Remembering Lancaster County: Stories from Pennsylvania Dutch Country

by Jack Brubaker

Overview

An interesting cast of characters and stories reveal Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, also known as the center of Pennsylvania Dutch country. Fiery Patriots, resourceful inventors and brilliant artists have all hailed from Lancaster County. The lives and deeds of such famous and ordinary folk of Pennsylvania Dutch country are chronicled by Jack Brubaker in this collection of fascinating vignettes drawn from his Lancaster New Era column, "The Scribbler." From tales of President James Buchanan's youthful antics to the attempted delivery of the nation's first airmail by hot-air balloon, Brubaker creates a compelling and entertaining narrative of the history of Lancaster City and County. Memories of the original Brunswick Hotel's shoofly pie and the Horse Thief Association of Intercourse will transport readers to a Lancaster from days gone by.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614231448
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	04/16/2010
Series:	American Chronicles
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Jack Brubaker is a columnist and investigative reporter for Lancaster Newspapers. He has written six historical books, including Remembering Lancaster County, published by The History Press earlier this year. He lives with his wife, Christine, in Lancaster County's Manor Township, not far from where the Paxton Boys massacred the Conestoga Indians nearly 250 years ago.

Table of Contents

Preface 9

The Susquehanna River

Indian Rock Carvings Draw New Interest 13

Examining the River's Potholed Rocks 15

Ice in August: Surprise for Early Coal Dredgers 18

Lloyd Mifflin Followed the Susquehanna 20

The City of Lancaster

Lancaster in 1910: A Good, Solid, Family Town 23

Lancaster's Terrain: It's All Uphill to the College 26

When Did Mapmakers Add the City to Their Charts? 28

How Lancaster Became One of the Densest Cities 29

Roads, Steamboats, Railroads and Trolleys

Great Wagon Road Linked Lancaster with the South 31

Steamboats Invented Here but Never Traveled Far 33

Low-Grade Line Was an Engineering Triumph 36

How the Highway Robbers Killed Trolley Service 38

Watt&Shand, Woolworth's and the Brunswick

Watt&Shand Building Links Two Centuries 43

Recalling Better Days for Woolworth's Five-and-Ten 46

Brunswick Sold Shoofly Pie á la Mode for Thirty-five Cents 50

With Demuth Snuff, You Inhaled Whiskey and Soap 52

Lancaster at War

Waiting for Hostile Indians to Sweep into Town 55

On the Road to Glory: Assault on Fort Wagner 57

Burning the Susquehanna Bridge at Columbia 60

A Lancastrian Raised the USS Maine 62

Worrying about Saboteurs in World War II 65

Influential Lancastrians

Declaration Signer Was a Reluctant Rebel 69

Frederick Muhlenberg, First House Speaker 71

When James Buchanan Was Tossed Out of College 73

Nurses Honor Generosity of a Grieving Mother 75

Lancastrian Failed to Deliver First Mail by Air 77

Three Thousand Packed Cemetery to Honor Fallen Soldier 79

General from Manheim Proved Grit at Bull Run 81

Thaddeus Stevens Directed Johnson's Impeachment 84

Artist Caroline Peart Lies in Obscure Cemetery 86

Memorable Characters

A Fishing Story as Told Charles Miller Howell 89

Sam Lazarowitz Sold the New Era in the Rain 91

The Last Members of the Horse Thief Association 94

Hattie Brunner:"Feisty Woman, with Great Expertise;rdquo; 96

"Jack" Zook of Paradise Popularized Hex Signs 98

The Amish and Pennsylvania Dutch

Amish Went to Jail to Protest School Laws 103

Poetry Calmed Community after School Shootings 106

Place Names: Noodledoosey to Bisskatzeloch 108

"Principal Symbol of the Pennsylvania Dutchman" 110

Commentary

Station on the Underground Railroad Destroyed 113

North Queen Street, Once Movie House Row, Goes Dark 115

They Want to Build a Wall, but There's a Better Way 118

Revive River Towns with Water Recreation 120

Too Close: Preservation, Progress Barely Coexist 123

About the Author 127