An American Automobile Association travel map held by special collections at the University of Delaware shows Elkton as it appeared in 1919. In that year immediately after World War I, many of the 20th century changes people are familiar with today were yet to take place. The building of Route 40 wouldn’t happen for a…
Spring Arrives at Lower Susquehanna Ferry and Rodgers Tavern
May 3, 2014 – We had a long winter on the Upper Chesapeake and spring has been slow to arrive. But on this first Saturday in May there was every indication that winter had stopped lingering around Harford and Cecil counties. At the Lower Susquehanna Ferry the temperature climbed to a seasonal appropriate 70 degrees,…
Perryville Railroad Museum Volunteer Was Talking Railroading Today
While in Western Cecil County this afternoon with Milt Diggins to check out a few historical traces from the antebellum period, we noticed the open flag flapping in the breeze at the Perryville Railroad Station Museum. So we stopped in and had a pleasant tour of the exhibits jammed with railroad artifacts, photographs and memorabilia. The guide…
Final Patrol Boat on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
November 19, 1968, was a sunny, cold day on the Chesapeake and Delaware and the Pilot, a canal patrol boat, was on its last official run. Months earlier, the Corps of Engineers had decided her work was done, so she was making this final journey from the Town Point Station to the Chesapeake City Dock….
Theatre Newsreel Footage of 1947 Crash of Eastern Airlines Flight Outside Port Deposit
Cecil County has had more than its share of tragic commercial airline accidents, and periodically these tragedies get attention as memorials are dedicated or a remembrance program is held. The crashes are well-documented in newspaper clippings, letters, official reports, and photographs in online digital newspaper collections and various web archives. Now additional sources are becoming…
The Elkton Banking and Trust Company
North Street was the financial center of Elkton. On the street were a number of banks and on a Friday night the area hummed with activity. People headed downtown to deposit their paycheck and get some cash for weekly shopping in the business district. The Elkton Banking and Trust Company was one of those institutions and between…
Doodling in the Elkton Police Blotter as Nation Turns 200-Years-Old
Lots of people remember the day America turned 200 years old, July 4, 1976. There were all sorts of special parades, concerts, fireworks, and programs in communities across the nation. It was a big deal in Cecil, too, with plenty of Bicentennial celebrations on the long holiday weekend for the once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. Working that July 4th,…
Doodling While Maintaining Cecil County’s Colonial Tax Records
Although tax season is over for most Americans now that we are a couple of days past April 15th, it doesn’t mean that records generated for annual levies long ago aren’t of interest. In fact, one of the Historical Society of Cecil County research volunteers, Jo Ann Gardner, has been pouring over volumes of those…
Remembering the Work of Cecil County’s Public Safety Communicators During National Public Safety Telecommunications Week
This is National Public Safety Telecommunications Week (April 13-19, 2014), a time when the United States honors the professionals who answer 911 calls and dispatch emergency responders. While the nation thanks public safety communicators, Window on Cecil County’s Past pauses to tip our hat to the County’s 911 calls-takers, dispatchers, and technicians who maintain our emergency…
Springtime at Rev. Duke’s Log House
Spring has finally arrived on the Upper Chesapeake and at old Rev. Duke’s Log House things were busy on this sunny Thursday afternoon as the temperature approached the mid-60s. It was a perfect, early April afternoon as Arts Council volunteers tilled the soil on the front lawn for a community garden.