A 1977 Chevy truck was stolen from alley behind the 3100 block of N. George St. sometime before 1:30 this morning (Sunday). In addition. glove compartments and trunks were rifled. In all cases, the doors were unlocked.
We may want to stress that, though we all like to think Emigsville is a safe place to live, we need to keep doors locked - especially at night.
Anything you want to know about quilts - Free admission
Trunk Show, Discussion, Questions & Answers
Featured speakers from York Quilters’ Guild: Dawn Gerber and Bobbe Benvin, local author and fabric designer.
optional: Bring one quilted item for critique
When: Monday, April 20, 2009 7:00 pm
Where: Scout Building, Emigsville Park -Emig Road opposite post office, next to railroad underpass
Hosted by: Manchester Township Historical Society
The greenhouse will open for business this Friday, March 27th.
The adjacent store space, now known as “Brown’s Farm Market & Garden Center” or “Brown’s North” for short, will not open to the public until construction is completed on the Farm Market portion, which should be ready within the next few weeks. An exact opening date is yet to be determined.
The farm market portion of Brown’s North will be devoted to the direct marketing of Brown’s homegrown fruits and other produce, famous bakery products, and most popular pantry items. Brown’s is also constructing an area for deli sandwiches, coffees and ice cream. And there will be a customer service area which will aid customers in special orders and deliveries from the Loganville store.
Shiloh Nurseries, Inc. will continue to operate their landscaping operation with their offices on the same site.
Operating hours starting March 27th will be Monday-Friday 9am-7pm, Saturday 9am-5pm and Sunday 11am-6pm. Beginning April 11th, Saturday hours will be extended to 7pm. The store will be closed Sunday, April 12th for Easter.
My Grandfather, Norman E. Rishel, rented the John Emig, Jr. Farm @ 1919. His first herd of Holstein is shown in this picture. Perhaps you could add it to your Emigsville archives.
Brief History of the property: “Became the property of his grandfather, Valentine Emig, in 1802; of his father, in 1806, and his own in 1840. At present - in 1876- his son’s, W. W. Emig.” The barn was located along the RR tracks. Pass the Post Office, go through the RR underpass, and the barn was on the right in the industrial park.
My Great Grandfather Henry Zumbrun was the stone cutter for the 3 underpasses in the area as well as the wall surrounding the Emig mansion. — Dianne Gleim Bowders-York, PA
Brown’s Orchards and Farm Market, Inc. will be opening a satellite location in the retail space of Shiloh Nurseries Inc. this Spring.
Look for the perfect marriage of nursery stock from Shiloh surrounded by the the country baking and produce of Brown’s all within walking distance of the village.
Brown’s and Shiloh’s first “showing” will accur during the 17th Annual Mid-Atlantic Garden Show that begins today through March 1 at the York Expo.
The retail garden center at Shiloh will open March 27.
I found your hometown page today and founds it very interesting. My great grand father was Herman Victor Smullen who had a smithy shop set up behind his home there on mains street a few houses down from Emig’s. My mother remembered as a child going to see Mrs Emig or the current resident in the 1930’s.
I’d be interested if any of the towns people there know anything of this family. Herman “Victor” had married Elmira King daughter of Daniel S King. She was born in Emigsville and was the grand daughter of Adam King who was Starview’s postmaster. In the 1920-30’s Daniel King was a mail carrier for Emigsville.
Victor and Elmira had 4 daughters, 2 of which died in early childhood. Daughters Harriet and Mary survived, married and had children. Mary married Stuart Ridgeway and had many children but he was a womanizer and would leave every time she was with child. Mary married him at age 15 and never finished school so she fell on hard times trying to keep the children on her own. Three of her babies were adopted out. One has been located but two more are still lost. All Mary and Stuart’s other children have passed on. Mary privately arranged the adoptions of Wanda Sue, born 3 Aug 1939 and Judy Irene, born 8 Dec 1940. From records found at the Children’s Home of York, where my mother grew up, we found proof that this was the case. It is believed that the adoptions may have been arranged via the Lutheran church of which Mary’s mother attended regularly.
