When the Spanish Influenza appeared in Cecil County in the autumn of 1918, the man on the frontline of the battle here was Dr. H. Arthur Cantwell. The young clinician, an alumnus of the Jacob Tome Institute, graduated from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1906. After interning at the University Hospital and…
Women Were the Caregivers During the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918
When the Spanish Flu of 1918 spread from the battlefields of Europe to North America, it struck swiftly with its devastating sweep across the nation. Since treatments, vaccines, and antibiotics didn’t exist, the lethal contagion quickly overwhelmed the early 20th-century healthcare system. To aggravate matters, the Great War had thinned the ranks of medical clinicians,…
Not the First Time Cecil County was Shut Down
This isn’t the first time that Cecil County has been shut down by a pandemic. In the autumn of 1918, a deadly virus, the so-called Spanish Flu, swept across the nation. As this grim situation unfolded 102-years ago, many public health officials advised that the spread of the disease called for drastic action, a general…
Cecil Grappled With the Spanish Influenza of 1918
One-hundred-two years ago, a mysterious killer, the so-called Spanish Influenza, came calling in Cecil County Reports of the outbreak in northeastern Maryland first trickled in from Aberdeen Proving Ground in the middle of September 1918 as the virus took a deadly toll. Within weeks, the flu exploded locally, as the sickness got a firm grip…
Pandemic of 1918 Shutdown Cecil County
In the autumn of 1918, World War I was nearing an end, and Cecil County was looking forward to the doughboys returning home from the trenches of Europe. But no one was prepared for the crisis that was about to strike the home front. Hitting suddenly, the Midland Journal reported on October 4, 1918, that…
Horror at Childs Railroad Station
CHILDS, June 20, 1890 — Just after two o’clock in the morning the overnight Baltimore & Ohio Express Train, No. 114, bound for New York hurtled across Cecil County. As the engine, baggage car, and two Pullman sleepers neared the Childs Station, it was going full speed, the throttle opened up to 55 miles an…
Elkton’s First Police Car
A few months after the Great Depression rocked the country, the Mayor and Commissioners of the Town of Elkton took a major step forward, purchasing a patrol car for the two-man police force. This was the first police car for local law enforcement in Cecil County, local dealer Warren W. Boulden selling the 1930 Ford…
Dr. Richards’ Port Deposit Hospital
Advances in health care in the late 19th and early 20th century, things such as antiseptic and aseptic surgery, x-rays, and laboratories, made hospitals indispensable for treating the sick and injured. Physicians needed the services of these institutions with their technical equipment, specialized personnel, and capability for around-the-clock care so treatment started moving from the…
Times Passes at the Cecil County Courthouse Corner in Elkton
Elkton, Back to the Future — Oct. 21, 2015, was Back to the Future Day, and lots of towns celebrated in tribute to the 30th anniversary of the legendary Back to the Future film starring Michael J. Fox. In it Fox travels 30 years into the future, October 21, 2015. All that talk about time…
A Troubled Civil War Soldier — His Story
The Civil War cast a long, troubling shadow over the nation, the healing going on for generations. In addition to the damage done to the nation, it also altered the lives of many young soldiers. In the horrifying aftermath of this great conflict, those who returned home, having experienced carnage, bloodshed, and death, were changed…