September wouldn’t seem like September if I didn’t do at least one post on the York Fair. Instead of starting with the file boxes of York Fair materials at the York County History Center and/or local newspapers of the past, this time I thought I would look at another source.
“Was He Unlucky! I don’t know if legal off-track betting has made “bookie joints” totally obsolete, but they seem to have been a fixture of mid-twentieth century life. A raid on one of those establishments made front page news in the Wednesday, May 1, 1946 Gazette and Daily. (Taken from
I have been looking at old photos of York’s square, following the various sites where Punch, the wooden cigar store statue, offered his bundle of cigars over the decades. The earliest photo of Punch (see above) also shows a very large sign for the Gazette Printing Office atop the building.
Here is another example that the “good old days” weren’t always that good. There were “wicked and evil disposed persons” in our past history too. (Our forebears did love their adjectives.) The handbill below, from the York County Heritage Trust archives, concerns break-ins and vandalism at Spring Garden Township school
I have shared stories of some of the well-known persons who attended or taught at the York County Academy. They include Thaddeus Stevens, abolitionist and congressman and Samuel Bacon, charged by President Monroe with the founding of Liberia. Fellow blogger Jim McClure has shared information on other noted YCA alumni,
(A public meeting with information on the May/June 2015 dig at Camp Security will be held at the Springettsbury Township building, 1501 Mount Zion Road at 7 p.m. Wednesday March 25.) There are 42 pages in the Revolutionary War pension file of Manuel Zeigler [Frederick Emanuel Zeigler] at the National
It is obvious that I find old newspapers fascinating. The items serve as snapshots of the time, giving a picture of what was then happening in the same spaces we occupy today. In addition, the incidents described and unfamiliar terms used are often springboards for further exploration. The $30 reward
Even small newspaper items and advertisements can give clues on life in the past, such as these ads from the May 7, 1857 York County Star and Wrightsville Advertiser, These two are for Wrightsville businesses, Reuben Simpson’s barber shop and Daniel T. Lehman’s restaurant, but other ads in this issue
Newspapers of the past were strongly partisan. Henry F. Thomas, Editor and Proprietor of York’s People’s Advocate plainly showed his Whig colors. He published very few favorable things to say about the Democrats, referring to them as Locofocos, a rather derogatory term. No matter how acerbic his comments about others,
These two photos of the York Fair were taken about 1898. They fairgoers look a little overdressed to us today. In those days the fair was held in October, so this looks like a nice day, perhaps not too hot or cold. The top photo seems to be a double