YORK COUNTY HERITAGE
250 Years of History
York County has played a proud role in the long exciting drama that is the history of the United States of America. York County can justifiably be called the first proving ground for a westward flow of settlers that did not stop until checked by the waters of the Pacific. It was in the forefront of organized resistance during the American Revolution and a source of strength to the Union armies during the most critical period of the Civil War. In more modern times, its citizenry has made notable contributions to the victory effort in two world wars and numerous armed conflicts. Over the past 250 years it has utilized its resources to create a community nationally admired for its agricultural richness, industrial vigor and cultural enterprise.
The history of the County begins with the benign agreements established by William Penn with the Indians who made their homes along its streams and rivers. In 1681, Penn had accepted a grant of land in the new frontier of 16,000 pounds, a debt owed to his father; for Penn, it was primarily an opportunity to establish new homes for his persecuted fellow Quaker Brethren.
As early as 1682, Penn and his heirs negotiated with the Indians to formally purchase the lands. As settlements along the coast grew in size and number, the need for westward expansion became apparent, and in 1722 the Indians were requested and gave permission for the survey of land beyond the Susquehanna River. A tract measuring 6 miles wide and 15 miles long and including the site now occupied by the City of York was surveyed and named Springettsbury Manor, for Springett Penn, the grandson of the Founder. The Onandagoe, Seneca, Oneida and Tuscarora nations signed a treaty of peace and deeded to the Penns, "all the river Susquehanna and all land lying on the west side of said river to the setting of the sun..."
The town of York was laid in 1741, when Thomas Cookson surveyed 437 1/2 acres on the banks of the Codorus Creek. On November 23, 1741, applicants agreed to pay seven shillings a year for the use of lots measuring 230 feet long and 65 feet wide, and to erect on it,"a substantial dwelling of 16 feet square at least...within the space of one year."
On August 17, 1749 the provincial Assembly separated York County from Lancaster County and officially partitioned the new county.
The French and Indian Wars which were fought so bitterly in western Pennsylvania in the 1750's spread within a day's march of York County, and refugees from Cumberland County fled to its settlements. In 1755, Benjamin Franklin spent time in York hiring 150 wagons, 259 pack horses and buying flour for General Braddock's army. In 1758 four companies of militia from the County took part in the capture of Fort Duquesne (later renamed Pittsburgh).
Hanover, second largest town in the County, was a thickly grown grove of hickory trees until 1763, when Richard M'Alister laid out a town in a "no-man's land", claimed by Maryland as well as Pennsylvania, and accepting the jurisdiction of neither. The border between the two provinces had been hotly contested and "Maryland Intruders" roamed as far as the Susquehanna. The rivalry became so bitter that the British government arranged a survey to settle it. The line laid down by engineers Mason and Dixon on 1763-67,eventually marked the Civil War division between the Union and the Confederacy.
As early as July 4, 1774, York Countians selected a committee to protest against British taxation and other oppressive measures. When Boston was blockaded as a result of its famous tea party, York County provided financial help and military support. A local company of militia riflemen were among the first from west of the Hudson River to march to Massachusetts. In 1775 there were 3,349 "associaters" or volunteer militiamen within the County, and by 1778, a total of 4,621York Countians answered the call to arms. By contrast the total population at the time was just shy of 25,000. In 1779 Colonel Thomas Hartley observed that," the York districts has armed first in Pennsylvania and has furnished more men for the war and lost a greater number of men in it than any other district on the continent of the same number individuals."
The presence of the Congress in York, from September 30,1777 to June 27, 1778, brought the first printing press to the County. The press was necessary in order that military and legislative news could be sent throughout the colonies. It was also used to print about $10,000,000 worth of currency while in York; money that was so inflated as to be almost worthless. Undoubtedly the most important business conducted here was the drafting of the Articles of Confederation, which in 1781 would be ratified by the required two-thirds of the colonies , establishing the "United States of America". Victory and independence would finally come for the new nation in 1783.
