JED REINERT | Digital StaffExcerpts and summaries of news stories from the former Intelligencer Journal, Lancaster New Era and Sunday News that focus on the events in the county’s past that are noteworthy, newsworthy or just strange.
25 years ago
Medical history was made in Dec. 1998, when the nation's first robot-assisted coronary bypass surgery was performed at Hershey Medical Center.
Dr. Ralph Damiano Jr. performed the surgery, in which he used a surgical robot to assist in sewing the patient's three bypass grafts to her heart.
The technique - said to be the most significant advancement in cardiac surgery in 30 years - could reduce a bypass patient's hospital stay from about a week to just one day.
After the success of the first surgery at Hershey, the hospital already had its next two patients scheduled for the procedure.
In the headlines:
Republicans offer four impeachment articles
3 million-year-old skeleton of human ancestor is found
See-through book bags may satisfy school-safety needs
Check out the Dec. 10, 1998, Intelligencer Journal here.
50 years ago
The Colemanville covered bridge, which was swept away by Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972, was rebuilt and opened to traffic on Dec. 10, 1973.
The bridge, which carries Fox Hollow Road across Pequea Creek, is the second-longest covered bridge in the county, after the Hunsecker's Mill bridge over the Conestoga.
The Colemanville bridge was torn loose from its piers by flooding, and its framework floated about 450 feet downstream to be deposited - largely intact - on the bank of the creek.
Rebuilding the bridge cost about $50,000, but as Lancaster County Commissioner Raymond Herr pointed out at the dedication ceremony, a new concrete bridge would have cost more than $125,000.
In the headlines:
1,000 missing in cyclone
Protestants vow to wreck Irish unity
Ultrasonic therapy used on cataracts
Check out the Dec. 10, 1973, Lancaster New Era here.
75 years ago
In December 1948, the issue of rent control was in the news.
Federal rent control policies had been in place since the years of World War II, and were set to expire in March 1949. Looking ahead to that deadline, the Lancaster-York Advisory Rent Control Board was evaluating the housing market.
The board came to the conclusion that lifting rent control would place a hardship on "many, many families" in Lancaster and York.
The federal government was expect to make some extension or modification of the existing rent control policy prior to its expiration, but whether that would favor landlords, favor renters or present a compromise remained to be seen.
In the headlines:
Topeka power plant blasts kill eight
30,000 casualties suffered by three Chinese army groups
Protestants thin, New England boys strong, Army study shows
Check out the Dec. 10, 1948, Intelligencer Journal here.
100 years ago
A safecracking operation at the Lancaster Candy Company, on North Queen Street just off Penn Square, exhibited a mix of professional slickness and rank amateurism that baffled police.
In the early hours of Dec. 9, 1923, burglars went to extreme efforts to hide their break-in at the business. They cut power to the building. They camouflaged the basement door entrance.
Then, they seemingly spent hours hacking away at the large safe inside, using only a hatchet and screwdriver found inside the business - they apparently brought no tools of their own.
Ultimately, their effort resulted in little gain - the proceeds from the day's sales had been taken to the bank, and only $40 remained in the safe.
In the headlines:
Coolidge will be candidate for president
Rescue gangs work in relays to save entombed miners
