Recently in War Category

This portrait of Jeremiah Sullivan Black, a leading U.S. lawyer in the mid-1800s, hangs in the York County, Pa., Administrative Center. York County controller Robb Green e-mailed this photo of that portrait. Also of interest: Piece of John Wilkes Booth's body shown in Philly and Presidents visit York, alive and via funeral trains and A Civil War Black Republican: 'He robs birds' nests ... sucks hens' eggs'.

Robb Green is not only known as the "marrying mayor" because of the number of weddings (2,300 plus) he performed as Jefferson's mayor - a practice he is continuing now that he no longer holds that borough position.

The controller of York County is also a history enthusiast. It doesn't take a long conversation with Robb to understand that.

A portrait of Jeremiah Sullivan Black hangs near his office in the old York County Courthouse.

He's not convinced people know about this important 19th-century lawyer, former chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and attorney general and secretary of state under President James Buchanan... .

The York (Pa.) Alumnae Chapter of the Alpha Iota, serving as U.S.O. workers during the second World War, accept a service award from Judge Walter Anderson. The U.S.O. women made a home away from home for those in the military. Pictured, from left, Mary Ellen Peacock, Mary Bowman, Hannah Dempwolf, Anderson, Dorothy Koch, unknown, Winona Leiphart, Charlotte Klingaman and Margaret Gibbs. They stand on what appears to be an outdoor wooden dance floor behind the old York County Academy on North Beaver Street, York-area USO headquarters. This photo appeared in "York: Then and Now," a picture book published as part of York County's 250th anniversary in 1999. The book is out of print, although occasionally it can be found in area used book stores and at the York County Heritage Trust Librarssy and Archives. Also of interest: Old gym bears signs of USO past and USO column attracts WW II-era memories and Just try to resist this memory-tugging photograph of northwest York, Pa. and All World War II posts from the start..

Neat stuff from all over ... .

An artist will be honored for 45 years of teaching at the Art Institute of York and its predecessors, according to an institute release

Out of high school, future artist Mike Klinedinst studied engineering because his father thought it would be a good profession. "I hated it," he said.

According to the release:

He met up with Bill Falkler, who founded the York Academy of Arts, which at that time was located just west of the Martin Library on East Market Street in York. It was a fledgling school for commercial artists who believed that students should be exposed to experts in the field... .

This interesting sign shows the World War II honor roll in Mount Wolf, missing for some time but now on display at the borough's VFW. Charles Stambaugh, who e-mailed this photograph, pointed out that darker, larger writing can be seen behind the white lettering. The number of names just kept growing. See other artifacts of the 100-year-old borough's past at a temporary museum open this weekend and next. Also of interest: The Last Picture Show: Future mayors soaked in 'E.T.' at Mount Wolf, Pa., theater and War memorials stand proudly in towns throughout York County and York County on knees as its men storm Normandy beaches.

Two unrelated e-mails underscored misplaced rolls of honor, war memorials common in towns across York County.

Charles Stambaugh noted Mount Wolf's roll of military men, first displayed at the firehouse.

It was taken down during a remolding project and then lost for many years. Then it was found... .

This undated photo of Civil War vets from the Mount Wolf and Manchester area is on display at a temporary museum in Mount Wolf. The days and hours for the museum, put together to celebrate Mount Wolf's 100th birthday, have been extended. Emelyn Blymire, owner of this photograph identified the following, from left: No. 1, Jacob Smith; No. 7, Jacob Kunkle; No. 10, ? Bare; No. 11, Zebulon Pike Rodes, a relative of Emelyn Blymire. Also of interest: Susquehanna Lions fight to keep streak going in Mount Wolf and Caeserville, named after ex-slave, flourished as lumber center and York's Wolf Organization builds from deep foundation.

A large room at the back of Mount Wolf's Diehl Funeral Home was jammed with museum-goers Sunday afternoon.

A museum in a funeral home?

That's what the committee planning the 100th anniversary of Mount Wolf came up with, and the site appealed to hundreds of folks looking at memorabilia from the 100-year-old borough's past.

In fact, the initial Mount Wolf minute book from 1910 was on display. The first entry focused on the borough's organization. George A. Wolf was the chief burgess or mayor and J.G. Kunkel was council president.

A sampling of other items of interest: ... .

Signs stressed the importance of a sterile work area for Civil War-era laundry cleaners, in this York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News file photo from 2008. Reenactors and living historians will be busy in activities honoring the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, 2011-2015. Background posts: Invaders put off by earthy Pennsylvania women, Owner seeks info on old toll house and York County Civil War, by the numbers.

When York County Heritage Trust archivist Lila Fourhman-Shaull made discoveries that led to the identification of the girl who played a role in the Battle of Wrightsville, she found it invigorating.

"The hairs were up on the back of my neck," she recalled about her discovery.

For years, students of history have wondered about the girl who handed a bouquet of flowers bearing a note to Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon about troop positions in Wrightsville... .

Lige White's Comanches were in the vanguard of the Confederate invasion of York County in late June 1863. Here, the mounted unit rides in the vicinity of Hanover. Area residents - and those far away - are becoming increasingly interested in Civil War stories and events that happened within the borders of York County. About a dozen books touching on this local Civil War past have been published since 2000. Background posts: Invaders put off by earthy Pennsylvania women, Owner seeks info on old toll house and York County Civil War, by the numbers.

The recent identification of the black man who helped in the mining - and torching - of the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge in the Civil War is an example of growing interest in the Civil War in and around York County.

That interest is expected to grow with the start of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War in April 2011 - an observation that will last until 2015.

In conjunction with this anniversary, fellow Yorkblogger Scott Mingus and I are seeking family histories from the Civil War in York County.

We are asking families to share memories from their York County ancestors in the Civil War era... .

Flames shoot from a grill atop a pier from the bridge that the Union Army burned in 1863 to stop the Confederate advance. Two subsequent bridges used those same now-empty piers. In recent years, re-enactors have simulated the burning of the bridge as an observance of this milestone in local history. Scott Mingus has penned a history, 'Flames Beyond Gettysburg' that tells about that moment when Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon's raid reached the west bank of the Susquehanna. Background posts: New Lincoln blog category introduced to honor Abe's 200th birthday and History-making evening on rebel occupation of York could turn into daylong symposium and Mayor of York, Pa.: 'We are no longer unprotected'.

"One old negro to whom was entrusted the duty of igniting the fuse sat very coolly on the edge of the pier, smoking a cigar."

So wrote Yorkblogger Scott Mingus in his book "Flames Beyond Gettysburg," in giving a Union cavalryman's account of the scene.

Now, some old bank records have revealed the name of the black man whose was among the last four civilians working to stop the Confederate advance eastward in the days before the Battle of Gettysburg.

Jacob Miller was the man behind the cigar... .

Workers construct the frame of York, Pa.'s,Sovereign Bank Stadium's 38-foot left-field wall earlier in June 2007. The wall was designed to be the tallest left-field wall in Major League Baseball, rising higher than the Green Monster at Boston's Fenway Park by a few inches. (See additional photo from York Daily Record/Sunday News archives below.) Also of interest: Before the York Revs came the Hanover Raiders and Big league baseball fans from everywhere remember Gene Crumling and York County sports a miniature Cooperstown.

Here are five more York County records, and record breakers, to go with this list of five, tied into the upcoming Great American Wine Toast... .

Continental Congress visit to York, Pa., in 1777-78 produced at least one record breaker - the adoption of first framework of government for the United States of America. Here, is a page from special publication York Daily Record/Sunday News publication detailing a number of congressional delegates who took place in the record breaking. Also of interest: Declaration signer James Smith gains moment of fame and John Adams: 'Yesterday the greatest question was decided' and Events in 1777 helped tip Revolution toward patriots.

Wineries across Pennsylvania will open their doors for the Great Pennsylvania Wine Toast later this month.

The toast, set for 3:30 p.m., Aug. 14, is a stab at a world record for the largest wine tasting ever conducted, according to sponsors.

That prompted York Daily Record/Sunday News reporter Erin McCracken to ask what records and record breakers that York County has put on the board.

So, I resisted in replying with those mythical or hard-to-prove claims - York, first capital of the United States; the York Fair, the nation's oldest; and York, the Detroit of the East.

I came up with 5 records today, some fun, some serious and most just plain interesting:....

The old Gettysburg Cyclorama building, slated for demolition, has gained new life - possibly. Also of interest: 'Ruh-row, Raggy': Gettysburg ghost hunters find no trespassing signs and York newspaper about Gettysburg Address: 'Mr. Lincoln made a joke or two ...' and Q&A on new Gettysburg visitor center, old Electric Map

A grassy field has grown up where the old visitors center at Gettysburg National Military Park came down.

A newcomer would not know that a long narrow building visited by millions each year sat there for decades.

But its longtime sister, the old Cyclorama building stands nearby, as courts and the federal government decide its fate... .

West Manchester Township Historical Society's Mel Miller e-mailed this image from a glass plate in the society's collection. "We both know the location," he wrote. The turn-of-the-20th-century photographer captured the fourth bridge - the fourth of six - across the Susquehanna River at Wrightsville. Background posts: Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge celebrates quiet birthday and Susquehanna bridge makeover flowing along and A 7th bridge? Pedestrian walkway may span Susquehanna River some day.

Local student of history Mel Miller is going through Earl Shaffer's collection of glass photographic plates.

This is the Earl Shaffer of Appalachian Trail fame, a longtime resident of West Manchester Township.

Mel is reviewing the the Shaffer collection, courtesy of the West Manchester Township Historical Society.

He found a image of the baseball stadium at Penn Park, the York area's first.

And images of a bad fire in York in the early 1900s and photos of statues in Penn Park.

In the image above, the photographer traveled to Wrightsville on the Susquehanna River, where he captured the sole bridge going across circa 1904... .

Moisture seeping into the Goodridge House, a budding Underground Railroad museum, damaged restorative horse-hair plaster -- recently finished as part of a renovation. Also of interest: Freed slaves living north of Mason-Dixon Line often faced return to bondage and Research needed to unearth Underground Railroad in York County - Part I and Research needed to unearth Underground Railroad in York County, Part II.

The cash-strapped Goodridge Freedom House & Underground Railroad has sustained a setback.

Moisture has undone some of the restorative work on the East Philadelphia house, former home of the 19th-century ex-slave-turned-businessman William C. Goodridge... .

This World War I-era tank, sitting in a military museum in Centre County, has an interesting link to York County. "Era" is correct. The tank was built after the war ended. Also of interest: York County's BAE links BMY and Bofors and battered vehicles in Bair and Torpedo, bomb loader, made in York, Pa., turns up in Tennessee and Jeep prototype has York County WWII roots.

Spring Grove's Lance Krout recently visited the Pennsylvania Military Museum / 28th Infantry Division Shrine near State College, where he spotted a World War I tank that carries a York County-related story.

The tank was used for parades until it struck a parked vehicle in a York parade in the 1960s... .

York artist Cliff Satterthwaite captures the raising of the cupola atop the Colonial Courthouse replica on West Market Street in 1976. The replica of the original 1750s York County Court House was built as part of 200th anniversary festivities of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. (See Satterthwaite's unveiling drawing below.) Also of interest: About long-time York County, Pa., documentary artist: 'Cliff was quite a character' and Linked in with neat York County, Pa., history stuff and Walt Partymiller's cartoons and catalogues.

For years, York countians enjoyed York artist Cliff Satterthwaite's work.

He would just show up at an event and capture the scene. And his documentary works were often mass printed in The Gazette and Daily for years.

His legacy artwork still appears around town, including in Helen Miller Gotwalt's "Crucible of a New Nation."

Diana Palladino is moving ahead with a biography about Satterthwaite and his work... .

Charlie Crescenzi is a retired Dover-area teacher.

He is a retired York County Heritage Trust educator.

And now he lives in the South, in South Carolina, in fact.

So he speaks from a number of platforms, particularly in agreement with my recent blog posts (Tramp on user experience, I and Tramp, II) and York Sunday News column against further commercialization of the Gettysburg Battlefield with a proposed gambling casino and ever-increasing ghost tours.

When he speaks to other history enthusiasts down there, they often reply that visiting Gettysburg is their goal.

