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 73
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water rentals to the Mayor and Council for ap- proval.
The capital stock was fixed at $80,000 and later on more money was provided by the creation of a bonded debt. The company purchased from William Weagley a tract of 14 acres, at the base of South Mountain near Cavetown, about 8 miles from Hagerstown upon which to construct the res- ervoir. By the construction of a dam on this property a large volume of water was impounded which is conducted to Hagerstown by a ten-inch iron pipe, sufficient to transmit 1,134,000 gallons of water daily. The dam is 200 feet above the highest part of the town and this elevation gave such a pressure that water can be thrown from fire hose over the loftiest building without the use of fire engincs. Fire plugs are well distributed so as to be within reach of every block. The water supply, flowing from the mountain streams is of remarkable purity, and free from minerals. In a short time it was found that the supply from the springs which flowed into the reservoir was not sufficient and then an artesian well was sunk and in the dry season the supply was supplemented by pumping with a steam pump of large capacity. As the town increased in size a dam was built across Raven Rock Run near Edgemont and the supply from there piped into the Cavctown reser- voir. By this means the present splendid water supply was provided. The work of constructing the water works was done under the direction of George W. Harris, superintendent of the Company. The trenches through the streets in which the pipes were laid for a large part had to be blasted out of the solid rock.
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
On September 4, 1880, the first passenger train from the valley of Virginia over the Shen- andoah Valley Railroad reached Hagerstown. The impetus which the completion of this road gave to the town eaused it in a few years to double in size and began an era of prosperity which has continued to the present time. The Shenandoah Valley road was first proposed in the early seven- ties as a through line from the line of the old Ohio and Mississippi through Hagerstown to New York. Finally this ambitious seheme was aban- doned and it was constructed with local capital as a loeal road from Riverton to Shepherdstown. Then one of the officials of the Company, Mr. U. L. Boyee, went to Philadelphia and sueeecded in interesting a number of capitalists in the en- terprise. The road was extended by them to Ha- gerstown on the north where it connected with the Western Maryland and Cumberland Valley roads, and to Waynesborough, Va., on the South where it joined the Chesapeake and Ohio.
In September 1880 when the road was eon- pleted to Hagerstown the offices of the Company were moved from Charlestown and established in Hagerstown. A few years later the capitalists who owned the Shenandoah Valley road, C. C. Baldwin, of New York ; F. J. Kimball and others of Philadelphia, purehased the control of the Ohio and Mississippi road, extending from Nor- folk, Va., to Bristol, Tennessee, and it was deter- mined to continue the Shenandoah Valley road on South to eonneet with the Norfolk and Western, the new name of the Ohio and Mississippi, at a small village known as Big Lick. The name of this village was changed to Roanoke and the pres- ent city of that name grew up like one of the Western eities on the plains. The offiees of the Company were removed from Hagerstown to Roa- noke and the Shenandoah Valley railroad becaine the Shenandoah Division of the Norfolk and Western.
In 1880 the year the road entered Hagerstown the population of the town was 6.627. In ten previous years the inerease in the population was only 900. In twenty previous years the increase had been 2,500. In the next ten years from 1880 to 1890, the inerease was 2,491 or as great as in twenty years from 1860 to 1880. By the next eensus that of 1900, the population had grown to 13,591 besides a considerable growth in the sub- urbs outside the town limits. The growth in
these two decades was greater than it had been in the preceding hundred years.
