We recently received a press release from Chester County Parks & Recreation advising that the organization is sponsoring a lecture on the 1851 kidnapping of Rachel Parker, an African-American. A slave catcher from Elkton, Thomas McCreary, was involved in the abduction, which alarmed Pennsylvania and galvanized popular opinion against the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
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In December 1851, Rachel and Elizabeth Parker were kidnapped from Nottingham. The two free, young, black women were accused of being slaves and taken to Baltimore where they were imprisoned. The local community sprang to their defense and rescued them. Hear the incredible story, then walk at Nottingham County Park to see the mining site that gave rise to the intentional false accusation. Part of the Town Tours Walks & Talks. See page 6 for more information.
Date: Saturday, May 19
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Talk Location: Union United Methodist Church
Walk Location: Nottingham County Park
Fee: $4 per person; under 12 free
To Register: Please call 610-344-6923
Click here for a related post on the dedication of a Chester County Historical Marker
Making A Difference, a video for a Cecil College photojournalism class, was produced by Robert Moreland. In this production, the videographer takes a look at the Historical Society and the county’s heritage. Thanks Robert. We enjoyed watching this creative work. It’s good to see a new generation starting to use new media to present the county’s story. This is the future medium for sharing history and we hope to see much more of this work coming out of videographers. We’d previously noted one you did that examined the development of the county.
A photo from the TNT Magazine published by the Triumph Industries Elkton plant in 1945
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African American military aviators in the United States Armed Forces. In the ranks of that famed group was one Cecil Countian, 2nd Lt. Calvin Theodore Warrick. He was born in Chesapeake City in 1921 and graduated from the George Washington Carver High School in Elkton.
After graduating, he worked at Triumph Industries in Elkton before going to the Army in 1942, where he was sent to Tuskegee to be trained for service in the Air Force. “Lt. Warrick is to be commended for he was one of the outstanding trainees of a class made up for the most part of college graduates,” TNT, the Triumph Company magazine, proudly wrote in May 1945.
“From Triumph and from Cecil County, Happy Landing Warrick,” the editor wrote.
Lt. Warrick passed away on March 26, 2008. He achieved distinction as an Air Force Second Lieutenant & Pilot during World War II, Find a Grave reports. He was buried at Quantico National Cemetery.
Family members still live in the county and his sister-in-law Jennie Matthews recently talked to me about the aviator’s pioneering experience as one of the Tuskegee Airmen
This quaint house on Route 213 south of Cecilton intrigued Baltimore Sun photographer Richard Stacks so in 1966 his picture of it made the cover of the paper’s Sunday magazine. It was occupied by June Washington. After the photo was published Lilly O. Ferguson, the property owner, wrote to say that while there while were many beautiful homes in the area, none had made the cover of the Sunday Sun Magazine as June’s house of contrasts did that spring in ’66.
Public safety officials used ten-codes as a precise, short way to communicate information on the county’s public safety radio network, in days gone by. When someone wanted to say okay, it was 10-4. That universal shorthand worked fine, but an automobile accident was a different story. Fire & EMS dispatchers’ intoned 10-10 on the radio when there was a vehicle collision. But in police parlance that meant a fight as their signal was 10-50 for a wreck. An earlier generation of county emergency personnel used other schemes so that signal 9-I informed units to respond to a car wreck with injuries.
The change came after 9/11 when Homeland Security recommended the use of plain language as there were many different versions of these signals, which was creating confusion when multiple jurisdictions worked together. As public safety codes quickly become a thing of the past, this old pieces of ephemera documenting that era has historical interest. Weaver’s Discount Liquors in North East published it for curious customers and as an added value to patrons Weaver’s added the fire company equipment roster.
In its heyday, the United States Naval Training Center at Bainbridge was a 1,200-acre, full-fledged military base where nearly 40,000 recruits at a time went through boot camp and other training to prepare for war.
After Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United States’ involvement in World War II became imminent, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt approved orders to create U.S. military training bases around the country. One of those bases was Bainbridge – on a bluff above Port Deposit, right here in Cecil County.
Chief Petty Officer Stephen Kowalski closes up Bainbridge Naval Training Center in 1976.
At the time, Tome School for Boys occupied the land high above town proper. But the school – created from a $3 million trust left by Jacob Tome after his death – had struggled financially due to the Great Depression; the federal government acquired the land in 1941 for around $1 million.
In the span of about five months, more than 500 buildings were erected on the base to house, among other things, a dental facility, a naval hospital, commissary, theater, bowling alley, several indoor pools, a Naval Academy prep school, four barracks, and schools where recruits and non-recruits learned firefighting, motion-picture operation, electrical maneuvers, radio-control operations, and how to run nuclear-powered submarines.
This historic structure, one of only four structures on the National Register in the county seat, was built of light gray granite in 1915 as part of the state’s expansion of the National Guard. It has a large drill hall and imitates a castle’s design with its two corner towers flanking the front and its flying buttresses. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
The structure cost $39,000 when it opened as the headquarters for Company E of the 115th Infantry, 29th Division. In addition to its protective role, it also served as a social center for the community, holding all types of public events in the hall. Since the Mayor and Commissioners of Elkton have been searching for property for a recreation center, this state-owned site with its large drill hall for the guard might fill the role, officials remarked. In addition, such an action might preserve a historic resource as so many have been lost in Elkton.
The Military Department officially named the Elkton facility the LTC James Victor McCool Armory a few years ago. Lt. Col. McCool died on March 16, 2011, at the age of 94. He joined the Maryland National Guard in 1935 and almost a decade later commanded troops, many of them from Cecil, who stormed ashore in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. He retired as a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel in 1967.
