Winters Heritage House Museum

We are Elizabethtown history!

Published quarterly by the Elizabethtown Preservation Associates Spring Training Issue 2020

In This Issue — It’s a Victorian Spring;

 Baseball! Baseball! Baseball!
 Quilts! Quilts! Quilts!
 Tea! Tea! Tea!

(717) 367-4672
Permit No. 1
PA Elizabethtown, PA 17022
Elizabethtown, 47 East High St.,
Non-profit Org.
Paid P.O. Box 14
US Postage Return Service Requested Winters Heritage House Museum
 Spring Calendar
KEEP YOUR March 6 — Museum Opens for 2020!
New Saturday Hours!
MEMBERSHIP Wed., Thurs., Fri., 9:30am-3:00pm
ACTIVE! Saturday, 10am—4pm
March 13 — Story Hour, 9:30, 10:45 Please call to register.

March 13 — Exhibit Opening — Elizabethtown Baseball

History Season-Opener Social, 7pm-9pm.
Exhibit runs through Friday, April 17.
Memberships are our primary
March 21 — Herb Garden Committee Seed Swap Event,
resource for maintaining museum & 10am—noon.
programs.
March 26 — Conversation E-town lecture, 7pm. in the H.U.
Please take the time to renew your annual Coble House. Jean Boal will speak on The Social
membership. If you renew early we will add the new Challenge of Global Warming, Please RSVP. (free)
membership year to your existing due date.
April 3 — Story Hour, 9:30 & 10:45 Please call to register.
Membership Form NEW ReNEW April 16 — Take a class in Proddy, 7-9pm Try this
unusual form of wool working, and create a 3-
Name: _________________________________________ dimensional sunflower pin to keep or gift. Instructor
Becky Densmore. Cost: $15 Age: 12 thru adult.
Address: _______________________________________
Register by April 10. (See article for further info)
Phone: ________________________________________
April 23 — Conversation E-town lecture, 7pm. in the H.U.
Email: _________________________________________ Coble House. Oya Ozkanca of Elizabethtown
College will speak on current politics in Turkey.
Membership level (circle one)
Individual—$25 5-Year Individual ——$100 May 1 — Quilt Exhibit Officially opens Fr iday, May 1.
Family — $40 Sponsor — $250 The exhibit runs all month during museum hours.
Sustaining — $60 Benefactor — $500
Patron — $100 Associate — $1000
Schedule your group for an in-depth docent-guided
tour, today!
Thank you for your support! May 2 — Opening event; Tea, Quilts and
Crumpets Two seatings followed by a Quilt Tour.
Check enclosed # _________ Amount : ____________ Tickets on sale via museum desk 717 367-4672
Or call for credit card processing.

All members receive free admission to museum Winters Heritage House Museum
events, and unlimited research time in the Seibert
Library. Be sure to use these and the other P.O. Box 14 / 47 East High Street
membership benefits listed online! Elizabethtown, PA 17022
717 367-4672
New Saturday hours; 10am to 4pm!
Please send this form to the address provided here.
The museum does not have an on-site mailbox. Regular hours resume March 7, 2020;

Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday,

Winters Heritage House Museum 9:30am to 3pm,
Saturday, 10am to 4pm
P.O. Box 14 and always by appointment.
Elizabethtown, PA 17022
Website: www.ElizabethtownHistory.org
Email: Winters-HH@ElizabethtownHistory.org
Dear Elizabeth Dear Elizabeth,
Our Historic Advice Column
The spirit of our town
founder, Elizabeth Hughes, My son and daughter are both on spring baseball teams
residing here from 1750 to with an after-school program. The problem I notice (that
1760, offers her advice to our is shared by many of my other friends, as well) is that
generation. their practices often conclude at the same time, but are at
Please send your questions to opposite ends of town, and at the same time I am in the
Dear Elizabeth, c/o Winters middle of preparing dinner. It’s quite a trick to drive
Heritage House Museum from Bainbridge, to Rheems Elementary to East High in
email; under twenty minutes, and then back to our house in
Winters-HH @ElizabethtownHistory.org Bainbridge within the hour, where I still need to get
dinner on the table. Since you seem to be able to time
hop, I thought you may have some time-saving tips or
Dear Elizabeth, advice?
I’m a huge baseball fan, and was wondering if colonial
Americans had a sport to play, much as we enjoy Driven Crazy Mom
baseball in our era? I realize Abner Doubleday didn’t
invent our wonderful American pastime until the 1830s,
but surely you have some sport that compares in the mid- Dear Insanely Driven,
1700s? Are you asking me if I might improve upon the modern
wonder of transportation, that you might reel about your
Left Field Larry landscape at an even faster rate than your era already
provides? Were I even once able to traverse such a
Dear Out in Left Field, distance of eight miles in twenty minutes, t’would have
You have set me back on my heels, I must confess! Your been a true miracle! My common experience is that
modern-era game of “baseball” is nothing more than horse and carriage may assume well over two hours
our own schoolyard game of “Rounders” played all traversing from your Bainbridge home to a school as far
across the British isles for a century or more before my distant as Rheems. The entire loop of journey, about
own era, and noted in a 1744 publication on children’s sixteen miles, taking close to four or five hours to
games and therein even called “base-ball”. complete. That t’would be without a rest for the poor
horse or any event of mud or weather to waylay your
The main difference between our schoolyard game and plans.
your version is that there are no strikes counted, nor
strike-outs, and there are nine “outs” and just two Please try to maintain an appreciation for your
innings. A batter runs after a “good pitch” (one within extravagant speeds, though they may appear vexingly
your modern era “strike zone”) whether the ball is struck slow to one so used to moving at top speeds.
or not. Otherwise, it is just as surely baseball as any
game played, including four bases to run, nine players Might I further impose to suggest having your children
per team, a pitcher, a catcher, three fielders and come home from school to prepare the meal and help
basemen. Why you must insist that all inventions are of about the house rather than frittering away useless hours
your own era I may never comprehend. Do “Giggle“ with a schoolyard game and causing you to race about
this on your Whack-y-podium for further gleanings! like a goose?
Yours truly,
Yours ,
Elizabeth Elizabeth
Museum Happenings Page How to Improve your Community (and You!)

Attend a Conversation E-town lecture!

Over the spring we will host two more lectures on
Meet our new Social international situations.
Jean Boal — March 26, on The Social Challenges of
Global Warming
Media Oya Ozkanca — April 23, on Turkish foreign policy. She

Manager!
will also have her new book available; Turkey–West
Relations: The Politics of Intra-alliance Opposition
Please visit www.elizabethtownhistory.org for further
information on these lectures.
In February, the
Elizabethtown Preservation Warm-up for an exhibit on Elizabethtown
Associates Board added a Baseball!
third part time position to Opening Mid-March,
the museum staff. From Elizabethtown College SDLC
this, we have met and hired students will be presenting a
Katherine Rose as our new multi-room exhibit on
Social Media Manager. Elizabethtown’s Baseball History. Exhibit runs through
Katherine, or ‘Kate’ as she April 17.
likes to be called, will Katherine Rose, Social Media
assist the museum by Manager Don’t miss the Season Opener Social on
promoting events on social Friday, March 13th, 7pm-9pm in the museum!
media as well as the traditional routes, boosting
communications about who we are, and also help in the Swap Some Seeds!
day to day operations of the museum. On Saturday, March 21, the Herb Garden Committee will
host their spring Heirloom Seed Swap inside the
Because of Kate, the museum will be able to expand its museum. Bring your extra garden seeds and pick up
hours to be open on Saturdays, from 10am to 4pm. We something new! No seeds to share? You’re still very
will be more available on Facebook and Instagram, and welcome to share in the surplus. Drop-in between 10am
are looking forward to our debut on YouTube! and noon. No cost. Heirloom and hybrid seeds are
welcome.
Kate graduated from NYU with a degree in Arts and
Humanities. She has worked at several living history
venues as a museum educator and in social media Join us for Tea! — and a Quilt Tour
promotion for the Ever dreamed of attending a proper
past ten years. Victorian British Tea? The museum is
Please stop teaming up with Manchester Teas and Tarts
in to meet and to host the most authentic, fun, and
welcome Kate! delicious British tea event in town.
Saturday May 2, in the HU Coble House, 33 E. High

A docent–led tour of the museum’s 30th Annual Quilt

Exhibit will follow.

Tea may be attended at two separate seatings:

Noon — Devonshire Cream Tea — a scrumptious multi-

course tea event more akin to a meal! Tickets $28

2pm — High Tea — a lighter affair still plum with the

most delectable teas and treats! Tickets $22

Katherine Rose in Civil War attire at Bartow-Pell Mansion Semi-formal attire encouraged, hats and gloves very appropriate!
Museum in New York.
The 30th Annual May Quilt Show Sign up for an Evening
Opens May 2 with a Victorian Tea Crumpets and Quilts event. Proddy Class!
Ahead on the list of Things Not To Miss!

