiate Institute, a forerunner to York College. The beautiful building, South Duke Street and East College Avenue, joined the architecturally significant York City Market, Hannah Penn Middle School, York County Academy, Children's Home of York and the Helb Mansionon the demolition list in the 1960s era, a time in which beautiful buildings were seemingly knocked down for sport. The front entrance and part of the back wall of this building - that gave College Avenue its name - came down last. Much of Cliff Satterthwaite's work for York newspapers involved documenting news events. A biographer is collecting information about the former York County artist's local work. Readers with information can e-mail Diane Palladino at antiqus4all@aol.com. The artist's Web site: www.cliffordsatterthwaite.com. Also of interest: Biographer searching for details of former York County artist Cliff Satterthwaite and Cartoonist made York newspaper owner's views an art form and Cartoons and catalogues.

A mixed bag of neat history stuff ... .

Towanda, Pa.'s Joseph Rene DuPont e-mails that York native and female aviation pioneer Aline Rhonie Hofheimer is being inducted into the New Jersey Aviation Hall of Fame. ... .

The York, Pa., Boys Club Pool near Farquhar Park appears in this Gazette and Daily image from artist Cliff Satterthwaite in August 1958. Seventeen years earlier, a polio epidemic closed the pool and many other gathering spots throughout York County. Also of interest: Polio survivor and York, Pa.'s own Vic Wertz: 'The man who hit the ball Mays caught' and Spanish flu of 1918 no three-day fever. Try 365-day worldwide plague and Pre-World War II Thanksgiving holds lessons for York countians today.

Polio survivors in York County serve as living reminders of that disease that caused dread with the annual onset of warm weather 60 to 70 years ago.

The York Daily Record/Sunday News recently published a piece on such survivors.

Those folks are rare, generally born before Jonas Salk developed the first vaccine against polio in 1955.

The York Daily Record report quoted a family doctor whose 2,500 patients include one survivor... .

'Eyes on Sputnik,' the caption under York, Pa., artist Cliff Satterthwaite's drawing stated. The caption went on to note that Yorkers followed the course of the Soviet satellite when it was visible in skies above the county in August 1958. Satterthwaite drew this scene at Edgar and East King streets. (See additional example of the artist's documentary work below.) Also of interest: Cartoonist made York newspaper owner's views an art form and From squealing pigs to wireless, York, Pa., markethouses have changed and Readers can view best of Bil Bowden's photos on blog.

Diana Palladino (ANTIQS4ALL@aol.com) is writing a biography about former York County artist Cliff Satterthwaite and is looking for information on this noted artist from his time here.

He left about 25 years ago and lives today in Fredericksburg, Va.

The researcher wrote that the artist's work appeared in The Gazette and Daily, York Daily Record and The York Dispatch... .

'It was necessity the mother of Inventions that brought the York Hospital into existence.' So read advertisement copy accompanying this photograph of old York Hospital along College Avenue in the hospital's Women's Auxiliary's 'Benefit' Cookbook, issued circa 1916. Today, the reprinted cookbook is sold for $10 in the hospital's and York County Heritage Trust's gift shops. The ad also states that noted York architect J.A. Dempwolf designed the hospital, incorporated in 1880. Crispus Attucks Community Center occupied the hospital after it moved to its current campus in 1930. Today, the old buildings stands as an apartment complex. Also of interest: Doctor wrote about oxygen use to aid 'average country practitioners' and Spanish flu epidemic in York: 'People died one right after the other' and Civil War hospital: A master's thesis waiting to be written and West Side Sanitarium, later West Side Osteopathic and later Memorial Hospital born in The Avenues in York.

Baseball in January?

In a farmers markethouse?

The Penn Street Farmers Market is zigging while others are zagging in a "Celebrate York Baseball" event set for 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 16.

(The market is urging members of the public to come to the celebration, where people can view a display of vintage photos of York baseball, presumably showing the White Roses... .

This York County Heritage Trust photo from the 1960s shows a newly minted Interstate 83 in the background and a two-lane Route 30 in the foreground. That's the San Carlos barn, at right. This is an example of the type of photographs that will be featured in an upcoming Heritage Trust exhibit. Also of interest: Red Lion, then and now: 'Welcome to a popular page on our web site' and On Second Saturdays: 'It's really cool that the Heritage Trust started this program' and Postcards tell story of York County community.

The York County Heritage Trust received the Route 30 photograph, above, as part of recent donation of a series of pictures.

And an article in its publication "Trust Talk" gives clues pointing to the time the photograph was taken... .

Zachary Witman, accused of killing his brother, carries documentation for his defense into the York County (Pa.) Courthouse in 2003. He was convicted but legal proceedings concerning his case continue in county and appellate courts. A post that includes information on the Witman case, was the most accessed single post on Yorktownsquare.com blog in 2009. Also of interest: Major York County historical moments through the centuries and York County's top 10 news stories in 2006 and Who were most prominent 20th-century sports heroes in York and Adams counties?

Viewers of this blog, Yorktownsquare.com, have seen recent posts on the top news stories from 2009 and the past decade, 2000-2009.

But what posts have been the favorites of Yorktownsquare.com viewers in the past year?

You can view the following list and, if interested, click on the links to see those making up the top 10 (after, of course, the Yorktownsquare.com home page which received the most):

A machete-wielding madman attacked teachers and students in a Red Lion Area School District in 2001. Three years later, a student shot Red Lion Area Junior High School principal Eugene Segro. Those violent acts brought York County's schools into the series of attacks in schools across the nation. Here, a memorial sits outside the junior high school in 2004. Also of interest: Check out this list of York County top news stories in 2009 and Major York County historical moments through the centuries and York County's top 10 news stories in 2006 and Who were most prominent 20th-century sports heroes in York and Adams counties?

York Daily Record/Sunday News reporter Teresa Boeckel did a thoughtful, thorough job in her recent compilation of many of the big news events from the first decade of the 20th century.

It helped that this veteran reporter and Northeastern High School graduate covered most of these events, in full or in part.

Viewers can get the full details from Teresa's reporting at A decade in local news: The highs and lows of York County.

Here are the topics in her report of a decade that came of the heels of York County's hopeful 250th anniversary celebration in 1999 and started with the tensions of the so-called millennium bug, Y2K: ... .

The fire that destroyed most of 111-year-old Shenberger's Chapel United Methodist Church in February was one of the top news stories in York County. Also of interest: Major York County historical moments through the centuries and York County's top 10 news stories in 2006 and Who were most prominent 20th-century sports heroes in York and Adams counties?

Members of the York Daily Record/Sunday News staff have put forth a list of top 10 York County news stories from last year.

And they've provided an interactive page for readers to record their own most memorable moments of 2009.

"Create a keepsake before 2009 is forgotten," a headline states.

Here's the list:

The Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad station is seen in Red Lion in this 1904 photograph. This photo, with a current photo below, is part of a "Then and Now" photo feature on Red Lion's Web site.Visitors are greeted with: 'Welcome to a popular page on our web site.' Also of interest: 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.'

The Red Lion Area Historical Society is doing all kinds of neat historical stuff.

They're in charge of transforming an old blue caboose to a rehabbed red caboose.

They displayed how to hand roll cigars on New Year's Eve.

Members sponsor a monthly lecture on some aspect of Red Lion or county history.

The organization is renovating the old Ma & Pa Railroad Station in Red Lion.

And they're clearly participating in a then and now presentation on the borough's Web page.

Darryl Engler, music director for the Glen Rock Carolers, appears in this York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News photograph at work on Christmas Day, 2005. The carolers strolled the streets of the southern York County borough of Glen Rock in the early hours of Christmas morning again this year. Background posts: Legendary Glen Rock Carolers to publish history and Glen Rock singers salute English caroling custom and Books about Glen Rock abound, and there's a lot of history to write about.

The Glen Rock Carolers, dressed in their top hats and capes, sang on the town's streets again this year.

And they're slated to make a rare daytime performance in conjunction with Glen Rock's 150th anniversary celebration in June.

But perhaps the most flattering gesture toward the venerable group came this year from just south of the Mason-Dixon Line... .

French writer Felix Feneon wrote in a form of brief masterpieces. So York Daily Record/Sunday News staff members tried to emulate that form in telling events about 2009 in short story form (12/27/09). The death of 9-year-old Ciara Savage is one of the events pointed out in that piece. Ciara was shot in the back on Mother's Day afternoon in the 500 block of York's South Duke Street while waiting for her turn for a ride on a motor scooter. She died later at York Hospital. A Daily Record/Sunday News photographer captured the set up of a makeshift memorial. (See additional photo below.) Also of interest: Short stories in 2008 tell of long year in York County and Best of yorktownsquare.com, 2007 and A list of traumatic, painful incidents that rocked York County

Neat stuff from the mailbag and all over:

Starting today, the York County Heritage Trust is offering a busy four-day schedule of activities for the family promoted as Holiday Family Fun Week... .

York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News photographer Jayson Plotkin asked several York County folks to imitate the unimitable New York Wire factory steam whistle. And he captured them on video. But all kidding aside, was the early Christmas Day 2009 concert the famed whistle's last concert? Also of interest: All New York Wire whistle posts fromt he start and The world's loudest music without amplification from a non-musical instrument and New York Wire's musical factory steam whistle - by the numbers.

Sponsor Susquehanna Heritage Gateway Area has done an effective job of raising the question about whether this year's New York Wire factory steam whistle concert will be the last one.

That would be a shame if it is. Combined with the Glen Rock Carol Singers annual stroll through the streets of that southern York County town, the factory whistle concert gives the county two odd, but lovable Christmas traditions.

Then, too, the whistle concert attracts many folks downtown and brings in some national exposure for York each year... .

Cheryl Johnson, right, and her sister Vicki finish a Nativity scene on boards covering the front of Cheryl's Windsor Township, Pa., home. A minivan crashed into the front door of the home, and the Johnson family turned that bad incident into a good moment. See a "before" photo below. Also of interest: Easter in York County, 1919: Sadness, joy, hope and Pre-World War II Thanksgiving holds lessons for York countians today and Henry Laurens' Christmas in York Town: 'I will not quit my post, although I ... fear that I may perish on it'.

I wrote the following to be used as the editorial in today's - Christmas Day's - York Daily Record/Sunday News.

Merry Christmas! ... .

York (Pa.) Mayor John Brenner, Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell and Steve Stetler, right, get together during Rendell's visit to York in February 2004. Rendell later appointed Stetler, a York County native, as state revenue secretary. Stetler resigned that position today, hours before state prosecutors implicated him in the ongoing public corruption investigation, Bonusgate. Also of interest: List of high state officials hailing from York County grows and Add Robert P. Kane to list of prominent York County politicos and Jeremiah S. Black among top government officials with York County ties.

Shortly after his election as York's state representative in 1990, Steve Stetler sat in a group at a table at the Yorktowne Hotel.

The wave of introductions went around the table before stopping with Stetler.

He introduced himself as Steve Stetler. That was it.

It was a humble gesture for a politician. No, bravado. No effort to reinforce his name with his position.

His brand, in other words.

For many years, that was the likeable Stetler's public approach... .

The circled area in this aerial photograph of the Harley-Davidson plant in Springettsbury Township, Pa., shows the location of munitions pits excavated in 2004. (See additional photograph below.) Also of interest: Three views of York's Naval Ordnance Depot/AMF/Harley-Davidson plants and All Harley-Davidson posts from the start and Hiker finds remote foundation in York narrows.

Harley-Davidson's recent thumbs up or thumbs down decision on its future in Springettsbury Township was big news in York County. (It's thumbs up.)

But the plant has made headlines for years, really since its older part was built in World War II.

U.S. presidents have viewed it as an opportune place to visit. There's been a good deal of labor-management fighting.

Almost forgotten was an event about five years ago in which the Springettsbury Township site made headlines for no reason of its own. An issue formed behind what Harley's predecessors left behind.

A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' munitions team moved in after suspected munitions were uncovered as Harley officials surveyed land for possible parking sites... .

Dale Moyer of Dover Township displays part of his toy collection during a show-and-tell at a Pennsylvania Dutch Heritage Group meeting in 2008. The group meets at Providence Place Retirement Community in Dover Township. Also of interest: Gift to York countian and Pennsylvania Dutchman Millard Gladfelter: 'Gladdie, who wears wonderful good after 25 years' and York County fraktur expert inventories local art: 'I make house calls' and Fasnachts are a York County delicacy. But how are Fasnachts different from donuts?.

Guder Mariye!

That is, good morning!

In Pennsylvania Dutch.

Here's an amazing number.

In 2007, an estimated 250,000 Americans could still fluently speak Pennsylvania German, often called Pennsylvania Dutch.

And others beside the Amish are counted in that number... .

