Hotel Yorktowne

A Brief History: Located at 48 East Market Street in York, Pennsylvania, The Hotel Yorktowne opened in 1925 on the corner of South Duke and East Market Streets. In its day, it was the most popular place to stay in York. If you were going to have a family reunion or a large dance, you did it at the Yorktowne. When Bill Clinton was on his campaign trail, he stopped at the Yorktowne. Frank Sinatra, Walter Cronkite, Tony Bennett and Lucille Ball all stayed here as well.

In 1957 there was seven-story addition and parking garage added. The black and white flooring was covered up by carpet and several murals were hidden behind drop ceilings and sheetrock. In 2010 the York Hotel Group, defaulted on a loan and owed $5.26 million to PNC Bank. The York County Industrial Development Authority purchased the hotel in December of 2015 and the property is being developed into a mixed-use building which should be completed sometime in 2020.

Haunted History: There was an elderly man who checked into the hotel in the 1940s. He became a semi-permanent resident on the eighth floor, living there until he became very ill and ended up in the hospital. On his deathbed, he mentioned that he would miss all his friends at The Yorktowne. Over the years, guests have reported seeing a human-like shadow or apparition on the eighth floor, sometimes disappearing into a wall, where the door to the deceased man’s room once stood.