USA > Maryland > Leading events of Maryland history; with topical analyses, references, and questions for original thought and research > Part 16
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BALTIMORE
Marble Quarry, Cockeysville From a photograph
Baltimore stands at the head of Maryland counties in popula- tion, wealth, and resources, and its area of 622 square miles is exceeded only by Garrett and Frederick. When the " Belt " was annexed to Baltimore city in 1888, the county lost considerable territory, 36,000 inhabitants, and the towns of Waverly, Oxford, Woodberry, Hampden, Calverton. The eastern neighbor of Baltimore county is Harford, its western, Carroll; and it is bounded on the south by the bay, the city, and the Patapsco river separating it from Anne Arundel and Howard. The Penn- sylvania state line is the northern boundary. The topography of the county is diversified and attractive, elevated and rolling, watered by numerous picturesque streams, and well timbered. The soil is strong and fertile, and a great variety of crops is grown. In mineral resources Baltimore is particularly fortunate.
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From the early days of the colony its iron ores attracted capital, and from time to time numerous iron-manufacturing establish- ments have been in operation. Copper mines were formerly worked in the county, and from this industry grew the present large copper works at Canton, which now use copper from Mon- tana, the mining of the county deposits being very expensive. The first discovery of chrome ore in America was made a few miles north of Baltimore city, and a flourishing industry in the manufacture of products from this ore, of wide applicability in the arts, was established. The building stones of the county have given it high rank in the industrial world. The famous Woodstock granite is found in the southwestern corner, and has been quarried since the thirties. It has been used in many of the chief buildings in Baltimore city, and in the Congressional Library and Washington Post Office. The most valuable of Maryland's limestone deposits, it is said, are the highly crystal- line marbles of Baltimore county. The Beaver Dam marbles have been used in the construction of the Washington monu- ments in Baltimore and Washington, and Federal, state, and municipal buildings throughout the East. Gneiss and gabbro rocks are also used in building. The county is noted for its min- eral waters - Chattolanee, Roland, Strontia, Lystra, etc. There are valuable deposits of serpentine and porcelain clays. Along the Patapsco and the bay are numerous pleasure resorts, and fishing and gunning shores. The Baltimore and Ohio; Phila- delphia, Wilmington and Baltimore; and the Baltimore and Potomac run through its southern portion : the Northern Central extends northward through the county into Pennsylvania ; the Western Maryland runs northwesterly from Baltimore city ; and there are several short lines and electric roads. The county seat is Towson, named after General Nathan Towson, seven miles from Baltimore, on the Maryland and Pennsylvania railroad.
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It is the terminus of a city electric car line, and is situated in the midst of a superbly developed agricultural country. It has a population of 2,500. Canton and Highland town, small cities in themselves, largely given over to manufacturing, adjoin the eastern limits of Baltimore city. Cockeysville has a large stone quarry ; at Lutherville is a female seminary ; Emory Grove and Glyndon are noted camp grounds ; Catonsville and Mt. Wash- ington, with Roland Park and other towns, are known for their fine residences and picturesque locations. Hundreds of industrial establishments, large and small, are located in the county, and Steelton (Sparrow's Point) is the seat of the mammoth plant of the Maryland Steel Company. The county has many fine estates and country seats, and from its formation, in 1659, has been the home of a great number of the foremost men of colony and state. The battle of North Point was fought on its soil. For years it had a congressman of its own. Baltimore was the name of the Irish estates of the Calverts. The private and sectarian educa- tional institutions of the county are numerous, and some of them of widespread fame.