The National Christmas Tree - with York County, Pa., roots - draws a crowd every year to the Ellipse near the White House. This year's tree lighting ceremony is set for 5 p.m., Thursday. It will be live streamed at http://www.thenationaltree.org/tree-lighting. This White House photo shows the lighting in 2006. Also of interest: Strathmeyer Christmas Tree empire began with small York stands and now sells all over East and E-mailer links Roosevelt Avenue Airport, Downtown York's Bon-Ton - and Santa and York Moravian's Putz is an unsung, well-sung annual attraction.

Most York Town Square blog readers won't get into the White House to see the handiwork of York countian Debra Eberly, a Springfield Township interior decorater.

She was among 100 volunteers selected to decorate the White House for the holiday, as detailed in the York Daily Record/Sunday News story can't bearing the subhead: She can't reveal what it will look like because it's a secret..

But they can see another York County Christmas-related product: the National Christmas Tree... .

A car navigates around the rotary at an intersection in Vandergrift, Pa. Frederick Law Olmsted's design for Vandergrift, 35 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, largely avoided. Street corners and accompanying buildings were rounded. According to the Associated Press, many communities are embracing sustainable revitalization, but Vandergrift's comprehensive strategy is to create an energy independent, ecologically low-impact, economically viable town from the ashes of its postindustrial wasteland. Consultant Roger Brooks will present his findings for the revitalization of York, Pa., on Tuesday. (See additional photo, story below.) Olmsted family designers also laid out Wyndham Hills in the hills south of York City. Also of interest: York Sunday News columnist: 'Time for York to break shackles of Colonialism' and Author: 'York's streetscape features almost every style and era of American architecture' and Every day, York County struts its diverse architectural stuff

A York Daily Record/Sunday News history entry won a coveted statewide award, the G. Richard Dew Award for public service reporting.

The multi-media entry, "York's Own Civil War," competed in Pennsylvania Newspaper Association competition against entries from newspapers of all sizes, including those in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Here are some excerpts from my acceptance speech, themes readers of this blog might find familiar:

"Our entry was a body of work that explored the Civil War and its implications for York County, which was fully involved in that war. For various reasons, York's role in the Civil War was sublimated until recently... .

This cartoon, found in Jim Lewin and P.J. Huff's book, "Lines of Contention: Political Cartoons of the Civil War," is indicative of the regular scrutiny Abraham Lincoln and his polices drew from his political opponents. For example, The York (Pa.) Gazette, a Democratic weekly newspaper was a shrill opponent of the Republican president. Also of interest: Imposing Thanksgiving statues greet York Post Office users and Did York's Thanksgiving proclamation indeed create America's first Thanksgiving? and Pre-World War II Thanksgiving holds lessons for York countians today.

History buffs in York County - and there are many of them - often associate Thanksgiving with the American Revolution. (See Thanksgiving and war below.)

But there's a local historical angle to Thanksgiving and the Civil War, particularly York County residents' disappointingly low view of Abraham Lincoln's justified, high-minded Thanksgiving proclamations.

All this is rolled into the following piece, which I wrote and appears as today's York Daily Record/Sunday News editoria, headlined "A bi-partisan Thanksgiving"... .

In 1995, Mark Spotz spits during his arrest after a killing spree, which started after an argument over a gerbil. He is one of eight defendants who committed crimes in York County who is on death row. (See details below.) Also of interest: A list of traumatic, painful incidents that rocked York County and Witman murder among York County's most notorious crimes and Exonerated death-row inmate Ray Krone of York County hopes book will open eyes about capital punishment.

Even investigating police officers shed tears at the trial of what history will remember as the torture death of a 2-year-old York girl with a video game cord.

On Monday, a jury agreed to the death penalty for Harve Lamar Johnson in connection with his fatal beating of Darisabel Baez, his girlfriend's daughter on April 6, 2008. In addition to the video game cord, Johnson's weapons included one of the girl's hiking boots and his fists. The girl died at Hershey Medical Center the next day.

York Daily Record/Sunday News court reporter Rick Lee provided those details as well as the following concise summary of this horrific case:

Ron Herman's sunglasses reflect the statue honoring veterans of the Vietnam War at the York (Pa.) Expo Center unveiled on Oct. 3. Also of interest: Map aficionados will love bird's-eye view of York County and Vietnam vets wall moves York countians and All Vietnam War-related posts.

For about 20 years, the total of those who died in the Vietnam War has stood at 101.

The bronze tablets on the front of the old York County Courthouse reflected that total, for example.

And actually, that number is correct.

But with work on the new York County Vietnam War Veterans Memorial, that total has been reduced to 85, and that's the number included on the York Expo memorial.

Why the difference?

A York (Pa.) Daily Record photographer captured the late actor Eddie Albert - Oliver Wendell Douglas in the 1960s sitcom 'Green Acres' - in East Berlin, Pa., in 1997. Albert received a Bronze Star in that eastern Adams County town for his heroics in the Pacific Theater in World War II. Also of interest: Nazis murdered downed WWII airman from York and York County sacrificed on homefront and war front to aid Allies in World War II and War memorials stand proudly in towns throughout York County.

York Daily Record/Sunday News writer Jeff Frantz has told a touching story about York's Robert Kressler, who was killed in France in combat in World War II.

For years, his sister, Jeanne Stefanowicz, 82, of York, did not know how he was killed.

He wrote how the Purple Heart Hall of Honor in New York answered that question. (Please read this excellent story The death of Pfc. Kressler: A call, and an answer to find out the details.)

This post, looking ahead to Veterans Day, is about another hero - a high-profile hero - who fought in the Pacific Theater. He held a local link in East Berlin.

That hero was the late Eddie Albert, aka Oliver Wendell Douglas, TV husband of Eva Gabor and foil of Arnold the Pig... .

The World War II model aircraft collection of York County, Pa., aviation enthusiast and author John F. M. Wolfe will be on display at the annual York County Veterans Day breakfast Wednesday. (See event details below.) Wolfe's favorite model? A miniature of the PV-1 Lockheed "Ventura." He served as a crew member of that medium bomber in World War II. Also of interest: Where was York County's earliest documented airstrip? and York Airport memories spawn even more recollections about old York-area airfields and It's a bird. It's a plane. It's cigars with wings dropped by York-based promoters.

The player pianos produced by Weaver Organ and Pianos in the 20th century formed the home entertainment centers of that day.

We learned that last post: York, Pa.'s Weaver Organ and Piano Co.: 'Guaranteed to give permanent satisfaction'

Weaver closed in 1959, but there are successor musical instrument makers in York County today.

Bluett Brothers Violins has been making instruments for 25 years in York.

Enjoy a video, produced by York Daily Record/Sunday News photographer Paul Kuehnel, of that music maker below:

York County, Pa., Civil War author Scott Mingus has added another book to his growing list of titles: "The Louisiana Tigers in the Gettysburg Campaign, June-July 1863." This 315-page book covers this famous Confederate brigade during the during the Gettysburg Campaign, including its two-day stay in the York area. For locations to purchase the book, contact Mingus at scottmingus@yahoo.com. Civil War book: 'When flames brilliantly illuminated the sky over the Susquehanna River' and Books probing York County in the Civil War come in strong, sudden onslaught and The Four YorkBloggers write.

In his recently published "Louisiana Tigers," Scott Mingus tells the wonderful story of Gen. Jubal Early meeting the widow Zinn in western York County's Big Mount.

"Are you goin' to destroy us, are you going to take all that we've got?" she asked Early.

Early replied: "No madam, and to give you the best protection possible, I will stay with you, with my staff, and no one shall trouble you."

Early then visited one of his brigade commanders, John B. Gordon, at nearby Farmers.

When he returned at about 9 p.m., Mrs. Zinn had saved a supper of 15 varieties of food - meats, vegetables, coffee and milk... .

York, Pa.'s Martin Library honored Emanuel A. Cassimatis for library and community involvement at a recent ceremony. The event also served as a fundraiser for the library's endowment fund, used to purchased new books. (See list of past honorees and Cassimatis' favorite books below.) The Cassimatises: 'Builders and Heroes,' Part I and William Penn Senior High School Hall of Fame honors a host of York County achievers and York's Martin Library asks community: What to do with those old doors?.

Retired York County Judge Emanuel A. Cassimatis was meeting with the president of Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of the International Tribunal of Children's Rights. It was the Friday following the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001.

During introductions, the president express his sympathy to Cassimatis, as a U.S. representative, for the tragedy.

"You know," he told the group, "we are all bound by a universal consciousness so that when something happens to one of us, it affects all of us."

Cassimatis told that story in receiving an award from Martin Library. This member of York's pioneering Greek family then summarized its meaning and what it says about community involvement... .

The York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News and MediaOnePa has released a new York County area picture book, "Capture York." The book is packed with user-submitted photographs. Melanie Wallace took this cover photograph. For details, visit www.captureyork.com. (See additional photo below.) Also of interest: Horse, buggy, one-room school make York County comeback. and The Four YorkBloggers write and Postcards tell story of York County community .

Here's a chance to see an Amish school up close.

The GFWC New Holland Area Woman's Club is hosting its 11th Annual 'HOLIDAY TOUR OF HOMES' Nov. 14,10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The Lancaster County tour includes 8 homes and an Amish School. Tickets are $10 in advance; $12 on tour day.

Proceeds benefit community and charitable organizations including ELANCO Library, Liberty Fire Co., New Holland Recreation Center, New Holland Park Summer Arts Program and the park playground, New Holland Rescue Squad, Garden Spot Soccer League, and Garden Spot Little League. For tickets and further information, call 717-351-9995.

- More neat stuff below. -

Ed Kowalczyk, York, Pa., native and member of the rock band Live, performed last night at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center in York. That same night, author Jonah Lehrer talked at York's Martin Library about themes from his best-selling "How We Decide." Also of interest: You maybe didn't know it but ... they're from York County and Jonah Lehrer, author with York County ties, writes 'precocious and engaging' book and Cameron Mitchell, Craig Sheffer, Dixie Chick born here.

Two celebrities with local ties delighted audiences in York County last night.

Ed Kowalczyk, of Live, gave a well-received acoustic performance to a near-capacity audience at the Strand.

A couple of blocks away, New York Times best-selling author Jonah Lehrer engaged an enthusiastic audience in the Quiet Reading Room at Martin Library.

Now in his late 30s and pursuing a solo career, Kowalczyk grew up in York County, as did other members of Live. In the 1990s, the group gained international renown for the album "Throwing Copper" and made it to the cover of Rolling Stone... .

Glen Burkholder, with The Building Recycler in Kutztown, dismantles a bagger this week at the former Ohio Blenders plant in York. About half of the machinery and silos will be dismantled and reused. (See additional photo below.) Also of interest: York's Lafayette Club: 'It's not your father's club ... It's historic. But it's not prehistoric' and Map explains York, Pa.'s $50 million redevelopment area and Skinny dipping in the Codorus?

The high-profile demolition of those big blue Ohio Blenders silos on the bank of the Codorus Creek is an example of a change in York County that can be easily overlooked.

Those towers are coming down causing an obvious change in York's skyline, as mixed commercial and residential uses that are part of the Northwest Triangle development take their place.

But take a moment to think about why those silos were there... .

Ophelia Chambliss' art has been widely exhibited at York, Pa.'s, Crispus Attucks Community Center, the York County (Pa.) Heritage Trust and elsewhere around York County. Here, her art is available for all to see in Murals of York-fashion outside York County borders - in Harrisburg. The mural, titled "Mending Hearts, Minds and Communities" is part of neighborhood revitalization and community projects. The wall space was donated by Christina and Bluett Jones on the side of their gallery (Gallery Blu) at 1633 North Third St. This is the debut mural for the Susquicentennial Commission's "Painting the Town" project, as part of Harrisburg's 150th anniversary celebration in 2010. Also of interest: Civil rights heroes stand out at Bradley exhibit and Linked in with neat York County history stuff - Oct. 15, 2009 and If you want to see the Murals of York up close ... .

From the mailbag and Web: A mixed bag of links to a bit of everything around York County:

A tiny group of Episcopalians converged on a tiny chapel in the tiny Adams County town of York Springs.

"They prayed and meditated on Scripture in a one-room brick chapel on Main Street -- the parent church for Episcopalians west of the Susquehanna," York Daily Record/Sunday News reporter Melissa Nann Burke, wrote. "A rotting sign out front reads: 'Christ Church Episcopal, Colonial English Parish founded 1746.'"

The congregation dates back to the 1740s, and the structure standing today in York Springs dates to the 1830s. Read more at Episcopalians take pilgrimage to past.

- More neat stuff below. -

Lee Schwan's Web site includes a bunch of compelling photos from northwest York, Pa.'s Yorktowne Homes, built as housing for defense workers in World War II. Schwan wrote in an e-mail, published in a previous post, that he hopes someone writes about living in Yorktowne in the 1940s and 1950s. Background posts: Just try to resist this memory-tugging photograph of northwest York, Pa. and World War II-era Yorkers welcomed nondescript housing and Linked in with neat York County history stuff - Oct. 10, 2009.