Cecil County Archaeologists work on the new interstate highway across the county.
When the state started talking about building an expressway, part of the interstate highway, across northeastern Maryland in the early 1960s, the proposal alarmed a group of local history enthusiasts
It wasn’t that they were against moving ahead as these progressive-minded citizens knew the region urgently needed I-95, the proposed fast route without one traffic light between Baltimore and Philadelphia. This group worried that once construction on the massive highway got underway, the big earth-moving machines cutting a 300-foot wide path across Harford and Cecil counties would destroy all evidence of prehistoric civilizations buried in the soil before the European contact period. Also, the evidence of the early historical period could be lost as the expressway crossed over sources of energy for manufacturing (the valleys and streams) in the pre-electrification age.
So the Northeastern Chapter of the Archaeological Society of Maryland, led by George Reynolds, set out to ensure the corridor was documented before progress obliterated all traces of early culture. This involved building support with transportation planners, state officials, politicians, and residents, as well as raising money to support the project. George was successful for he raised $1,000 largely from private sources.
Archaeologists and construction crews worked side by side in the summer of 1962, as both rushed to complete their tasks before the planned opening date in November 1963. Skilled volunteers, aided by one professional, Daniel G. Crozer of Temple University, looked for artifacts along the right-of-way while the heavy equipment operators scooped up the earth, building the highway across the top of the Chesapeake.
Large parts of I-95 traversed heavily wooded, uncultivated areas where little or no archaeological research had been carried out. Investigators never know what they’ll find until the fieldwork is done, but the strong possibility existed that relics from Native American Culture or a village might be buried below the topsoil along the route. These discoveries would answer questions about the cultural patterns of Maryland’s prehistoric people.
Because of the limited time for fieldwork, this undertaking was classified as salvage archaeology. This is survey and excavation work that is carried out in areas threatened by construction. Unlike traditional studies, these projects must be done quickly to rescue cultural resources before they are lost. The investigation involved site surveys, surface-hunting, test pitting, and aerial observations.
For four weeks in the summer of 1962, before the big highway changed the landscape, the knowledgeable volunteers and one professional made use of every available hour. The salvage effort uncovered a jasper quarry that prehistoric people had heavily worked. Until that point, it was thought that the jasper projectile points used by Maryland Indians were made in Pennsylvania. “Frantsi Rock Shelter” is located on the east bank of the Big Elk Creek and yielded hundreds of artifacts, some dating as far back as 3000. B.C.
The enthusiasts also found Indian pottery, worked stone, knife blades, projectile points, bone material, scrapers, and mussel shells. George created an exhibit of these stone-age relics, which was housed in the basement of the public library for decades. The full report for this study is archived at the state’s archaeological library at the Maryland Historical Trust.
George’s interest in archaeology and local history never diminished. Over the decades, he’s been involved in all of the major digs in the county, including the one at Elk Landing when the county detention center was being built. A Native-American burial site was discovered there. He has helped reveal much of what had been lost to centuries of time by being an advocate for archaeology and history in Cecil County. He has also been on the frontline, out there digging and studying the secrets of the soil.
Archaeologists dig for artifacts on the new interstate HighwayEvening Sun, July 18, 1962
The cooling water of the Chesapeake Bay made Cecil's resorts very popular in the 1930s
Cecil County is rich in transportation history and full of stories of people who came to this land seeking freedom, fortune, and a place to grow roots and raise families. Years ago, slaves traveled the Underground Railroad to the Susquehanna River, only to find the crossing a major obstacle in their effort to seek freedom. Ukrainian immigrants found success working to expand the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and thriving in their adopted home near Chesapeake City. During World War II, thousands migrated from the Appalachian Mountains to find work in the munitions factories in Elkton. Thousands of sailors and personnel were stationed to train at Bainbridge, a large naval base on the Susquehanna River.
The Cecil County Arts Council, the Cecil County Historical Society, and the Cecil County Public Library are collaborating to present exhibits which celebrate American mobility, transportation, and immigration and provide programming and events that explores those residents who found their hopes and dreams in Cecil County.
For up-to-date events listings, visit the MHC Events Calendar.
Some include:
The Opening Gala, “Melting Pot,” showcasing local restaurants and a sampling the different foods of Cecil county’s diverse heritage.
An artist showcase of local work featuring personal journey stories.
Workshops for visitors to learn how to trace their ancestry.
“Dream Big: Untold Journey Stories of Cecil County,” a panel of inspirational immigrant success stories
“The Musical Journey of Ola Belle Reed,” the journey story about the famous Appalachian folksinger and songwriter who migrated to Cecil County, as told by her son.
In the late 1980s, the Judge McCauley diaries were donated to the Society. The 46 volumes, covering day-to-day activities in Cecil from 1851 to 1897, span an important period in the county’s history. On those pages, you will find Judge McCauley’s notes about the passage of life, his work as a surveyor, and some major events in the nation.
As part of a pilot project to explore making Society resources and collections available to wider audiences, our volunteers are working on creating finding aids and digitizing some collections. In this new online resource, patrons will find an index of the McCauley diaries and abstracts. If you see something of interest in the Judge’s notes from centuries ago, visit the Solciety’s research library, and they will be pleased to retrieve these manuscripts to help you with your family or local history investigation.
We recently received a press release from Chester County Parks & Recreation advising that the organization is sponsoring a lecture on the 1851 kidnapping of Rachel Parker, an African-American. A slave catcher from Elkton, Thomas McCreary, was involved in the abduction, which alarmed Pennsylvania and galvanized popular opinion against the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. 