Any suggestions or information your readers can offer on this family would be greatly appreciated.
Melissa Hake Fitzkee
Wrightsville
(Use the comment link below if you can add to this)
Thanks to David Palmer at Dave’s Backhoe Service for moving the rocks around on the Emigsville square. We plan to fix the ruts and holes previously caused by people parking and driving though the grass this Spring.
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Thanks these businesses serving Emigsville: Joe at the quarry for moving the boulders, Standard Concrete. Craig at Hafa Construction organized the donations.
On Saturday, another volunteer will help us with a front loader to place the rocks.
The Emigsville Heritage Project is continuing improvements to the patch of grass next to the post office where Shiloh Nurseries Inc. planted the Oak tree. The boulders are an effort to prevent parking/driving on the grass and the mud holes that grow larger with each season.
A newspaper boy’s view of Emigsville in 1942
My name is Sterling Krout and I only lived in this little village 12 years and I would like to talk about those 12 years that were so good to me. I can’t believe that there is a better place to spend your youth than in Emigsville. I would like to call what I am saying the good ol’ days.
The Krout family moved from Abbottstown to Manchester to Emigsville in 1942. My mother was Purden? And my father was Albert and there were five children, Geraldine, who is here this evening, brother Wayne and brother Ken and myself and brother Gary.
It was very, very nice coming to Emigsville because in 1942 dad went to an auction to buy a house on Main Street (North George Street) and I was with him that day. It was a two story house, it had four bedrooms, it had a bath, and running water. Dad had $2,500 in his pocket.
Well the bidding didn’t last longer than 10 minutes and dad was off the bidding already, but there was a man standing right next to dad and he whispered to him and to this day I have no idea who that man was, but he said, “Albert if you want the house, I will give you the money for the rest of the house above the $2500. Well, the house went for $4000 and dad bought the house.
At that point, I was just so excited because now we were going into a house that I had my own bedroom, we had running water, we had a bathtub and in Manchester we didn’t have any of those things. And inside plumbing…in 1942 there was a lot of outdoor plumbing still available.
And then I heard a comment from the back of the crowd and a man said, “That man must be crazy for paying $4000 for a house”
We moved into the house and it was next to Beulah and Bill Dittenhafer. a family of two that certainly didn’t need a family of seven right next to them, but we tried to stay off of Beulah and Bill’s lawn and we became really good friends to that family.
I remember coming from Manchester to Emigsville in a sheep truck and a Model T Ford and we moved into this house and we had a few wooden beds and mattresses and a few chests of drawers a breakfest set with six odd chairs and a washing machine and a refrigerator and kitchen assesories and hand-me-downs from whomever gave them to you. And that was what we moved to Emigsville with, but that was OK with me. There were no jeans, no sneakers and no sun glasses. This was just the necessary things we had when we came to Emigsville.
Geraldine went on to High School, bother Wayne worked for dad as a mechanic in Emigsville in the middle of town. Ken was my mentor and historian in the family, he is the one I looked up to all the time. He loved story night and god bless him he would be here today. He would love to hear what I was about to say.
Gary and I were 10 and 13 and we became the newspaper boys so now you are down to how the newspaper boys saw Emigsville.
Newspapers were used for everything
We were out of bed at 5 o’clock in the morning to bring the newspapers to everyone in Emigsville..no fear of walking the streets at 5 Gary will tell you a few that he had. I didn’t even think of fear at that time, but nevertheless it was dark it was 5 o’clock in the morning, no street lights, no sidewalks, no cars. Actually the road was 22 feet across, from North York to Emigsville not much for cars to pass.
Every morning six days a week we would wait for the truck to bring the papers from York that were delivered to Emigsville, Manchester, Mount Wolf and I guess York Haven. It was a precious cargo it could not get wet. There were 90 newspapers brother Gary and I had to deliver every morning and we were happy to do that.
I wasn’t aware that we were bringing the news of the world to Emigsville because everyone relied on the newspaper and the guys that were going to work in York they wanted their newspaper early and they wanted to read it before they went to work.
