A timeline of events that help tell York County’s story

(This is Part 2 of a timeline of York County history. Part 1 providing glimpses of the 18th and 19th centuries, “A brief historical sketch helps make sense of a complex York County,” was published on June 30.)

In its 275 years, stories, big and small, connect to shape York County’s larger story.

Some are complex and compelling. Others just tell about simple everyday life. Some are painful, but often redemptive. Some bring humor and others are simply terrible.

So to set a type of baseline for York County’s 275th birthday in August and national anniversaries later in the decade, we’re sharing Part 2 of this timeline of York County’s past focusing on the 20th and 21st centuries. This comes from my soon-to-be-released expanded and updated book “Never to be Forgotten,” published in partnership with the York County History Center and York Daily Record/Sunday News.

And now, this sampling of moments with historical meaning:

1918-1919: It is the worst of times heaped atop other bad times in the World War I era. Soldiers from some families of German heritage in York County are fighting against family members back home. The Pennsylvania Dutch homes are held in suspicion because of their German ties. In fighting in European fields and trenches, 197 York County residents lose their lives. Then comes the deadly Spanish flu, which killed hundreds of county residents and sickened thousands. When the pandemic wanes, the county enters the 1920s ready to further its reputation as an American leader in the making of things.

1929: The three Hex Murder Trials, called America's most notorious witchcraft cases since Salem, ends with the conviction of three defendants accused of killing an innocent farmer, Nelson Rehmeyer. The victim, a practitioner of a form of folk healing called powwowing, had been suspected of practicing witchcraft on at least two of the defendants. The proceedings show medieval superstitions exist in local culture at a time when the county's industrial power is reaching new heights.

1931: The Great Migration of Black people from the rural South to York County is marked with at least two major developments. The founding of Crispus Attucks Community Center provides social, recreational and educational services to Black people in a time when some public services were off limits to them. And two segregated schools go up in York: Aquilla Howard and Smallwood. Further, federal policies in the Great Depression prove detrimental to Black people, both longtime residents and newcomers. Redlining and deed restrictions make it difficult for Black and low-income families to better themselves in housing.

1939: The last trolley runs on a once far-flung, 85-mile network. The popularity of automobiles and buses contributes to the demise of these streetcars. Trolleys fostered suburbanization as housing grew along their electrified lines but paled in comparison to the impact of automobiles in enabling residents to travel from rural homes to York city and towns throughout York County.

1941: Three difficult moments collide as a new decade begins. County residents face myriad challenges with the Great Depression still in play and a polio epidemic that takes at least nine lives. Scores fall prey to the disease and recover. Then at year’s end comes the advent of World War II with the attack on Pearl Harbor. The war ended the Great Depression, a time of financial and social strife, to be sure. The depression did more than pinch York County, as some have suggested. It punched. Still, there were silver linings: York Little Theatre, York Symphony Orchestra, Martin Library and other community icons opened to provide diversions from these challenges.

1941-45: World War II highlights considerable sacrifices and achievements by York County’s people, a moment some remember as the county’s finest. The York Plan coordinates industries to back Allies in World War II. Rabbi Alexander Goode, Army chaplain, dies a hero in the sinking of the S.S. Dorchester and is counted among the county's 570 war dead. Gen. Jacob Devers, a York native, helps lead the Allied invasion of Europe.

1951: Susquehannock High School opens, an example of 50 modern, multi-classroom buildings constructed by consolidated school districts in those postwar years. One-room schools, which peaked at about 350 in the 1920s, are phased out. County schools are organized into 16 districts.

1952: Caterpillar Inc. builds a factory in Springettsbury Township that creates steady, relatively high-wage manufacturing jobs for decades. Cat closed most of its operations in York in 1997.

1955: Massive Haines Acres in Springettsbury Township is built tract by tract, and the York County Shopping Center opens nearby. York city reaches its capacity in population early this decade and lacks building space. Later in the decade, the retail base starts eroding in York and other downtowns throughout the county.

1959: The influx of Spanish-speaking people in York County is so extensive that the Rev. Andrew Meluskey is appointed at York’s St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church to minister to these newcomers. By 1980, this Latino group forms a congregation at the former Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church on East South Street. This parish becomes the Cristo Salvador congregation. The Greek community, in York since at least the turn of the 20th century, had grown enough to support a new church in suburban York Township. Today, a growing Latino population stands as the county’s largest nonwhite population.

1960-1992: York County loses 30% of its farmland to suburban growth, and the use of land for nonagricultural purposes passes the 50% mark for the first time. Migration from Maryland and elsewhere makes the county's population growth among the state's highest.

1968: The first four-year majors are made available to students at York College. The college, thus, becomes the first four-year institution of higher learning in county history. In contrast, Lancaster County hosts at least three four-year colleges for decades.

