July 11, 2008 — North East, MD: Marshall Purner, 81, North East, went from being a city cop to being the thin blue line on a one-man force in Cecil County. “I got interested in law enforcement while I was in the army, so I joined the Louisville Kentucky Police Department when I was discharged…
Lee Wing, Elkton’s First Asian Resident, Opens Chinese Laundry
The other day, a post on the Delmar Dustpan about “the Chinese on Lower Delmarva in 1900” caught my attention. As I read the informative article, I remembered an old Elkton businessman from the 1960s talking about meeting the first Chinese resident of Elkton as a youngster, when a laundry opened here. The recollection of…
In the Middle of Spring, it’s Cecil County Tourism & History Month
Cecil has many destination spots and lots of history to share with visitors to our corner of Maryland, and each year the county tourism office showcases our natural and heritage resources by observing May as “tourism and history month.” To spread the word about all that we have to offer and show appreciation for our past, as the season for travel gets…
Old 1919 Map and AAA Travel Directory Show the Route Through Elkton
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,…