Old York Times
York’s First Civil Defense Test was Cold War Preparation

May 8, 2011

Some time ago the Yorktowne Hotel donated a large signal horn to the museum. It was thought to be a relic from WWII and had been on the roof for decades. While searching for other information on the museum newspaper micro films, I came across the who, what when and why about the horn.

It was erected as a warning siren in the first test of local Civil Defense plans in September, 1953. Local CD director Joseph Garrety said the revolving horn “was the biggest one-engine air raid siren in this part of the country.”

The morning paper showed city workers putting the motor of the $2,500 “Direkto” on the highest point of the roof. It was expected to be heard as far west as the five mile house and to Stony Brook to the east. It was said to be the highest flat surface in the city.

The siren would be used several days later as part of York County’s first Civil Defense disaster drill. Hundreds of volunteers, including Civil Defense members. Boy Scouts, Civil Air Patrol squadrons, city and county officials and hundreds of others. The main staging area was Memorial Stadium.

The test began on Sunday, September 20, 1953 with the simulation of an atomic bomb going off in the first block of West Market Street. Many stores and the Trinity Church cross were “destroyed.”

In reality the three-hour test took place on the parking lot of the stadium. 2500 people from three counties took part. The simulation included 250 injured citizens The siren, along with others in the area, wailed “at 12:53 in the first local all-out ‘York Day’ air raid test,” said the Gazette and Daily.

Those feigning injury were transported to the parking lot of the stadium. Numerous local agencies took part in the enactment. 2000 Civil Defense workers from three counties took part. Several squadrons of area Civil Air Patrols patrolled the skies. 250 Boy Scouts also helped by simulating the injured. 1000 people inside the stadium heard Otis Morse talk about the test as it progressed.

Director Garrety called the test a great success.

Today, the Yorktowne siren is stored at the York County Heritage Trust. Aging Civil Defense shelter signs can still be seen on buildings in the area. Memories of the cold war, such as practicing “duck and cover” remain with many of the children of the era, now the geezers of today.

Source: The Gazette and Daily 9/17/1953, 9/21/1953
 
Short-takes and tidbits

Petition for Duke St. Subway (1911)

(to be continued)

 
Earthquake Rocked County in 1889

               There was widespread panic and bewilderment when the earth rumbled and shook on March 8. 1889. At  about 6:40 pm the quake lasted   for ten seconds according to an account in one York paper. Residents ran screaming from their homes into the streets as buildings shook, windows rattlled.

              "There was no warning of the approach of the vibrations, for there seems to have been two or three and they left as mysteriously as they came," and " Pedestrians who were on the iron bridges spanning the Codorus at the time, state that the bars and rods fiercely rattled and the structures  seemed in imminent danger of falling,"  The Age said.

              At one home the piano chords emitted a low rumbling sound. An east end store had a large ceiling crack. Shelves at other shop were emptied  and bricks fell from chimneys. Reports from throughout the county told of similar woes. Reports of the duration of the quake ranged from several seconds to a minute.

               People trembled as downtown buildings "vibrated visibly" and "A young man passing the Farmer's Market House avowed the etire structure was shaking," said The York Gazette.

                  It was felt in many counties in the state and also in Delaware and Maryland.The quake of 1889 was deemed stronger than a quake that shook York in 1884.