USA > Maryland > Washington County > Hagerstown > A history of Washington County, Maryland from the earliest settlements to the present time, including a history of Hagerstown > Part 61
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thresh a crop of 2000 bushels of wheat with horse power was the work of over ten days and it re- quired from fifteen to twenty-five men, whereas the same work can be done now in three days with six or eight men. Therefore after the farmer had paid the fertilizer bill, the cost of seed and seeding, the cost of harvest and threshing there was little left, even though wheat was selling at from two to three dollars a bushel to pay the annual inter- est on the mortgage. The farmers generally bor- rowed from the banks to tide over temporary em- barrassments. Each borrower had to give person- al security and he went to his neighbors to endorse his notes. One failure frequently involved a half dozen farmers in a neighborhood. Money would be borrowed and the currency so borrowed might be worth only fifty or seventy-five cents on the dollar. When it was paid several years later it had to be paid in money worth a hundred cents to the dollar. Thus every debt contracted during or immediately following the war, if it had not been paid within a few years thereafter was doubled or greatly expanded. As the greenback more nearly approached the gold standard, land values made a nominal shrinkage and many acres which had been bought in the flush times at $100 or more per acre were sold under the hammer at mort- gagee's or trustee's or sheriff's sale for less than half that sum. For ten years after the close of the war the work of liquidation went on. Many made deeds of trust of their property for the ben- efit of creditors and the columns of the County papers were filled with advertisements. Many farmers sold their property and emigrated to the West. For years each spring two or more special
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trains left Hagerstown cach Tuesday carrying em- igrants away from their old homes. In this way Washington County lost several thousand of val- nable and industrious citizens. Not only did Washington County people go, but Hagerstown became the starting point for great numbers of people from the neighboring counties in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Early in the war when Hagerstown was a gathering place for Federal soldiers there were "flush times." The soldiers spent their money freely and the government spent considerable sums for stores, especially wheat and forage. But the people of the town, as an offset to this brief pe- riod of prosperity lost heavily during Confederate occupation and the numerous Confederate raids. For a considerable time business was at a stand- still and when the war was over there were few in the town who had profited by it. Not one cit- izen had accumulated a large fortune as so many had done in the North. After the end of the war there were a few years of political strife and bit- terness which when some of the Confederate sol- diers returned broke out upon one or two occas- ions in open violence. But matters in a short time resumed the usual course although the town felt the depression of the reaction from war just as the County at large did.
In the old staging days Hagerstown, although it had a population under 4.000 was a place of considerable activity and being a stopping place on the principal National thoroughfare between the East and West, it was a town of prominence and its name known throughout the country. Af- ter through travel had been diverted by the rail- roads the town became a typical County town.
It had the Court House and the County offices. It was the gathering place for the farmers who met there then as they do now for the transaction of business. But the hotels had decreased and deteriorated. some of the big merchant mills had gone out of business. There were flourishing stores in nearly every village of the County and there were mechanics at nearly every cross roads. All the more important villages had shoemakers, tailors, tinkers, wagon and plow makers, harness makers. coopers, blacksmiths, carpenters and cabi- net makers. With these the farmers traded, gen- erally paying their bills in whole or in part with the products of the farm, thus finding a nearby and good market for almost everything he had to sell. Soon after the war a change began and bus-
iness became more and more concentrated in Hag- erstown. The cross roads manufacturer gradually went out of business. The wagon maker found that he could not compete with the great factory in the Western city either as to price or the qual- ity of the vehicle. The clumsy, three-horse, homc- made bar shear plow gave place for the factory made steel plow which was lighter for two horses than the home made plow was for three. And the tinner, and tailor and harness maker follow- ed the rest. As communication with Hagerstown became easier many of the country merchants went out of business.
It was not only in providing better transpor- tation facilities that the enterprise of the people of the County exercised itself. There was a con- stant effort to establish factories. Early in the history of the County, as has been already told, there was a multitude of small industries built up by individual enterprise and giving employment cach to a few operatives. In these enterprises the apprentice was an important personage. A young boy would be taken to learn the trade. He served without wages until he arrived at the age of 21 years when he was discharged as a journeyman or engaged in that capacity by his employer. In the meantime he lived with his employer, or master, and was a member of the family. At the end of his apprenticeship he was entitled to a new suit of clothes and a small sum of money. This system educated mechanics of great skill who understood the whole business and were not specialists in any particular part of a work. The shoemaker could make an entire shoc, the bookbinder could bind a book, the wagonmaker could make a wagon and so on.