Many unforgettable figures in our national history hurried resolutely through York County in those days. Thomas Paine worked as secretary to the committee of foreign affairs, and in his spare time wrote some of the tracts which made up his literary work "The Crisis." The Marquis de Lafayette, with a toast to General Washington, disrupted the Conway Cabal, a plot to elevate General Horatio Gates to supreme commander of the Colonial army. General Anthony Wayne, Baron von Steuben, Count Pulaski were here on military errands. Less distinguished visitors were the English prisoners-of-war quartered at Camp Security. Many later remained upon release and settled in York County.
In 1800, immediately after the separation of Adams County from York County, the County boasted a population of 25,643. During the first half of the nineteenth century York remained primarily an agricultural community, but residents continued to contribute to the growing industrialization of the County. Conestoga wagons in York and Lancaster gradually disappeared as railroads, canals and waterways increased the mobility of men and goods. The Codorus was navigable from York to its mouth on the Susquehanna River. In 1825, on the Susquehanna, John Edgar tested the first iron steamboat. Phineas Davis, a well-known clock maker, perfected his revolutionary coal-burning locomotive in York County.
As the questions of slavery became a moral and political issue in this young nation, York County helped maintain a more unusual form of transportation. The phrase "underground railway" supposedly originated in the southern Pennsylvania area as runaway slaves were assisted in their flight to more tolerant states.
Late in June 1863, Confederate troops made their most extensive thrust into northern territory when they spread across York County as far as the Susquehanna River. Union forces fled into Lancaster County but further Confederate advances were checked when the bridge at Wrightsville was burned. Within the City of York, a committee raised more than $28,000 and gathered supplies of food and clothing to appease Confederate commander, General Jubal A. Early. His theat to burn the railroad car shops was forestalled when he received urgent orders to withdraw to join other Confederate armies massing at Gettysburg in Adams County to the west.
The first Civil War battle on Pennsylvania soil was fought at Hanover on June 30th, 1863. Because of this engagement, General J.E.B Stuart and his much-heralded cavalry forces were unable to join General Robert E. Lee's armies at Gettysburg until after the decisive battles had been fought. This delay in Hanover played an important part in the Union victory at Gettysburg, which is considered to be the turning point in the War Between the States.
A somber close to this period was the passing of Abraham Lincoln's funeral train through York County. A large part of the local population was at the railroad station to pay tribute to the martyred president on April 21, 1865, as his funeral train passed through York..
With the advent of World War II, local industries were instrumental in formulating a program for combining community resources to increase productivity. The 14-point York plan soon proved its efficacy and was widely copied throughout the nation. The objectives of the York Plan were to: educate workers and assure them of the best available housing and health facilities; integrate work that could be done by subcontractors and primary contractors within the local area; and utilize all available machines and workers to meet the demand for war material. Before the war ended with the Japanese surrender on August 4, 1945, ten percent of York County's population of more than 178,000 served in the armed forces. Of these 371 were killed, 822 were wounded, 152 were reported missing and 192 were taken prisoner. Two outstanding heroes of World War II were York Countians. General Jacob Loucks Devers, commander of Army Ground Forces in the European Theater, and Lieutenant Alexander B. Goode, one of four chaplains who bravely went to their deaths aboard the troop transport S.S. Dorchester. Lieutenant Goode and his colleagues were recognized for giving up their life belts so others might live.
The 1950's brought another crisis to York County as once again county troops served bravely during the Korean conflict. Of the 263,721 Pennsylvanian Korean Veterans, 6,910 are from York County and of that number 63 were killed, either from wounds or from disease.
Since World War II, the nation and York County has experienced periods of prosperity and times of turmiol. York Countians have answered the call for several armed conflicts including the Korean War, Vietnam and most recently the "100 hour war" in the Persian Gulf. During these hostilities , 164 men and women gave their lives to preserve the freedoms our forefathers envisioned that winter in York so long ago in 1777 and 1778..
LINKS
York Daily Record History Pages