The York County History Center on East Market Street is the main repository of the region's history and manages several historic properties around town, including the Colonial Complex. Its main galleries cover Pennsylvania Dutch culture, the Civil War, and York County's manufacturing history — the region was a significant industrial centre through the twentieth century, producing everything from casings to turbines.
The museum is compact and well-organized. The Civil War section is particularly good — York was the largest northern city to be occupied by Confederate forces during the war, in June 1863, days before the Battle of Gettysburg to the west. The mayor surrendered the city without a fight to avoid destruction, a decision still debated locally.