He e-mailed:

This graphic outlines the scope of the American Revolution, from its buildup starting with the killing of Crispus Attucks and four others in the Boston Massacre to its end in 1783. It puts the Fourth of July in its historical context. Also of interest: Declaration signer James Smith gains moment of fame and John Adams: 'Yesterday the greatest question was decided' and Events in 1777 helped tip Revolution toward patriots

I used the graphic above as part of a presentation on the Declaration of Independence and York's role in the American Revolution to Rotary Club of York-North last week.

It as an attempt to show the length and breadth of a long and broad war, and how the nine-month period York visited here figured in the whole thing... .

This Amanda Sterner photograph could have come from a Americana picture book. "I love taking pictures of this old gas pump that adds a bit of nostalgia to our farm in Codorus Township," she wrote. Check out other York County scenes photos of York County people at: Your Photos. Also of interest on the Americana front: Bottle & jug enthusiasts must dig for their York County gold and Hart-Krafts of York, Pa.: 'Most of the trucks were used and abused' and Cumberland County collector about bus or train sign: 'Excited to snag this piece of local history'.

Neat stuff from all over ....

Educators with links to York County are working on a Civil War Augmented Reality Project.

Jeff Mummert, York College and Jay Vasellas, Red Lion Area High School and York College are among the principals seeking to offer interactivity to students and the public visiting historic sites.

The idea is to present Civil War reality service to to tablet PCs... .

On the evening of Aug. 14, 1945, York County, Pa., residents joined a massive national V-J celebration, marking World War II's end. The largest county assembly occurred in York's Continental Square. York resident Al Heindel participated in the celebration as he passed through York after fighting in the European Theater and on his way to the Pacific. Here, holding a special V-J edition of York's Gazette and Daily are, from left, L. Allen Wolfgang, Richard E. Wolfgang and Lloyd E. (Pud) Wolfgang. Paul S. Wolfgang is at far left. Also of interest: About York County in World War II: 'We provided tanks, guns, refrigeration units and soldiers' and York County USO sought to ease issues facing World War II boys coming home and York County sacrificed on home front and war front to aid Allies in World War II .

After the Soviets and their Allied partners quibbled over who would settle where in the surrendered Berlin, American, British, and French troops moved into that German city on July 1.

In the Pacific, the Enola Gay dropped the A-bomb on Aug. 6., and Nagasaki was bombed three days later.

York resident Al Heindel was on his way to the Pacific when he learned during a York stopover that Japan had unconditionally surrendered to the Allies on Aug. 14.

Here's his e-mailed description of the resulting grand celebration in York's Continental Square, which includes an interesting vantage point to see the city on that grand night:

This drawing from a mid-20th century York (Pa.) Chamber of Commerce publication shows the scene in York, then York Town, upon the arrival of the Declaration of Independence. York attorney and Continental Congress delegate James Smith was part of a delegation carrying the document to York, where it was read to a crowd on July 6. A re-enactment of this reading of the Declaration is set for Sunday, July 4, in York. Also of interest: Declaration signer James Smith gains moment of fame and John Adams: 'Yesterday the greatest question was decided' and Events in 1777 helped tip Revolution toward patriots

James Smith, who later signed the Declaration of Independence, headed a delegation that brought with them the document from Philadelphia to his hometown of York in July 1776.

The "later" signing part is right. He carried the Dunlap Broadside, a printed declaration, signed by John Hancock and Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress.

The familiar, beautifully handwritten Declaration would be ready for signatures in early August, about a month after Smith's July 6 arrival in York Town.

Four militia companies and 300 to 400 old men, women and boys joined Smith for a public reading... .

Gettysburg Cyclorama painter Paul Philippoteaux "signed" his work by painting himself as an officer under a tree bearing a sword. This York, Pa., Daily Record/Sunday News photograph came soon after the refurbished painting was unveiled as part of the Gettysburg National Military Park Visitors Center opening in 2008. The restored Cyclorama in Gettysburg is part of a package of educational experiences at the Gettysburg National Military Park Visitors Center. But will ghost tours and a grand gambling casino detract from this user experience? Also of interest: 'Ruh-row, Raggy': Gettysburg ghost hunters find no trespassing signs and York County's powwowwing past and Spooky old York incinerator now used as crematorium.

Some people apparently like their Gettysburg ghost tours and the prospect of gambling in the environs of the battlefield.

My York Sunday News column and associated blog post (Ghost tours, Part I) have attracted a brigade of commenters.

Many are in disagreement, to say the least.

My favorite:

Glenn Bowers graduated from York's William Penn High School and flew for a famed squadron in World War II. He later gained a reputation for effectiveness as Pennsylvania Game Commission exec, remaining a York County resident, living in Dillsburg.

He died last week at the age of 89.

His son, Toby, pointed to a thread of integrity throughout Glenn Bowers life... .

Visitors to the Gettysburg Cyclorama take in the 360-degree artist's rendition of fighting on the battle's third day, specifically Pickett's Charge. This scene came in the early days of the rehabbed painting at the Gettysburg National Military Park's new visitor center in 2008. Also of interest: 'Ruh-row, Raggy': Gettysburg ghost hunters find no trespassing signs and York newspaper about Gettysburg Address: 'Mr. Lincoln made a joke or two ...' and Q&A on new Gettysburg visitor center, old Electric Map

This isn't the first time we've raised issues about out-of-control huckstering of ghost tours in and around the battlefield in Gettysburg. (See: What do you think about those ghost stories linked to historic sites in York and Adams counties?

But a recent visitor over there brought back how that industry has over run that town, which has the asset of a well-done visitors center.

Now, we have the prospect of gambling.

All this came out in my York Sunday News column (6/27/10): ... .

York, Pa.'s, native son Jacob Loucks Devers meets with Gen. George Patton, with gun holster, and other members of the Allied brain trust in the European Theater of War in World War II. This photograph is one of hundreds that are included in the York, Pa., Heritage Trust's Archives. Also of interest: York native Jacob L. Devers' name still in service at Fort Knox, Ky. and Air Force Drum & Bugle Corps: 'York area has always been known for their musicians' and York/Adams residents contributed to 'The War'

Four-star Gen. Jacob Loucks Devers is largely unknown to the world, even after leading two armies to through France to the Rhine and then across southern Germany in World War II.

A low place on Gen. Ike Eisenhower's list of favorite combat-savvy generals no doubt contributed to his relatively obscurity.

But it's not like there isn't information out there on the York High School graduate... .

Wounded Korean War Marine George Eyler talked with his mom and dad, Emigsville's Florence and Charles Eyler, on national television in 1952. This York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News video captures that moment. Also of interest: Crowd to Truman on second York visit: 'Give 'em h---, Harry' and Neglect, racism undid all-black 24th in Korean War and York County deaths from 20th-21st century wars top 1,000.

"In 1952, everyone knew the American singer Kate Smith," the York Daily Record/Sunday News' Melissa Nann Burke wrote as part of the newspaper's "Remember" series.

"So when a naval communications officer approached George Eyler during the Korean War and asked if he'd like to be on national television, he said, certainly." ...

This iron bridge on the Stewartstown Railroad, located along Route 851 just outside Stewartstown in Hopewell township, is a second-hand bridge. Stewartstown's Doug Winemiller wrote that it was built in 1870 and originally located in Baltimore over the Jones Falls waterway. The railroad moved it to its present location in the 1890s. But even second-hand bridges have first-rate historical value. The bridge, built in the transitional period between wood and steel spans, is listed on the National Register of Historical Places. Also of interest: Historic Stewartstown Railroad heading to the auction block? and All Stewartstown-related posts from the start and Stewartstown Railroad: 'Truly a unique entity in the state, and possibly, the nation'.

A mixed bag of neat stuff ...

I like it when a reader agrees with me.

Who doesn't like to find a kindred spirit?

But York countian Bill Schmeer added insight to his kudos. The topic was my writing about the tendency of visiting journalists/historians to mischaracterize York County, admittedly as tough place to describe.

Here are Bill's thoughtful observations, relating to a moment when York County opened its arms to victims of a Chinese human smuggling ring, passengers on the ship Golden Venture:

This chart from York College professors G.A. Mellander and Carl E. Hatch shows the Democratic domination, left column, in York County presidential voting in the 1800s. Also of interest: Historians, journalists draw on work of forebears and Is York County part of Alabama? and Hillary Clinton apparently closer to middle than Obama in minds of York County Dems.

York County is a solid Republican-voting jurisdiction nowadays.

But it has not always been so.

G.A. Mellander and Carl E. Hatch produced an informative chart in their 1972 study of presidential voting patterns in York County that show a solid Democratic vote from 1800 to 1920, with the exception of 1904.

According to the professors:

Artist/carpenter Lewis Miller drew this 19th-century York County, Pa., entertainment scene, capturing diminutive performer Tom Thumb. who traveled the country under the promotion of circus master P.T. Barnum. "Lewis Miller, Sketches and Chronicles," published by the York County Historical Society, forerunner of the York County Heritage Trust, captured much of the York County artisan's documentary work. Other posts showing Miller's work: 'Pumpkin Flood' inundated properties of early York countians, but 1817 high water killed 10 and Barnstorming aeronauts floated in balloons over York County in 1800s and Pandemic struck York County in 1849 - gold fever.

School's out, and it's a time for reading and exploring new things.

So I offer below a list of books that will add to your understanding of York County.

Actually, I first offered up this list to the Susquehanna Trail Genealogy Club as go-to sources in their work.

How many of these books, certain to be on book shelves 100 years from now, are you familiar with?

Here they are:

Metro Bank offices around York County have implemented the good idea of colorized photos detailing historical events or sites near those branches. The Mount Zion and White Road bank branch, for example, was built on the former site of the popular Avalong Restaurant. So an image of that nostalgia-evoking eatery appears on the bank wall. Other such images will appear in future York Town Square posts. Also of interest: The 1950s, '60s: 'The greatest time to grow up in York, Pa.' and About Avalong Dairy and Melvin's Drive-In: 'I am some what familiar with the history of the area' and From Meadowbrook Mansion to York County farmhouse.

Neat stuff from all over ... .

Reader Jerry Warren responded to my recent World War II column in the York Sunday News in which I wrote that the world will observe the 65th anniversary of V-J Day on Aug. 14.

He's skeptical that the historical moment, indeed, will be observed.

Here's are excerpts from his e-mail: ...

The Ladies Soldiers Aid Society met in P.A. & S. Small's buildings, right, on York, Pa.'s, Centre Square to sew and wind bandages for Union fighting men in the Civil War. That's the M.B. Spahr Company, on the northeastern corner of the square, in this circa 1890 photograph, a colorized version of a York County Heritage Trust photo, that appears in Metro Bank's Prospect Street Office. Also of interest: Isabel Small led procession of women who made wreath for Abe Lincoln's coffin and York County Civil War nurse about Confederate invaders: 'Dogs of war in our midst' and Living historians bring spotlight to York's Civil War story.

A recent York Town Square blog post detailing the end of the Young Women's Club of York's operations of the hospitality shop at York Hospital leads to the question:

When did such organized service clubs - facing shrinking memberships today - start their good work around York?

The Civil War might have brought organized women's service work into existence... .

World War II ended on what became known as V-J Day, as reported in The Gazette and Daily on Aug. 15, 1945, in the disparaging language typical of that day. On Aug. 14, the world will observe the anniversary of the war's end 65 years ago. Also of interest: Friendly fire saved life of young soldier, now York, Pa., resident and World War II combat hero from York County: 'Avenged the death of his platoon leader' and The Tuleyas of York and Millersville, Pa.: A love story, not baseballs and hand grenades.

Who says young people aren't interacting with history?

Statistics about readers of this blog, yorktownsquare.com, suggest that about one quarter of its readers are below 18, most in the 13-17 year old range. Those above 50 years in age make up 30 percent of the readers of this blog.

York Town Square viewers will access pages in the high six figures this year, so you can do the math about their interest.

Clearly, middle and high-schoolers are accessing the blog for classroom purposes... .

