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2. The Armory, 400 feet by 110; the Seamanship Building, 400 by 110 feet ; Marine Engineering and Naval Construction Building, 260 by 175 feet ; the Officers' Mess, 50 by 160 feet, including apartments for the Bachelor Officers, and the Naval Club, are finished.
3. There are nearing completion, in more or less degree, thirteen large resi- dences for officers' quarters, which will be completed about January Ist ; magnifi- eent " Bancroft Hall," the new quarters of the Midshipmen, containing 900 rooms, which is now occupied, and which is 630 feet long, by 350 wide, which, as intended, when united by covered archways to the Armory and Seamanship Buildings, will be 1280 feet long,-the longest building in the world. Extending from the Hall, as a terrace, is the Mess Hall, 75 feet by 374. One year more and all this vast work will be done. The Academy chapel, 180 feet by 180, and 168 feet high, has its whole skeleton erected. The great sea-wall, nearly a mile in length, is finished, and this includes the Basin which is eleven hundred feet long, and five hundred feet wide. This haven for the small craft of the Academy is now practically completed.
4. The Academic Building, 400 by 350 feet, in which will be located the offices of the school, is rapidly rising in its majestic proportions. The foundation of the Power House, 200 by 100 feet, has been laid. The new Gymnasium has not been commenced, and it is under consideration, whether or not the new Seamanship Building could not be used as a Gymnasium. The Administration Building, one of the smaller improvements, has not yet been started. A shop, to be attached to the Marine Engineering and Construction Building, has been finished.
5. A survey of the work, after five years, from its commencement, shows that almost every building contemplated for the new Naval Academy, has been either finished, or is nearing completion, or under construction.
PARAGRAPHS 1 to 9, (a) What progress has been made in five years in the improvements of the Naval Academy?
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6. In the review of the work accomplished it should be observed that, in addi- tion to what has been completed, in buildings, the Academic authorities in the same time have added thirty acres of land to the Naval Academy, and will shortly acquire fifteen or twenty more. Beside, in the addition made in 1890, are twenty new double residences for officers. Adjoining the Naval Academy, on the Govern- ment Farm, the finest Marine Quarters in the United States have been erected, with three excellent residences for the officers of the post. The new Hospital for the Academy is being erected, and has a commanding view of the Severn.
7. In addition to what has been, and will be, done in the Naval Academy, at Fort Madison, on the north side of the Severn, a half mile from the Naval Academy, a naval Experimental Station has been established, for testing engines and various articles used in the Navy. The Government owns at Fort Madison ninety acres, and the improvements there, besides some fine buildings, involve the building of nearly a mile of sea-wall. A splendid 1,000-yard rifle range has been constructed.
8. Beside the land at Fort Madison, the Government owns 114 acres in the Goverment Farm, and, the Academy, when the next addition, already at hand, is made, the Naval Academy proper will embrace 220 acres. When this gap is walled in, there will be nearly one mile of brick wall bounding the southwest boundary of the Naval Academy, extending along King George street, Annapolis, from Dorsey's Creek to the Severn River. The other three bounds of the Academy are on tide- water.
9. The establishment of the School of Application for the education of officers for the Marine Corps has given impetus to a spirit of improvement, that will undoubtedly lead to the construction of other buildings at the Government Farm, on which has also arisen very fine stables for the horses of the Academy, and where from the brow of Strawberry Hill, erected as a hospital, and now used as a storage house, the Marine Hospital overlooks the stately array on the Farm and in the Naval Academy.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINTH.
ST. ANNE'S PARISH-1692-1906.
I. (1692.) This parish is one of thirty which were established under the Act of Assembly of 1692. The loss of the first twelve pages of the parish records has robbed us of much of its valuable history. In the returns, however, of the several vestries in the province to the Governor and his comeil in 1692, St. Anne's was designated by the name of Middle Neck Parish, and consisted of the territory between
PARAGRAPHS 1 to 26. (a). Give a brief history of St. Anne's Parish.
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South and Severn rivers. The destruction of these pages of the records of the parish has left to speculation the origin of the name of the parish. There is, how- ever, hardly any doubt but that it was named in honor of the reputed mother of the Virgin Mary, St. Ann; and so designated because it was a happy coincidence with the name of the Princess Anne, afterward Queen Anne, of England.
2. (1694.) On the 8th of October, 1694, the Governor proposed to his council that, at the port of Annapolis, a lot be laid off for the minister nigh to where the church is to stand, and that the minister be obliged to read prayers twice a day. On the 7th of May 1696. Mr. Coney, supposed to be the incumbent of St. Anne's Par- ish, preached before the assembly, and the sermon he was desired by the assembly to have printed.
