York Town Square

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Don’t know much about York County history? Part I

The York Daily Record/Sunday News produced this Murals of York booklet in 2000. It’s available at no cost at the York County Heritage Trust, 250 E. Market Street, York. Its contents, complete with a walking tour of the murals, is available on the newspaper’s history site. Background posts: York County library site brings together links for local research, Martin Library leaves microfilm behind and Tips for genealogical research.

Every year, 20 more more teachers participating in Millersville University’s York County history course stop by the York Daily Record/Sunday News for a primer.
I was proud to share with them this year an updated Internet presentation on York County history, developed by the York Daily Record/Sunday News Web guru Joan Concilio.
She particularly overhauled the site Local history that serves as one-stop shopping for information about York County’s past. The site also updates with news about York County’s historical community.
You can view below the same information as the Millersville class received, and you didn’t even have to sit through my two-hour presentation:


Free resources for teachers, researchers, tourists and people who want to know more about York County:
1. – Local history – Site packed with local information on York County’s past. For example:
a. Murals of York – Walking tour – http://www.ydr.com/murals.
b. Nine Months in York Town – York County in the American Revolution – http://www.ydr.com/ninemonths
c. East of Gettysburg – Civil War in York County, virtual tour of York County Heritage Trust’s Civil War exhibit – http://www.ydr.com/civilwar
d. Never to be Forgotten – A searchable year-by-year database of York County history – http://www.ydr.com/ntbf
e. All in One Room – A site of York County one-room school memories – http://www.ydr.com/schoolhouses
f. Also, entries on Women’s history, Black history, historical perspective and historical sites and people in the news.
2. York County history and culture blog sites (searchable) – www.yorkblog.com
a. York Town Square: James McClure’s blog explores links between the past and present in York County. www.yorktownsquare.com
b. Universal York: Local historian June Lloyd looks at how things have converged on our hometown, past and present, and how York County really is the center of the universe. www.yorkblog.com/universal
c. Cannonball: Community historian Scott Mingus, the author of several books on the Civil War, explores York County’s rich Civil War heritage.
www.yorkblog.com/cannonball

d. Only in York County: Community editor and lifelong Yorker Joan Concilio talks about all the things that make York County unique – and sometimes just plain weird.
www.yorkblog.com/onlyyork
e. Remember: Oral histories about events in York County’s past. www.inyork.com/ydr/remember. Transcription of World War II story by Doris Lease, 75, of York:

I was just a young girl during World War II.
One of the things I remember our shoes were rationed like many things were rationed, and we used to take them to the shoemakers to have new soles and new heels put on to save and make them last longer. My mother used to always make me get heel cleats on them to help them from wearing down, and it always sounded real neat in the hallways at school when you’d walk down the hallways and they would go, ‘click click click.’
Another thing was, we’d save aluminum foil from packs of chewing gum and cigarette packs, we’d take them apart and take the foil out and save all the foil and turn it into the school.
We used to have contests for which classroom could bring in the most things.

Related posts: Don’t know much about York County History, Part II and Part III.