CALL IN NEWS.....to
Hazel Baker [Marietta]
426-3643
Cherie Dillow [Mount Joy]
653-1609
The Susquehanna Times
426.2212 o or 653-8383
Vol. 80, No. 14, April 9, 1980
A history of Billmeyer
A bird sings from the
branch of a tree growing out
of the cellar of one of a long
row of fallen-down houses.
A snake slithers across the
vine-covered floor of Rebec-
ca Chapel, of which only one
wall remains standing.
A gust of wind blows
against a flapping piece of
sheet metal and slams in
like a cymbal against the
steel framework of the fifty
foot high stone crushing
building. The bird, startled,
flies away.
Then, except for the
distant rumble of a train, all
is quiet in Billmeyer today.
Back in the nineteen-
twenties, as many as two
thousand people lived or
worked around Billmeyer,
on the Susquehanna River
between Marietta and Bain-
bridge.
Periodically, dynamite
blasts from the limestone
and dolomite quarries rock-
ed all the buildings in the
area. Banging, crashing
trains shifted cars which
were waiting to be filled
with lime or dolomite. The
huge crusher worked relent-
lessly, smashing rocks into
workable pieces. The red-
hot, 125-foot long rotary
kilns turned ceaselessly,
infernally. Horses glistened
with sweat and, encouraged
by hissing whips wielded by
bare-chested men, drew
carts of stone up from the
quarries to be emptied into
the crusher.
Men, too, were sweating
and straining.
Heat and dust were
everywhere.
Billmeyer was not just a
huge industrial operation; it
was a complete community
with homes, a general store,
a church, and a school—
everything a person needed
to sustain body and soul.
Between the train tracks
and the river was a row of
houses in which workers and
their families lived. Blacks,
Poles, Hungarians and Ital-
ians lived side by side in
peace and harmony.
In summer, neatly-kept
lawns and well-tended gar-
A picturesque view of one of the Billmeyer buildings.
dens stretched from the
houses down to the river
banks.
On workdays, the children
attended the village school.
On one Sunday there
would be a Catholic service
in the chapel; the priest
from St. Mary’s in Marietta
would come to say Mass.
Next Sunday, a Baptist
service would be held. The
Rev. Louis Butcher, who
worked as a red-cap porter
at the Pennsylvania Railroad
Station in Lancaster during
the week, conducted the
service.
On a summer Sunday,
Rev. Butcher would lead a
small flock of young con-
verts down to the river,
where he dunked them one
by one in baptism.
The general store was run
by Bill Mundorff. If a person
needed anything, but lacked
the money to buy it, he
didn’t have to go without it.
Mundorff would simply
charge the person for
whatever he bought, and
take the money owed out of
the person’s next pay-check.
Mundorff could do this
because he worked for the
same employer as his
customers; the J.E. Baker
Company.
In fact, everything in Bill-
meyer—the quarries, the
store, the school, the
[continued on page 5]
Susquehanna Times & The Mount Joy Bulletir
MARIETTA & MOUNT JOY, PA.
The J.E. Baker Company closed up shop in Billmeyer
more than twenty years ago.
T™
SUSQUEHANNA TT”. 38
FIFTEEN CENTS
__ounegal Democrats
favor Pres. Carter
John E. Matoney, a
Mount Joy resident, con-
ducted a poll of registered
Democrats in the Donegal
School District concerning
the choices they expect to
make in the upcoming
primary contest between
Carter and Kennedy.
There are approximately
1,500 registered Democrats
in the Donegal District.
Matoney contacted 74 by
telephone; he selected those
with the most active voting
record. Each respondent
was asked to place himself
in one of five categories: for
Carter; leaning to Carter;
neutral or undecided; for
Kennedy; leaning to Ken-
nedy.
Those polled responded
as follows:
For Carter—37
Leaning to Carter—3
Neutral/Undecided—28
For Kennedy—6
Leaning to Kennedy—0
On the basis of Matoney’s
poll, it seems that Jimmy
will be the winner in the
Donegal District. Even if all
‘“‘undecided’’ respondents
swing to Kennedy in the
primary voting (statistically
highly unlikely), Kennedy
would still have fewer votes
than Carter.
Matoney, a member of
the Lancaster County Com-
mittee to Re-elect the
President, conducted his
poll on April 2 and 3.
Thursday, 4:30 to 6:30
pm, Marietta Youth Street
Hockey practice to be held
at the Marietta Community
House. Interested persons
should contact Gary Newton
at 426-2514.
Marietta Youth Center
activities will be held weekly
through the end of April. All
activities will be held at the
Youth Center, East Front
St., from 7 to 8:30 pm.
Listed are the different
groups:
Monday, Boys 9 to 12
Tuesday, Girls 9 to 12
Thursday, Guys 13 to 18
Saturday, Youth 13 to 18
Anyone interested in
more information concern-
ing the Marietta Youth
Center should contact Gary
Newton at 426-2514.
Thursday, April 10, a
planning meeting for the
annual Marietta Children’s
Fair will be held in the
Marietta JC Center begin-
ing at 7:30 pm.
Friday and Saturday,
[April 11 and 12, a rummage
sale will be held at Zion
United Church of Christ,
Marietta.
This Week’s Calendar
Sunday, April 13, the
Senior Choir of Trinity
Lutheran Church, Mount
Joy, will present an Easter
Cantata at the 10:45 service.
Monday, April 14, the
Marietta Auxiliary to the
Columbia Hospital will meet
at the home of Hazel Baker
at 1:30 pm.
Monday, April 14, People
United for the Arts meeting
at 7:30PM. in the Donegal
High School artroom. Pro-
gram: Art Major classes
present a ‘‘Creative Extrav-
aganza’’ (exhibits, demon-
strations, and surprises).
The public is invited.
Tuesday, April 15, the
Seiler Elementary School
will present a spring music
program at the Beam Junior
High Auditorium beginning
at 7:30 pm.
Thursday, April 17 at
7:30PM. the Marietta Res-
toration Associates will hold
their regular monthly meet-
ing in the Community House
in Marietta. The program:
“MAIN STREET, U.S.A.”
a thought-provoking film
from the National Preserva-
tion Trust. Public is invited.