After the close of the war there was a move- ment for industries on a large scale. Some few that were established at this time succeeded but many of them ended in disaster. One enterprise which for a time cansed men to refuse to embark in manufacturing was the Antietam Manufactur- ing Company. This concern was organized about 1869 with an authorized capital stock of $150,000. Less than $100,000 was ever paid in and when that amount had been subscribed a fine mill was erected at Funkstown. the Antietam to be used as the motivo power. The first plan was to make a woolen mill and after much money had been spent the plan was changed to a paper mill and then another change was made. Finally about 1871 the enterprise collapsed with a heavy in-
MAJOR JAMES BREATHED.
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OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, MARYLAND.
debtedness, and the courts decided that each of the stockholders was, in addition to the stock he had taken, liable to the creditors of the company for another sum equal to the amount of stock he had taken. This caused a great deal of litigation and much distress. It also discouraged manu- facturing for some years.
Another unsuccessful enterprise was the Wash- ington County Leather Manufacturing Company, organized in 1867 with Daniel Schindel, president. The capital was $50,000 and the tannery was lo- cated north of East Washington street in Hagers- town. The plant was destroyed by fire in 1872 and was not rebuilt.
The Hagerstown Agricultural Implement Manufacturing Company which was incorporated January 1, 1869, grew in a few years to great proportions. The incorporators were Abram Mil- ler, William Updegrfaff, A. R. Appleman, John H. Cook and William H. Protzman. Mr. Apple- man was the moving spirit of the business. He was a man of indomitable energy and good busi- ness capacity. The company manufactured wheat drills, threshing machines, clover hullers, horse rakes and steam engines. Its works were on East Washington street in Hagerstown where it gave employment to about 200 men. About 1888 it removed from Hagerstown to Ohio where it con- tinued to prosper.
On Baltimore street in South Hagerstown, just east of Potomac street Garver and Flannagan had shops where they manufactured threshing ma- chines. This was changed in 1874 into the Hag- erstown Steam Engine and Machine Company of which Dr. Josiah F. Smith was President. It added the manufacture of steam engines and oth- er farm machinery to threshing machines. The company purchased the old McDowell & Bachtell foundry on Franklin and Foundry streets and erected a large additional building in which for a time a considerable manufacturing was done. But in a few years the business became unprofitable and was discontinued. About 1900 a portion of the property was sold to the Hagerstown Brewery and later on the remainder was disposed of. In addition a number of wood working establish- ments were started during this period, the most successful of which was the Hagerstown Spoke Works organized by Charles W. Sebold in 1873, which assumed large proportions and is prosperous at the present time. This prosperity was greatly promoted by the opening of the Shenandoah Val-
ley railroad to Hagerstown in 1880 which gave access to the abundant timber of the Valley of Virginia.