Grazing Scene, Samuel Shoemaker's Farm From a photograph
TALBOT
Scene on Miles River From a photograph
" Talbot county was formed in 1660-61. The order by which it was created has not been found, but the Assembly proceedings first show its existence in this year. The existing records of the province have not discovered to us what were its exact limits anterior to the year 1706. In that year they were definitely set- tled by the existing Act of 1706, Chapter 3, which enacts that ' the bounds of Talbot county shall contain Sharp's Island, Chop- tank Island, and all the land on the north side of the Great Chop- tank river ; and extend itself up the said river to Tuckahoe Bridge ; and from thence with a straight line to the mill com- monly called and known by the name of Swetnam's mill, and thence down the south side of Wye river to its mouth, and thence down the bay to the place of beginning, including Poplar Island and Bruff's Island '" (McMahon, History of Maryland). The second public school in Maryland was established in Talbot under the Act of 1723. That this school was something more than a mere elementary school is clear from the curriculum laid down in the act, namely, " Grammar, Good Writing and Mathe-
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matics." There is sufficient evidence for believing that the Talbot Free School was better supplied with good teachers than the private subscription schools, which were often filled by indentured servants. Bampfylde Moore Carew, the "King of the Beggars," came to Talbot as an unwilling emigrant, and the captain of the ship that brought him over recommended him to a planter of Bayside as a " great scholar and an excellent, schoolmaster." The school seems to have prospered for a long series of years and was "looked upon as the most frequented in the province." But after the year 1764 no record of it has been found. How long it flourished and when it ceased to exist is unknown. It is believed, upon tradition merely, that it con- tinued in successful operation up to the outbreak of the Revolu- tionary War. Talbot people have long cherished their public schools as their most valued privilege and right. The county has an area of 285 square miles, and derives its name from Lord Talbot. It is cut up into peninsulas by the Chesapeake and its tributaries, and is famous for its landscapes and waterscapes. Agriculture, canning, and oyster-catching are its industries. It has furnished governors, United States senators, a secretary of the treasury, and numerous state and national officials and men of mark. Maryland's first historian came from Talbot, and it was the home of Robert Morris's father and the birthplace of John Dickinson. The Delaware and Chesapeake, and Balti- more, Chesapeake, and Atlantic are its transportation lines. Easton, the county seat, was the former "capital " and seat of government on the Eastern Shore, and the first newspaper on this side of the bay was established there more than a century ago. Oxford and St. Michael's are also historic.
SOMERSET
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A Part of Main Street, Crisfield From a photograph
Somerset county was erected August 22, 1666, by an order of the provincial Council, and embraced "all that Tract of land within this our province of Maryland bounded on the South with a line drawn from Wattkin's point (being the North point of th't bay into wch the river Wighco formerly called Wighcocomoco afterwards Pocomoke & now Wighcocomoco againe doth fall exclusively) to the Ocean on the East, Nantecoke river on the North & the Sound of Chesipiake bay on the West"; which was erected in the name and as the act of the Lord Proprietary "into a county by the name of Sommersett county in honor to our Deare Sister the lady Mary Somersett." The commissioners, Stephen Horsey, William Stevens, William Thorne, James Jones, John Winder, Henry Boston, George Johnson, and John White, were empowered "to enquire by the Oath of good & lawfull men of all manner of fellonies Witchcrafts inchantmts Sorceryes Mag- ick Arts Trespasses forestallings ingrossing & extorcons " and
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"all & singler other Misdeeds and offences." The order ap -. pointed " Edmond Beachchampe Clark and Keeper of the Records," and the council issued the same day a commission to Stephen Horsey to be "Sherriffe of Somersett." The first effort to settle the long-standing boundary dispute with Virginia resulted in Scarborough's line depriving Somerset of 23 square miles of territory. Like Dorset, Somerset has jurisdiction over several islands, one of which, Deal's Island, was celebrated early in the last century for its Methodist " Parson " Thomas, who, tradition says, foretold the death of Ross in the attack on Balti- more, and preached to the British on his island. . The south- eastern corner of Somerset is separated from Accomac, in Virginia, by the Pocomoke river, and the division line continues through Pocomoke sound. The Western Shore is washed by Tangier sound and the bay. The area of Somerset is 362 square miles, and it heads the list of oyster counties, half its population being engaged in that industry. The value of the annual oyster yield from Somerset waters is $2,000,000, and the pack- ing-houses along the southern and western shores utilize from one to one and a half million bushels yearly. In summer oyster-
men find employment in the crabbing industry, and these shell- fish are shipped in enormous quantities to city markets- 250,000 dozen going from Crisfield alone in a single season. Terrapin are more plentiful in Somerset than in other coun- ties, and " diamond-back farming " is successful. Agriculture is profitable in the interior, and truck-farming is carried on along the lines of the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk railroad. Crisfield, near the mouth of the little Annamessex river, with a population of 3,165, is a port of entry for hundreds of vessels, and has extensive industrial and commercial interests. The county seat, Princess Anne, was founded in 1733. Other towns are Fairmount, Oriole, Mt. Vernon, and Kingston.
