The "Bay Street Memories" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Talking with Joyce about the table full of family heirlooms sitting in front of us in her family home on Bay Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  

One of the three sheets with coins that Joyce
posted on Remember When In Lancaster Facebook
page.   Another Facebook reader replied that the
1840 campaign tokens in the bottom left were
probably the most valuable of her collection.

I learned of Joyce and her amazing collection of family historical memorabilia from the Facebook website Remember When In Lancaster when I opened the site and found a series of very interesting coins and tokens that she had posted in a link on the website.  I became interested in some of the coins and gave Joyce a call and was asked to come and visit and take a look at the coins.  When I arrived this morning I was treated to an entire table of historical memorabilia that was fascinating. Joyce and I talked about two large stacks to textbooks that were from the Lemon Street Elementary School where her relatives had gone to school.  

Just a few of the many small textbooks that Joyce showed me.

The school was more recently known as The Haupt Elementary School which eventually became known as the Lancaster General Hospital School of Nursing.  Neat books that gave one an idea as to what was taught in elementary schools in Lancaster City in the early 1900s.  

Fulton playbills from the past.

She then shared with me some personal items such as a beautiful drinking glass from the 1911 Lancaster Fair, a few play bills from the Fulton Theatre, later known as the Fulton Opera House, a photo of her parents taken in the backyard of the house I am now visiting, a page from our local newspaper, the Lancaster New Era, which featured articles written for the paper by Clarence Chamberlin, Colonel A. Lindbergh and Commander Richard E. Byrd, all American pioneers of aviation.  

Small display of antique Christmas items featuring a lighted church.

One corner of her dining room table featured a small display of antique Christmas items which featured a lighted church that played music.  Her home features an assortment of family photos, cupboards of beautiful antique dishes and a lifetime of wonderful tales she loved to share with me.  Joyce has been a Lancaster resident all her life and lives with her husband in the house in which she was raised.  

An early photo of Joyce standing by her home
on Bay Street.  To the right is Pensupreme Dairy.

The house is directly across the street from the original Lancaster Pensupreme Dairy which is no longer in business.  She told me that she would visit the dairy before school each day and they would give her a bottle of milk before she headed to school.  My visit to Bay Street was most enjoyable and the lessons and stories I learned were priceless.  Lancaster is truly a city of wonderful and sharing individuals and I just met one more of them today.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.