To few of its citizens does Hagerstown owe more than to William Updegraff. In every laud- able enterprise for the advancement of the public prosperity and welfare, Mr. Updegraff took a leading part through many years or lent a helping hand. Peter Updegraff, the grandfather of Wil- liam, came to Hagerstown from York County, Ta., in the latter part of the eighteenth century and entered into business. His son George was born in Hagerstown in 1798. He learned the trade of hatter and engaged in the manufacture of hats. His wife, the mother of William, was Eliza Boyd, daughter of Joseph Boyd the proprietor of the National Line of coaches running between Balti- more and Wheeling. William Updegraff was born in Hagerstown June 22, 1832. He was edu- cated at the old Hagerstown Academy and then learned his father's business, the manufacture of hats. In 1854 he engaged in manufacturing silk hats in Baltimore, but two years later when his father become ill he returned to Hagerstown and took charge of the business of George Updegraff & Sons, a business which he conducted with dis- tinguished success until a few years ago when he retired and gave his sons charge of it. After 1865, hat making by hand became almost a lost art and then Mr. Updegraff began the manufacture of gloves and thus started an industry that spread the fame of Hagerstown far and wide and gave employment to a large number of girls and women. During his long residence in Hagerstown there was scarcely a movement for a successful industry or for a needed public improvement which did not receive Mr. Updegraff's aid or was not inaug- urated or suggested by him. As already said he was one of the originators of the Hagerstown Agri- cultural Implement Manufacturing Company ; he lead in the organization of the Mechanics' Loan and Savings Institute ; he helped to start Rose Hill Cemetery; he was one of the originators of the Spoke Works; it was his business sagacity that started the Hagerstown Fair upon its marvelous career of success; he co-operated with Governor Hamilton and the others in obtaining for Hagers- town a new charter and getting the town paved and drained; he helped to organize the company which brought to Hagerstown the pure mountain water which has blessed the people for many years ; by his aid the old oil lamps which had been the
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
only street lights of Hagerstown gave place to electric lighting and he was one of the most per- sistent advocates of the street railway. His has been a busy and a useful career and a complete ac- count of it would amount almost to an industrial history of Hagerstown for a half a century. Mr. Updegraff's wife was Laura A., daughter of Eli Mobley of Hagerstown. The couple have three daughters and three sons to take up their fath- er's work.
In 1890 when the craze for dividing fields into town lots seized upon the country, IIagers- town was affected with the rest, but unlike many other places it received a permanent advantage. This was because there was actual need of more lots for the growing population. In fact after the completion of the Shenandoah Valley railroad in 1880 the population doubled in a few years and there was actual need of more room for homes. Several "Land and Improvement" Companies were organized. These bought farms adjacent to the town limits and subdivided them. The offer made to factories of free sites brought several enterprises the most important of which was the Crawford's Bicycle Works which in a few years gave employ- ment to as many as fifteen hundred hands. This was finally sold out to a bicycle trust and the work was closed to be revived later as an automobile fac- tory. About the time this was done Mr. Crawford himself returned and erecting another factory en- gaged in the same business. And so Hagerstown has at the present time two successful factories engaged in this promising industry. Among the oldest and most important industries of Washing- ton County was for many years the Round Top Cement Works at Hancock, owned until lately by Robert Bridges and Charles W. Henderson. The works were first established In 1837 by a man named Shafer who supplied "Shafer's Cement" for the construction of the canal. In 1863 Shafer sold the property to Bridges & Henderson who operated it successfully for forty years. There is a great deposit or rather extensive strata of the cement rock in the hill west of Hancock and the hill has been honeycombed with tunnels from which the rock has been taken. Robert Bridges the head of the business, has been for half a cen- tury one of the foremost and most prosperous cit- izens of Washington County. He married Pris- cilla Williams Breathed a sister of Major James Breathed the distinguished artillery officer in the Confederate Army.
The manufacture of paper in Washington County was begun in 1859 by John W. Stone- braker. That year he built a paper mill in Funks- town, having already a woolen mill in that town which he inherited from his father. In the Funks- town mill he manufactured book and news paper. In 1864 he sold this mill and built a more exten- sive one higher up the Antietam about two miles east of Hagerstown. This fine mill was burned in 1873 and was replaced by a much larger one in which John A. Dushane of Baltimore, was a part- ner for a number of years, Mr. Stonebraker finally purchasing his interest. Down to the present time the Antietam Paper Mill has been one of the im- portant industries of Washington County. Mr. Stonebraker also engaged largely in the manufac- ture of fertilizers and now operates at Funkstown a large flouring mill.
Few men have contributed more to the wealth and prosperity of Washington County than John W. Stonebraker. Hc not only contributed these important industrics which give employment to many operatives, but he has been a progressive and enterprisng farmer and has given his time and business ability to the public in the office of County Commissioner which he held for a number of years. In this office he administered the finances of the County, which was then laboring under a heavy bonded debt, with wisdom and all its affairs with economy and success. He was the taxpayers' best friend and it was largely through his influ- ence and the confidence reposed in him by the late John Nicodemus of Boonsboro that gave to the County the magnificent farm for the County Almshouse and rescued the poor inmates of that institution from the wretched building in Hagers- town which had long brought discredit upon the County. The present Alms House or Bellevue Asylum as it is called, was built in 1879 and 1680 while Mr. Stonebraker was President of the Board of County Commissioners. It was also while he was President of the County Commissioners that the arrangement was made whereby Washington County was relieved of the annual payment of 6 per cent. interest on $300,000 of the bonds of the Western Maryland Railroad Company, receiving $324.000 of preferred stock for the sums already paid, a transaction which years later resulted so ad- vantageously for the County. In his administra- tion of County affairs he was greatly aided by John L. Bikle the clerk of the Commissioners, a man of sterling honesty and of fine ability. John
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OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, MARYLAND.