Spring Grove, Pa., papermaker CEO George Glatfelter II talks about his decision to retire at year's end from the company his family has operated since the 1860s, in this ydr.com video. Also of interest: A leading York County name: 'Keeping it in family is the Glatfelter way' and Private, public interests built Lake Marburg for manufacturing, recreation and P.H. Glatfelter and S. Morgan Smith head list of York County industrial movers and shakers.

George Glatfelter's planned retirement from the paper manufacturing company started by his great-great-grandfather raises the question about how his family got involved in that line of work, the first place.

Yorkblogger Scott Mingus, who is an exec with Glatfelter and a tireless researcher, has dug out the story.

The Glatfelter story starts after the Battle of Gettysburg ended... .

An e-mailer sent in this illustration of York, Pa's, Christ Lutheran Church and Zion German Reformed Church steeples from the 1800s. Christ Lutheran Church's tower stands today, but Zion church was demolished in the early 1900s. One of its successors - Zion United Church of Christ, was built in the 1910s on Lafayette Street, facing Penn Park. Another successor, Trinity United Church of Christ, built in the 1860s, stands on West Market Street, a few doors down from Continental Square. For more on this illustration, originally appearing in American Architect and Building News, visit: Church Towers or www.stcroixarchitecture.com. Also of interest: York County ... 'A smorgasbord of architectural styles' and York's housing stock not that revolutionary and People of varying religious groups founded York County.

A mixed bag of neat stuff...

A reader asked about how to learn more about Nelson Rehmeyer's background.

Rehmeyer, a suspected witch, was the victim in the notorious and often-discussed Hex Murder of 1928. Three assailants, acting on the belief he had cast a spell on one of them, killed him in his rural southern York County farmhouse... .

Lester Hagelgans was among the Mount Wolf, Pa., VFW post members who participated in Memorial Day activities in 2008. Such ongoing participation in community life maintain a strong sense of community in Mount Wolf. Also of interest: Susquehanna Lions fight to keep streak going in Mount Wolf and Caeserville, named after ex-slave, flourished as lumber center and York's Wolf Organization builds from deep foundation.

Like Glen Rock, Mount Wolf is celebrating a birthday this year.

The community will blow out 100 candles in various festivities this summer.

But it was operating as a village in and around 1850 when Glen Rock also was getting started... .

Mari Morgan, left, who grew up in Wales, listens to Don Robinson talk about the interior of a Welsh quarrymen's cottage in Coulsontown, Peach Bottom Township in this York Daily Record/Sunday News files photo from 2007. The cottages, built around 1850 by Welsh quarry workers, have never had plumbing. Coulsontown, a street of such cottages, is featured in the expanded part of the recently released second edition of "The River and the Ridge," a book about the historic southeastern corner of York County. Also of interest: Wanted: One slate-roofed privy from Delta, Pa. and 100 years later, Delta clock keeps on ticking and Gettysburg fighting heard in Delta, about 60 miles away.

John S. Murphy, as the old story goes, lived a normal childhood, growing up in Delta, serving in the Boy Scouts and participating in sports.

When World War II came, Murphy was drafted and became a B-17 navigator, stationed in England. From there, his plane flew missions over Europe.

Less than a month before the war in Europe ended, his bomber was shot down.

The nine-member crew safely parachuted safely, but German troops captured Murph and three of his crewmates... .

This is the old Hoke one-room school in the Menges Mills area. Built in 1907, it is a private residence, the dominant use today of former one-room schools dotting the York County countryside. At least one other Hoke school stands today - near Woodbury in West Manchester Township. Such schools often took the names of owners of the land on which they were built, and Hoke is a common York County name. For a Web site devoted to York/Adams one-room schools, visit: All in one room. Also of interest: York County's former Teachers' Institutes: 'Head train the hand. Hand train the head' and One-room school reunions preserve educational culture of thousands of York countians and Horse, buggy, one-room school make York County comeback.

Neat stuff from all over ... .

An e-mailer asked about the availability of a Murals of York book, writing that she couldn't find images of the murals in my "Never to be Forgotten."

I told her a black-and-white newsprint version of the book that the York Daily Record/Sunday News published about a decade ago is probably available at the York County Heritage Trust.

But there's a printable and colorful guide to the 18 large-scale murals and 15 mini-murals on the history section of ydr.com... .

This window, another by noted York, Pa., artist J. Horace Rudy, is dedicated to a well-known York County family - the Lanius family. Also of interest: All First Moravian stained-glass window posts from the start and York native Steve Zirnkilton's 'Law & Order' voice known to the world and Easter in York County, 1919: Sadness, joy, hope.

Terrence Downs continues his series of essays on the 31 J. Horace Rudy-designed windows at First Moravian Church.

Downs accomplishes more than a description of the colorful window. He continues to detail the families - some well-known and still achieving today - honored with the artwork. And he places the families in historical context.

Here is the writer's description of a window on the north side of the building's sanctuary:

The outside of York, Pa.'s, Quaker Meeting House hasn't change much since this photo was taken in the 1890s. The East Philadelphia Street building still invites a visit, 244 years after its eastern part was constructed. The west room dates to 1783. This photo comes from "Art Work of York," W.H. Parish Publishing Co. The view of the building's inside is equally engaging. Also of interest: Quaker horticulturalist Jonathan Jessop was 19th-century York County Renaissance man and Society of Friends Gladys Rawlins, 'Black History Profiles' and Intrepid Adams researcher: 'The buildings weren't the Underground Railroad; the people were'.

A mixed bag of neat stuff ... .

The Exchange, the York Daily Record/Sunday News bulletin board, tipped off York Town Square to a long-ago article in Time magazine about York County, Pa.'s defense industry buildup well before Pearl Harbor.

As usual from media parachuting into York, the writer came up with a descriptive term for the city.

Here's how that article began: ... .

The Rev. Daniel Batwell's silhouette, the work of York, Pa., artist Jim Rudisill, demands explanation. This Anglican's Loyalist position in the American Revolution ended his tenure in York, then known as York Town. Local patriots tossed him in the Codorus Creek on trumped-up charges of stealing a horse. Also of interest: York Springs, where Daniel Batwell also ministered, a town in change. But what's new? and Famed Anglican William White ministered to Continental Congress in York and Declaration signer's marker mounted in obscurity in York, Pa..

The dunking of York, Pa.,'s Anglican clergyman Daniel Batwell for his Loyalist position during the American Revolution is an oft-told tale.

This act by York County patriots was captured in silhouette by York County artist Jim Rudisill and will highlight the cover of a scholarly journal to be published by the York County Heritage Trust.

But what is the rest of the Rev. Batwell's story?

Batwell languished in the York County Jail - and later in a private residence - as Continental Congress, meeting in York, took up his case... .

Noted York, Pa., artist J. Horace Rudy perhaps sentimentalizes domestic life during the American Revolution in this early-20th century artwork. Also of interest: Where was Thomas Jefferson when Congress met in York? and Who were these congressional visitors to York Town, anyway? and Henry Laurens kept Congress together in Valley Forge winter.

Genealogists should immerse themselves in history to understand how the family members they're researching worked and lived.

I made that point to a receptive audience at a recent meeting of the Susquehanna Trail Genealogy Club.

I explained how during the American Revolution - using York County as an example - that women held down the home front with men away at war. That's true in most wars, but the women in York in 1777-78 had to care for the home front in a town occupied by dozens of needy and demanding visitors from Philadelphia... .

York Town, Pa., delegates

'Continental Congress Courageous' provides sketches of the delegates who met in York and adopted the Articles of Confederation in 1777-78. The illustrated book provides a handy digest of information about Joseph Wood, one of the most obscure Continental Congress reps who met in York, Pa., then York Town. Also of interest: Events in 1777 helped tip Revolution toward patriots and Articles of Confederation's 230th birthday celebrated and All American Revolution posts from the start.

An e-mailer queried about Joseph Wood, a delegate to Continental Congress in 1777-78 in York Town.

"Do you have any recommendations as to where I might source some of his letters or other material regarding him," he asked about the Pennsylvanian who represented Georgia in the York Town Congress.

His interest in such an unknown congressional delegate?

Pennsylvania countryside

This is the bird's-eye view from the top of Webb's Hill looking to the north, toward York, Pa. Webb's Hill was in the vicinity of what today is known as Reservoir Hill, where York Water Co.'s large covered pools reside. Notice the luxury estates - often summer homes - budding on the hills in this 1893 photograph from the "Art Work of York," published by the W.H. Parish Publishing Co. Also of interest: When James Garfield observed view from Webb's Hill and A view of Webb's Hill from North York and Where is the world is Webb's Hill?.

Yorkblogger Joan Concilio ties a neat knot between space-age Hollywood and age-old potterymaking.

Potterymaking by Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff, then a venerable York County manufacturer, no less... .

A family of York County, Pa., Civil War reenactors observed the exact moment, 145 years ago, that Abraham Lincoln's funeral train made a water stop and then proceeded up the tracks to Pennsylvania's capital, Harrisburg. Here, Becky Winand serves as one of the women from distinguished York families who visited Lincoln's funeral bier during the train stop. The present-day station, next to Sovereign Bank stadium, replaced the terminal where Lincoln's train stopped in the 1890s. Also of interest: Reworking the working list of U.S. presidential visits to York and Adams counties and Abe Lincoln stopped at Hanover station:"We want to preserve history ... so it doesn't disappear' and A Civil War Black Republican: 'He robs birds' nests ... sucks hens' eggs',

Around York County, many people are aware that Abraham Lincoln passed through Hanover Junction, 10 miles south of York, on his way to and from Gettysburg where he delivered his famous speech.

On April 21, a York County family of Civil War reenactors effectively called attention to a sometimes overlooked moment in York County's history. That was the day 145 years ago when the slain president's funeral train stopped at York's station.

A York Daily Record/Sunday New story (4/22/10) captured the reenactment spearheaded by the Winand family - Dr. Andrew Winand, Becky Winand and 17-year-old daughter Hannah.

Dr. Winand, an Abe Lincoln reenactor, attracted a memorable quote from an in-law: ... .

Motorists along North George Street in North York pass by the outside of the Vietnamese Alliance Church. Here, inside that church, Springettsbury Township's Duong Huynh admires a flower decoration. The 70-year-old's story was told in a York Sunday News story that explored the culture of relative newcomers to York County. Also of interest: Check out these updated lists of pioneering York County minorities, women and Vilma Garcia-Jones remembered as prime spokesman for Latinos in York County and All black history posts from the start.

Duong Huynh was an employee at the time of the fall of the South Vietnamese government in 1975 - 35 years ago.

That role landed him in prison, away from his family, for eight years.

Today, he lives in Springettsbury Township.

He says his hardships have led him to Christianity... .

This is a view of the terrain that at one time accommodated Camp Security, an American Revolution British prisoner-of-war camp in Springettsbury Township, Pa. Jonathan Stayer of the Pennsylvania State Archives, who has studied the camp extensively presented on the camp at the York County Historical Society's Second Saturday program. (See aerial view of the camp site - it's actual location is unknown -below.) Also of interest: Camp Security memories tucked inside memoir and Story revives memories of oft-forgotten York County POW camp, Camp Stewartstown and German prisoners from two wars came to York County.

The Camp Security POW site near York has long fascinated Jonathan Stayer.

That interest led him to an exploration of the site, even before the head of the reference section of the Pennsylvania State Archives studied it professionally.

Thus he found himself at the site one Christmas Eve, sporting a flashlight and looking for the fabled ghosts of Camp Security. These apparitions reportedly appeared on the night before Christmas, and he had joined a group of young people there to meet up with them.

Stayer's group was there, that is, until they heard a wailing in the distance. Which set them off to their homes not far away... .

Jim Rudisill's artwork

York County, Pa., artist/historian Jim Rudisill's silhouette artwork will appear on the cover of York County, Pa., Heritage Trust scholarly historical journal set for publication in September. Can you tell the prominent local folks the artist captured in silhouette? (Answers below.) Also of interest: York County artist/historian Jim Rudisill: "History is really 'His Story,' the story of people... " and Whose sculpted faces are those poking from the old Spring Grove school? and Northern York area strawberry part of Neapolitan county.

The rise of photographers in the 1800s pushed silhouette artists into the shadows.

