Only in York County

Quite some time ago, one topic we talked about was memories of local butcher shops.

A few more of those, from the past several months:

Betsy Baird writes, “One meat market I never see mentioned anyplace. My mother’s father and mother (and grandfather, I think) had the Wagman’s Meat Market at the corner of N. High St. and E. Main St. in Red Lion. Now this was about 100 years ago! (Edward H. Wagman) Mother and her sisters were born there. Seems Mother said PawPaw would go down toward Windsor to get live hogs, cattle, etc. to butcher and sell. Mother loved bologna! She said she would be found sitting on the floor behind the meat counter, eating bologna. PawPaw gave up the butcher shop. Mother always thought it had a connection with the Swine (Asian) Flu of 1918. They later moved to Dallastown, where PawPaw bought the Commercial Hotel on the Square. One ironic, yet not funny, thing: Mother was born with three kidneys. It was not found out till she was in her late 20s or so. They were not in good condition. PawPaw said that, in all his years of butchering animals, he never saw one like that. Strange things can happen in this world. Incidentally, PawPaw’s father was first Chief Burgess of Red Lion. I have a picture of the meat market with Pawpaw and Mawmaw standing in it. No big freezers in those days. They relied I think, on dry ice.”

And Jo Ott says, “I remember Jacoby’s butcher shop in Shiloh. The building was a real estate office for several years (since I moved back 10 years ago) and is now a nail salon. Harry Jacoby, the owner’s son is in my York High class and still lives in Shiloh.”

Jim Fahringer recalls, “I remember Wineka’s Butcher Shop in Pleasureville. It was located on the corner of the alley that runs parallel with North Sherman Street just off Sheridan Road (1/2 block off of North Sherman Street) opposite the Pleasureville United Methodist Church. At least their retail shop was there. They were known for their homemade hot dogs. To this day, I have never tasted any hot dogs as good as the Wineka homemade hot dog. They were absolutely the most delicious I have ever eaten. Many other older York Countians will attest to the fact that these were the very best hot dogs found anywhere. There are a number of stories about that hot dog recipe. One of the stories I heard was when Mr. Wineka died someone offered his family quite a bit of money for the hot dog recipe but the story goes that Mr. Wineka refused. I used to teach at the Pleasureville Elementary School and a relative of the Wineka’s lived across the street by the name of Mr. Helwig. I believe Mr. Helwig also worked at Wineka’s Butcher shop for awhile. He gave me some of this information but it was so long ago I might not have every detail exactly right. Another story is when both Mr. and Mrs. Wineka passed away their recipe passed away with them never to be found again. I also heard that someone in the family or a relative still has the recipe and is holding onto it. Perhaps someone could shed more light on the mystery of the missing recipe of the most delicious hot dog ever! … I am not sure when Wineka’s went out of business. I believe that it had to be somewhere in the early 1960s.”

He added, “Another Butcher Shop memory. When I was a little boy I lived in the 300 block of East Poplar Street just about four doors from the intersection of Edgar Street. I lived there from 1947 until 1955. I remember a butcher shop which was located on the north side of East King Street just about across the street from where Edgar Street intersects with East King Street. I believe it was an Ahren’s Butcher shop operated by two Ahren brothers. I used to see these two brothers walk down my street. The one thing I remember about them is that they both had pure snow white hair which was fascinating to me and other children on the block. As a little boy I would often visit the butcher shop with my mom or grandma. I remember the long chains of sausage links hanging on a hook above the meat counter. The butcher shop had a constant flow of customers. It was fun watching these two brothers cut the meat and wrap it for you.”

Don Wagner wrote, “I worked at J. Fred Fischer Meat Market on S. George street in 1962-1963. I went to meat cutting school in Toledo, Ohio in the summer of 1962 for 2 months and got a job at Fischer’s immediately afterwards. I worked there until Weis Markets had a meat cutters ‘walk off the job’ strike in, I think, late 1963, whereupon they hired all new meat cutters. I took the opportunity and went to work for Weis.” Don added, “Robert and Harry Fischer (brothers) owned and ran the meat market. I believe that their father preceded them in the business. They killed most of the meat they sold. On Mondays and Tuesdays they killed beef, hogs, veal and lamb. I worked in the store, not the slaughterhouse. They made hot dogs, scrapple and pudding as well as lard. There were about 20 people employed at that time. They did tend market at Central and perhaps Eastern Market. People would call in to the store with their grocery order (they had a small grocery store front there also) and the employees would gather the order and then deliver it to the home if requested. Of course they had a larger walk-in customer base also. They had a rather sizable wholesale business where they also delivered the products to location. We sold everything from fillet mignon to pig’s ears and lungs. Yes, I did say lungs, commonly referred to as ‘pork lights.'”

I also heard from Fran Stump, one of my friendly poll workers at the Normandie Ridge voting location and a loyal Only in York County reader. Fran said, “I just wanted to add to your article about memories of butcher shops in York. When my mother was a child (back in the 1920s) her grandparents had a butcher shop, I think it was at the corner of S. Duke and Maple Streets. That would be my great grandparents. Her last name was Berger and she married my grandfather, whose name was Hamberger. The butcher shop was Hamberger’s Butcher Shop. I just thought it was an interesting anecdote.”

And finally, Karen Miller said, “When you were talking about the butchers that came around to the neighborhoods in a truck I wanted to add one I remember. Wagner’s Meat Market on E. Phila St. And like so many of the butchers you mentioned my butcher’s name was BUTCH Wagner. So many were named Butch. Also as I young girl I remember a produce truck coming to my grandmother’s house on Mt. Rose Ave. with all the fresh fruits and veggies.”

Many thanks to all for sharing their recollections on this topic!