W. Stonebraker comes of a family that lived in the Funkstown district since the earliest settle- ments of Washington County. His father Girard Stonebraker, was captain of a company raised in Washington County in the war of 1812. His wife was Catherine Schroeder and this couple were the parents of seven children of whom John W. was the youngest. He was born September 28, 1828, on the farm near Funkstown. He removed to Hagerstown in 1859. In politics he is a repub- lican and by that party was elected County Com- missioner in 1875, 1877 and 1881. In 1849 he married Miss Laura L. McCardell, daughter of William McCardell. They had one son, J. Eils- worth Stonebraker, who engaged in business with his father, and three daughters.
The movement for taking the Alms House out of Hagerstown to a healthy location in the country where those able to work could find wholesome employment, was begun in 1873 by Dr. Thomas Maddox. This public spirited and humane citi- zen had long been scandalized by the condition and surroundings of the paupers in the old Alms House in Hagerstown. He had long written for the County papers articles setting forth abuses of a shocking character and the inhuman treatment of the insane which was in strict consonace with the common practice of the times. At a meeting of a Farmers Club, composed of a number of the most enlightened farmers in the County, held in 1873, Dr. Maddox read a paper in which he advo- cated the purchase of a farm by the County and the erection thereupon of a suitable Alms House which should take the place of the old and dilapi- dated building in Hagerstown. The plan mnet with the unanimous approval of the club which numbered in its membership some of the largest tax payers, and a committee was appointed to present the views of the Club to the County Com- missioners. This committee was composed of Dr. Thomas Maddox and Andrew Kershner Stake the secretary of the Club. So well did they perform their mission that the County Commissioners be- came favorable to the plan and the passage of an enabling act of Assembly was procured. After the enactment of the law and while the matter was still in abeyance John Nicodemus, a wealthy citizen of Boonsboro, after a long conference with John W. Stonebrake;, the President of the Coun- ty Commissioners, purchased for the County a farm owned by Thomas Spickler containing 112 acres of fertile land, beautifully situated near the
northern limits of Hagerstown. It was a part of the old Carroll estate and cost Mr. Nicodemus $12,500. In November 1880 at the Congressional election the question of the removal of the Alms House to the farm was submitted to the people who decided in the affirmative by a large majority. Thereupon the present Alms House was erected and the cost paid largely by the sale of the old property in Hagerstown and some shares of the capital stock of the Western Maryland Railroad Company. The entire cost of the building was $26,- 000. The inmates of the poor house were removed into the new building in July 1880. The name of the place "Bellevue" was selected by John L. Bikle, then clerk of the County Commissioners and he was afterwards much surprised to learn that without knowing it, he had selected the original name of the place. In point of fact the view com- manded by the location is a magnificent panorama and the name is well selected. In consequence of the movement started by Dr. Maddox and of the generosity of John Nicodemus, the wards of Washington County are in the enjoyment of a refuge such as few people in their condition can boast. Their location is healthful and the sur- roundings beautiful and best of all those able to work can contribute to their own support by whole- some and honest labor.
The old Alms House which was vacated when Bellevue was occupied, was built in 1799 and 1800 and occupied the latter year. The trustees by whom it was built were Henry Schnebly, William Heyser and George Ney. It was situated in the eastern part of Hagerstown near the Cavetown pike and was never well adapted to the purpose for which it was built.