York, Pa., schoolboy Jim Rudisill became intrigued with this art form in the 1940s after finding a silhouette stored in an attic and began cutting profiles of people he knew.

Part of his silhouette work, first published in the York Sunday News in 1971, courtesy of the York County Heritage Trust Library and Archives, will appear on the cover of the trust's upcoming scholarly journal... .

Albert Snyder holds a picture of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, from the last Christmas the two spent together before the U.S. Marine was killed in Iraq March 3, 2006. This scene came during a news conference in which Albert Snyder, a York County, Pa., resident sued Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., after the group picketed his son's funeral. (See additional photo below.) Also of interest: For years, York countians part of major court cases and York/Adams First Amendment case list grows and Marker explains Hanover's Ten Commandments monument.

The narrative explaining Snyder vs. Westboro case on the new York Daily Record/Sunday News Web site begins like this: ...

This familiar Utz sign is no longer in Baltimore. After a flirtation with the idea of re-locating it in Utz Quality Foods' hometown of Hanover, Pa., the company moved it to a heavily traveled area in Philadelphia. A Hanover (Pa.) Evening Sun story reported that the company is holding a contest for those photographing the sign at its new home near Interstate 95 and uploading it to Utz's Web site. "An opportunity presented itself in the Philly market that we couldn't pass up," an Utz spokesman said. "It's a big market for us and a good location opened up for us." Also of interest: York County, Pa. made big, heavy things - and was immensely proud of it and Who makes the best potato chips in York County, Martin's or Utz? Or someone else? and Chipmaking of the potato kind has deep roots in York County.

A mixed bag of neat stuff...

At a recent Second Saturday program at the York County Heritage Trust, archivist Lila Fourhman-Shaull reminded the audience that community-minded people have a weekly opportunity to hear a free presentation on York County heritage and culture:

A maintenance train works on the Stewartstown Railroad in southeastern York County, Pa., recently. The non-profit, Friends of the Stewartstown Railroad, is starting its capital campaign with a Web donation page. "Recent times have not been kind to the railroad, and, in fact, the railroad is in real danger of disappearing if funds to rehabilitate and restore the line are not forthcoming," the Web site states. (See additional photo below.) Also of interest: Historic Stewartstown Railroad heading to the auction block? and All Stewartstown Railroad posts from the start and Stewartstown Railroad: 'Truly a unique entity in the state, and possibly, the nation'

A mixed bag of neat stuff... .

The original Mack's Ice Cream stand in Spry is vacant for the first time in decades, but it is offering its many flavors a few doors down South Queen Street in a former Burger King.

The ice cream scoopers appear to be as busy as ever, and tables with umbrellas are available out front, a trademark part of the old Mack's... .

The Denver Post's Craig F. Walker, a York Surburban High School graduate, reacts after winning the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography at the newspaper's office in Denver earlier this week. The former York countian was honored for his photographic work of a teenager who joined the Army at the height of insurgent violence in Iraq. (See additional photos below.) (Photo courtesy, AP Photo/The Denver Post) Also of interest: Add another achiever to the list of York countians with impressive resumes and York County high school grads teach lessons in achievement on national stage and Local grads make good on screen, stage.

Craig Walker's Pulitzer Prize is a rare achievement among present and former residents of York and Adams counties.

World-renowned composer Dominick Argento is the most prominent of the winners of this coveted prize... .

No matter the federal law or Pennsylvania and Maryland statutes in play, runaway slaves slipped across the Mason-Dixon Line before the Civil War. Some found freedom via the Underground Railroad. One such fugitive from Maryland settled in York, Pa., and her freedom became the topic of a U.S. Supreme Court case, Prigg v. Pennsylvania. This drawing comes from Web-based curriulum "Runaway Slaves in Antebellum Maryland," offered by the Maryland State Archives. Also of interest: For years, York countians part of major court cases and Research needed to unearth Underground Railroad in York County and All Underground Railroad posts from the start.

York County resident Albert Snyder's federal lawsuit against the Westboro Baptist Church is going before the U.S. Supreme Court.

This is the result of the fanatic religious group's picketing the funeral of Albert Snyder's son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, the courageous Marine who was killed in Iraq in March 2006.

Only a handful of important, precedent-setting cases with York County links have gone that high... .

This 1961 aerial photograph, found in York County Heritage Trust files, shows Loucks Road running left to right before the Route 30 by-passed came through. That's Fireside in the foreground and Route 83, fully opened two years earlier, can be seen at the top. (See links to other aerial photos below.) Also of interest: Then & Now: 'See how York County has changed...from York City to the outlying boroughs' and Old Lincoln Highway pulled 'Americans out of the mud' and Once popular Ganoga Bridge now lightly used York County landmark.

A mixed bag of neat stuff ... .

A York Town Square post about Ebert Furniture continuously draws interest.

Must be a lot of vintage furniture out there made by this respected Red Lion Furniture maker of old.

In a comment on this blog, Carole Conrad, a family member, has offered to answer queries from those with Ebert-made furniture.

She wrote: ... .

This chancel window greets those entering the sanctuary at York, Pa.'s First Moravian Church. The noted York art studio of J. Horace Rudy designed 31 windows throughout the 100-year-old North Duke Street Church. Also of interest: All First Moravian stained-glass window posts from the start and York native Steve Zirnkilton's 'Law & Order' voice known to the world and Easter in York County, 1919: Sadness, joy, hope.

None of York's First Moravian's wonderful architectural features are more beautiful than its 31 stained-glass windows designed by J. Horace Rudy.

And none of the windows at York's First Moravian Church are more beautiful than the window behind the pulpit.

And none have more stories behind them, as church member Terrence Downs explains in this series on the J. Horace Rudy-designed windows at the church:

York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News photographer Bil Bowden captures these magnolias in the City of York. He ties magnolias to a York countian-turned-Mississippi politician at his blog post: York, magnolias and a governor of Mississippi. David Holmes, Magnolia State politician he writes about, is one of four U.S. senators born in York County, only to move away when young in the 18th and 19th century. James Ross, John Rowan and Matthew Quay were the other three. Also of interest: Follow the Leader ... York County, Pa., native George Leader and List of high state officials hailing from York County growing and This working list details presidential visits to York and Adams counties.

A mIxed bag of neat stuff...

At least two York County boroughs are celebrating anniversaries this year. With those celebrations, come plans to update books and history-rich Web sites.

Follow Mount Wolf's summer centennial festivities at Mount Wolf Borough History.

"We are in the planning staging for various events, forming a MT Wolf Centennial band, art and talent show, movie nights, putting banners up, putting a picture CD together, having a museum and much more. The website is being updated as the events are placed in stone," organizer Charles Stambaugh e-mailed... .

York County, Pa., Underground Railroad site

The William C. Goodridge House on York, Pa.'s, East Philadelphia Street is one of York County's sites appearing a national Underground Railroad list. (See additional photograph below.) Also of interest: Freed slaves living north of Mason-Dixon Line often faced return to bondage and Research needed to unearth Underground Railroad in York County - Part I and Research needed to unearth Underground Railroad in York County, Part II.

A recent sinkhole under a West Philadelphia Street home in York caused some commenters on those news reports to say that an exposed basement was part of the Underground Railroad.

Indeed, find a house built before the Civil War in York County, and there will be Underground Railroad lore attached to it.

So, how many houses in York County are certified as Underground Railroad sites? ...

Deb McCauslin, writer, historian

Deb McCauslin visits grave markers at Yellow Hill in Butler Township, Adams County, in 2005. McCauslin regularly talks about the history of this site - an 1800s black cemetery and church. She also regularly presents on Adams County's vital link to the Underground Railroad. McCauslin addressed a gathering at York's Crispus Attucks Community Center earlier this week. Also of interest: Underground Railroad expert: 'We cannot alter past ignorance, but we can resolve not to repeat it' and York/Adams' interest in Underground Railroad grows and 'An Evening With William Goodridge' in York, Pa.

Deb McCauslin is a literally digging up important Adams County history.

The researcher is also an effective communicator about the 1800s black community that lived alongside Quakers on Yellow Hill in the Biglerville area of northern Adams County. And that research has linked up with that area's Underground Railroad past, focusing in and around Menallan Quaker Meeting, which aided fugitives before the Civil War.

Her hands-on work has included identifying and restoring a black cemetery at long-gone Yellow Hill, a community last mentioned in newspaper accounts in the early 1920s, according to McCauslin's findings.

Interesting - and important stuff. And engaging.

A forgotten community. The Underground Railroad. Brave Quakers who defied the law in harboring fugitives to freedom... .

WASP Mary Reineberg Buchard

World War II WASP pilot Mary Reineberg Buchard, then a York County (Pa.) resident, is pictured in one of the exhibits developed in conjunction with the recent awarding of Congressional Gold Medals to "Fly Girls." The medal is the highest civilian honor granted by Congress. Here's how a York Daily Record/Sunday News story (3/11/10)about York's aviator started: "When Mary Reineberg Buchard was growing up in York, she would exclaim: 'I'm going to be an aviatrix!' The daughter of a shoe store owner studied at Temple University, became a podiatrist and opened a practice in York. She also bought an airplane with other people, learned how to fly and became a certified pilot in York. She served in the Civil Air Patrol. So when the call came for women to fly military planes in non-combat missions during World War II, Buchard asked her father, Jacob Reineberg, if she could serve her country. He consented, and she gave up her practice. Buchard became one of the 'fly girls' who served as Women Airforce Service Pilots, also known as WASPs. The aviators tested planes and ferried them wherever they needed to go." The former pilot, now in her 90s, lives in California. Also of interest: York County poet: 'Her words helped win the war' and Nurses and their work appear again and again in York County's past and Pioneering aviator Aline Rhonie another York native who made U.S. headlines.

A mixed bag of neat stuff... .

When Ella Fitzgerald came to York to observe the renovation of the Strand-Capitol Performing arts center in 1980, the evening became a night to remember. It generated the memorable newspaper quip: "They came to hear Ella Fitzgerald. It was indeed memorable, not Memorex. And they came to enjoy the York Symphony in its well-deserved and long-awaited home." ...

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... .

Flo Snyder Neff, a World War II-era office employee at York (Pa.) Corporation, penned poetry that went to Yorkco employees on the warfront and homefront. She read her poetry at a recent Osher Lifelong Learning Institute class at Penn State York and was warmly received. Also of interest: York County poet: 'Her words helped win the war,' Part II and York County's Bob Senft, World War II vet, exemplified the Greatest Generation and World War II combat hero from York County: 'Avenged the death of his platoon leader' and All World War II posts from the start.

Flo Snyder's words of encouragement in verse form were read by thousands of men and women in uniform and in York Corporation's employ in World War II.

About five years ago, I asked Flo Snyder Neff to read her poetry at my presentation before Red Lion Area Historical Society.

Just last week, she did an encore before an OLLI class. (See three of her poems below.)

Here is how "Shop News," the Yorkco newsletter carrying her poetry, introduced the teenage Dallastown High School graduate in November 1943:

This list, found in a York County (Pa.) USO's newsletter on file at the York County Heritage Trust, provides a tongue-in-cheek account of services provided by hostesses at the Serviceman's Club and Canteen at the old York County Academy during World War II. Also of interest: Old gym bears signs of USO past and USO column attracts WW II-era memories and Just try to resist this memory-tugging photograph of northwest York, Pa. and All World War II posts from the start..

Another in a short series ( Part I and Part II) about York County's United Services Organization during World War II... .

In the fall of 1945, the USO in York welcomed the 100,000th man or woman in uniform to use its services.

Cletus Ruby of East Prospect picked up a certificate in recognition of this milestone.

The war was now over - V-J Day on Aug. 14 was the celebratory end - and the USO had adopted the new role in aiding the military in demobilization, redeployment and training of returning vets.

