I am the guy who did thes crude INDIANA UNIVERSITY- BLOOMINGTON INDIANA sites... I lived in Greenpoint, Brooklyn 1949 t0 1959. Then in Astoria, Queens 1959 to 1968 (A block from the East River in both places), then in York, Pa starting in 1964 (We had two homes), then in Bloomington, Indiana and Gainesville, Florida. Now Im back in York,Pa again.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: York is America's shameful secret. It is where the capital was when we were getting the stuffing beat out of us. After the Declaration of Independence was signed, we lost one battle after another. The British drove our troops out of the major cities and occupied them. The Continental Congress was a laughing stock as it moved quickly like gypsies from one place to another to evade capture. Washington finally told them that he could not yet do anything against the British or help them. So he told them to run and hide behind the Susquehanna River which was then 'the west'. So almost all the famous people of the Revolution wound up here in York, Pa. And this is where they stayed during the rest of the losses. In the meantime they passed the Articles of Confederation which turned us from 13 little mini-nations as allies into one loosely-knit nation. This is also where the Congress was when America finally won a major battle ( at Saratoga) and in 1778 when the French Alliance was created that forced the British to pull back and consolidate troops, thus allowing the Congress to leave York and go to Philadelphia. Stamps were issued from York to commemorate the two things back in the 1970s. As recently as 1969 the letters and papers of Tom Paine were found in York by workmen who BURNED them!! The downtown Square is where the Articles were passed. A couple blocks away are the Gates House and Plough Tavern. They are where the Congressmen got together at night to discuss the Articles and where General Horatio Gates tried to get control of the army from Washington but was stopped by LaFayette. (Its called the Conway Cabal after the man who was Gates' biggest supporter). Washington himself didnt get here until he was President. Gen. Pulaski recruited at another bldg downtown for the American Cavalry that would fight at Yorktowne, Va. The very first US Treasury was started here also in the center of York (Its now my bank). Two signers of the Declaration died and are still buried here. The downtown Woolworths always had this HUGE bronze plaque on the side wall over the place where one was buried until moved for the bldg. Theres plaques all over downtown York for things that happened here. (Its bizarre how many books tell about how the Congress was driven out by the British but never say where they went). Note: During the Revolution the British were stopped at York County and then went back. During the Civil War the Confederates were stopped at York county and then went back. In the former by the burning of the boats over the river. In the latter by the burning of the bridge over the same river) (Maybe Ill think of more to add here about the Revolution later).--- _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ ____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ THE CIVIL WAR: Ever look at a map of the Battle of Gettysburg? If so you'll notice something strange. The Confederates are returning from the NORTH! York county has always been the Northernmost Southern city! Even the Democrats here were always Southern Democrats until recently. York voted against Lincoln TWICE. It was pro-South. York is a satellite of BALTIMORE. The Susquehanna flows from here to Baltimore. It carries more water than the Ohio! Lee knew this and came north knowing he had friends in this area. York and Gettyburg were pro-south cities. (The joke here is that its the Susquehanna OCEAN as Yorkers and Lancastrians, 25 miles apart are so different as York is with Baltimore and Lancaster with Philadelphia. York was also a major north terminus for southern tobacco and was the major manufacturer of cigars fo rdecades). Lee's troops moved north and the advance forces went through York to the river just across from Harrisburg, the state capital. But it was more pro-north near Harrisburg so the Yorkers up there burned the bridge to protect Harrisburg. The Southern troops that saw harrisburg then turned back south.____ ____ ____ ____ _____ _____ _____ ____ ____ _____ WORLD WAR II: After Pearl Harbor all of Americas industries had to be co-ordinated to fight. Here in York the city already had a system of the private industries all working together to manufature things. FDR sent his advisors to York, they learned what was going on, and the entire United States during WW II was ordered to conform to "The York Plan". This also aided in the heavy economic 'boom' times of 1945 to 1973. In 1966 the TIME-LIFE series of books used York, Pa as THE example of a thriving, prosperous heavy-industry town (I dont thing the writer knew of the York Plan or he wouldnt have been surprised). We also had the forgotten four-star general of WWII. When you look at a map of troop movements across Europe in WW II you notice that there were three allied army groups in the West. One was in the North run by Montgomery. The second was in the middle run by Bradley. And then there was the one in the south whose mission was to take what was expected to be the toughest place to take: the "National Redoubt". Allied intelligence believed that a huge set of mountain fortresses were being set up with hundreds of thousands of the nastiest Nazi troops and that it would take years to dislodge them. But who was the third leader of armieS (plural) that ran the southern front? General Jacob Devers of York, Pa. He also commanded the Italian front for a while......