Window on Cecil County's Past

ELKTON — In the spring of 1883, William Singerly purchased ground along the Big Elk Creek for his pulp mill and wharf. But atop the hill that sloped gently down to the waterway stood the old family burial ground of the Hollingsworth and Partridge families, containing some eighty graves.

As the contractor dug away at the hillside just west of Bridge Street and alongside the creek, he discovered that it was necessary to remove the graves of people interred there, some over 100 years ago.

Singerly immediately hired a contractor to begin moving the Elkton cemetery. This involved establishing plans to move the remains, securing the permission of the relatives to relocate the graves to two large lots he purchased in the Elkton cemetery on Howard Street. There was sufficient room to accommodate all the reburials from the old family graveyard and surrounding ground, according to the Cecil Whig.

Superintended by Henry Wood, the excavation work revealed many graves, according to the newspaper. When the workmen discovered graves, they carefully removed as much of the remains of each individual as possible, placing them in strong, neatly made boxes, mostly for reinternment in the Elkton Cemetery.

If there were head or foot stones, Mr. D. Sloan, Elkton’s monument dealer, gathered them up and put them up at the Howard Street Cemetery.

Outside the enclosure of the old family graveyard, many people were buried without stones or slabs to tell who they were or when they were placed there. They were removed with the same care; the only distinction was that separate boxes were not given to them.

On March 27, 1883, the first day of the work, seven or eight graves were moved. Over the next few weeks, the work continued as the remains of some of Elkton’s earliest residents were moved. The oldest grave in the family burial ground was in 1740. The remains of the Rudulph family were taken to the Presbyterian cemetery for reburial. Charles R. Sewell, son of James and Ann Maria Sewell, was moved to the Sewell Family Burial Vault on South Bridge Street.

Within a week or so, the work of moving the Elkton cemetery was completed.

For Additional Photos – see this Album on Facebook — Vacating an Old Family Burial Ground

For More on the Elkton Cemetery, see the Fireman’s Plot

For the 20th anniversary of the inauguration of the United States Airmail Service, Postmaster General James A. Farley and President Roosevelt created a week-long event to commemorate the occasion. As part of the celebration, the postal service made a commemorative first-day cancellation for National Air Mail Week, May 15-21, 1938.

The Post Office Department formally established domestic U.S. airmail service on May 15, 1918, with the inaugural route taking the planes up the east coast between Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York, according to Wikipedia. After the service started, aircraft carrying express mail passed daily over northeastern Maryland.

For the local celebration in 1938, Postmaster J. Mercer Terrell arranged for an airmail plane piloted by Dr. A. L. Trussell to make the first stop in Elkton to pick up mail from the local post office. The aircraft landed at Elk Landing to collect a sack of letters containing the special cancellation.

The cachet with the headline ELKTON, MARYLAND showed an old stagecoach carrying mail over the old post road and an airplane flying overhead. A press release for the day called it “the fastest method of fast mail service.”

Source: personal collection

On Dec. 10, 1947, residents in northern Cecil County welcomed the latest in entertainment as the new modern Rising Sun Theatre opened at 11 E. Main Street.

A large crowd eagerly purchased tickets to watch “Dear Ruth” despite icy, hazardous conditions prevailing across northern Maryland.

Capable of seating 400 ticket holders, upholstered red leather seats with spring cushions provided comfortable seating in the auditorium. Also, modern projection and sound equipment in a fire-resistant projection booth presented the latest in the movie-going experience.

After the grand opening at the “Sun Theatre,” patrons throughout the area had a first-run movie theater of their own right in the heart of town.

William Buck owned the entertainment business, and a week earlier, he had closed the old theater in what was called “firemen’s hall” at the corner of Queen and Cherry streets. According to the Maryland News Courier, he had operated the town motion picture house for five years at the location, having acquired the enterprise from others.

“Firemen’s Hall” had been built in 1871 by the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and over the decades, it had housed various businesses, including the picture shows. This building was demolished around 1964 to make room for a new firehouse.

The old Sun Theatre building still stands on Main Street a few building east of the town hall.

NOTES

Information about the opening of the Rising Sun Theatre from the Maryland News Courier Dec. 12, 1947, & Dec. 5, 1947.

Rising Sun, MD, 150th Anniversary Celebration (2010)

For additional photos from the Sun Theatre see this Facebook album

For more on other theatres in the county see this post: The Cecilton Theatre; the North East Theatre

CROSSROADS TO FREEDOM WALKING TOUR

CECILTON – SEPT, 10, 2023 @ 1 p.m.

