USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > Maytown > Bicentennial celebration, July 1, 2, 3, 4, 1960 : Maytown, Pennsylvania, Lancaster County, 1760-1960 > Part 3
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The next project was Maytown Community Night, which was held in the high school on Oc- tober 1, 1938. The entertainment included a "Tom Thumb Wedding," a fashion show by Hertzlers of Lancaster, and a musical review directed by Mr. Ralph Shireman. The program gave this ac- count of the Civic Club, "The Maytown Civic Club is a progressive organization established by citizens of Maytown and vicinity for the purpose of creating a sense of civic pride in their community. The undertakings of the Club have been marked by a high state of social development and cultural re- finement. And the organization takes pride in what
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IN HONOR OF THOSE WHO SERVED IN THE 1917 WORLD WAR 1918 FROM THE MAYTOWN DISTRICT OF EAST DONEGAL TOWNSHIP
BARNHART, WILLIAM H.
HEISEY, WILLIAM C.
MORTON, BENJAMIN F
BRANDT. HARRY
HENDERSON, CLAUDE B.
MCCLURE, E. CHESTER NEIMAN IRVIN H.
BRANDT, MERVIN W.
HERSHEY ENGLE E.
CLEPPER ALBERT B.
HINKLE. PAUL L.
NIES, RAPHAEL B
DAVIS. EARL C.
HINTON, ANDRIEU B
PATTERSON, ROSIER
DAVIS. JAMES
HINTON, FRANCES M.
RISSER, G. HOWARD
DEMMY. OLIVER H.
HOFFMAN, GUY S.
DERR. ALBERT B.
HOLLENBAUGH. WM. H.
ESHLEMAN, ROBERT H.
HOOVER, HAROLD E.
FARMER, CLAYTON S.
HOUSEAL. A. ROSS
SHIREMAN, RALPH C.
FITZKEE ,ELIZABETH
HOUSEAL. CHARLES M.
SINGER, HOWARD
FITZKEE, HENRY
HUNTZINGER. JOSEPH W.
SLOAD, CHARLES H.
FITZKEE. PAUL E
JOHNSTIN. SAMUEL C.
SLOAD. CHARLES L.
FRANK, HARRY P.
KAUTZ
DANIEL
SNYDER. WALTER M.
GLADFELTER, IRVIN . B.
KOHLER, CHARLES R.
TROSTLE, GEORGE F
GROVE, WALTER B.
KRAYBIL HENRY B.
WHITE, EARL L
HAINES, HENRY L.
IPH ART. M. MAY
WOLE . PAXTON W.
HAVERSTICK, LEE H.
MAYERS, THOMAS 1.
ZIEGLER. JACOB H
HAWTHORNE, ABRAM F
ZOOK, ROBERT
ERECTED BY THE CITIZENS OF MAYTOWN
it is doing and hopes to do in the future."
This activity was followed by a series of card parties in the winter, and garden parties held on the school grounds in the summer. One of the most extensive of these lawn fetes was held August 17, 1940. The list of committees, as published at that time, was so extensive it must have included every resident of the town. It featured a dinner served on the lawn, a minstrel show, cards, straw rides, pony rides, a patriotic drill under the direc- tion of Miss Verna F. Peck, and a children's fash- ion show directed by Mrs. George Waller.
On May 21, 1941, the first of the Maytown boys were selected for service in the United States Army and left Maytown with a sign on the back of their car, "We will be back in a year -- or two." The boys were Charles Houseal, Thomas Mayer, Roy Smith, and Walter Zeacher. Events following Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 1911, impressed upon us the fact that their stay in the armed forces would be prolonged.
On July 2, 1941, the Marietta and East Done- gal Military Social Service organization was forn- ed to aid selectees who were called into service. All the organizations of Marietta and Maytown were represented under the leadership of Dr. B. Scott Fritz of Marietta. Representatives accom- panied the boys to Mount Joy as they reported for duty and presented each of the men with a gift box.
The activity of the Civic Club was confined during the years from 1941 to 1944 to raising
money by means of card parties and smaller func- tions. The community felt the effects of the war and the absence of all the young men who were serving in the Armed Forces. They were saddened by the death of Chief Warrant Officer Richard P. Lindemuth who died in the sinking of a Jap- anese prison ship.
After "D' Day, June 6, 1914, hope was stirred that the war would not last too much longer. However, that summer news of the death of three Maytown boys, Sgt. Richard H. Albright, Pvt. Robert Engle and Tech. Sgt. Martin A. Barr, was received.
