From war bonds to pets and people
Ask any York County audience about the current location of “The Little Courthouse” or “Victory House,” and they’ll pause and say, “Farquhar Park,” or “near Kiwanis Lake.”
Well, the 1 ½-story replica of the Colonial Courthouse — county courthouse No. 1 of 4 — hasn’t rested in the park for years.
Welcome to overlooked York County treasure No. 3. (See blog entries for Prospect Hill Cemetery and War Mothers Monument.)
The replica was used for bond sales in York’s Continental Square in both world wars. It was retired to a spot near Kiwanis Lake after each war. In many minds, its location there is frozen in time.
But the deteriorating structure, under the custody of Historic York, went into rehab before it found its current, perhaps permanent, home.
To see it, go to Zion View in Conewago Township on the Susquehanna Trail. Head northwest on Copenhaver Road, and before long you’ll see the Meadows Pet Resort ahead.
Turn right on a side road just south of the resort, and you’ll see the replica sitting tall and narrow in a field.
“Merrily going to the dogs,” the Daily Record’s headline said when the replica was moved there in 2003. “… A county couple has fixed up the old courthouse replica for their pets-and-people park.”
Now, it’s a well-groomed treasure waiting for those out for a drive.
