As promised in a recent post, here are more graphics showing the remarkable growth of the Weaver Organ and Piano Company factory in just 22 years. The 1882 building, designed by the Dempwolf firm of architects was of fair size, but the 1892 and 1898 additions added much more
I could go on about the dozens of picturesque covered bridges that used to dot the York County countryside, but this will be my last post on them for now. I realize that they were rendered obsolete by mid-twentieth century transportation needs and were not really sustainable. It is a
We look at covered bridges, or memories of the now mostly extinct bridges, as picturesque remnants of the past. But they were not built to be charming. They were vital links in the transportation system. The walls and roof were added to protect the bridge from the elements, preserving its
The field of folk belief among our Pennsylvania German ancestors is a rich one, replete with words. Certain rituals go along with many practices used for healing known as pow-wow, but the words are also specific for each one. They are readily available in books such as John George Hohman’s
a> A lot of people have commented on my recent York Sunday News article and blog post on Crandall’s Health School. I wanted to share a couple of their comments as well as a few more photos of the buildings. The newspapers ran pages of photos of the ravages of
A good many people seem to have heard of Crandall’s Health School, a sanitarium located east of Stony Brook on what was then the Lincoln Highway, now Pa. route 462. There are stories about the institution, started in about 1923 by Lewis M. Crandall, allegedly an osteopathic physician, and his
I have done a couple of blog posts on York’s St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, whose congregation is celebrating its 175th Anniversary this month. One of the most horrific, but memorable, events in St. Paul’s history was the January 1939 arson-set fire that destroyed old St. Paul’s, which sat on the
Good Shepherd window at St. Paul’s My last post included my recent York Sunday News column on the great St. Paul’s Lutheran Church fire of 1939. A few treasures saved from the ruins can be seen at the present St. Paul’s at the corner of S. George St. and Springettsbury
The story of the great 1939 fire at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of York and the capture of the arsonist reads like a mystery story. From an alert detective’s recognition of a smeared fingerprint left at the scene of a crime the next night to the suspect protesting his innocence
Vigilant steam engine Whoops. I guess it is kind of embarrassing if your horse-drawn fire engine runs away, is stopped by a collision with your other engine and has to be people-drawn to the fire. That’s what happened to York’s Vigilant Fire Co. in the late 1800s. They may have