According to "In the Thick of the Fight:"

Servicemen, spouses and volunteers pose at York County's Pennsylvania Dutch Canteen in June 1945. Notice that on the wall at right a drawing is posted of the placement of the flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima in February 1945, suggesting the famous photograph was already an American icon. George Bixler, a Marine sergeant observed the flag after it was raised after the important World War II fighting. '(I)t was like a ballgame, everyone hollering all over the place. I could just see that baby waving," Bixler, a Hanover resident, said years later. The canteen was located in the still-standing York County Academy gymnasium. The academy building on North Beaver Street, which no longer stands, served as USO headquarters. The canteen was located to the rear of the academy building. Some of the Pennsylvania Dutch drawings on the wall are visible today in the privately owned building. Also of interest: Old gym bears signs of USO past and USO column attracts WW II-era memories and Just try to resist this memory-tugging photograph of northwest York, Pa.

The USO in York County attracted young women by the thousands.

These were volunteers, no doubt lonely themselves with many eligible men off fighting in World War II. But they provided comfort to many a guy in uniform at the North Beaver Street USO buildings, nonetheless... .

The USO, United Services Organization, in the York (Pa.) area was headquartered in the now-demolished York County Academy building. The USO's dance hall and eatery, the Pennsylvania Dutch canteen, operated out of its gymnasium during World War II. The old gym still stands in the northeast corner of its former lot, now a North Beaver Street parking lot. This photograph came from the "Art Work of York," W.H. Parish Publishing Co., 1893. Also of interest: Old gym bears signs of USO past and USO column attracts WW II-era memories and Yorkblog.com leads to reverse publishing.

A photograph of the old York County Academy, part of a rare "Art Work of York" collection, reminded me of the World War II-vintage USO that operated out of there.

I adapted a section from my "In the Thick of the Fight" to tell about how things worked in those days when York swarmed with men in uniform, defense contractors, women in coveralls and other war related activity:

An air raid siren found atop of the Yorktowne Hotel is shown on display at the Agricultural and Industrial Museum in York. The museum is housed in the George F. Motter & Sons complex. (See additional photo below.) Also of interest: When a Pullman automobile became a seesaw and On Second Saturdays: 'It's really cool that the Heritage Trust started this program' and World War II-era air raid siren discovered atop Yorktowne Hotel.

An informed member of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute class that I'm teaching passionately told others about York industrialist's John C. Motter's insistence on precision in the printing press equipment he made.

Other machining companies talked about allowable tolerances, but Motter insisted on being right on the mark.

That discussion reminded me that I've never sorted out the various Motters so clearly linked with printing press manufacturing in York County.

Fortunately, the York County Heritage Trust's Spring 2010 newsletter laid it out:

Pvt. Paul E. Ruppert of the Dover (Pa.) area was busy during World War II, earning a lengthy stay in a German prisoner of war camp and a bronze star. Also of interest: The Tuleyas of York and Millersville, Pa.: A love story, not baseballs and hand grenades and Nazis murdered downed WWII airman from York, Part V and Bataan survivor from Red Lion persevered as POW.

A letter writer, N. Hollerbush of York, read my recent York Sunday News column about the heroics of the late Robert N. Senft.

This evoked the nomination of another hero, a former Hollerbush neighbor in Conewago Township, Paul E. Ruppert.

Like Bob Senft, Ruppert was a longtime Conewago Township resident and former York Corporation, now Johnson Controls, employee. Senft and Ruppert were among 1,200 Yorkco employees who served in World War II. Twenty-five died in uniform.

"After reading the enclosed newspaper clippings," Hollerbush wrote, "I think you'll agree the title of hero fits him perfectly."

The news stories, indeed, point to valor... .

Jean Bonnet Tavern stands along the Lincoln Highway, west of Bedford in Napier Township, Bedford County. The attractive stone landmark stood on the site since before the American Revolution. The National Register of Historic Places site was named after a 18th-century owner. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.) Also of interest: Who were York County's most influential citizens? and This working list details presidential visits to York and Adams counties and With all those stills, the York County hillbillies?.

This blog often teases over the fact that all roads lead to York, Pa. - that there's a York County link to everything.

The theory was tested in a recent visit, which included a wonderful dinner, at Jean Bonnet's Tavern in Bedford County, two hours from York County.

The restaurant/inn's history justifiably makes much of farmers meeting on its grounds in the 1790s to protest the federal government's Whiskey Tax. Then troops, sent by U.S. President George Washington, camped there on their way to quell the rebellion in western Pennsylvania... .

A Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information photographer captures 28-year-old Gerald Smith assembling 37 mm gun mounts at York Safe & Lock. The caption stated: "Assembling weapons for Victory to be used by the armed forces." Also of interest: Torpedo, bomb loader, made in York, Pa., turns up in Tennessee museum and York County's BAE links BMY and Bofors and battered vehicles in Bair and Jeep prototype has York County WWII roots.

York County's Harry Smith, Jr., is challenging the common association of the older part of Harley-Davidson plant solely with the Navy.

The photograph above, showing Gerald Smith making 37 mm anti-tank gun mounts, makes his point visually.

Many companies have occupied the western buildings on present-day Harley-Davidson's industrial campus, including York Safe & Lock, Blaw-Knox, Naval Ordnance Depot and AMF.

But that old plant is most commonly known for its manufacturing of Bofors anti-aircraft guns late in World War II.

Drawing on memory, Smith wrote that construction on the Springettsbury Township plant started in 1941 under the authority of the U.S. Army Ordnance Department... .

Brett Kelley, curator of Collections at the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, is set to weather two weeks of the cold while living the life of a Civil War soldier on the picket line. But technology will allow people to communicate with him via social networking. (See additional photo below.) Also of interest: Poster highlights the life of a Civil War soldier and Hanover Civil War story stop: 'Mother Loses Two Sons to War' and 'Tweeting' helps disseminate neat stuff on the regional, York County history front.

Starting Feb. 6, Brett Kelley will start living the life of a Civil War soldier on the picket line for two full weeks.

"Utilizing only Civil War era reproduction uniforms, equipment and food rations," a news release from The National Civil War Museum states, "Kelley will be residing in a Civil War tent on the Museum grounds in an effort to raise funds for The National Civil War Museum's education department."

Among other things, he will walk his post, construct a rail fence, embark on several 10-mile marches to area historical destinations and speak to visitors about his task.

But unlike the average Union private on picket duty, he will be in touch with the world... .

Robert N. Senft had just been inducted into the service in this August 1943 photo. He is pictured with his wife, Ethel. Senft spent much of his life in York County, Pa., mostly in Zion View, Conewago Township. (See additional photo below.) Also of interest: In the WWII fight, in York County and abroad and 'Little Johnny' called from York for Allies in World War II and Beacon helped spot whereabouts of Zion View.

York County's role in World War II was so sprawling that I thought much about how to frame it in my research for a book on that topic.

After running across a nearly full set of York Corporation newsletters, at the York County Heritage Trust's Book Blast, I had gained a record about how one influential industry, and its employees, ventured through World War II.

Then I went on the lookout for particular employees who could help tell the story.

I found a hero, Red Lion's Thomas Frutiger, who survived the Bataan Death March in the Phillippines only to die at war's end on a Japanese hell ship as they transported the lieutenant and other POWs to Japan... .

Steam into History Inc., a group made up of York County, Pa., investors and railroad enthusiasts, is seeking to operate an excursion line on the old Northern Central Railway, now part of the York County Heritage Rail Trail. They are looking to contract with Ilinois-based David Kloke to build an 1863-era 4-4-0 model steam engine similar to this one. Also of interest: Abe Lincoln stopped at Hanover station:"We want to preserve history ... so it doesn't disappear' and York newspaper about Gettysburg Address: 'Mr. Lincoln made a joke or two ...' and Abandoned Codorus railroad not just any abandoned railroad.

Rail enthusiasts in Muddy Creek Forks are operating excursion rides. Railroad backers at the defunct Stewartstown Railroad want to reopen such service.

Now comes a group, Steam into History Inc., that has asked York County's government for clearance to operate an excursion train between New Freedom and Hanover Junction on the old Northern Central Railway.

It will not just offer a train ride, but an oil-burning, steam-powered train ride.

And the excursion would be themed around a topic not common in the central part of York County - the Civil War... .

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... .

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):

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... .

The Children's Home of York stands along East Philadelphia Street shortly before its demolition in the 1970s. The stone wall stands today, fronting a strip shopping center. A plaque on the wall states that the home opened in 1867 and closed in 1972. It states: "Dedicated to all the children that called this home." Also of interest: Civil War affected women in York County - and vice versa and Isabel Small led procession of women who made wreath for Abe Lincoln's coffin and Samuel Small tops York, Pa. community contributor list.

A sign on the old Pine Street School has long noted its use as the Sylvia Newcombe Center.

Today, another sign appears there: the Children's Home of York, no doubt an adjunct to the home's Pleasant Acres, Springettsbury Township, headquarters.

That's noteworthy because the old school is across from the site of the original Children's Home of York, built in the post-Civil War era to house the orphaned children of Civil War soldiers.

The majestic home joined the York Collegiate Institute, York County Academy, York City Market and Helb Mansion as examples of wonderful architectural gems that fell to the wrecker's ball in and around the 1960s... .

York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News photographer Paul Kuehnel insightfully captures a mixed message facing motorists heading into York from the east. Consultant Roger Brooks is among those advocate a return to two-way traffic on East Market Street, in part, to avoid such confusion at this important gateway. Also of interest: York's one-way street pattern put in place to combat post-World War II traffic congestion and Web site filled with nostalgic Lincoln Highway photos, postcards and All Lincoln Highway posts from the start.

A mixed bag of neat stuff:

Those not able to stay up until midnight on Christmas Eve can hear a New York Wire's factory steam whistle rehearsal from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., Thursday, Dec. 24.

Those wide-eyed folks who can hear the whistle or travel to York's downtown to witness this rite of the holiday season will be entertained by a 30-minute concert, 10 to 15 minutes longer than usual.

That treat comes because the Susquehanna Gateway Heritage Area says the poor economy and the need for a new coordinator may bring an end to this popular holiday tradition... .

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... .

Workers raise a beam as they build a barn in remote Washington Township in northwestern York County, north of East Berlin. A York Daily Record/Sunday News story (12/12/09) captured the barnraising, a replacement for a century-plus-old bank barn that burned after a lightning strike last summer. (For an additional photo by Daily Record photogapher Bil Bowden, see below.) How many Amish have crossed the Norman Wood Bridge from Lancaster to York County? and Horse, buggy, one-room school make York County comeback and Amishman: 'We are making a commitment to forgive' and Widely circulated Amish newspaper: 'Awhile ago Steve was up at Sam Peachey's for some lumber'

Ella Jane Hess responded to my recent column about a tour around southeastern York County with some insightful information.

She focused on my comments about the Conservative Brethren Church near Winterstown.

Here are excerpts from her letter:

Dianne Bowders' work is featured in the new picture book Capture York. But it can also be seen on the the York Daily Record/Sunday News Web site: Your Photos. Here she captures the Codorus Creek in placid mode. She notes in her captions that after the great flood of 1933, Depression-era agencies oversaw the construction of embankment and levees in York. Even so, Tropic Storm Agnes dumped so much rain that these improvements did not contain the creek. Also of interest: York County book 'All in One Room' ready for readers and York County photo collection adds to historical record and York-area picture book not your typical coffee table publication.

Here's a hot link for history aficionados.

Actually, it's a link to links: The 100 Best History Sites on the Web on
the onlinedegreeprogram.org site.

You'll find clusters of links ranging from ancient to biography with, of course, a section on American history.

Its top American history link? ...

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 photo from York (Pa.) Day Nursery's Web site shows community support for the center in 1962. The nursery is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Also of interest: Samuel Small tops York, Pa. community contributor list and First Pinchot Road in York County example of Great Depression-era stimulus project and Great Depression not only pinched in York County, it punched.

Many of York County's great community institutions started during the Great Depression.

York Little Theatre.

York Symphony Orchestra.

Martin Memorial Library.

I wrote about the silver lining of the dark Depression in the blog post: "The bad, and yes, the good of the Great Depression in York County."

This year, another Depression-era community service, the York Day Nursery, is observing its 75th year. It marked an early moment for day care in nursery school form in the York area. Meanwhile, at Crispus Attucks Community Center, the social services center for the black community, Helen Thackston directed the day-care program from 1932 to 1964.

The short story of York Day Nursery:

The Visiting Nurse Association started the day care for mothers who needed to earn a second income for their family during the Great Depression... .

