Some of us can remember when the big furniture factories in Red Lion were in full production. Local workers crafted fine furniture shipped around the country and perhaps beyond. A couple of weeks ago, while I was writing my recent York Sunday News column, I saw a news item that
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 precise.
When I was growing up in Chanceford and Windsor townships, we did our much of our weekly shopping for groceries in Red Lion, but we traveled to York for serious shopping. I was quite familiar with Bear’s, Bon Ton and Wiest’s department stores, as well as the more specialized shoe
I hadn’t been to the Haines Shoe House for several years until last week. My eight-year-old great-granddaughter and I were delighted with the tour (as well as the Beck’s ice cream and the home baked treats offered by the owner). It had changed hands not too long ago, and I
Advertisements in old newspapers give us a glimpse into the lives of our ancestors. Here is a sampling from the December 21, 1824 York Recorder, on microfilm at the York County History Center: FRESH CRANBERRIES The Subscriber begs leave to inform his friends and the public generally, that he has
The Holiday Season—when thoughts turn to Stauffer’s chocolate coated stars. Over the years the Stauffer family has shared company history with the York County History Center. One of my favorite artifacts is the long cylindrical animal cracker cutter at the Agricultural and Industrial Museum on West Princess Street. They have
A Facebook friend asked about the history of Victor’s Italian Restaurant on Ogontz Street, knowing that the building was a former church. I looked through the York County History Center files and City Directories as well as online sources. Several newspaper articles on Victor’s in the YCHC restaurant file recapped
Downtown York could look much different, and not in a good way, if 1950s and 1960s demolition plans had been carried through. In a previous post I wrote about the proposal to do away with the southeast quadrant buildings, including the
We lament, and rightly so, the loss of impressive York buildings, such as City Market and York Collegiate Institute. Still, it could have been worse. Here is an example of one urban renewal project that thankfully didn’t happen. While looking through the York Square file at the York County History
A small article in the March 20, 1948 Gazette and Daily reported that “Printing Industry Editor at the Gazette and Daily for Unique Method Story.” Dr. Russel R. Voorhees, described as a field editor and commercial writer, was in York gathering “material for a picture series and story on a