Public pools plan Memorial Day weekend openings, but Playland and others exist only in memories
Linked in/Neat stuff: Southpaw Ken Raffensberger’s story/Joe Kindig Jr.’s guns
With Memorial Day approaching, pools are primed to open. But here’s one that is long gone: the Playland pool. Here, artist Cliff Satterthwaite explains the purpose of his drawing of Springettsbury Township’s Playland complex. Other York County, Pa., community pools preceded Playland or followed its lead in shutting down over time. Glady’s Pool in Stewartstown was one. Sun Valley pools and Wynfield pools in York Township closed more recently. Today, an increasing number of residents can afford private backyard pools, leaving community pools without a community. Fortunately, several public pools remain open. See this story. Also of interest: Check out the old Playland Pool from the air.
After Cliff Satterthwaite sent in a Playland pool watercolor, he followed with a drawing of the pool’s viewing window in the connected hotel’s lobby, through which you could see swimmers under water. He also described a 36-inch detailed Conestoga wagon with (he believes) an eight-horse team in that room. Does anyone remember either the window or the miniature Conestoga wagon? Please comment below.
More neat stuff from all over … .
A friend passed on a story about Jackie Robinson with a York County tie-in. That story tells about the late Ken Raffensberger, a York County native and former Major League baseball player. He tells about a Phillies’ teammate’s refusal to throw at Jackie Robinson, the first black Major Leaguer.
“I don’t recall ever having come across this Raffensberger anecdote,” he wrote.
Golden Plough’s birthday:
This short video captures an activity at the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the Golden Plough Tavern in York. Yorkblogger June Lloyd wrote about how it took a team effort to rescue the Golden Plough. Antiquarian Joe Kindig III told the story of the Golden Plough restoration as part of the event. Coincidentally, the New York Times recently published a piece on Joe Kindig Jr., and his collection of American rifles: ‘Created by Hand: Lock, Stock and Barrel.’
Twitterstorians:
Great site on #Hbg‘s City Beautiful mvmt. by @messiahcollege students: http://t.co/InMRp7aoz1. @JamesMcClure @johnfea1 @CentralPAEditor
— Joe McClure (@jmcclure59) May 12, 2014
History mystery: Join in by click on the links!