In anticipation of the return of the boys the Civic Club planned their largest project, an elaborate carnival and lawn fete to be held on August 26, 1944. Gross receipts totaled $1845.
At that time the purpose was to celebrate the home-coming of our boys. But, as they returned gradually the desire for such a celebration was not evident. It was the decision of the boys, led by the veterans of World War I, that Maytown should have an American Legion Post. An orga- nization was instituted in 1946. This impelled the Civic Club to hold a meeting to discuss the dis- position of the money that had been raised pri- marily to benefit the returned veterans. Action taken resulted in turning over to the American Legion approximately $2200, the only stipulation being, that from that amount a plaque bearing a roster of the World War II veterans be procured. This was done and the balance applied to the pur-
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SWEIGART. ADAM E.
GROVE, ELMER B.
KRAY BILL, DAVID
ROATH, JOHN R. JR. ROJAHN, LESTER V. SHETTER, NERI W.
HONOR ROLL
PROUDLY WE PAY TRIBUTE TO THE MEN AND WOMEN OF EAST DONEGAL TOWNSHIP WHO ANSWERED THE CALL TO COLORS IN WORLD WAR II
SANGLE, ROBERT
JACKION, VILLIAN
OHNETIWN CLARENCE V
BAKERYHANLM.
GALILE SAMO3L
CENDICKS MAURICE ZENDIG HAY
1532/1525
22731/082/ 341 1
COWEZJ LALEY
THEMAN DALE
JALOLAY JARL
NIJSSBÍ ALAUAL 2.
41:1554 0.203323
32 ADAY
GAID CLARANCS L.
DLJJ36 032203.D. *
DWAZD PAUL
AANUAL3, 402211
23108 080205 2 ASJON, JOJAPA
TIDHAN DIUNY
VAYAZI, THOMAS 4
VITTEL, JOMAYIL
SHOLa, CHA2L332160
LIANA 431732 5. 1H028 0313
1
SMITH
FILSTOHI2 MALIN
ONT1HALL, JAM33 L.
MONTIDEN ROBERT B.
chase of materials to build the post home.
So the Civic Club, as an organization, passed out of existence. Since that time their responsi-
bility in keeping the square in order has passed to the Donegal Chapter, American Legion Post 809.
HISTORY OF DONEGAL POST No. 809 AMERICAN LEGION MAYTOWN, PA. By John H. Drace, Post Commander
In the Fall of 1945 a group of Veterans from both World Wars I and II while gathered together came up with the idea of forming a Veterans Organiza- tion in Maytown. They immediately mailed letters to all Veterans of the township asking them to meet in the Maytown Grade School to express themselves on this idea. In this meeting agreement was reached on establishing an American Legion Post to be called Donegal Post. Quick action by this group brought about the approval of a temporary charter in January, 1946. This temporary charter was held open until July 4, 1946, in order that all Veterans joining before that date could become Charter Members of Donegal Post #809. The charter was officially granted by the National Headquarters on the 18th day of July, 1946, and countersigned by Department of Pennsylvania on the 24th day of July 1946. This charter consists of 142 members, known as charter members of Donegal Post #809.
A Post Home or permanent meeting place was one of the first projects of the newly formed Post. A building committee was immediately appointed, with a two-fold purpose in mind; first, to secure a temporary meeting place, and second, to look into the possibility of buying or building a Post Home. Several meetings were held in the Maytown Grade School and then the building committee advised the post that the Maytown Fire Company had offered the use of their building as a temporary meeting place. During the summer of 1946 the building committee tried several times to purchase property for a post home, however, properties deemed desirable by the post could not be purchas- ed, and the ones available were turned down as not suitable by a majority of the member votes. In the fall of 1946 the building committee reported the Hiram Engle property could be purchased by the Post. The Post unanimously approved this purchase, and today the Post home and playground are located on this ground.
In 1946 The East Donegal Civic Council dis- banded and turned over their funds to the Legion Post. These funds carried the stipulation that a plaque be erected as a permanent memorial to the men and women who served in the Armed Forces during World War II, with any funds remaining after payment of the memorial to go to the Post Building Fund. This permanent memorial now
stands in front of the entrance to the Legion Home.
The American Legion, through the National Americanism Commission, has ever been a com- munity leader in the establishment and the promo- tion of observances of patriotic holidays. Donegal Post #809 immediately assumed the responsibility for conducting Memorial Day services and a Memorial Day Parade. The business men of May- town have always financially supported this patri- otic observance.