A support for the dome for Roll 'R Way East, known for years as Playland, is shown in flames as a fire destroys the longtime York roller skating rink in November 1985. Playland gained a headline this week when the York Daily/Record Sunday News wrote about skating icon Richard Lustgarden, known around town as "Cha-cha." Rest Haven-York recognized Cha-cha with a skating party at Roll'R'Way Family Skating Center in York. The East Market Street Playland complex, neighbor to a Bury's hamburger restaurant, included a roller skating rink, a large swimming pool and later a motel. The complex opened in the weeks before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and lost spin completely when the fire destroyed the skating rink. Other parts were razed in 1991. Today, Cloister Car Wash and Wendy's sit on parts of Playland's former site. The event honoring Cha-cha, the newspaper reported, occurred on the 24th anniversary of the blaze that stopped Playland's skaters in mid-roll. Also of interest: Just try to resist this memory-tugging aerial photograph of York Whitehull Airport and York Valley Inn and Playland and ... and Just try to resist studying this memory-tugging photograph and Playland plays nostalgic note for York countians.

He led two armies across the Rhine into Germany during World War II and there's never been a full length biography on this leader, who outranked George Patton.

All that until recently. Mark Perry's "Partners in Command" started on the course of building Devers reputation as a leader.

And now comes David Colley, with his "Decision at Strasbourg: Ike's Strategic Mistake to Halt the Sixth Army Group at the Rhine in 1944." ...

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"... .

York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News photographer Jason Plotkin captures workers as they recently put up metal poles to hold a new plywood extension atop Holtwood Dam spanning the Susquehanna River. The work is designed to increase the hydropower capacity at the dam, one of four across the Susquehanna in and around York County. Rocks often covered with water (see photo below) are exposed as part of the work on the dam linking York and Lancaster counties. Also of interest: Who was Norman Wood (of bridge fame)? and Holtwood Dam thrust into the news once again and Where exactly is the Susquehanna River's Holtwood Dam?.

The Susquehanna River has been in the news for years for a variety of serious reasons.

The Continental Congress sweated a raiding party of British horsemen so seriously that they measured the river's depth along its length in an attempt to figure where any attack would come from. That was during the Revolutionary War when the river separated York County-based delegates from the redcoats in Philadelphia. In the Civil War, the Union army burned the bridge between Wrightsville and Columbia to keep the invading Confederates from crossing.

Rafts of logs tied together swept down the river during high water on their way to market in the Chesapeake Bay.

High water swept away bridges and low water made steamboat navigation difficult.

A canal was dug to make the river valley navigable, but the dams needed to feed water to the ditch stopped shad migration.

All that is serious and place the river as a key part of regional history.

But the fun stuff is just as interesting, however improbable.

Two examples:

A York Chamber of Commerce publication in 1950 touted its role in bringing defense contractor Bowen & McLaughlin to York. That company and others - Lyon Metal Products, Cathy Suit Company, Nelly Ann Dress Co. and Masell Manufacturing - helped soak up post-World War II unemployment, according to "The Record of the York Chamber of Commerce in the First Half of the Twentieth Century." Bowen & McLaughlin, now BAE, continues to undertake military work in its sprawling complex in West Manchester Township. Also of interest: York County's BAE links BMY and Bofors and battered vehicles in Bair and Jeep prototype has York County WWII roots and All Made in York posts from the start.

Harold N. Fitzkee Jr. served as York County's public defender in York's race riot era of the late 1960s.

He thus represented Gazette and Daily journalists - on the scene of the riots and just doing their jobs - who were arrested by over-eager police.

By 1970, Fitzkee had become York County district attorney.

"The Gazette, thus, lost its advocate in court," I wrote in a local newspaper history in 1996. "But after J.W. Gitt retired The Gazette and Daily's name in 1970, Fitzkee renewed his connection with the newspaper. He now owned it."

Fitzkee brought two investors with him: Elmer M. Morris and Wentworth D. Vedder... .

The Cookes house, one of York County's oldest structures, is shown in a photograph from about 1890 to 1900. New owner Michael Helfrich is laboring to learn more about the history of the historic house, on the bank of the Codorus Creek in York City. Also of interest: Two hundred years after Thomas Paine's death, the pamphleteer is due a marker in York and Worker saved key historical surveys from Glatfelter pulping machine and York's housing stock not that revolutionary.

A major mystery surrounds the Cookes House, the 1761 stone structure that is easily overlooked to the rear of Martin Luther King Jr. Park in the western part of York.

Did Thomas Paine live and work there when the Continental Congress met in York in 1777-78? ... .

Allen J. Smith, seen here inside his restoration, shows the caboose he worked on for years so that, 'It's better than new.' The rail car wil be moved from New Freedom to Wellsboro and Corning Railroad in Tioga County. (See York Daily Record/Sunday News' photographer Paul Kuehnel's video of the caboose below.) Also of interest: What it was like aboard the Stewartstown Railroad and Mason-Dixon Line hugging New Freedom playing host to a new museum and Is mystery railroad the old Shrewsbury narrow gauge?

Yorkblogger Scott Mingus fielded a query from a reader about the origin of the name Pickett Road in Washington Township.

Scott explained that it likely didn't come from the presence of Gen. George Pickett's men in the Gettsburg Campaign in the Civil War summer of 1863... .

Milkweed pods are opening about now around York County, Pa. They're largely ignored nowadays, but in World War II they were coveted. Also of interest: All World War II posts from the start and World War II torpedo, bomb loader, made in York, Pa., turns up in Tennessee museum and Explosions heard around York County after World War II-era 'experts' give canning advice.

For years - decades - York Daily Record/Sunday News photographer Bil Bowden has captured visual moments in and around York County.

In the last post, his work is displayed after he visited remote Wildcat Falls along the river road, north of Wrightsville.

Now he has grabbed a milkweed pod opening.

Of course, there is a story from history - World War II, to be specific - surrounding this little-noticed plant, and my "In the Thick of the Fight," gives a summary:

This nameplate is affixed to a York, Pa.-made World War II vintage bomb/torpedo loader acquired by the Tennessee Museum of Aviation. To see a photo of this American Chain and Cable-made truck, visit: Torpedo loader turns up in Tennessee museum. Also of interest: Jeep prototype has York County WWII roots and York-made vehicle welcome to retirement home in York, Pa. and All Made in York posts from the start.

The Codorus Valley Chronicles, the newsletter of the Codorus Valley Area Historical Society, always contains neat stuff.

In the November edition, Bob Shaub, editor of the newsletter for this Jefferson-based group, wrote about the value of artifacts made of tin, tied to a program on collecting old tin advertising:

"Little thought was given, let's say from the 1940s back, that tin cans, tin advertising signs would some day be collectible.The containers and signs were thrown away the same as we throw away the plastic containers and cardboard signs today... .

George F. Kennan helped set U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War and won a Pulitzer Prize. He also purchased a farm in eastern Adams County and was known to many folks in the East Berlin, Pa., area. Also of interest: Hanover's Cold Warrior J.W. Gitt's mansion: 'You can look down and see the town laid down before you' and York still twinning with France, Germany after 50-plus years and Cuban expert and York editor Jim Higgins: 'He was just another journalist ... with opinions'.

The late "Green Acres" actor and World War II war hero Eddie Albert wasn't the only celebrity with East Berlin ties.

Historian George F. Kennan served the Allied cause in World War II as a diplomat in European capitals.

He was winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Twice.

He promoted the policy of containment to prevent the spread of communism via the "domino effect." Some believe that policy led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War in 1989.

He's the topic of a popular book "The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War".

And he also owned a farm in the East Berlin area of Adams County... .

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:

This image was used to promote Weaver Organ and Piano products made in York, Pa. This card appears to be 1920s vintage. (See sales pitch set to verse on the card's back below.) Also of interest: Junior Curators exhibit: The name of Lefty York of York, Pa., lives on and The organ: 'It is a whole orchestra in itself' and All Made in York posts from the start.

Dan Meckley III's father was an exec at Weaver Organ & Piano Co. for years before its closing in the 1950s.

So history-minded Dan III has made sure the York community has a musical legacy of that venerable's company's products at the York County Heritage Trust's Historical Society and Agricultural and Industrial museums.

Recently, Dan put forth advertising cards - actually, miniature handbills - touting the company's organ and pianos, made at its four-story factory on North Broad Street.

Some of the cards are targeted to families, who kids would make prospective users. Others were targeted to upscale market. Those in his collection addressed women suggesting that they were decision-makers on the purchase of pianos and organs... .

This artist's rendering shows the original ACCO Chain plant in York, Pa., built in 1916 and 1917. Peerless Chain Co. in Minnesota purchased the chain side of ACCO Chain & Lifting Products, then in York Township, in 2006. The lifting products side remains in York. The building now housing York's Cable House apartments was part of the East Princess Street manufacturing complex. Also of interest: Jeep prototype has York County WWII roots and York-made vehicle welcome to retirement home in York, Pa. and All Made in York posts from the start.

York County - and the stuff made here - just shows up everywhere. For example, in Sevierville, Tenn., in the foothills of the Smokies.

The Tennessee Museum of Aviation has acquired a World War II bomb and torpedo truck, a small bomb loading machine, that was made in York, Pa. (See photo below.)

The truck was dated 1943 and manufactured by Manley Manufacturing, a division of American Chain and Cable, widely known as ACCO.

The following is taken off the vehicle's data plate:

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... .

Dwight Nadig captured the ceiling in the Farquhar Park gazebo in York, Pa. This photograph was published in the just-released "Capture York," a 128-page picture book of York County. Pediment Publishing and InYork.com published this work of 173 local photographers, who submitted 3,392 photos. Web users cast 165,126 votes for their favorite photos, which ended up in the book. For details, visit Capture York. Also of interest: York County book 'All in One Room' available for readers and The Four YorkBloggers write and York Daily Record's 'Remember' oral history series recalls many topics that touched York County.

Remember S & H Green Stamps issued by Sperry & Hutchinson?

The York Daily Record/Sunday News' "Remember" oral history series explored readers recollections of those days when stamps were in great demand.

Which raised the question.

If you still have S&H Green Stamps, are they worth anything?

"Remember" gave this answer:

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. -

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....

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... .

The community mausoleum sits largely forgotten at York, Pa.'s, Prospect Hill Cemetery. Also of interest: 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?.

In the reaches of Prospect Hill Cemetery rests an almost forgotten community mausoleum whose 420 crypts bear the remains of the Pfaltzgraff and Shipley families as well as those of lesser local luminaries.

York Daily Record/Sunday News reporter Jeff Frantz (10/4/09) wrote about the current renovation of the large building, which measures 45 paces in width with a 20-foot high ceiling.

The building will observe its 100th birthday in 1914, and Civil War veterans Lewis E. Smyser was the first burial in the mausoleum... .

Yorktowne Homes in northwest York are seen soon after their World War II-era construction. This aerial view by J. David Allen, who took many such bird's-eye photographs in those days, appeared in a York (Pa.) Chamber of Commerce publication in 1950. Notice the rural nature of this section of York, often associated today with the Fireside Park neighbhorhood. Also of interest: Map aficionados will love bird's-eye view of old York Fairgrounds. and York's Roosevelt Avenue airport large enough to play host to air mail pick up, corporate travel and Just try to resist studying this memory-tugging photograph.

Yorktowne Homes were built to provide housing in the
World War II years for workers flocking to York's bustling defense factories.

The post Yorkers welcomed nondescript housing tells this story.

A York Chamber of Commerce publication covering initiatives of that organization during the first 50 years of the 20th century tells more about these houses, still standing east of Roosevelt Avenue.

According to the publication:

Digging to find evidence of Revolutionary War prisoner-of-war Camp Security began near the Schultz House in Springettsbury Township, Pa., and continued outward. (See additional photo by the York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News below.) Also of interest: 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'

Digging for Camp Security artifacts on the grounds of Springettsbury Township's Schultz house will soon conclude.

The verdict thus far: No remnants of Camp Security.

But at least that dig apparently will allow dig overseers to rule out the acreage surrounding the Schultz House as part of Camp Security's primary footprint... .

