On the south side of Elkton’s East Main Street in the vicinity of the Cecil County District Court building, a steep hill descends down to meet the Big Elk Creek. At the point where the drop levels out, the Elkton Gas Light Company built an illuminating gas manufacturing plant in 1863 to serve the county seat. The gasworks in the area of today’s court parking lot were accessible only from Main Street through Gashouse Alley as the section of Howard Street in the area of the ballfields had not yet been opened and marshy lands bordered the southern end of the plant. This led to the area being known as Gashouse Hill. The plant operated until about 1928, and in 1929 gas began being piped in from Wilmington, Del.
Fast forward to 1981, when state planners prepared to construct the multiservice building on this land. They encountered “shadowy deed questions” the Cecil Whig report. Uncertainty over ownership of this strip that had once served as an alleyway raised concerns among state lawyers about potential litigation. To sidestep any legal issues, real estate officials arranged for the Elkton Town Board to open the alley as a municipal right-of-way officially.
On April 1 at 8:10 p.m., Elkton’s elected officials voted unanimously to open Gashouse Alley as a town street. Just “twenty seconds later amid chuckles, voted unanimously to close it,” the newspaper reported.
With this official action, the shortest-lived street in municipal history passed into obscurity as its ownership was transferred to the State of Maryland as part of the new Multi-Service Office Building.