3. (1696.) When St. Anne's returned its proceedings, as required by ch. 2d, Acts of 1696, under the name of Middle Neck Parish, the taxable persons in it were stated to number 374. The vestrymen of the parish were given as : Thomas Bland, Richard Warfield, Lawrence Draper, Jacob Harnass, William Brown, Cornelius Howard. When King William's school was established the same year 1696, Rev. Perergine Coney, the supposed rector of St. Anne's, was one of the trustees.
4. On September 30th, the Lower House sent to the Upper the following message : "To show our readiness to contribute to the utmost of our abilities to the service of God, in building a free church and school at Annapolis, we have proposed and resolved, that, out of the revenue raised for the charge of the Province, by 3d per hhd, on tobacco, one year's revenue so raised be for defraying the charge of the church at Annapolis."
5. The Lower House, preparatory to passing the Act, appointed a committee to inspect the proposals for building the church ; which reported that there was in bank for this purpose £458 sterling. This had arisen from the sale of the tobacco which had been collected. They also reported that the church would cost £1200 sterling, about $7,000.
6. These were busy times in Annapolis. The State House, King William's School and St. Anne's, for, on the second of October, the Governor was selected by the council to employ workmen to build the church, were all in course of erection.
7. This was the first brick church in Maryland, but not the first place of worship in Annapolis. There was a meeting-house of the Puritans thirty years before this, and the records show there was also a house dedicated to the service of God on Greenberry's Point that also antedated St. Anne's (1697). On the 30th of June, 1697, a petition from Ruth Gregg was laid before the Governor and his council. Rev. Peregrine Coney was defendant. This document, with Mr. Coney's defence, was ordered to be given to Mr. Carroll, "the said Ruth's proenrator." The nature of the complaint has not come down to us, but Mr. Coney appears to have enjoyed, and never to have lost, the fullest confidence of Gov. Nicholson, who gave him the duty of issuing marriage licenses. His sermons were frequently asked for publication by the Assembly.
8. (1699.) Gov. Nicholson selected the site of St. Anne's, and was the active agent in its erection. Gov. Blackiston succeeded Gov. Nicholson, and, in the
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former's term. July 22, 1699, an Act of Assembly imposed a fine of £333, 6s. Sd., on Edward Dorsey for not fulfilling his agreemont to build the church; and another Act of the same session appointed persons to treat with workmen to build it.
9. (1704.) Rev. Mr. Topp followed as the second rector of St. Anne's and Rev. James Wootten was the third, and, in 1704, the vestrymen were recorded as Col. John Hammond. Mr. William Bladen, Mr. William Taylard, Mr. Amos Garrett, Mr. Jolin Freeman, Mr. Samuel Norwood. An entry on the parish records, ordering payment for altering the gallery seats, shows that the church was finished. Thomas Fielder was the architect of the edifice. The entries in the parish records also discover to us that the first St. Anne's had both bell and belfry, and a golden ball adorned the spire.
10. The church was built in the shape of a T, and was neatly finished inside. The principal entrance faced east, that is toward the State House. (1706.) In 1706, the General Assembly, ever mindful of St. Anne's, directed that, of the three lots originally laid out within the city, one should be for the rector of the parish, one for the Sexton, and a third for the clerk of the vestry and commissary's clerk. The revenues of St. Anne's were further enhanced by an order requiring 40 shillings for every corpse buried in the church yard. This was the ground about the church and is embraced in the present circle. The grave yard extends beyond its present limits into the streets as excavations within its beds painfully proved a few years since.
11. The revenues at this period were exceedingly meagre, and it is estimated that in 1717 the rector did not receive over $350 per annum.
(1719.) May 15, 1719, the vestry of St. Anne's laid before the Lower House of Assembly the grievances under which the parish labored. The gravamen of their burden was that the parish church, by being built near the utmost verge of the parish, is hereby rendered very inconvenient to a great part of the parishioners, some of these living twenty miles, and others at a greater distance from it, so that were " it not that the rector voluntarily goes up at appointed times and preaches among them, a great part of them would be without the benefits of a minister ; that to add to this difficulty the church is much too little for a parish church, many of the parishioners being obliged to stay at home for want of room, but that this is most visible at publie times, as we humbly conceive is apparent to the constant experience of this Honorable House : that there is no visible way to remove the first of these difficulties, but by contracting the parish into narrower bounds, or dividing it, nor is there any means to remove the latter, but by enlarging the church, but now both these are rendered impracticable to us by some other difficulties, which we shall take the liberty of naming to your honors."
