Pal's Park: A Community Dog Park

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Our Story

Thanks to supporters like you during Give Local York, Pal's Park officially opened to the public on May 10, 2021! The park is the vision of Holden Feeser, a fifth grader at York Academy, who wanted to build a place to play with her Great Dane, Brutus.

Pal’s Park has created an off-leash dog recreation area on a 1-acre parcel of the York County Heritage Rail Trail

Pal's Park location was selected because it is the home to a bronze statue of Pal, a German Shepherd. The statue of Pal was created to honor York County native Arthur Glatfelter Jr., a savvy entrepreneur who started an insurance company and made many contributions to the community.

The story of Glatfelter and his dog started in 1942. During World War II, the then-teenage Glatfelter decided to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. With no one to care for his dog, he anxiously brought the beloved pet with him to the military base. To his surprise, Pal was welcomed and, with training, put into service as a scout in a Marine war dog platoon. Eventually, the two were sent on different missions in the South Pacific and separated. But in 1946 they were reunited and honorably discharged. Glatfelter and Pal spent many more happy years together. Sixty years after their military service, the bronze sculpture of Glatfelter’s dog Pal was unveiled during a Veterans Day program.

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