Yesterday, I wrote about a metal “thing” found at the bottom of a box in a local junk store. It’s small, plain, and quite ordinary, but I had no idea what it was, or what it was commemorating. I initially thought it was to mark the anniversary of Memorial Park in York, which was turned over to the city of York in 1953. After all, it does look like a hockey puck, right?
Mystery solved…
It didn’t take long for some loyal readers to get me turned in the right direction, and an answer wasn’t far behind. Steve Kohr, owner of the Historic Shady Lane estate, suggested the item was from Caterpillar’s 40th anniversary celebration. The York plant opened in 1953, so this was definitely a strong possibility.
My long-time friend June Lloyd, an extremely knowledgeable local historian and author of the Universal York blog, sealed the deal by contacting her niece’s husband who used to work at the plant before it was scaled down. This was in fact an item used to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the company’s local operation, and he even has one that he uses… as a paperweight.
There you have it folks, the mystery item is a paperweight, but I still think my hockey puck guess was a pretty close second.
Another mystery bites the dust, so it’s time to find another.
NOTES:
- Jim McClure offers a great timeline of the local Caterpillar plant on his York Town Square blog, which can be found here.
