Emig Mansion and the Underpass relic
Terrence Downs shared the story of Marian Emig and J. Horace Rudy at the Emig Mansion. This Rudy stained glass window was referenced a number of times throughout his presentation.
The presentation was part of the June meeting of the Manchester Township Historical Society, which took place in the dining room of the Historic Emig Mansion—Bed and Breakfast Monday evening in Emigsville. Terry presented from the east end of the long dining room and this stained glass window filled the west wall of the room.
This stained glass window is in a back wall of the mansion. One would think such an elaborate window would be displayed on the front side of the mansion; i.e. facing North George Street. However with it being in the west, back wall, as the sun drops, the colors in the window changed; putting on a magical show for us; and previously for generations of Emig family members at the evening meal.
Following the presentation, Lori Fitzell provided a guided tour of the mansion. My favorite guest room was “J. Albert’s Quarters” on the third floor; a nifty room with a neat story. Lori suggested taking a photo of the mansion from the coy pond; which follows:
Click on this LINK for a yorkblog.com Full View of the six original photos in this post if details are cut off in the cropping of photos, or if any has been removed from the ydr.com site. Here is a view of that inviting porch.
Since there was still good light I decided to take a walk often taken during the two summers I worked in Emigsville. My freshman year (1968-1969) at Penn State was taken at the York Campus. One of my Engineering professors, James Uhl, suggested I interview for a 1969 summer job at Glasgow & Associates, a Consulting Engineering firm, located on the square in Emigsville. Following my sophomore year at the University Park campus, I was invited back for the summer of 1970.
When the weather was nice, we’d take a lunch-time walk. One of our favorite routes was north on Main Street (North George Street) to the Church Road underpass and then east on Church Road and return on Emig Road.
On Monday I wanted to see if one could still walk that route, even though the underpass has been closed to traffic for years. The following photo shows the present railroad underpass, as viewed from North George Street.
There was no visible path through the vegetation, to walk on the abandoned roadway to the other end of the now dead end Church Road in the York County Industrial Park. I suppose one could get permission from the property owner on the east side of the railroad tracks, to walk along the stream, which also flows under the tracks at this location.
The following is a North George Street view, next to the former Church Road underpass; as one leaves Emigsville and heads towards Manchester. I remember this underpass allowed two-way traffic until the mid-1970s; after which one could only enter the underpass from North George Street. I’m not sure when the underpass was closed entirely to traffic.
While on this aborted ‘back-in-time’ walk; I recalled where I had seen photos of the late 1700s Emig Homestead log farmhouse, while it was systematically being dismantled in the mid-1960s, to be rebuilt in Delaware.
On those walks during 1969 and 1970, it was pointed out where that farmhouse was recently located; right on the northwest corner of Church Road and Emig Road in the York County Industrial Park.
I remember that one of the Glasgow & Associates employees brought a set of photos of the systematic dismantling of that large log farmhouse to work one day. Those photos would be a great addition to the collections of the Manchester Township Historical Society. Unfortunately I can’t recall which employee, however I have the list of all employees, which I saved in my 1970 file folder.
If you know any of these individuals or their family, ask if they remember a set of photos of a large log house being dismantled. The 21 employees of Glasgow & Associates, Inc., in Emigsville, PA, as of 7/20/1970: Donald E. Arnold, Jonathan L. Butcher Jr., Carl C. Courtney, Keith T. Donecker, Charles A. Earnst, Karen M. Finkenbiner, Dale E. Gillespie, Garrison E. Gladfelter, William H. Glasgow, Linda Greenleaf, Frank E. Hanson, John G. Hatfield, Barry R. Horn, Albert W. Hykes, Marlin E. Kauffman, Wanda S. Klingel, Steven R. List, Larry R. Markel, Walter K. ‘Bud’ Miller Jr., H. William Mitchell, Stephen H. Smith.
Links to related posts include:
- Dutch Emig as drawn by J. Horace Rudy
- Mausoleum at Prospect Hill marks 100-Years; Rudy Bros. Stained Glass
- Stained Glass Windows for Mausoleums were Big Business for Rudy Bros. Co.
- Stained Glass Exhibits at Rudy Bros. Hartley Street Studio
- York County Connection to next months 200th Anniversary of Battle on Lake Erie; J. Horace Rudy
- Hayshire and their neighborhood Hardware Store
