York Fairgrounds, a Civil War site?

That's an interesting fact, Peter, and I will bet that when you investigate, you will find that the county fairgrounds haven't moved in 154 years (although I do not know one way or the other). I have been a Civil War buff since its Centennial, and still have my Marx "Battle of the Blue and Gray" set, as well as the various histories I read back then.

I find this extremely interesting! My great-great-great-great-great grandfather fought at Gettysburg and has his name engraved on one of the monuments.

Please keep us posted with what you find out!

-Greg

Very interesting. let us know. i just finished Bruce Catton's book, GRANT TAKES OVER.

Gerry

Preliminary research shows the current site to have been used since the late 1880s.....so.....it may not be the same site (dang, I was hoping to read soldiers' diaries on how they dealt with cell phones, strollers and photography; which halls they preferred, etc ). I will post more details as I have them.

Peter

That whole area has old CW camp grounds everywhere  from Chambersburg to the Susquehanna. The Rebs were afraid of water and couldn't get across the river.  There is a neat tourist RR south of York but probably not running yet. I would like to see some reports on York and what the manufacturers are saying.

I read that the troops stayed overnight on the spot in downtown York which now holds the Rodeway Inn. Major I.C. Motel was in command.

Interesting Peter. I myself would love to get back out to Gettysburg, sort of never looked at the Confederate route in greater detail. Be extremely interesting to see what else comes up. I learned about a small group of rebels that attacked Vermont a couple of weeks ago.

http://www.businessinsider.com...rmont-in-1864-2014-5

You could spend a life time studying all aspects of the battle including civilian.  Some people have. With the ongoing clearing program now where they have cut back vegetation and trees plus removing modern building it is getting better. Taking the old visitor center off cemetary ridge was great, too.  There is/was a nice train store there too.

Great find Peter. I am also civil war buff. I'll read or watch anything to do with the civil war. 

Although some people think I have first hand knowledge beings I was there, but those rumors are totally untrue. 

As the article notes, Gettysburg and York are close.  My wife and I, did the York experience, booked a room, Gettysburg, and toured the battlefield on our way home.   A wonderful experience.   Points of the battlefield are drive-able.  It would be interesting to see all without the trees.  Also note points south, Antietam Battlefield, Maryland, and the C&O Canal/Canal Path trail.   Enjoy your trip to York, PA. 

Thanks for the comments, everyone. This is a fun topic......it combines York (which I have only missed twice since I started going in April 83), Civil War history (of which I am an avid fan) and ultimately railroads because the Civil War was the 1st railroad war. Wherever the Confederates found a railroad during their Pennsylvania invasion, they tore it up. They wanted to capture the railroad bridge over the Susquehanna to facilitate their crossing, but it was burnt literally in their faces.

Here's a topic for another thread:

US & Confederate railroads during the Civil War.

Railroads, many times, were the key.

I am proud of my Civil War resume' I am fortunate enough to have visited:

Gettysburg, 25+ times

Antietam, probably 6

Bull Run, 1st & 2nd, probably 6.

The 7 Days: Beaver Dam Creek, Gaines Mill, Glendale, Malvern Hill, multiple times

Drewry's Bluff, multiple times

Petersburg, City Point, Five Forks, multiple times

Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Chancellorsville & the Wilderness, multiple times

North Anna

Cold Harbor, multiple times

Tredeger Iron, multiple times

Fort Donelson

Nashville

Franklin

Fort Granger

Murfeesboro

Shiloh

Corinth

Vicksburg

Atlanta

Kennesaw Mountain

Chickamauga

Chattanooga

Forts Sumter and Moultrie

This week I will work on historical maps of the York area to see where the fairgrounds in 1863 was.....and I will report back.

BTW, while at York, I carry pictures of the "western" battlefield sites on my iPad and always love to show them......just ask.

Peter

Civil War railroading is very interesting.  The US Military RR was the start of the modern American railroad. The USMR  had railroaders in it and many plus a lot of others worked for the railroads after the war.

Peter,

Thanks for the interesting Civil War info on York.  It calls to mind the great battle between the Two Railers and the Three Railers that still rages on in the Halls of York.

Like many of our Forum friends, the history of our nation is of great interest. I too have visited quite a few sites of the Civil  War, Gettysburg, due to close proximity, the most frequently.  I've lost count of how many times I have camped with the Scouts and hiked there and visited there with family.  A visit to any of the battlefields is a most humbling and spiritual experience.

Let us know what your research reveals.   

Earl

Peter .... very interesting. Look forward to reading more. Thanks.

I'm no "buff," but our Civil War sure does fascinate. I remember my wife and I taking our small sons, some 20 years ago, to Gettysburg. Buying that cassette tape from the gift shop, and riding around, looking at the different battlefields, etc. .... as the narrator explained the unfolding battle. Even my little boys loved it.)

Lots of cool stuff in Pennsylvania.

Jim

The Northern Central Railway was a target during General Lee's campaign in Maryland and Pennsylvania. This excellent book portrays those days in detail.

Steam into History sells this book (STORE on the Website) for $9.95 and runs the replica of a Civil War passenger train on the cover between on the NCRR between New Freedom and Hanover Junction, where President Abraham Lincoln changed trains when he delivered his Gettysburg Address. The station at New Freedom is 6 miles west of Exit 4 on I-83. David Kloke built the locomotive with plans from his LEVIATHAN. The Reader Railroad in Arkansas built the cars.

The research doesn't look promising. The current site was not the original fairgrounds.......and the site in the 1860s was east of downtown.

The traditions of fairs in the New World began with the York Fair, America’s first fair, held in the historic old Town of York in 1765, eleven years before the nation was founded. A charter to hold that fair was granted to the people of York by Thomas Penn, son of William Penn in recognition of “the flourishing state to which the town hath arrived through their industry.” Those early gatherings were reported to have been “the liveliest days of the whole year.”

At that time, the York Fair existed as a two-day agricultural market on the town commons, now known as Penn Park. Records don’t tell us too much about the York Fair during the American Revolution or the War of 1812, but we know the troops passing through York camped in the commons, so they would have shared the grounds with the Fair.

In 1853 a group of prominent York County agricultural leaders formed the York County Agricultural Society for the purpose of making the fair a three-day event and finding it a new home. That society purchased seven acres and established a new fairground in 1856. The new location was on what was then the east side of the City of York near what is now Queen Street and King Street.

In 1861, within days of the firing on Fort Sumter, injured Union soldiers were placed in temporary hospitals set up in the old Penn Commons and in the new fairgrounds. In 1862 the Secretary of War made those hospitals permanent so by fair time that year, the halls and grounds were filled with wounded from Antietam and the fair was closed until 1865.

Following the Civil War, the York County Agricultural Society, in 1888, decided the fair had once again outgrown its grounds and these early fair leaders purchased land and moved the event to the 73-acre site that was eventually expanded to become the current York Fair/York Expo Center property.

Over the past week I've done multiple searches for a decent historical map of the city of York in 1860. Unfortunately nothing reasonable that I can glean any information fr is to be found. Just based on the piece I found on the history of the fairgrounds. I would have to say that I am sure the Confederates passed through the area, but whether it was a specific encampment site of a Confederate brigade from Jubal Early's division, is unknown.

I will probably keep trying to find a decent York County/city historical map map. If I ever find any definitive information, I will post it here. On the other hand, it was fun looking!

Like I offered earlier, I have all my Civil War battlefield pics my IPad, including my trip to the Western battlefields. If you see me at York, and are interested, I'm happy to show the pics.

Peter