Fairmount Historic District

Laid out in 1884 on a wedge of land across the Codorus Creek from York, the Fairmount neighborhood grew along North Beaver Street and three cross streets during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Developer Edward W. Spangler, a lawyer and newspaper owner, sold lots to professionals who built large single homes and duplexes, and to investors who built rental houses. Most houses combine Queen Anne, Second Empire, Gothic Revival, Colonial Revival and Italianate features in frame and brick. Its walkable location near downtown York, reached by two iron truss bridges and later served by trolley lines, drew residents across social classes. The district is considered significant for its community development as a planned suburb and for its largely intact collection of Victorian-era dwellings, which illustrate the building practices and tastes of York at the turn of the twentieth century.