The rapid growth of Hagerstown and its in- ereasing importanee as a manufacturing and a railroad centre made changes in the municipal gov- ernment and improvements in the physical condi- tion of the town essential. In inaugurating these changes William T. Hamilton took the lead and many of the leading citizens, ineluding the town Attorney, William Kealhofer, William Updegraff, Edward W. Mealey, Henry H. Keedy and Edward Stake, eo-operated. The result was a radieal change in the character of the Government. 'The legislature cnaeted a new charter under which the boundaries of the town were enlarged. This char- ter was granted at the session of 1884. It ereated a board of Street Commissioners to be appointed by the Mayor for a term of six years. In order that the Board should always contain experienced members it was arranged that in the first board appointed one members should be appointed for six years, one for four and one for two years, and that as the term of each expired he should be sueceeded by a commissioner appointed for six years. This wise provision made it impossible for an incoming mayor to make a sudden change in the personnel with a resulting ehange in the pol- iey of the board and tended to remove it as far as possible from partisan polities. The opening, grading, repairing and control of the streets, the street lighting and the poliee foree were all eom- mitted to the authority of the Street Commission- ers leaving but little of the actual work of the government in the hands of the Council. The charter gave authority to borrow $20,000 for street improvement and $10,000 for drainage. The town at the time was praetieally free from debt. The old division of the town into five wards was unchanged and cach ward has to eleet one Coun- cilman to serve two years, the Mayor to serve four years. The terms of three Couneilmen end one year and of two of the next year. The Mayor ap- points the officials subject to confirmation by the Council. This form of government has proved entirely successful and the town affairs have been admirably administered. The work of making sewers and improving the streets promptly began. A heavy steam road roller was purchased and the old macadamized streets were graded and beauti- fully made. The work of grading the streets was extensive and Prospeet and North Potomac streets
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were cut down deep into the solid roek. Then an electric lighting plant was built and entered into a contract for lighting the streets. Later on the town built its own electric light plant and em- barked in the business of municipal ownership. The people after awhile became dissatisfied with the streets macadamized with crushed limestone, a substance so soft that under heavy traffic it beeomes fine dust in dry weather and mud in wet weather.
The work of paving the principal streets with vitrified bricks was undertaken and gradually ex- tended far beyond the limits at first designed. This pavement is entirely satisfactory, having the old macadam for a firm and enduring founda- tion. The amount of the loan provided for in the charter was of course insufficient for the work and ineluding the cost of eleetrie light plant the mu- nieipal debt had by 1905 reached the sum of $100,000. But the bonds were so issued that a eertain amount falls due each year and so a safe debt-paying poliey is steadily pursued.
During this time there was frequent agitation about a street railway. In 1891 a company was organized and the work of laying the traek began. It passes through the principal streets of the town and was extended to Williamsport on the one side and to Funkstown on the other. The next exten- sion was to Boonsboro. Finally members of the Hagerstown Company purchased a majority of the stock in an eleetrie road extending from Middle- town to Myersville in Frederiek County. A con- necting link was built from a point on the Ha- gerstown and Boonsboro branch to Myersville and thus established communication by the electrie road between Hagerstown and Frederick. This route, passing over two mountains and for its en- tire length of about twenty-four miles, through superb scenery, has beeome a most popular trip for pleasure excursions.
In 1898 when war with Spain was deelared, Washington County contributed a company of in- fantry to the general government besides a num- ber of offieers in the regular service. The Hagers- town Light Infantry was organized in 1879 with Henry Kyd Douglas, Captain; S. F. Croft, 1st Lieutenant ; A. M. Roberts, 2nd Lieutenant. The Company took . part in the Yorktown celebration of 1881, and became the color company of the 1st Regiment of the Maryland National Guard. In April 1898 when the President called for volun- teers the Hagerstown Company volunteered and
went into camp with the Maryland troops at Pim- lico, near Baltimore, in April. On May 17, the company along with the 1st Regiment, was muster- ed into the volunteer service of the United States. The Captain of Company B, the Hagerstown Com- pany, was George L. Fisher, who had served in the regular army; the first lieutenant was Wil- liam E. Sands. The First Maryland Regiment which had been mustered in as two battalions with Licut. Colonel William P. Lane in command, was ordered to Fort Monroe, Va., May 26, 1898 and Colonel Lane was Commandant of the Fort. In September the regiment was encamped at Camp Meade, Pa., and on November 11, it was ordered to Camp Maekenzie, Augusta, Ga., where it was mustered out of the service on February 28, 1899. The regiment which had been mustered in with two battalions was inereased to a full regiment July 6, 1898 with Col. Lane in command. Of the first two battalions, Ellwood W. Evans a Lieu- tenant of the 8th Cavalry U. S. Army and Charles A. Little, of Hagerstown were the Majors. Lauran A. Smith, son of George W. Smith, Jr., of Hagers- town was adjutant of the Regiment. After the third battalion was added Charles Alvey son of Chief Justice Alvey was commissioned Lieutenant in Company "K" and Rev. C. Randolph Page, a Confederate veteran, was made chaplain of the Regiment. M. R. Hawkin, of Washington Coun- ty, was adjutant of Major Little's battalion.