After two years of hard work on various fund raising activities the Post Building Fund had in- creased to the extent that a building program was possible. In 1948 the current Post Home was started and completed in 1949. Approximately seventy-five percent of the skilled and unskilled labor required to erect the Post Home was of a volunteer nature from both members of the Post and citizens of the community.
Donegal Post #809 never had a Social Club within its Legion Organization and never solicited social memberships. In addition, the Post never had a license, and currently does not anticipate obtain- ing a license to sell intoxicating beverages. Donegal Post has turned from this type of social organization and has placed greater emphasis on community service. One of the ten major purposes of the American Legion is "to inculcate a sense of individ- ual obligation to community, state and nation." In development of Community Service Programs, Donegal Post found a great field of activity in which to work for a better community.
The following are some of the many community projects developed and/or sponsored by Donegal Post #809 while still in its infancy: Erection of the first street signs for Maytown; Door numbers for houses and business places in Maytown; Main- tenance of Center Square (still in effect) ; Christ- mas Party for children of the community (still in effect ) ; Decorate Center Square for Christmas holiday (still in effect) ; Provide a place for the Health Clinic for the Community (still in effect) ; Sponsor and provide a meeting place for various Scout organizations (still in effect) ; Provide a place for all charitable organizations to hold par- ties, suppers, etc. (still in effect) and junior base- ball.
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Home of American Legion Donegal Post No. 809
Donegal Post #809 Auxiliary has been the right arm of the Post throughout its short history. With construction of the home completed in 1949, the auxiliary immediately assumed the task of outfit- ting the kitchen with equipment and supplies. Since then, each year, additional furniture and supplies were acquired by the auxiliary to take care of the Post needs. In the years between 1949 and 1957 there were many times when the post was without sufficient funds to meet their current expenses. In these times the auxiliary would come to the rescue and furnish the Post with necessary funds. The Post and Auxiliary on many occasions have joined forces to accomplish many fund raising activities. One joint effort of this type was the construction, opera- tion, and maintenance of a hamburg and hot dog stand during the grain harvest season at Cargill Inc. Grain Storage. This project ran for about six weeks a year and lasted for several years. A consid- erable amount of money was realized through this project, however, to accomplish this required the donation of considerable time by individuals of both organizations, since the stand was manned twenty four hours a day while in operation.
In 1956 the Post was contacted and agreed to the use of the Post home for Teen-age dances. The only stipulation of the Post was that adult super- vision conduct the dances. This was complied with and to date teen-age dances are still held in the Post Home.
In 1957, with liquidation of the Post debt in sight, the post decided to build a pavilion and out- door barbecue pit to aid in handling their annual
chicken barbecue suppers and for use by the com- munity. At the same time the Post decided the balance of their ground should be developed into a playground for children of the community. An architect was secured by the Post and a complete playground plan obtained. In the spring of 1958 a variety of shade trees were planted by the post in compliance with the architectural plan. At this time, the Post started a Community Playground Project with the hope of raising sufficient funds to complete the playground in time for summer supervised playground activity. Posters were dis- played at certain locations in Maytown and hand bills were distributed outlining the program, how- ever, the financial response was not as keen as anticipated. The Legion was responsible for $1,335 of the total $1,550 raised. This money was used to sow lawn seed over the entire playground, install swings, sliding boards, etc., for the smaller children and to build a baseball field for use by all. All of this was accomplished in time to enroll in the 1958 summer supervised playground program. The sum- mer program was again held at the community playground in 1959 and all arrangements are made for a bigger and better program in 1960.
In order to complete the community playground project, in accordance with the architect's plan of 1958. the playground still requires the construction of outdoor basketball courts, tennis courts, kiddies' wading pool, place for ice skating in winter and roller skating in summer. With regard to com- munity service, completion of this project in the near future is the aim of Donegal Post No. 809.
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MAYTOWN FIRE COMPANY
The citizens of Maytown realized, that with the many frame constructions lining the streets of their thriving community, a fire department was neces- sary.
In March, 1916, the need for that organization materialized, for a fire swept through and destroy- ed the wagon shop of H. P. Frank, and damaged a portion of the Reformed Church and two large barns. This was the first major fire, so the time for the organization of a fire department had arrived.
The Maytown Volunteer Fire Department held its first meeting in 1916 in the town barber shop. A shed was built at the rear of the town band hall to house the first engine, a hand pumper. This was in service until the first motorized engine, a Model T Ford equipped with two forty-rallon chemical tanks, was purchased in 1919. In 1925 the Ford
truck was replaced by a Reo chemical engine.
