As you probably know, the Intelligencer Journal and New Era will merge on Monday.
You can read today’s story, with the details and historical context, by clicking here.
The Eras Past column will continue, under the new title Flashback Lancaster. It will draw on the archives of both newspapers and run on page B1 on Mondays.

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From the Dec. 14, 1933, New Era:

The cute little ad above caught my eye while I was scrolling through microfilm of newspapers from 1933.
I knew that the intersection of routes 272 and 772 in Brownstown is known as “Schaum’s Corner,” but I didn’t know the history of the name or the skating auditorium.
Thanks to some earlier digging […]

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One of the most interesting historical sites I’ve ever visited is the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in my hometown of New York. It’s a time capsule that offers a glimpse into the very crowded and difficult lives of immigrants of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
I was there a couple of years ago, and I highly recommend […]

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Ever wonder what those historic mansions along Marietta Avenue, just west of the Lancaster City line, look like inside?

You can get your chance from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19, when the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County sponsors an architectural history tour of six of them.
Homes on the tour are at 1020 Marietta, 1022 Marietta, […]

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The company that has been offering the popular “Ghost Tour of Strasburg” has added a “Ghost Tour of Lancaster” this Halloween season.
“We’re all about the research when we plan our tours,” Tim Reeser, one of the tour company’s managers, told the Intelligencer Journal. “We look at old newspaper clippings, research local folklore and mysteries to appeal […]

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The Lancaster County Historical Society offers two interesting events this weekend.
On Friday, Oct. 17, the society opens its regional history colloquium with a talk by Dr. G. Terry Madonna of Franklin & Marshall College. He’ll discuss Pennsylvania’s role as a key battleground state in the 2008 election. Refreshments at 4 p.m., followed by the presentation.
On Saturday, […]

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I’ve been thinking about James Hamilton lately, and how I’d like to thank him.
When he laid out Lancaster in the 18th century, he made it an eminently walkable little city. The town grew into a nice grid system, two miles square, with small, narrow building lots. Its residents have been benefiting from that walkability ever since.
I’ve been enjoying […]

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 Watt & Shand, then and now
With the construction of the new Marriott hotel on Penn Square, I thought it would be interesting to illustrate the changing view from below. The photo at left was taken a few years ago, before the hotel and convention center project began. I walked out into Penn Square with my […]

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