A number of events in February will focus on the African-American experience, past and present.
Have you seen the Oscar-nominated movie “Twelve Years a Slave” and are interested in learning more? Even if you haven’t seen the film, join us for a presentation by Syl Woolford, who will share the story of Solomon Northrup, a free-born African American who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. When he was released from bondage, he sued his kidnappers, slave traders and slave master. This lecture will also explore public reaction and historical significance of his bondage and legal trials. This presentation is at the Elkton Central Library on Thursday, February 13 at 7 PM. Call 410-996-5600 to register.
On Tuesday, February 18 at 6:30pm at the Cecilton Branch, historian Milt Diggins will discuss “Freedom Seekers and the Underground Railroad on the Delmarva Peninsula.” Call 410-275-1091 to register. And on Monday, February 24 at 6:30pm at the Chesapeake City Branch, Syl Woolford will discuss the little known fact that “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe was loosely based on the real-life journals of Josiah Henson, a runaway slave from Maryland. Call 410-996-1134 to register.
If you are unable to attend these programs, but at interested in the topics, stop by any Cecil County Branch Library to find books, movies and resources – or search our online information and historical databases at http://www.cecil.ebranch.info/digital-library/online-resources/
When it comes to fighting fires, every second counts so the Perryville Volunteer Fire Company decided to take additional steps to get apparatus on the road to blazes quickly in 1953. With that objective in mind, the company launched a “new 24 hour fire alarm system” on November 12, 1953, a decade before a professionally staffed, countywide dispatch system went on the airwaves.
In the event of an emergency, residents phoned Perryville 2222, a dedicated number installed in the all night restaurant, the Whistle Stop, and the Fire Station. The cashier handling the register would promptly answer the special phone, obtain the necessary information, and activate the siren.
This arrangement enabled the engine to get underway in a matter of minutes. Originally the company had hoped to locate a night watchmen to take calls. But when that plan didn’t work out, the Whistle Stop’s management, J. W. Calary and Reuben Whistler, “owners of the all night fire house or restaurant” stepped forward.
The next month the system demonstrated its effectiveness. An urgent call was received at the restaurant about 1:55 a.m. as a blaze was ripping through downtown Elkton, and additional pumpers were desperately needed in the county seat. Minutes after the cashier sounded the alarm, Perryville’s engine was “on route 40 racing to Elkton” with “an adequate crew, sleepy-eyed, but ready.” The response was critical in helping to save Main Street Elkton, as the Perryville unit started pumping water from the creek to help the towns overloaded public water system.
The Whig congratulated the fire company for creating a system that hastened the volunteer response and had “trucks on their way in a matter of minutes. But more dispatching enhancements were in the works. The next year the “alarm button” was moved to the Susquehanna Toll Bridge. Chief James Thomas, working with the recently established Perryville Chamber of Commerce, had been instrumental in getting the State Highway Commission to agree to have the communications equipment installed in the new administration building.
President Gilbert, Firefighter Thomas and the cashier at the Whistle Stop demonstrate the efficient system. Source: Cecil Whig, 1953Perryville Volunteer Fire Company’s pumper is ready to respond. Source: Cecil Whig, 1953.
In March 1953, a full page, color advertisement for the Elkton Supply Company informed readers that spring was just around the corner. and the store had a full inventory of supplies for the season. Source: Cecil Whig
Elkton was well protected from fire in the years before World War I as the Singerly Fire Company had all the latest equipment for controlling a blaze. Two hand-pulled hose carts supported the horse-drawn Steam Engine and Hook and Ladder, and whenever the old alarm bell rang out with an urgent appeal, those units were soon on the spot.
But the era for horse-drawn apparatus was quickly fading, and the company was determined to have modern equipment to protect the growing county seat. So Singerly purchased a motorized unit in 1914 for $2,800, a GMC Truck from James Boyd & Brothers of Philadelphia. The vehicle was able to tow either the hook and ladder or the steamer.
Before a week was up, the truck debuted as it demonstrated how quickly it could get to an alarm. At the Prest-O-Lite Factory on W. Main Street, an explosion blew out some doors frames and the reliable old alarm bell called out the volunteers. Usually, when that happened, people lined the streets to watch as a team of horses pulling the steamer and hook and ladder raced by. But on that Thursday in the summer of 1914, they watched as the auto truck flashed past the excited crowd, its gong clanging a warning for carriages, wagons, and pedestrians to clear the way.
The passage of the horse-drawn firefighting era in the county seat passed quicker than anticipated. The next year, the hook and ladder was sent to a paint shop on Bridge Street to be overhauled. While there, the structure caught fire, and all the contents were lost. So a second GMC truck with ladders and other firefighting equipment was purchased in 1915. The third truck, an Ahrens Fox first-class pumper, was added in 1920, and a Hale pumper in 1927
An advertisement for General Motors fire trucks in the magazine, American City, June 1918. Singerly Fire Company had purchased a GMC unit, a few years earlier.
