East Manchester town offices are located at 5080 North Sherman Street Extension,
Mount Wolf, PA 17347.
Phone: 717-266-4279,
Neighborhoods
Beginnings [&dagger]
The original boundaries of the Township were not clearly defined, however, by 1748 Manchester Township was confined to that area currently occupi ed by Manchester, West Manchester and East Manchester Townships. At that time the total area contained some 300 inhabitants, a number of cleared and cultivated tracts and a few minor Indian settlements. The remainder of the 1and was covered by a dense growth of primarily oak, chestnut, hickory and ash.
The first few settlers in the area were English Quakers, but the majority of the early settlement was accomplished by German immigrants who engaged in successful farming activities. By 1783 Manchester Township contained "267 houses, 218 barns, 21 mills, small and large; 10 Negro llaves, 3 redemptioners; 1,465 inhabitants, and 29,723 acres not vacant."
By 1799 Manchester Township was divided into 2 townships upon petition of the residents of the separated area now known as West Manchester Township.
By the year 1885, the citizens of Manchester Township began to consider the question of dividing it again. On January 8, 1887 the court confirmed the report of an appointed commission and a new township was formed, named East Manchester Township.
Among the early settlers west of the Susquehanna River was Peter Eib, who took up the fertile land that forms a delta between the mouths of the Conewago Creek. As 1umber interests up the river developed, a section of is land became an important landing place from which lumber was supplied, to a large portion of York County and parts of Maryland, for more than half a century. At its peak, Eib's Landing saw as many as seventy-five teams loaded with lumber in one day, three hotels to accommodate teamsters and lumbermen and millions of feet of lumber sold annually. The importance of Eib's landing declined when steam sawmills were built at York Haven and Goldsboro and when the Northern Central Railway was completed. There is nothing left to mark this, probably the most historic spot in East Manchester Township.
About the year 1800 an early, but unsuccessful, attempt at urban planning took place in East Manchester Township. On part of the original Eib's Landing property a new city was laid out. This new city of 50 x 100 foot lots, to be called Town of Manchester, was planned at a time when the lumber and shad fishing interests of the Susquehanna led many land owners to suppose that their farms were to be the sites of flourishing cities in the near future. Their dream had never materialized.
In 1804 Frederic Day, an English Quaker, made a plat of fifty-two lots and disposed of them by lottery. The town he called New Holland. In 1814 he laid out an additional section of 162 lots. The village is situated on the Susquehanna River at the mouth of the "Gut". New Holland, too, became a lumber center. In 1825 New Holland became a post town and was renamed Day's Landing. Adam Wolf was for many years a prominent justice of the peace, and had a large lumber yard and tannery at New Holland. Like at Eib's Landing, plans had been made for a large town, which never materialized as lumber interests ceased with the completion, in 1851, of the Northern Central Railway.
In 1850 the post office was moved from New Holland to Mount Wolf, two miles distant. The village, nestled in a little valley a half mile north-east of Manchester Borough was first named Mt. Cambell in honor of a prominent York 1awyer who was instrumenta1 in the construction of the railroad from York to Harrisburg. Two years 1ater the railroad was completed, Adam Wolf &Sons opened a store and founded a business which continues to this day under the incorporated name Wolf Supply Company. The name Mount Wolf originated in 1852 when the post office was moved from Mt. Cambell, one half mile down the railroad to the Wolf store. A town was laid out near the store in 1867 and by 1885 the population had grown to 200. In 1889 the Mount Wolf Furniture Company was established as the forerunner of what can only be considered an extremely dynamic industrial history, considering the size of the community. By the early years of the twentieth century Mount Wolf's industry ranged from cigar factories, through shirt manufacturers, to the production of wire cloth. On August 23, 1910, Mount Wolf was incorporated as a Borough.
† Adapted from: Historical Society of York County, material provided for the East Manchester Township Comprehensive Plan, 2005, emanchestertwp.com, accessed October, 2024.
Nearby Towns: Conewago Twp • East Donegal Twp • Hallam Boro • Hellam Twp • Manchester Boro • Manchester Twp • Mount Wolf Boro • North York Boro • Springettsbury Twp • West York Boro • York City • York Haven Boro • Yorkana Boro •