York Town Square

Dover Township, Pa.’s Brookside Park was open and ready for trolley business circa 1915 when this photograph was made. It shows United Brethren Church members enjoying a Sunday School picnic there. They are, from left, Warren Rohrbaugh, Harry Croumer, Adam Croumer, Howard Horn, Ben Klinedinst, and a young Ralph Croumer. The park’s Carousel Building will be demolished because of insect infestation – powderpost beetles. (Update: The old building came down; here’s a drawing of its replacement.) For those seeking more information on this trolley or electric park, Greater Dover Historical Society member Jo Ott has come to the rescue: A Brookside Park booklet for sale via the Society’s website www.gdhspa.org or at Botterbush’s Jewelry Store on the square in Dover. “It’s a well written history of the park and the carousel …,” she wrote in a comment on the post: Historic Brookside Park carousel building v. powderpost beetles: The bugs winning.It also has information on the fate the carousel animals. Also of interest: Trolley ran both ways between Manchester and Mount Wolf and ‘Teapot Dome’ back in York’s Continental Square: ‘It’s the historical significance of it’ and Trolleys helped make York’s Avenues sought-after locale.

Victoria Strong Flinchbaugh’s father farmed the “Rowe Farm” before there was interest as Camp Security, the British prisoner-of-war camp that operated in the American Revolution in present-day Springettsbury Township.
Vicki remembers writing an article at Northeastern about the Hessian prisoners. (They were German mercenaries fighting for the British – who we were assigned to farms around the county.)
She also wrote:

“We also had a dairy farm and sold our milk to Rutters. Before that my Grandpa had a farm in Longstown and my Dad and Grandpa delivered milk “CE Strong and Sons”. We didn’t have a milkman, didn’t need one! We did have Fox Bakery truck come to our house on Saturdays and I remember getting “banana rolls” and other things from them. My cousin had a milkman and had the ‘milkbox’ on their front porch. They also had a truck that delivered blocks of ice. My maternal Grandma lived on Garfield Street and we would walk to market on Saturdays. Really enjoyed that! When I was older we would go downtown every Saturday and spent the whole day there. I could go on and on. Now you can see why I love reading the articles about the past.”

Vicki was born in 1948, and she keeps saying to her daughter: “I remember… .”
– Recommended website: Read the annotated transcript of the U.S. Supreme Court case, Snyder v. Westboro, plus audio of the justices grilling the lawyers at http://www.ydr.com/westboro. (Update: On March 2, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 against Albert Snyder.)

– Answering a query: York countian Dale Buettner e-mailed a query – his daughters, Carly and Annie, wondered about the location of the original York Peppermint Pattie factory. I sent him this post to answer that question: Cool York Peppermint Patties may go to hot clime. And I sent this link to show where the cool breeze mint is being made today: York Peppermint Patties: ‘York became synonymous with dark chocolate and peppermint’. Great to see youngsters interested in York County’s history.
Recommended blog post of the day: Buffy Andrews shows off some colorful post cards from the past at Buffy’s Write Zone.
Also:
– All York Town Square posts from the start. (Key word search by using “find” on browser.) Or search via Google.

Photo courtesy “York, Then and Now,” published in conjunction with 250th anniversary of York County in 1999.