More memories of the Loucks Road area in the years before the West Manchester Mall
We talked yesterday about some memories of the West Manchester Mall; today, I’d like to go back in time in the same area a little farther, and talk more about memories of Loucks Road in the years before the mall! (We’d talked about this back in 2011!)
Terry Downs notes, “My memories of Loucks Road start where it passes 11th Avenue in North York when the Loucks Road (now U.S. 30 – known also as the bypass!) was a 2-lane road from the J.M. Fields and Pantry Pride stores on the former Leitner’s Orchards. Gino’s built on the corner there. When you approached Pennsylvania Avenue, it was a ‘T’ intersection for Pine Hill Apartments weren’t built yet west of Gwendale Development (off of Susquehanna Trail) and Holtzapple’s Gulf was where the Rutter’s store is now. Heading west was farmlands and Colony Park was being built, and soon the Two Guys Plaza was a new spot. Where Maple Village is was yet a strip of field corn. Beddia’s was on the corner (now York Mitsubishi) and cattycorner at Roosevelt Avenue (a stop sign then) was King’s Mobile Home Park, and you proceeded west past the Loucks School that was mentioned in the article. A man named Norman Richards resided in the renovated schoolhouse; Norm Richards was leader of a local orchestra from the WWII era. The adjacent cemetery holds descendants of the Pfaltzgraff family line. You continue on to Haviland Road and then Carlisle Road (again, 2 lane roads with a stop sign) and you continue on thru the intersection to Hayden Heights and westward, eventually taking you to the Taxville Road. Being near 50 years old, I remember this road as a lad.”
I also heard from Jo Ott, who said, “Several years ago my sister and brother-in-law were in town from Florida for her 50th class reunion (York High) and they were staying at that Holiday Inn where the reunion also was being held. She told me later that they set out in a rental car to find Shiloh and our old home on Locust Lane – think water tank. Never did find Shiloh or the old home, she said they drove all over. Little did she know they were already in Shiloh and only about two miles from where we once lived. That’s how much the area has changed since we moved away in 1947!”
Fran Stump wrote and said, “That cemetery on Loucks Road is Wolf’s cemetery. I don’t know how the cemetery got named Wolf’s. There is a rehab office in there now, but in the ’50s a family named Richards lived in the house. I knew it was a school before. The Richards family had a son and daughter, I went to school with the son, John. His father had married a woman I played golf with. She lived there for a while after he died. She was there when the mall was built. The ladies who work at Maier’s Bread told me she died a few years ago. Just a little tidbit for your records.” Thanks, Fran!
And finally, I had a neat note from Sally Harbold, who was my elementary-school music teacher some years ago! She notes, “I read … about the Loucks Cemetery on Loucks Road. I lived in the old Loucks School House and sold it to Dr. Bruce Sicilia, MD for his Pain Rehabilitation Practice when my father passed away. My parents bought the house in 1939; it was already converted from a schoolhouse at that time. I would love to talk to you about the house and the wonderful Halloween parties we had in the cemetery! I also would like to contact “Lorraine” cited in (the earlier) article; I may know her!”
Sally, it was very neat to hear from you! I will definitely try to pass on your contact information to Lorraine! I am certainly also wondering if you know Fran and how her story and yours overlap!