From the mailbag: A mixed bag of links to a bit of everything around York County:

- York County history enthusiasts should keep their eye on e-Bay for bits of history. An e-mailer pointed out that copies of The Morning Journal are available on there. The York Dispatch published this short-lived newspaper during a short-lived strike by workers of competitor The Gazette and Daily in 1970. The Gazette came back after that strike as the York Daily Record, owned by District Attorney Harold Fitzkee and partners who had purchased it from J.W. Gitt. That comeback spelled the demise of The Morning Journal... .

- More neat stuff below. -

The ascension of brave folks in balloons has taken place for decades. Here, artist Lewis Miller captures the ascension of a balloon from York, Pa.'s Penn Park in 1835. Notice the crowd that had gathered to watch the contraption ascend. Also of interest: 5,000 Penn Park fans witnessed first York night baseball and Posts linking to Lewis Miller's art and Where was York County's earliest documented airstrip?

In 1854, George Elliott prepared himself to ascend in a balloon over Hanover. A newspaper reported that arrangements are made with the "intrepid Aeronaut" for the public-pleasing stunt.

This information came from my "Never to be Forgotten," and is presented here as a tie-in to the confusing incident in Colorado in which a 6-year-old boy was thought to be aboard a balloon.

In the 1800s, itinerant balloonists toured the country - and York County - to show off.

According to "Never to be Forgotten":

Lee Schwan has some neat photos on his Web site about York, Pa., in the 1960s. Here, he shows Bear's Department Store, on the northwest corner of Continental Square. (See additional downtown York photo below) Also of interest: York columnist Jim Hubley's 'Off the Record' again on the market and 03/downtown-thrived-in-postww-ii.html">Downtown thrived in post-WW II York and Columnist: 'I still have my memories ... of the bustling downtown York business district' .

From the mailbag: A mixed bag of links to a bit of everything around York County:

- York Sunday News columnist Gordon Freireich is now a Yorkblogger, part of the York Daily Record/Sunday News stable of community bloggers. See his York at Heart blog where he adds to his 30-year newspaper habit of observing, commenting and remembering York. He writes York at Heart continues those observations on life and family in York - then and now. Gordon has made many appearances on York Town Square via his many York Sunday News columns I've linked to and excerpted.

And also ... .

Five-year-old Sarah Eline gets ready to feel her first raw oyster slither down her throat at the 2008 Oyster Festival in York, Pa.. The York County Heritage Trust's 35th Annual Oyster Festival runs from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, in York. "Oysters aren't afraid of water, and neither is the York County Heritage Trust," a news release stated. So the festival has been moved this year to the trust's Agricultural & Industrial Museum, 217 W. Princess St. because of inclement weather forecasts. Also of interest: Mix 'You know you're a Yorker, if' with oysters. You get... and 'The oysters have been very, very popular' and Oysters: 'Economical ... not bones or waste ...'.

How many oysters does it take to fill hundreds of stomachs at York County Heritage Trust's annual oyster festival?

That question was asked and answered by some folks at the trust:

Marquis de Lafayette's toast in support of George Washington hangs York, Pa.'s Lafayette Club's reading room. (For a closer look, see: Marquis de Lafayette captivates folks even today.) The club is profiled in the October edition of Spaces, a glossy magazine exploring luxury living in Central Pennsylvania published by the MediaOnePa. For subscription information, visit Spaces. Also of interest: York's Lafayette Club: 'It's not your father's club ... It's historic. But it's not prehistoric' and Gettysburg's Majestic Theater: 'This was a golden project' and Former Hahn mansion: 'I thought it would make the most spectacular funeral home'.

From the mailbag: A mixed bag of links to a bit of everything around York County:

- Did you know that Route 74, that winding road that runs diagonally across York County linking Dillsburg in the northwest with Delta in the southeast, wasn't marked as such until 1927. That and lots of other road information at: http://www.pahighways.com....

One of York, Pa.'s, Dempwolf architectural firm's lasting designs is the Schmidt House, at Springettsbury Avenue and South George Street. The large, architecturally significant structure, is being converted into three condominiums. (See additional photo below.) Also of interest: Dempwolf windmill graced north bank of York's Codorus Creek in 1870s and Fawn Township's magnificent Centre Presbyterian Church worthy of a looksee and Dempwolf architects built York's skyline, history.

Fellow blogger Scott Butcher is also president of Historic York Inc., promoter of this weekend's three-day tribute to York, Pa.'s, Victorian-era Dempwolf architectural firm.

He sent out a long e-mail detailing this 'Discovering Dempwolf' weekend. Even if you're not able to make it to any of the York-area tours of Dempwolf designed houses and other buildings, you'll enjoy the insights Butcher puts forth about this famous firm.

His excerpted e-mail follows:

The Yorktowne Hotel, left, is one of the projects Emigsville's now-closed HAFA Construction listed on resume of work performed on historic buildings. Here, the Yorktowne is seen, next to the old York County Courthouse, from the roof of the new York County Judicial Center in this 2004 York Daily Record/Sunday News file photo. That's York County employee George Meshew, in foreground atop the judicial center, pointing out that the seven-story judicial center is higher than the Yorktowne, if you don't count the hotel's flag pole. Also of interest: Roundtown in Manchester Township, York County, Pa.? Where did that come from? and 'Skyscrapers' have shaped York's skyline since 1850 and Ten years ago, Emigsville's mighty oak fell.

A York County business, known for its historic preservation, is closing its doors.

Emigsville's HAFA Construction auctioned off its assets earlier this week.

"It was a bittersweet day for all of us," Douglas Kauffman said. He was not personally involved in the family business but his older brother, mother and uncle were its mainstays.

Here are excerpts from an e-mail from Douglas, which also explain the origin of the company's name:

This image from York, Pa.'s, Prospect Hill Cemetery's Web site shows the I-beam from the World Trade Center upon its arrival at its new home in cemetery. The cemetery will dedicate the beam in an upcoming ceremony. Statesman buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery: 'He said his farewells to his family ... ' and Navy SEAL Neil C. Roberts: 'In this simple grave ... lies a national hero' and What's the story of that fenced-in graveyard atop a hill near I-83?.

A woman at the just-dedicated Vietnam War Memorial at the York Expo Center asked a visitor about the much-publicized World Trade Center I-beam at Prospect Hill Cemetery.

She had been at the cemetery earlier Sunday afternoon, had even seen the flags representing those who had died in Iraq and Afghanistan, but could not find the beam... .

The York County (Pa.) Vietnam Veterans Memorial was unveiled on Saturday, Oct. 3, attracting a crowd of 2,000. But people kept coming by on Sunday to see it in the York Expo Center's front yard. (See video of the unveiling ceremony below.) Also of interest: Wrightsville's overlooked monuments to vets and Vietnam vets wall moves York countians and War memorials stand proudly in towns throughout York County.

A steady stream of people visited the long-awaited York County Vietnam Memorial Sunday afternoon, the day after it was unveiled.

On that sunny afternoon, many people stuck around, and their quiet presence attracted others to the York Expo Center site to see the newest monument rendered by Dallastown artist Lorann Jacobs... .

Philip Given of The Susquehanna Photographic blog captured this image from the men's restroom under York, Pa.'s Continental Square on the recent Harley-Davidson Bike Night. Also of interest: Researcher leaves detailed files on more than 300 York and Adams mills and York County photo collection adds to historical record and Noted photo archive captures York County treasures.

"For the non-biker, perhaps one of the most exciting parts about Bike Night was the bathrooms. That's right. The bathrooms."

So says a caption on Philip Given's compelling blog, The Susquehanna Photographic.

His blog provides several scenes of the old restrooms, under Continental Square's southeast corner, as part of his photographic coverage of Harley-Davidson's annual Bike Night ... .

This photograph in the office of Dover, Pa.'s, Baughman Memorial Works shows the business in 1910. The company's founder, Nelson H. Baughman, is at right. (See present-day photo below.) Also of interest: Each month, three free history presentations offered to York countians and York County's landscape, buildings, landmarks can serve as a classroom and Dover forges blacksmith shop.

Baughman Memorials is an iconic York County business that, in fact, produces icons for others.

Owner Donald Baughman will talk to the South Central Pennsylvania Genealogical Society about his family roots in Dover, and how the cemetery monument industry has changed throughout the generations with updated technology and more efficient ways of crafting memorials. So says a news release from the genealogical society, sponsor of the free, public presentation on Sunday, Oct. 4.

The release gives further details:

This photograph ran in the York Sunday News right after New Year's Day in 2000, and its caption noted that the last of the Bury's 11 York-area restaurants closed in 1986. In a sense, Joe Bury's popular hamburger stands out-McDonalded McDonald's for years. Background post: New McStore going up in highly trafficked spot and York countians are proud of the York Fair, and there's a lot to be proud about and York-area full of memory-spawning landmarks.

Let's just say the contest between York Fair's two known Bury hamburger vendors was settled by the strength of an onion slice.

It's the annual York Fair faceoff pitting the Bury's burger from Johnny Eagle's stand versus the offering from the Bury's Famous Hamburger booth.

Many people have York Fair traditions, and mine has become sampling the burgers from the two stands and deciding which is better that particular day ... .

A mud slide caused this train accident on the Ma & Pa Railroad at the Ben Roy Station between Red Lion and York. Also of interest: Collector searching for Western Maryland Railroad memorabilia and Old Baltimore tunnel an intriguing reminder of the 'Ma' in Ma & Pa Railroad and What it was like aboard the Stewartstown Railroad.

Hundreds of miles of railroad lines operated in York County since tracks from Baltimore reached York in 1838.

Thousands of trains have rolled along those tracks.

Sometimes, they stopped rolling.

They halted with a crash.

So, history has recorded the deadly Good Friday, 1920, train wreck near Glen Rock... .

York County, Pa., native Samuel Jordan is known as the father of modern education in Iran. He will be honored at events at the Samuel Jordan Foundation in Califorrnia in October. 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.

About 10 family members of York native Samuel Martin Jordan will soon travel to University of California,
Irvine.

The university's Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture is honoring Jordan and his family as part of an October conference:The Alborz School: An International Conference. Jordan was part of the genius and energy behind that school, which grew into a college... .

York, Pa.'s, arch-laden Centre Square was lit up as it never had been before in this photograph of York County's 150th birthday celebration in 1899. This scene was captured in the York Daily-published book, "York and York County." Also of interest: York's Bradford pear trees: 'Beautiful arch of blooms ... followed by the snowstorm of petals' and York-area picture book not your typical coffee table publication and Author: 'York's streetscape features almost every style and era of American architecture'.

The descriptions sounds like a review for a 21st century sci-fi movie:

"The result was a scene which might well have led an alarmed burgher of 1749, had he unexpectedly witnessed it, to rub his bewildered eyes in astonished inquiry as to whether it was the upper or nether world to which he had suddenly been transported."

Those words described York's well-lit Centre Square in 1899.

Folks in those turn-of-the-century days when electric lighting was in its infancy just never had experienced such a moment, much less York's first settlers 150 years before... .

These patriotic pre-World War II York (Pa.) Fair days were hopeful after a rough summer of battling a polio outbreak. Fairgoers needed this respite. Just two months later, Pearl Harbor changed everything. Also of interest: This York Fair mural is fading from sight and Good old days at the York Fair were at least old and JFK received grand applause at York Fair visit.

An e-mailer, an exec with a local firm and proud of the York Fair, asked the York Daily Record/Sunday News to ask for special York Fair memories.

I wrote back saying we have done just that, and they're available with audio clips by clicking here.

And we've created a thread on the York Daily Record/Sunday News' bulletin board, The Exchange, for you to share your memories.

And the posts on the blog All's Fair includes many historical memories of the fair.

That's all past stuff... .

A Robert E. Lee look-alike attends a Hinton, Va., hearing in August about a Wal-Mart proposed for a site near the Wilderness Battlefield. Preservationists are urging Walmart to retreat from plans to build a Supercenter near the famed battlefield. Also of interest: York scored another first: Wal-Mart's entry into Pa. and Cracker barrel and Cracker Barrel hold places in York County's past and Just try to resist studying this memory-tugging Sears photograph.

Wal-Mart is looking to build a SuperCenter near the Wilderness Battlefield in Orange County, Va., sparking preservationists into action to block construction.

This is a reminder to catch up on Wal-Mart's presence in York County, particularly since the first Wal-Mart in Pennsylvania was built in the York Mall in Springettsbury Township in 1989.

That store is still there, enlarged in fact.

It drew no controversy then because the mall was reeling after major anchors moved to the newly opened Galleria, and Wal-Mart was not generating controversy in those days... .

This view from the penthouse of the Glen Rock Mill Inn shows the heart of Glen Rock. It's quiet here, but the borough has played host to many newsworthy events. The borough is celebrating its 150 anniversary next year. Background posts: AMP's and AMF's alphabet soup spilled in Glen Rock and Google Images bring life and times of Glen Rock's Cliff Heathcote, a trick shot artist, other York County, Pa., memories and Parade Music Prince Roland Seitz: From Shrewsbury to Friday Night Lights.