But while all the efforts to improve the condi- tion of the County were going on the most import- ant of all was progressing so quietly that the pro- gress almost escaped attention. From the very first settlement of the Valley of the Antietam agriculture had been the chief occupation of the people. Upon it they had subsisted in comfort, had lived frugal lives and had secured such a measure of happiness as comes to a contented pco- ple. But none grew wealthy. If those fortunate persons to whom great tracts of land had been granted in the early settlement, or who acquired land when it was worth but a dollar or two to the acre had retained their possessions in their families there would have been a wealthy landed aristoc- racy. But fortunately this did not happen. The
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great manors and land grants were speedily divid- ed up and sold in small tracts to thrifty and in- dustrious farmers, mostly of German blood, some of whom came direct from the Fatherland and others drifting over the line from Pennsylvania. And thus it came to pass that the mass of the people of this valley had little in common with the older counties of the State, in customs, religion or sympathies. It is true, as has already been stated, that some of the earliest settlers who obtained large land grants were men of English blood who came from the tidewater counties. These men were for some years the leaders and representatives in Congress and at Washington. Among them were John Thompson Mason who came from Vir- gima and took the great Montpelier estate from his uncles John and Richard Barnes, of St. Mary's County ; Samuel Ringgold, to whom Conoco- cheague manor, twenty thousand of the fairest and most fertile acres were granted, the Tilgh- mans, the Fitzhughs, the Chews, who had Chew's manor along the Potomac, Joseph Chapline, Thom- as Cressap, who was born in England, the Hugheses and at a later date Gen. Otho Holland Williams. Most of these familes have disappeared from Wash- ington County.
The principal crops in the County from the very beginning were wheat and corn. The set- tlers from the tidewater introduced the culture of tobacco and for some years it was raised in small quantities, especially in Pleasant Valley. The only way to reach market in that early time was by roll- ing the hogshead in which the tobacco was packed over the mountain to Frederick. The difficulty in the way of marketing this crop were so great that it was speedily abandoned. In order to re- duce the bulk of the corn which was sold, instead of being fed to cattle and turned into meat, it was distilled into whiskey and that which was not con- sumed at home, the consumption being generous, it was sent in wagons, or on the kecl boats down the river to Georgetown which was a good market at the head of the Potomac navigation and acces- sible to vessels from the old country as well as from the tidewater sections of the State. And thus it came to pass that Washington County be- came a great whiskey producing County and took part in the whiskey insurrection.
Wheat soon became the chief crop and the great staple as it is today. The fertile limestone land of the valley is admirably adapted to its growth and the splendid water power of the An-
tietam, the Conococheague and dozens of smaller streams furnished the power for the conversion of the wheat crop into flour. And so Washington County has for a century and a half furnished a great quantity of breadstuff for Baltimore after supplying the home demand and that of nearer neighbors. The methods of cultivating wheat be- fore the war had been primitive and improvements had advanced slowly. The sickle of the early set- tler had given place to the "cradle" in the har- vest field and the flail and treading with horses had been superseded by the thresher and the drill was introduced. Even with the primitive methods and the high wages demanded by harvest hands there was a profit in wheat growing because the demand for bread was never more than met and the price of wheat was uniformly high. But after the war railroads began to stretch out across the virgin prairies, immigrants from the Eastern States and Europe began to flock to the plains car- rying vigor and industry. In a few years the wheat crop of this section began to flood the East- ern and European markets and the price of wheat began to go down and the Washington County farmer found that he was not making a profit on his crop. Then it was that an earnest effort be- gan for better farming. The Hagerstown Mail, conducted from 1874 down to 1891 by Edwin Bell and Thomas J. C. Williams, lent itself with intelli- gence and enthusiasm to the movement and every advance was recorded and its adoption urged. Three farmers who took a conspicuous part in the agricultural movement were Dr. Thomas Maddox, William T. Hamilton and Isaac Motter. Dozens of others joined in. These three men experiment- cd with fertilizers and machines and seed and told the farmers Club of the result and wrote for the public press making practical suggestions. The use of chemical fertilizers of which bone was the body, was introduced in Washington County by Dr. Maddox and soon became general, the prep- aration of the fields was more careful and more attention was given to the use of clover as a fer- tilizer as well as a fodder crop. In a few years the average yield of wheat to the acre had in- creased fifty per cent. and now about a million and a half bushels are produced annually. Along with this increase there has been a still greater increase in the production of many other crops on the farm, such as poultry, dairy products, clover seed and fruit.
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