The newspaper to brother Gary and I were special because the newspaper went between the screen door and the regular door. The first thing you learned was that you did not slam the screen door at 5 O’clock in the morning. (laughing from audience) If you did you can bet someone would tell dad and dad would be right back to you.
The newspapers were used for everything…sometimes you shared them with the person next door. Can anybody help me with the price of the newspaper? (Voice from audience) Five cents.
I started to think about it. The newspaper was used for everything. Geraldine will tell me for sure. Mom lined the cupboards with newspaper. Newspapers were put in your peach basket, to put the things up in the attic. Mom used the newspapers in the pantry because when she had the canned items and the peaches and vegetables, you would put them on the newspaper with that date on it and then those were the ones that you would use first, the oldest date.
Mom would wash up the linoleum floor and then she would put newspaper on the floor after it was washed. It was just a ritual that everybody did. It kept the floor clean a day or two longer and then you would pick it up and so on.
NEXT: The properties of Emigsville
Story night on October 28, 2008 at St. Marks Lutheran Church. Please comment and add corrections and additions to the comment section below this post.
Total rain for the year was 37.6 inches
Highest temperature was 98 F degrees the first week of June.
Lowest temperature was 9 F degrees the third week of February
Rainiest month was May with 5.5 inches
Ray Emig, a resident of Emigsville in the in the 1940’s, is interviewed by George Hay Kain II. Please use the comment section below this entry to comment, help with the “?” or add to the stories.
Video and picture to post soon.
I was born Aug 11, 1932 in Violet Hill at the Church of the Brethren. I came to Emigsville when I was in the fifth grade when I was about nine or ten. When I come it was amazing to me. My parents were John and Maze? Emig. I had four brothers and two sisters. I had three brothers older and two sisters older, then it was me and my youngest brother Gale? I now live in Selbyville, Delaware.
There was two brothers that came from Germany, one was Valentine and the other was John Phillip Emig and he settled in Codorus Township. Now John Phillip was my great-grandfather, he had a son named Charles who was my grandfather and then my dad John.
Well my father was always a farmer and there was a fella by the name of Jay Witmer Emig contacted him that he really needed a farmer on this farm… the Emig farm and we ended up signing a contract and we farmed it until it went into the industrial park.If you come to the center of Emigsville, turn right at the Hess station, under the railroad tracks that is where the farm started. The farm was 145 acres. We were tenant farmers; we never owned the farm. We were related distantly, but we never really owned the farm.
Charlie Drawbaugh? was our teacher and there were two other teachers, I can’t remember their names. They sorta quizzed me on a few things - they didn’t happen to have a sixth grade so they put me right on through to the seventh grade. Well, I thought that was big time stuff, but later in I wished they wouldn’t have.
If dad had anything on the farm, you’d just write a note and you’d give it to the principal and he’d say well go head go on home and you were excused. There was no buses and sure remember you had to stamps for everything. (War savings stamps) If you wanted to eat you had stamps if you had to have gas you had to have stamp. Stamps for everything and it created a lot of black market if you weren’t careful.
What we used to do pretty much so in the evenings we come over, we start our evening at Stricks? gas station there was a fella named Mr Strickler?, he owned the gas station where it is now (Hess) and then there was a Krout, he fixed cars right below it. Mundis store on the other corner (HAFA Construction). We would all meet around and go from there. In the 1940’s.
There is a fella Lynn Hudson, Smoke Snelbaker. I always credit myself, he was a pretty good race driver you know….well he didn’t have a father and his family lived in them row houses next to the American Acme (current post office) and he spend more time with us than he did at home. Mom would always feed him one, maybe two meals a day and he be out in the field with us or whatever. I tell you how small he was. The bolt, the screw that holds the steering wheel on, he’s have to stand up and when he’d hit a bump his nose would hit that. It was a 1932 John Deere B tractor. I’s stand on the back of the draw bar run the clutch for him he’d steer it.
