Maureen App, my correspondent in Dover, Pennsylvania, tells me that her town is a, "wonderful place. We still have lots of agricultural land so rolling hills, cows and crops are common sights and we are conveniently located to several large cities."
Situated in York County and with a population of 18,150 (2000 census), the large cities close to Dover, include: York, the home of the county government offices and main local employment, this includes the Harley-Davidson motorbike industry. Harrisburg, capital of Pennsylvania, 25 miles away; Baltimore, Maryland, 60 miles away; while both Philadelphia, and Washington, DC are 90 miles away, in different directions.
The first counties in Pennsylvania, known as Penn's Woods, were established in 1681 under a charter granted to William Penn by Charles II. Settlement initially occurred in the east until the conclusion of the Indian Treaty of 1736, when the limits of Lancaster County were extended westwards. By this time Pennsylvania had become the richest and most populous British colony in North America. The State was in the front line of the American Independence movement adopting the Declaration in July 1776.
What was to become Dover township began in the 1740s-50s when a man named Graves opened a hostelry for passing travellers. About 1764 Jacob Joner purchased 200 acres of land and laid out the town called Joner's Town which last until 1813. Then the US Mail established a post office and adopted the name of Dover. Apparently so called because of an unidentified person's nostalgia for Dover, England!
In 1901 the electric trolley reached Dover from the City of York, which was celebrated by an ox roast feast attended by some 2,000 people. A 32-acre woodland tract was used for the celebration, which was afterwards developed into a picnic area, renamed Brookside Park. This has remained even though the trolley service ceased in 1932.
Like Maureen, the people of Dover are proud of their township, so all new housing must conform to ordinances many of which, I feel, DTC may think of adopting! One such regulation requires that "weeds and grass may not exceed the height of twelve (12) inches and yards must not be cluttered with an excessive amount of rubbish, trash, debris or discarded items."
Dover is also proud of its many and varied religious denominations that happily co-exist. This goes back to its very foundation when Thomas Jefferson, who became the third president of the United States (1801-1809) and wrote the Declaration of Independence, started his political life in Virginia. In 1777 he wrote a Bill forcing citizens to support the official church regardless of their beliefs. The more tolerant Pennsylvanians, however, preferred to allow immigrants to worship in the way of their own choosing.
In recent times this tolerant philosophy has led to a conflict with the US government regarding the teaching of biology in schools. In the US, as in the UK, external exams are standardised, and Darwin's theory is accepted as the only theory of evolution. However the Dover School Board argued that children should be made aware that there was another theory, Intelligent Design which has it's roots in Creation theory. Thus, before lessons on Darwin's theory began, teachers use to read out a statement on 'Intelligent Design'.
In 2004-5, the reading out of the statement was challenged through a Federal court, on the grounds that the school board had violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the US Constitution. However, the Judge, in a 139 page decision, found that the mandate was unconstitutional and barred Intelligent Design from being taught in state school science classrooms. Tolerance in Dover was not reflected at national level.
Thanks to Maureen App,
Geographic Information Systems Project Officer, Dover
Pennsylvania