Lewis Miller put forth this drawing after the Army of Northern Virginia's surrender to Gen. U.S. Grant's Army of the Potomac in 1865. The carpenter/artist also captured the Confederates trooping into York after the town surrendered to the Confederates two years before. Also of interest: Invaders put off by earthy Pennsylvania women, Owner seeks info on old toll house and York County Civil War, by the numbers.

People might get sidetracked by reports of the gallant demeanor of some of the Confederates occupying York in June 1863 after the town surrendered to the invaders.

They see great generals, albeit dusty great generals, on white horses with plumes in their hats showing their wonderful manners toward women in town.

The Confederates were polite southern boys just doing their jobs in the green pastures of the North, some might say.

Well, fellow blogger and tireless researcher Scott Mingus has come across a heretofore undiscovered account of activities in York the day before the Confederates marched into town for their two-day stay... .

In the final days of Gettysburg's Electric Map's showing in 2007, Mitchell Keiper visited the map while on a field trip from Wisconsin. A photo caption aptly summed up the recent story of the map. Some students said they thought the narrator's voice was boring. Mitchell said he thought the program was interesting. Gettysburg National Military Park is seeking a solution to address both views. Also of interest: Q&A on new Gettysburg visitor center, old Electric Map, Restored Gettysburg Cyclorama arriving in new home and Gettysburg's Electric Map blinking in finale season.

The Gettysburg National Military Park's Museum and Visitors Center is drawing high marks from patrons, The Evening Sun in Hanover has reported.

But many give a brief critique: "I really wish that you still had the map."

Before demolition of the old visitors center, the map was taken apart and is now in storage.

Park officials are considering bringing back the map in video format, as this excerpted Evening Sun (9/13/09) story reports:

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.

Here's one query that deals with the fair's past: ...

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... .

About 50 airports or airstrips have operated in and around York County, Pa., since the 1920s. Kampel Airport in Warrington Township is one of the grass airstrips still in operation. In this York Daily Record/Sunday News file photo from 2006, Bill Luther has just received a ride in a Boeing Stearman PT-17 for his 85th birthday. Luther trained during World War II to fly Boeing Stearman PT-17s. Other posts of interest: First York Airport's administration building stands today and Just try to resist studying this memory-tugging photograph and U.S. 30 Drag-O-Way, Part III: 'We would watch the dragsters on trailers head for Thomasville'.

Aircraft still land and take off from many of the 50-something airports that have operated in and around York County.

The York Airport is the best known example.

Some of the airports are now plowed under... .

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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... .

Ball Mason jars, around for 125 years, can be used for many things. In this Kansas City Star photo, tea lights flicker in the jars. In fruit- and vegetable-rich York County, Pa., the jars remain staples for canning, their use for decades. Background posts: 21st-century Victory Gardens might morph into Stimulus Gardens and 20 questions and answers to prove your York County WWII smarts and Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking York County residents often conversed with German POWs and Jamaican fruit pickers worked York County orchards in World War II .

Five brothers named Ball started production of fruit jars in 1884, with John Mason's 1858 invention in mind.

Three years later, they moved their plant to Muncie, Ind., and their Ball Mason jars became a standard part of American homes.

This 125th anniversary of the jar brings to mind time of a government snafu when canning was most needed - the days of World War II... .

"The Picket" stood in the center of Hanover's Center Square for years. It has since been moved to a corner of that intersection. This image comes from Scott Mingus' blog "Cannonball." Mingus will give tours tailored to specific areas of York County, with proceeds going to the York County Heritage Trust. (See additional photo below.) Background posts: Stack of books on York County's Civil War past getting higher and The Four Bloggers write and 'One of the shells found its mark'.

Civil War author, lecturer and blogger Scott L. Mingus, Sr. will lead personalized guided tours of various sites in York County linked to the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania in 1863.

For a free-will donation to the York County Heritage Trust, Mingus will present customized tours... .

A silo in a neighboring farm overlooks BAE's West Manchester Township (Pa.) plant, where rows of Bradley vehicles are ready for action, in this 2005 York Daily Record/Sunday News file vehicle. (See additional photo below.) Background posts: Jeep prototype has York County WWII roots and All Made in York posts from the start and From Bofors to bikes, Harley plant top hog.

BAE Combat Systems is known for the number of zeros in the defense contracts it frequently pulls down.

And it's known for the York County-made Hercules Recovery Vehicle that pulled down the statue of Saddam Hussein during fighting in Iraq.

But motorists could drive by the farmland between York and Spring Grove and not know this major defense contractor is operating in nearby Bair Station.

Here are some facts about the company, gleaned from BAE Systems history-rich Web site and my "In the Thick of the Fight":

In this York (Pa.) Daily Record file photo from 2005, June Grove is seen in Brogue's St. Luke Cemetery. Her ancestors are buried there along with Revolutionary War veterans George Keener, 1757-1841, John Stermer, 1760-1855, Henry Tome, 1754-1846. Background posts: 'Painting pastor's' work survives devastating southeastern York County blaze and On York County parks, Susquehannocks and carved river rocks and How many Amish have crossed the bridge from Lancaster to York County?.

Information in a post on fellow blogger Joan Concilio's Only in York County site gives a possible explanation for why the Chanceford Township village of Brogue is often called The Brogue.

The short answer is that it was a shortened version of someone saying "I'm going over to the Brogue Hotel," a landmark there for years.

But where did the village name of Brogue come from?

June Grove knows more about the Chancefords (which includes Lower Chanceford Township) than anyone... .

Pennsylvania Furniture Co.'s Sumner Street factory in York, actually West York, was erected in the early 1900s and became the home for long-lasting bedroom and dining room suites. Background posts: Red Lion's Ebert Furniture: From bedroom suites to gunstocks and York-area woodcarver, furniture maker made life-size JFK statue. But where is it now? and Springetts collector attracts 'Antiques Roadshow's' Kenos and Of York antiquarian Joe Kindig III: 'He is generous with his knowledge'.

E-mailer David Degroot is looking for a few good facts about York, Pa.'s venerable Pennsylvania Furniture Co.

"My wife and I bought an antique bedroom set," he wrote. "One of the pieces has a small sticker on the back indicating that the furniture was manufactured by the Pennsylvania Furniture Co. in York, PA. My guess is that furniture was manufactured in the early 1900s."

Furniture-making was a big business in York County in those days, and Pennsylvania Furniture was one of the most successful. The county was home to plentiful hardwood trees, and its location on transportation routes spawned wagonmakers, riflemakers and manufacturers of other hand-made wood products.

The York County Heritage Trust's file on Pennsylvania Furniture contains several documents. (One bore the photo above.)

Here are some salient facts gleaned from those documents:

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... .

Scott Blanchard, Sunday editor at the York Daily Record/Sunday News, e-mailed me this week that someone was "tweeting" from a Civil War conference in Gettysburg.

(S)ome interesting stuff on there," he wrote.

Indeed.

I checked out the link he sent and found that Blue Ridge Country magazine editor Cara Ellen Modisett was posting on Twitter impressions from the "Panel discussion at the Journey Through Hallowed Ground's Annual Conference."

You can see her 'tweets' at http://twitter.com/BRCeditor (you might have to go to second or third page). She even provided a twitpic on the panelists at http://twitpic.com/ajqsm.

It's an example of how technology is helping disseminate neat stuff on the history front... .

In this 2004 York Daily Record file photo, Nellie Scott of York Township goes through a scrapbook from her service overseas as nurse in World War II. Background posts: Women's history posts from the start and World War II posts from the start and York County people posts from the start.

Diane Fessler, author of "No Time for Fear, Voice of American Military Nurses of World War II, noticed a York Town Square post about local nurse Nellie Scott, who died in 2008.

"I wish I'd been able to interview her along with the 200 nurses included in the oral histories in the book," she commented.

That comment served as a reminder how often nurses played a role in York County - and national - history... .

Springettsbury Township's Harley-Davidson plant is seen during shift change in January 2009. Today, the buildings at left are for sale as Harley plans to consolidate York operations in the former softtail plant, right. (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... .

Spring Garden Township resident Thomas W. Clarke, seen here in his military days, has written his World War II memoir 'George S. Patton's Typical Soldier.' Background posts: York County sacrificed on homefront and war front and All WWII posts from the start and 20 questions and answers to prove your York County WWII smarts.

"Then we got into the rain of shells and had to hit the ground," Thomas W. Clarke wrote in his recently released memoir.

He continued:

"They would land on the right, then the left, or in front of us. What a helpless feeling it was, just to lie there and take it! It was then that I realized what an insignificant and unimportant bit of this universe that I was. What did it matter to the world, whether or not the next shell landed on my head and blew me to hell? But I lay there, pressing myself into the ground and praying that it wouldn't."

Wally Clarke wrote many things about his time in European combat in World War II... .

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... .

Scott Butcher's "Gettysburg Perspectives" is a 100-page paperback book with more than 100 photos. So it's packed with images. This is the York author's latest in a series of such books on Central Pennsylvania. Background posts: York-area picture book not your typical coffee table publication and Author: 'York's streetscape features almost every style and era of American architecture' and The Four YorkBloggers write.

Fellow blogger Scott Butcher has two new books out and more coming.

His books are photo-intensive, which in itself makes a valuable contribution. The photos provide wonderful visual information. But the writer and architectural historian in Butcher means that his captions are packed with reliable information.

Without further delay, here is info on Butcher's latest work:

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... .

York's Continental Square is shown in this undated photo from Jim Hubley's "Off the Record." This was the site that a World War II era cow toured early in World War II. Background posts: Perrydale's bovine: 'She's a wonderful, laid-back cow' and 'Boys, she's a Confederate cow' and When did York's square change from Centre to Continental?.

I've written about York's headline-grabbing cow before.

But the meat of the story is worth repeating.

Early in World War II, a runaway cow - termed a steer by a newspaper - rumbled around York's Continental Square, two men in a truck in tow.

"The steer," Police Chief C. P. Gerber told The York Dispatch, "obeyed the traffic rules."

It circled the square in the proper traffic lanes.

In that post, I drew this short conclusion to this short story: "That was post-Depression York County. Its people did their work simply, ably and followed the rules."

But there's more to the story. Where did the cow come from? ... .

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:

Sandra Smallwood-Stockton recently retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel. To reach that rank, she soldiered through much adversity. Background posts: Pioneering aviator Aline Rhonie another York native who made U.S. headlines and A short test of your York black history knowledge and York County WWII nurse: 'You know, it was the biggest war ever, and they needed nurses'.

In recent York Town Square posts, we've featured:

- York countians who have achieved in the military.

- York County grads who have accomplished much as civilians on the national stage.

- York's William Penn grads whose work has elevated them to that school's hall of fame.

Now comes Sandra Smallwood-Stockton - that's Lt. Col. Sandra Smallwood-Stockton - who attended William Penn but earned her high school degree in Maryland... .

Judge Emanuel A. Cassimatis, William Penn Senior High School class of 1944, is a member of the William Penn Hall of Fame. The retired judge of York County Court is among an elite group of achievers who are members of the hall. Background posts: York County sports a miniature Cooperstown and York County high school grads teach lessons in achievement on national stage and York County native Maj. Gen. David F. Wherley Jr. assumed major role in guarding post-9/11 D.C.

A recent post about an upcoming Smithsonian exhibit honoring pioneering Appalachian Trail through-hiker Earl Shaffer included an interesting fact

The most famous trail hiker in the world had to wait three years to be inducted into the William Penn Hall of Fame.

The hall takes one person a year and equally deserving candidates had been nominated before him.

That should show the quality of those who are members of the hall.

Who are others who have been so honored? ... .

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? ... .

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... .

A copy of the York (Pa.) Daily Record front page from almost 37 years ago tells about Tropical Storm Agnes' fury. The newspapers look, or design, has changed dramatically since then. (To get a look at the new look to be unveiled Thursday, see photo below.) Background posts: This all appeared in The (York, Pa.) Gazette and Daily on June 1, 1949 and In the shadow of disaster: York County and its newspaper tested 30 years ago and Suicide story: York hotel proprietor 'found a package that had contained about a quarter of a pound of Paris green'.

A newspaper's appearance can go out of style, just like clothes.