Glen Rock is going down in history as a town with the most histories written about it.

In recent years, the Glen Rock Carolers have updated their already thorough history, which is also a history of the town.

Earlier this year, Bob Ketenheim published a postcard history book covering Glen Rock's plentiful hills and dales.

Next June, the borough will celebrate its 150th birthday, and yes, the committee heading that effort is publishing a book... .

The village of Spry in York Township, Pa., is the home of Goodwill Fire Company, which supplied the ladder truck so that Almar the Professional Idiot could demonstrate his escape from a straight jacket. Almar kicked off the Dallastown Halloween Parade about a decade ago and was captured in this York Daily Record file photo. (See additional photos below.) Background posts: 19th-century mines gave Ore Valley its name and York County one-room schools: 'That's when things were good' and Forgotten York Valley Inn may be rediscovered.

Bonnie Stiles has provided family information that confirms details in a previous York Town Square post about the toll gate that operated at Leader Heights Road and South Queen Street in Spry.

The gate pivoted up and down on the west side of Queen Street, across the street from present-day Tollgate Village.

"When my paternal great-grandmother (Estella Mae Markey Sechrist) was alive she told me she used to run the 'toll gate' on S. Queen Street," Bonnie Stiles wrote.

"Apparently her husband, my great-grandfather (Norman Sechrist) ran a wagon from Red Lion to York every day. They claim he had something to do with tobacco."

Those were the days, less than 100 years ago, when toll roads still radiated from York... .

The Hippodrome, one of downtown York's many theaters in their early 20th-century heyday, is example of stories told in a Junior Curators' exhibit unveiled this week at the York County (Pa.) Heritage Trust. Background posts: You maybe didn't know it but ... they're from York County - Part II and TV show box set 'Terry & the Pirates' to be part of a museum exhibit someday? and Young curators produce York Fair exhibit: 'A Fair of Our Own'.

Maybe it was meant to be.

Big league pitcher James "Lefty" York lived his later years in York, Pa.

He was in the majors for a cup of coffee with the Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago Cubs covering parts of two seasons, 1919 and 1921. He compiled a 5-11 record in 42 games.

The Arkansan would be forgotten to history, except that Junior Curator Alex Daugherty has resurrected him as part of "From Artists to Athletes: a History of Entertainment in York County" exhibit at the York County Heritage Trust... .

U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy arrived in York, Pa., on April 20, 2008, to meet local Democrats. He died early today. (See additional photos, video of that visit below.) Background posts: Bobby Kennedy spoke to Foremen's Club in York about labor racketeering and York, Pa.'s Loretta Claiborne about friend Eunice Shriver: 'She could have gone anywhere, but she wanted to help humanity' and JFK's visit to York County a long-remembered event.

Ted Kennedy came to York on a rainy Sunday in April 2008 during the height of the race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.

He visited Obama headquarters, his choice of the pair. He later walked across West Market Street to the York County Democratic Party's campaign office.

"Not only the eyes of Pennsylvania, but the eyes of the country, of the world, are going to be on what you do in Pennsylvania," Kennedy told a gathering at Obama's headquarters.

Here is the York Daily Record/Sunday News story on that visit (04/21/08):

This image comes from the front of the Eastern State Penitentiary brochure. The long-closed Philadelphia prison was America's first penitentiary, constructed to inspire penitence in those detained. It's now a museum raising the question about whether York County, Pa.'s old jail could be used for fundraising purposes. Other posts of interest: Old York County, Pa., jail on endangered list and Prison listing brings back food loaf memories and 'There were only so many cells in that old stone prison.

Look east from several points at York's Sovereign Bank Stadium, and you'll see a fortress-like, ruddy building rising high well beyond the outfield fence.

That's York County's old Chestnut Street Prison, vacated in 1979, when inmates were moved to a brand-new lockup near the county-owned Pleasant Acres in Springettsbury Township.

The old jail has been for sale for many years. One prospect considered making it a restaurant. Some places - Boston, for example - have converted old prisons into apartments.

The old building is difficult and expensive to knock down because its built, well, like a prison... .

In this York Sunday News photo from 1958, York (Pa.) Little Theatre's Jean Farlow makes noted screen actor Cameron Mitchell appear 40 years older for his part as the William Jennings Bryan character in "Inherit the Wind." A photo of the production was part of a York County Heritage Trust exhibit opening this week. Other posts of interest: Former York countian-turned-screen-writer Laurice Elehwany: How to make it as a writer and Young Alan Alda performed along the Codorus? Researcher checking that out and Many national stars first performed on YLT's stage.

Paper covers the exhibit cases that are part of the York County Heritage Trust's "From Artists to Athletes: A History of Entertainment in York County."

The Trust's Junior Curators, a group of budding exhibit overseers, will unveil their handiwork starting on Friday, with the exhibit running through Oct. 30.

But a label near one of the covered cases serves as a reminder about one of York County's leaders in the entertainment field - probably the most honored actor ever from the county... .

This story, from an unspecified paper as found in Jere Carl's scrapbook at the York County (Pa.) Heritage Trust, spins together a strange tale about the night when the sky over York and Adams counties seemed to be falling. 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.

A July fireball has sent searchers looking for pieces of the meteorite in York and Lancaster County.

But that single falling star was nothing like the 1833 Perseid Meteor Shower that made York/Adams residents think that the world might be ending.

A 1902 newspaper clipping tells the impact of the meteor bursts. And it gives a glimpse of a local industry - silkmaking - then at its height:

The Murals of York program was well under way at the time of the 250th anniversary of York County (Pa.) in 1999. So the Murals of York committee commissioned its painting as a summary of the main events that made up the celebration. Background posts: York vs. Lancaster, Pa: The American War of the Roses still rages and The day west bankers looked forward to tax time and York, Cumberland counties longtime companions.

"The 10th anniversary of York County's 250th anniversary"? Isn't that like saying the 48th anniversary of my 1st birthday?"

So wrote a commenter on a recent York Daily Record/Sunday News story on the 260th anniversary of York County - and the 10th anniversary of the mammoth 250th celebration in 1999.

The commenter is right that it's a bit like a celebration about a celebration.

But the 1999 celebration is still remembered by many. Even if the 10th anniversary isn't significant, the 250th was, indeed... .

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Visitors to the new Gettysburg National Military Park visitors center are presented with the opportunity to examine all kinds of Civil War exhibits. But Civil War enthusiasts don't have to go to Gettysburg to learn about the Civil War. York countians can receive their lessons at home. Background posts: New Lincoln blog category introduced to honor Abe's 200th birthday and Abe Lincoln stopped at Hanover station:"We want to preserve history ... so it doesn't disappear' and York educator plays Abe's friend: 'This definitely was a cool thing'.

Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr., will present on the "Confederate Disaster on Oak Ridge: The Demise of Brig. Gen. Alfred Iverson's Brigade on July 1, 1863 at Gettysburg" Wednesday in York.

The licensed Gettysburg battlefield guide will address a meeting of the York (Pa.) Civil War Roundtable.

The Civil War group's meeting is a reminder about the regular monthly meetings that are available at no cost about different aspects of York County's history... .

George Shumway's book on the Schreyer family of Hanover, Pa., shows York countians as major makers of 18th-century rifles. The book is available at York County libraries. Background posts: Springetts collector attracts 'Antiques Roadshow's' Kenos and Northwestern York County flag expert: 'I was interested in my nation's heritage' and York Hospital doc: Expert on antique surgical saws, antiquated procedure of bloodletting.

When people talk about Kentucky long rifles around here, they usually qualify them as Pennsylvania long rifles.

For example, when Denver, Pa.'s Dan Morphy Auctions sent a news release about a sale of a collection of long rifles set for today, it called them "Pennsylvania-made pre- and post-Revolutionary War era long rifles."

The release later put "Kentucky" in quotes.

And the auction house gave further explanation:

In 1926, York, Pa.'s Union Evangelical Lutheran Church hired J.A. Dempwolf to design a new sanctuary. That would be his last church design, according to a church spokesman. In 1929, the new sanctuary was dedicated. "The shape of the ceiling is that of an inverted ship's hull; hand-carved oak figures of Moses and Luke flank the altar; and art-glass windows line the nave, choir loft and clerestory," the spokesman said. Interestingly, the first building the Dempwolf firm designed was a Lutheran church - First St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church on West King Street, according to a York Daily Record article. Background posts: Dempwolf windmill graced north bank of York's Codorus Creek in 1870s and Fawn Township's magnificent Centre Presbyterian Church worthy of a looksee and Dempwolf architects built York's skyline, history.

Brothers John A. and Reinhardt Dempwolf designed more than 400 schools, churches and other architecturally significant buildings.

Just in York County alone.

Eleven of those buildings will be on display during Historic York Inc.'s "Discovering Dempwolf" on Sunday, Oct. 11.

Some facts about the Dempwolfs and the tour:.. .

Notice the Dritt name on the broken tombstone at the historic Dritt cemetery in the new York County (Pa.) Native Lands County Park recently. Those are the hands of Paul Nevin, one of the cleanup crew members. (See related photo below.) Background posts: 400 years ago, John Smith explored Chesapeake Bay and For years, York countians have eyed amazing, destructive Susquehanna River ice jams and Petroglyphs, American Indian carvings, almost forgotten treasure.

After months of rancor surrounding the Lauxmont Farms controversy, it was intriguing to see a recent example of productive peace in a park that the episode spun off.

Last weekend, local Native Americans weeded an overgrown cemetery on land that is now part of York County's Native Lands County Park.

That was the cemetery for the Dritt family, an old-time local family that hasn't been able to muster such a clean-up effort in recent years.

The park is home to more than the Dritt cemetery.

It contains the site of the last Susquehannock Indian village and cemeteries that would have resulted from such a settlement... .

For some, the Woodstock album brings back clear memories about the vaunted festival and its famous mud. Others have no recollection about those days in August 1969, when an estimated 400,000 people attended the rock festival on a dairy farm in Bethel, N.Y. Background posts from 1969: Timeline of 1969 race riots, court cases and 'Remember' series recalls moon landing and rocket scientist who helped make it so and 40 years ago, men walked on moon and race riot victims wheeled into York emergency room.

The Daily Record/Sunday News is looking for area residents who remember Woodstock, soon to observe its 40th anniversary.

And did anyone with York/Adams links attend?

These memories will be part of the newspaper's "Remember" oral history series, a growing collection of memories accessible by clicking here. If you want to share your memories, call 771-2008 and follow the instructions.

Incidentally, the rock festival did not resonate locally, at least not with the local paper... .

In this York Daily Record/Sunday News file photo, Spring Garden (Pa.) Township's Stephen Sechrist sits near his 51st Strathmeyer Christmas tree. Strathmeyer has been selling trees to customers in York County - and beyond - for more than 75 years. Background posts: York-area full of memory-spawning landmarks and Interstate lined out Melvin's swan song and York artist Lewis Miller's depiction of a Christmas tree part of the York County Heritage Trust's collection.

In the recent post E-mailer links Roosevelt Avenue Airport, Downtown York's Bon-Ton - and Santa, JoAnne Everhart wrote about an annual rite of York County's past.

She and her father would welcome Santa at the Roosevelt Avenue Airport, watch as he was shuttled into York's downtown to climb a ladder into the Bon Ton, then pick up a Christmas Tree from a side yard of a home in The Avenues.

She believed that the yard was the home of the Strathmeyer family, operator today of the massive Dover-area-based Christmas Tree farm.

She compared notes with a friend and confirmed that The Avenues home was indeed that of the Strathmeyers.

She wrote: ... .

Industrialist A.B. Farquhar was at the top of his game as a man-about-town in 1909. Other posts with Gordon Freireich's columns: Washington Township, Jefferson Borough, Madison Avenue. How about an Obama Street in York County? and Vermont windmill: 'That turbine was built at the S. Morgan Smith company, right here in York' and York's Reservoir Hill: 'My 'reward' was to sit in the gazebo at the top of the hill'.

York Sunday News columnist Gordon Freireich provided an interesting glimpse of York County in 1909.

He tied this 100-year retrospective to what would have been his father's 100th birthday.

He found information via York Gazette microfilm at the York County Heritage Trust. Each Jan. 1, the newspaper recapped events from the previous year.

He found an article appropriate for today: York - and the nation - was still recovering from the recession of 1907:

Santa's annual visit to the Bon-Ton and downtown York, Pa., came after he landed first in the York Airport along Roosevelt Avenue and later its Thomasville location. Background posts: Ho, ho, ho - uh, Santa, hold on, The Grumbachers: 'Builders and Heroes,' Part III and What was famed architect John Dempwolf's own house like?

JoAnne Everhart, that astute observer of the York area with a keen memory, noticed recent York Town Square posts on the old Roosevelt Avenue Airport and tied that to another recollection - Santa's trip from the airport to the Bon-Ton to kick off the Christmas shopping season.

