The "Historical Medals from the Past: Part I" Story

It was another ordinary day.  For the past few days I have been staring at bronze medals that line the side of my computer screen.  They are photos that I took at a friend's house of the medals that depict scenes in Lancaster County, PA and were strikings from the Red Rose Coin Club.  The club was started in 1958 and began making the medals that year.  My friend has the entire collection even though he did not join the club until 1997.  I posted a story about the medals a few days ago and wrote that I will feature a few coins in other posts and today I have selected six medals which I will picture and give you some background into the history of the event that is depicted.  Many of the medals I have written stories on in the past and now the medal will "bring to life" the story that I had written.

This is the 40th medal that was issued by the club.  "Tradition and Innovation" describes the celebration of the sesquicentennial anniversary of Millersville University.  It was in 1855 that the citizens of Millersville, Lancaster Co. established a teacher's institute to train teachers.  In 1859 it became a Normal school and was certified to prepare teachers to educate the children of Pennsylvania.  In 1983 it became a University with a liberal arts program that was offered to 8,000 students.  The building that is pictured is D. Luke Biemesderfer Library which is now home to the administrative offices of the university.  I entered Millersville State Teachers College, as it was known, in 1962 and graduated in 1967.  I continued with post-graduate credits after that time.  I recently wrote a story about the new library that was just opened and dedicated.  175 were struck in Silver and 37 in gold.

The 42nd medal features the Low Grade Railroad.  It was a low-grade southern bypass along the Susquehanna River that ran from Enola through Columbia, PA, then across southern Lancaster County to Atglen.  It was started in 1902 and opened in 1906.  The cost was $19.6 million and took the lives of more than 200 men during the construction of it.  The line featured a stone bridge over the Susquehanna and steel spans over the Conestoga River and Pequea Creek. The image shown here is over the Pequea Creek.  My wife lived near the bridge when she was a child and would often swim in the creek that ran under the bridge.  

This medal pictures the massacre of the Conestoga Indians on December 13, 1763 when a group of vigilantes, calling themselves the Paxton Boys, attacked a small Native American community called Conestoga Town in southern Lancaster, Co.  It was land set aside for them by William Penn.  The thugs burned the town and killed the six people they found on the property.  They then headed to Lancaster where they killed the rest of the indians in front of the prison.  These were peaceful Native Americans who had been promised protection by county authorities.  The event is one of the most shameful in the history of Lancaster City.  The rear wall of the Fulton Opera House has the remnants of the prison as part of its structure.  I have written about this event several times over the years.  If you care to read more about it click on the history link at the head of my stories.

The Lancaster Locomotive Works was issued as the 28th commemorative medal by the Red Rose Coin Club.  It was in 1853 that investors organized the Lancaster Locomotive Engine & Machine Mfg. Co.  It was located on five acres of land facing the Philadelphia and Columbia R.R. tracks on East Ann St.  Lancaster native John Brandt Sr. was responsible for building locomotives at the facility.  The locomotive pictured on the medal is the "John Breckenridge" which was named for President James Buchanan's Vice President.  It is a 4-4-0 engine with twin steam domes and a Brandt trademark brass rod extending forward from the cab, ending in a coil about 8" in diameter.  In the "Panic of 1857" the company filed for bankruptcy and after another attempt during the Civil War, no more locomotives were built there after 1870.

Frank W. Woolworth is the featured person on this issue of the Red Rose Coin Club.  Woolworth began his retail career un Utica, NY, but failed.  His first success was a 5 & 10 cent store he opened in 1879 in Lancaster, PA at 170 N. Queen St.  He had a retailing idea that would expand to thousands of stores around the world and make him rich.  In 1899 he built the store featured on the medal at 19-21 North Queen St.  It featured a limestone facade and the first elevator in Lancaster.  It was topped by two gold-domed towers and a popular roof-garden restaurant.  That majestic building was demolished in 1949.  He also erected the 60-story Woolworth building in New York City.  With the growth of discount stores, all Woolworth stores were closed in 1997.  

This was the 25th commemorative medal that was issued by the Red Rose Coin Club in 1990.    It was struck this year to remember the 1890 opening of the electric trolley cars in the city and suburbs of Lancaster.  At first there were horse-drawn cars beginning in 1874 and eventually tracks were laid for the electric trolley.  In January of 1890 a merger of the Lancaster City Street Railway Co. and East End Railways provided the impetus for the switch to electric-powered cars.  Eventually the Conestoga Traction Company gained control of all 200 miles of track for the railways.  By 1947 the local trolley made its last run.  Today the majority of the original tracks have been removed. 

These six medals are just part of my friend's collection.  I will feature a few more in the next week to show you more of the history of my hometown, Lancaster.  It was another extraordinay day in the life of an ordinary guy.