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Economic Development

Building Strength

Recognized Leading Program

As a Main Street America™ Accredited program, Main Street Hanover is a recognized leading program among the national network of more than 1,200 neighborhoods and communities who share both a commitment to creating high-quality places and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development. All Main Street America™ Accredited programs meet a set of National Accreditation Standards of Performance as outlined by the National Main Street Center. This comprehensive approach to downtown revitalization was developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and utilized by the Pennsylvania Downtown Center. 

Transforming Communities

Every community and commercial district is different, with its own distinctive assets and sense of place. The Main Street Approach™ is centered around Transformation Strategies. A Transformation Strategy articulates a focused, deliberate path to revitalizing or strengthening a downtown or commercial district’s economy. 

 A program’s work on Transformation Strategies should be organized around the Four Points: Economic Vitality, Design, Promotion, and Organization. 

 The Main Street Approach™ offers community-based revitalization initiatives with a practical and adaptable framework for downtown transformation that is easily tailored to local conditions. The Main Street Approach helps communities get started with revitalization and grows with them over time. 

Hanover at the Tip of Your Fingers

Discover what else Hanover has to offer during your visit.

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A Balanced Approach

For a snapshot of accomplishments that the organization has had by being an accredited Main Street Community and following a balanced approach to economic development and preservation, read on… 

RACP
Grant Secured for $1.4 Million 
Governor Visit Secured

DCED Grants
Façade Grants – $90,000 
Implementation Grant – $50,000 
Planning Grant – $25,000 
York County Tourism Grant – $50,000 for tourism activities driving tourism into Hanover Borough 

National Accreditation with Main Street America (National Main Street Center) – 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019 

Top 10 Performing Main Street programs in Pennsylvania – 2018 

Public Art Initiative & Beautification
Public Sculpture series launched and Mural Program underway 

Holiday Events & Activities
All downtown holiday events and activities that drives visitation and spending in the Borough is facilitated and paid for by MSH and our donors.   

LERTA
MSH leads the effort to get this passed.  Currently, two projects with potential for more will use this program to get a tax abatement on the assessed value increase.  After the first year of no change in tax revenue, the Borough will see an increase in revenue from the redevelopment of these properties.  This program has made it more attractive to developers to take on projects in the Borough.

Our Vision

Business Development & Retention

All these efforts make it attractive to own a business in downtown Hanover and help make those businesses successful through collaboration, synergy, and added marketing benefits. 

Events

MSH puts on events year-round to encourage local shopping and patronage of businesses in the Borough – In the past three years we estimated our MSH events brought in 3,000 people into the downtown shops and businesses.  Over 6,000 have visited downtown in the past two years for the Christmas season activities. 

Website & Social Media

MSH pays for and maintains a robust website and social media following for the Borough of Hanover’s downtown district.  We share timely news updates and events, as well as encourage business patronage, and increase visitation to the Borough.

Tourism Effort

MSH has overseen efforts to promote the downtown district as a destination for shoppers and travelers.

Marker Details

Image Warchime-Myers Mansion
Heart of Hanover

The Myers Mansion was built over a period of three years, beginning in 1911, as the residence of Clinton N. Myers of Hanover Shoe Company. William Warehime generously donated the Warehime-Myers Mansion at 305 Baltimore Street in Hanover, its contents and the grounds to the Hanover Area Historical Society along with an endowment for the conservation of the properties. Mr. Warehime grew up across the street from the Myers Mansion and had long admired the neo-classical structure. The mansion remained in the Myers family until 1997 when Mr. Warehime purchased it from Molly Powl Myers, a granddaughter, who lived in Montana.

Learn more about the mansion and how to visit here.

Image Hanover's Healing Touch
Civil War Trails

Pleasant Hill Hotel became a makeshift hospital during the period following the Battle of Hanover and the Battle of Gettysburg.  That building stood beside the current mansion location on Baltimore St.

Image Hanover Area History Museum
Places of Interest

The new museum is home to hundreds of unique items, covering some 300 years of local history, and is the culmination of thousands of hours of research and development by a small, but dedicated team of volunteers. From the tale of Digges’ Choice in the 1720s to an entire display dedicated to the beloved summertime Forest Park, the museum takes guests on a journey that is structured both by time period and topic. Major themes covered include local religion, language, education, transportation and manufacturing.

Find more information along with how to visit here.

Marker Details

Image Stuart's Fruitless Odyssey
Heart of Hanover

After disengaging from the Union cavalry in the late afternoon of June 30, Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry division left Hanover. Stuart and his men embarked upon a half.-circle odyssey south then northeast around town while Stuart's rear guard, did not depart Hanover until after dark. The next day, July 1, Stuart and a portion of his exhausted troops advanced to Carlisle searching for supplies and information. Some historians contend that Lee suffered an "information blackout" during the first two days of the Battle of Gettysburg, thereby depriving Confederates of strategic high points and information during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Image Confederates Invade Free Soil
Civil War Trails

By June 29, Stuart had reached Union Mills, dangerously out of touch with Lee. Stuart had captured 125 Union wagons carrying provisions, along with 600 mules saddled with supplies, all of which bogged down his progress and kept him far away from Lee.

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Image Heroics of the Union Cavalry
Heart of Hanover

To some, the nameless, stoic picket on horseback on the Hanover Square symbolizes the dignity and honor of the cavalry, and the vigilance of every day, tough--and--tumble Union soldiers.

