This 1860 map of the east side of the Borough of York is from upper right corner of Shearer’s 1860 Map of York County, PA. Here is a link for post on: The making of Shearer’s 1860 Map of York County, PA. I’ve completed the street names from other parts
The York County section of J. H. Colton’s 1859 map of Pennsylvania shows the earliest railroads in the county. This post provides a short timeline history of these railroads and provides historical background for the Railcar Gold novel installments being posted every Thursday. Last week the main character, a nine-year-old
This picture of Gettysburg’s Richard Neutra designed Cyclorama Building in the sights of a Civil War cannon is appropriate considering federal court clearing the way this week for the demolition of this building. The historic building preservationists lost their long battle to save or repurpose the structure. A week ago
The grave location of Dallastown native John Curtis Barshinger within Gettysburg National Cemetery is shown in this illustration. John was a student of the Civil War; especially The Battle of Gettysburg. When John Barshinger died while in the service of our country, his Mother requested his burial at Gettysburg National
The first YorksPast post occurred July 26th 2012; therefore with this 100th post, I’m averaging four and one-half posts per week. An inventory of the general topics and locations that have been my subjects resulted in this 100-tile mosaic that breaks down these posts into seven general categories. A clickable
It’s been suggested that I occasionally mix a few shorter posts in with my normal fare of longer posts. Some recent posts by Jim McClure at YorkTownSquare concerning old York County steps inspired this short post. Who can solve the mystery of the steps in this photo with five clues?
In my previous post about meeting John D. Denney, Jr., I noted that he was the foremost authority on Billmeyer & Small. He had spent decades researching the company and their railcars, yet claimed that he found little to show for his efforts. I have to disagree, John uncovered the
In 1871 Abe Brenneman purchased a hotel and 58 acres of surrounding property in York Township. The hotel was along the York and Chanceford Turnpike; now South Queen Street. The hotel was the ONLY building along a one-mile stretch of that road. Today the one-mile extends on either side of
I know the answer if there are just two men painting this mile-long railroad bridge between Wrightsville and Columbia. Besides the buckets of paint, these men were equipped with little more than some paintbrushes, rope and planks of wood. Harold L. Smith, my Dad working for the Pennsylvania Railroad, along
Such an authorization by an agency of the United States Government happened some 50 years ago. Local headlines could have been ‘York County authorized to name summit Buzzards Roost.’ A headline would have been warranted because substantial effort is required to obtain approval for a summit name to appear on