One early July day in 1925, workers painted the words “Continental Square” on the pavement at each entrance to York’s main crossroads. That placed into public view York City Council’s late April action to give Center Square, often “Centre Square,” a new name. The letters were designed to remind visitors about York’s role in the Declaration of Independence, its 150th anniversary to be celebrated the next summer. And there was yet a larger celebration planned in 1927, the 150th anniversary of York County’s role in hosting the Continental Congress. Congress met in the York County Court House in the middle of Centre Square, thus making York the nation’s capital for nine months from 1777 to 1778, the fourth of nine cities in which Congress met. There was much to look forward to as workers crouched to paint “Continental Square” four times in the intersection where the coast-to-coast Lincoln Highway crossed the Niagara Falls-to-Washington, D.C., Susquehanna Trail. York County residents waited until 1927 to significantly break in the newly minted Continental Square. The pinnacle of the 150th anniversary festivities of the Declaration of Independence in 1926 took place blocks away at Meadow Field, today’s Small Field. That space was needed to accommodate the expected large crowds, plus a feature not required for previous York-area celebrations of that size: space to park automobiles then growing in numbers on area roads. The Fourth of July celebration a century ago actually was planned for Saturday, July 3 — Sunday Blue Laws of the day a major topic of contention among churches, businesses and government. Actually, Mother Nature saw to it that the Fourth of July would be celebrated on July 10 in that sesquicentennial year by raining on the July 3 celebration. A newspaper said the crowd of 20,000 to 25,000 people were surprised by the magnitude and splendor of the “somewhat belated” birthday party. There were fireworks, of course, but one spectacular display was a parade of automobiles, a novelty at the time.