Col. Willian Preston Lane, the youngest son of John O. Lane and Elizabeth Horine Lane, was born at Harmony, Frederick County, November 30, 1851. When a child his father died and his mother moved to Boonsboro. In 1872 he gradu- ated in the same class with his two older brothers, Charles S. and J. Clarence Lane, at Princeton College; studied law with his brother-in-law, H. H. Keedy; admitted to the bar in 1874. In 1880 he abandoned law to become seeretary and treasur- er of the Hagerstown Steam Engine and Machine Company. In 1887 he was appointed postmaster of Hagerstown by President Cleveland and held the offiee four years. Then he went into the banking business in which he is now engaged, as a member of the firm of Eavey, Lane & Com- pany. His connection with military affairs began in 1880 when he enlisted in the Hagerstown Light Infantry. In 1881 he was made adjutant of the first battalion which was organized and command- ed by Gen. H. Kyd Douglas for the Yorktown celebration.
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Mr. Lane was subsequently elected Captain of the IIagerstown Light Infantry, then Lieuten- ant Colonel of the 1st Regiment and when Col. L. A. Wihner became Adjutant General of Maryland he succeeded him in the command of the Regiment. As an evidence of their esteem the people of Hagers- town presented a magnificent sword to Col. Lane and his business friends gave him a fine horse and the Grand Lodge of Masons of Maryland gave him a beautiful flag. Col. Lane's wife is Virginia Lee Cartwright, of Georgetown, D. C., of a St. Mary's County family.
Col. Charles A. Little of the First Regiment was born in Adams County, Pa., but removed to Washington County when a child and he has spent his life in this County. He graduated at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa., in 1878 and for several years taught in the public schools and studied law. He was admitted to the Bar in 1883, was a member of the Legislature in 1884, State's Attorney for Washington County from 1891 to 1895. In 1900 he was candidate for Congress but was defeated by George A. Pearre. In 1887 he was appointed Adjutant of the First Regiment, then commanded by Col. H. Kyd Douglas, and has served with the Regiment since then, having held the position of Adjutant, Paymaster, Major and Colonel of the Regiment, to which position he was elected in 1901 .. He was also Major of one of the Battalions of the Regi- ment during the Spanish war. Col. Little mar- ried a daughter of James Findlay of "Tammany."
In addition to those who volunteered in the Spanish war there were many of the sons of Wash- ington County in the regular service of the United States. Among these were Gen. James A. Buchan- an. He was a grandson of Judge Thomas Bu- chanan; born at "Woborne," the Buchanan estate near Downsville Dec. 11, 1843 ; was appointed 2nd lieutenant 14th infantry March 7, 1867. He served as captain in Cuba during the Spanish war, reaching the rank of Major in May 1899. In 1899 he was put in command of the troops in Porto Rico and was there for several years. In April 1905 he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and assigned to duty in the Philippine Islands.
Three grandsons of William D. Bell, the foun- der of the Torch Light were in the service during the war. These are George, William D. and Edwin Bell, sons of Gen. George Bell, U. S. Army. Young George Bell was appointed to the West
Point Academy by President Grant. As Captain in the First Regiment of Infantry he was in the charge of San Juan Hill in the Cuban campaign while his brother, William D. Bell, who was a surgeon of volunteers was at work rescuing the wounded at the other end of the line. After the Cuban campaign both Captain Bell and Surgeon Bell were sent to the Philippines. Captain Bell while in the Philippines was honored with the command of an expedition which made prisoners of some of the most troublesome of the insurrectos and for this service received high commendation. He was later promoted to the rank of Major and put in command of Fort Porter at Buffalo. After returning from the Philippines Dr. William D. Bell resumed the practice of his profession in New York.
While the Spanish war was in progress Edwin Bell, Jr., the fifth son of Gen. George Bell, was doing service in Alaska. He graduated at West Point in 1894 and is now a Captain in the Sth Infantry staioned at Fort Slocum, New York. Another son of Gen. Bell, Richard Barry Bell, was attached to the Marine Corps and participated in the campaign which resulted in the capture of Peking.
