Ask Joan: Fun follow-ups edition
Today I want to follow up on a couple of previous Ask Joan questions, one recent and the other from a while ago.
What’s inside
1. York T&T manhole cover details
2. Following up on Grantley restaurant
1. Reader John C. Parker Jr. of York, a retired professional engineer, wrote in response to a February question about the manhole cover pictured below, the photo of which was submitted by Bob Finke.
John wrote, “You are correct about the origins of this cover. It is in fact a man hole cover used by the York Telephone and Telegraph Co. The reason I know is because I grew up in the East York area during the ’40s and ’50s. At that time the developed area south of Market St. from Mill Creek to Haines Rd. was only one block wide, bounded by Eastern Blvd. to the south. After WWII was over development began south of Eastern Blvd. in the area that became known as Fayfield.”
He continued, “Because of the development, in the 1950s the York Telephone Co. (York T&T Co.) had to add additional lines in the area so they installed a multichannel buried conduit system along Eastern Blvd from about Mill St. to near Rockburn St. The conduit connected to the switching center the company had on Market St. east of Mill St. and provided breakout points so that telephone lines could be installed in the developing Fayfield and East York areas.”
And, John added, most relevant to our original question, “Every one or two blocks along this line, manholes were installed to permit access to the conduit for the installation and maintenance of the necessary cables. The manholes also provide an access point for connecting to overhead lines carried on telephone poles. It’s not uncommon to find a pole near a telephone company manhole. The covers on these manholes look exactly like the one in the photograph in your article and are still in use today. If you walk around York today, you will find manhole covers with the ‘York T&T Co.’ markings as well as with ‘GTE’ markings. Why change manhole covers just because the company’s name changes?”
So, John concludes, “To answer Bob Finke’s question, the plate he found is a manhole cover for a telephone company manhole. I would suspect from his description that there is a junction between buried cables and lines on the adjoining telephone pole.”
John, thank you so much for giving us the details on this! I appreciate it and am sure Bob Finke, the original questioner, appreciates it as well!
2. Last week, I shared a question from reader Robert Senft, who was seeking the name of a restaurant/bar on Grantley Road in York.
I was surprised at how many quick responses I got to Robert’s question! Straight from the source, I received a note from Paul S. Spataro, who wrote, “Palandi’s Bungalow Inn was located on Grantley Road at the bridge to College Avenue. As co-owner with my brother, the name was for Paul and Andy’s. The license came from the Bungalow Inn on Richland Ave.”
Dona Crouse of West Manchester Township recalled that original Bungalow Inn. She wrote that the Richland Avenue Bungalow Inn “was originally located on Richland Ave. down from the Rose Haven. I believe it was owned by a Kenny Grove, but not sure about name. Mr. Grove died and his wife, Cass, ran it for awhile. It was then closed and I’m guessing the liquor license transferred to a new owner and it was moved to Grantley Road, right on the southern side of the bridge.”
Dona also recalled that she knew some Dentsply employees held “goodbye” dinners there if a fellow employee left, and said the Bungalow was also frequented by the employees of Borg-Warner.
And Darrell Hoffman wrote, “It took some thinking but yes there was a restaurant just before the bridge on Grantley Road. I worked for the Ness Co. Kelly Body Division and we were in the building that did house Coastal Tank Lines. We repaired and painted many vehicles of business in the greater York area. What had been the office for the tank line company was not used by us. As I remember, the restaurant was in the very front right of the building and the bar was from The Rose Haven that was over on Richland across from York International.”
Thank you all for your memories of the bars and restaurants in this area! I continue to hear a lot about the Grantley Road businesses, and love to fill in the gaps.
Have questions or memories to share? Ask (or Tell) Joan using the form at right. I’ll attempt to answer or share them in a future “Ask Joan” column on this blog. I get a large volume, but I will feature three each week and answer as many as possible!
