York Town Square

This undated photo of Civil War vets from the Mount Wolf and Manchester area is on display at a temporary museum in Mount Wolf. The days and hours for the museum, put together to celebrate Mount Wolf’s 100th birthday, have been extended. Emelyn Blymire, owner of this photograph identified the following, from left: No. 1, Jacob Smith; No. 7, Jacob Kunkle; No. 10, ? Bare; No. 11, Zebulon Pike Rodes, a relative of Emelyn Blymire. Also of interest: Susquehanna Lions fight to keep streak going in Mount Wolf and Caeserville, named after ex-slave, flourished as lumber center and York’s Wolf Organization builds from deep foundation.

A large room at the back of Mount Wolf’s Diehl Funeral Home was jammed with museum-goers Sunday afternoon.
A museum in a funeral home?
That’s what the committee planning the 100th anniversary of Mount Wolf came up with, and the site appealed to hundreds of folks looking at memorabilia from the 100-year-old borough’s past.
In fact, the initial Mount Wolf minute book from 1910 was on display. The first entry focused on the borough’s organization. George A. Wolf was the chief burgess or mayor and J.G. Kunkel was council president.
A sampling of other items of interest: … .

– A newspaper clipping from 1975 indicated that Mrs. Philip E. Poff received a gift certificate of $50 for her suggestion of a name for the proposed merged Mount Wolf and Manchester boroughs – Northeastern Heights. A proposed name was needed before the process could move ahead in court. (The merger never took place.)
– A clipping about 36-year mayor E. A. Greiman focused on his own 100th birthday in 1971. It mentioned that he had future plans: He was going to write a book on Mount Wolf – “Mount Wolf, Then and Now.”
The Diehl Funeral home has a bit of distinction of its own. It was a former furniture store and funeral home, a combo common in York County’s past. The proprietor would make caskets – and furniture. Or vice versa.
The furniture store closed in the late 1990s, leaving plenty of space for funeral purposes – and the temporary anniversary museum.
Given its success and wealth of material, no doubt borough leaders will seek a permanent site for a museum.
Also of interest:
All York Town Square posts from the start. (Key word search by using “find” on browser.)
* The photograph above is an example of material that Scott Mingus and I are collecting for a book on Civil War oral histories. For details, visit: Researchers seek to give voice to York County families about Civil War.