10 Years Ago

Thursday’s Record Express
September 5, 1996
• Benjamin’s Oregon Adventure - Hiking up a 70-degree slope, shovel in hand. Visibility often 10 feet or less. Choking on smoke, dirt and dust for up to 14 hours a day. Then it’s back to camp to clean the black snot from your nose and throat, grab a quick meal, some sleep, wake up and do it again.

It may not be the typical summer vacation to the West Coast, but when Oregon is on fire, the Cascade Mountain Range become Club Med for Lititz firefighter Tom Benjamin.

Benjamin, who lives in Brunnerville with his wife, Janet, returned last week following 14 days of battling a rash of fires that have been ravaging thousands of acres of old growth in the Willamette National Forest. He was part of a 20-man crew that represented the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry’s Department of Conservation and National Resources.

• Lititz Snubs Rock Concert - Summer’s End might be coming to an end in Lititz.

Organizers were happy with the final results of their first attempt at running a fund-raising alternative rock concert. Park Board President Tom Sexton said he was happy with how smoothly things ran as nine acts performed for an estimated 700 teenagers and young adults throughout the day. Hired security was happy with how well-behaved most of the kids were.

So with all this happiness in the air, why are organizers of this charity fest considering Long’s Park in Lancaster for Summer’s End II?

Lack of community support.

• Zero Tolerance for DUI - A 17-year-old Lititz man became the first arrested in the township for DUI under the Commonwealth’s new “zero tolerance” law, on Labor Day.
He was stopped near Arrowhead Drive and Coventry Lane around 11:30 p.m. Sept. 2 by Warwick Township Police Officer Rick Rhinier. The teenager was given a blood alcohol test, which determined his count to be at .037 percent.

Previously, drivers would have to have a blood alcohol count of at least .10 percent or higher before being charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.

• Ephrata Keeps Male Trophy - Despite a strong game by Warwick’s defense, it wasn’t enough for the Warriors in their season opener, as too many mistakes proved costly in a 6-3 loss to Ephrata on Joseph Grosh Field last Friday.
The Mountaineers win enabled them to retain the George Male Trophy, which is annually presented to the winner of this rivalry. Warwick hasn’t won the Male Trophy since 1989, although three of the last five meetings have now been decided by just a field goal, and one other one resulted in a tie.

The Warriors actually had a slight edge in total yardage (184-171) behind the running of tailback Russell Burkett, who gained 128 yards on 22 carries. But they were unable to capitalize on their opportunities.

20 Years Ago

Thursday’s Record Express
September 4, 1986
• Concerned About Traffic - The Lititz Borough Planning Commission is looking forward to an update of the borough’s comprehensive plan, beginning no later than January of the new year.

Grant Smith, commission vice chairman, stressed that the new main areas of concern in the borough are traffic and the few tracts of land left to develop.
Costs of the project will range from $10,000 to $23,000.

• Baby Driver - About noon on Labor Day, 18-month-old Joshua Kreider, son of Mr. and Mrs. Larry Kreider of Lexington Road, escaped from his house and managed to climb into the family van, which was parked at the top of the Kreiders’ steep driveway.

In the finest toddler tradition, Joshua managed to get the van rolling down the steep grade. The vehicle slid across the yard and down a brush-covered embankment, where it came to rest right-side-up in the weeds at the bottom of the hill, just a few feet from the main thoroughfare.

Meanwhile, Adam Buckwalter, 11, who lives across the street from the Kreiders, saw the van as it came to rest and thought someone had run off the roadway.

In a moment, the quick youngster had run over to check on the situation and, hearing Joshua crying, retrieved the boy from the van.

Adam returned Joshua, unhurt, to his grateful parents, who had just begun to search for the missing child.

• Varsity Soccer - The sport of soccer has been elevated to varsity status at Warwick and the team will be looking for fans to attend their games.

In order to help fans understand the sport, coach Keith Parke has supplied some basic rules and information to the Record. Here is one of them: Soccer has some similarities to football in that both require 11 players on a side, two goals, and that both have an offense and a defense.

• Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood - A production crew from “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood,” the popular children’s show on public television, was recently on location at the Badorf Shoe Co. in Lititz to tape a segment about how shoes are made.

30 Years Ago

Thursday’s Record Express
September 9, 1976
• New Teachers Contract - Members of the Warwick School Board and the Warwick Education Association both ratified a new three-year teachers contract Tuesday, paving the way for the opening of Warwick schools today (Thursday). Teachers reported to work Wednesday.

The action ended several weeks of fluctuation over the opening dates for school.

• Luther Townhomes - Luther Townhome Apartments, a dream for many years and an ongoing project two years in construction, will become a reality Sunday, Sept. 19, on the grounds of Luther Acres, the residential care community in Lititz sponsored by Lutheran Social Services’ East Region.
The four-story structure contains 96 living units which may be purchased or rented.

• Marching With Miss America - The award-winning Warwick High School band, in another first for the unit, marched in the Miss America pageant parade, Tuesday, Sept. 7, in Atlantic City. According to Dale Weller, band director, the band received an invitation from parade officials last January, accepted it and then parents had to raise about $2,000 for the trip.

