St. Paul’s towering cross again shines brightly
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church rekindled its cross atop its towering steeple Sunday night.
The illuminated cross might be visible from as far away as Interstate 83.
The lighting spotlights a church with a history that connects with many things from York’s past.
The York congregation’s longtime King and Beaver Street home burned down in 1939… .
The church then joined with St. Luke’s and Augsburg’s congregations to build a new house of worship at its current South George Street and Springettsbury Avenue location.
York City Hall grew on the former St. Paul’s site, opening in 1942.
St. Luke’s, meanwhile, became the Crispus Attucks Center in 1944, and its doors on East Maple Street remained open until the early 1970s. CA’s South Duke Street Center replaced the church-turned-community-center, and workers later demolished it.
The 12-foot cross rising above the 120-foot St. Paul’s steeple was dark for more than 30 years before a $1 million bequest provided funds to relight it.
That lighting occurred in a Sunday night ceremony that marked the end of the $70,000 project.
Coincidentally, the Daily Record recently published a photo editorial spotlighting the York City Hall’s rusty cupola.
Maybe a similar bequest will clean up the steeple of the current occupant of St. Paul’s former site.
