York Town Square

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A crack, a lean and Mount Wolf’s smokestack came down: Linked in to York County history, Sept. 20, 2012

More stuff below: Voith anniversary/Electric Map/Spielberg in Gettysburg

This rubble is all that is left of the smokestack and drying tower at New York Wire in Mount Wolf. Ydr.com reports: ‘Explosives toppled a smokestack and a paint tower at the former New York Wire Co. plant in Mount Wolf at 9:50 a.m. Wednesday (Sept. 11). ‘ “It was a crack; they leaned over and fell down,”‘ said Jim Nipps, project manager for Hub-Scrap of Hagerstown, Md. The screen-maker had operated at the site for more than a century. This is the second smokestack to come down in a 30-day period, pointing to the transformation of York County – and America – from heavy manufacturing to an information-based economy. The lightning-damaged stack at Foustown, also near the old Northern Central Railway, was demolished recently. (See picture of the Mount Wolf stack and tower below.) Also of interest: Not 1, but 2 York County smokestacks coming down.

Neat stuff from all over …

Gov. Tom Corbett was in York to help Voith celebrated its 135th anniversary.

Ydr.com reports about Corbett’s Voith visit:

“Voith traces its York-area hydropower manufacturing lineage to 1877, when Stephen Morgan Smith began designing and making hydroturbines.

“His company was later incorporated as S. Morgan Smith, which built a plant in York in 1890 and employed 20 people.

“In 1953, the company constructed a facility on East Berlin Road where Voith Hydro is located.

“In the early days of the company, Voith family members would travel from Europe to visit this facility.

“In 1986, Voith acquired Allis-Chalmers, which had previously acquired the S. Morgan Smith plant.

“Today, the company employs more than 500 in a 250,000-square-foot manufacturing space.

“Its latest project: 11 new turbine generators for American Municipal Power’s four new hydropower sites along the Ohio River.”



Basil Ryer wears a worn welding cap – the kind you “can’t find anymore” – in meeting the guv in this ydr.com video.


Where to find the newest U.S. Monument:
Chimney Rock, the dramatic rock formation in southwestern Colorado, will receive the distinction Friday from the Obama administration.


Scott Roland, new owner of the famed Electric Map, holds displays a piece of the former tourist attaction. This week was the first time he has seen the map in storage. He plans to reconstruct it in Hanover.

Forum of the day: Steven Spielberg will speak in Gettysburg on the anniversary of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in November. Do you plan to go. And are you looking forward to Spielberg’s newest film “Lincoln,” opening in November? Please comment below. Background: Steven Spielberg scouts Gettysburg for Abe Lincoln film: ‘Thank you for keeping our history’


The scene about a month ago at the old New York Wire plant in Mount Wolf.