What was the connection between the preforming Durang family, who spent some time in York during the early 19th century and our national anthem? I wrote a York Sunday News column on the subject in 2006. I just realized I never posted the column on this blog, which I started
Each of our York County communities, no matter what size, seems to have its own uniquely rich history. My own families settled, some well over two hundred years ago, in the southeastern part of the county. I still have so much to learn, especially about the rest of the county.
In my column a couple of months ago on the Weaver Organ and Piano Company, I asked readers to share their stories about with the company and its instruments. I have heard from several people about their Weaver encounters, as well as from some that would currently be happy to give
In my recent York Sunday News article on the history of the Weaver Organ and Piano Company, I invited people to share any memories connected with Weaver. A couple of responses were from individuals who fondly remembered playing in recitals at the Weaver studios in the factory complex. Dorothy
Who knows how many thousands of sturdy musical instruments emanated out of the growing complex of buildings that stood imposingly for 136 years at the intersection of Broad and Philadelphia streets in York? The York County History Center Library/Archives has 16 volumes of shipping records, up through 1944, and it
When I was very young, I used to amuse myself with my grandparents’ parlor organ, very probably made by the Weaver Organ and Piano Company. As a teenager I took piano lessons, as my daughter did later, on a York upright piano, another Weaver product. I am working on an
It used to be common to see newspaper features repeating news tidbits of the past. Some used a specific formula, like 50 or 100 years from that date. The Hanover Evening Sun seems to have been a little more arbitrary. Their feature, “Looking back over 50 years,” wasn’t as
Remember “The Twist,” the dance craze from the 60s? Remember Chubby Checker who brought “The Twist” to life? What connection could this have to York County? Read on. A friend recently mentioned that her cousin, Reverend George Garber, a retired Lutheran pastor who now lives in Florida, was over 100
The United States didn’t officially enter World War II until December 1941, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but it was already on everyone’s mind. The York Plan of cooperative war material manufacturing was up and running and declared a success and a plan to be emulated by early 1941.
Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1861-1936) was one of the most famous singers in the world when she appeared in York in October, 1907 and again in April 1934. Her second appearance called up the memory of the first for Yorker Clara Bosshart Gilbert, as related in a 1934 newspaper clipping I found