AREA HISTORY:  The Town Laid Out, Wrightsville, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis

Copyright 2005.  All rights reserved.
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History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
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THE TOWN LAID OUT – Page 596

Notwithstanding the early settlement of the locality, and the prominence 
attained by the ferry, the town was not laid out until 1811, and later.  The 
part of the town known as Wrightsville containing 101 lots, lying between Hellam 
Street and Limekiln Alley and between the river and Fourth Street (except a 
portion of the square between Front and Second and Hellam and Locust Streets), 
was laid out by William Wright in 1811, and by him conveyed to Jacob Kline.  To 
the lot owners of this portion of the town belongs to the public ground at the 
corner of Front and Walnut Streets.  “Westphalia,” containing ninety-six lots, 
and “Westphalia continued,” were laid out by Susanna Houston in 1811 and 1812, 
and embraced all that part of the town south of Hellam Street.  “Wrightsville 
continued,” embracing the part of the town north of Limekiln Alley was laid out 
by William Wright in 1813.  “Wrightsville extended,” lying between Hellam and 
Locust Streets, and west of Fourth Street, was laid out by Samuel Miller.  It 
may not be uninteresting to know that the lots in Wrightsville were disposed of 
by lottery, or rather that the lots were sold at a uniform price, and the choice 
of lots was determined by chance.

The first bridge over the Susquehanna at this point was erected in 1814, and 
since that time the place has been known as Wrightsville, instead of Wright’s 
Ferry, as before.  This bridge crossed the river at a point higher up the river 
than the present one, the Wrightsville end of the structure being about opposite 
the farm-house of the old Wright farm, now owned by Detwilers, North, Crane & 
Co., and occupied by Henry Crumbling.  This bridge was destroyed by the ice 
freshet of 1832, and a second bridge was built in 1834, where the present one 
now stands.