Details provided by the Manchester Township History Profiles, Published by the Manchester Township Historic Society, February 2018
While Historic Shady Lane boasts over 250 years of history, no time period was ever more notable than that of owner Frederick Small.
Sadie Free Bacon daughter of John W. Free and previous owner of the land, sold the country farm estate to Frederick Small in 1908. In addition to the original 105 acres, and before Frederick Small’s ownership, both the Hake and Frees family added even more land to the farm so that Frederick Small bought a farm of about 163 acres.
A Short Biography of Frederick Small
Frederick Michael Small was born in 1878 to John Henry Small and Margaret McKinnon Small. Fred Small had an older brother, J. Edgar, who became a prominent attorney in York, and three sisters–Mabel Adelaide, Catherine Etter, and Lucy Logue. Fred also had a half-brother, Henry Jacob Small, a son to John Henry’s first wife, Jane Spangler, who died in childbirth in 1853, and a half-sister Magdalena Small, daughter of John Henry’s second marriage to Barbara Huber. John Henry’s third marriage, to Margaret McKinnon, began in 1871 when he was 45 years of age.
Margaret McKinnon was the daughter of Michael and Ann Logue McKinnon, and they were farmers in
Chanceford Township. When Michael died, the farm went to his widow, who became mother-in-law of John Henry. In 1883, John Henry bought the McKinnon farm and modernized it as his family summer home known as “Breeze Hill.” The farm was well-known for producing excellent cattle and boasted gas lights throughout the house, with gas manufactured on-site, a bowling alley, and tennis court. Frederick Small would develop a love for tennis, and it may have begun here at Breeze Hill.
Today at Historic Shady Lane, the reception tent is set on the site of the tennis courts where Frederick Small used to play and and watch tennis matches. The rebuilt gazebo is where he used to sit and watch.
Frederick Small was a key part of a gregarious family who enjoyed their prominence and success but who also valued friends, relatives and neighbors. In fact, it seems the prominent heirs of the immigrant Killian Small spent, through the 19th century, as much energy on community and church endeavors as they did on their own careers. The York Water Company, Gas Company, York Hospital, YMCA, various banks, insurance companies, and charities all benefited from the generosity and leadership of the various branches of the York Small family.
It was likely this heritage of family and friends helped shape Frederick Small and his outlook on his own family and friends. This background also helps us understand his imprint on his own Green Acres (former title of Historic Shady Lane).
After attending the Hill School, Fred Small entered law school at Yale for the 1896-97 school year. His brother, J. Edgar graduated from Yale in 1897 and soon pursued a prosperous law career in York. Fred, however, didn’t return to Yale the following year, apparently deciding that a career in law wasn’t what he wanted. Lake many of the notable Smalls, his future lay in business. Fred may have worked in his father’s business for a short time after his year at Yale. In March of 1899, Fred accompanied his father, John H., to Lock Haven to inspect rafts of logs headed for Marietta and, eventually, to the Henry Small and Sons steam-powered mill in Wrightsville. One raft was 340 feet long and the largest to move through Lock Haven at that time.
While it’s not clear if Fred worked steadily after leaving Yale, it does appear he pursued his passion for sports. In the autumn of 1899, he won the finals of the men’s singles at a four-day tennis tournament held at the Outdoor Club, then located on Madison Avenue. Two years later, Small was again in contention for the finals in men’s singles, men’s doubles, as well as mixed doubles with his future wife Juliet Spangler. In 1900, the Outdoor Club also offered a bowling tournament, in which Fred Small had good success. Remember, he may have been one of the few competitors who had a bowling alley in his own home when he lived at Breeze Hill.
YMCA basketball was another sport Small enjoyed. The York YMCA team, with Small as captain, soundly beat a team from Baltimore, 45 to 10 in 1905 Fred Small and William Dempwolf were the lead scorers and impressed the crowd on the York floor with their excellent short passes.
Fred Small lands a job The York Candy Company began production in 1900, and by 1901 Fred Small was general manager and treasurer. The company dissolved in 1905 and its factory sold to a candy manufacturer from Altoona. Several newspaper articles between 1902 and 1905 seem to portray the company as successful although it did suffer costly damages due to two floods.