I really enjoyed it when we farmed. We milked 45 cows by hand. We had always farmed 10 acres of tobacco, 10-12 acres of tomatoes, and 10 acres of sage tea so it was all pretty labor intensive, but I enjoyed every bit of it. What I really enjoyed is the latter end of the tobacco crop. You’d have to hang it in the shed, let it dry and then after Thanksgiving on a nice rainy misty night you’d get as much as you could get into the tobacco cellar and keep it damp. Then you would have to strip it and size? it, bail it, and I still remember the snow would be blowing and we would be up there stripping and sizing? tobacco. a stove in there and we had neon? lights and we always had hot water and coffee and Bing Crosby playing on the radio and it was always a great time I just hated to go down and do the barn work in the evening.
A typical day on the Emig farm in the 1940’s: We get up at 5 in the morning and then we’d milk the cows and and feed em’ clean the stables out, re-bed them, then we’d go for breakfast. When you talk about eatin breakfast when you are done all that could you ever eat breakfast and the about 9 0′Clock you get back out and maybe turn the cattle out for a little exercise freshin up everything and if it was winter you’d tie em’ back in and if it was summer you’d turn them out to pasture.
Then you would start doing the field work. Then you would do that until about 4 O’Clock, then you’d have to bring the cattle back in milk em’, feed everything, about 7-7:30 you’d eat dinner.
Well you were so tired in the morning after staying out a little late but you know about 4 O’Clock in the afternoon you’d start feeling a little better and by 7-7:30 you were wondering what you were getting into that night.
Those cows had to be milked and fed even before you went to school. It’s a 24/7 thing you’d have to take turns at it if someone wanted a day off or two we’d just take turns at it. It was a wonderful way of life you never went hungry. I loved it.
Changes in Emigsville: The growth, everything seems to have taken off. But you know the old underpass you still have to wait til another car comes through. Lookin back at what I done when I was younger some of the things I can remember the first television I ever saw was Chauncy Shaffer? had an appliance store and there was a big world championship fight coming on, I think it was big Jersey Wolcott but wasn’t sure he put a televison out on his porch and he had about 3/4 of Emigsville just watching the fight.
I can sure remember my brother Roger was an artificial breeder (cows) for Atlantic breeds and he’d run about with as many as nine blow-out patches on his tires and he’d mix a little kerosene with the gas just so he could get to the farms to breed the animals. It was really tough in that respect.
I do remember very well (the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor). My mother come out, yelled to my dad and said come in here and they were around the radio and then they come out and told us kids and I can say they were both crying.
Franklin Roosevelt’s fireside chats: We’d listen to everyone one of them.
You wouldn’t travel far, maybe down to the Maryland line to visit family. That’s what it was back then it was wonderful. Every week it was somebody they come to our house for dinner or we’d go to their house for Sunday dinner and we need to get back to that in this world.
We went to York all the time. The first thing we had was a ‘38 Buick but we didn’t have that at Emigsville. I think a ‘37 Ford for sure. In 1949 my dad had a pretty good year it was a pretty good year for tobacco, wheat brought $4.25 and a loaf of bread was 17 cents, but that year he bought a New Holland bailer, brand new for $2,45 , he bought a ‘49 Chevrolet Deluxe four door sedan $2150. and a ? rake? for $500 and he still banked $300. He thought he had a great year.
You did a lot of bartering.
The band: My brother in-law still plays in it.. I can remember when they had their picnics, their carnivals. I remember when I thought my dad was just as tough as nails when they had that thing with the great big wooden hammer and you can ring that bell up there. And nobody could ring it and he went up and ring it three times. I thought he was tough but he just knew where to hit it.
Back then there was no diesels it was all coal fired engines and it was very, very busy. I can remember when there be as high as 100 cars on it and it’s up hill the whole way to Harrisburg till you get to Mount Wolf. And sometimes they get stuck. Sometimes you hear them chuckin, chuckin and all of a sudden chug, chug, chug, chugin the wheels would spin and he’d sit there and blow that whistle and 15-20 minutes later there’d a couple more engines come behind him and they’d push him up over.
Then about once every year they’d start the pasture with a spark coming out, the pasture would catch fire seemed every time that’s where the best grass was. If we couldn’t beat it out.. we’d use pitch forks.. if not we’d call the Emigsville Fire Company.
