Most Yorkers remember Karl Ort with his legendary beard however the upcoming Second Saturday talk at the York County History Center will explore his earlier beardless days as a World War I pilot and commercial aviator. On Saturday October 13, 2018 at 10:30 AM, Karl Ort: Into the Wild Blue
In 1832 Phineas Davis built the “Atlantic” an improved version of his 1831 “York” locomotive for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. While the “York” was the first successful coal burning locomotive in the United States, the “Atlantic” was considered the first commercially successful locomotive; finishing its active life as a
Three public talks by Stephen H. Smith are scheduled over the next five weeks. This year, the majority of my talks have been to private groups following luncheons, so this is your chance for the general public to catch some of my newer talks. A synopsis and scheduling of all
Upon seeing the tiny watch George Sellers wrote “it was a beautiful piece of workmanship considering the tools Davis had at his command.” Sellers saw this watch in 1828 when papermaker George King, of York, brought it along on a trip to Philadelphia; showing it off during a paper-mould buying
Drawings and a photo of a gathering at the Schaszberger-Dempwolf Farm were recently donated to the Springettsbury Township Historic Preservation Committee. Seated at the left part of that photo is Edward F. Schaszberger and at his shoulder is his grandson, 10-year-old, John Armour Dempwolf. Immediately behind Edward is his daughter
My presentation Codorus Navigation Works premiered earlier this week at the monthly meeting of the Manchester Township Historical Society. I’ll draw upon that talk, plus further research, as I continue the series of posts exploring the history of the Codorus Navigation Works. Completed in November of 1833, this canal allowed
Nearly a century ago milk chocolate was produced in York at a location now replaced by centerfield of PeoplesBank Park; the home of the Atlantic League’s 2017 championship baseball team, the York Revolution. Large cans of milk, bags of cocca beans and sacks of sugar were carted a short distance
Last month I presented my talk “Tips in Applying Family Research Skills to Public History” to a group of family history writers in Wilmington, Delaware. Their projector quit near the beginning of my talk and while the projector owner went back home to get a replacement bulb, I asked the
Howard J. Carew was one of the 13-founding-members of the Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA). Howard took an active role in that national organization; serving as its leader in 1961. He also served on the Technical Committee for many years. The MBMA metal building systems design manual helped lead to
During 1963, when I turned 14-years-old, while at an end-of-winter weekend at my Grandfather Smith’s bungalow near Accomac, I went on a walk exploring areas around Wild Cat Falls and up along Wild Cat Run that were normally off-limits. Old-timers from several other bungalows joined us; it was a walk