I include her e-mail here because it touches on so many parts of the York-area's past:

The first article reminded me of stories my late father, Hamilton B. Everhart Jr., told me of going to the airport as a young boy in the 1930's to see the airplanes, which were housed there... .

A cleanup is set Saturday for the Dritt Cemetery in new Native Lands County Park. "Presently the cemetery is a tangle of weeds and mile-a-minute vines," a Susquehanna Gateway Heritage Area release states. Background posts: 400 years ago, John Smith explored Chesapeake Bay and For years, York countians have eyed amazing, destructive Susquehanna River ice jams and Petroglyphs, American Indian carvings, almost forgotten treasure.

Local Native Americans will be cleaning up a historic cemetery at the new Native Lands County Park, in York County, beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday, July 25.

According to a Susquehanna Gateway Heritage Area release:

The park contains the site of last Susquehannock village and its associated cemeteries, and it also contains the Dritt family cemetery.

The Lancaster-York Native Heritage Advisory Council has organized the Dritt Cemetery clean up because it believes all of the burials deserve there need to be respected.

Members of the Dritt/Tritt family have experienced difficulties in maintaining the cemetery over the years... .

This iconic photo capturing the moment of the 1969 York race riots shows police seizing weapons from a North Newberry Street home. Newberry Street Boys were headquarted on their namesake street, which served as the site of shooting of Lillie Belle Allen on July 21, 1969. This photo originally appeared in The Gazette and Daily and now is part of York County Heritage Trust's archives. Background posts: Images capture hope for racial harmony, York Charrette or charade? and First pitch could break link with York race riots.

In an earlier post in this York race riots series, I wrote about prepping to background a visiting journalist about those disturbing moments in the 1960s.

As part of those preparations, I wrote the following slogan, common around York in the 1860s: "The Union as it was, the Constitution as it is and the Negroes where they are."

This was the majority view in York County. As I've written before, it was a border county in a border state in the Middle Atlantic region where North meets South.

The county developed the pragmatic view that slavery was not York County's problem, and it was not an issue that merited splitting the Union and fracturing the Constitution. Many believed it would disrupt commerce with the South, and the freedman would take scarce jobs or demand financial support.

Abraham Lincoln represented disunion, so we voted against him in the presidential elections of 1860 and 1864... .

This is perhaps the photograph used most often to illustrate stories on the York race riots of 1968-69. The National Guard was called in to York to supplement local and state police forces that were seeking to quell rioting in 1969. The photo first appeared in The Gazette and Daily and is now part of the York County Heritage Trust's Archives. Background posts: Helping to sort it out in York: Timeline of 1969 race riots, Part I and Since 1887, York mayors have dealt with the serious - and the silly and York Charrette or charade?

A visiting journalist, a college professor, was due in our office to gather background on the race riots of the late 1960s and particularly the legal resolution of the trials in 2000 to 2002.

I contemplated concise ways to explain both tough, memorable moments and finally came upon the idea of putting forth the causes and effects in the form of chemical equations.

So, to explain the riots, I wrote:

Long racial oppression + neglect of services for low-income people + unfit mayor + boiling U.S. urban racial environment + K-9 Corps (as a catalyst) = York riots of 1968-69.

Walter Cronkite, who died last week speaks on April 21, 1998, in York. He appeared at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center as part of the Junior League's "In The Spotlight" series. Background posts: Hedy Lamarr's visit to York long remembered and Presidential visits to York listed and All famous visitors to York from the start.

Sure enough, he was, courtesy of the Junior League of York's "In the Spotlight" speaker's series.

That series drew Cronkite and a host of other luminaries here.

That list includes:

This AP photo from June 2001 shows the media besieging the then-York County Courthouse during the trial of defendants in the slaying of Lillie Belle Allen and Henry C. Schaad during race rioting 32 years before. Background posts: For years, York countians part of major court cases and Witman murder among York County's most notorious crimes and York County educator recounts machete attack on 'I Survived...' .

As rioting rocked the York area, Lillie Belle Allen died 40 years ago today.

The death of this black woman from the South, visiting family in York, came three days after white police officer Henry C. Schaad was shot while on patrol.

Two young people dead. Their slayers did not come to justice for another 30 years.

In some minds, these wrenching events all run together. What happened when?

The following chronology, published in the York Sunday News (7/19/09) is designed to help place events in order:

York Daily Record/Sunday News journalist Melissa Nann Burke captured former rocket scientist and now Hanover resident George Hubbard in writing - and on video. He worked on Apollo 11. Posts on other topics in the 'Remember' series: Tropical Storm Agnes savaged York County with more than 15 inches of rain and Great Depression work: 'It was the largest thesis in the history of the history department' and York County's cigarmaking days: 'I remember that people stripped tobacco in their pantries'.

The York Daily Record/Sunday News has profiled Hanover's George Hubbard who worked on the Apollo 11 project that landed men on the moon 40 years ago today.

In 1969, Hubbard, 24, was an aerospace engineer at the Houston's Johnson Space Center... .

The July 21, 1969, edition of The Gazette and Daily told about man's walk on the moon and rioting in York, Pa., a pretty interesting news day. Background posts: Background posts: Meeting of riot victims brought racial accord, Mayor: 'We're going to clean up this site' and York Charrette or charade?

In the minds of some in York County, the moment of Neil Armstrong's and Buzz Aldrin's moonwalk in 1969 will always be aligned with the escalation of rioting in York.

Editors at the Gazette and Daily had to balance coverage of the moon walk with the march of shooting victims into the York Hospital emergency room. This was the product of what has become known as the race riots of 1968-69.

One of the shooting victims was 29-year-old Jacob W. Hose Jr., known today as former York County Sheriff Bill Hose... .

Springettsbury Township's Harley-Davidson plant is seen during shift change in January 2009. (See additional photos below.) Background posts: All Harley posts from the start and All York Safe & Lock posts from the start and All Made in York posts from the start.

It began during wartime and the old plant in Springettsbury Township has never really been at peace.

It's had a long series of owners since York Safe & Lock built it. Harley-Davidson occupies it now, but for how long?

It's had labor strikes. Celebrity visits. Presidential praise.

Just three years ago, George W. Bush was there, touting its great American qualities... .

A group of Chinese immigrants - formerly aboard the Golden Venture freighter that ran aground in 1993 off New York carrying about 300 passengers - listen during a news conference in 2006. That New York press conference, seen in this Associated Press photo, coincided with the release of a documentary film about Golden Venture. Now, a book on the Golden Venture has been published. (See photo of Golden Venture below.) Background posts: 'York: A Key City in the Keystone State' and York's Chestnut Street fortress bad symbol of York's past and All famous York visitor posts from the start.

Some maintain that York County is not always the most welcoming place to outsiders.

This, despite the fact that the county has served as a crossroads since its earliest days, and has grown accustomed to people coming and going.

And this, despite the fact that the county became Ground Zero for a national immigration battle in the 1990s, with the community largely in support of the newcomers from China at the center of this fight.

About 40 detainees from the grounded freighter Golden Venture sat in the York County Prison for years, although not charged with any crime.

The detainees faced much adversity, particularly from the Snakeheads, a Chinese term for those who smuggle humans from China to the free world... .

An ATF agent and Spring Garden Fire officials investigate the ruins shortly after the explosion at York International on Feb. 2, 1998. The York Daily Record reported that four compressed air tanks, measuring about 25-feet long by 4-feet wide, exploded. One tank flew through the roof of the Grantley Road plant's Building 9 in Spring Garden Township. The tanks contained pressurized air and refrigerant. The mixture was used to test air conditioners at the plant. Dennis Stough, a 42-year-old welder, was killed. Twenty people were injured, including five police officers who suffered from chemical inhalation. (See aerial view of the damage below, also courtesy of York Daily Record/Sunday News.) Background posts: All York International/Johnson Controls posts from the start and Deadly York fire: 'There never was a more horrible one' and Hanover Civil War story stop: 'Mother Loses Two Sons to War'.

A fire that consumed 16 rowhouses and displaced 61 people in York City last week led to a York Town Square blog list that gave a sampling of the worst fires in York County history.

Arson is suspected.

That raises the question about peacetime examples of crime and trauma on York County soil, in addition to those wrenching fires.

Here are links to a sampling - just a few of many - of those painful moments:

This 1995 photograph shows the burned out Thonet Industries complex two years after the fire, one of the largest in the past two decades in York County. Background: Colonial York, Pa.? No, try Victorian York, Pa. and York County ... 'A smorgasbord of architectural styles' and Fire-damaged Women's Club of York restored.

The question is going around. Was the Chestnut Street rowhouse fire this week the largest ever in York and York County?

It was a big one, displacing 61 people from 26 families who had lived in the 16 damaged rowhouses. The short answer is that a fire in 1856 took out an entire York city block including 17 buildings of mixed uses.

Undoubtedly, the largest fire in York County was the burning of the covered bridge across the Susquehanna River during the Civil War.

U.S. militia set the bridge on fire in 1863 to prevent the Confederates from crossing the river and taking Harrisburg from the east. Some might split hairs and note the bridge was part of Lancaster County, as is the river. But the blaze took out numerous buildings in Wrightsville, too.

But if we're talking about peacetime fires, there's a long lineup to consider.

Here is a sampling compiled from my "Never to be Forgotten," and York Daily Record/Sunday News files:

The York Gazette published invading Gen. Jubal Early's requisitions of York's residents in its June 30, 1863, edition. It was printed on or about the time that the last Confederates were leaving town after staying for a little less than two days. A local researcher has discovered what happened to some of the goods gained in the requisition. Background posts: Invaders put off by earthy Pennsylvania women, Owner seeks info on old toll house and York County Civil War, by the numbers.

For years, it's been known that part of the goods received from the Confederate requisition of York in late June 1863 wound up in the stomachs of the 6,000-plus invaders.

Some remained in or on the bodies of the rebels after roughly 30 percent of Gen. Jubal Early's division sustained casualties in the subsequent Battle of Gettysburg Civil War.

Now author and fellow blogger Scott Mingus has put forth a piece about what happened to part of the requisitioned goods... .

This mansion at Lauxmont Farms was built by the farm's founder and York Safe & Lock's owner S. Forry Laucks (see photo below), one of the most prominent of the Laucks family that will celebrate its 300th anniversary in America next year. Today, the mansion is owned by the Kohr family. Background posts: With hot controversy cooled, Highpoint offers Susquehanna River view for the ages and Bad economy turned York Safe & Lock toward lucrative defense work and And now starring actor ... Jakie Devers?.

Descendents of the Casper Glattfelter family have much to brag about as a successful York County family.

They meet every year at Glatfelter Station to renew acquaintances.

Now comes another prominent local family - the Laux family with a planned reunion next June in York. That reunion will celebrate the family's 300 years in America.

The family has set up a Web site, which bears interesting information. It addresses the Laux family and all variations of that name.

Did you know Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer has Loux blood? ... .

When the Confederates entered York, they would have been greeted by a scene similar to this with the Hartman building towering over York's Centre Square. The building, referred today as the Futer Bros. building, is being renovated. But the market sheds are long gone. Background posts: York's western gate: One image says so much, Farm vs. factory tension relieved by overnight raid and Late June has seen pivotal moments in York County history.

Since the year 2000, more than a dozen books have been written that address, in full or in part, York County's role in the Civil War.

Research was limited before that.

But one writer deserves credit for kicking off the current popular Civil War enthusiasm in York County, complete with stories of the Civil War hospital, the burning of the Wrightsville Bridge, the surrender of York, Jeb Stuart's ride through the countryside, among many other events.

His name is Gerald Austin Robison Jr., and he was writing about the Civil War in 1965 when it was not a popular local topic... .

James Hayney, portraying President Abraham Lincoln, gives a speech at the Hanover Junction Train Station in 2008 as part of the remembrance of Lincoln's passing through on his way to and from Gettysburg. The station, located about 10 miles south of York, is open from 1-5 p.m. today - the Fourth of July. A complete schedule is available at York County parks site. Background posts: Jefferson borough's Center Square in the middle of history and Abe Lincoln stopped at Hanover station:"We want to preserve history ... so it doesn't disappear' and John Adams: 'Yesterday the greatest question was decided'.

I've labeled the post: "This working list details presidential visits to York and Adams counties" and you can get to it by clicking here.

Working list is right.

I keep finding times when U.S. presidents or candidates stopped or passed through York County. (And many of their visits were, well, eventful in a quirky way.)

So I've reworked the working list... .

York's Martin Library CEO Bill Schell dates Martin Library's old doors to 1935, the year the library first opened. Here, they rest on the floor inside Martin. Background posts: York County libraries offer serendipity - and have done so for decades and Colonial York, Pa.? No, try Victorian York, Pa and York County library site brings together links for local research.

For years, some people struggled to open those weighty mahogany doors leading into Martin Library.