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Image Profiles in Union Cavalry Courage
Heart of Hanover

Capturing two prisoners and a Confederate battle flag south of town in this vicinity, Private Burke was the first Medal of Honor Recipient for valor in a Civil War battle on free soil. Read all the profiles by visiting the marker.

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Image Center of the Storm
Heart of Hanover

In 1863, charming brick and wooden homes lined both sides of Frederick Street from Center Square to the Winebrenner Tannery and the Karl Forney Farm. This are became the turbulent center of confusion during the battle as cavalrymen from New York and Pennsylvania fight face.-to.-face against those from North Carolina and Virginia.

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Image Search and Destroy, Hide and Seek
Heart of Hanover

In many towns like Hanover, rail depots also were telegraph headquarters. Hanover's was on present-day Railroad Street. Three days before the Battle of Hanover, Confederate Lt. Col. Elijah White's men were on a mission: search for and destroy Pennsylvania railroad bridges and telegraph lines.

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Image Hospitality Before Hostility
Heart of Hanover

Joanna Wrentzel (née Thomas), of Hanover, wrote “The morning of the battle I went to the square with a wash basket of bread and a kettle of apple butter and helped feed the soldiers that were coming into Hanover. The soldiers were awful tired and hungry and were glad to get the food people were giving them.” Visit DiscoverHanoverPA.org for more information.

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Image Trailblazing Writers Leader, Long, and Prowell
Heart of Hanover

On these first blocks of Frederick Street lived pioneering newspaperwoman Mary Sophia Leader (1835--1913), famous author John Luther Long (1861--1927), and historian George Reeser Prowell (1849--1928), all buried one mile south of here in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

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Image Hanover's Underground Railroad Conductors
Heart of Hanover

Just north of the Mason--Dixon line, the divide between states where slavery was legal and free states like Pennsylvania, Hanover was a logical stop on the Underground Railroad.

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Image Union Strikes Back
Heart of Hanover

As the Union reclaimed the square for good, Kilpatrick ordered troops, with the help of citizens, to barricade streets with barrels, farm wagons, dry goods boxes, and other materials to provide cover.

This pen drawing depicts what a barricade would have looked like as it is a depiction of a similar event in Baltimore, MD.

Image Fate of the Nation
Civil War Trails

In 1887, Union Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, writing of the Gettysburg Campaign, asserted that “Hanover saved the fate of the nation.” It is of the Battle of Hanover that he spoke.

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Image High Noon in Hanover
Heart of Hanover

As the battle continued into the mid-day, both sides maneuvered their cannons into place to support their soldiers efforts. Both sides exchanged cannon fire for up to two hours.  Artillery units would have looked similar to this photograph of a Union Field Artillery Unit in position.

Marker Details

Image Neas House
Places of Interest

The historic Neas House at Chestnut and High Streets in Hanover is a Georgian residence built around 1783 by Mathias Neas, a tanner who acquired six lots from his brother, George Neas, in November 1782.

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Image Aftermath and Stench of Death
Heart of Hanover

York County produced more than 6,200 soldiers in the Civil War. While no final tally is possible, the number of county men who died from war wounds and disease was as high as 900. Hanover's Mount Olivet Cemetery alone has at least 235 Union graves.

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Image Titans of Hanover Industry
Heart of Hanover

Varied industries, such as foundries; distillers; and coal, lumber and hemp rope distributors, bought or rented parcels within the Commons. The Commons roughly extended from Railroad Street to the west, North Street to the north, and Chestnut Street to the east.

For more information on current industry leaders, visit the Hanover Area Chamber of Commerce and read about their apprenticeship program in the area through partnerships with local manufacturers.

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Image Warfare Engulfs Downtown
Heart of Hanover

Downtown saw heavy fighting as the battle of Hanover erupted in this area – hand-to-hand combat broke out amid gunfire, shrieks, and shouts.

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Image Hanover Market House
Places of Interest

Open every Saturday morning the Hanover Market House on E. Chestnut St. was constructed in 1933 and has been there ever since. 

Originally operating in Center Square, the original open-air market building was often mistaken as a misplaced covered bridge.  The structure featured the town’s only jail cell below ground level.  The market operated in this open air structure from 1815 to 1872.

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Image Lincoln Plaque
Places of Interest

This plaque memorialized the visit of President Lincoln to Hanover on his journey to Gettysburg to deliver the famous ‘Gettysburg Address’.

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Image Commons on Locomotives
Heart of Hanover

Hanover’s first industrial park was built around the railroad lines in the late 19th century. The area known as the ‘Hanover Commons’ helped shape the town’s future as a community of entrepreneurs and family businesses.

Image Working on the Railroad
Heart of Hanover

There is no doubt that Hanover’s access to rail lines helped position it as a hub of industry and innovation. The businesses in Hanover thrived with access to major metropolitan areas.

Image Lincoln in Hanover
Civil War Trails

President Lincoln’s stop at the Hanover Branch Railroad station was a cause for great celebration in the town. Many went gather for a glimpse at the President as he traveled to Gettysburg, where he delivered his address the next day.

For more information about the Gettysburg Address or Lincoln’s stop in Hanover visit: Battlefields.org

Image Guthrie Memorial Public Library
Places of Interest

The Guthrie Memorial Library, Hanover’s Public Library, is a welcoming environment representing education, recreation, and progress. The library forms a cultural connection that joins people through text, technology and meeting spaces. Visit YorkLibraries.org.

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