Making a scene in York’s square: ‘The steer obeyed the traffic rules’
Esther Paules , of Windsor Township, can remember horses hitched around York’s Continental Square – then Centre Square – when it was unpaved.
Unpaved roads weren’t unusual in the city in those days. Even in 1942, only 35 miles of York’s 90-mile road system were paved.
Sunday she celebrated 100 years during a party at Locust Grove United Church of Christ.
And on the topic of animals on Continental Square, consider this story of a wayward cow, according to “In the Thick of the Fight:” …
Oblivious to this (World War II) industrial bustle, a runaway steer, trotting around Continental Square in the heart of York early in the war, sought to remind residents of their agricultural roots.
Two men in a truck pursued the cow.
“The steer,” Police Chief C. P. Gerber told The York Dispatch, “obeyed the traffic rules.”
It circled the square in the proper traffic lanes.
That was post-Depression York County. Its people did their work simply, ably and followed the rules.
