Conewago crossing near Manchester hot spot for years
A trolley car crosses the Conewago Creek bridge near Manchester in this undated photo appearing in the York Sunday News years ago. To see how the scene look sans trolley and bridge, see below. Ed Beck of York Township provided these photos. Background posts: Building off-peak trolley ridership: Build a park, Research offers insight into York County’s trolleys and Transportation of workers fueled York County’s trolley system.
The point where trolleys crossed the Conewago Creek has been the scene of many events over the years. Today, it’s a quiet river crossing area… .
Only a bridge pier remains today of the line, cut back to North York on June 1, 1932.
Near that point, raiding Confederates burned railroad bridges in June 1863 before returning to their main units occupying the York area.
Swimming spots – Elm Beach on the York Haven side and Cold Springs Park on the Manchester side – meant the locale was a prime stop for trolleys traveling both ways. In fact, the trolley company developed Cold Springs so its cars would have a reason to stop during off-peak hours.
Trolley service started along the line late in 1904, according to Benson W. Rohrbeck’s “York County Trolleys.”
Owners of the line formed a company to extend service to Strinestown and Lewisberry. At Lewisberry, passengers would have access to a line that had started in Mechanicsburg. All those plans fell through, and the northeast terminus of trolley traffic in York County ended in York Haven.
Then, traffic on the line stopped in 1932, and the bridge was later removed.
The York Sunday News article said Cold Springs Park became the Cold Springs apartment complex. The creek reclaimed Elm Beach.
And things are quiet around there today.
Also of interest: Part V: Conewago Creek crossing near Manchester, Pa., hot spot for years and Mount Wolf resident answers call for photos of Elm Beach, old York County swimming hole.