12. The first remedy was open, the report continued, to the objection that the benefits of this parish are already so small, that it is but a bare support for " a single man in a parish," but to that is added that being " Chaplain to the public," he " is unavoidably exposed to much greater expense than the benefits of the parish can defray," which has often been the cause of the parish being without a minister.
Messiah, during the Baltimore Fire, of February, 1904. Provisional Company, First Regiment, M. N. G., Captain Hugh Ridgely Riley, commanding, on duty in front of the Church of the
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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOA, LENOX AND TILDEA COLADAFIONL
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13. The second remedy could not be applied, as the vestrymen had no means with which to enlarge. The Legislature took no notice of this pointed application for an increase of revenues. At this time one family came thirty miles to church, having to drive on Saturday into the neighborhood, so as to be able to reach church on Sunday.
14. (1723.) May 7, 1723, Alexandria Frazier. Robt. Gordon, Thomas Worth- ington, Vachel Denton, Joshua George and William, obtained permission to build at their own expense a gallery at the west end of the church.
15. (1727.) April 4th, 1727, several parishioners of St. Anne's, V. Denton, Thomas Worthington, John Beall, and Philip Hammond, with A. Frazier, rector, obtained permission to build a chapel in the upper part of the parish. This was asked on account of the inconvenience of reaching Annapolis for church.
The site selected was the head of South River. No church or chapel could be built in the province without the permission of the Lord Proprietary, and he had delegated his power to his Governor, Charles Calvert, who gave the requisite license.
16. May 2nd, 1727, permission was granted to Mr. Richard Claggett " to erect a pew where the font stood," and on July 4, the vestrymen granted permission "to erect a gallery over the pews appointed for the gentlemen of the Assembly." On May 7th, 1728, the following petition on the same subject was presented to the vestry as the humble petition of some of the parishoners of said Parish :
17. (1728.) " That in consideration of the smallness of the parish, and that there was much want of room, you were pleased to encourage your parishoners by giving them leave some-times since to build a gallery toward the north-east end of the said church, and your petitioners made provisions according thereto, but some vestries after, we understood you were inclined to enlarge the said gallery by making it extend from near the pulpit all over the assembly pews and over the chancel, until it should reach near the Governor's pew, a design very much wished for and of a general good and service, and by these contrivances the church may be made to hold almost as many above as below. And we are humbly of opinion, as we believe all good and considerate men will be likewise, that the best ornament to a church is a good pastor and a large tlock, we thank God we are blest with the one, (Rev. John Humphrey), but want of room obstruets the other. In consideration of which, we with patience waited to know your resolutions, and, at length, being ordered to go on with your first direction, which we did accordingly, till we were prevented by Mr. John Beale, who told us not to proceed any further until further orders. We, therefore, having been at considerable charges, and loss of time in proceeding with the said work according to your orders, humbly hope your honors will take it into your consideration. And we beg leave to know your commands, being fully persuaded that it will be most consistent to the honor and praise of God, and to the great benefit and advantage of the said church and people. In hopes of which with humble submission your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray. Richard Tootell, Simon Duff, Peter Werard, Win. Ghiselen." The vestry ordered the petitioners to proceed with the erection of the gallery.
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18. (1740.) In 1740, St. Anne's was enlarged, but this enlargement did not accommodate its increasing congregation, and, in 1741, leave was given to build a gallery to hold eleven pews.
19. (1750.) In 1750, the Assembly passed a tax bill to raise a sinking fund to protect the colonists from border ravages by the Indians. In the taxables were bachelors. A list from each parish was ordered to be returned to the Government. The list in St. Anne's parish included Gov. Sharpe and Rev. John McPherson, the restor of St. Anne's, who, not caring to determine whether they came under the list of taxables or not. the vestiy settled their status for them, by ordering them on the list. All over 25 years of age, assessed under $300 and over £100 were taxed five shillings each, and the law remained in force six years. Joslma Frazier, Richard Green and Allen Quynn paid till 1751; Baldwin Lusby paid for 1756; Caleb Davis and Emanuel Marriott for 1756-7, and Rezin Gaither, at the head of Severn, for 1756-7-8.
