Some more memories from the Weigelstown area
As 2015 gets close to its end, I’m trying (as I do at the end of each year) to wrap up some topics for which I’ve received letters and emails over the past many months.
Today, I have yet more thoughts to share on the Weigelstown area of Dover Township, a much-discussed subject.
Past posts
· June 4, 2010: Do you remember the Jay’s restaurant?
· Aug. 5, 2010: More memories of stores in Weigelstown
· Feb. 19, 2011: Even more memories from the Weigelstown area
· May 7, 2011: Memories from the Mount Royal area of Dover Township from a longtime friend
· April 1, 2013: More memories of Dover, Weigelstown and Mount Royal
I hope you’ll check them out either before or after enjoying today’s selection of memories!
Madelyn Shermeyer of Dover Township wrote in reply to previous discussions about the corner of Route 74 and Davidsburg Road. “The history of all the pharmacies at the present CVS site were all correct,” she added, “but there is a very large BUT regarding what was missed at this site.”
Madelyn notes, “Originially this was the site of the ‘Green Hedge,’ so named because of the very high hedges that ran along Route 74 (Carlisle Road) around the corner to the Davidsburg Road where the ‘green hedges’ continued. There were fuel pumps between the green hedges that ran along both roads. They were accessed by entrances through the hedge. Where CVS is now located there was a home that had a small room in the front dedicated to a small store. I’m not sure what they sold. One had to go up steps to enter this store to pay for their fuel, perhaps because we didn’t have the correct change. Mr. Rauhauser pumped the fuel but one went inside to pay. The late Mr. Rauhauser’s son still lives in the area. I’m going back 58+ years because as a teenager I sometimes bought fuel at this site.”
I also heard from reader Carolyn Caplinger, who noted, “I worked at Jay’s restaurant inside the supermarket at Weigelstown. I started on second shift and ended up working third shift until the shift was closed down. There were many regulars and I miss them and the people I worked with. Would love to hear from some of them. Before Jay’s it was a Safeway and I shopped there also.” Shopping at Jay’s was a childhood memory of mine and I miss it as well, Carolyn!
Finally for today, I had a note from reader Shirley Hotz, who writes, “I lived on Oakland Road, then called Weigelstown Road. There were two stores on this road, one on your left and one at the end behind Leib Elementary. Then the road was a dirt road after the second store. The Weavers lived on the farm to the right. They were Gary, Diane and Joe.” Shirley recalled that Gary and Joe lost their lives from a mortar shell they brought home from the naval base their older brother was stationed on. She also recalled, “The neighbors across were Mrs. Sloat and the Hollerbushes. The boys were Clair and Ronald. The family that lived next to us were the Harbolds. At Oakland Road and Route 74 was a gas station.”
Shirley continued, “Across from the Pizza Hut was a big one-room schoolhouse. After going there I went to the four-room school located where the Dover High School sign sits. My teacher was a Brethren with thinning black hair and spectacles. Down on the right from the high school was a dairy bar where we could play the jukebox for a nickel.”
Regarding life in Weigelstown, she noted, “My other neighbors on Oakland Road were the Cummings, Margaret and Buzz. Behind our place was Governor Leader’s farm. We would gather all the kids and played baseball next to the Hollerbushes’ house. Sometimes we’d go down the road from the Leib school and catch tadpoles. There wasn’t a lot to do. The Rauhausers’ store was on the point where the Davidsburg Road goes to the left and 74 was on the right. … We moved away in 1959 when the big Dover High School was being built, to Spring Grove. I really missed living there. My best friend was Connie Moose. I still have fond memories of Weigelstown and the good old days in the ’50s.”
I appreciate hearing those memories, Shirley!
