Manheim Township
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MARCH 24, 2021
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VIVOL XXXVI • NO 45
Still Standing - Township House Has Defied The Odds BY ANN MEAD ASH
n Feb. 3, Benton Webber shared several photos and newspaper articles on the Uncharted Lancaster group on Facebook. The photos showed a beautiful building, originally a farmhouse, located at 2201 Oregon Pike in Manheim Township. Landis House has been a fixture in Lancaster County for nearly 200 years, and its history has included occupants ranging from farm children to insurance executives. “It was originally built by Hans Snavely or Snabley,” said Webber, who noted that spelling tends to be less fixed as one delves back into the history of a building. “It came into the Landis family by marriage.” A date stone indicates the original house was constructed in 1728, which Webber pointed out is the same year that Lancaster County was formed. “At some point there was either a fire or the house had to be expanded,” said Webber, noting that the house was rebuilt in the 1880s. How much of the present house is original is not clear. Webber’s Facebook post included a number of photos and news articles that traced the history of the building. A circa 1899 photo shows several members of the Landis family in the front yard of the home. A 1930 photo provided by Lewis Bechtold shows two children and a dog in the same location. After the building served as a family home for several generations, one of the Landis family members turned the domicile into a family restaurant. “I found some newspaper articles about it, and it looked very charming,” said Webber of the family restaurant that closed by 1978. A 1982 newspaper article states that Provident Mutual Life Insurance of Philadelphia would occupy the building. In recent years, the building has housed TriStarr Staffing. “It is not
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VisionCorps’ Virtual Format Provides Education And Community BY ANN MEAD ASH
The front yard of Landis House on Oregon Pike, which dates to 1728 has a varied history in Manheim Township.
in the same shape and configura- recalled Webber, who eventually that story,” said Webber. tion and context … but a lot of the learned from an East Lampeter For more stories about local hishistoric architectural features Township supervisor that there had tory, search for “Uncharted Lanwere preserved,” said Webber. once been a steamship paddle wheel caster” on Facebook. “(TriStarr has) done a great job boat called the Lady Gay traverswith the interior. They kept a lot ing the Conestoga River. “That of the historic blew my mind,” ambiance while prerecalled Webber, serving the outside.” “The neat thing is who said the expeWebber’s post trying to imagine rience changed his pointed out the what this area was life. “I have loved replicated roof, and like in the 1700s researching about the preserved hand and 1800s, with the Conestoga pump, walkways, woods as far as the River (since then),” and porch. said Webber. “The eye could see.” Webber, a Lancastneat thing is trying er County native who to imagine what graduated from Manheim Township this area was like in the 1700s and High School in 1979, first became 1800s, with woods as far as the interested in local history when eye could see,” Eventually, Manattending a meeting about a Bridge- heim Township’s rich soil gave port intersection as a civil engineer. way to agricultural development “I asked where the name Bridgeport and farms like the Landis House. The house is listed by the Historic Preservation Trust. came from, and nobody knew,” “It’s neat how this tells part of
When COVID-19 restrictions shut down the state in March of 2020, VisionCorps, a nonprofit organization working to empower the blind and vision impaired, stopped providing services, but not for long. “We shut down services for a couple weeks, but we quickly realized our services were still needed out in the community,” said Chris Ament, vice president of rehabilitation and education with VisionCorps. To stay within the restrictions, Ament explained that VisionCorps developed a hybrid approach to service delivery. The hybrid programming is part virtual and part in-person. “You can’t safely teach someone how to cross the street over the computer,” noted Ament, who added that the organization was careful to protect all involved. “Our goal is to address safety with employees See VisionCorps pg 6
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Church Posts Youth Musical . . . . . . . . . .2
MTHS Student Gives Back . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Williams Wins PIAA Wrestling Gold . . . . . . . . .3
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . .8
House Of Worship . . . . . .12
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