York
York, York County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Laid out in 1741, by order of the Proprietors; the first Pennsylvania town west of the Susquehanna River. Seat of the Continental Congress, 1777-78; birthplace of the Articles of Confederation.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Founded in 1741 by order of the Penn proprietors, this was the first Pennsylvania town laid out west of the Susquehanna, an anchor of colonial expansion into the interior. When British troops seized Philadelphia in 1777, the Continental Congress retreated here and governed the rebelling states from this county seat through the winter and spring of 1777–78. It was in this period that Congress produced the Articles of Confederation, the compact that first joined the states into a single confederacy.
Why it matters
A frontier market town briefly became the seat of a nation, hosting the debates that yielded America's first constitution and proving that the Revolution's government could survive even the loss of its largest city.
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Related events
- · Continental Congress at York
- · Articles of Confederation
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
York County Prison
York, PA · est. 1949
From about 1750 to 1855, the county prison stood on this site, serving frontier York County through the colonial era and into the industrial age. During the early years of the Revolution, it held prominent British prisoners of war, making this jail a small front in a continental conflict far from any battlefield.
Major John Clark
York, PA · est. 1949
When the Continental Congress fled to York in the fall of 1777, this quiet Pennsylvania town briefly served as the seat of a young nation at war. Major John Clark, who lived on this site, was a trusted Revolutionary officer who served as aide-de-camp to General Nathanael Greene and later as an auditor of the Continental Army — one of the many soldiers and administrators whose unglamorous labor kept Washington's army supplied and solvent.
Provincial Courthouse
York, PA · est. 1949
On this square once stood the York County courthouse, where the Continental Congress met from September 1777 to June 1778 after fleeing Philadelphia. Within its walls the young republic ratified the Articles of Confederation — its first framework of government — and celebrated the treaties of alliance with France that would prove decisive to the war's outcome.
Globe Inn
York, PA · est. 1949
The old Globe Inn that once stood here was York's finest lodging, welcoming statesmen, officers, and travelers passing through the town. Its most celebrated guest arrived in 1825, when the aging Marquis de Lafayette, touring the nation he had helped free, was honored with a grand reception. His gracious toast—"To the Town of York"—was long remembered as a highlight of that triumphal visit.