Greek Immigration to Lancaster County

  • 1905, Kostas Miros & the ATF (J.M. Mast Manufacturing & Abington Co.).
  • 1906, quotation from The Lititz Express:
    • There was initial adverse sentiment towards these 50 non-English speaking natives from Greece who suddenly invaded their staid old Moravian town to work in the ATF.
Map of North America indicating the location of Pennsylvania.
Photo of the factory.

The general manager of the Abingdon Company was F.W. Shultz, who was the principal owner. Even before joining up with the J.M. Mast Manufacturing Co., his ATF was among the largest with sales in most markets of the world. His company was actually sold to J.M. Mast making him the principal stockholder of the new plant and one of the directors of the new Animal Trap Company. The Record reported that the old J.M. Mast Factory was to be used for manufacturing fishing floats and novelties. The new plant was to have 45,000 feet of floor space. There was a great need for employees, but there were inadequate numbers of people from the local community to meet the demand for this new factory.

It was Kosta Miros (Meros), first cousin of my father's, who helped to bring Greek workers to Lititz. Kosta had just graduated from Baxter College in Mytelini on the island of Lesbos, and managed to acquire a speaking knowledge of English. He had an adventuresome spirit and wished to see America. Cousin Kosta came through Ellis Island on September 29, 1903. He worked as a busboy at the Waldorf Astoria. It was while he was there in late 1905, already having established himself a leader among his compatriots with his command of English, that contact was made with the Baptist minister representing the ATF in the New York area. The Lititz Express reported it was the minister who was given the responsibility to help the ATF recruit new employees as he was considered someone qualified to measure the quality of a man's character. He liked Kosta, and encouraged him to explore the opportunity in Lititz. Once company officials met Kosta they offered him 50 cents for every like-minded compatriot he could bring back to Lititz with him.


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Greek Immigration to America, a slide presentation, delivered originally as a lecture to the Lancaster County Historical Society, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, December 3, 2004.

Copyright © Nikitas J. Zervanos, M.D., 2005. All Rights Reserved.
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Published in PAHH, 2005.

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