York’s Penn Park: Long Time City Green Space Awaiting Rediscovery
Course | Registration opens 8/4/2025 8:00 AM EDT
From its founding in 1816, Penn Park served as a place that freedmen and women could disembark from their journey to free soil. Later, these public commons served as a gathering place for civil rights vigils and protests. Long and short, this green space has served as a coming together place since its founding. For years in the 1800s, a resident lived in its expanse, freedman Charles Granger, known as Squire Braxton. At times, Penn Park’s expanse has been indispensable. Other moments, it’s been neglected. Today, the question must be asked, will Penn Park be rediscovered?
Jamie Noerpel
After earning a B.A. from York College, Pennsylvania Jamie Noerpel taught high school history for ten years at Milton Hershey School. She now directs the York County Safety Collab, a coalition of law enforcement and the community geared toward youth crime prevention. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in American studies from The Pennsylvania State University with a focus on history, environmental studies, and folklore. She co-founded a website called Witnessing York, writes a local history blog for The York Daily Record called Wandering in York County, and operates a local history podcast called Hometown History.
Jim McClure
Jim McClure is an author and historian, and the former editor of the York Daily Record and Atlantic group editor at USA Today Network.
Dominish Miller
Dominish Miller has a master’s degree in library science and information studies with a concentration in local history and archiving from Clarion University. She is the Third Circuit Court of Appeals Librarian for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and the founder of Preserving the History of Newberrytown. She is the author of two cookbooks, Preserving the History of Newberrytown: A Community Cookbook From the Cooks of Newberrytown, Pennsylvania 2021, Volumes 1 and 2. Miller is also a reenactor with the 87th Regiment, PVI. She portrays a private in the 87th PA Company C.