Close-up view of Dallastown Furniture Company Employees and their Float prepare to participate in Sept. 13, 1919, Dallastown parade honoring WWI Veterans (Photo submitted by Chris Warner)
Dallastown Furniture float honors World War Veterans
Chris Warner submitted a vintage Dallastown Furniture Company photo that had been saved by his grandmother Mildred Arline (Smith) Burk. The photo shows employees standing in front of a horse-drawn company float; parked next to the furniture factory. Those buildings still stand today; at the northeast corner of North Park Street and East Locust Street in Dallastown, PA.
Mildred A. (Smith) Burk was married to Luther A. Burk, and Chris learned that Luther’s brothers Amos S. Burk and Walter H. Burk worked at the furniture factory. Chris discovered my post about the Dallastown Furniture Company’s involvement as a WWI supplier and inquired if I could provide more information about the submitted photo; which follows.
The front of the float advertised “Walnut Bed Room Suits.”, which was a major product of the Dallastown Furniture Company. The railroad track, in the lower right corner of the photo, is the Ma & Pa Railroad spur into Dallastown. In the lower left corner, of the photo, is the date: Sept. 13th, 1919.
On September 13, 1919, Dallastown held a parade honoring WWI Veterans from Dallastown and the surrounding area. These parades, honoring returning veterans, were held at various locations, throughout York County, during 1919. The parade in Dallastown had originally been scheduled August 15th, however it was rescheduled due to rain.
Newspapers noted: “The parade starts at the West Main street school house.” “The parade will move east on Main street to Charles; south on Charles to Albemarle; east on Albemarle to South Pleasant avenue; north on Pleasant to Main street; east on Main to Park; north on Park to Maple; west on Maple to baseball grounds. At the baseball grounds services will be held and addresses will be made.”
Several years ago, at the York County History Center Book Blast, I purchased an old book in which I eventually discovered a small, marked-up map between the pages. With no notations, other than recognizing it was Dallastown, I placed it in my miscellaneous historic maps folder. Reading the parade route brought back a memory of that map, which follows. It appears to nearly match the September 13, 1919, parade route description.
The inner-circle on the map is a 1/4-mile radius from the Boro Hall. The outer-arc on the map is a 1/2-mile radius from the Boro Hall. If this parade route map was created for the 1919 parade, it might have been done for visiting groups or bands; such as the City Band of York and the Spring Garden Band, which participated in the parade.
The float of the Dallastown Furniture Company was listed as accompanied by some of their employees on foot. The gentlemen in the white shirts and hats were the likely employees on foot, during the parade. I’ve broken those individuals into four groups.
Please send me an E-mail, if you can identify any of these men, or the men and women on the float.
Chris Warner suspects Amos S. Burk is the fourth from the left in the second GROUP.
Click on this LINK for a yorkblog.com Full View of the photos in this post.
Links to other Dallastown posts:
Dallastown Furniture Factory was WWI Army supplier
When Dallastown held a New Year’s Mummer’s Parade
National Archives houses thousands of Dallastown made Items
William H. Raab Cigar Factory in Dallastown
Dallastown soldier buried in Gettysburg National Cemetery
Dallastown named for Vice-President George M. Dallas
