EPISODE 5.11 REBOOT - Strand Theatre at 100: Hometown History hosts an evening of memory sharing at the Appell Center

Young John Andrews arrived at York’s Strand Theatre early on a Thursday in late August 1925 equipped with a newspaper, a magazine, a lunch box and a soapbox to rest his feet. The Yorker was there about 12 hours in advance of opening night for the brand-new North George Street theatre and silent movie house. His goal was to get a free season pass for a year as the first patron to purchase a Strand ticket. After a day’s wait he met his goal, becoming of the first of thousands to walk under the theater’s marquee in the next century. Here we tell about who performed on the Strand stage, how the venue reflected an ever-changing York County and how the residents rallied twice in the past 50 years to make this glittering place for fun and entertainment.

Hometown History Episode 5.7: Hellam Township’s Mifflin House and its American Revolution, Underground Railroad and Civil War legacy PART 2

About a decade ago, a developer turned the ignition on plans to demolish Hellam Township’s Mifflin House and build a warehouse on the farm that surrounded it. That, in turn, ignited a grassroots protest that grew into a roaring engine of resistance from preservation professionals and government officials, who saw the historic and cultural significance of this early 1800s stone Quaker home atop a knoll overlooking the Susquehanna. After a compromise, Susquehanna National Heritage Area ended with the prize, and is developing plans of its own for an Underground Railroad center in the old stone house, a Susquehanna Discovery Center in its barn and establishment of a museum of Susquehanna River art on its grounds. Meanwhile, work is underway to understand the property’s Confederate and Union links to the Battle of Wrightsville that raged in the town below. In May, the first members of the public stepped onto the property as part of organized tours of the Mifflin House and its surrounding fields. Hometown History’s Jamie Noerpel and Dominish Marie Miller tell the story of those who made history on this historic land and those telling that story today.

Hometown History Episode 5.7: Hellam Township’s Mifflin House and its American Revolution, Underground Railroad and Civil War legacy PART 2

About a decade ago, a developer turned the ignition on plans to demolish Hellam Township’s Mifflin House and build a warehouse on the farm that surrounded it. That, in turn, ignited a grassroots protest that grew into a roaring engine of resistance from preservation professionals and government officials, who saw the historic and cultural significance of this early 1800s stone Quaker home atop a knoll overlooking the Susquehanna. After a compromise, Susquehanna National Heritage Area ended with the prize, and is developing plans of its own for an Underground Railroad center in the old stone house, a Susquehanna Discovery Center in its barn and establishment of a museum of Susquehanna River art on its grounds. Meanwhile, work is underway to understand the property’s Confederate and Union links to the Battle of Wrightsville that raged in the town below. In May, the first members of the public stepped onto the property as part of organized tours of the Mifflin House and its surrounding fields. Hometown History’s Jamie Noerpel and Dominish Marie Miller tell the story of those who made history on this historic land and those telling that story today.