DORCHESTER
Cambridge Hospital, Cambridge From a photograph
Dorchester county is the largest on the Eastern Shore, having an area of 610 square miles, and ranks fourth in point of size in the state. The Great Choptank river and Caroline form its north- ern boundary, and it has a few miles of eastern border on the Delaware line. The Nanticoke flows along the southeastern border, and on the south and west arms of the Chesapeake and the bay itself inclose the county. Dorchester was formed in 1669-1670, and its name is traced to the earl of Dorset or to Dorsetshire. Various islands are included in its territory, and the Little Choptank, the northwest fork of the Nanticoke, Honga, Fishing, Blackwater, Transquaking, Chicacomico, are rivers and creeks of Dorchester. Fishing bay, Tar bay, Trippe bay, Hooper's straits, and other bodies of water add to the geographical nomen- clature of the county. There is a great extent of marsh land, fre- quented by myriads of wild ducks, and oysters, crabs, and terrapin
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abound in the county waters. Sand, clay, and marl make a diver- sified soil, and corn, wheat, potatoes, tomatoes, and fruits are grown. Great quantities of oysters, tomatoes, and corn are used by the packing-houses. The annual income from the oyster catch is $1,000,000 or more, and Dorchester ranks next to Som- erset in this industry. Cambridge is the home port of a vast fleet of dredging and tonging vessels, the seat of large packing- establishments, of shipyards and other manufactures. The Cam- bridge and Seaford and the Baltimore, Chesapeake, and Atlantic railroads traverse northeastern Dorchester, and steam and sailing vessels reach all parts of the county lying on water. Cambridge, the county seat, with a population of 5,747, has a fine salt-water situation on the Great Choptank, 18 miles from its mouth. The river here, between the Dorchester and Talbot shores, is several miles in width, and the town is built on level ground, extending to the water's edge. The streets are well shaded, and brick and stone structures predominate in the business section. East New Market is in the midst of a thriving agricultural sec- tion, has a population of 1,267, and Secretary (on Secretary Sewell's creek), Hurlock, Williamsburg, Salem, Taylor's Island, Bucktown, Linkwood, Dailsville, are some Dorchester villages. Vienna, on the Nanticoke, was long noted for its shipyards, and many swift and shapely ocean-going vessels were built there before steam and iron supplanted wood, and when the white oak forests of Dorset still afforded the best material known in former naval construction. Dorchester was harried by the British during the War of 1812. Governor John Henry, first United States senator from the Eastern Shore, and William Vans Murray were from this county.
CECIL
Memorial Hall, Tome Institute, Port Deposit From a photograph
Cecil county, named in honor of the second Lord Baron of Baltimore, was erected in 1674, the tenth county in order of formation, and it is situated in the northeast corner of Maryland, on the borders of Pennsylvania and Delaware, and cut off from the remainder of the state by the Sassafras river on the south, and the Chesapeake bay and Susquehanna river on the west. It is one of the smaller counties in area - 350 square miles - much of which is, however, under water, as it is intersected by several rivers, notably the North East, the Elk, and the Bohemia.
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The surface throughout is rolling, the northern portion being hilly ; this gives considerable water power, which is utilized by a number of large paper, iron, cotton, flour, phosphate, kaolin, and fluor-spar mills. The third largest pulp and paper mill in the United States is located at Elkton, the county seat. In the eighteenth century the output of pig and bar iron at the Principio Company's furnaces was the largest in America. The soil generally is fertile, varying from a yellow clay in the south to a disintegrated rock in the north, producing fruits, grain, and hay in abundance. So noted has its hay crop become that the high- est grade on the Baltimore market is known as "Cecil county hay." Along the Susquehanna river are several large granite quarries, affording the best building material, a stone which, - when polished, as is done at Port Deposit, is excelled in beauty by no other. Kaolin is largely worked for use in the manufac- ture of paper and in porcelain factories, and chrome has been extensively mined. Although possessing such excellent water facilities, marsh land is almost unknown. The banks of the Susquehanna river rise abruptly to a height of from 80 to nearly 600 feet. At Port Deposit the granite banks rise almost per- pendicularly 200 to 300 feet. The fisheries, as might be ex- pected, are of much importance. Elkton, the largest town, has about 3,000 inhabitants, followed by Port Deposit, Perryville, Rising Sun, North East, Chesapeake City, and Cecilton. The scenery in places is picturesque in the extreme. That along the Susquehanna, near Conowingo, and on the Octoraro, near Porter's Bridge, attracts artists from a distance, and compares most favorably with the Wissahickon and other rugged streams so often delineated by the painter's brush. The county is about equidistant from Philadelphia and Baltimore, is intersected by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore; the Philadelphia division of the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Baltimore Central
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railroads, also by the Chesapeake and Delaware canal. Cecil county was one of the first to engage in school work. In 1723 the colonial legislature appointed a committee consisting of John Ward, John Dowell, Benjamin Pearce, and others, to open free schools, and they opened one. St. Stephen's Church, organized in 1692, opened a public school about 1734. The Friends' Meeting House at Calvert was organized by William Penn in 1702, and soon after opened a school. The church of St. Francis Xavier was organized in 1704, and afterward opened a school. The county in 1859 organized a system of free public schools, thus antedating that of the state six years. Among the more prominent private schools are the West Nottingham Academy, opened about 1741 by Rev. Samuel Finley, who after-
ward became the president of Princeton University.