Henry Williams, son of Thomas J. C. and Cora M. Williams, born in Washington County, in 1877, was in the naval service under Schley dur- ing the West Indian campaign of 1898. He did active service around Santiago harbor and in Porto Rico. He graduated at the U. S. Naval Academy second in his class in May 1898, and was immediately ordered to the battleship Massa- chusetts. After the war he was assigned to the Corps of Naval Constructors, took a course of instruction at Annapolis, was then sent by the Government to France where he remained two years, graduating at the famous French school of Marine Architecture in 1901. He was then put on duty at the Brooklyn Navy Yard where he re- mained four years. His younger brother, Ferdi- nand Williams was also in the Military service. He graduated at West Point in 1903 high in his class, was assigned to the Corps of Engineers and sent to the Philippines where he remained one year. In this time he had been promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant. Upon his return from the Philippines he was assigned to duty in Wash- ington, D. C. In December 1905 he married Miss Sarah Rutledge Priolcau, of Chaleston, S. C. On June 1, 1906 while performing special service on
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OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, MARYLAND.
the target range at Fort Madison, Annapolis, to which he had been assigned temporarily, he was killed by the accidental discharge of a pistol in the hands of a bystander. He lies buried in the soil of his native County, in St. Mark's Churchyard, near Breathedsville. Lieut. Williams was born near St. James in Washington County in No- vember 1881 and was at the time of his death but little over 24 years of age. He was pronounc- ed by his superior officers to be one of the most efficient and promising young officers in the army. Near the grave of this young soldier in St. Mark's Churchyard is that of his mother's brother, Dr." Thomas J. C. Maddox, who met a somewhat simi- lar fate. He was a surgeon in the United States army and was killed in a skirmish with Apache Indians in New Mexico.
In August 1901 the doors of the Washington County Free Library were opened to the people. Several years before that time, Benjamin F. New- comer, of Baltimore, a native of Washington Coun- ty, had offered to endow a free library in Hagers- town for the benefit of the people of his native County, with the sum of $50,000 well invested in 5 per cent. securities, provided the people of the County would erect a building for the library. Several attempts were made by public spirited cit- izens to carry out this condition. But the work was progressing slowly when Mr. Edward W. Mealey of Hagerstown, undertook it and his efforts were speedily crowned with the most gratifying success. He procured the passage of two enabling acts by the Legislature at the session of 1898, chapters 248 and 217 of the laws of that year which assured an annual revenue of $2,500 for the library. The first of these acts authorizes the County Commissioners of Washington County to make a contract to pay $1,500 a year in perpetuity to the Library Association and the other chapter confers power upon the Mayor and Council of Hagerstown to make a perpetual contract for the payment of $1000 a year. The County Commis- sioners and the Mayor and Council exercised the authority conferred on them by the Legislature and entered into the contracts. Then Mr. Mealey ยท took up the work of supplying the building for the library. A Board of Library trustees was form- ed composed of Edward W. Mealey, President ; Rev. Dr. J. Spangler Kieffer, William Kealhofer, William Newcomer, William Updegraff, John W. Stonebraker and Charles A. Little. The Library
staff was composed of Mary L. Titcomb, Librarian, and Misses Lillian W. Barkdoll, Nellie Chrissing- er and Charlotte C. Gibson, assistants.
To the Trustees Mr. Mealey donated a lot of ground situated in the very centre of the town, on Jonathan street across from the side of the Court House. A canvass of the town and County was made to procure subscriptions to the building fund. The amount obtained fell far short of what was required, but the building was erected and furnished, and as has already been said was opened for use in August, 1901. The design for the building was the gift of Mr. Bruce Price, a distin- guished architect of New York City, and of Wash- ington County parentage. The cost of the build- ing was about $20,000 and of the book stacks and furniture about $12,000 more. At the completion of the work there was a debt of about $21,000, $5,000 of which was paid by Mr. Mealey and $16,- 082.65 by children of the late Mr. B. F. New- comer, namely Mrs. Henry B. Gilpin, of Balti- more, and Mrs. Mary I .. Maslin and Mr. Waldo Newcomer. These children of Mr. Newcomer also gave to the library an oil portrait of their dis- tinguished father and Mrs. Gilpin gave an artis- tic book plate. She has inherited from her fath- er his interest in the library and in all things pertaining to Washington County.
As a beginning of the book supply a number of volumes of standard works which had belonged to one of the literary societies of the College of St. James were acquired and some 12,000 or 15,- 000 other volumes bought. The number of vol- umes in 1905 was 16,000. The Library work was organized by an accomplished librarian, Miss Mary L. Titcomb, who was engaged by the Trustees.