The passenger shelter at the old Pennsylvania Railroad Station in Elkton.Rev. Duke’s log house passed through another winter season.A cold, wintry day at the E-town barbershop.
Elkton shivers as the county is in the grips of the arctic weather.
Jo Ann Gardner, one of our volunteers, has been producing brief videos of Cecil County history to share with our audience. Since we are presently in the middle of a polar vortex that is creating some frigid January nights, she thought this one would be appropriate as the weather brought to mind the winter of 1852. That year so long ago, the Susquehanna and the Chesapeake Bay froze over and the thermometer plummeted to minus seven degrees in Elkton. Enjoy this flashback in time.
Just before 7 a.m. High flames and dense smoke tower over a Chesapeake City fire truck working to contain the uncontrolled incident. Source: Charles Stockman.
After thirty-seven years of “sudden suppertime departures and early moving arrivals,” Singerly Fire Company Chief Edgar (Speck) Slaughter, Jr. told the Cecil Whig it was time to “hang up his hat” in 1970. The 53-year-old had been a firefighter at Cecil County’s busiest department for 22 years, eleven of those as the chief. Before that, he fought fires with the Townsend Delaware Fire Company for 15 years. “I’ll be around if they need me, but to be fair to my wife, well . . . I think I’ve had enough,” he remarked.
Coming up through the ranks in Elkton, he had seen a lot of changes. Singerly grew from “two pumpers and one ambulance to four pumpers, two brush trucks, two ambulances, and an aerial platform snorkel truck.”
On his watch, he served as the incident commander at two of Maryland’s largest accidents. Chief Slaughter directed the response to a horrifying crash of a Pan-American World Airways Flight, which exploded in mid-air over Elkton in December 1963.
Pennsylvania Railroad Wreck
In the pre-dawn darkness of October 31, 1965, a Pennsylvania Railroad freight train rumbled through Elkton. As the 118 cars neared the municipal limits on the western edge of town, 41 of them, some filled with toxic chemicals and liquid propane, derailed. The Sunday tranquility in the county seat was jolted by the noise of the crash, which was sending huge flames and dangerous smoke into the sky.
While Chief Slaughter mobilized his forces and requested aid from as far away as Wilmington and Aberdeen, an enormous explosion sent a towering mushroom type fireball into the sky. Soon 100 firefighters were on hand, struggling to contain the spreading flames.
Chief Slaughter commands the response of 18 fire companies from three states while struggling to contain spreading flames and dangerous smoke during the major train wreck. Source: Cecil Whig.
About 7 a.m. the chief ordered an urgent, mandatory evacuation for parts of western Elkton. The Sunday morning DJ working the early shift at WSER took to the airwaves, broadcasting the emergency information as National Guardsmen went door to door to make sure residents departed immediately.
By 1 p.m. the situation was under control, but it was reported that the fires “would burn all night.” A spokesperson from the railroad said, “it was the worst wreck he had seen in the last 20 years because of the location and the danger from the burning cars, which were filled with poisons and liquid petroleum gas.”
Chief Slaughter
The election of a new fire chief took place on February 2, 1970. On that day, Jack Cook, a member for 20 years took command. After eleven years on the job, Chief Slaughter was able to put away his hat, knowing that another capable leader was taking up the watch.
Chief Speck Slaughter, a respected fire service leader, led the department through a period of rapid growth and served as the incident commander at major incidents.
Whenever there is a major snowstorm, Cecil County police officers, paramedics, firefighters and other public safety professionals face a significantly increased workload as they patrol and respond to 911 dispatches in snowy, wind-blown conditions. \
But whatever Mother Nature hands them, these men and women are always geared up and ready to go. This evening is no exception and as a major wintry blast rumbles through they are out working in the elements this frigid January night, keeping the public safe.
An online photo share of an Elkton patrol car on the evening watch this Tuesday reminded us of the fine work these agencies do in all sorts of weather.
Here is an old photo from an earlier snow patrol. Of course, it wasn’t a major snowstorm. But on a long ago Sunday afternoon (mid-1970s) at the end of the day watch, the Elkton Police Department corralled their suspect, the snowman. Officers Jeff MacKenzie and Ralph Newton were preparing to hand things over to the two officers on the evening patrol, and a little light snow gave them a chance for a brief moment of relaxation as they gathered up their notebooks and other materials.
The Elkton Police Department’s Jeff MacKenzie (left) and Ralph Newton collar the snowman in the mid-1970s. photo source: private collection.Officer Newton has this suspect in hand.
A freight train pulling a large number of oil tankers eased past the empty Elkton railroad station this afternoon, as the area prepared for a wintry blast.
Just after the freight train rumbled into the distance, a fast Amtrak passenger train kicked up clouds of snow.
