It’s a fun game: What used to be where in York County, Pa.?
In this York (Pa.) Daily Record file photo, demolition is under way on the houses across from Round the Clock diner, a former Howard Johnson’s, in Manchester Township. The old York Silk plant, background, stands guard at this site, one of the points of the four created at the intersection of Route 30 and Interstate 83. The houses are now down, and earth is being moved to make way for a Sheetz convenience store. This is only one of the very visible sites that have changed in York County. Also of interest: York’s Shady Dell for sale: ‘People don’t like to see their past vanish’ and Memories about ‘The Oaks’ pile up – Part II and About Avalong Dairy and Melvin’s Drive-In: ‘I am some what familiar with the history of the area’
Someone away from York County for many years might be interested in some of the landmarks that are long gone or more recently so.
So, here’s a quick roundup of some of the changes:
– Mr. Bill’s Quarterdeck Restaurant, at the Interstate 83 interchange in Leader Heights, has been leveled. Fast-food Arby’s now stands in place of fine food Mr. Bill’s.
– The old Wynfield Club pool on North George Street in York Township has been filled in.
– Ditto for the old Sun Valley Pool in Spry, York Township, as the community pool business has become stressed in the past 25 years because of the availability of back yard pools. (Two other pools formerly operated by the Zimmerman family – Green Valley and Lincolnway – remain open.) At Sun Valley, all that remains visible from this recreational landmark complex is a single pole that held the volleyball net and basketball backboards and goals way down the hill.
– Mack’s Ice Cream, the original Mack’s Ice Cream, a longtime neighbor of the Sun Valley Pool has moved north along South Queen Street in Spry. It has opened in a former Burger King. The former Mack’s building is vacant, and its parking lot is becoming a bit weedy.
– The former San Remo Inn – later Thomasville Inn, Market Street West Pub, Club Metropolis, Country Bob’s Inc. – has been demolished. It is best known as San Remo, of course, with its trademark windmill that welcomed Lincoln Highway motorists for years.
– The site of the closed Lone Star restaurant on Route 30, east of Roosevelt Avenue, will be turned into a Chick-fil-A.
You almost need a scorecard to keep track of business comings and goings around the county.
It’s a fun game – what used to be where.
Only York’s Joan Concilio played along, put a microscope on a stretch of Route 30 near Lone Star.
Sorting out the seafood on Route 30 will intrigue you.
But if you want to see change with a longer view, visit: The 1950s, ’60s: ‘The greatest time to grow up in York, Pa.’.
*Edited, 6/12/12
