Universal York

Thomas Cooney didn’t let any modesty get in his way in his ad for his Chanceford Township public house in the October 30, 1855 York Gazette:
As you can see below, he even went to uncommon lengths by including the endorsements of many of the leading citizens of York as well as those who lived in his neighborhood.

The advertisement reads:

ST. CLAIRSVILLE HOTEL.

SIGN OF THE “GOLDEN HORSE,”

IN CHANCEFORD TOWNSHIP, YORK COUNTY, PA.

18 miles from the Borough of York, and 13 from Peachbottom, immediately on the York and Peachbottom Road.

THOMAS COONEY, Proprietor,
WHO is more than thankful to his friends and the public for past patronage, would now say, come one, come all, that travels thro’ his neighborhood in want of necessities of life, and that of the choicest, call on Cooney, who is always at home, and on hand late and early, ready and pleased to accommodate the Farmer, the Drover, Mechanic and Merchant, and in short, the rich and poor in as pleasing and comfortable style as can be had in any country public house in York, or any other county.
Call, gentlemen, when necessity requires you so to do on Cooney, and if all is not pleasing to you, you are freemen.

REFERENCES

H. L. Fisher, W. H. Welsh, Thomas Metzel, Joseph O. Stewart, Wm. Tosh, Elijah Howe, Samuel Lewis, Granville Hartman, Mathew Tyler, Jacob Emmit, Henry Spangler, Samuel Ziegler, G. S. Murphy, M. W. McKinnon, Joseph Tosh, T. G. Cross, Jesse Workinger, David Workinger, John Bair, S. M. Peden, Alex. Gordon, John A. Stewart, James A. McConkey, Thos. Williamson, J. W. Stewart, George Warren, James Peeling, W. McSparren,
And almost every person in Cecil, and parts of Lancaster, Chester, and Harford County, know COONEY.

The 1860 Shearer and Lake wall map of York County shows T. Cooney’s Hotel on the left hand side of the York to Peach Bottom Road (now Route 74) right before you get to the line between Chanceford and Lower Chanceford townships, southeast of Collinsville. If I am thinking of the correct location, the building is still there.
Click the links below for more on York County taverns.
Entertainment.
Stage coach stop.