The "Fruitville: Elias Vogel's Legacy" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Finally found out where Fruitville is located after living in Lancaster County, PA all my life.  I travel the Fruitville Pike daily and have for years wondered exactly why it was called that.  I have driven to the end of the road from north to south and never found anything to give me a clue as to why the highway is called the Fruitville Pike.  That is until now!  

I recently came upon an article in the local newspaper dealing with architecture known as Midcentury Modern and as I read the article I came upon the word Fruitville.  Seems that an area I have known all my life as Blossom Hill, which I can visually see from the front porch of my "Beach House," is the clue I needed to discover where Fruitville is located.  The neighborhood on the hill to my north, known as Blossom Hill is an upper-middle class area.  

In 1915, Adam and Elias Vogel started the "Blossom Hill Fruit Farm" and planted apple and peach orchards.  Eventually the land changed from an orchard to a residential neighborhood.  Don't they all?  Seems that Elias insisted that all properties on his Blossom Hill area plant an apple tree to leave a sign of his legacy.  The new neighborhood with the name of Blossom Hill sported 59 homes with features such as patios, dens and rec rooms.  

Each property owner hired their own architect and therefore all of the homes have a different flavor to them.  Some have extensive exterior woodwork while others are covered with glass panels.  The apple trees planted because of Elias are long gone, but a few determined residents have encouraged the current occupants of the neighborhood to continue the planting of apple trees in their front yards.  

The view of Lancaster City from Blossom Hill.

Neat to drive through the neighbor- hood and look at all the styles and varieties of homes that exist on the hill.  And, if you pay attention, you will see the many apple trees that at this time of the year are covered with bright red apples.  Off to the south of Blossom Hill lays the town of Lancaster and on a clear day you can see many of the buildings in the downtown area from Blossom Hill.  I recently took some photos to show the styles of homes and actually found a few trees ablaze in red from the apples covering them.  And, more importantly, I now know, after years of wondering, exactly where Fruitville is located.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

One of many trees filled with apples.