The Bon-Ton Store was founded in downtown York in 1898 and maintains its corporate headquarters in the region. Following the lead of its midstate rivals that had shifted from dry goods to the more upscale department store, this elegant modern building served as the flagship store, giving York a metropolitan retail anchor. Dempwolf's striking glazed terracotta facade with its abstract chevrons looks ahead to Art Deco, while the oversized store windows are an obvious nod to the modern architecture developing in Chicago. The building contained the first “moving stairway” or escalator in York. Closed when retail moved to shopping centers on the periphery, it was imaginatively restored and adapted to house county offices.