Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They 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
HEAT WAVE: A rare end-of-December heat wave burned record-high temperatures into Lancaster County's weather books and propelled startled county residents outdoors to wash cars, play golf and just bask in the sunshine. The temperature hit 76 degrees on Dec. 29, making it one of the warmest winter days ever recorded here. (Dec. 29, 1984)
ONLINE: Jerry A. Shenk, 24, of Bird-in-Hand, was operating Lancaster's first 24-hour computer bulletin board, providing services to more than 900 callers who used it to swap games and data in the system's first two months. (Dec. 29, 1984)
CHILD SEATS: Local police were preparing to shift from warnings to $42.50 fines for violations of Pennsylvania's "Child Passenger Protection Law." The law, passed in October 1983, required that children under age 4 be secured in an approved safety restraint when riding in motor vehicles. (Dec. 31, 1984)
FATAL FIRE: A 37-year-old woman died and a 2-year-old girl was critically injured in a fire that swept through all three floors of a home in the 200 block of Juniata Street. Thirteen other people, including five city firefighters and two citizen rescuers, suffered injuries. (Jan. 2, 1985)
RETIREMENT: Officer William E. Humbel, a 25-year city police veteran who was known as the department's "ambassador of good will on North Queen Street," retired from the force. Humbel, 48, was a downtown foot patrolman for most of his career. His beat included the first block of North Queen Street, where he could often be seen talking to shoppers and businessmen, giving directions to confused motorists and investigating shoplifting complaints. (Jan. 3, 1985)
50 years ago
VANDALS: A gang of vandals went on a window-shooting spree at homes south and west of Lancaster city, taking potshots at storm doors and picture windows with air guns. It was the second such spree here in less than a week. (Dec. 28, 1959)
RUSTY WATER: City officials announced plans to implement a regular hydrant-flushing program in an effort to end incidents of "rusty water" that ruined laundry and added a bad taste to area drinking supplies. The city's water superintendent said the problem was caused by difficulties with a lime machine. The lime was used to keep iron oxide from flaking off the insides of water mains. Officials said the water was safe to drink, but acknowledged it stained laundry and tasted bad. (Dec. 30, 1959)
DEMOCRAT WINS: A 37-year reign of all-Republican councils in Christiana was coming to an end. William M.R. Fieles, a well-known antiques dealer and longtime treasurer of the Christiana Fire Company, was scheduled to be sworn in as the borough's first Democratic councilman since 1922. "All I can say is that a lot of Republican friends voted for me," Fieles said when asked how he won election. (Dec. 30, 1959)
BIG PURCHASE: A former Lancaster man paid $2 million for the 530-acre Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney estate in Old Westbury, Long Island, with plans to develop it into an elaborately appointed residential club. Norman Blankman, 40, was a New York real estate operator who graduated from Lancaster Boys' High School in 1937 and lived here until the late 1940s. (Dec. 31, 1959) (According to a 1996 article in the New York Times, Blankman's plans fell through because of local opposition. Blankman sold the main house and 190 acres to a group of entrepreneurs who opened the Westbury Golf and Country Club in 1962.)
75 years ago
KIDS RESCUED: Four small children, locked on the second floor of their Strasburg home by their drink-crazed father, were rescued by police who crashed their way into the barricaded first floor and arrested the man. Though armed with a shotgun and two rifles, the man surrendered without a fight. (Dec. 31, 1934)
NICKEL HOAX: An 11-year-old Spruce Street girl made up a story about swallowing a nickel so she would not have to return to school after the Christmas vacation. She admitted the hoax after a hospital X-ray showed no sign of the coin. (Jan. 1, 1935)
HITCHHIKER: James A. McGowan, 75-year-old "world-champion hitchhiker," arrived in Lancaster from Pittsburgh to visit his nephew, W.E. Alexander of 652 New Holland Ave. McGowan, a burgess and former auctioneer from Prospect, had traveled more than 110,000 miles and estimated that he had received at least 4,000 rides as a hitchhiker. (Jan. 2, 1935)
CRIME DOWN: Crime decreased sharply in Lancaster city in 1934, according to the police chief's annual report. The report showed 1,027 arrests, compared with 1,485 in 1933 and 1,969 in 1932. City firefighters, meanwhile, responded to 284 calls during the year, including 35 false alarms. (Jan. 3, 1935)
100 years ago
TROLLEY TALE: A Coatesville man, along with a motorman and a conductor, spent two nights in a Conestoga Traction Company trolley car that got stuck in a snowstorm on its way to Lancaster. The man was the only passenger when the car got stuck in a drift a mile from Parkesburg. The next day, the car was able to creep to within a mile of Christiana before it went off the track and got stuck in a culvert. (Dec. 29, 1909)
COMBS EXPLODE: A 50-year-old East King Street woman died from burns after she threw a match on a bureau and it ignited two celluloid combs, which exploded from the heat and lit her nightdress on fire. (Dec. 29, 1909)
ROBBED AGAIN: The grocery store of J.C. Leaman, 44 S. Queen St., was robbed by a thief who took $60 from the safe while the store was closed for the weekend. The intruder had used a skeleton key to open the front door, then worked out the combination on the safe. It was the second time in a year that the store was robbed. (Jan. 3, 1910)