The Winters Heritage House Quilting Committee is Thursday, April 16, 7pm-9pm
planning their 30th annual May Quilt Show, opening with a
Tea, Crumpets and Quilts event on Saturday, May 2, PRODDY is an old-fashioned
from noon to 4 pm. variation of rug hooking using
shaped pieces of wool fabric lifted
The Quilt Committee, led by Jo Garvin, a quilt historian in up with a wood prod, or prodding
her own right, gathers quilts for this colorful yearly expose clasp. This technique is PERFECT
of antique through modern-day quilts. The group members for creating beautiful three dimensional blossoms! Make a
pride themselves on never repeating a quilt. Each quilt is gorgeous sunflower pin from wool strips and fabric in this
displayed with its own unique story posted beside it, 2-hour class presented by Becky Densmore.
making the event both awe-inspiring and informative.
This year’s show will focus on Victorian Crazy Quilts. The Ages: 12 and older / Time 7:00 –9:00pm /
show generally exhibits about 30 quilts. Cost $15 Please register by April 10.

The exhibit will open with a Tea, Crumpets, and Quilts

event to be held in the H. U Coble House, next door to the
museum. Reserve your seating by calling the museum
front desk. A multi-course Devonshire Cream Tea, served
in formal Victorian style, complete with luncheon pastries,
Irish butters and Branston pickle will be served at noon, or
opt for the lighter-fare High Tea of crumpets, scones,
clotted creams and jellies at 2:00pm. Each tea seating will
be followed by a guided tour of the quilt exhibit.
The Quilt exhibit runs all throughout the month of May,
during museum hours and by appointment. Groups that
wish to have a more in-depth docent-led tour may schedule
such by calling the museum a few days in advance.
If you have a quilt that you would enjoy sharing with the
community, the committee is actively gathering a list.
Please call the museum to let us know. 717 367-4672

A History of Crazy
Quilts
The featured quilt style at this year’s May exhibit

The late 1800s (the Victorian Era) and early 1900s were an eclectic
time characterized by a struggle between puritanical restraint and
unbridled emotionalism. Homes were cluttered with bric-a-brac, huge
potted plants, and cloth-covered furniture.
A wave of nostalgia for the past developed during this time, generated
by the stresses and uncertainties of the rapidly changing world of the
Industrial Revolution. It was in this environment that the frivolous,
extravagant Crazy quilt made its appearance.
Lush, Lavish, Victorian Made from delicate silks and
velvets for display, rather than as functional bedcovers, crazy quilts
were principally employed as throws that were kept in the parlor. They
were also referred to as "slumber robes" or "couch throws."
Instead of geometric patches arranged in an established pattern,
irregularly shaped scraps are pieced together, usually into blocks that
were later joined. The blocks were often irregular shapes and sizes.
The term crazy is defined as "full of cracks or flaws, as having the
appearance of crazed pottery, broken into irregular segments." These
quilts only seem to be the work of lunatics.
brocades, satins, and taffetas -- either new, left over from dressmaking,
or salvaged from worn-out garments and home furnishings. These
quilts were seldom made from light-colored fabrics. Some crazy quilts
were made as memory quilts -- as a way to record a family history --
using unusual items, such as pieces of clothing, ties, or hat bands --
sometimes with the dates of the owner's birth and death, or some other
information embroidered on the scraps.
The most typical examples of crazy quits were lavishly embroidered
with a variety of threads for added elegance. The seams between the
patches are covered with embroidery stitches -- the feather stitch is
quite common -- to hide the raw edges. Additional embroidery stitches
are then worked on the patches. The work was fragile, as were the
materials, and practically useless as a bedcovering. Crazy quilts were
also difficult to clean.
While constructed as quilts with three layers, crazy quilts were rarely
actually quilted. Instead, they were usually bound and tied to a backing.

Favorite materials for crazy quilts include rich, dark silks, velvets, This article was found at www.quilting-in-america.com
Baseball is “America's pastime”
and Elizabethtown is home to a
very fascinating chain of Warm-up for an
baseball history. Exhibit on
Our names are Andrew Fisher, Joseph Elizabethtown
Sarich, Michael Rajnik, and Arley Shepherd
and we are students at Elizabethtown College. Baseball!
This semester we have been compiling research
and are putting together the spring exhibit for
the Winters Heritage House Museum. Elizabethtown College
SDLC students present
The exhibit runs Friday, May 13, to a multi-room exhibit
Friday April 17, and will contain information
covering many decades of local baseball on Elizabethtown’s
players and teams. Baseball History!
The four of us currently play baseball
for Elizabethtown College, and hold a great
love for this game and its history. Not only will
our exhibit focus on the semi-professional and
professional level of the sport, but also the
lower ranking levels that have been enjoyed Season-Opener Social
throughout this area’s history. Friday March 13, 7-9pm!
We have used resources provided by
our college to conduct our research, as well as
documents from the museum and local
archives. Not only have we been able to find information on the numerous baseball teams in Elizabethtown’s
history, but many interesting anecdotes to go along with them.

