On this rain-swept Sunday afternoon, about 30 people gathered to formally dedicate a memorial to the 53 people who died in 1947 when Eastern Airlines Flight 605 plummeted into a Cecil County woods. The crowd assembled on a Principio Road hillside near Jackson Park Road, including a passenger’s son, a sailor who rushed to the debris field, three Havre de Grace Police officers, and Port Deposit Mayor Wayne Tome.
Eastern Airlines memorial dedicated in memory of the passengers and crew that perished on May 30, 1947.
Barry Rosengarten of Perth Amboy, NJ, whose father was on the aircraft, made a few remarks. “I so much appreciate your passionate, sensitive, and caring expression that will allow generations to follow the history and magnitude of that horrific and fateful night of Memorial Day 1974.” Describing his first visit to the isolated plane crash spot, which took place a few years ago after he visited the historical society, he said: “The evening air was crisp and starlight. The night air was filled with a mellow earth and forest perfume. I stood next to my car breathing deeply and feeling the moment almost as if I had been there.” Barry thanked those who arranged for the memorial and helped to bring him to “this moment and to closure.”
William Dennie of Frederick was a young Navy recruit at Bainbridge Naval Training Center on Memorial Day 1947. Presenting a proclamation from Governor Martin O’Malley, William recalled being bused to the site so the hundreds of sailors could carefully comb through the woods and thick brush. Erika Quesenbery provided the historical background and read the victims’ names while Father Abrahams offered a prayer.
As fire companies from throughout Western Cecil rushed toward the horrific plane crash in 1947, Chief Walker and two other officers of the Havre de Grace Police Department were the first to emergency personnel to reach the tangled, blazing wreckage. On this Sunday afternoon, over 60 years later, Chief Walter and two other uniformed command officers attended the memorial service to help remember the victims.
Mrs. Jeanette Nesbit Hillyer and the Stewart Company arranged for the monument’s dedication near where the Eastern Airlines crashed. Thank you, Mrs. Hillyer and Stewart Company, for assuring that Cecil County will not forget this event’s fading memory.
Nate Schwartz begins the work of reorganizing over 300 Cecil County yearbooks.
For years the Society has worked to build a large collection of yearbooks as these volumes, which call up memories from decades ago, make valuable research resources for individuals working on a family or local history project. Cover-to-cover there are portraits of each student, plenty of anecdotes, brief essays, highlighting specific memories, advertising, photos of activities, and school antics while many contain hand written notes to teachers and friends.
Since a large run of these titles has been assembled at the society and they span a considerable part of the 20th century, they are yet another valuable resource researchers can turn to. We are fortunate to have such a large records group, which now consists of 308 Cecil County volumes. Tome School issued the oldest title we hold in 1906, while many of the public high schools started publishing the annuals in the 1940s.
Nate Schwartz volunteered this summer to reorganize the collection, update our inventory, and create a finding aid. The Tome School sophomore has carefully repositioned the volumes, updated the holdings records, and is now beginning to enter the titles in PastPerfect, software for managing museum collections. The Society appreciates Nate’s work and researchers will find it valuable as they are now easily able to determine the current status of our holdings. Click here to see the finding aid, Nate created and determine if we have something that will help you with your investigation.
The core of the collection came about when retired Cecil County educator, A. Rebecca Smith, having taught in the school system from 1935 to 1976, donated 33-years of Elkton High yearbooks to the society, in order to assure they would have a permanent home. After that another volunteer, Kyle Dixon, worked to expand the A. Rebecca Smith Collection and obtain volumes from all the schools in the county, with a goal of creating a complete runs of the titles. It’s a project we’re still working on and Nate has moved it to the next level, as we continue to seek volumes to fill the gaps. Thanks Nate.
A substantial old commercial building on North Street prepares to wrecking ball as room is made for another parking lot in Elkton
Concerns about enforcement of Elkton’s historic district ordinance were put on the table for the Mayor and Commissioners at the monthly workshop. The matter came up as the last item of business on an unusually long three-hour session jammed with developers bringing up other extremely technical regulatory issues related to a Planned Unit Development (PUD) with 2,500 units and another builder seeking to straighten out municipal obligations as he has arranged to purchase water from United Water Company. There was also an unscheduled visit from Artesian Water and feedback that the town’s sprinkler ordinance was going to hurt buyers and the municipality
Members of the town’s Historic and Architectural Review Committee (HARC) brought up the last concern, not developers, upset landlords, or complaining citizens. Four of the five HARC members appeared to ask the elected leaders for directions, they remarked initially. However as the discussion continued for a little over an hour, most of the HARC panelist advised the elected leaders that the current requirements are far too strict for Elkton so they suggested eliminating the ordinance. “Because we don’t have guidelines for the town, we operate under the Secretary of the Interior Standards. So far I don’t think anything we’ve ruled on has met those standards. We’re not sure this board understands what those standards are or that it would even want those standards because they are very restrictive” Paula Newton, the chair began.
