50 years ago, Lancaster County’s vo-tech schools opened [Lancaster That Was] – LancasterOnline

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. 

A Franklin & Marshall fraternity house fire, suspected to be arson, was front page news in 1995.

The house of Pi Lambda Phi, located at the corner of College Avenue and West Chestnut Street, was completely gutted by a blaze that also caused the roof to partially collapse. Fire officials said the behavior of the fire indicated that it had been intentionally set with the use of a chemical accelerant. Suspects were being sought in connection with the apparent arson.

The house had narrowly avoided being condemned just three years earlier, but fraternity members worked with the city to install a full fire alarm system and correct other violations, bringing the property up to code.

In the headlines:

Massive exodus of Serb refugees trapped by two advancing armies

O.J. prosecutors seek tape of phone message to friend

Stallone signs 3-picture contract for $60 million

Check out the Aug. 9, 1995, Intelligencer Journal here.

An educational project long in the making was finally nearing completion in 1970, as Lancaster County prepared to open its three vo-tech schools for the 1970-71 school year.

The three brand-new schools – located in Brownstown, Mount Joy and Willow Street – were set to host their first classes on Sept. 9. More than 2,000 students were enrolled from 18 school districts.

Another long-awaited event was soon to occur in Lancaster circa 1970: “Peanuts” was finally coming to the comics pages of the Sunday News. 

Running in newspapers all over the country on a daily basis since 1950 and on Sundays since 1952, the now-iconic comic strip was famous enough to warrant a short front-page story about its impending arrival in the Sunday News.

(As a reminder that even the timeless creations of Charles Schulz once needed to be introduced to new readers, the Sunday News blurb describes the strip as featuring “Snoopy, a canine Walter Mitty.”)

In the headlines:

Multi-million fund shortage closes bank

Afterburners could purify auto exhaust

Saints upset Vikings in Hall of Fame game

Check out the Aug. 9, 1970, Sunday News here.

On a New Era front page otherwise filled with stories of the Second World War, specifically the Allies’ dropping of atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a small story about pigs brought a bizarre piece of local news to readers.

The Willow Street “piggery” of Stewart Grimm had been struck by a strange malady – about 550 pigs had taken ill, and 140 had died thus far. Veterinarians and police were investigating. 

The pigs appeared to have been poisoned, and any toxic weeds or treatments on the fields where they lived had been ruled out. Investigators suspected someone had deliberately poisoned the animals’ feed.

In the headlines:

Nagasaki 2nd atom raid target, several bombs believed dropped

Bomb jitters unjustified; world is safe until whole atom can be exploded

Truman asks WPB to speed reconversion

Check out the Aug. 9, 1945, New Era here.

Strong thunderstorms are a fact of life in Lancaster County summers, but some of those storms are more dramatic than others.

Case in point: A storm on Aug. 8, 1920, which cut a swath of destruction through the county and its agriculture.

Three barns, a slaughterhouse and a chicken house were all lost to fires started by lightning strikes. The fires occurred in the Gap, Rothsville, Akron and Hopeland areas. In Gap and Christiana, several cattle left out in the fields to graze were struck and killed by lightning.

In the headlines:

Polish government flees Warsaw before Bolsheviki advance

Suffrage issue up in Tennessee

Check out the Aug. 9, 1920 Lancaster Intelligencer here.