John H. Small, Fred’s father, died in 1902, and Fred Small turned to real estate. Fred’s mother, Margaret, sold the family home at 100 East Market Street, the farms in Chanceford township, West Manchester township, and Springettsbury township. She then moved with the family to the Elmwood farm. The family decided to subdivide the farm into housing and commercial tracts for the Elmwood Terrace subdivision, with Elmwood Boulevard, we know today.
Historic Shady Lane Through the Years
Jacob Hake developed an outstanding farm and distillery. John Free maintained the productive farm and used it as his country estate. Fred Small dropped the distillery but maintained the farm as a genteel country home and a social venue for entertainment of family and friends.
Frederick Small’s Green Acres
In 1908, while dealing in real estate, Fred Small bought the 163-acre farm of John W. Free just north of Emigsville. Today, we know a portion of this farm as Historic Shady Lane; Fred Small called it Green Acres. Several dates are significant clues as to how Fred Small developed this farm and when he likely lived there.
- 1908 Fred Small buys the John W. Free farm.
- 1910 Census shows Fred Small, age 31, living on Elmwood Boulevard with his mother and siblings.
- 1913 Fred Small marries Juliet Schmidt Spangler. A note says that following their honeymoon, the couple would reside at Green Acres.
- 1914 Daughter Mary Frances Small is born.
- 1916 Fred Small becomes president of Martin Carriage Works.
- 1917 Daughter Margaret M. Small is born.
- 1919 Fred Small buys house at 310 East Market in Juliet’s name.
- 1919 Fred Small merges Martin Carriage with Parry Manufacturing of Indianapolis.
- 1920 Son John H. Small is born.
This sequence of dates supports a plausible scenario that Fred Small bought the farm he called Green Acres while single and working in real estate. When he married Juliet Schmidt Spangler, they decided to make Green Acres their home. However, by 1919, with two daughters and another baby on the way, the oldest child approaching school age, and Fred deeply involved with his job at the new merger of Martin-Parry, the family decided to move to the city but keep Green Acres as a country home and working farm with a tenant farmer.
Green Acres, A Prospect for a New Almshouse
The York Chamber of Commerce was looking at sites for a new almshouse in 1914, and one of the more than forty farms they visited was Fred Small’s Green Acres. Even then the old almshouse was in bad shape and a battle over whether to repair or rebuild waged in York for many years. An interesting point, however, in an article in the York Daily, August 7, 1914, was that Small was asking $80,000 for his farm although he said he would sell to the county for $75,000. He said he invested $38,000 in improvements since he bought it.
It’s possible the improvements he made in the years following his marriage, or before, consisted of the graceful stonework, landscaping, tennis courts, and other elegant embellishments still present at Historic Shady Lane today.
A year later, Senator Henry Wasbers, who had been a member of the committee that considered Green Acres as a site for the new almshouse, submitted a bill to the state legislature to move the proposed Pennsylvania Industrial Home for Girls from its site in Lycoming county to Green Acres at a cost of $75,000 or condemnation. Apparently, Wasbers was smitten with Green Acres.
While this proposal wasn’t enacted, an article in the York Daily on March 9, 1915 extols some of the virtues of Green Acres in this way:
The farm buildings have been equipped for a certified milk plant for 60 cows. A small lake for ice purposes and 27 acres of landscape gardening radiate from a driveway in an ideal way for establishing a collection of buildings for this institution, which is to be on the cottage plan.
It’s possible then, the landscaping, the stonework that forms the backbone of the landscaping, and, possibly, the greenhouse needed to support the landscaping, were all in place by 1915.
Whiskey Distillery Ceases Operation Under Frederick Small
It’s ironic that the distillery on Green Acres had a long history before Fred Small bought the farm. Jacob Hake operated a still on the farm, probably from 1807 when he bought the place. After his death, Daniel Hake, Jacob Free, and John W. Free continued distilling likely until Fred Small bought the farm from John W. Free’s estate in 1908.
Fred Small came from a tea-totaling Presbyterian family and, apparently, his daughter, Mary Francis was an ardent leader in the temperance movement. Numerous articles in the local papers describe events sponsored by the “Mary F. Small Women’s Christian Temperance Union,” or WCTU. Apparently, Mary Francis was such an ardent leader, that they named the local chapter in her honor.
To learn more about the History of Historic Shady Lane, visit North Eastern York County History in Preservation.
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