In the past four years, the band has won more than 21 first place awards in field and parade competition.

40 Years Ago

Thursday’s Record Express
September 8, 1966
• New Township Building - The Warwick Township supervisors are advertising for bids on a proposed new township building to be erected on Clay Road, north of the railroad tracks, east of Lititz.

The bids will be opened on Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the office of Isaac Stoner, Owl Hill Road, Lititz, secretary of the board of supervisors.

• First Day of School - Schoolbells clanged out yesterday for approximately 3,450 children in the Warwick School District, some of whom were seen crowding into the temporary headquarters of the Lutheran Education Building.
There are mainly youngsters who will attend the Kissel Hill School when it is completed in January.

Final enrollment figures will not be available until Monday, according to Supervising Principal G. Marlin Spaid, who said the first day of school went off smoothly with a minimum of confusion. All teaching positions are filled and 38 new teachers were ready back at their desks for a new onslaught of pupils.

• Sutter Coffee Shop - The coffee shop at the Sutter Inn will reopen, probably next week, as it was reported by the management yesterday.

50 Years Ago

Thursday’s Record Express
September 6, 1956
• New High School - Classes will be conducted in the new Warwick High School building starting September 17, but only on a very limited basis, Elwyn L. Jordan, resident engineer, announced yesterday.

In announcing the progress made this week, Jordan emphasized that the public should not get any misapprehensions regarding the type of building the district is obtaining.

“The quality of workmanship and materials in this building are superior and far above average,” he said.

• Debut of Warrior Football - Head Coach George Male’s Warwick Warriors open another football season this Saturday afternoon at Red Lion, and Mr. Male is well pleased with the prospects of a victory over the Lions and a successful season ahead.

• ‘Jossie’ Struck by Lightning - Joshua “Jossie” Rollman, veteran drayman, narrowly escaped death on Saturday afternoon when struck by a bolt of lightning while working on one of his tractors.

He said that he had just reached for the gear lever while standing alongside of the tractor, when there was a simultaneous flash, crash and blackness.

The bolt left a burned area from the hip all the way down the leg, about two inches in width.

Labor Day morning found Jossie back on the job, picking up freight for local business houses.

• New Super Market - A large super market will be built along South Broad Street, near the borough line.

Work on the market is expected to be started within the next two weeks. The super market will be owned and operated by David Heistand, of Lancaster, presently affiliated with the
Lancaster Wholesale Grocery Company.

• Lambert-Hudnut Factory - The last truckload of equipment for the Lambert-Hudnut Manufacturing Laboratories arrived here from New York yesterday.

• Icelandic Visitors - Mrs. Bert Heidig, 151 New St., this past weekend experienced the thrill of showing Lancaster County tobacco and corn crops to visitors from Iceland who had never seen either crop under cultivation, and also treated them to their first pretzels.

The friendship began when Mrs. Heidig’s brother, CS3 Roger Rollman, was stationed in Iceland with the U.S. Navy and met the Icelanders, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Magnussen, and the daughter, Anna.

Magnussen is a linguist by profession and can speak nine languages. While here, he said a knowledge of Holland Dutch and German made it possible for him to learn Pennsylvania Dutch easily.

60 Years Ago

Thursday’s Record Express
September 5, 1946
• Disastrous Fire - The plight of a local family that lost all of its possessions in a disastrous fire in a cottage on Monday brought forth a spontaneous flow of contributions from persons in all walks of life here.

The sufferers are Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred Erb and their four small children, whose home located between Hopeland and Kleinfeltersville was completely destroyed by fire. Members of the family escaped with only their clothing, while all their possessions were consumed by flames, including a quantity of cash that was in their home.

• Law Office - Announcement was made this week by Richard A. Snyder, a former serviceman who has been practicing law in Lancaster, that he will be opening up an office on 33 S. Broad St., Lititz.

• Bird Club - Color pictures of owls will be featured in a talk by Barton L. Sharp, at the first meeting this fall of the Lititz Bird Club in the Nature Den of the Lititz Recreation Center.

• 100th Anniversary - The 100th anniversary of the first-recorded pastoral act of the Jerusalem Lutheran Church of Rothsville will be observed on Sept. 5. Old records of the church start with the baptism of a baby on Aug. 16, 1846.

70 Years Ago

Thursday Morning’s Record
September 10, 1936

• Lititz Golf Tournament - The medal prize in the qualifying play of the Lititz Golf Tournament was won by Guy Reidenbaugh of Second Avenue, conceded to be one of the hardest driving players in town. Guy also came through in the first round of the playoff with colors flying, defeating Robert Weaver 7 and 6.

• Hudson River Excursion - About fifty people from Lititz left early Sunday morning on the Reading Company excursion to New York and up the Hudson River. They were accompanied by O.K. Bushong, local ticket agent.

Passengers were picked up en route and by the time the train had arrived in New York, there were 1,800 aboard instead of the estimated 500. An extra boat had to be chartered.

