Excerpts and summaries of news stories from the former Intelligencer Journal, Lancaster New Era and Sunday News that focus on the events in the county’s past that are noteworthy, newsworthy or just strange.
25 years ago
A years-long process of site selection for a new Lancaster campus for Harrisburg Area Community College finally came to an end in March 1999.
HACC had considered moving to the former Bon-Ton building on Penn Square, to the former Armstrong building at Liberty Place and the former Ferranti building in West Hempfield Township. Officials also considered enlarging the existing campus, which was in the Burle Industrial Park along New Holland Avenue.
However, none of those sites ended up being the final selection. The college decided to build a new $15 million campus along Piney Road in East Lampeter Township.
The college began its hunt for a new location in 1995, and planned to have the new campus open to students by the fall of 2001.
In the headlines:
Buchanan launches bid for White House
Y2K testing glitch closes nuclear plant
Rebels kill eight tourists in Uganda
Check out the March 3, 1999, Intelligencer Journal here.
50 years ago
In March 1974, local gardeners were thinking about the upcoming planting and growing seasons. And Lancaster County was seeing a significant increase in the number of home gardeners.
Arnold Lueck, county agricultural agent for the Penn State Extension Service, said that one of the main reasons for the boom was the energy crisis.
By growing one's own vegetables, the increasing cost of living could be mitigated slightly. And some gardeners were concerned about the amount of energy expended in large-scale commercial food production.
Lueck pointed out that gardening "satisfied the back-to-nature movement which is still in the forefromt of interest in ecology."
Also, as families were traveling less, Lueck said, many were turning to gardening as an outdoor activity parents and children could do together.
In the headlines:
Wealthy Americans evade income tax
Supply of gasoline up - but so are the prices
Camera captures the Loch Ness 'Monster'
Check out the March 3, 1974, Sunday News here.
75 years ago
Twenty-five years before the gardening boom of the '70s, Lancaster saw residents' interest in gardening sharply decrease.
During World War II, government programs encouraged home gardening as part of the war effort - civilians growing their vegetables at home would help lower the cost of vegetables for the troops.
Many Lancaster County residents planted "victory gardens" during the war, some on their own land and some as part of large community gardens in public places.
But as the growing season of 1949 loomed, those wartime habits were falling into the realm of history, and most large community gardens were closing down.
Among the gardens closing that year was a sizable plot on the campus of McCaskey High School, which school officials said would likely be turned into a parking lot.
In the headlines:
Berlin not to be in new state
Church ousts cleric, 'Red' son
Substitute tax sought for Pa. soft drink levy
Check out the March 3, 1949, Lancaster New Era here.
100 years ago
On March 3, 1924, Robert C. Herr became the first Lancaster County resident to pass an official state driving test.
Though driver's licenses were issued beginning in 1909, no test was required in order to get one. Most drivers were taught the ways of the newfangled automobile by car dealers or friends or family who already knew how to drive.
In 1924, the requirement to pass written and practical tests was added. In Lancaster County, the first tests were given at the former State Police barracks on New Holland Pike.
Herr was first in line, followed by Edna Lee of Lancaster and about 20 other people eager to take their tests.
Did they pass? Nobody knew - they wouldn't get the results of their written tests until the papers were sent to Harrisburg and graded.
In the headlines:
McLean code is now being translated
Former head of Veteran's Bureau indicted
