JUNE 22, 2021 – On this rainy afternoon in late June, the doors to Chesapeake City Elementary swung open for friends, alumni, and former faculty to stroll through the hallways one final time. Children returning this fall will report to the modern, new facility south of town. The walls of this eighty-two-year-old schoolhouse went up…
Tropical Storm Agnes Won’t be Forgotten in Cecil Countyy
For younger people today, it is something an earlier generation talks about. But those who lived through Tropical Storm Agnes in June 1972, will never forget the damaging force that disrupted lives along the lower Susquehanna River. Over a five-day period (June 20 to 24, 1972) the National Weather Service issued bulletins about the storm…
On Nov. 1, 1864, Enslaved Emancipated in Cecil County
As the nation prepares to celebrate Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, heard about their freedom, we are looking at emancipation locally. In 1860, Cecil County had nearly 24,000 residents. Sixteen percent were African Americans, and about 1,000 (4%) were enslaved. While spread across the county, this system of bondage…
Crystal Beach Made Headlines Every Week in 1939
Crystal Beach made headlines every week in 1939 as the Manor Messenger, a newsletter, kept residents and guests informed about goings-on at the Cecil County vacation spot. At least for most of that summer, readers looked forward to the latest news, the four-page newsletter connecting them with all the happenings. The inaugural edition, June 30,…
The Last Two Civil War Soldiers
The last direct link to the Civil War was lost when 93-year-old Henry Jackson died at his home outside Perryville on a cold November day in 1939. As a teenager, he ran away from home to serve in the War, enlisting in the Union Army for three years with Snow’s Battery. After emerging unscathed from…
Governor Hogan Pardons Victims of Lynching in Cecil County
Press Release From the Office of Govenror Larry Hogan Governor Larry Hogan today issued a full posthumous pardon for 34 victims of racial lynching in Maryland between 1854 and 1933, on the basis that these extrajudicial killings violated fundamental rights to due process and equal protection of law. It is the first time in history…
Saying a Final Goodbye to Chief Larry Storke
ELKTON, May 7, 2021 – On this Friday in early May, family, friends, police officers, firefighters, and public officials gathered at Hicks Home for Funerals to say a final goodbye to Deputy Chief Larry Coleman Storke. Born on December 14, 1941, the 79-year-old public servant passed away on Thursday, April 29, 2021. Coming of age…
Elkton Drive-in Hit by Blue Laws
Once common in Maryland. Blue Laws, also known as Sunday Laws were designed to ban many activities on Sunday, according to Wikipedia. But some of these ancient restrictions were still hanging on in the Laws of Maryland when the new Elkton Drive-in Theatre at the edge of town ran afoul of the Maryland restriction in…
The Whistle Didn’t Blow for the Last Train to Rising Sun?
RISING SUN, January 26, 1983 — People who thought trains had disappeared from the Octoraro Branch Railroad years ago were surprised when 30 freight cars rattled on down the line from Chester County one Wednesday in January 1983. After slipping into Cecil County and clanging past the old Sylmar Freight House, the cars rolled past…
Nurse Rose Suter, a Victim of the Spanish Flu
ELKTON — Since we started researching the pandemic of 1918 two-years ago, we have spent many hours online and in archives studying death certificates, undertaker registers, and health department reports. After examining the curated sources for an area, we visit the cemeteries while collecting additional information and remembering those who perished in that perilous time…