We sometimes seem to have a love/hate relationship with old buildings. We act like we would love to save them for their historical ties or architectural significance. On the other hand we often seem to hate committing funds to preserve them. This isn’t a new problem. There have always been
One of the things of which we York countians are proud is that the Articles of Confederation, our nation’s first constitution, was approved right here 239 years ago today, on November 15, 1777. The Articles served the nation well through the Revolutionary War and beyond, until replaced by the stronger
In honor of those brave patriots who put their life on the line signing the Declaration of Independence, my previous York Sunday News column on “our signer,” James Smith, is repeated below: Who Was James Smith? You might know that James Smith was York County’s signer of the Declaration of
Below are some items from across the York County, as reported in the February 18, 1873 York Gazette. Each snippet entices you to learn more.
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. There are many websites that discuss the proclamation, looking at why it was important and what it did and did not do. The National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C. holds the original hand-written proclamation. While it is
Happy 249th birthday to one of my favorites, English-American architect and engineer Benjamin Henry Latrobe. His mother, Margaret Antes of Germantown, Pennsylvania, had been sent to England to further her education. There she met Moravian minister Benjamin Latrobe, and their son Benjamin Henry was born May 1, 1764 near Leeds,
York has always had close ties to Baltimore. It was easy to get there on a horse or with a wagon, stage or carriage–no rivers to cross. James Livingood covers it well in The Philadelphia-Baltimore Trade Rivalry 1780-1860. Even though it was a little more difficult to get to, York
Masthead of a York-printed Pennsylvania Gazette. The Pennsylvania Gazette newspaper is an extremely important source of information on the Revolutionary War era. Besides carrying general news of the war, the Gazette disseminated official proceedings of Continental Congress. The publishers, Hall and Sellers, were also authorized by Congress to issue broadsides
If you are reading this, you are probably interested in York County history and know that York was the capital of the United States from the end of September 1777 through June 1778. The Revolutionary War was in full swing, and the British were occupying Philadelphia, which had been the
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that, judging by the ads from real estate agents in other areas trying to entice York County buyers, this area must have been quite prosperous in the late 1860s. Merchants and other entrepreneurs wanted a chunk of our cash too. Click here to