20. (1756.) Those assessed over £300, were taxed 20s. each, and William Stuart. John Ridout, John Gilliss. Daniel Wolfstenhome, Stephen Bordley and Charles Carroll, barrister, paid it for six years. James Maccubbin, Beall Nicholson, of Annapolis, William Gaither, head of Severn, Charles Hammond of Philip, and John Griffith paid it for five years. Col. Benj. Tasker and Lancelot Jacques, paid the tax for four years. James Johnson, John Leader, and Zachariah Hood, paid it for three years. The last was the stamp officer in 1765, and had to flee the city before the wrath of the people. Moses Maccubbin and John Davis paid the tax for two years ; and S. Lowe, Charles Cole, Wm. Thornton, Charles Carroll, Esq., Dr. Upton Scott, Robert Stram, Robert Conden, Benj. Beall, and John Bennett paid it for one year.
21. Non-attendance upon the services of the church about this time became such a serious evil, that on March 6, 1751, the wardens of St. Anne's gave this public notice in the columns of the Gazette :
" The church wardens of St. Anne's Parish, in Anne Arundel county, do hereby signify that we shall be under a necessity of observing the Laws of this Province, and the Statutes of England, relating to religions worship ; and more particularly the 14th section of the first Elizabeth, Chap. 2. which oblige all persons, not having lawful excuse, to resort to their Parish Church, or Chapel, on every Sunday, and other days ordained and used to be Kept as Holy Days, and then and there to abide in decent manner, during the time of common prayer, preaching or other services of God : and therefore request all concerned to take notice. Samuel Howard, Camaliel Butler, Church Wardens."
On the 29th of June, 1761, an organ loft was ordered, being the first mention looking to the use of an organ in the church.
22. (1770.) Nothing went on in Annapolis at this time that escaped the eye or ear of the observant Eddis, who arrived in Annapolis, September 4th, 1770. " Understanding" he writes, "that I was in time for divine service, I availed myself of an immediate opportunity to offer up my fervent acknowledgement at the throne of grace. The exterior of the church, (St. Anne's) has but little to recommend it,
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but the congregation was numerous. The solemn offices were performed with a becoming devotion, and my mind was in perfect unison with the important duties of the day.'
23. (1771.) St. Anne's was the only church in the city and notwithstanding it was the protege of the State, it was allowed to fall into a rninous condition. Its minister often remonstrated with his congregation and urged the repairing or rebuild- ing of it. September 5, 1771, a poem appearing in the Maryland Gazette, addressed : " To the very worthy and respectable inhabitants of Annapolis, the humble petition of the old church, showeth."
24. The poem accomplished what the pastor could not. The congregation resolved to erect a new church.
(1774.) The General Assembly was appealed to for aid, and at its March Session, 1774, Chapter 11, the General Assembly appointed John Ridont, Samuel Chase, William Paca, Upton Scott, and Thomas Hyde, trustees, for building in Annapolis, an elegant church adorned with a steeple. It was to cost £6,000, and £1,500 was to be received from the State. In return for it there were to be provided a pew for the Governor, a large one for the Council, one for the Speaker, all to be properly ornamented, and other pews for the members of the Lower House, one for the Judges of the Provincial Court, and one for strangers. One was also to be for the incumbent, one for the Wardens, and one for the Provincial Juries. When completed, the subscribers were to chose their pews, preference being given to subscribers of the largest amounts ; no one who subscribed less than €20 being entitled to a pew. Then twenty pews were to be sold to the parishioners by anction. There was to be a common gallery for the parishioners, one for servants and another for slaves. July 1775, Mr. Woodcock was allowed £30 a year as an organist. The revolution prevented the erection of the church, and the threatre was used to wor- ship in.
" But Myers, McPherson, Edmyston, Montgomery, and T. Lendrum, all were of fair, if not, of excellent standing. Still, what had been gained for the church. The population of the parish had increased probably one-third during the period under review, and wealth also had increased. But the theatre had been introduced, and horse-racing, card-playing, dancing and drinking had become unrestrained, and Governors and office-hoklers had upheld and patronized them, not less than did the proprietaries themselves, and the church had shown itself powerless. And now, it was in the dust, a time of retribution had come, and every thing was dark."
