A Lighter View
Dillsburg's concrete divide
By K.E.H. Stagg

Feb. 26, 2009

Back in the early 1990s when I first moved to the Harrisburg metropolitan area, it didn’t take me long to learn that the Susquehanna River—like the old Berlin Wall—divides East from West. But I also discovered that U.S. Route 15 does the same thing within the 17019 zip code. Unless it’s essential business, certain individuals, who shall remain nameless in the interests of self-protection, have been known to plot out a day’s course in such a way as to avoid having to cross the main north-south thoroughfare along the Eastern seaboard. I’m not poking fun; there have been too many serious accidents at Dillsburg’s intersections to disregard the sentiment behind what might otherwise be considered a strange concept.

It occurred to me recently that this idea of staying on one side of the concrete divide is not without merit. On the northbound side of Route 15, there are plenty of fueling stations, a grocery store, numerous eating establishments, a car wash, a cemetery, the Dillsburg Library, Dillsburg Elementary School and entertainment/recreation at Haar’s Drive-In, Logan Park and the Dillsburg Youth Softball and baseball fields.

The southbound side of Route 15 also has plenty of fueling options, numerous eating establishments, a car wash, the Book House, a cemetery, South Mountain Elementary School and entertainment/recreation through mini-golf and the Appalachian Trail, although it definitely comes out weaker in terms of groceries. The numerous gas stations’ markets sell gallons of milk and basic necessities like Hostess snacks and ice cream, but for pot roasts and other serious grocery fare, anyone refusing to cross over Route 15 will drive as far as Hanover or Gettysburg before reaching a full-service grocery store on the southbound side.

Why don’t we want to cross Route 15? I know how much I hate waiting at traffic signals! Half the people making left-hand turns want to make their turn behind motorists from the opposite direction also making left-hand turns; the other half want to turn in front of oncoming motorists. Front gets my vote, because everyone can see what all the others are doing, while behind may get you mistaken for a straight-through driver with a big old dent on the driver’s side of the car to show for it.

Other than that very real possibility, I’m not sure why we in Dillsburg are so loathe to cross the concrete divide. We’re still within our same zip code and there’s no language barrier to overcome or official process to wade through. Maybe we’re harking back to the old days when horses were easiest to keep going in a straight line. Horse power doesn’t run on the same principle, does it?