The exhibit will take you from the Klein Chocolate Factory Chocolatiers to the history of baseball at
Elizabethtown College and on to spotlight multiple players from Elizabethtown High School who went on to
make a significant impact in professional baseball.
Did you know that the pitcher who ended Pete Rose’s 44 game hitting streak went to E-town High school?

To find out who and learn more about the legacy of Elizabethtown baseball, come see our exhibit at
the Winters Heritage Museum!

EC students; Joe Sarich, Andrew Fisher, Arley Shepherd,

and Michael Rajnik who organized our spring exhibit.
Fun Findings in the Seibert Library
This article first appeared in the
Elizabethtown Chronical on May 10, 2007
Babe Ruth Strikes Out Twice against
E-Town
By Patsy A Reed
winning about 80% of their games against local
competition and it was time to move up to better
competition. Their first game against a major league team
was against the Philadelphia Athletics. Even though the
A's didn't field all their best players and the “Chocolate
Workers” won handily, the contest accelerated interest in
the Klein's team.
With the team doing better than the brothers expected
they took another bold move. On August 4th they
announced they had booked two more games against major
league teams. They would play the St. Louis Cardinals on
Tuesday August 12 and the Cincinnati Reds on Friday
August 29. Both games would be played in Harrisburg.

Mellinger started the St. Louis game for Klein's but he

allowed three runs and had two on base with none out in
the first inning when Manager Brackenbridge replaced him
with Walter Harned. Harned fanned the next batter but
then gave up a long single which scored two more runs.
Klein's Athletic Field was between the Conoy Creek and The chocolate crew was in a deep hole but they battled
the old high school (now GEARS) on South Poplar Street. back with 2 runs in the 4th, 2 in the 6th, and they went
ahead with 2 more in the 7th. A crowd of 2,500 watched
During a four-day span in 1919 the Klein Chocolate the Klein's team come back from the five run deficit to
Baseball Team of Elizabethtown defeated three different beat the Cardinals. Klein's management had to be pleased
major league teams. The North American, a Philadelphia
newspaper, hailed the feat as a record that may never be The August 29th game against Cincinnati would be
equaled. Babe Ruth and the Boston Red Sox were the Klein's toughest test yet. Late in August Cincinnati was
victims on day 4 when Bill Ritter struck out the "Home leading the National League by 2 games with 61 wins and
Run King" with runners in scoring position in the 1st just 29 losses. Much to the delight of Kline management,
inning and again in the 6th. Ruth gave up 4 hits in the next almost 10,000 fans showed up for the contest and a
two innings and the "Chocolate Workers" won by a score "cordon" of State Police had to be called in for crowd
of 4-0. control. Many of the fans had come by railroad from
Lancaster. Cincinnati manager Eddie Roush selected Rube
The Klein Chocolate plant, on Brown Street in Bressler, a 24-year-old left hander to pitch. Manager
Elizabethtown, was operating at capacity when the troops Brackenbridge went with Harned.
came home from war in 1919. It was time to expand the
plant. The Klein brothers, William and Fred, wanted to The Reds scored one run in the first and then added
promote the company so they could raise money to expand single runs in the 3rd, 5th and ninth to make it 4 to 0. In
the plant and sell the additional chocolate that would be the bottom of the ninth the "Lunch Bars" started from the
produced. The Klein brothers decided to support top of the batting order. Hunter, Klein's center fielder,
Elizabethtown's "Welcome Home" campaign with a theme brought the Klein's fans to life with his third hit of the
of quality baseball and quality chocolate. game and it wasn't long until the Klein's team had the
bases loaded. With two out Klein's shortstop, Dutch
Interest in the game of baseball was sweeping the Brannen, cleared the bases with a double that scored
country. Most of the "Troops" had returned from France Hunter, Wrightstone and Kauffman. Even though the
and baseball games were attracting huge crowds and they game ended when the next batter grounded to first, Klein's
were widely covered by most newspapers. The brothers had put on a dramatic show and had almost beaten the
wanted a semi-professional team that could beat any team, team that would go on to win the National League Pennant
even teams in the major leagues. They selected light tan by nine games.
uniforms with the words "KLEIN Chocolate Co." on the
front of the shirts. Most of their home games would be That fall the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Chicago
played at the stadium next to the factory in Elizabethtown White Sox in the World Series 5 games to 3 (a best of 9
but games that were expected to draw large crowds would format). Cincinnati was destined to win. Most of the
be played in Harrisburg or Lancaster. Chicago team played hard but seven players, including star
pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams, had accepted
By early July 1919 The Klein Chocolate team was the promise of $100,000 from gamblers in New York to
3rd, 5th and ninth to make it 4 to 0. In the bottom of the manage.
ninth the "Lunch Bars" started from the top of the batting
order. Hunter, Klein's center fielder, brought the Klein's Ben Hess was 18 at the time and in an interview with
fans to life with his third hit of the game and it wasn't long Bob Bishop in 1983 he remembered the day the Dodgers
until the Klein's team had the bases loaded. With two out came to town. "The Klein team was good and they drew
Klein's shortstop, Dutch Brannen, cleared the bases with a large crowds."
double that scored Hunter, Wrightstone and Kauffman.
Even though the game ended when the next batter On Wednesday the Klein team traveled to the Dickinson
grounded to first, Klein's had put on a dramatic show and College field in Carlisle to take on the Washington
had almost beaten the team that would go on to win the Senators and provide some top entertainment for many of
National League Pennant by nine games. the soldiers convalescing at Carlisle hospital. Three
thousand fans watched another exciting Klein's game as the
That fall the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Chicago "Chocolate Workers" took and early lead and beat the
White Sox in the World Series 5 games to 3 (a best of 9
format). Cincinnati was destined to win. Most of the
Chicago team played hard but seven players, including star
pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams, had accepted
the promise of $100,000 from gamblers in New York to
throw the series. Even if the Klein's team had beaten the
Reds in Harrisburg on that Friday afternoon in August, the
"Lunch Bars" would never have been able to truly say they
had beaten the world champs.

