York’s Small’s Meadow Field Had Real Hay and Cows
Small Field, the athletic field for York High, was the subject of a recent post. I checked further into the files at York County Heritage Trust and found that the gift was a real surprise to the York City school board.
Click here to see the previous post and the January 1916 drawing of the meadow.
A November 1915 newspaper article quotes the letter offering the field for the benefit of the children of York:
“The directors of the P.A. & S. Small Land Company have been informed that members of the Board of School Directors of York look with interest on what is known as “Small’s Meadow,” as a possible athletic field for the young people of York. If we are correct in the understanding and having in mind…in trust that the same be forever held and maintained by the said School District in good order and condition, and to be forever used for athletic exercises and for recreation purposes by the school children and youth of the city of York of school age.
The fact that we have declined many offers to rent or lease parts of the meadow for baseball grounds seems to indicate its suitability for the above mentioned purposes. For many years past and until this year the meadow has been kept clear and at little cost, and without fertilization has produced many tons of hay annually.”
The letter was signed by Samuel Small for the P.A. & S. Small Land Company. The school board quickly unanimously moved to immediately accept the offer with gratitude.
It’s somewhat ironic that Samuel Small used the example of the field being desirable as a baseball field to prove its merits. Little did he know that nearly 90 years later the school board gave serious consideration to a deal to share the field with the York Revolution minor league baseball team. Those plans changed and the Revolution found a home on the opposite site of the Codorus Creek, leaving Small Field to the youth, just as Samuel had asked.
Small mentions the hay in the meadow above. To see the cows, click on the link below to Jim McClure’s Yorktown Square blog to see them grazing in Small’s meadow.
1852 view of York from the North.
