The "It's A New Year" Story

It was an ordinary day.  January 1, 2014.  Gonna take me some time before I remember to add the 4 instead of the 3 when I write the date.  Today is one of my favorite days to read the Lancaster newspaper, since the paper lists local businesses and the year that they were founded.  

At least they list the businesses that are willing to take out an ad in that section of the newspaper.  Section's called "Business Review" and today it covers three pages in the paper.  Each page has about 50 businesses starting back in 1760 with the establishment of the Union Fire Company No. 1.  It was formed in 1742, but wasn't chartered until 1760.  

Plaque on the wall of Central Mar

I recently made a visit to Central Market in Lancaster for another story I posted and when leaving the market saw a plaque on the wall of the market telling about the business. Interesting to see all the businesses that were established over the years and the dates that they opened.  This year something new was added to the pages which stretched across the bottom of the pages.  Marianne, who works at the Lancaster Historical Society, and is the daughter of friends from church, comprised a timeline for the city of Lancaster, PA.  There are 23 events listed that take you from 1770 to this past year of 2013.  All are historical, naturally, and I thought some of you might be interested to see what a historian felt were the most prominent events that shaped the town of Lancaster, PA, the town I have called home all my life.  As I read them I realized that I have posted stories dealing with many of the events, primarily the events that have occurred after I was born.  Here is the timeline so you can see how important my town really was in the formation of the United States.

1. 1770 - Demuth Tobacco Shop established.  Still in business today. (That last statement I'm not so sure about, but I assume Marianne knows what she is talking about.
2. Sept. 27, 1777 - Lancaster City is the nation's capital for just one day.
3. 1803 - Merriweather Lewis comes to Lancaster to study surveying with Andrew Ellicott.
4. 1809 - James Buchanan comes to Lancaster to study law.
5. 1840 - Gas street lights and telegraph wires are introduced to the city.
6. 1842 - Thaddeus Stevens moves to town.
7. 1852 - Fulton Opera House, then know as Fulton Hall, opens.
8. 1863 - Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge is burned to thwart advancing Confederate Troops.
9. July 4, 1874 - Solders and Sailors Monument is dedicated at Penn Square in the center of the city.
10. 1889 - Current Central market building is erected.
11. Dec. 18, 1893 - Anna McComsey is admitted as the first patient at Lancaster General Hospital, Lancaster's largest employer.
12. 1895 - Union Stockyards are opened, the largest east of Chicago.
13. April 10, 1912 - Theodore Rossevelt makes a campaign stop at the Imperial Hotel, now the site of the Brunswick Hotel.
14. 1923 - The Greist Building is erected.  This was Lancaster's tallest building and only "skyscraper" until the current Convention Center and Marriott Hotel were built in 2009.
15. 1930 - Rieker Brewery transports beer through hose lines hidden in street sewers.
16. 1941 - Armstrong Cork Company quits manufacturing flooring to make war supplies.
17. 1944 - Graphic Arts and Photography teacher and Online Blogger LDub was born.
18. Sept. 16, 1960 - JFK makes a campaign stop at Penn Square.
19. Aug. 4, 1963 - Civil rights protesters picket Rocky Springs swimming pool for the integration of the segregated pool; public pools are created.
20. June 221-25, 1975 - Hurricane Agnes dumps up to 19 inches of rain on the Susquehanna Valley, the worst flooding in recent history.
21. 1979 - Hundreds of Lancastrians flee the city in fear of a total nuclear power meltdown at Three Mile Island.
22. 1985 - Witness, starring Harrison Ford and filmed in Lancaster County, premiers on the silver screen.
23. 1996 - January blizzard dumps three feet of snow on the county.
24. 2013 - Lititz, Lancaster's neighboring town to the north, is named "Coolest Small Town in America" in Budget Travel's contest.

Well, I want to thank Marianne for her great job in going through the files of this city and bringing back to life some of the most important historical events of the past.  I know many other towns and cities may  be more interesting and important, but these events are what formed this town of Lancaster, PA.  And, I love it!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.