At Halloween we really had fun we’d start a month early. We could Halloween pretty good. You remember Herman Nace? well he lived on High Street and the pines were there you know, we get a nice fine little copper wire, somebody crawl up on his porch roof hooked this wire to his spouting and we’d have a big hunk of resin and we’d sit up there in the pines boy we’d serenade him till he couldn’t take it anymore, he’d call the police. The police couldn’t catch us we knew the pines a little better than they did. It was really all in good fun.
And sledding I can remember sledding on Sinking Springs Lane hill. O that is wonderful, was just wonderful. I can just remember sitting in school in Emigsville and there is an old German fella that come around with a huckster wagon. Had a horse pullin’ the wagon. He’d sell vegtables and fish and I can still heard him com up through. He’s start hollarin to the ladies, “Weeet yur tables, wet your tables, wet your tables, wet your tables”.
The school had three rooms and they didn’t have enough room for the sixth grade so if your smart enough you went to seventh and if you weren’t you stayed back in fifth another year. You could learn more than way than you could any other way. They just sorta had a knack of handling it. The first school I ever went to was a one room school house and i figured I learned as much in that as anywhere. If you got your grades worked on you could sit there and listen to all of them or if you missed something you could listen to the grade below you. I just thought it was a pretty good way of educating. It was good enough to educate a governor, George Leader. His family and my family were great friends. He just lived up over the hill at Leaders Heights from the New Fairview Church that’s where I was born.
I think it was some of the best years of my life George and I met a lot of good people and we just had an awful lot of fun.
Come out to story night Tuesday October 28 for Emigsville Roots part II at St. Mark Lutheran Church 3293 Broad Street.
Note the location which is not at the same location as previous story nights.
Click on place marks for location of St Mark Church, parking and the Emig Mansion
Shiloh Nurseries 19th Annual Fall Festival
Saturday — 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Sunday — 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
CURVIN KINDIG, JR - retired band member of the Emigsville Band for 50 years.
(note: this is transposed from audio files. If you can fill in any of the “?” below please comment below this text)
The first action of the Emigs Band was on June 28 1878… the charter was established and it was called the Emigsville Cornet Band. In Sept 6 1906, the band reorganized as the Acme Coronet Band before it was just the Emigsville Band.
At that time they bought uniforms also and usually in those days they bought the uniforms from the uniform company in Philadelphia. A fella came up, one of the representatives and measured each individual person and I know when you got the uniform it was usually a pretty good fit. Uniforms were required at that time.
On June 17th 1921 the band incorporates… on March 1, 1915 the initial land acquisition was from the Thelonius? Tract was purchased for $400 that is where the main band hall is sitting right now.
April 14 we purchased some more land from the Dacheux Tract but it doesn’t indicate how much more land was procured. I asked Jay Dashau? if he knew any of the That owned the property, said he didn’t know anything about it. Maybe his father knew but his father is pasted away a number of years ago.
In November 1918 the building of the Emigsville band was completed and dedicated on Thanksgiving day and the cost in those days was $1,800, actually it cost more than that because we had to ad the labor.
Then December 23 1926, the debt was liquidated, they burned the notes, so it took them eight years to pay off that $1,800.
In 1935 the band hall addition was completed, to the rear of the band hall they put in a kitchen because at that time we were serving a lot of turkey dinners and we thought we may need the parking area and we bought about 25-30 feet behind the band hall.
The kitchen was a fully equipped modern kitchen and the ladies auxiliary paid for that. They had money in the bank and just up and paid it
In 1939 we bought a little more land front eh Rishel Track…. in the 1940’s some of the land was used for Victory Gardens.
Then in 1948 the merit system was established as a method of compensation for the members
The Acme Coronet Band was around before ??? in York. The band first practiced in the boiler room of the American Acme located on North Main Street in Emigsville. The American Acme first produced 2 and 4 horse wagons for agricultural use, later sleighs and lawn furniture and later still bedroom furniture were built there.
There was an old building in Kreutz Creek that they demolished and arrangements were made to transport the building to Emigsville and the building was reconstructed as the home for the Acme Coronet Band. No one seems to know where that building was.
