A West Manchester village center that up and moved
Town squares have been known to move in York County.
Take the focal point in Shiloh, for example.
While the trolley rattled through West Manchester Township, the village’s center point fell at Broad Street and Church Road. Now, it’s the intersection of Carlisle and Church roads… .
Trolleys roamed throughout York County from about the mid-1880s to 1939. One line ran from York along Trolley Road to Dover’s square. Brookside Park, a major Dover-area destination, was an example of a trolley or street car park. Brookside, West York’s Highland Park and Manchester’s Cold Springs Park were among those created to spark business in the evenings and weekends, off-peak times for the factory workers who filled the cars weekdays.
Trolleys gave way to buses and automobiles in the 1930s, and Shiloh’s square moved west where Church Road links with Route 74, the Carlisle Road.
In its heyday, the C.G. Bentzel House and Store dominated Shiloh’s square. The beautiful structure is still there, apparently used as a private residence.
Brookside Park remains operational, reachable by automobile.
At one time, motorists had to stop on Church Road as the trolley moved across it. Today, motorists race through the Broad Street/Church Road intersection with scarcely a glance, preparing to stop at the Carlisle Road light. The Shiloh square is an interesting example of how innovations in transportation can change a township.
Oh yes. The village, originally named Neiman’s, drew its current name from a nearby church.
So there it is, overlooked York County landmark No. 21, Shiloh’s former town square. Other overlooked York County sites and landmarks (See posts under York Town Square):
— The Little Courthouse
— Prospect Hill Cemetery
— War Mothers Memorial
— Work War II USO at former York County Academy gymnasium
— York’s Salem Square soldiers monument
— York’s Cookes House
— York’s rowhouses
— Wrightsville’s monuments
— The Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge
— Memorial trees along highways Route 30 & Susquehanna Trail.
— The Inches
— Camp Stewartstown
— The Wrightsville Bridge supports
— New York Wire Co.’s factory whistle
— Mary Ann Furnace
— York’s Hartman Building
— Hanover’s Iron Mike and The Picket
— York’s Eberts Lane
— Helen Reeves Thackston Memorial Park
— WW II defense worker housing