It is situ-
ated near Colora. The Tome Institute, most beautifully situated on the bluff at Port Deposit, presided over by Dr. A. W. Harris, with a corps of 63 teachers, and over 500 pupils, was endowed by the late Jacob Tome with several millions of dollars.
PRINCE GEORGE'S
Maryland Agricultural College From a photograph
Prince George's county, named in honor of Prince George of Denmark, husband of Queen Anne, was formed in 1695, having been originally a part of Charles. The seat of local government was first established at Mt. Calvert on the Patuxent river, but it was soon removed to Upper Marlborough (named for the Duke of Marlborough, in 1706). The number of white children of school age is 6,175 and the number of colored children is 5,179. Prince George's is one of the most progressive and pros- perous counties of the state. Its growth is promoted largely by its proximity to the national capital. The resources of the county are mainly agricultural. In the upper section, bordering upon the District of Columbia, trucking is followed to a large extent. In the middle and southern sections, corn, wheat, and tobacco are cultivated - the last named on an extensive scale, forming the staple product. The annual output of the county is larger than that of any other of the tobacco-growing counties. The principal towns are Upper Marlborough, Laurel, Hyatts-
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ville, Bladensburg, Forestville, and Woodville. At Laurel there are cotton duck mills, and a cereal mill has recently been es- tablished at Hyattsville. Bladensburg has the distinction of having been the scene of one of the most significant battles of the War of 1812, and of many noted duels. The academy at Upper Marlborough, established in 1835, is managed by a board of seven trustees, and has always had for its principal a capable teacher of the classics. Many persons who attained eminence in public and professional life were educated at this school. Even in colonial time, Prince George's county was conspicuous for being the home of cultured and educated people; and as early as 1745 Rev. Dr. Eversfield, Rector of St. Paul's parish, established a private school near his residence which he con- tinued until his death in 1780. He taught Greek and Latin and furnished pupils with board at $53 per annum. The Maryland Agricultural College is in this county. The area of Prince George's is 480 square miles and its railroads are the Baltimore and Ohio ; Baltimore and Potomac; Pope's Creek, and Chesa- peake Beach lines. Back in the thirties the " Patuxent Manu- facturing Company " was incorporated, and established the present cotton mill at Laurel, the old name of the town being " Laurel Factory." The iron industry in Prince George's dates back over a century. The Snowdens, among the original set- tlers of the county, established furnaces at various points in southern Maryland. The Patuxent Furnace and Forge was long a notable industry. The only iron works now in operation in the county, or in rural Maryland, is the Muirkirk Furnace, on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, at Muirkirk. It was erected in 1847 by Andrew and Elias Ellicott and modelled after a furnace at Muirkirk, Scotland. The population of Laurel is 2,079, and of Hyattsville, 1,222.
QUEEN ANNE'S
Threshing Scene From a photograph
Queen Anne's county was erected in 1706, and the bounds of the four counties above the Great Choptank were described and fixed by the Assembly of that year with definiteness.
Queen Anne's takes in the territory between the Delaware line and the bay (including Kent Island), south of the Chester and north of the Wye and Tuckahoe rivers. Kent is its northern, and Talbot and Caroline its southern neighbors. Agriculturally, the county is highly favored, the soil being very fertile, and the surface rolling. The area of the county is 376 square miles. Kent Island is opposite Anne Arundel, and its wooded shores are visible from the State House at Annapolis. Although under cultivation for two and a half centuries, the island is the delight of agriculturalists, its rich soil producing in profusion all the
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staple Maryland crops. Oysters, crabs, fish, and water-fowl are plentiful in Queen Anne's waters. Practically all the arable land of the county is under cultivation. The industrial establish- ments are chiefly flour mills and canneries. The Queen Anne's railroad runs from Love Point, on Kent Island, through the southern part of the county to Lewes, Delaware; and the Queen Anne's and Kent railroad, of the Pennsylvania system, terminates at Centreville, the county seat (population 1,231), to which point a spur of the Queen Anne's has been extended. Steam- boats bring the water-sides of the county within a few hours' trip of Baltimore city. Queenstown, on the eastern water front, was the colonial county seat, and has an interesting history. A school here attained some reputation before the Revolution. In provincial times Queen Anne's and Talbot were favorite places of summer residence for leading men of Maryland, who culti- vated broad estates in these counties in the intervals between their official duties at Annapolis or participation in its social gayeties. Queen Anne's rivals St. Mary's as the favorite field of writers of historical romances.
