Following are summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and 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
ESHLEMAN DIES: Edwin D. Eshleman (left), retired congressman, state legislator, teacher and author, died at his Lancaster-area home after a long bout with cancer. He was 64. A Republican, Eshleman represented Lancaster County in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1977. He had earlier served 12 years in the state House. (Jan. 11, 1985)
SHOOTOUT: Two policemen were shot by a man who barricaded himself in a remote West Hempfield Township cabin. The suspect was killed in the shootout. The police officers, one from Columbia and one from East Hempfield Township, both recovered from their injuries. (Jan. 12, 1985)
MEDICARE: About 300 Lancaster County doctors and other health-care professionals agreed to accept Medicare’s fee schedule as full payment for all of their Medicare patients all of the time. The “Medicare participating physicians” were taking part in a new reimbursement program enacted as part of the 1984 Deficit Reduction Act. (Jan. 14, 1985)
OIL PRICES: Area consumers were enjoying home heating oil prices that were significantly lower than the year before. The cost of oil was averaging 99.9 cents a gallon locally, down from a high of nearly $1.25 a gallon the previous winter. (Jan. 16, 1985)
50 years ago
WESTERN BYPASS: The State Highways Department authorized a Camp Hill engineering firm to prepare construction blueprints for the western Route 230 bypass. Construction was expected to cost about $6 million. (Jan. 12, 1960)
BOTTLENECK: Traffic officials were studying ways to improve the bottleneck at the Lititz Pike bridge into the city. Under a new plan, all inbound traffic would turn right from the bridge onto McGovern Avenue. At the same time, Lititz Pike between Liberty Street and McGovern Avenue would become one-way north. (Jan. 14, 1960)
LITITZ JAIL: Lititz officials were weighing a tax increase to help pay for a new borough jail. The two-cell jail was expected to cost about $5,000, which was $400 more than what 1 mill of property tax brought in. On average, the borough was using its jail only about 12 times a year. But having the facility saved police from having to drive suspects to the county prison, which would have left the borough unprotected when only one officer was on duty. (Jan. 16, 1960)
75 years ago
NEW CRUISER: City police began making rounds in a new, sleek black cruising automobile equipped with tear-gas bombs and a sawed-off shotgun capable of firing tear-gas shells. Radio equipment and a high-powered rifle were to be added later. (Jan. 11, 1935)
GARVIN SPEAKS: M.T. Garvin, 74, spoke to employees of his downtown department store at a dinner marking the 60th anniversary of his business and civic career in Lancaster. A Democrat, Garvin spoke with enthusiasm about the New Deal programs undertaken by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. “I am not a prophet,” Garvin said. “Perhaps Mr. Roosevelt cannot tell exactly where we are going, but the experiments he is trying are planned for that new direction — that new nation — and out of them will grow better conditions than we have ever known. At present, there are a great many people who are too rich and a great many people who are too poor. Somehow we must rearrange that condition so that the wealth of our nation will be divided more equally among all our people; so that all will have enough to live plus a security for old age; so that life will not be full of fear and worry.” (Jan. 11, 1935)
INAUGURATION: Hundreds of Lancaster Democrats traveled to Harrisburg for the inauguration of George H. Earle as Pennsylvania’s first Democratic governor in 40 years. (Jan. 16, 1935)
100 years ago
RIVER ICE: Winter sports on the thick ice of the Susquehanna River were further heightened by some excellent horse races. A crowd estimated at 1,000, including skaters and spectators, gathered on a Wednesday afternoon. Four men were out with the horses and cutters, and there were a number of fine races across the river. (Jan. 13, 1910)
HALLEY’S COMET: Halley’s Comet was sighted at the Daniel Scholl observatory of Franklin & Marshall College by Dr. A. Thomas G. Appel. The comet, visible every 75 to 76 years, was west and south of the planet Mars and was a pale circle of hazy light. It was expected to be visible in the evening sky here in late May and June. (Jan. 17, 1910)