Just by forming the committee, the town is obligated to operate under the Secretary of Interior Standards, Mark Clark added. “It’s very restrictive. The state regulations say you must be in compliance with the 200-pages of the National Park Service standards. . . It would not allow vinyl siding or vinyl windows. . . I don’t know of any property in Elkton that has met the Park Service standards. . . . It’s not that I’m against them, but in this economy no one is going to want to do that. People are not interested.”
Clark continued by noting that he didn’t “think the commissioners want to empower “ HARC to enforce those regulations. It’s hard to start telling “people you don’t do this, you can’t do that. You must use wood shingle, you must restore your windows or if you replace them they must be custom made. These standards are like Monticello. . . . Are we going to get some kind of policing power to give us some kind of power to say sir you’ve got to take those windows out. I can’t see Elkton doing that. That’s what the standards say that you’ve told us to operate under.”
There’s not really a historic corridor in the town, Josh Brown added. Other towns have opted to not have a historic overlay district, but have decided to have locally developed design guidelines. “But what you’ve created here is an overlay where we are in charge of maintaining to the very minutiae. . . . We want to know from you before we make the 200-page document clearer, because we’re not allowed to dilute it.”
When elected officials pressed for ideas on what the committee members recommended, Josh suggested the town “get out from under Title 8 (state requirements) by passing a local law to reduce the district. If you really want architectural controls, don’t enforce it with historic preservation. That’s the wrong method.”
“How would something that like that help prevent the destruction of historic buildings, Paula inquired of Josh. As that discussion evolved, Commissioner Jablonski remarked, “What you’re saying is we have to do away with the historic district?” “You could make it smaller if you want to, but when it comes to that district we have to go with those guidelines” Josh responded. Or Mark Clark suggested that the town prepare a municipal ordinance that would enable the town to draft its own design guidelines, standards that wouldn’t be a restrictive at those required by the Maryland Historic Trust. Still driving home the point about the problems with the current ordinance, Clark added, “There are some houses on Main Street built in the 70s, but we still have to say to that guy you can’t use vinyl siding. . . . What the people of Elkton want, I think, is the general impression or look. I think we could be somewhat flexible. It wouldn’t be Title 8 of Annotated Code of Maryland, it would be based on town of Elkton code.”
“Do you get any support from the state?” Commissioner Hicks asked. “The state preservation planner [Maryland Historical Trust] quotes chapter and verse from the Bible of the National Park Service. It’s his job to preach that purist view” Mark answered.
As the bulk of the discussion had shifted to center on doing away with the Historic District regulation, Paula returned to the original point concerning the committee checking in to see what the town leadership wanted. “What are the consequences of not having a historic district? We just wanted to make everybody aware. I think it requires a little more thought.”
Elkton’s Main Street Manager, Commissioner Jablonski volunteered to send an email out to Maryland Main Street Coordinators. We have quarterly meetings on this subject. If anyone has redone anything, I’ll see if any other town has their own set of guidelines.
With the clock ticking past 7 p.m.. and the once packed meeting room having emptied out except for two lone observers, Mark Clark had the last word on this subject for the evening on the historic fabric of the county-seat. “Elkton unfortunately is Swiss Cheese. There’s a bunch of holes where people tore buildings down for parking lots. There’s a bunch of holes in it downtown. There are a few things to save, but what develops the characters of this town are some of the side streets,” Mark concluded. With that the mayor brought the long session to a close.
What HARC Member Mark Clark called the “Swiss Cheese” affect, the tearing down of old buildings to make room for parking lots in Elkton is shown in this mid-Wednesday afternoon in the heart of downtown Elkton. The old street was lined with lined with early 20th century to late 19th century structures not too long ago.
The expansion of Singerly Fire Company’s main fire station on Newark Avenue in Elkton is moving right along. At the station that has has served the community for forty years, demands on the facility have grown since 1971 so the enlarged structure will have eight fire appartus bays facing Newark Avenue. Singerly responds to fire and EMS calls out of three stations now, but when the company incorporated in 1892 it answered alarms from its headquarters on North Street in downtown Elktokn. The mayor and commissioners had built that structure a short time earlier to serve as a town hall and firehouse.
Constuction is underway Elkton Station that's served community for 40-years
Singerly's first firehouse in the heart of downtown Elkton on North Street
Two Historical Society of Cecil County volunteers, Billie Todd and Evelyn Wekke, are pouring over aging business ledgers from the Grant
Funeral Home of Cherry Hill. Scanning the old, yellowing pages they meticulously extract information on deaths from the undertaker’s account books, cataloging information about the people whom W. J. Grant and son buried, including names, family ties and key biographical data.
Evelyn reads the fading handwriting penned in these volumes by the mortician from the late 1880s until the 1920s, as the Society’s resident genealogist, Billie, inputs the data into a spreadsheet. Once they finish this task, one that requires painstaking care, and attention to detail, they will digitize the images of these century old pages that document the services Grant provided for the burials and their work will be made available on the Society’s website. This efficient team has done other demonstration projects of this nature, linking web-based data with the high quality images. Their effort makes valuable family history research materials accessible to patrons of the Historical Society.