Their replacement with lighter doors leads to the question of what to do with the older ones.

Library officials have put that out to community.

The best answer is: Keep them. Or at least make sure they're publicly displayed somewhere.

Those are not just any doors... .

Mount Wolf's Ciara Coombes danced to kick off the York County Heritage Trust's Civil War Celebrity Tea, part of Patriot Days activities in 2006. Patriot Days 2009, last weekend, kicked off this year's Civil War observances. Numerous such events today-Sunday are part of observances of the 146th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. Background posts: Site places readers in the footsteps of the Civil War in York County and beyond and Poster highlights the life of a Civil War soldier and Hanover Civil War story stop: 'Mother Loses Two Sons to War'.

The calendar this year - the 146th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg - coincides exactly with the calendar in 1863.

That means that July 1 this year is a Wednesday, and that is the day fighting began. On Saturday, July 4, 1863 - Independence Day - a defeated Confederate army retreated toward the Potomac.

So, a particularly packed lineup of events in both York and Adams counties is scheduled this weekend.

Here's the list, courtesy of the York Daily Record/Sunday News:

This newspaper advertisement touts Gen. John B. Gordon's return to York to deliver a speech. The friendly, enthusiastic crowd welcomed the general-turned-politician. (See photo of Gordon below.) Background posts: York County Civil War hero grandmom of Gore Vidal and Civil War affected women in York County - and vice versa and Years after Civil War, (a) Longstreet steps onto York County soil .

The head of this hypothetical invading force was gentlemanly, but this did not keep his men from stealing the cars and other property from many York countians. Further, he damaged other property - catalyzing the destruction of an expensive Susquehanna River bridge and trampling valuable crops in fields. He killed at least two defenders of the county and shaped the way York viewed itself for years.

Would we welcome him back as a hero? ... .

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... .

This 2004 aerial view of the undeveloped Camp Security site shows the encroachment of development on every side. Friends of Camp Security and other groups are trying to raise support for site preservation. Background posts: Camp Security memories tucked inside memoir and Story revives memories of oft-forgotten York County POW camp in World War II and York-area developer: 'I think we have gone way above and beyond to preserve Camp Security'.

The public will get a rare opportunity to view artifacts Saturday (6/27/09) from a past archaeological dig at Camp Security, the Revolutionary War POW camp site that might be covered over with houses.

A limited dig in 1979 uncovered pottery shards, buttons and gold coins... .

Two York County natives, Maj. Gen. David F. Wherley Jr., pictured here, and his wife, Ann, were killed in this week's Washington, D.C., metro crash. Background posts: All York County celebrities posts from the start and All York County people posts and All York County war posts.

The collision of two Metro trains in Washington, D.C., this week claimed the lives of two former York countians, Maj. Gen. David F. Wherley Jr and his wife, Ann.

They graduated from York Catholic High School in 1965.

A York Daily Record story (6/24/09) reported that David Wherley, retired commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, was a prominent official after the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks.

"He dispatched planes in the airspace over Washington, D.C., armed with live ammunition, according to his brother, Clark Wherley of York," the newspaper reported... .

Elmer Ferlow recalls watching a man drown during the fury of Tropical Storm Agnes. Memories of the storm and its deadly aftermath are recorded as part of the York Daily Record/Sunday News "Remember" oral history series, where this video first appeared. (See flood photos below.) Background posts: 'Picture Memories' booklet: York County Flood of 1933 worst of record up to that point and Reader searching for Tropical Storm Agnes photos to use in children's tour and In late June, things happen in York County and What is the probability of another flood in York?.

The list of events from York County's past explored in an oral history series printed in the York Daily Record/Sunday News and then posted in a Web archive continues to grow.

Actually, they're not real oral histories, as academics define them, with a rigorous Q & A format.

But you'll find a rich repository of audio, video and written memories at the Remember site.

So far in 2009, local residents have given their memories of the 2008 election, Golden Venture, Invasion of Iraq, cigar factories and high school dances.

Today, the series covered Tropical Storm Agnes, the 1972 storm that dropped more than 15 inches of rain on York County.

We'll tell the story here in a series of submitted photos that were published in the newspaper (6/22/09):

Earl Shaffer chat with fellow Appalachian Trail hikers north of Harpers Ferry during his last through hike in July 1998. Other hikers recognized the celebrity Shaffer during this hike, which came on the 50th anniversary of his first through hike - the first such on the Appalachian Trail. West Manchester book contains valuable gold coins' and Who were most prominent 20th-century sports heroes in York and Adams counties? and Highpoint offers Susquehanna River view for the ages.

West Manchester resident Earl Shaffer was out of the service after Army Signal Corps duty in World War II.

And he was ready to "walk the Army out of my system" on the Appalachian Trail.

"Late in 1947 I had seen an article in an outdoor magazine entitled 'The Long Trail's Challenge,' " he wrote in in his book "Walking with Spring." "It said that no one was known to have hiked the entire Trail in a continuous journey, though many had tried, and such a trip might actually be impossible."

Shaffer proved it was possible with the first through hike in 1948, a second hike the other way in 1965 and a 50th anniversary hike in 1998. He was then almost 80 years old.

This information comes from a Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History news release, telling about the opening of an Earl Shaffer exhibit next month... .

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... .

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: ... .

This York (Pa.) Gazette story from Aug. 29, 1901, tells about the first night baseball game played in York - and probably York County. Special rules were put in for this game. Background posts: Sons of Union vets seeking relatives of Civil War soldier from U.S. Colored Troops, 32nd Regiment and York's American War Mothers monument captures interest and Adding to York baseball timeline: Revs ready for 'second helping'

Officials are looking for ways to give York's Penn Park new life.

The relatively light use of the city park today can shroud its heavy use throughout history.

For example, it was the place where freedman from the South headed upon reaching York, north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

It housed a large Civil War military hospital.

And, on a lighter note, a ballpark, complete with grandstand, home of a Penn Park team, operated there. It was there that York's first night baseball game was played in late August 1901... .

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... .

Sgt. Major Robert Myers was the director for the regimental band of the 46th Pennsylvania, which performed in 2006 in York. Patriot Days in York will feature such living historians again this year. Background posts: Books probing York County in the Civil War come in strong, sudden onslaught and History-making evening on rebel occupation of York could turn into daylong symposium and Rebs' short York visit creates long memories .

The forum on the Civil War in York County last year might have been the first such get-together to discuss that controversial story.

That 2008 symposium was not designed to focus on the town fathers' surrender of York to the Confederates.

But questions from the audience, in particular, took it that way.

Better to discuss such controverted events than to ignore them, as York has done with its Civil War story until the past 10 years.

Speakers at this year's forum - set for 7-9 p.m. on Thursday, June 25 - will explore impressions from the North and South as the Confederates marched across York County June 28-30, 1863... .

Dr. Harold Neibert participated in the famed rescue of the now-world-famous Lipizzan horses from Czechoslovakia in World War II. Here, he shows pictures of the horses he cared for. Background posts: York County sacrificed on homefront and war front to aid Allies in World War II - Part I and York County sacrificed - Part II and Pioneering aviator Aline Rhonie another York native who made U.S. headlines.

York County veterinarian Harold Neibert cared for rescued World War II Lipizzan horses, ancestors of the entertainers of today.

Look for a takeout on those noted horses in an upcoming edition of World War II Magazine.

A writer for that magazine saw the York vet helped save famed Lipizzan horses post on this blog and is in the process of getting in touch with him.

"I'm writing about the rescue of Austria's Lipizzaner horses at the end of World War II for the magazine I edit, World War II," Karen Jensen wrote in an e-mail... .

This York County Heritage Trust photo shows two Navy men with York County roots. Richard M. Watt, Sr. and Richard M. Watt, Jr. Watt Sr. helped investigate the sinking of the "Titanic" and his son reached rear admiral rank and was at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (See additional "Titanic" - related photo below.) Background posts: Naval Reserve officer, a York High grad, to become admiral and York native to captain new carrier USS Bush and Gitmo second in command hails from York County.

York County has not one, not two but three links to the Titanic, brought back into the news last week when the last survivor of its 1912 sinking passed away.

The story of Richard M. Watt Sr.'s role in investigating the sinking is told in the York Town Square post York has produced its share of high-ranking naval officers, based on research by fellow blogger June Lloyd.

That post features a book cover photo of an Army man, Gen. William B. Franklin.

His family leads to the second and third links to the Titanic.

According to excerpts from "Never to be Forgotten":

Some things never change. Here's the Gazette and Daily's Walt Partymiller's take on June 1, 1949, about adventures and challenges facing high school and college grads. Background posts: Cartoonist made York newspaper owner's views an art form and Newspaper's founding date hard to pin down and Further education plans, YorkCounts quality-of-life indicator: Post-high-school prospects rising.

That happened recently when I was looking for what happened 60 years ago, on June 1, 1949.

History has a beginning and will have an ending and has meaning. None of this circular stuff. But sometimes recurring themes just keep popping up, as I was reminded on my scroll.

Some summaries from The Gazette and Daily for that date that might interest you:

The Little Courthouse, seen in York's Centre Square during World War I, served as a center for war bond sales and promoted the bonds in a way that today might be considered politically incorrect. An effigy of Kaiser Wilhelm II is seen in the left foreground. For a small sum, donors could drive nails into the German leader's head. For decades, York's underground comfort stations spelled relief and York's 221 E. Princess St. home to telling ironies and Pastors denounce first Sunday newspaper publication.

York's mayors have dealt with many serious matters of state since the Borough of York became the City of York in 1887.

E.S. Hugentugler, for one, suspended civil liberties to shore up suspicions about German-American York when America was "over there" battling the Germans in World War I... .

Edwin S. Shneidman, author of 20 books, wrote broadly about suicide prevention. The York, Pa., native died recently in Los Angeles. Background posts: All posts about celebrities with York links and All posts about others with York links.

Edwin Shneidman was one of America's foremost experts on suicide.

But little is known about the local roots of this York, Pa.-born psychologist with a worldwide reputation... .

David Kushner's "Levittown" tells the story of the York, Pa.'s Bill and Daisy Myers and the discrimination they faced after moving into a new house in Bucks County's Levittown in 1957. Background posts: Future Yorker Daisy Myers' harassment in Levittown part of NYT mag article and York's and Levittown's Daisy Myers: Rosa Parks of the North and A short test of your York black history knowledge and Mattie Chapman's barrier-breaking legacy apparent in York County 30 years later.

In her memoir "Sticks 'n Stones," Daisy Myers wrote about her family's terrible confrontation with discrimination after buying their dream house in the new, all-white Bucks County suburb of Levittown in 1957.

She told about that experience, and brought readers up to date about the family's later years after moving back to York, her husband Bill's hometown.

Author David Kushner did what journalists call a "write through" in telling the Myers' Levittown story. The 2009 work draws from - and expands upon by bringing in many other sources - Myers' 2005 memoir... .

Nineteenth-century artist Lewis Miller captured 49ers from York, Pa. Background posts: There's oil in those New Salem hills and Iron-mine-turned-into-party-spot turned into York County park and Site filled with wealth of York County geological info.

49ers from York?

Fellow blogger June Lloyd, who has extensively researched 19th-century California prospectors from York County, took a look at those local folks suffering from gold fever.

She blogged:

"By April 1849, sixteen other York County professionals and craftsmen had organized themselves into "The California Company" and were equipped and ready to sail on the ship Andalusia from Baltimore." ...

This renovated trolley kiosk gained an official unveiling on a recent rainy day, appropriate because of the shelter it has provided against the elements for years in York's (Pa.) Continental Square. (See photo of the kiosk during its trolley-era days below.) Interestingly, the red RabbitTransit bus in the background is the successor to a bus system that helped put the countywide trolley system out of business. Background posts:The 'Little Courthouse,' like longtime York square neighbor 'Teapot Dome,' still stands tall and Copper top of York Square's 'Teapot Dome' needs to be recharged and Great Depression not only pinched in York County, it punched.

The trolley kiosk, so familiar to York countians in York's Continental Square, is back after months of rehab.

"Teapot Dome," as it's been called for years, will have no particular function. City officials say it perhaps will give police officers shelter from the rain... .

Elizabeth 'Betty' Marshall is seen on primary day Tuesday. The 91-year-old was the first elected female mayor of York. She served one, four-year term starting in 1978. Background posts: Unfortunate incident puts leading York woman back into news and York's 221 E. Princess St. home to telling ironies and York Mayor E.S. Hugentugler clamped down on anti-Great War speech

OK, the York mayoral lineup for the fall, at least of this date, will be a faceoff between:

Kim Bracey - Democrat (Bracey gained her party's nod in Tuesday's primary.)
Wendell Banks - Republican
Joe Musso - Independent
Matthew Mann - Independent

One of these candidates will become York's 26th mayor (some have served more than one non-contiguous terms). (Post-election update: Kim Bracey won easily to become York's 26 mayor.) :

Mayor E. S. Hugentugler, York's mayor during World War I, faced a difficult job at a difficult moment. York's new mayor next year will face staggering challenges, but perhaps miniscule when compared to those faced by Hugentugler. Background posts: York's first mayor Daniel K. Noell named one of his sons, well, 'York' and York mayor Brenner brought order during tumultuous times and For decades, York's underground comfort stations spelled relief.