WALKING TOUR FOR INTERNATIONAL UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

MONTH

ABOUT ONE HOUR

FREE

For International Underground Railroad Month, enjoy this walk through Cecilton as we explore the story of the Underground Railroad in the land between the Bohemia and Sassafras rivers. During this casual Sunday stroll in the fine, historic community, gain an understanding of the area in the antebellum period, hear about freedom seekers in southern Cecil County, and visit Union Bethel AME Church, a historic house of worship.

Along the way, you will hear about Edward Richardson, Bishop Levi J. Coppin, and Private George Douglass, a Civil War Soldier.

The free tour, led by Historian Mike Dixon starts at the town hall., 117 West Main Street. To reserve your space, register by calling the town at 410-275-2692

This Underground Railroad Tour is brought to you by the Town of Cecilton, Union Bethel AME Church, and Cecil County Tourism.

With William Singerly’s business ventures growing in Elkton, he erected a handsome three-story, ten-room “cottage” just a few blocks from the railroad station. The structure, known as the Singerly Cottage, faced an as-yet-unnamed street in a developing section of town, some papers calling it Maple Street. But today, it is known as Cathedral Street.

Work on the residence got underway in May 1885. In August the Cecil Whig remarked on the progress at the Singerly Cottage: “It is well worth a walk around to Maple Avenue to see the fine residence about being completed for Mr. Wm. M. Singerly of Philadelphia. While the style of architecture is new to most of our people, it is generally admired by all.”

The home provided for his use when he visited Elkton was finished around October of 1885. This handsomely furnished home cost about $17,600 to build.

The Philadelphia businessman died in 1898, and in May 1906, Union Hospital purchased the cottage. Soon after that, considerable remodeling was underway, fitting up Mr. Singerly’s home for use as a hospital.

For an additional photo, see the Facebook post

In 1929, President Herbert Hoover’s administration started searching for a location for a summer White House. President Calvin Coolidge had recommended Mount Weather, near Bluemont, Va. But Herbert Hoover wanted an area accessible by both car and the presidential yacht. He also favored a place where good fishing and other outdoor recreation could be enjoyed.

The Eastern Shore Association had several; suggestions; one was the Kitty Knight House on the Sassafras River in Georgetown. It provided convenient access to the presidential yacht and excellent fishing.

In Elkton, business interests pitched “Creswell Hall.” It was once the home of Postmaster General John Creswell and was offered to the national government as the summer home. The current owner, William Selby, met with government officials in Washington to interest them in taking over the property built in 1840, the Morning News reported on April 3, 1929. The Cecil Whig favored the idea, noting that the selection of Elkton would be a great advantage to the town.

Another location was eventually selected to serve as the summer white house.

Click on this link for an album of additional photos

One of the most interesting and architecturally distinctive buildings in Elkton’s old business district was the Cecil Whig Building. It was located at 125 North Street, next to PNC Bank.

The newspaper, established on Aug. 7, 1841, by Palmer Ricketts, was originally published out of a log cabin. As the weekly grew, it needed more space so in 1876 Edwin Evans Ewing built this attractive, narrow brick building to house the growing publication. The job and newspaper printing presses were located in the back of the building; the editorial and business offices fronted on North Street.

The front facade was particularly interesting, and in 1882 Henry R. Torbert added the attractive tower. It had a colonial revival door on the ground floor and a multi-panel window above. A recessed panel extended up the entire tower. At the top, the panel was inscribed with the dates 1841 and 1882.

In 1960, the Cecil Whig moved to a modern printing plant and building on Bridge Street. The grand-old building was demolished around 1985 to make way for an expansion of what was until recently PNC Bank.

Cecil County once had many thriving villages, most with a cluster of homes, a few shopkeepers and tradesmen, a schoolhouse, a physician, and almost everything one needed for daily life. While most of these places continued into the 21st century as residential communities, they no longer bustle with enterprising activity the way they did in the past.

Pleasant Hill, one of those villages, got its name because it was situated on top of a hill, 392 feet above sea level in the county’s northeastern corner.

Growth for the hamlet came about slowly. When M. G. Scarborough bought a tract of land from Charles Morrison to erect a small store, there were only three or four houses and a little old schoolhouse. He was doing this “with the expectations of catching a few pennies from the school children,” the Cecil Whig joked. Around 1887 he gave a half-acre to the Free Methodist Church.

