York County Keystone Mystery Marker; CLY
Recently, Keystone Markers were in the news. The March/April 2013 issue of Pennsylvania Magazine has a feature article on Keystone Markers. June Lloyd wrote a post on her Universal York blog about these Keystone shaped signs marking entrances to many Pennsylvania towns. Jim McClure noted on his blog, York Town Square, Look at the size of that Keystone Marker; in commenting on York city’s work on restoring a Keystone Marker.
The article in Pennsylvania Magazine about Keystone Markers noted; “What once numbered in the tens of thousands has dwindled to about 600 throughout the state,” and “the keystone marker program was a way of strengthening community identity.” The article includes a contest in which the magazine presented nine mystery keystone markers from around the state. To make them a mystery, the town names were removed from photographs of the signs.
I thought, what a neat idea; why not include a York County Keystone Mystery Marker every now and then in YorksPast. A new mystery marker will be rolled-out at the end of each post in this series.
Any readers who know the name of this mystery town or village, post a comment. Otherwise, I’ll reveal the answer in my next post about York County Keystone Mystery Markers. Continue reading as I reveal details about CLY; the mystery marker from the previous post in the series.
This York County Keystone Marker for Cly was solved by Mark W. Arbogast and confirmed by Jason Gross. Be sure to comment on the new York County Keystone Mystery Marker at the end of this post.
This Keystone Marker is at the northern entrance into Cly. It is located along Cly Road (Rt. 262), at the Y formed with River Road. As the sign notes, travel 2-miles further (south) and you end up in York Haven.
The Keystone Marker says, the Village of Cly was named for Clymer Shelly an Early Merchant. There is a portrait of Cly Shelley opposite page 442 of Volume II of Prowell’s 1907 History of York County. Under his portrait he clearly signs his name Cly Shelley, so that is the spelling I’ll use.
George Prowell’s 1907 History of York County has this to say about Clymer Shelley and the village of Cly on page 443 of Volume II:
Mainly through his [Cly Shelley] efforts the hamlet grew into a village. In 1894 Mr. Shelley applied to the Northern Central Railroad Company for the establishment of a station at the little hamlet that he had founded, and this request was immediately granted by the corporation. In 1898 he applied to the government for the establishment of a post office, which was immediately granted also. Mr. Shelley being appointed postmaster, in which incumbency he has now been serving the people for eight years. In honor of its founder the United States government named the post office Cly. In 1891 Mr. Shelley applied to the Adams Express Company for the establishment of an express office, which was immediately granted, and he was appointed agent, with the same name and honor, as the post office. Turn where you will in this hustling little village you will find that Mr. Shelley has been prominent in all its enterprises. He was active in securing a public school building here.
The following postcard of Shelley’s Store and Post Office in Cly comes from the Hobo’s Guide to the Pennsy, York Haven Line, edited by Jerry Britton.
Here is another York County Keystone Mystery Marker. This one is so easy that I’m also asking readers to identify precisely where it is located within the mystery town. Comment if you know the answer.
Past York County Keystone Mystery Markers and related posts:
- York County’s First Airplane Passenger was Charles Eastlack
- East Prospect … named from Fine View of the Surrounding Country
- Airville … named for Pure Air in Neighborhood
- Goldsboro … named for a Distinguished Civil Engineer
- Dallastown, Dallas and Geesey
