York

By Georg R. Sheets

York experienced great changes following World War II. People began moving from the city to the suburbs, and many department stores, like Bear's, Wiest's, Jack's, and Gregory's, closed. Long-standing companies such as AMF and York Air Conditioning were sold or moved, while banks, industries, and businesses merged. The York County Shopping Center opened on the East End, attracting customers who had formerly shopped downtown. WSBA TV went on the air in 1952, starting a new era in communication and a business empire that still has a strong presence today. The band Live grew from a group of local high school students to well-known musicians that graced the cover of Rolling Stone. Jeff Koons became one of the most celebrated artists in the world, Kim Bracey became the first African American mayor, and York businessman Tom Wolf became governor. York continues to celebrate its rich heritage as the "Factory Capital of the World."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Oct 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9781439653722

Georg R. Sheets

Georg R. Sheets is descended from early clock and rifle makers of the York area. He has worked as a reporter for the York Dispatch and authored numerous local books and institutional histories. Photographs have been gathered from the collection of Bill Schintz and other private collections.

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INTRODUCTION

Coming out of World War II and the York Plan, York County has experienced changes over the last 50 years of its history that no one could have predicted—changes that stunned the older generations.

To bring many of these changes to life, we have only to take an imaginary walk down Market and George Streets beginning at Continental Square at the city’s peak in the 1950s and 1960s.

Of course, the automobiles and buses have changed, with almost no York-made cars or trucks on the very busy streets. Middle-class residences, important family homes, and apartment buildings were nestled next to a wide variety of retail stores, doctors’ offices, and perhaps a dozen banks all with York owners and managers. Large department stores like Bon-Ton, Wiest’s, Sears, and Bear’s were doing heavy business, along with Murphy’s and Woolworth’s, and specialty stores, such as Jack’s, Lehmayer’s, Gregory’s, Reineberg’s, and Peoples Drug Stores, added to the experience of going downtown. The gift shop at the Yorktowne Hotel and Flurhrer’s Jewelry Store were settled in among mom-and-pop businesses, a music store, and a radio station.

It would not be surprising to see a hardware store selling agricultural implements, harnesses, hames, and the like. Stores that sold newspapers, shoe polish, and goldfish were intermingled with tea shops and lunchroom counters—even a peanut roaster that sent the aroma of hot snacks drifting into the air.

Window-shopping was an entertaining pastime, and comfort stations were convenient for those moving elbow to elbow up and down the crowded streets. At the corner of George and Philadelphia Streets, movie houses were showing the latest films. The farmers’ markets became places to meet and greet and to buy fresh, locally grown produce and meats. Some large businesses like the A.B. Farquhar plant, the Smyser-Royer Company, the Dentists’ Supply Company, and York Air Conditioning were sending wares to such places as Washington, DC, New York City, and New Orleans, in addition to South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe.

These businesses and stores were managed and operated by local owners who reinvested in the city. Among the retailers were a number of Jewish citizens who gave more diversity to a town laid out by the heirs of William Penn, with a place for the Quakers, the Lutherans, the Reformed, the Moravians, the Presbyterians, and the Episcopalians, as well as the local jail. The Penn workers laid out the town in a checkerboard style and planned the square, the public common, and the courthouse in the middle of everything.

In this planned city west of the Susquehanna River, there was no room set aside for the free African Americans or for Catholic or Jewish residents, but they came and settled here in a place intended for people who wanted to worship according to their own ideas and cultures, not necessarily that of a king or queen. The Catholics built churches, one for the Germans and one for the Irish, and the Jewish residents built a house of worship that still stands today, though later users have erased the signs of Judaism.

Decades later, in the most populous years, a shopping center was built, followed by a modern mall. A wealthy retailer named Mahlon Haines set aside one of his farms on the outskirts of town for the development of houses, and these new places attracted people moving away from the noise and crowds of the city. Parking problems were minimized for shopping and for those moving to Haines Acres, many of whom once lived downtown. The success of these developments encouraged other businesspeople to build outside the city, leaving behind tax-free properties (the nonprofits) and empty stores and housing. The new suburbia also offered nearby jobs in plants and factories. Some of these made military supplies, chains, cabinets, cardboard containers, or garments, among other products.

In suburbia, people found peace, quiet, and a refuge with natural beauty, wide vistas of gently rolling hills, and homes with broad front yards.

African Americans, often disadvantaged and even regarded by some as a drain on society, moved into housing left vacant by the white flight, and once prosperous stores were boarded up or used for secondary purposes. Then Vietnamese and Hispanic immigrants, along with people from a dozen other backgrounds, took over empty city properties that were begging for residents. In recent years, minorities have come to dominate the city.

Soon, the department stores in the suburbs became larger, and more shopping centers were built. Eventually, the present-day renaissance came after decades of declining morale and lower census figures for the city. While the city experienced declining