As the summer of 2013 fades away, this fine autumn-like Saturday presented the perfect opportunity to delve into the past that is all around us in our communities across Cecil County. Since I was in North East and the weather was perfect, I took a brief detour to Colonial Charlestown to roam some old streets while studying buildings constructed long ago. It is a fine place to contemplate our natural and built environments and the history that is all around us here as the attractive 150-acre historic district is well preserved.
The Charlestown Town Hall and Post Office was constructed in 1878. The building served as an elementary school site until June 14, 1961, according to the town web-site.the “St. John’s Methodist Episcopal Church” was constructed in 1856.The 107 House was restored by Colonial Charlestown, Inc.
With the arrival of October it is time for the return of the Historical Society of Cecil County’s popular winter 2013-14 speakers series. This year the county’s heritage-keepers open with “Elkton in the 1960s,” a talk by Milford Sprecher.
Delivered for the first time, it captures the spirit of those years locally, providing views and perspective of someone who came of age in the county seat during that pivotal time, a period of change in the nation and in Cecil County. The opening of I-95, integration, urban renewal, and tragedy all affected Elkton as it affected the nation.
On this enjoyable track back through time to a special place, Elkton and Cecil County, the speaker will share enduring memories that were acquired long ago. The talk is richly illustrated with dozens of local photographs from the 1960s, many of them rarely viewed.
Milford Sprecher was born in Elkton and educated in the local schools. He graduated from Western Maryland College and received his Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University. He currently lives in Takoma Park, Maryland and looks back fondly on his formative years in Elkton.
The free event takes place on Saturday, Oct 5th at 2 p.m. the Society’s library at 135 E. Main Street in Elkton. Look for additional topics on the first Saturday of each month during the cooler weather months.
An Elkton Fire Department carnival about 1960. Source: Robinson Collection, Historical Society of Cecil County.
Now that the 1960s are history and not just nostalgia the Historical Society of Cecil County is opening an exhibit this fall that studies and celebrates the happenings of that era locally. It was a time that brought many transformations to this corner of northeastern Maryland and our curator, Lisa Dolor, and a talented group of volunteers are capturing those intriguing times in gallery displays.
The museum staff has been busy pouring over some 40,000 local photographs, hundreds of objects from the decade, and the history books for a couple of months, planning the attractive interpretive panels. While this group of volunteers works on the creative, visual aspect for our special 1960s series, others are putting together lectures and articles focusing on the county during those ten years, a time when everything changed.
Look for a detailed update shortly.
Curator Lisa Dolor is designing another exhibit for the Society. The autumn opening examines Cecil County in the 1960s and it appears she has a little help on this Sept. afternoon. Elvis has stopped by to check out plans for the interpretation of the 1960s in Cecil County.
If a Cecil County resident needed to call for emergency help back in the 1950s they had better have a telephone book handy or have taped the number to the phone. The process of reaching the correct call-taker during a fire or medical incident to request assistance was complicated. People had eleven different potential strings of numbers that might have to be dialed, depending on which of the county’s volunteer fire companies was responsible for the area.
Cecilton published three different numbers, depending on the time of day in 1951. At 8 p.m. another set was designated and if it happened that no one answered the directory said you could dial the operator.
It just wasn’t as easy as dialing those three easy to remember digits and having calls answered by professional public safety communications officers standing ready, around the clock, to efficiently aid callers in an emergency, while promptly getting aid to residents.
The business magazine, Nation’s Business, has been digitized by Hagley and is text searchable. This is an article from Oct. 1945, titled “How the War Ran Over Elkton.” Source: Hagley Digital Archives.
The Hagley Digital Archives provides online access to selected materials from the Hagley Museum and Library’s collection of images, documents, and publications. Although the organization concentrates on business, technology and Society, several of the record groups help researchers studying Cecil County’s past
The Zebley-Hoffecker collection is one example. The pictorial department added this records group of nearly 1,500 pictures in August 2012. The images were snapped between 1918 and 1944 by Wilmington Native Frank R. Zebley. Traveling all over the region, “Zebley photographed an enormous mix of subjects and places, including street scenes, rural views, parades, parks, public buildings, churches, beaches, rivers and bridges, automobile accidents, hotels, and estates, plus notable events . . .” according to a library press release. “This collection has long been a wonderful and well-used resource for local history researchers living in the Wilmington area, and we hope that many more folks will find and use the photographs now that they are available online,” Hagley adds. The finding aid and search engine takes you to images from the C & D Canal, Fair Hill, Bethel Church, Conowingo, and more.
