The "Ever Hear Of Feagleyville?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Sky was overcast with a prediction of snow for the next few days.  I had just finished reading an article in my local newspaper titled "Feagleyville and the benefits of apple dumplings." Now, who wouldn't spend a few minutes reading an article with a title like that?  The article was written by Jack Brubaker, aka The Scribbler, who is perhaps one of the best columnists Lancaster Newspaper ever had.  He has been known as "The Scribbler" for as long as I can remember...and that's a long, long time...so it is!  His recent article, or column if you prefer, was about a Lancaster neighborhood that no longer exists.  After reading a bit more of his column, I decided to take a look at the neighborhood which he was describing.  Hopped in the car and headed in the direction of North Prince Street and West Clay Street in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania to see what his article might be about.  My reason for concern is that I grew up a few blocks away from the site that he had been writing about in the newspaper.  Wasn't more than 10 minutes from my home at Woodcrest Villa before I turned off of North Prince Street onto West Clay Street.  Wow!  Little did I recognize the block that at one time was a place that I would ride my two-wheel bicycle for some of the best pastries in Lancaster County.  Place was called Gunzenhauser Bakery and the building covered close to a half-city block at the north end of the city of Lancaster.  I lived perhaps three blocks from the bakery on the last block of North Queen Street with my mom, dad and younger brother.  We lived in the last house on North Queen...a hop, skip and jump from Lancaster's Train Station.  My mom would often ask me to ride my bike to the Gunenhauser Bakery store to buy pastries for our family or perhaps for a party she had planned for the family or friends.  About a block from the place you could smell the sweet pastries that had just been removed from the ovens.   From my many travels to the bakery, I knew quite a few of the people who worked there.  They knew my favorites and when I would walk in the store they often would offer me a free donut or pastry, or whatever was fresh at the time I entered the store.  So, when I pulled up next to the bakery this morning I was shocked as to what I saw in front of me.  

The place was in shambles!!  How could what I saw have happened in such a short time from when my family moved from N. Queen Street to today!!  As I sat in my car, across from what at one time was the entrance to the bakery, I just shook my head.  Than I began to do some figuring.  My family moved from North Queen Street to Grandview Heights when I entered college which was in 1962.

 That was 62 years ago!!!  OMG!!  How is that possible???  I hadn't been to that bakery for over 60 years!  I'll bet I passed it close to a thousand times since when I moved away for it, but never bothered to stop and take a look at the bakery on Clay Street.  Well!  After my visit today...I found it is no longer there.  How long ago was it dismantled?  And, why did they close the place?  Was it losing money?  Was the neighborhood so run down that people couldn't afford pastries?  And now, as "The Scribbler" writes, the place is to be demolished "as soon as possible."  As I sat in my car this morning across from what used to be the Bakery Store, I found it hard to believe what I was looking at.  The building was boarded up with bright orange pylons running the length of the building from North Prince St. to halfway on East Clay Street.  There is no bakery anymore!!  And, by the looks of it...there hasn't been one for years.  And...to top that off, the entire place is being dismantled and leveled as soon as they can get it done..or so it looks that way.  The newspaper article I had read last evening stated that The Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County had asked the city to reconsider demolition before allowing owner Charter Homes & Neighborhoods to destroy a "historically significant" building.  Seems that at one time in history, the neighborhood was known as Feagleyville.  I never knew that when I lived close to the bakery!!  Seems that Fegleyville had been demolished to make way for the Gunzenhauser Bakery!  As I sat in my car, shaking my head, I knew it was hopeless.  I did read a bit more about Fegleyville which was centered along Clay and Ross Streets.  Now,  that will have to be another story in the near future!   John Landis Feagley, who lived on nearby Christian Street began purchasing dwellings without electricity or running water.  Some had dirt floors.  He wanted to expand his operation, but the city rejected his plans.  He notified those that were living in those old homes that they would have to move out of the homes, since he had sold the property to Christian Gunzenhauser.  Ah!  So Mr. Gunzenhauser built his huge bakery on what at one time was known as Feagleyville!  Boy... the things I never knew before and am only learning today!  Well, the old Gunzenhauer bakery will soon be history.  All the windows are boarded up and there is a big fence around about a quarter-of-a-city block.  What will fill the space is a mystery to most.  Perhaps it will provide parking for the nearby professional baseball stadium where the Lancaster Barnstormers play.  Who knows!!  Certainly not me!!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.