In June 1925 the company decided to purchase ground and build a new fire station. This was ac- complished and dedication services for the new building were held November 16, 1926.
The need for more modern and efficient fire apparatus arose; consequently, a new Reo truck equipped with a 450 GPM pump was purchased, and the two trucks were in service until 1953, when a larger pumper with a six hundred gallon water tank was purchased.
The company has grown in strength and know- ledge over the years with a membership of approxi- mately 150. The company also boasts of a very active Ladies Auxiliary, which numbers well over one hundred members. They are very helpful in fund raising projects.
BLACKSMITHING
For many years prior to the nineteen hundreds and early in the nineteen hundreds, blacksmithing and blacksmith shops were common installations. In the early days blacksmithing consisted of horse- shoeing, making and repairing tools by hand. In some of the shops, the building of huge wagons used in farm work was one of the biggest jobs. Because of many customers and all kinds of odd jobs, along with the regular work, it sometimes
took these men two years to make an iron and steel-clad, hand-forged wagon.
There are very few blacksmiths remaining around the country. However, it is thought that the blacksmith business will never go entirely out of existence.
Very often old-timers of the town came and gathered in the blacksmith's shop and they talked over all problems of the day. There was always
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Blacksmith shop of David Shetter (right) who employed Lemon Sload (center) in picture.
room for a little arguing.
The clanging of hammer on anvil brings nos- talgic memories to those of middle age or older. Away back when this familiar sound rang out from dawn to dusk in every town, strong men's muscles rippled and sweat rolled down as the black- smith fashioned repair parts or shoes for horses.
It was a full-time job and to meet the tasks required men of stamina and brawn. Skittish horses always presented a problem or headache to the smithy. It was not unusual to hear of a black- smith going to a hospital after a kick from a horse.
Of course, the blacksmith was expendable-but not the horse. "Where did that blood on the floor
come from," could have very well been the alarm- ed remark of the horse's owner. "I hit my finger with the hammer," was a likely reply from the smithy. This, of course, brought a sigh of relief from the animal's owner.
Most living blacksmiths admit that horseshoeing was a rough life.
In the early days, Maytown had three black- smith shops. We have one living blacksmith in the Maytown area in this year of 1960. He is Cleve Sload, Maytown, who is 76 years old.
The deceased Peter Albright, Clint Longenecher, and Harry Sload, were blacksmiths, in fairly recent times, until their deaths.
TOBACCO FARMING - THEN AND NOW By G. S. Hoffman
Two hundred years of Maytown cannot be divorced from the surrounding countryside, as metropolition arcas are. The tiny village then as now, was the center of a rich agricultural section, and tobacco gradually became the major and most moneyed crop.
Only in a little over a century, as the cultivation of type 41 had moved northwestward from Vir- ginia, did farmers in the Donegals try out the new product and, as the years passed, increased acreage.
In the beginning the clearing of land, cultiva- tion and harvest of any crop was virtually hand labor. This was especially true of tobacco, and, to a certain degree, remains so today.
In those early years a large family could raise and harvest barely more than three acres. The seed beds were laboriously prepared by horse or mule power, or even hand-spaded. Foot high boards lined the beds, posing difficulty for small fry weed- ing, since there was no steaming nor commercial product for sterilizing the ground. The vulnerable plants had to be nurtured with great care.
Just as difficult and time-consuming was the
preparation of the field or "patch." Animal ferti- lizer - cow, steer and horse - was used exclusively. and after being hauled onto the patch in a flat wagon was pulled off onto spaced piles and scat- tered by dung fork or an even cruder tool. This was then turned under with a rough wooden plow (there is one of this vintage in the Landis Valley Museum), beast-drawn and guided by the hardy farmer whose feet, in those days, always trod the good earth of his land.
Similarly was the patch harrowed with a prong- ed implement and rolled with a woodlot-hewn tree trunk of proper size and weight. The tobacco rows were then "hoed up" as one would a sweet potato hill. Older children took over at that point and, with a crude wooden tool like an inverted Y and used like a protractor, spaced and marked the distances for planting. Then they waited for rain for the setting out of the plants.
This was an all family job. Plants were pulled and put into baskets; children used sticks, some made from old broom handles, to poke holes in the prepared rows. Plants were dropped opposite each
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hole; another child placed a plant in the hole, and, if there had not been adequate rain, water from a bucket wet the roots in. Then the ground was firmed around the plant.