There are other important virtual collection of text and images, which contain materials which should help researchers. Those include the DuPont Magazine and company correspondence. Some of the others are Nation’s Business, Dallin Aerial Survey Company products, and the Beers Atlas of Delaware. Here is the link for you to browse and search the Hagley Digital Archives.
“Newton-Mitchell Co. Quality Ice Cream. Elkton, MD.” by “The Royal Studio. Commercial Photographers. Wilmington, Delaware.” 1915-1930. Source Hagley Digital Archives.
Mark your calendars for September 14 & 15 ~ Mount Harmon is hosting a Revolutionary War Re-enactment & Colonial Festival featuring nearly 500 re-enactors, and an array of colonial craft vendors, and living history activities for the whole family to enjoy.
Each day will feature the colonial marketplace ~ full of authentic colonial crafts, as well as military skirmishes, tactical demonstrations and drills, colonial food vendors, and of course a full fledged Revolutionary War Encampment of both British and “Rebels” (the good guys, continental and militia groups) will be at hand. The public will be able to: tour the encampments, shop at the colonial market faire, enjoy children’s activities, hearth cooking demonstrations, manor house tours, nature walks, and much more.
Oct. 5, 2013 — “Elkton in the 1960s” by Milford Sprecher
Nov. 2, 2013 — Annual Meeting, Rev. Brown & Libby Prison Minstrels at the Cherry Hill United Methodist Church. Note: Because this is the annual meeting date, the Society will not be hosting a first Saturday talk.
Dec. 7, 2013 — The Philadelphia Campaign in the Revolution War: A Cartographer’s perspective Using Historical and Temporal GIS Mapping to animate the story; by Sean Moir
Jan 4, 2014 – Reconstructing 100 Ruins: How standard research resources and dumb luck are revealing the lost histories of abandoned properties within Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area Emily Kilby
Feb. 1, 2014 — Early Black Methodism On Delmarva by Syl Woolford
March 1, 2014 — Old House Research
April 5, 2014 — Prohibition in Cecil County with the bootleggers ball to follow at the North St. Hotel. Program host Beth Boulden-Moore
As the Historical Society of Cecil County prepares to examine the 1960s in a new exhibit and series of programs, we are taking a look at some of the important local events, especially those that weren’t as well documented.
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When President John F. Kennedy visited here on November 14, 1963, to dedicate the Northeastern Expressway (I-95), he traveled over familiar territory.
A few years earlier, Senator Kennedy made three stops in Cecil County during an intensive multi-day handshaking and speechmaking tour of Maryland. Working on nailing down the Democratic presidential nomination on that swing, the candidate spent Friday night in Havre de Grace with Senator Millard F. Tydings.
At an early hour on Saturday morning, May 14, 1960, officials from the “Kennedy for President Campaign” in Cecil County, chaired by Leonard Lockhart, met the candidate at Perryville, preparing to escort him to Elkton. But first, he greeted an early morning crowd of over 100 people at the Whistle Stop in Perryville.
A 15-car motorcade led by state troopers whisked the senator to Elkton for a 9 a.m. rally. There a band played and flags flapped in the breeze as the political rally got underway in the courthouse parking lot, where a crowd of over 250 supporters welcomed the candidate.
Before leaving Cecil, he went to the Elkton Senior High School to speak on “Youth and Their Needs.” The Senator left town at 10:30 that Saturday morning en route by automobile to Centreville, Easton, Cambridge and Salisbury. When he returned as president in 1963 to dedicate the Interstate, a crowd of over 5,000 were on hand at the Mason-Dixon Line.
The Dorothy Robinson Collection of Kodachrome color slides at the Historical Society contains hundreds of local images from the 1950s and 1960s. Mrs. Robinson’s photographs document the Senator’s visit to Elkton.
Waiting for the arrival of Senator John F. Kennedy on his presidential campaign tour through Cecil County. Visit the Society to check out additional photographs of this visit.
