Remember the pressure of final exams? Putting pencil to paper doesn’t seem so bad when compared to oral exams conducted in public and advertised in the newspaper, as seen by the clipping below from an early York paper: York. April 22, 1789 There will be a public examination of the
The Sponslers of York seem to have been an interesting family. Many members were quite musical; there was even a Sponsler family orchestra. In a previous post, I shared a 1904 newspaper account of musician J. V. Sponsler’s attempt at playing the steam whistle at Herman Noss’s lumber yard. Another
It’s time for two of my favorite York County events, and you are all invited too. I’ll be volunteering at each one, and I hope to see you there. First, tomorrow, Thursday, August 7 is the annual St. Luke’s picnic at New Bridgeville in Chanceford Township, starting at noon. Lots
Much has been written over the years about the traditional concert of Christmas carols played each year on the New York Wire Cloth steam whistle, recently moved to Metso. Jim McClure has verified that Karl Smyser originated the concerts in 1925. That was not, however, the first attempt to play
I recently posted the first part of an 1874 newspaper article describing an evening excursion taken from the Peach Bottom Railway station in York to Springwood Park in York Township. The second half of the account is below, describing the good time had by all: “Soon partners for a ‘grand
I see that in the six years that I have been blogging, 20 of my posts have concerned some aspects of the York Fair. I have written about food, especially Bury’s hamburgers; about harness racing, which this year is Monday and Tuesday mornings at 10:30 (free); about prize winners and
Leonardo (Lee) Wolovsky was a well-known bass-baritone opera star, acclaimed in this country, and even more so in Europe, where he lived and worked for many years, appearing with the likes of Maria Callas and gracing the stage of many of the famous opera houses, including La Scala in Milan.
Front row: Robert Haugh, Claude Gemmill, Elmer Conrad, Howard Haugh, Daniel Douglas. Middle row: Luther Keeports, Curvin Markel, Frank Hake, James Thompson, William Conrad, Henry Shewell, Ed Shelley, Joseph Stermer. Back row: Roy Gemmill, L.D. Sangrey, Emory Beck, Ernest “Tom” Moore, Harvey Haugh, William Arnold, Bertus Curren, Purde Kohler. Not
The legacy (or bequest) of widow Barbara Smith Joseph Smith left a sizable amount of property and other assets to his widow, Barbara Smith, when he died in 1784. He also left funds to the Catholic congregation in Lancaster and had probably already given property to the Catholics in York.
York County Heritage Trust’s free summer organ concerts on the Tannenberg organ are held every Friday from 12:15 to 12:45 beginning Friday, July 8. They will continue through July and August, thanks to the York Chapter, American Guild of Organists. Many people know the story of the YCHT Tannenberg organ,