The Old York City Market
Learn the History
The first rumblings of a new proposed City Market were seen in the local York press in late July 1877. The firm of John A. Dempwolf was selected as the architect, and by August 1878, the design had been complete and bids were being received from contractors. Built on a former cemetery site for the Christ Lutheran church, construction of the market took around a year, and the towering new building was open to the public by the summer of 1879.
Part Central Market, part Gothic cathedral, and part Palazzo Vecchio, the burnt-brick City Market was designed with an eclectic mix of stylistic influence, featuring a cruciform footprint and an Italian-Renaissance-style tower that stood 95 feet above Duke Street in its heyday. Elaborate wood rosettes and dentils lined the bracketed cornices of the ornate tower, a space on which was left for a clock, never installed. Intricacies continued along the upper roof lines, where red and white bands of slate tile broke up the fields of blue Peach Bottom slate, terminating at Dutch roof gables with exposed half-timber motifs and floral sculptural reliefs. An array of arched windows and entrance doors, trimmed with Amherst stone, established a pleasing rhythm across the various facades.
The exquisite interior boasted massive arched hammer-beam trusses – the largest attempted in wood at the time – the central main arch requiring the skills of experienced Baltimore shipbuilders to lift into position. Much like the Central Market down the street, the interior walls were painted white and the wood roof deck left exposed. Light was originally provided artificially by 11 gas-powered chandeliers, and naturally from the myriad of dormers and clerestory windows above. After additional wings were added in 1889 and 1897, the market could accommodate around 700 vendors. The voluminous space hosted firemen’s festivals, sporting events, and “walking matches” where a band would play from the western balcony as competitive walking occurred on the market floor below. At one time, a large outdoor fish market operated below awnings in the yard along Princess Street.
Unfortunately, though, time took its toll on the building - in 1925, lightning struck the market’s tower, resulting in a fire that damaged the tower’s roof and interior beyond repair, and took 20 feet off of the total height. By the mid-1930’s, York was still reeling from the Great Depression, and many market vendors were finding themselves in the red. Grocery store chains were also growing at the time, and the exodus of York City’s population to the suburbs continued post-WW2. By 1957, multiple offers had been made for sale of the market, but it looked as if major interior improvements were on the horizon. However, these plans eventually fell through, and October 5th, 1963 was slated as the final day of the market’s operation.
The remaining City Market vendors, mourning the loss of the institution, attempted to keep the market alive in a new location along South George Street but their efforts were short-lived. Meanwhile, the original market building was picked apart down to the foundation walls, scraps of brick, slate, stone window sills, and concrete steps cast aside into the dirt or left to rot in the sun. Some of these materials still remain buried on-site, their profiles still visible from the street.