JED REINERT | Digital StaffExcerpts 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
In the wake of the Columbine school shooting in Littleton, Colorado, which had happened just days earlier, four Lancaster County high schools had to deal with threats of violence from students, the New Era reported on April 28, 1999.
The threats were part of an "epidemic" of similar incidents nationwide, as countless teens threatened "copycat" violence after the killings in Littleton.
In Lancaster County, Donegal, Warwick, Manheim Township and Cocalico high schools, police and school officials were responding to a mix of bomb threats, threats of violence against specific individuals, threats of general violence and ill-considered jokes about bombs and guns.
Manheim Borough police Chief Barry Weidman had this to say:
"It's been a miserable week. The parents are really scared. We're trying to calm their fears while working through the rumor mill to find out where these (threats) started. We've just been chasing shadows all week."
In the headlines:
Kosovo negotiations start in Moscow
Toys R Us making big online push
Incomes growing faster than inflation
Check out the April 28, 1999, Lancaster New Era here.
50 years ago
More than 50 bowlers were routed from the Lancaster Lanes building on Lititz Pike when a smoky fire erupted in the building at about 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 27, 1974.
Fifty firefighters responded to the blaze, from Manheim Township, Neffsville and Eden fire companies.
No bowlers or bowling alley staff were injured, though one firefighter was taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
The fire was believed to have started in the electrical wiring at the rear of the building. Lacquer for the bowling lanes was stored near the wiring box.
In the headlines:
Portuguese coup may end empire
Ecological substitute for gasoline also economical
Potent marijuana smuggled into U.S.
Check out the April 28, 1974, Sunday News here.
75 years ago
In April 1949, a long-predicted event finally took place: Lancaster's historic Woolworth's store was closing, with the building set to be razed to make way for a new, modern store.
And souvenir hunters came out in force.
Customers and employees alike were grabbing whatever odds and ends they could on the store's last day of business, as longtime regulars had their final cups of coffee at the lunch counter.
The most popular item for souvenirs? The diamond-shaped metal decorations on the walls, each bearing the latter "W." Some customers even commandeered store tools and ladders to pry the plates from the plaster.
Built in 1900, the Woolworth Building was an ornate, grand structure complete with a lavish rooftop garden. By 1949, the garden had been closed and the top floors were vacant.
In the headlines:
Truman hopeful of end of Berlin siege
1,500 Americans elect to stay in Shanghai
'Obey' in marriages ruled as antiquated as hoop skirts
Check out the April 28, 1949, Lancaster New Era here.
100 years ago
Two sisters were sent home from school in April 1924 for wearing knickers to class, and an outraged response from their parents led to the Lancaster school board addressing the issue.
Charlotte and Opal Petters, age 10 and 8 respectively, attended the Ann Street school, where their teachers told them knickers were not approved clothing choices for girls and suggested dresses instead.
Repeat offenses were met with the same result, after which the girls' father, Oscar Petters, expressed his displeasure.
The Principal of the school said that morale and "deportment" were suffering, as the rebellious girls were seen as "heroines."
The reason for the school's insistence on enforcing the dress code was explained thus:
"The principal of the school concluded that if the children were allowed to dress in knickers, the older girls would have a perfect right to dress that way and that there are some grown girls in the public schools who could not decently wear that sort of attire for everyday contact."
In the headlines:
Miners buried at Wheeling
$150,000 in gems taken by New York thugs