By 1897, “The Hill” was fast, assuming the appearance of an ordinary country town the Cecil Whig observed. With things booming, everyone stayed busy throughout the day while “in the evening (country fashion) [they] gather at the store to discuss the happenings. Matt, “the pioneer store-keeper,” was doing a thriving business, adding stock daily.

But Henry Henderson, having opened a new store at the upper crossroads, provided competition. He was “within hollering distance of Matt’s location, where he will compete for the millions that circulate around the neighborhood.” Matt had erected a new porch in front of his store to show his stock of goods.

The 125 people calling “the Hill” home had daily stage connections to Elkton and Blake in 1902. Tradesmen included a painter, papermaker, two general stores, carpenter, stonemason, bookmaker, wagonmaker, shoemaker, and millwright,

A post office opened here on May 23, 1891, and Robert W. Scarborough was the postmaster. After it closed on Aug 15, 1908, mail was sent to Childs.

A thriving hamlet needs a school, and Pleasant Hill had one prior to the Civil War. In 1888 the Board of Education built a new schoolhouse for young scholars residing in the area. This new center of learning was built in October of that year by Matthew G. Scarborough for $739. After the school closed on May 29, 1958, it was sold to the Rev. Robert Hall for $2,600, who established the Gospel Tabernacle in the building once alterations were done.

During the Great Depression, a force of men from the relief rolls erected a fire observation tower at the edge of Pleasant Hill on an adjacent hilltop called Egg Hill. The fire tower operated by the Maryland Forestry Department enabled the lookout on duty to check for developing forest fires in the northeastern quadrant of Cecil County.

Today the crossroads that come together on this Cecil County hilltop bustle with traffic. At one of these busy intersections, the popular Pleasant Hill Store buzzes with activity as customers stop by this country store.

For additional photos see this album on Facebook

On May 25, 2023, WITF’s Scott Lamar visited the Mason-Dixon Line to learn about the history of one of the most famous boundaries in America with historian Mike Dixon.

The boundary line between Pennsylvania and Maryland was disputed as early as the 1680s. An English team – Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon – surveyed the land and worked to mark the boundary line from 1763 to 1767.

Nearly a hundred years later, the Mason-Dixon Line took on meanings beyond its intended purpose, a geographic boundary that sorted out land ownership claims. In the centuries after the British astronomers and surveyors completed their work, the line became associated with symbolism as a political and cultural border between the North and South. 

During prohibition, the location of the line between Pennsylvania and Maryland came up again. This time, it involved whether the still was above or below the line.

Here’s Scott Lamar, the history of the Spark on WITF, Harrisburg Public Media

At the turn of the twentieth century, the blacksmith trade thrived in Cecil County. Smithies, their dark, dingy shops cluttered with tools, were found in every town and many villages where they worked away at forges, shoeing horses, repairing farm implements, and shaping metal. The clang of their hammer striking red-hot metal on an anvil was a familiar sound around the county. 

In 1892, the county had at least 44 blacksmiths.¹ Two of these tradesmen were Robert Boone Gibson, in Charlestown, and Ellis McMullen, who worked the anvil in Mechanics Valley.  But the days when these shops were common started slipping away as automobiles gained in popularity while horses slowly disappeared from the roads.  This technological shift brought the need for a new craftsman, the auto mechanic. 

By the 1930s, the automobile had become the dominant mode of transportation, and Ruben H. T. Dunbar became Elkton’s last 19th-century blacksmith.  His shop on North Street closed in September 1933 when the 66-year-old smithy suffered a fatal heart attack.  Shortly after he passed, Henry Dorsey’s unattended horse, “Prince,” trotted up the door of the shop, the Cecil Whig reported. Once he gained entrance, the horse stepped up to the forge to await the proprietor. Those around the shop “tried to drive the horse home, but he refused to go, so often had he been taken there for a new pair of shoes,” the Cecil Whig reported. Elkton’s last 19th-century blacksmith had passed away.²

The decline of the blacksmith trade in Cecil County reflected the changing times.  With the automobile becoming more popular, there was less need for blacksmiths to shoe horses and repair farm implements.  The blacksmith trade had been a vital part of rural life for centuries, but it became obsolete with the advent of new technology. 

A similar decline in the trade took place across the nation, as people needed auto mechanics to fix their cars, and horses no longer appeared on the streets.  It was a reflection of changing times.

Endnotes

1. The Maryland Directory, 1882[↩]
2. “Blacksmith Dies, Horses Shoeless,” Cecil Whig, Sept. 1933[↩]