Only in York County

What’s inside

1. White Rose Bottling Works info
2. Downtown shopping memories

1. White Rose Bottling Works info

Not very long ago, I had a letter from Diane Imler, who wrote, “I have had a quart jar of White Rose Bottling Works, York, Pa., bottle caps for several years. They are Pale Dry Ginger Ale with cork inserts. I have tried searching for info on this and have found nothing. Do you have any info on White Rose Bottling Works in York? I’ve lived in York all my life and can’t remember anything about it.”

Well, Diane is right that info is hard to come by! The most specific thing I found was a 1929 clip from the Gettysburg Times newspaper, which listed the members of the York and Adams County Bottlers’ Association at that time as the signers of a large notice regarding a two-cent bottle deposit taking effect for any five-cent bottle of carbonated beverage not consumed at the place of purchase.

Those members were:

• American Pure Beverage Co., York
• Becker Bottling Works, Hanover
• Bortner Bottling Works, Hanover
• Cooper, E.C. – Bottler, Glen Rock
• Little, J.F. – Bottler, Hanover
• McFaddin, J.G. – Bottler, Hanover
• Plitt, G.E. & Son – Bottlers, York
• Red Lion Bottling Works, Red Lion
• Swoyer, Dan G. – Bottler, Hanover
• Velvet Beverage Co., Baltimore, Md.
• Whistle Bottling Co., York
• White Rose Bottling Works, York
• York Coca-Cola Bottling Works, York

So, we know the company was in business in 1929, but I don’t have much more info than that! I would love to hear from any readers who can shine more light on the company.

2. Downtown shopping memories

A few weeks ago, I shared a note from reader Bob Moffitt Jr., who was curious about shopping memories from before the time of “superstores” like Walmart. In that column, Bob, who is 38 (approximately the age of your trusty author!), talked about the West Manchester Mall before Walmart and was curious about the general shopping environment around York County.

Not long after that column, I heard from Joyce (Hoover) Hertz.

Joyce wrote, “I grew up in Spring Grove and downtown York was the place to shop from Beaver Street up to George Street on Saturday mornings. My parents would take my younger sister and I to Central Market lots of Saturday mornings for fresh meats, fruits and vegetables, and on some Saturdays, my Dad would take a friend and me and drop us off to wander among the shops downtown and my friend’s mother would pick us up later.”

She noted that there were several major department stores:

• “Bears – This store had a great bake shop, which made absolutely delicious saucer-sized molasses cookies, and it also had an elevator that was actually run by an operator, all of which I remember as being wonderfully friendly and helpful ladies. This was on the corner where the Iron Horse Restaurant is currently.”
• “The Bon-Ton was on the corner of Market and Beaver Streets and had a great little cafeteria on the Mezzanine, which was between the first and second floors.”
• “There was also Wiests Department Store and two five-and-dimes: McCrory’s and Murphy’s, which both had great lunch counters and good old-fashioned cherry Cokes.”
• “On the corner of Beaver and Market Street, where the Holy Hound Taproom is now, was Jacks Department Store, which was considered a more high-end store for the local ladies. There was a young ladies’ shop up the block called The Deb Shop and a men’s store on North George Street which I believe was Griffith-Smith.”
• “On the corner of Market and Beaver Street across the street from Jacks was Weinbrom Jewelers, and on the southeast corner of the square was Futer Brothers Jewelers. On the same corner as Futer Brothers was Newswanger Shoes.”
• “The place to have any kind of fancy event at that time was The Yorktowne Hotel on the corner of Market and Duke Streets.”
• She concluded, “I am sure there are many more places that people can share their memories of but these are the ones that I remember from my younger days. (I will be turning 65 in January.)”

Joyce, I appreciate all those memories! I received several others in response to Bob’s letter and hope to share those as soon as possible.