Window on Cecil County's Past

There isn’t much remaining at Frenchtown these days to remind anyone that this place was a bustling commercial spot.  But it once was on the maps of the newly formed nation as boats, wagons, carriages, and trains brought people and freight to this little Chesapeake Bay port.  The reminders of this activity largely faded away…

If you drive down Frenchtown Road these days, you will find it hard to believe that a bustling village once existed where this ancient land meets the Elk River. Steamers came teeming up to its wharf, driving the narrow river into a cauldron of waves and whistling locomotives flew along its shoreline with its loads…

The Cecil County Fair, which opened for the first time on Oct. 13, 1880, in Elkton, was organized in a whirlwind of activity.  In just a quarter of a year, organizers accomplished daunting tasks such as acquiring fairgrounds and preparing the property to receive thousands of visitors.  Once Cecil’s agriculturalist incorporated the Cecil County Agricultural…

CECIL COUNTY AND THE MOON LANDING — For anyone old enough July 20, 1969, is one of those days that is permanently etched into memory. On that Sunday, the United States landed on the moon. A few days earlier on July 16 when the three Americans rocketed from this planet in a small capsule destined…

In the center of the county seat, the Elkton Doughboy Monument honors the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. After some discussion about creating a memorial, the project moved rapidly forward, and residents contributed $10,000 toward the proposal. Joseph H Sloan, an Elkton firm, contracted with the Rutland Marble Company…

On the Fourth of July 1919, Cecil County celebrated Independence Day in a grand style.  The largest event took place in Elkton as thousands of people saluted the soldiers and sailors who had served in World War I.  They were welcomed home with a rousing reception on that particularly glorious Fourth of July 100-years-ago. Never…

These July days are an excellent time for enjoying that smooth and creamy summer treat, ice cream. That is especially true on hot, steamy Eastern Shore days like we are currently experiencing, as few pleasures are as comforting and cooling as a double scoop of the frozen dessert. Ice cream has been the quintessential way…

Each year hundreds of graduating seniors receive high school diplomas in Cecil County. However, in June 1964, when nine students at George Washington Carver School in Elkton stepped forward to receive degrees, it was a particularly historic moment for it marked the end of segregated high schools in Cecil County. At the commencement five boys…

The Freedom Riders started incursions into the sharply segregated deep South to confront Jim Crow laws in 1961. For the campaign, young people boarded buses heading into states where they tested a Supreme Court ruling declaring that separate interstate travel facilities were unconstitutional. But this era of protest also involved visits to northeastern Maryland as…

George Potts was appointed to a two-year term as bailiff in June 1908. The salary for the man who constituted the entire police force was $50 per month and the council had an assignment ready for him when he took office. The Town had erected large signs warning of the eight M.P.H. speed limit for…