Reflections on Yesterday — Cecil County History
As the sun edged lower in the horizon on this Friday evening in August and shadows started lengthening, the slowly disappearing rays created some attractive hues and a pleasing glow on the county administration building. The deep blue sky in the direction of Delaware and a few white puffy clouds added a calmness to the tranquil scene about an hour before dusk as the county, state and U.S. Flag flapped in a steady breeze.
This evening I digitized a cassette tape containing a recording of a twenty-year old news special that aired on Elkton Radio Station WSER in 1993. Thirty years earlier, on December 8, 1963, 81-people perished when Pan American World Airlines Flight 214 exploded over the town, so the station examined the tragedy.
In the long unheard recording, Chuck De Socio, the show host, interviewed local emergency personnel and witnesses. Those included E. Rosemary Culley, the dispatcher who coordinated the response of emergency units and Judge Kenneth E. Wilcox, a Civil Defense Police Officer. He also talked with Eva Muse, a witness, and to the Historical Society for background information.
Since the Historical Society of Cecil County is preparing to host a community remembrance program this December as fifty years have now passed, we have been interviewing people and pulling together materials such as moving images, photos, and sounds for the remembrance archive. This digital recording will be added to our Flight 214 Collection and we are also sharing it online. It is a long tape, running about 40 minutes, but you may listen to sections of it.
Also here is a link to a recording of Lt. Don Hash of the MSP, the first emergency responder to arrive on the scene, sharing his recollections.
The Freedom Riders started incursions into the sharply segregated deep south to confront Jim Crow laws in 1961. For the campaign young people boarded buses heading into states where they tested a Supreme Court ruling that declared that separate facilities for interstate travel were unconstitutional. But this era of protest also involved visits to northeastern Maryland as hospitals, restaurants, bars, theaters, motels, and other public places were segregated.
Cecil’s central location on the main route between Washington, D.C., and New York put it on the forefront of this protest movement. Along Route 40 and Route 1 restaurants and gas stations also denied service to African diplomats and subjected them to the same Jim Crow humiliations as African-Americans.
At the height of the Cold War, this worried the Kennedy administration as it undercut efforts of the “Free World” to win friends in emerging nations. Since an all-out effort was required to assure friendly and dignified reception for diplomats so the nation’s foreign policy wouldn’t be damaged, the White House created a special protocol section in the State Department. Detailed to smooth out domestic public policy wrinkles the Soviet bloc leveraged to its advantage, the agency pressured roadside restaurants and gas stations to serve African diplomats.
From his summer White House in Hyannis Port, Mass President Kennedy made a personal appeal to end discrimination, the Baltimore Sun reported. “In a telegram to a luncheon meeting of Harford and Cecil County community leaders, the president called for voluntary cooperation for an immediate end to segregation.” Other federal officials appealed for support from some 200 prominent citizens of the two counties in stamping out incidents of racial discrimination, particularly against African diplomats.
After many places cooperated by serving diplomats, an enterprising reporter from the Baltimore Afro-American caused a stir. Posing as a diplomat, he dressed in traditional African-garb while stopping at businesses along the highway. In disguise he was warmly greeted and photographed, but when the journalist returned as an everyday person service was refused. Many felt this was unjust since some citizens of the United States were denied equal treatment.
All of this sparked the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to piggyback on the federal desegregation efforts in Maryland. When attempts to change things stalled in the legislature, CORE launched a Route 40 campaign. Four African Americans were jailed after refusing to leave the Bar H Chuck House in North East in Sept. 1961. After being booked in at the Cecil County Jail, the “sit-downers” staged a hunger strike. About 7 days later, the protestors were sent to Crownsville State Hospital for a mental evaluation but returned to the local jail the next day. A week or so later, they paid a small fine and were quietly released.
Months later in November 1961, the promise of a massive Freedom Ride along the corridor prompted about half the restaurants (35) on the dual highway to begin serving everyone and CORE called off the ride.
But they promised to check on things soon. In December 1961 some 700 freedom riders rolled up and down the road in northeastern Maryland demonstrating at 40 segregated restaurants. The only violence of the day occurred when one newspaper editor punched his rival for photographing him arguing with a protestor,” the Baltimore Sun reported. “Riders, restaurant owners, and police got along with one another much better than that generally.” The ride had been ordered to fulfill a pledge to hit every segregated restaurant on Route 40 between Baltimore and Delaware. Two arrests were made at one restaurant in
North East and another place in that town tried to avoid the protestors by charging $4 an hour for parking.