25. (1792.) The second church was finally completed in November, 1792, eighteen years after it was commenced. It cost £6,000, nearly $30,000. The church was 110 feet long, and 90 broad, and was surmounted with a tower. On the outside were pilasters, which divided the wall into panels, and long windows gave it, with its time-colored bricks, a sombre and religious appearance. Inside, the church was frescoed. This church, with its modern panels and posts, in green and white, encircling the yard, remained until the night of Sunday, February 14th, 1858, when it was destroyed by fire. This originated from the furnace below, which ignited the flooring. About eleven o'clock the ringing of the bell of the
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church summoned the citizens to the destruction of this ancient edifice. At first the bell seemed to be only the nine o'clock curfew, but the doleful ery of "fire," resounding through the dark and quiet streets, told another story. For two hours the flames, unseen and inaccessible, lay hidden in their lairs, pouring forth volumes of stifling smoke. This slumber, that deceived the hopeful, suddenly ended with the flames flaring into the ceiling, darting from the roof, and leaping to the tower. The faithful bell. that had not ceased from the beginning of the fire to peal its own requiem, broke the stilly atmosphere with its doleful kuell, the crackling timbers joined the dirge, the pitiless heat, sweeping through the organ, touched its keys with fiery fingers and made it sing its own death song, whilst a passing steamer's sympathizing bell and faithful women's tears attended the unexpected calamity. In a few hours only the bare walls of St. Anne's remained.
26. St. Anne's is now doing a great religious work under the rectorship of Rev. Joseph P. McComas, with Rev. Mr. Twamley as his assistant.
CHAPTER FIFTIETH.
"IMPROVEMENT!"' THE WATCHWORD OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY.
1. During the summer of 1905, County School Commissioner George T. Melvin called public attention to the lack of interest and co-operation on the part of the district school trustees regarding their duties in the administration of the public schools. In an address before the Teachers' Institute in Annapolis in the latter part of September, Dr. M. Bates Stephens, State School Superintendent, said :
"'We must give greater recognition to our trustees. When performing their duties, living up to what the law requires of them, they are the most important part of our school machinery. We must have their co-operation because they are the representatives of the people in the school system. They should be consulted fre- quently about all maters pertaining to district school work. We should have for this county, as County School Commissioner Melvin suggests, a meeting of all the trustees and teachers of the county. The idea is a good one. They should be paid a per diem for that day to cover expenses incident to attending the meeting. Addresses should be made by trustees, teachers and other school officials. The Governor, who is president of the State Board of Education, should be invited. This would afford an opportunity for all-teachers and trustees-to reach a better understanding of the important duties devolving upon them, and would unques-
PARAGRAPHS 1 to 5. What association has recently been formed in Anne Arundel for the improve- ment of the public school system?
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tionably produce beneficial results. Our school work suffers from this serions lack.' "
2. At the meeting of the Board of County School Commissioners on October 31st, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted :
" Whereas, the public school law provides that educational matters affecting a school district shall be under the supervision of a board of district school trustees, and
" Whereas, the duties and responsibilities devolving upon the district school trustees appear to be imperfectly understood and, in many cases, inefficiently per- formed, or not performed at all, thereby rendering the operations of the school law defective in this important branch of the system ; therefore
" Resolved, that the district school trustees of the county be invited to attend a meeting to be held on Saturday, December 16, next, at 10 o'clock A. M., at the Court House, in Annapolis, for the purpose of discussing and adopting ways and means to bring about a more thorough understanding and a more active co-operation of the trustees in regard to their duties in the publie school administration.
" Resolved, that the President appoint a member of the Board to make the necessary arrangements for the proposed meeting."
3. President Crisp appointed Mr. Melvin a committee to make preparations for the meeting, and to secure the attendance of the trustees, teachers and others inter- ested in the movement. On December 16th the meeting was held, and so much enthusiasm was manifested, that it was determined to effect a permanent organiza- tion, to be called " The School Improvement Association of Anne Arundel County," whose objeets shall be-
(I) To secure a thoroughly organized and efficient working board of distriet school trustees in every school district of the county.
(2) To diseuss questions relating to the management of the public schools, and especially the improvement of local conditions in the school districts.
4. These officers were then elected : President, George T. Melvin ; Viee- Presidents, Wm. E. Jones, first election distriet ; Dr. Harry B. Gantt, second ; Harry A. Cook, third ; Wm. A. Ray, fourth ; Dr. Thos. H. Brayshaw, fifth ; Dr. Frank H. Thompson, sixth ; Wilbur F. Petherbridge, eighth ; Secretary, Harry R. Wallis ; Assistant Secretary, Miss Louise Linthiemm. The time of meetings was made the first Saturdays in February, May, August and November.
5. Thus, with three hundred active, interested trustees of the schools, in elose touch with its system, "IMPROVEMENT" is emblazoned on the banners of public education in Anne Arundel, and the horizon of a broad policy and a steady progress, toward the goal of perfection, opens upon the vision of the generous citizens of the county, who encourage these institutions of learning with a hearty and liberal support.
FINIS.
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MAR 4 - 1931
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