The circus comes to York, Pa.
Early Wednesday morning, July 19, 1933, a long train arrived in York and stopped near the fairground. The Sam B. Dill Circus had arrived. “Young America, having caught the infectious circus spirit is likely to be in ahead of both morning orb and circus and be on the lot along with enthusiastic adults to greet the show train on its arrival there,” The York Dispatch reported the day before the train’s arrival. The unloading and setting up of the circus tents and shows worked smoothly. All of the performers knew their jobs. They had been doing it multiple times each week since the circus had opened its season in Dallas, Tex., on April 9. Wagons containing the menagerie were rolled down ramps. Trunks were carried off to other areas. Elephants and roustabouts worked to raise the big top as the Read more…
Callithumpian band causes worry in York
The metallic reverberating sound of gongs repeatedly sounded throughout downtown York, Pa., in August 1925. It was a sound people recognized as the alert on a fire truck. Somewhere in York, a fire was burning. “During the disturbance patrons of theaters, hurriedly snatched their wraps and fled from the amusement places to ‘go to the fire.’ Others telephoned or went to their homes,” The York Dispatch reported. People attending a municipal band concert at Farquhar Park heard the gongs over the music and streamed out of the park, seeking the fire or their homes to make sure it wasn’t burning. The problem was that there was no fire. “A callithumpian band mounted on a truck which also carried, despite their objections the bride and bridegroom, coursed about downtown streets for about an hour last evening,” The York Dispatch reported. According Read more…
York County’s first supermodel
Nearly a century before the term “supermodel” was coined, Amanda Straw was living the life of one. Of course, by then, most people knew her by her professional name, Madeline Stokes. Straw was born in 1875 on a farm in Fishing Creek Valley in northern York County. Unlike the tall, long-legged models of today, Straw stood only 5 feet 4 inches tall. She had hazel eyes, light brown hair, and a figure that epitomized feminine beauty in the 19th century. After receiving an education in one-room schools in the county, she left for Philadelphia to attend the Pierce Business College. However, she left the school to try her hand on the stage and as an artist’s model. “One special performance included working on a New York roof-top garden, Jardin De Paris. She was clad head-to-toe in nothing but enamel (Straw Read more…
For All the Baseball Fans Out There…
“Babe” Ruth was a baseball legend. You can find out why in When the Babe Came to Town. My new ebook shows how the Babe connected with the fans through his many exhibition and barnstorming games.When the Babe Came to Town is a collection of some of these stories highlighting games that Babe Ruth played in Emmitsburg, Maryland; York, Pennsylvania; Oakland, California and Cumberland, Maryland. It was big news when Babe Ruth came to town. Many residents of these smaller towns unused to seeing Major League baseball games in the days before television. They had only read about Babe Ruth’s talent in the newspapers or heard about it on the radio. The Babe came to town and showed them what they were missing as he hit home runs out of the park. There are a lot of these stories out Read more…
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