Mayor E. S. Hugentugler had the map of Germany written on his face.

A German-American mayor in a largely German-American area could have been particularly suspect in those days of the Great War, World War I, when such counties were not trusted because of purported sympathy for the kaiser.

The mayor tried to assure outsiders that the city was behind the war by what would be considered heavy-handed tactics today. (Indeed, they were heavy-handed measures back then.)

According to "Never to be Forgotten," he banned anti-war meetings, organized an anti-spy group and a task force to guard York County's industrial plants... .

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... .

Brooks Robinson's statue is the key part of his namesake plaza at Sovereign Bank Stadium. The Hall-of-Fame third-basemen, who started his career at second base for the York White Roses, has fought back from a bout with cancer. Background posts: York has Brooks Robinson statue. Where's Baltimore's? and Revs will easily pass 1969's full-season attendance stats and Batter up, pass the hot dog: York relishes the Revolution.

Brooks Robinson's revelation this week that he had been diagnosed - and now cleared - of prostate cancer brings to mind two stories about when Brooksie played with the York White Roses.

Brooks, of course, started his professional career in York in 1955.

And the story has often been told about how public address announcer George Trout introduced him as "Bob" Robinson.

Although Trout soon was informed of his mistake, the two local newspapers kept up the "Bob" Robinson routine for a good two weeks... .

Mayflower descendant Joan Miller is dressed as a Mayflower pilgrim during a 2006 conference. Susquehanna Trail Genealogy Club and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sponsored the event. The genealogy club is holding an upcoming event on blogging and genealogy. Background posts: The Four Bloggers write and York County library site brings together links for local research and Genealogical society speaker to provide tips for 'Finding Lydia's Bottom'

Genealogists flock here because early German immigrants trekked through here or stayed "a while" after their cross-Atlantic trip to America.

Many people are coming here via the Web, too... .

An Associated Press photographer captured Roman Polanski attending a funeral in January in France. He now faces extradition to the United States. Polanski has an unfortunate link to York County. Background posts: All York celebrities posts from the start and All explanations and controversy posts from the start.

Last week, Academy Award winning film director Roman Polanski lost a bid in court for the judge to dismiss a 1978 rape charge against him.

According to Reuters, the Los Angeles judge would not consider the case until Polanski appeared before him. The fugitive director has been living outside the United States after fleeing upon his guilty plea in the rape of a 13-year-old girl.

Why bring all of this into York Town Square?

The 13-year-old had York links (see photo below) ... .

The (York, Pa.) Gazette and Daily previewed a performance of the 350th Field Artillery "Black Devil" Band, scheduled to perform at the Orpheum on April 17, 1919. Lt. J. Tim Brymn, led the band. The band's performances impressed a large York audience. Background posts: When York County rolled up its red carpet to people of color and Yorktowne to continue as overnight success and York's 221 E. Princess St. home to telling ironies.

The all-black 350th Field Artillery Band, known as the "Black Devils," drew encores in two appearances in post-World War I York.

"Well, to make a long story short, the Black Devil Band took well in York, and it merited all the praise that it got," a Gazette and Daily reviewer wrote.

That review, in itself, is a bit of an artifact of history, even going beyond the obvious reporting about a performance by a segregated band from a segregated military unit... .

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... .

This Associated Press photo shows Illinois Army National Guardmen receiving medical supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile in preparation for the swine flu. York County, Pa., officials are dusting off swine flu plans of their own. To learn about local and worldwide preparations, visit the York Daily Record/Sunday News special Web page Latest on Swine Flu. Background posts: Well-known doctor, York, Pa.'s Edmund Meisenhelder, beat back flu and All Spanish flu-related posts from the start and All polio-related posts from the start.

York Town Square was giving lessons from history about the potential devastating effect of an influenza pandemic days before the current swine flu attack made the news.

Exhibit A was the Spanish flu of 1918 that challenged people of the world - and coffin-makers in York County - to their core. (See: Spanish flu epidemic in York: 'People died one right after the other')

So the following story from McClatchey News Service came into view as an interesting comparison between 1918 and the current swine flu:

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... .

This mural at the Windsor Township Commerce Bank branch shows the scene as troops go off to the Great War - World War I - at the Red Lion Ma & Pa Railroad station in 1917. About 200 of the more than 6,000 York countians who served in World War I did not return. Some were victimized by the pandemic Spanish flu bug. (To see full mural, click here. Background posts: Great War hero Jeannette Zinn of York: 'She made the supreme sacrifice' and Spanish flu of 1918 no three-day fever. Try 365-day worldwide plague and Easter in York County, 1919: Sadness, joy, hope.

In my York Sunday News column History's lesson: Prepare now for pandemic, I pulled together several recent posts on the pandemic Spanish flu of 1918-1919 that caused so much death and despair.

I wasn't aware when I first started posting on the Spanish flu that the swine flu virus was already afflicting scores of people around the world.

I tied the Sunday column into an pandemic planning session in York, sponsored by the York-Adams Metropolitan Medical Response System.

For all those York Town Square posts on the Spanish or Swine flu, click here.

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." ...

State police horses separate a woman yelling at white supremacists during a January 2002 disturbance in York. Neo-Nazis and other racists traded insults with city residents, anarchists and anti-racist protesters in the aftermath of race riot trial verdicts. Police largely kept the two groups separated. (See related photo below.) Background posts: York's 221 E. Princess St. home to telling ironies and York mayor Brenner brought order during tumultuous times and Images capture hope for racial harmony.

YorkCounts' recent report of quality-of-life indicators assessed one category simply and aptly: "Bias-related incidents are a concern in York County."

The report showed that such incidents are trending down since 1998, but the county average is twice the state's numbers.

For example, the average number of bias incidents reported per 100,000 residents from 2004-2006 in York County totaled 5.5. The state average was 2.6 percent.

Here's a quick assessment of this thorny problem that has long plagued the county... .

This clip from The (York, Pa.) Gazette and Daily observes what happened on the war front "over there" in World War I. It shows part of a roll call of the 195 or more York countians who died, including George Woods (left), fighting with a machine gun unit. While those in the military were battling the Germans, the Spanish flu and other deadly diseases in France, their families back home were struggling against the flu virus, as well. Background posts: World War I bond drive: Spanish 'Flu bug, no more than Hun, was not going to tarnish York's perfect patriotic record' and York's Spanish flu epidemic of 1918: 'It remains one of the darkest periods for White Rose residents' and Easter in York County, 1919: Sadness, joy, hope.

York Hospital had no ambulances except a horse-drawn carriage in 1918.

That was particularly problematic in this year of the pandemic Spanish flu.

"(B)ut even if there had been one, it could not have taken all of the stricken to the hospital; there was simply no room for all of them there," Florence La Rose Ames wrote in "That Sovereign Knowledge."

That history detailing the hospitals first hundred years starting in 1880 made several points about the homefront flu battle:

Charlie Thomas, a York resident, and his group of 50 years, The Drifters, will perform at 8 p.m. today at Eichelberger Performing Arts Center in Hanover. For details: 637-7086 or www.theeich.org . Background posts: Cameron Mitchell, Craig Sheffer, Dixie Chick born here and Famed doo-wopper from York, Pa. walks down the aisle of heaven and Memories and Nostalgia posts from the start.

"Charlie Thomas is The Drifters," York Daily Record/Sunday News columnist Mike Argento wrote in 2007.

Indeed.

Others have grabbed that name, but Charlie Thomas' Drifters is the authentic oldies group. That's saying a lot. A look at the complex Wikipedia entry for the multi-splintered group make you want to escape from it all up on the roof.

And area residents can see the real thing tonight in Hanover when Charlie and his widely traveled band perform within the borders of York County.

Here's an excerpt from Mike's Nov. 9, 2007, piece on Charlie, a York resident:

This clip, from the York Gazette on Sept. 17, 1901, tells about how President William McKinley's funeral train passed through York without stopping, which was the original plan. Background posts: McKinley, Nixon, Johnson, Obama family trees have York County roots and Trivia quiz: Test your U.S. presidential smarts quiz and All posts on presidential visits.

The York County Courthouse bell tapped out a signal to the church bells.

President William McKinley's funeral train was on its way from Buffalo, where the assassin's bullet took his life, to a state funeral in Washington, D.C. It would be yet another presidential event touching York County's soil.

The church bells received the cue and began pealing mournfully, and that signaled the stopping of factory wheels and the closing of stores.

The whole town could now go witness the train - and they did.

And they expected the train to stop.

Only the train did not... .

The Fourth Liberty Loan drive during World War I was under way in York County and so was the Spanish flu, as this newspaper ad states. Background posts: Single shell killed two York countians in World War I and Well-known doctor, York, Pa.'s Edmund Meisenhelder, beat back flu and York's Spanish flu epidemic of 1918: 'It remains one of the darkest periods for White Rose residents'.

In the fall of 1918, leading York businessman Grier Hersh had a problem.

He faced a fourth Liberty Loan drive goal of $8.7 million. Those funds would be used to prosecute World War I.

He planned for church bells to ring a 7 p.m. each night to remind citizens of that goal. Military planes would drop "propaganda bombs" on the city.

"But all these well-laid plans came to naught," Carl E. Hatch and Joseph Hicks wrote in "World War I: York, Pennsylvania's Response."

The Spanish flu hit York... .

Clair Good worships during a Stony Brook Mennonite Church Easter service at sunrise at Lower Windsor Township's Samuel S. Lewis State Park overlooking the Susquehanna River. Background posts: Easter stories of sacrifice & selflessness and Pre-World War II Thanksgiving holds lessons for York countians today and Henry Laurens' Christmas in York Town: 'I will not quit my post, although I ... fear that I may perish on it'.

I penned an editorial in today's (4/12/09) York Sunday News tying themes of Easter with world events during difficult times 90 years ago.

Interested in your thoughts:

A York newspaper story headlined "Joyful Observance of Easter Festival" on Saturday, April 19, 1919, set the stage for services the next day.

It was full of meaning to Gazette and Daily readers.

And for readers 90 years later... .

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 pool, 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... .

Joseph M. & Mae E. Jenkins dedicated much of their lives not only to Cub pack 11 and other community activities. A new York County Heritage Trust exhibit celebrates their efforts and Scouting. Background posts: Old York County Boy Scout camp still teaching lessons and Old Ganoga Bridge: 'It is a highly unusual sight in York County' and York's Crispus Attucks Center had intriguing start.

Joseph Jenkins worked in Cub Scouting from its earliest years in York County.

And in fact, from its earliest years in America.

He started his Scout work under Cub Pack 32 at St. Patrick's Church in the 1930s and moved to Cub Pack 11 at Crispus Attucks Community Center in the 1940s.

All his volunteer work culminated in his receiving the coveted Silver Beaver Award in 1963.

Meanwhile, his wife Mae got involved as Pack 11 den mother. She was recognized for his years of service with the Scouter's Award, Scouter's Key, and District Award of Merit.

Not only were the Jenkins integrally involved in shaping the lives of Scouts, but they collected and preserved Cub Pack 11's records and artifacts... .

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... .

The Tropical Storm Agnes deluge from June 1972, as seen from a photo on the wall in the Indian Rock Dam office. (See additional photos below.) Background posts: In late June, things happen in York County and Great Depression struck four corners of triangle-shaped York County and Reader doesn't understand some things about York County and Agnes, by the tragic numbers.

E-mailer Jay Lawrence is looking for photos of Tropical Storm Agnes, York County's last truly devastating flood.

He wrote:

I've been talking with my grandkids about Agnes and the damage it caused. I been trying to find pictures with no luck. I was hoping you could help me with my search. I would like the pictures so i could take them to spots around town and let them see how high the water was and the damaged it caused.

John Wilkes Booth attended school in York years before he gamed infamy for assassinating Abraham Lincoln. Background posts: James A. Garfield: 'York was the capital of the United States when congress was on wheels' and Piece of John Wilkes Booth's body to be shown in Philly and Abraham Lincoln was here.

Those attending the recent Treasures of the Trust were treated to two photographs that served as a reminder of an infamous former resident here.

The photographs at this York County Heritage Trust-sponsored event captured John Wilkes Booth (a cropped version is shown above) and the school he attended in York for a short spell in 1853.

An exhibit booklet said this of Booth and his school: ...

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This iconic Associated Press photo shows then-President Jimmy Carter, center, with Harold Denton, left, of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and then-Gov. Dick Thornburgh, left rear, in Three Mile Island's Unit 2 control room on April 1, 1979. Two weeks earlier, the York Daily Record's reporting suggested an accident could happen. (See additional photo, video below.) Background posts: Three Mile Island emergency indelibly written into memories and Availability of microfilm an oft-posed question and Publishing legend Gitt vocal about nuclear power.