Keeping the pressure on the governor and the legislature to continue moving forward, the Freedom Riders returned a few more times. In 1962 five protestors were arrested for trespassing at Rose’s Dinner in Elkton.
In March 1963, Governor Tawes signed into law a public accommodation law, making Maryland the first state south of the Mason-Dixon Line to ban discrimination in restaurants and hotels. The law became effective after the 1964 election.
In Conowingo, two African students from the Union of South Africa were arrested for trespassing at a Tavern on U.S. 1. While public accommodation laws had been passed, the Cecil County Sheriff said the place was a tavern and thus it didn’t fall under State or Federal public accommodation laws. Eventually, the charges were quietly dropped, once the State Department got involved. A few months later the Sheriff received a call to the same place and arrested three African-Americans from Lincoln University. “Sheriff Startt said he didn’t know what was in the federal Civil Rights Act. I work under State Law and I only know the state law,” the Baltimore Sun wrote.
While some incidents occurred after the law became effective in 1964 discrimination was no longer legally tolerated in Maryland restaurants and motels.
For more on the Freedom Riders also see Freedom Riders on Route 40
In August 1966, the firefighting equipment of the Chesapeake City Fire Company was lined up in front of Station 2. The Company had plans to double the size of its headquarters station so the annual appeal for donations was particularly important that year.
Yesterday afternoon I stopped by a quiet, small-town cemetery in Woodstown, NJ, to visit the grave of a freedom seeker and a member of the United States Colored Troops from Cecilton, MD. His story first circulated when Today’s Sunbeam published a piece about Susan Richardson-Sanabria, his great-granddaughter, honoring the Civil War sergeant with a proper headstone at his final resting place, the Spencer UA.M.E. Church on Bailey Street.
Richardson-Sanabria, who lives in New York, told the newspaper she used to listen to accounts of Richardson’s life. He had been born on a plantation in Cecilton, MD, on October 15, 1841. Escaping on the Underground Railroad, he went to Woodstown, where the freedom-seeker eventually prospered. But the Civil War interrupted life, and the young man went off to fight for freedom. A soldier in Co. A., 22nd USCT, he mustered out as a sergeant and the recipient of the Butler Medal.
Richardson-Sanabria, told the reporter: “I am humbled by the faith and perseverance that my great-grandfather demonstrated in orchestrating an escape from a Maryland plantation where he had been born to make his way in unfamiliar territory as a fugitive, find work, become a soldier, and returned to marry, support and raise a family. According to oral history, he was a very hard worker and somewhat of an entrepreneur who managed to purchase a thrasher to make extra money using the machine to thrash other farmer’s crops as well as his own.”
Last Christmas, we were on a holiday house tour in Woodstown, and while the host showed us through one of the fine properties, I noticed this old piece of framed school board correspondence on a wall. A closer examination showed that Edward Richardson signed it.
Earlier this summer, Salem County launched a new interactive cell phone tour of the county, and Edward Richardson is one of the stops on a tour called 7 Steps to Freedom. Check out the blog post from the Salem County Cultural & Heritage Commission and the newspaper article for additional details.
So after hearing the story of this Cecil County freedom seeker’s adventure on the underground railroad, I decided to visit his grave the next time I was in Woodstown, NJ. Spencer U.A.M.E. Church was erected in 1842 and remodeled in 1907 and 1923, according to the cornerstone.
For additional information on the USCT in Cecil County check out Eric Mease’s University of Delaware graduate thesis on that subject.
Moviegoers at the Elkton Drive-in were in for a grand night of dusk to dawn shows on July 3, 1961, all for an admission price of 3 cents per person. The evening screenings consisted of No Man is an Island, Jack the Ripper, X-15, and the Posse from Hell.
The special night, just before the nation celebrated Independence Day, was part of a big birthday bash planned by the management as the outdoor theatre celebrated its third anniversary. The screen had flickered on for the first time in 1950, and after nearly a decade of shows, the place had been renovated and opened under new management.
Click here for a brief history of the drive-in.
This image is courtesy of the Flickr account of Theatre Talks/Cezar Del Valle (used with permission)
Many in Cecil sighed with relief when 1963, an eventful year full of ups and downs, came to an end. As people reflected on that November nearly fifty years ago, they recalled the opening of the modern expressway, President John F. Kennedy’s visit, and the unbelievable news flashes eight days later. An assassin’s bullet had struck the youthful president down in Dallas. So, as the county grieved and the calendar turned on that troubling month, people thought it couldn’t get any worse.