A local farmer used his team of mules and wagons to transport the disassembled structure to the site. In addition to using the band hall for band practice many other activities were conducted there. One of the first activities was band fair which as we knew it was a dance so we converted the band hall into a dance hall. The band played music and the dance began. It’s not known what type of music was played perhaps ???? or was it marches, or waltzes or ????
Band fair was held every Saturday night. The admission cost was 10 cents a person. Band fair was well attended. Many other functions were held at the band hall to support the band’s financial needs. These included elementary school programs, band concerts on Sunday afternoons, business shows, suppers, minstrel shows, shooting matches and worship services. The band hall was also used as a polling location.
Many former member of the Emigsville Band have become doctors, teachers and lawyers and attribute the friendship and associations for their successes.
The Emigsville Band provided entertainment for both Emigsville Church picnics. In those days the churches held their picnics in the first two Saturdays in June at Cold Springs Park near Manchester… Who remembers where that is.. or was? It’s now a housing development.
Typically we would start playing at 6:30pm, play for one hour then take a half hour break and come back and conclude playing at about 9 pm. The band was known for playing marches, polkas, light overtures and show tunes.
At the time the Acme Coronet Band was organized the identity of the director is not known. After the band moved into the band hall, however, Mr. William Eberly, a local York teacher, became the band teacher until his retirement.
The next band director was the Rev. Leon Desenberg, a member of this Church (Otterbein United Methodist) who served for about 50 years. After Rev. Leon Desenberg Became disabled his resignation was accepted and Mr Marlow? Ryan? served as director for about 40 years. After Mr. Ryan’s death his son became band director.
A clown show
In one occasion the Emigsville Band played for the Mount Pisgah United Methodist Church picnic near Sam Lewis State park. They went to their automobiles, dressed as clowns returned and then merged into the concert spectators Alvin Baker? … were natural clowns, everything they did they were funny guys. Alvin stook looking at a person looking for an extended period of time without smiling. He would walk up to you just stand and look at you and just not smile!
Clair Lehman? carried a market basket containing a live Rhode Island red chicken on his right arm Claire?? approached the dining area hoping to purchase a bowl of chicken corn soup. The dining room personal refused to serve him due to his appearance and the contents of his basket. Claire?? insisted that he be served, so they went back and forth. The dinning room personnel told him that if he didn’t leave they would call the police and have him removed. So I don’t think to this day the dining room personnel knew that it was all a big joke.
The Emigsville Band Christmas tradition
Every Christmas morning weather permitting the Acme Coronet Band would gather at the band hall to pick up music for traditional Christmas caroling. Starting about 8 a.m. The band would spread music cheer, Christmas cheer, by playing several selections on each street in the community.
Hurricane Hannah dumped 2.5 inches of rain on the Emigsville weather station.The rain rate maxed out at 3 inches an hour around noon Saturday.
Emigsville Roots Part I - The Emig Farm
On Tuesday, September 16 at 7pm -Otterbein United Methodist Church, 3241 N George St.,Emigsville
Ray E. (Jake) Emig was born the son of John and Mazie Emig on the Church of the Brethren Farm just below York along what is now I-83 on August 11, 1932. When Ray was 11 years old, the family moved to the Emig homestead just outside of Emigsville. Ray will talk about the Emig family and life in the village during that time period.
Ray will be traveling to from his current home in Selbyville, Delaware to tell his story.
Emigsville Roots Part II - History of the Emig Mansion
More information to come on this talk held at St Mark Lutheran Church with a luminary walk to the Emig Mansion nearby on October 28, 2008
Annual Community Yard Sale– July 18, 19 Call Janet for signs at 767-6245 in advance. If you were planning one, here is your chance to boost your traffic. We will be advertising in local newspapers.
A thanks for the folks at Hess for the additional dogs and buns for the community picnic.
People were nice enough not to remind me… 
… or maybe it would have been fixed it sooner if someone had. I have repaired the software issue with the data transfer to emigsville.org from the Emigsville weather station.
No data has been lost as collection continued during the period, it just no longer created tables and transferred them to the site.
All of the exciting Emigsville weather data that you might have missed since April/May is now updated and ready. We had 5.5 inches of rain in May!!.