So about once a decade, as it turns out, the York Daily Record has made style changes, called a redesign.

The newspaper will make such a change in Thursday's edition, as I explain in a York Daily Record/Sunday News column today. That column begins: ... .

Cassandra Small, who wrote about the Confederate occupation of York in 1863, will come to life at a Civil War symposium at York College. Terry Latschar will take on her character. The free public event starts at 7 p.m., Thursday, June 25, at DeMeester Recital Hall in Wolf Hall, York College. Scott Mingus and Dennis Brandt will also present. Photos courtesy, York County Heritage Trust. Background posts: All Civil War posts from the start and Cassandra Small's, James Latimer's Civil War letters from York will 'never be forgotten' and Burial site reportedly found for rebel officer who occupied York.

Terry Latschar will give a first-person account of the rebel occupation of York County through the eyes of letter writer Cassandra Morris Small in a Civil War Symposium next week at York College.

In assuming Cassandra Small's character, the former Gettysburg park ranger and licensed battlefield guide will do more than remind those attending about the high emotions linked with the rebel raid in late-June 1863 through York County.

Latschar's part also will underscore the fact that local Civil War demands elevated the profile of women onto local history's pages.

During war and peace, women always had helped form the community's backbone in unsung - and often undocumented - fashion. Their heroics during the Civil War give particularly rich content for Latschar and those writing history to draw from.

Cassandra Morris Small, Cassandra Small Morris, Isabel Cassat Small, Mary Sophia Cadwell Fisher and Sarah Latimer Small were among those who helped support a large military hospital at York's Penn Park. Their contributions, among many others, included making bandages and providing nursing care... .

James O. Lehman and Steven M. Nolt published "Mennonites, Amish, and the American Civil War." The 2007 book explored the Mennonites and Amish response to the Civil War. Background posts: Stack of books on York County's Civil War past getting higher and 'One of the shells found its mark' and Unsung farmhouse loud symbol of a shaping moment for York.

York County resident Jonathan R. Stayer, who is also head of the reference section of the Pennsylvania State Archives, has called on local Civil War researchers to remember those who sought exemption from military service on grounds of conscience.

York County's conscientious objectors numbered 156 in 1862, he e-mailed, sixth highest among Pennsylvania's counties.

"Even tiny Adams County was home to at least 129 conscientious objectors," he wrote. "The reason? Both counties were (and are) home to significant communities of Mennonites and Dunkards (Brethren), and to a lesser extent, Quakers."

He called attention to James O. Lehman and Steven M. Nolt's "Mennonites, Amish, and the American Civil War," which local Civil War blogger Scott Mingus has since reviewed.

Here are excerpts from Stayer's e-mail:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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: ... .

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":

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

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

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

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

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 Hanover wayside marker is among such recent additions to the state's Civil War Trails program. It observes the contributions of women in treating casualties from fighting on the streets of the town on June 30,1863 - the Battle of Hanover. (See text for that marker here.) Background posts: Signs point to York, 'Prize of the Confederacy,' and other York/Adams Civil War wonders and Living historians bring spotlight to York's Civil War story and Civil War nurse: 'Dogs of war in our midst'.

A little-known statistic about the Civil War's Battle of Hanover is that Union and Confederate forces suffered more than 300 casualties - dead, wounded and missing.

That is the worst carnage ever sustained on York County soil.

The 300-casualty number is a stat that may fail to resonate. But how about this from a new wayside marker in Hanover? ...

This graphic from the "Recapture the Riverfront" booklet shows Martin Luther King Jr. Park. The Cookes House, where Thomas Paine reportedly stayed, sits to the left of Penn Street in the west corner of the park. It's now in private hands. Background posts: Helen Reeves Thackston's name lives on and Worker saved key historical surveys from Glatfelter pulping machine and York's housing stock not that revolutionary.

Carl Huber's recent e-mail raises a good question.

The 200th anniversary of pamphleteer Thomas Paine's death is coming up.

Are there any historical markers in the York area observing his time here during the American Revolution?

The short answer is that there are none... .

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... .

Sarah Byrn Rickman's book "The Originals" covers women of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron in World War II and contains a profile on York native Aline Rhonie. Background posts: York County sacrificed on homefront and war front to aid Allies in World War II and York County WWII nurse: 'You know, it was the biggest war ever, and they needed nurses' and 'Her words helped win the war'.

Her name was Aline Rhonie Hofheimer and later Aline Rhonie.

But a biography says that for some unknown reason, everyone called her Pat.

The Warren Township (N.J.) Historical Society begins the biography with:

"Pioneer aviatrix, socialite, company president, horsewoman, wartime pilot and artist, Aline Rhonie Hofheimer lived an exceptional life, one that only now, over 40 years after her death, is being chronicled by aviation historians."

And she was born 100 years ago, on Aug. 16, in York, Pa... .

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... .

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.

Cassandra Small, daughter of leading York County mechant P.A. Small, left behind the most complete and revealing first-person account of the Confederate occupation of York. (See photo below of a Small played by a living historian.) Attorney James Latimer (see photo below) also wrote letters about the rebel invasion in late-June 1863. Their writings appear on virtual exhibit. Background posts: Panel explores the Confederates' pre-Gettysburg occupation of York and Rebs' short York visit creates long memories and Burial site reportedly found for rebel officer who occupied York.

As the York County Heritage Trust prepared to construct a Civil War exhibit about five years ago at its 250 E. Market St. museum, some folks at the York Daily Record/Sunday News were working to put that exhibit on the Web.

The idea was that museum patrons could view the exhibit in person, and virtual patrons could benefit from it online.

Today, both exhibits remain intact and contain some hard-to-get content... .

York native Jeannette Zinn died while serving with the YMCA in war-torn Europe in 1918. Background posts: From war bonds to pets and people and Spanish flu epidemic in York: 'People died one right after the other' and Easter in York County, 1919: Sadness, joy, hope.

In the months following World War I, Jeannette Zinn was feted as a war hero.

One source in the York County Heritage Trust files lists her as the first woman from York "to give her life for the great cause of freedom."

It's not clear if that means in all wars up to that point or in the Great War, as World War I was then called.

Clearly, women provided tremendous aid in previous wars. Cassandra Small Morris became ill, for example, after caring for Gettysburg wounded.

But she survived.

Unfortunately, not much is known about Jeannette Zinn... .

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:

Students at the Second Arch Street Public School are ready to celebrate May Day in 1952. The old one-room school, then used as a church, was torn down to make way for the children's play area of Sovereign Bank Stadium. Background posts: Season 2 of York's long comeback campaign, York has Brooks Robinson statue. Where's Baltimore's? and Sovereign Bank Stadium posts from the start.

This walking tour highlights some of the rail-related and other historic sites that marked the stadium area.

For example, the outer stadium fence that parallels the outfield fence tells about: ... .

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... .

York Hospital treated its Spanish flu patients at the York Fairgrounds in the fall of 1918. The fair was canceled that year. Background posts: Well-known doctor, York, Pa.'s Edmund Meisenhelder, beat back flu and West Side Sanitarium, later West Side Osteopathic and later Memorial Hospital born in The Avenues in York and Looking for a local history research project?

Susan Lilly, SusanLilly@weavingroom.com, lives in Portland, Ore., but she's interested in information from York, Pa., on how it weathered the deadly Spanish flu epidemic.

In old family letters, she discovered that her grandmother lost five close friends, including a cousin.

She's looking for first-person memories, family stories,
or copies of any letters that folks would be willing to share.

She wrote: ... .

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... .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A vast amount of work.

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

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

First, tobacco usage in York County:

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

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

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

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

This part of the York City map of 1888, from the booklet "Northwest York" gives a view of what became known as The Avenues. North Hartley Street, the address of the earliest forerunner of Memorial Hospital, can be seen at bottom, left. Background posts: Industrialist Thomas Shipley's 'enduring monument' in York did not 'endure' and Glatfelter, Morgan Smith head industrial legacy list and Spring Garden Band: 'It's like being in the room with history' .

Memorial Hospital's plans to move from the east side of York to the former Hawk Lake golf course on the north side are well known.

And many people alive today remember when Memorial moved from the west side to its current location along Interstate 83.

But before the West Side Osteopathic Hospital and Dr. Edmund Meisenhelder's West Side Sanitarium operated, where was the hospital located? ...

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):

The decorative white rose from the facade of the White Rose Bar & Grill came down recently, to be replanted at nearby Sovereign Bank Stadium. Background posts: Revs will easily pass 1969's full-season attendance stats and Baseball's Methuselah played for White Roses and 'That's a stupid question;' Brooksie played second base.

The 12-foot-long white rose that hung above the main entrance of the White Rose Bar & Grill in York is no more.

It will be moved to a prominent place at Sovereign Bank Stadium.

The ongoing presence of a giant white rose somewhere in the White Rose City makes sense.

But how many people know the story of why York, Pa., is named the White Rose City? ...

The proposed Vietnam Veterans Monument, to honor those who died in the Vietnam War, will be located in the left angle of the triangular parcel where the carnival is located in this photograph at the York Expo Center. The rest of the land in the triangle will be developed into a park, according to a Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee spokesman. (See list of known York countians who died in the war below.) Background posts: Map aficionados will love bird's-eye view of York County and Vietnam vets wall moves York countians and All Vietnam War-related posts.

The proposed monument planned at the York Expo Center to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the Vietnam War is well-deserved and much overdue.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee's painstaking efforts to gather all the names of those who died for inscription on the upright granite part of the monument have spawned another benefit.

Their work is effectively calling individual attention to those who served - and died... .

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... .

A Revolutionary War prisoner of war camp grew up near the present 204th Street in New York City. York County history spokesman believe a local camp, Camp Security in present-day Springettsbury Township, was constructed in similar fasion. Terraces used in such camp are visable today, the spokesmen say. (Photo courtesy of New York Historical Society.) Background posts: The Four Bloggers write and PS Harrisburg grad school: 'Set my feet even more firmly on the path into the world of Fraktur' and Opportunities in York County to feed your sense of discovery.

When fellow blogger and York Sunday News columnist June Lloyd tackles a topic, you know you're getting the latest, best research on an issue.

The former York County Heritage Trust archivist has put up several posts linked to current events that merit a lengthy look: ...

The (York, Pa.) Gazette and Daily published this advertisement illustration on Aug. 15, 1945 - in celebration of V-J Day. Here, The Chic, 33 W. Market St., observes women's contribution in winning World War II. Background posts: York County sacrificed on homefront and war front - Part I and All WWII posts from the start.

York County did its share on the homefront and war front in World War II.

The York Plan is Exhibit A on the homefront.

And no story captures York County's considerable sacrifices on the war front better than the example of Ross Kurtz.

Notice how matter of factly Ross Kurtz related his considerable injuries sustained in a mortar attack... .

York County industrial leaders turned out in large numbers for a dinner at the Yorktowne Hotel in World War II. The York Plan resulting from their cooperation became a national model. Background posts: All York Corporation/Johnson Controls posts from the start and Industrialist Thomas Shipley's 'enduring monument' in York did not 'endure' and York Corporation played role in Manhattan Project.

York County's homefront and war front efforts well represented what it took across America to win the two-front World War II.

And the best York County offered on the homefront - and it was significant - was the York Plan.

But ask a York County audience about the York Plan and surprisingly few know even the vaguest details.

So, here's a quick synopsis of the plan: ... .

The Western Maryland Railroad 'Head House' is part of redevelopment plans in the Northwest Triangle of York. The 1,600-square-foot building maybe transformed into commercial or retail space. (See additional photo below.) Background posts: Blue caboose in Red Lion? 'Yes sir - it's gonna be red' and Mystery of Glen Rock-area's Narrow Gauge Road deepens and Northern York area strawberry part of Neapolitan county.

Three railroads met in York in its 20th-century industrial heyday - the predecessors, successors and extensions of the Northern Central, Ma & Pa and Western Maryland railroads.

Despite that, York was never viewed primarily as a railroad town in the mold of, say, Altoona or Enola. That's probably because it was not located on the mainline of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

That said, the Northern Central Railroad with its direct ties to Baltimore and Harrisburg was pretty darn important... .

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: ...

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

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

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

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

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