Cultivation was mostly a hand job, with heavy hoes and strong backs. Worming was the children's job. (Sometimes outsiders, hired to help, were paid a penny a worm!) The plants were topped first and suckers were snapped out several times.
Harvest, as of today, was hand labor, but with a difference - just more hand labor! The cutting was done with either hatchets or saws. The time of today's tobacco ladders had not yet come. The plants were not speared onto lathe, but were laid, stalk by stalk, onto flat wagons and slowly pulled into the barn area.
The stalks, one by one, were hauled up or passed up ladders in the barn to the topmost rafters, pur- lines and squares, and there each nailed until they reached the level of the forebay, for curing. (There were no tobacco sheds as we know them in those days. Approximately, according to N. R. Hoffman, of Bainbridge, the first few were built in the latter part of the past century.)
The stripping and sizing, as usual, was a family chore, unquestionably under trying conditions of cold, inconvenience and disadvantage in barns or out-sheds. Unlike today, tobacco was strictly grad- ed. There were as many as six or seven grades: length, quality and color. Leaves were tied in "hanks" ("hands" as of recently) ; bundled and stored in the barn until a buyer showed up.
The bales often stayed there some time as there was no competitive market in that day. There was the packer who went into the field, bought with private capital, packed in wooden cases and resold later. (Benjamin Hoffman, my grandfather, was the first packer in the district.) However, much of this tobacco, raised in the Donegals, was in those days packed by the local farmers on a compara- tively small scale and sold piece-meal to a dozen or more cigar factories right in their own back yard. The cigars made in Maytown were pure type 41, no blending. These cigars, one Maytown resident said, took a strong man with a strong stomach to smoke and survive!
Times changed with the many years, not alone in the cultivation and rise in acreage, but also in the marketing. There came a greater business in inde- pendent packing throughout Lancaster County when a great amount of money went into buying crops, packing and reselling to manufacturers all over the world. Today that middle man is out of business. The manufacturers have the capital to buy directly from the farmer, resulting in a highly competitive market.
We have now the modern method of agricul- ture. Nonetheless, the cultivation and harvesting of tobacco must take a back seat to that of many other crops: mechanization in planting grains and
liarvesting by combine and corn-picker, including electrically-powered unloaders. There is, up to the present writing, still more hand labor to tobacco raising than any other product, excepting tomatoes.
Today tobacco beds are sterilized by chemicals or by a still old-fashioned method of steaming, neither of which as yet has proved completely effective. Not too long ago on one farm, grass grew heavily in steamed beds among the tiny plants, threatening to choke them completely. Weeding was impossible and, in desperation, the farmer took his hand lawn mower and ran it across the beds while an observer remarked: "Now I've seen every- thing!" Thus given room to breathe, the plants survived and grew ahead of the grass. Muslin is used now, and many chemicals have been devel- oped to control the pests that increasingly attack the beds.
The plowman no longer plods his fields. Pre- paration now is completely mechanized, and ferti- lizer is not exclusively animal. However, the plants still must be pulled from handweeded beds, put into boxes which are conveyed by water truck to the- say 20 acre patch ?- where the two row semi- automatic planter receives the seedlings and the needed water with the cut worm retarder and, under skilled guidance, plants in one operation. Two or three acres can be planted in one day - given enough hand labor to pull plants and operate the planter! This continues until the whole patch is planted, with re-planting following rainy spells by bucket and trowel, just as theretofore.
Here similarity stops for a "spell". Cultivation is mechanical; suckers are sprayed to kill them; worms die from ground spray or ariel spray or dust. This is time and labor-saving in a major way. BUT, there is still hand hoeing between plants, and topping, hand-done. Cutting and spearing onto lathe are back breaking manual labor, as too the loading onto the tobacco wagons, tractor-drawn on rubber tires.
Men's hands must raise the thousands of lathe into the tiers of especially built sheds, to be taken down later, lathe by lathe, to the damp room and hence, to the adjoining stripping room. Only with- in the past year or so has the stripping become less of an arduous and monotonous task. Sizing for length in especially built boxes has gone out for the most part, as color sizing did long ago. And tying hanks or hands has passed also. Two grades only are placed, loose, in the presses and bailed. And the market sometimes opens early, like last year, before the crop was even in from the field.
In this coming season, a revolution in mechani- zation is due to take place to further eliminate hand labor: a machine is being perfected to cut and spear tobacco in one operation!
So times have changed in many ways since Maytown came into being. Tobacco still grows abundantly and profitably around the village. But its handling is not quite the same as in the old days.
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