{"id":49048,"date":"2020-04-13T08:03:01","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T12:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yorkblog.com\/yorktownsquare\/?p=49048"},"modified":"2020-04-14T09:27:01","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T13:27:01","slug":"polio-closed-key-york-county-defense-plant-at-critical-time-in-world-war-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yorkblog.com\/yorktownsquare\/polio-closed-key-york-county-defense-plant-at-critical-time-in-world-war-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman’s polio death closed key York County defense plant at critical time in World War II"},"content":{"rendered":"

H.J. Freezer employees were on a high after their shirt maker won the coveted Army\/Navy “E” Award in late June 1944.<\/p>\n

The East Street company was producing shirts for the Army, 3,000 dozen per week, and Navy fatigues at a clip that would top 1 million<\/a> at war’s end.<\/p>\n

Then came news in August that a 20-year-old worker, Alverta Viola Keener, had died from polio at her relatives’ Jacobus-area home.<\/p>\n

According to newspaper accounts, County Health Director S.H. Esminger stepped in and ordered this prized, award-winning plant to close and all 400 employees, mostly women, sent home. Work for one war front was temporarily suspended, and a second front – one of public health – had opened up.<\/p>\n

All this came shortly after the Allied D-Day invasion in northern France, with the outcome of the war on both fronts hanging in the balance.<\/p>\n

The quarantine was expected to last at least two weeks, and each house would be tagged so prospective visitors would know about the quarantine and stay away.<\/p>\n

The Freezer Co. represented Exhibit A in the prowess of the York Plan, a coordinated sharing of manpower and machines in York County so that factories had enough muscle to earn big defense contracts.<\/p>\n

The ideas of collaboration that spurred the York Plan are being put forth 80 years later<\/a> in another deadly season of disease of the COVID-19 kind.<\/p>\n

The primary promoter, York Exponential’s John McElligott,<\/a> is looking for a redefined York Plan – York Plan 2.0 – to build collaboration to help the economy in the aftermath of the deadly COVID-19. And he’s working to bring together a group to position York to respond to the current pandemic.<\/p>\n

As for McElligott’s own company, which specializes in robotics, he says his team is finishing prototypes for two robots that can design face masks and check temperatures of people entering a medical facility.<\/p>\n

Two York Plans – one in history and one proposed.<\/span> Two eras. Two companies – the established Freezer Co. and startup York Exponential. One company suffered through an epidemic with the aim of reentering the fight in a war against the world’s military enemies. The other primed to enter the fight today in the war against the world’s brutal disease.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
The U.S. government issued poster like this one to encourage cleanliness in the workplace as a guard against lost work time because of illness. (Submitted)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nH.J. Freezer Co. closing came after the Allied D-Day invasion in northern France, with the outcome of the war on both fronts hanging in the balance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":49047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,36,4899,25,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives-all-posts","category-made-in-york","category-medicalhealth-stuff","category-war","category-world-war-ii"],"yoast_head":"\nWoman's polio death closed key York County defense plant at critical time in World War II - York Town Square<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/yorkblog.com\/yorktownsquare\/polio-closed-key-york-county-defense-plant-at-critical-time-in-world-war-ii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Woman's polio death closed key York County defense plant at critical time in World War II - York Town Square\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"H.J. Freezer Co. closing came after the Allied D-Day invasion in northern France, with the outcome of the war on both fronts hanging in the balance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/yorkblog.com\/yorktownsquare\/polio-closed-key-york-county-defense-plant-at-critical-time-in-world-war-ii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"York Town Square\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-13T12:03:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-14T13:27:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/yorkblog.com\/yorktownsquare\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/04\/freezer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"517\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"363\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim McClure\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JamesMcClure\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim McClure\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/polio-closed-key-york-county-defense-plant-at-critical-time-in-world-war-ii\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/polio-closed-key-york-county-defense-plant-at-critical-time-in-world-war-ii\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim McClure\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b48a19c4bb41c9ee494a3eb75485cdd0\"},\"headline\":\"Woman’s polio death closed key York County defense plant at critical time in World War II\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-13T12:03:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-14T13:27:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/polio-closed-key-york-county-defense-plant-at-critical-time-in-world-war-ii\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":421,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/polio-closed-key-york-county-defense-plant-at-critical-time-in-world-war-ii\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/freezer.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Archives, all posts\",\"Made in York\",\"Medical\\\/health stuff\",\"War\",\"World War II\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/polio-closed-key-york-county-defense-plant-at-critical-time-in-world-war-ii\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/polio-closed-key-york-county-defense-plant-at-critical-time-in-world-war-ii\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/polio-closed-key-york-county-defense-plant-at-critical-time-in-world-war-ii\\\/\",\"name\":\"Woman's polio death closed key York County defense plant at critical time in World War II - York Town Square\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/polio-closed-key-york-county-defense-plant-at-critical-time-in-world-war-ii\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/polio-closed-key-york-county-defense-plant-at-critical-time-in-world-war-ii\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/freezer.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-13T12:03:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-14T13:27:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b48a19c4bb41c9ee494a3eb75485cdd0\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/polio-closed-key-york-county-defense-plant-at-critical-time-in-world-war-ii\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/polio-closed-key-york-county-defense-plant-at-critical-time-in-world-war-ii\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/freezer.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yorkblog.com\\\/yorktownsquare\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/freezer.jpg\",\"width\":517,\"height\":363,\"caption\":\"H.J. 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