80 Years Ago

Thursday Morning’s Record
September 9, 1926
• Rebuilding the Minnich Barn - Big timbers passed through town for the construction of a barn on the farm of Mrs. Abraham Minnich, west of town, to replace the one destroyed by fire recently. The largest timbers were 60 feet long and were hauled by six horse teams.

• Touring Coal Mines - Ralph Stauffer, Chester Wertsch and Franklin Schleith took a three-day automobile trip to Ashland and Hazelton. They went through a coal mine and breakers. It required three hours for the trip underground.

• 49 Gallons of Sauerkraut - The Women’s Auxiliary of the Lititz Fire Company spent two hours making 49 gallons of sauerkraut out of 100 heads of cabbage for the supper to be held on October 30.

90 Years Ago

Thursday Morning’s Express
September 8, 1916
• Large Tomatoes - Readers of the Express are noting the size of tomatoes reported from week to week.
The one reported last week weighing over 26 ounces seemed as large as you might expect.

Saturday evening, S.B. Bucher, who resides on the state road about half a mile east of Hess’ meeting house, sent a specimen to this office that weighs 34 ounces, or two pounds and two ounces.

• Rocky Start for New School - An enormous amount of rock was encountered in the excavation of the cellar of the Lititz Public School building, especially in the section that is to be used as the gymnasium. The blasting has been continuous for weeks.

• Farmer’s Bank - On Sept. 1, Farmer’s National Bank rounded the 15th year of its existence. During this time, the bank with a capital of $60,000, as earned profits of $93,677.65.

100 Years Ago

Friday Morning’s Record
September 7, 1906
• Unusual Occurrence - The many colored people seen in our town on Sunday was an unusual occurrence for Lititz. Religious services were conducted by the colored folks at the Park House Pavilion near the Spring grounds. Two special trolley cars from Columbia and Lancaster brought the dusky race to this place. Instrumental music and spirited singing were on the program. They drew a big audience.

• Little Germans - Seven practical musicians, composing what we call a little German band, rendered welcome music along our streets several days during the latter part of last week. They were rewarded by the contributions of numerous nickels and dimes.

• Lititz’s First Angora Goat - John Badorf, proprietor of the Warwick House, bought an Angora Goat at Lancaster this week, which is the first one of its kind ever seen in Lititz. The goat has white silky hair about eight inches long. It was among a carload shipped from the west, where they are raised with great success.

John has no idea what he will do with the quadruped, but if it devours too much of the hotel wash he can still get his money’s worth by having a pretty rug made out of its hide.

110 Years Ago

Friday Morning’s Record
September 4, 1896
• Agricultural Fair - The Lancaster County Agricultural Fair opened on the Warwick Race Track on Tuesday.
A lively and busy scene was presented the first two days of this week on the grounds. The fair proper opened on Tuesday at 12 o’clock, when the grounds were cleared of all who had no tickets.

Mr. H. H. Snavely of Warwick, the manager, is a very busy man who risked his time and patience in getting up to the fair, no matter what the result, and whose hospitality, generousness, pluck and grit will be crowned with success by the time the fair is ended. Of course, the work of starting and conducting such a great undertaking is troublesome and laborious, but Mr. Snavely wears a smile all the same.
The exhibitions are fine to say the least, and among the exhibitors are many from Lititz and nearby places. The poultry show is alone worth the price of admission, besides livestock, machinery, fruits and vegetables.

In the main building are exhibited furniture, bicycles, ladies fancy work, etc.

The fair is here too with all sorts of chance and selling games, and also the baby show, the striking machine, cane-the-ring, and merry go round. A six-legged steer is exhibited and also a five-legged calf.

A side show on the grounds is represented by a man, wife and child who give exhibitions in sword-swallowing, contortionist’s feats, and vocal and instrumental music.
And talk about dust! Don’t wear good clothes to go to the fair.

120 Years Ago

Friday Morning’s Record
September 10, 1886
• Things Remarkable - On the farm of Samuel Keller, near Lime Rock, stands a chestnut tree measuring 21 feet and 3 inches in circumference one foot from the ground. The Manheim Sentinel recently mentioned one of 20 feet.

John Stauffer, living at Lime Rock, has a common cow which in the past six months produced 254 pounds of butter. John thinks few can excel this animal of no special breed.

• Here and There - A traveling trapeze performer gave a public exhibition before the Sturgis House last Friday evening, after which a collection was taken up for his benefit.

By the breaking of a hearth in the cellar of Charles Smith, seventeen jars of fruit were thrown to the ground and every one broken.

A copperhead snake was killed in the front yard of a Main Street residence the other day.

That hog race on Main Street on Saturday was an exciting affair, and boys can show their smartness when chasing a runaway animal.

Why did those young men run so on Tuesday evening at 10 o’clock when yelled at while helping themselves to pears in Menno Fry’s yard? Next time don’t be so loud and your voices will not be recognized. The Record man’s bedroom is too close.

Research for Out of the Past is compiled weekly by Record Express editor Stephen Seeber staff writer Michael Yoder. Much of the style and information reported is written as it appeared in its original form.
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