York Post Office Was Once in Historic Globe Inn
Globe Inn (1812-1892)–William Wagner engraving
York’s “Old Post Office,” the subject of my recent York Sunday News column was the first permanent home of a downtown York post office. It bounced around before that. The last stop before Beaver and Philadelphia streets was in the northeast corner of the square, tucked into the corner by what is now the Citizens Bank building. It moved diagonally across the square from the Rupp building into the first floor of the Small building in February 1892, a space formerly occupied by Loucks’ dry goods store.
The Gazette rather cynically remarked that: “It is intended that the post office shall continue to be in the Small building until the new public building [post office] is completed, if it ever is.” (The new building finally was completed in November 1895, almost four years later, so they might have had some basis for pessimism.)
York was going through a building boom in the 1890s with many fine private and public structures being erected. Unfortunately, some historic structures, which would be lauded today, were lost in the process. The Gazette article continues:
“The quarters in the Rupp building are being vacated because Mr. Rupp will begin to tear down the old building in April and will erect in its stead a fine five story brick building of a handsome and imposing architectural design. This addition to the buildings of the square will be a noteworthy one. Year by year its appearance is steadily being improved and beautified, and Mr. Rupp’s building and the new hotel will together be a large step in the direction of making the architectural part of the square what it should be.
The building to be torn down is a historical one. It was the Globe Inn and a stage office of Thomas McGrath at one time and in it Lafayette was dined and wined on his American visit in 1824.”
So–it sounds as if there was some appreciation of local history in the 1890s, but not so much that it should impede “progress.”
Rupp Building (1892-present)
