Following are summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era. This column appears on page B1 of the printed newspaper each Monday. The items are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster County Library, 125 N. Duke St.

25 years ago

SCHOOL SALE: The 98-year-old North Star School, one of the last two publicly owned one-room schoolhouses in Lancaster County, was being put up for sale at public auction. The Lampeter-Strasburg School District had closed the school in 1983 due to declining enrollment. Students were transferred to the Walnut Run School, which was the last one-room public school in L-S and was believed to be last one in the county. (Oct. 2, 1984) (Note: Walnut Run closed in 1994. At that time, it was believed to be the last one-room public school in the state. It is now a museum.)

AVIAN FLU: Gov. Dick Thornburgh lifted an 11-month-old avian influenza quarantine in Lancaster and four other counties, erasing the most visible reminder of the mysterious disease that had crippled the huge poultry industry here. The action gave the county’s farmers a clean bill of health and enabled them to transport and trade in poultry products without restriction. (Oct. 4, 1984)

50 years ago

DETOUR: About 400 East Lampeter Township school children had to get off their school buses, walk across a small bridge and wait for the buses to pick them up on the other side. That was because the bus routes crossed two bridges with load limits less than the total weight of a bus full of school children. The bridges were on Witmer Road and East Brook Road, both just south of Old Philadelphia Pike. (Sept. 29, 1959)

FLUORIDE: In a 3-2 vote, City Council approved fluoridation of the city’s water supply. The vote followed an hour-long debate during which 22 laymen, doctors and public health officials spoke for and against the move. Proponents said the overwhelming weight of evidence was on their side — that fluoridation was a perfectly safe, efficient and effective way to reduce tooth decay. Opponents said it was dangerous, would discolor teeth, and that fluoridation was undemocratic because it imposed the will of the minority on the majority. (Sept. 29, 1959)

URBAN RENEWAL: Three out of every four buildings in the city’s first urban renewal area were “sub-standard,” the Lancaster Redevelopment Authority told the federal government. The triangular area contained 48.9 acres bounded by Duke, Dauphin and Ann streets. Of the 379 buildings in that area, the city proposed to demolish 98 structures, rehabilitate 191 and leave 90 untouched. (Sept. 29, 1959)

SPEED TRAPS: City police were preparing to operate their first speed traps. “We intend to do everything we can to apprehend the speeding motorist,” said Chief William B. Hershner. (Oct. 1, 1959)

75 years ago

GATE CRASHERS: A football “pep parade” held by Franklin & Marshall College students disintegrated at its first stop, at Queen and Chestnut streets, when at least 100 of the participants dashed out of line and crashed the gates at the Capitol Theatre. (Sept. 29, 1934)

AUTOMAT BOOZE: City police discovered an ingenious automat system of bootlegging at 3 Yanko Court, between Howard Avenue and Locust Street. Liquor purchasers would place a bottle and some money in a dumb-waiter, and a man upstairs would fill the bottle from a keg and send it back down to the buyer. The door was locked, and if anyone tried to get in there was ample time to dump the liquor in the upstairs bathroom. (Sept. 29, 1934)

BUSY BRIDGE: Nearly 1 million vehicles used the Lancaster-York Inter-County bridge between Columbia and Wrightsville from Oct. 1, 1933, to Oct. 1, 1934, the bridge’s superintendent reported. Drivers of the vehicles paid $323,050 in tolls. The bridge had opened in late 1930. (Oct. 3, 1934)

100 years ago

FULTON FETED: Aviators Wilbur Wright and Glenn H. Curtiss participated in a large-scale celebration in New York to mark two famous events. The festivities commemorated the 1609 discovery of the Hudson River by Henry Hudson, and the 1807 trip by Lancaster County native Robert Fulton in his steamboat, “The Clermont.” During the festivities, Wright made two flights each of about five miles. He circled the Statue of Liberty and waved to passengers on boats below. (Sept. 29, 1909)