The partial meltdown of Three Mile Island's Unit 2 reactor put York countians to the test 30 years ago.

Just check out the oral histories that are part of the York Daily Record/Sunday News' "Remember" series if you need a refresher.

Or read the stories about the accident's impact, with a graphic of what went wrong that March day in 1979.

The York Daily Record was tested, too.

About two weeks earlier, a major reporting project suggested that a major nuclear accident could occur... .

Workers started taking down the old Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center this week. The land eventually will be returned to its 1863 appearance. The former Cyclorama building will remain standing pending outcome of a lawsuit. Background posts: Two developers have plans for a relocated Gettysburg Cyclorama building and Gettysburg Cyclorama critics: Reviews ranged from 'huge dinosaur' to 'I was captivated' and Q&A on new Gettysburg visitor center, old Electric Map.

The former visitors center/Electric Map building at the Gettysburg Battlefield, source of so many memories, is coming down.

The Hanover Evening Sun reported on the beginning of the end of the building (3/24/09):

William Solomon, owner of Pin Oak Lane Farm in Shrewsbury Township, is seen with Deposit Ticket in 2004. Deposit Ticket's offspring earned $1.4 million during the year. Pin Oak was the birthplace of 1992 Kentucky Derby winner Lil E. Tee (see photo below). Background posts: Glen Rock hilltop farm: 'You cannot stay stressed here for long' and Wiki profiles eight with national status bearing Hanover roots and Hames made in Shrewsbury Township's Hametown fueled early American horsepower and Two ornate mansions that Hanover Shoe built.

York County ranks third in the state behind Chester and Lancaster counties for the greatest number of racehorses, a Penn State researcher said a few years back.

"You don't have a racetrack in the county," the researcher said. "It's a bedroom community for those who do."

Bedroom community, yes.

But one of those horses who lived here and left will always have a York County birthplace in its biography.

That's Lil E. Tee, 1992 Kentucky Derby winner, who was put down this week.

These excerpts from a York Daily Record/Sunday News/AP story (3/24/09) tell about this first Pennsylvania-bred horse to win the Derby:

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... .

The caption with this photo identifies community leaders about 50 years ago. It shows heirs of York leaders from the 19th century. For example, Beauchamp Smith is a descendent of S. Morgan Smith and P.H. Glatfelter III is in the lineage of the paper mill founder. Earl Herting, seen here, chaired this community improvement effort, one of many post World War II initiatives.The commission originated with the Chamber of Commerce Committee for 100 for Community Development, Herting wrote in a recent e-mail. Background posts: Who will lead the York area in the future? and Glatfelter, Morgan Smith head industrial legacy list and Samuel Small tops York, Pa. community contributor list.

The York Plan that brought factories together to capture defense work in World War II is the best example from history of a York-area community improvement initiative that worked.

The plan - and York County - became internationally known as a strategy to bring a community together to help supply the Allied war machine.

The York Committee of Safety's efforts to coordinate defense and recruitment strategies in the Civil War is an example of such a community project that did not.

Confederate invaders overwhelmed the town in 1863 after the community mustered only a handful of defenders.

In times of peace, the county has seen numerous other committees designed to pool resources to better the community.

Sometimes, the plans sat on a shelf... .

This illustration, from the York Daily Record/Sunday News and drawing from the title of the popular Civil War book, shows in broad brush the Confederate advance across York County in late June 1863. Wrightsville became the east-most point of the Confederate thrust. Scott Mingus' "Flames Beyond Gettysburg" explores Gen. John B. Gordon's Confederate raid to the Susquehanna River. He will address the Confederate advances through the county at 7 p.m. today at the York County Civil War Roundtable and at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Greater Dover Historical Society. Background posts: Signs point to York, 'Prize of the Confederacy,' and other York/Adams Civil War wonders and Poster highlights the life of a Civil War soldier and Pro/Con: Should York's leaders have surrendered to the rebels?.

Scott Mingus is on the speaking trail telling the story of the Confederate invasion of York County as detailed in his recently released "Flames Beyond Gettysburg."

And he's doing some neat stuff on his blog, Cannonball, part of Yorkblog's suite of history bloggers.

For example, it fuels one's sense of discovery when you learn of a new place to explore or are reminded of something you've long wanted to check out... .

The colorful Valencia, seen here in this circa 1937 postcard, played host to dozens of national acts. Background posts: The bad, and yes, the good of the Great Depression in York County and Valencia Ballroom became cool place during Depression and Spring Garden Band: 'It's like being in the room with history'.

Dave Gladfelder was a regular at Big Band events at the Valencia in the heyday of the Swing era in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

It cost between a quarter and 85 cents to get into the York venue, depending on the prominence of the act. If the name was big enough, admission rose to $1.

Paying a little extra, Gladfelter acquired photos of the stars and stuck around long enough to get their autographs.

He collected about 60 photographs, many of them signed.

The collection of the late David Gladfelter will be up for silent auction during the York Book and Paper Fair on Saturday, April 4, in the York Expo Center.

Photos of the Dorsey brothers, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Woody Herman are included in the collection... .

U.S. President Harry S. Truman honors Gen. Jacob L. Devers upon his post-World War II retirement. Devers established the U.S. Army Field Band before leaving his high military post. Background posts: Field Band live from Farquhar Park and York native Jacob L. Devers' name still in service at Fort Knox, Ky. and Long Level and Pleasureville fielded bands?

The U.S. Army Field Band is the best-known military band with York links. York native and four-star general Jacob Loucks Devers started that band after World War II.

But the U.S. Air Force Drum & Bugle Corps had more York County members.

So says K.B. Oiler (kblor1@comcast.net), and the writer has contacted the York County Heritage Trust about placing some of the band's artifacts into its holdings.

Oiler provides some facts about the corps: ...

John Grisham, seen in this 2006 Associated Press file photo, wrote York, Pa., into the narrative of his most recent bestseller 'The Associate.' Background posts: York author's works adapted to the big screen: 'Legacies,' and Worker saved key historical surveys from Glatfelter pulping machine and York's contribution to 'The Four Chaplains' still gains attention and Author with local ties writes 'precocious and engaging' book .

There's just something about York County that gets it into the news.

Many of its residents have gone on to fame.

Or fame finds York.

The late author John Updike, for example, referred to York several times in his 1971 book "Rabbit Redux," part of his famed "Rabbit" series. He placed his lead character, Harold C. "Rabbit" Angstrom, in a fictional town near the non-fictional Reading and put him in situations that tested his ability to relate to people of other races.

In that connection, he wrote in the actual race riots that had just taken place in York.

"Nex day, Friday," he wrote, " the papers and television ware full of the colored riots in York, snipers wounding innocent firemen, simple men on the street, what is the world coming to?"

Sometimes, fame comes to York.

John Grisham has written about York before.

But in "The Associate," York is the hometown of the main character. And, as it turns out, Grisham has been to York... .

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... .

Former U.S. President William Howard Taft spent some time with Thomas Shipley in his home in "the Avenues" part of York during his 1915 visit to York. Background posts: During York visit, former President Taft glad to be in 'this great hive of industry' and Washington Township, Jefferson Borough, Madison Avenue. How about an Obama Street in York County? and Teddy Roosevelt in York: 'I know York county farmers are prosperous. Their barns are bigger than their houses'

Fellow blogger June Lloyd provides a wonderful postcard view of a William Howard Taft visit to York in her post: President Taft Addresses York Crowd from Back of Train.

Information with the post card suggests he made his address in 1909. It must have been the stop Taft referred to in his 1915 visit when he said in a speech to the York Manufacturers' Association that he had previously given a short speech from the back of a train to a local audience.

But the 1915 visit was of longer duration, and it included time at Thomas Shipley's house at Linden and West York (now Roosevelt) avenues... .

The Shipley home was fit for an ex-president... .

Brian Brown, project supervisor of the newly opened Manchester Township's SPCA told the York Daily Record/Sunday News in 2006: 'These dogs are going to be living good.' York-area residents began organization of the SPCA in 1925. Background posts: Pets and animals in York County history and Perrydale's bovine: 'She's a wonderful, laid-back cow' and Landmark dog guards picket.

Dover's Sara Bretz is a retired teacher who wants to instruct others about the SPCA's story.

She's embarked on a project to learn the SPCA's history, spending hours in the York County Heritage Trust Archives. She hopes to compile her history into a publication.

She's found that organizing members of the group first met on March 31, 1925. Harry A. Harris brought the group together.

An annual report for 1931, issued by president Joseph H. Mosser, summarizes the SPCA's goals in those years:

The York (Pa.) Dispatch reported on a celebrity train passing through York in September 1941. Background posts: From York, Pa. to inside the beltway, politicos, celebrities got no friend and What did Tiny Tim and Richard Nixon have in common? and Sidney Poitier visits Valencia.

York's location on the Northern Central Railroad, later Pennsylvania Railroad, meant many presidents and other celebrities passed through the city.

In the age of steam locomotives, trains often stopped for water. And York's position as the largest town between Baltimore and Harrisburg increased the likelihood of visits.

In 1941, one such celebrity train did not stop.

It carried the controversial celebrities, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor... .

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? ...

Northeastern's Autumn Lau (42) celebrates after scoring her 2,000th point against Dover in early January. She has since become the leading girls' scorer in York County's basketball history. Background posts: York athlete series: 'Arguably the best girls' volleyball player the area has ever seen' and Red Lion's Scott Fitzkee ranks as York/Adams Greatest Athlete and 'When people are looking back into Pa. basketball history ... it's great'.

The York Daily Record/Sunday News story told of Autumn Lau's record-breaking basket against West Perry last week in simple fashion:

"The Northeastern senior converted a bank shot in the paint from the left side to pass 2006 Fairfield graduate Lauren Beckley for the top spot on the YAIAA girls career scoring list. Lau put 20 on the board in the winning effort to increase her career total to 2,275 -- 17 points ahead of Beckley and 113 behind boys career leading scorer Jacob Iati, who set the record playing for York Catholic last season."

Will she pass Iati's mark of 2,388?

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... .

The (York, Pa.) Gazette and Daily gave prime play to the stop of President Warren G. Harding's funeral train in York. The president was popular then. After his death, the considerable shortcomings of his administration emerged. Background posts: Nixon's 1960 visit to York, No. 2: Dick's stop eventful, newsy and York historian on William Henry Harrison: a 'great and good man' and James A. Garfield: 'York was the capital of the United States when congress was on wheels'.

E.A. Wise flagged the fact that a train bearing Warren G. Harding's body passed through York in 1923.

"I was below the College Ave bridge to avoid the crowded train station," he wrote.

Newspaper coverage indicates York came out in mass to witness the funeral train on Aug. 8, 1923... .

The Gazette and Daily reports on Vice-President Richard Nixon's short visit to York in the buildup to the 1960 president election against John F. Kennedy. For a working list of past presidential visits, click here. Background posts: Richard Nixon in York, No. 1 and Richard Nixon, No. 2 and Richard Nixon's visits seared into York countians' minds.

When Richard Nixon campaigned in York County in the final days of the election season in 1960, some in the crowd of 5,000 had met him before.

In fact, a former Menges Mills neighbor who couldn't make it to the York train station rally received a staged phone call from Nixon's wife, Pat, to say hello... .

Practically every president who has visited York County leaves some memorable mark. That includes Richard M. Nixon's October 1960 whistle stop visit. Notice the headline telling about the mass suspension of Dallastown students. For a working list of past presidential visits, click here. Background posts: Why did JFK lose to Nixon in York County? and JFK's visit to York County a long-remembered event and York Gazette: President Zachary Taylor lost sense of propriety during visit.

Richard Nixon made York part of history in including it along his desperate and well-chronicled 11th-hour quest for the White House in 1960.

His stop has largedly faded from York County's memory, overshadowed by JFK's York Fair visit weeks earlier.

His visit, like most presidential visits to York County, spawned lots of side stories. His confusion of two local candidates, George Goodling and Stanley Gross, is one of them.

His visit also reportedly attracted a cadre of Dallastown Area High School students, which led to their suspension... .

The Gazette and Daily, no fan of Richard Nixon, reported on a gaffe during the vice-presidents 1960 visit to York County. Background posts: Washington Township, Jefferson Borough, Madison Avenue. How about an Obama Street in York County? and Exhibit features artifacts detailing presidential visits to York County and In 2008, 8 top candidates or their families campaigned in York County.

Richard Nixon was on the last stages of a last-ditch American campaign tour in October 1960 when brought his campaign against Democratic challenger John F. Kennedy to York.

On the platform at a York railroad station rally, someone asked him to plug GOP congressional candidate George Goodling.

The vice-president slapped legislative candidate Stanley H. Gross on the back and said, "Here he is, George M. Goodling." ...

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.