There were wrong. On a terrible December night Pan-American World Airways Flight 214 exploded, plunging into a cornfield at the edge of Elkton. On that cold, rainy Sunday, as lightning periodically illuminated the town, eighty-one people perished when the big plane broke apart in flight and debris rained down on a cornfield. Hours later, while rescuers combed the wreckage, a county firefighter, Steward W. Godwin of the North East Volunteer Fire Company, suddenly collapsed and died.
This horrifying disaster, the worst airplane crash in Maryland history, is something that is seared into the collective memory of the community, as well as friends and relatives of victims. People involved in this tragedy will never forget the unusual December thunderstorm and how the fiery blast in the stormy sky suddenly illuminated the town, momentarily turning December darkness into daylight. Fear, anxiety, and concern swept across the unnerved community as sirens filled the night air with emergency units rushing toward Delancy Road to provide aid to the injured. It was soon obvious to first responders that the accident wasn’t survivable.
On Sunday, afternoon Dec. 8, 2013, the Singerly Fire Company and the Historical Society of Cecil County will hold a remembrance program to honor the memory of those who lost their lives on a day we will never forget, as well as those who were touched in other ways by the tragedy. On this date, fifty years after the tragedy altered so many lives, families, emergency responders, and the public are invited to gather and remember the victims and those who answered the call to help. A complete schedule will be released as the date nears, but since many family members will be traveling a distance, we are providing this preliminary information.
The Rev. Hubert Jicha and retired school superintendent Henry Schaffer will facilitate the program. Henry, a 16-year-old at the time of the crash, was one of the first responders. The afternoon will include the sharing of memories, outtakes from the oral history collection, and displays of materials from the Society library.
As part of our mission to chronicle Cecil’s past, our volunteers have been busy creating a remembrance archive. A major part of this involves interviewing witnesses, residents of the area, and family members and it also involves collecting research materials. We have already done a lot of work and have found that with the greatest clarity, this searing incident is clearly imprinted on a generation of Cecil County residents.
On Saturday, Dec. 7th, we will open up the Flight 214 listening station. During half-hour appointments, people will be invited to privately share their stories about the tragedy. Our oral historians will be at the recording booths, listening to people, asking a few questions, and recording the conversation. We will add these stories — whatever people want to share — to the archives, as a half-century is passed.
For family members, seeking additional details, we have established a special email address where we will keep you informed as plans progress. The email is remembrance@cecilhistory.org. Also since we are planning a private reception for the families, we ask you to contact us by email so we can share some additional information. But also keep an eye on the blog as we will post routine, regular updates for everyone.
As the Historical Society of Cecil County prepares an exhibit remembering the 1960s in Cecil County, here is an interesting video about President John F. Kennedy dedicating the Northeastern express or I-95. It was November 14, 1963.
A few years ago, the Delaware Department of Transportation located a tape of radio station WDEL’s broadcast of that memorable day, nearly fifty years ago. They combined the audio recording with photographs to produce this product.
Here is a link to the press release on this subject. Thanks DELDOT.
At a time when few had televisions, Elkton was looking forward to decades of grand entertainment after a drive-in theatre opened at White Hall Road and Route 40 on Friday evening, May 12, 1950. Bringing this new outdoor show to Cecil County, Nathan Rosen had carefully located the new enterprise by finding a suitable tract, one large enough for 700 cars, on the new dual highway. The 15 acres were leased from the Society of the Divine Savior, a Catholic order popularly known as Salvatorians. Once the contract was signed, crews started grading the field, putting up the big screen, building the box office, concession stand, and projection room, and wiring the sound system.
Heavy floodlights brightened the area on the gala opening night while the high school band presented a concert, and balloons and carnations were given away. Once dusk arrived, people settled down in their cars, enjoying “nature’s own healthy air conditioning,” while “Relentless,” starring Robert Young, played in Technicolor on the big outdoor screen. Admission was 50 cents.
The popularity of the Elkton Drive-In grew quickly. For decades to come, it served as a social hub and a place for entertainment, where families and teenagers gathered to watch movies under a starry sky.
The lease was transferred to Reba and Muriel Schwartz in March 1960. The new owners were experienced motion picture operators, owning the Smyrna Theater in Smyrna, DE; the Everett Theater in Middletown, DE; and the Del-Mar Drive-in Theatre in Del-Mar, DE. Local papers reported they were putting the Elk in first-class condition for the spring opening.
The drive-in closed about 1984 when the property was sold to Wal-Mart.
Note: Land Records research by Darlene McCall.
Also, see
Drive In Theatre shut down for violating Sunday Laws
For additional photos of the Elk Drive-in Theatre see this album on Facebook