Cherry Hill had two funeral homes. William J Grant, the founder of the one business, worked as a cabinet maker and undertaker, engaging in that business for over 40-years. After the elder Mr. Grant died in April 1887, his son, Clark S., continued the business until the 1930s. When he passed away in November 1938, the Cecil Democrat said he had retired from the business in 1936, having worked in the profession for nearly 60 years. Alfred T. Abernathy, the other undertaker, died in 1934. His wife continued the business, according to newspaper accounts.
Evelyn Wekke and Billie Todd work on another volume of the Grant Funeral Home Books
The scorching summer heat has made outdoor activities nearly unbearable for a few days now, and people are coping with the tropical conditions in a variety of ways. Late this Saturday afternoon, families’ crowded tables at Betterton Beach, enjoying outdoor picnics while hopefully catching a cooling breeze from the Chesapeake Bay. Elsewhere people outside quickly scattered for whatever shade they could find and restaurants were crowded.
Over forty years ago, Cecil Whig Photographer Jim Cheeseman caught this picture of a young-man attempting to escape a 1969 summer heat-wave by resting briefly in a self-serve ice-box at a business in the county seat. Elkton had a National Weather Service Observation Station from 1927 to 1976, by-the-way. H. Wirt Bouchell, the local weatherman, recorded the highs and lows every day for nearly 50 years and the highest reading he recorded in Elkton was 106-degrees on July 10, 1936.
Dr. James R. Koterski, the author of Potters and Firebrick Makers of Cecil County Maryland & Nearby, 1750 – 1950, will be at the Palette and Page, 120 E. Main Street, Elkton, from 5 to 8 p.m. on Aug. 5, 2011, to sign books. Click here for additional information on the Aug. 5th activities.
Here is some additional information on this informative new title.
Clay deposits played a major role in the economy of by-gone Cecil County. Some were mined and shipped out-of-state while others provided the key raw material to potters and firebrick makers. Wheel-thrown redware and stoneware were fired in kilns at Rising Sun, Brick Meeting House, NorthEast and Rock Springs. Meanwhile some Delaware and Pennsylvania potters relied on the county’s clays to turn their pots. The names of some potters like William Carter and Eli Haines were virtually unknown until this book traced the role this craft played in their lives. An exquisite harvest jug fashioned by Carter in 1847 survives today. Other names – Remmey, Grier, Hare, Magee, Brown and Schofield – are much more recognizable to today’s collectors and historians, yet in many cases, connections to Cecil County were unknown or incomplete.
Commercial firebrick operations were attracted by the abundance of kaolin-based clays. Some were short-lived while others carried on for decades. Most companies like Cecil, North East, Wakefield, Green Hill and United molded and fired these refractory bricks around the town of North East.
Potters and Firebrick Makers of Cecil County, Maryland, and Nearby is illustrated with over 100 images, nearly half in color. Spanning 140 pages and 8.5” X 11” in size, this book was built from numerous newspaper accounts, land records, family histories and pottery collections. It provides a valuable window to the past and deserves the widespread interest from fans of local history and pottery enthusiasts and collectors alike.
Bird’s Eye View maps, popular from the 1860s until about 1920,
depict places as if they were viewed from above at an angle. Using direct observation and some imagination, artists working for a number of companies specializing in these panoramic products visited towns to sketch out the place.
The sketches, which were sold to local residents, were not drawn to scale,
but showed streets, patterns, individual buildings, and major landscape
features in perspective. They are very useful for researching the history of a community or an old house. In 1907, the cartographic artists representing Fowler and Kelly of Morrisville, Pa were busy at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. As they made a sweep of the area the illustrators produced Bird’s Eye Views of Elkton, Havre de Grace and Rising Sun.
July 16, 2011 — The Cecil County Public Library will have a booth at the Fair, located in the building next to the midway and carnival rides, open every weekday evening from 5-8pm, and 1-8pm on Saturdays and Sunday the 24th. All booth visitors will be able to take a free book and play a guessing game for the chance to win a $50 Walmart gift card. A game and craft will be available for children.
The library will also participate in “Daycare Day” on Monday, July 25th at 10:30am at the small stage area past the barns. Children and their caregivers will take a “musical tour around the globe” with song, dance and play in accordance with the Library’s summer reading theme: “One World, Many Stories.”
Sixty-four years after Eastern Airlines Flight 605 crashed outside Port Deposit, taking 53 lives on Memorial Day 1947, a monument has been erected at the place where the plane hit a Cecil County hillside. Jeanette Nesbit Hillyer, 89, whose father was one of the first to respond to the terrible accident, arranged to have the memorial placed near the intersection of Jackson Park and Principio Roads, the Cecil Whig reported.