1968-70: Two summers of racial unrest result in two deaths, scores of injuries and armored vehicles patrolling the streets of a burning York. A charrette in 1970, a type of civic group therapy, brings the community together in search of solutions and contributes to the end of widespread violence. Assailants in the two deaths are brought to justice 30 years later. The racial violence and Tropical Storm Agnes accelerate suburbanization of businesses and residents.

1970-2024: The race riots disrupt entrenched ideas and leadership in York County. Women and minorities make gains in status and influence. Women are elected to county posts, the York and Hanover mayoral offices, and state legislative seats. York selects a Black police chief, and women and minorities gain seats on prestigious boards and memberships in social clubs.

1972: Tropical Storm Agnes brings death and destruction to York County. The county suffered devastating floods in 1817, 1884 and 1933, but the community is unprepared for the magnitude of Agnes' rage and devastation. In its wake, rebuilding projects — compared to a demolition mindset of the 1960s — spark a Back to the City movement in York that furthered an environment of change.

1950-1989: One by one, out-of-town corporations acquire privately owned local businesses. In 1989, the sale of York Peppermint Patties, an internationally known local icon, is among the most visible. A later sale to Hershey Foods Corp. results in the relocation of candy-making operations to Reading and still later to Mexico. Meanwhile, numerous smaller, local plants and machine shops open and some private businesses reposition themselves.

1991: Racially charged disturbances erupt over two summer days in Hanover when about a dozen motorcyclists challenge a racially mixed group of about 40 young people on the square. The next night, an estimated crowd of 500 residents confront a racially mixed group gathered in a building at Chestnut and Carlisle streets. In response, Hanover United, made up of pastors, congregations and other community members, reaffirms positive attitudes toward equality, nondiscrimination and cultural diversity in the community.

1993-1997: The Golden Venture runs aground off the New York coast, and some of its passengers of undocumented Chinese immigrants ends up in the York County Prison. A diverse group, itself a sign of ongoing change, embraces the county's newest residents, jailed for more than three years without formal charges until their release. An expanding county prison becomes a center for detaining undocumented immigrants.

2000-2020: After the major celebration of York County’s 250th anniversary in 1999, the first 20 years of the new century brings sobering criminal and high-profile civil proceedings. Perhaps the anticipated Y2K bug took another form. For example, trials bring justice in two race riot-era murders. School violence strikes York County with a machete attack on students and administrators in a Red Lion elementary school. That is followed by a fatal shooting of a junior high principal by a student in Red Lion. Twenty-five military men in uniform with county ties die in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and eight more are killed in the next decade. In civil court, two highly controversial cases are decided. A bitter land-use dispute between the York County commissioners and Lower Windsor Township landowners results in the creation of Native Lands and Highpoint county parks. And a federal court judge rules against the Dover Area School District in a case involving the district’s plan to add intelligent design language to science curricula.

2007: The first pitch in the York Revolution’s home opener is thrown at the new Sovereign Bank Stadium on June 15. It is the first time in about 38 years that a professional team played regular season pro ball in York. In Independent League action, the York Revolution loses 15-8. But the score is secondary to the main point of the evening. Pro ball is back and with it a sense of promise and community pride.

2009: York College is engaged in buying a site, the former Schmidt & Ault paper mill, that loaned its name to King's Mill Road. Paper has been made here since John Adams served as president. Container board millwork ends in 2000, and it's now a deteriorating reminder of a once-flourishing heavy industrial sector of the York area. But in the larger view, it's Exhibit A showing how York County's — and America's — industries are giving way to the information age. What will become York College’s Knowledge Park is replacing the industrial era, an old paper mill. The transition is taking place across York County, as old factories are being converted into apartments where residents on computers are doing work for companies in the county and beyond. WellSpan, UPMC and other health care systems are becoming the county’s largest employers. Further, in the 2010s, York College operates Marketview Arts and the former Lafayette Club in York, turning inclusive social clubs into community outreach initiatives.

2015: The Mount Rose interchange project begins and is completed seven years later. The work to relieve bottlenecks and reduce crashes is expected to take three years. The project is marked by delays. With humor and frustration, the public takes notice of the drawn-out project. The entire interstate from the Maryland line to Harrisburg took about a decade to complete, starting in 1950, with ribbon cutting in 1959. Workers embarked on another Interstate 83 project earlier in the 21st century: Dead Man’s Curve in the Leader’s Height area of York Township. That project took three years to complete.

2020s: Difficult 21st-century moments come amid developments that are helping revive York’s downtown and York County’s economy, both impacted by a paradigm change that economic growth could come by investing in place. This is a preservation mindset rather than the long-held development view. Creatives and recreationists come to be seen as economic drivers, as York County pulls through the rocky COVID-19 pandemic. Further, in 2024 through decade’s end, a confluence of major anniversaries will intersect with the projected completion of more than 40 history and cultural projects. York County’s 275th anniversary is the first celebration on the calendar.

Jim McClure is a retired editor of the York Daily Record and has authored or co-authored nine books on York County history. Reach him at jimmcclure21@outlook.com .

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: A timeline of events that help tell York County’s story