WORCESTER
Makemie Memorial Presbyterian Church (organized 1683), Snow Hill From a photograph
Worcester county was formed in 1742, and originally included, with the shadowy county of Durham, all the Maryland territory lying on the Delaware from the fortieth parallel to the ocean. The center of settlement in that Worcester was "the Horekeele " - the present Lewes. Mason and Dixon's Line gave Worces- ter its now northern boundary. Chincoteague, Sinepuxent, Isle of Wight, and Assateague bays take up a considerable part of the county's area of 487 square miles. Its name recalls the loyalty of the proprietaries to the royal house of Stuart. Snow Hill, the county seat, was one of the " townes and ports of trade "
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erected in 1686. It is at the head of navigation on the Poco- moke river, and on the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia rail- road, and its manufactures are locally important. At Pocomoke City millions of baskets and crates for the fruit and vegetable trade are made annually, and the building of oyster boats and other craft is an important industry. The population of the town is 2,124, that of Snow Hill, 1,596, and of Berlin, 1,246. Smaller towns are Ironshire, Girdletree, Whaleyville, Bishopville, Newark, Box Iron, Stockton, Klej Grange. Worcester is the only county in the state which borders on the Atlantic ocean, and it has in Ocean City a thriving and prosperous seaside resort, which has been of great advantage to truckers on the mainland near there, and which has added materially to the taxa- ble basis. The principal industries are agriculture, manufactur- ing of lumber, and the oyster and other fisheries. The people are chiefly of English descent. The soil varies from a light sand to a heavy clay, the majority of it being a good loam, with some clay. The principal products are cereals, fruits, truck, and tim- ber. The lower part of the Sinepuxent bay in Worcester is one of the most fertile oyster fields to be found. During the season there are shipped from the railroad station at Girdletree about 30,000 barrels, and from Hursley about the same number, besides those that are consumed locally or are shipped by vessels. At Ocean City a fish company has been formed and annually ships thousands of barrels of the finest fish to Northern markets.
FREDERICK
4 .
2 . HE
Key Monument, Frederick From a photograph
Frederick county was organized in 1748, named after the Prince of Wales, and has an area of 633 square miles, being the second largest Maryland county. Its topography is agreeably diversified by valley, plain, rolling land, and mountain. Many of the early settlers were Germans. The county has always fur- nished its full quota of soldiers and sailors in wartime, from colo- nial days to the war with Spain. The author of " The Star-span- gled Banner " was born here, and his remains rest in Mt. Olivet cemetery, in the city of Frederick, beneath the monument erected by the Key Monument Association, and unveiled August
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9, 1899. On November 23, 1765, the judges of the Frederick county court repudiated the Stamp Act passed by the British Parliament, and Repudiation Day was made a county holiday in 1894. Agriculture is the leading industry, the soil being fer- tile and producing large crops of wheat, corn, rye, oats, and potatoes. The mountain districts still supply a good quality of oak, chestnut, walnut, hickory, and other timber. The railroads are the Baltimore and Ohio, the Western Maryland, Pennsyl- vania ; and an electric road runs from Frederick to Myersville. Iron ore and copper are found in different parts of the county, the most extensive deposits of the former being in the northern section, near Thurmont, where a large smelting plant is located -the Catoctin Furnace, first put in operation in 1774. Near Libertytown copper mines are worked on an extensive scale. Frederick city, 61 miles from Baltimore, has a population of 9,296, and is the county seat. A female seminary, Frederick College, and other important private educational institutions are located there, as is also the Maryland School for the Deaf. Manufactured products of the county include lumber, flour, fiber brushes, fertilizer, furniture, harness, hosiery, crockery-ware, lime, proprietary articles, etc. Frederick towns include Bruns- wick, Emmittsburg (near which is Mt. St. Mary's College), Thurmont, Walkersville, Middletown, Buckeystown, Adamstown, Point of Rocks, Creagestown, Wolfsville, Urbana, Libertytown, New Market, Ijamsville, Sabillsville, Woodsboro, Knoxville, Mt. Pleasant, Jefferson, Graceham, Myersville, Harmony, Johnsville, Ladiesburg, Unionville, Lewistown, Attica Mills, Burkittsville.
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