By early September the brothers had scheduled four

more games against the Philadelphia Athletics. The games
would be played September 6, 23, 24, and 25th. Klein's
won the game on September 6th by a score of 8 to 2 but the
Klein brothers were not pleased. The "Chocolate Workers"
had beaten the A's earlier in the year and only 2,000 fans
showed for this rematch. In addition, newspapers reported
the game as hardly interesting because the A's only fielded
four of their regular starters. The Klein brothers were so
mad they promptly canceled the games scheduled for
September 23rd, 24th, and 25th. Babe Ruth, after giving up the winning run to the Elizabethtown
Chocolate semi-pro team.
The brothers worked quickly and scheduled games Senators 4 to 3. Washington fielded five regular starters
against three very good teams. They would play the but selected Clarence Fisher, a new addition to the staff, to
Brooklyn Dodgers on Monday September 22nd at Klein pitch.
Field in Elizabethtown and the Washington Senators at
Dickenson College in Carlisle on Wednesday the 24th. On Thursday September 25th, the Kline's Chocolate
Carlisle was chosen so many of the solders being treated at"9" defeated the Boston Red Sox at Harrisburg by scoring
the Carlisle Hospital for injuries sustained in the war could
four runs in the late innings, all off Babe Ruth. Boston
see the game. Klein's biggest feat was scheduling two fielded seven regular starters including Ruth, who played
games against the Boston Red Sox and the new "Home the first six innings in left field. Bill Ritter did the pitching
Run King" Babe Ruth. The first "Ruth" game would be in for Klein's. Ruth, fourth in the line up, had a chance in the
Harrisburg on Thursday September 25th and the second first when he came to bat with a runner on third and two
would be in Lancaster on Friday September 26th. out but Ritter struck him out. Ruth hit a long fly to right
for an out in the 4th and then struck out in the 6th with a
Two thousand fans crowded Klein's field, behind runner on second. Ruth was off to a poor start and it didn't
today's Community Center, on Monday September 22nd to get any better. He came on to pitch in the 7th with the
watch the Chocolate team take on the Brooklyn Dodgers. game scoreless and gave up two hits that scored the first
This time the fans were not disappointed. Even though the run. Then in the 8th Ruth gave up 3 more tallies and
Dodgers fielded six regular starters and selected Clarence Klein's went on to win 4-0.
Mitchell to pitch, they went home empty. It was a close
game with the Chocolate team scoring single runs in the Klein's lost to Boston the next day by a score of 3 to 1
4th and 6th innings to take a 2 run lead. The Dodgers cut in front of 5,000 fans at Rossmere Park in Lancaster.
the lead to one in the 7th but that was all they could Boston put 16 game winner Herb Pennock on the mound