She has succeeded in fulfilling the desire of Mr. Newcomer by carrying the benefits of the li- brary to every part of Washington County. Sub- stations were specdily established in every village and in many country stores, school houses and Sunday schools. The number of these stations in 1905 was 62. In order to further circulate the books a library wagon was built, the first of the kind it is believed, in the country. This wagon with well selected supply of volumes pays regular visits to the farm houses in those portions of the County remote from villages where there are sub- stations. One of the valuable features of the li- brary is the juvenile department where children are not only supplied with the best books but the
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
assistant librarian who has special charge of this department gives regular instructions to them which attract large numbers of eager listeners.
Teachers in the County are furnished books for their own use and for supplementary work in the schools. Each school in the County is visited, talks are given on the use of the Library by one of the staff who generally takes with her when she goes, an assortment of pictures, books and bul- letins which she leaves behind for a term.
The Washington County Free Library has proved a blessing to the people by whom it is greatly prized and greatly used.
Edward Windsor Mealey, who organized the Library, is the son of Edward Merriman and Elizabeth Francis (Windsor) Mealey. He was born in Hagerstown August 23rd, 1846, was grad- uated from the College of St. James in 1864 in the last class ever graduated. After the close of the Civil War he entered the Junior class at Harvard College and graduated with the degree of B. A. in 1869, taking his degree later at the Harvard Law School. After leaving the law school he practiced law in Hagerstown for several years but gradually dropped this and became en- gaged in commercial pursuits.
He was at one time cashier of the Hagerstown Bank and has for many years been a Director in that institution, was cashier of the Hemstead Gas and Electric Light Co., Long Island ; treasurer of the Crawford Bicycle Company ; is Director of the Washington County Branch of the B. & O. R. R., of the Cumberland Valley railroad, presi- dent of the Hagerstown Water Company; presi- dent of the Welch Water and Electric Light Com- pany of W. Va .; treasurer of the Tygart's River Lumber Company of Elkins, W. Va., president of the Mill Creek and Addison Railroad Co .; direc- tor of the Hagerstown Electric R. R. Company; director of Rose Hill Cemetery Association of Hagerstown.
He was Street Commissioner of Hagerstown for one term beginning in 1884; School Commis- sioner in 1892; consul to Munich during Presi- dent Cleveland's second administration. He is the president of the Washington County Free Li- brary. He is the treasurer of the Washington County Hospital Association and is giving the same interest and thought to that which he has given to the Library.
He is an independent Democrat in politics, and is an attendant at the Episcopal Church.
Mr. Mealey inherited considerable property from his parents and this he greatly augmented by hard work and judicious investments. IIe is a financier of great capacity and while cashier of the Hagerstown Bank greatly advanced the busi- ness of that ancient institution and at the same time by a liberal extension of banking facilities to manufacturing establishments promoted the in- dustries of Hagerstown. Resigning his office in the bank Mr. Mealey devoted himself to the bus- iness of the Crawford Bicycle Company, whichi become a financial success beyond all expectation. When the Crawford factory was sold to the bicycle Trust Mr. Mealey retired with a large profit on his investment. Since that time he has devoted himself largely to working in the interest of the public, and especially for the library and for the establishment of a hospital in Hagerstown. As a director in the Washington County Water Com- pany he was active in procuring a supply of pure water for Hagerstown and while Street Cominis- sioner he devoted a great deal of his time to the improvement of the town. When in Munich he wrote several valuable reports to the Government one of which dealt with the drainage and sanitation system of the city.
Benjamin Franklin Newcomer, the benefac- tor of Washington County, who endowed the li- brary and the Orphans' Home, came from one of the largest and most influential families of the County. The first of this family, which is of Swiss origin, to settle in Washington County were the three sons of Wolfgang Newcomer, namely Henry, Christian and Peter Newcomer, who came here from Lancaster County, Pa., early in the history of Washington County. The three broth- ers settled in Beaver Creek which is still the head- quarters of the family and acquired large tracts of land in that fertile district." Christian became a Bishop in the German Methodist Church and Henry and Peter were farmers. Henry's son, John Newcomer, became one of the foremost citi- zens of the County. He was born December 18, 1797, near Beaver Creek and died April 21, 1861. In 1836 he was elected sheriff, then one of the important and most honorable offices. In 184Q he was sent to represent the County in the Senate of Maryland where he served with credit for six years. From 1846 to 1849 he was County Com- missioner and was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1850. In 1859 he was again elected County Commissioner.
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