Governor Carvel, President Kennedy, and Governor Tawes prepare to cut the ribbon — (Cheeseman Photo)
On Nov. 14, 1963, more than 5,000 people gathered at the Mason Dixon Line to watch President John F. Kennedy, Maryland Governor J. Millard Tawes and Delaware Governor Elbert N Carvel dedicate the Northeastern Expressway, the area’s first modern-day toll road. A helicopter brought the nation’s leader to the famous old line where a speakers stand was set-up for the ceremony. The Delaware National Guard played “Hail to the Chief” while the president walked to the stand to offer remarks.
After snipping the ribbon and unveiling a marker on the state line, the president shook hands while returning to the helicopter. At the door of the craft, he waved to the crowd before disappearing inside. While the bird faded into the eastern horizon, the area was bathed in a dramatic sunset as people headed back to their cars on this chilly Thursday afternoon, the Morning News reported. The chopper’s flight took him to the Wilmington Airport where he climbed aboard a DC 8 for a trip to New York. Our 35th president’s 62 minutes visit to the region was over.
As traffic began zipping along the superhighway for a fast trip through the county, people realized that the dream of many years was a reality. For years plans had been underway to provide a second thoroughfare to absorb some of the increased traffic on Pulaski Highway (Route 40). Economic development experts talked with great excitement about the opportunities the new road would bring to the county. Motorists were excited for they could rush along without one traffic light halting a journey between Baltimore and Wilmington, papers noted. On Route 40, which ran parallel to the new Interstate and had served as the main route for auto travel along the northeast corridor, service stations, motels, and restaurants reported that business was off nearly half the weekend after the fast road opened.
There was such optimism in the nation as the morning of November 22, 1963, dawned on the Chesapeake Bay. At 7:00 a.m. on that quiet morning in Elkton, Patrolman Jerry Secor signed on duty, noting the weather in the police blotter. It was mild on this Friday, but a thick fog blanketed the town. On this Friday shift, things were subdued as he responded to three unremarkable calls, duly chronicling them in the official record book.
Then abruptly at 1:30 p.m. everything changed in the Eastern Shore town, the nation, and the town. Officer Secor, in a careful hand, dutifully penned an entry in the Elkton Police docket: “1:30 p.m. President Kennedy shot and killed in Dallas Texas.” For the remainder of that heartbreaking day, there is something about the unsettling quiet reflected in the complaint log as a deep dark, sadness penetrates the town and no calls come in for the remainder of the overnight shift. Law-breaking had apparently come to a standstill as everyone — late-night regulars in Elkton’s noisy bars, teens out looking for a little mischief, and other wayward types — stayed glued to television sets, trying to comprehend the terrible event in Texas.
Two operators worked the Armstrong Phone Company Switchboard in Rising Sun. Periodically lights on the board flickered on indicating someone had picked up one of the old hand crank telephones to make a call so the operators answered “number please.” The call volume was routine as they juggled cords and plugs on the last day of the work week as the lunch hour rolled around. But in a flash the entire board lit up, alarming the operators. Something similar happened when one of the women activated the fire siren for people would call to see where the fire was.
But this time it was different for everyone on the network, it seemed, picked up receivers at exactly the same time. Answering as many calls as they could, they heard upset people saying did you hear the news, the president has been shot or connect me with so and so as callers reached out to talk about the unfolding tragedy. Sometime after newscasters announced the president had died, an erie silence settled over the telephone network as people headed home to be with family at this sad time and to monitor the newscasts.
Since it was the middle of the workday many people first received news from the radio. At Elkton’s top 40 AM Station, WSER, the mid-day disc jockey worked the turntable playing the hits of ’63 when a network flash interrupted his entertaining mid-day routine. Once the first flash got everyone’s attention, listeners huddled near receivers at home, work, and in cars to hear the latest. As the hours unfolded the network kept up a steady stream of bulletins and flashes.
Les Coleman had opened Cecil’s first station but was working as a sales representative at WDOV in Dover that day. When he checked with the Dover station, they told him that they were going to pull all commercial programming. Les recalled in a conversation a few years ago that his job that afternoon was to call advertisers and let them know what the station was doing.
At Stanley’s Newsstand the morning papers had all been sold so it was time to get ready for the afternoon arrivals from Wilmington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. However, the daily routine was disrupted too, as people sought whatever news they could get. Phil Stanley worked for his father in the family business, and he recalled that the Baltimore News American issued a special. As darkness closed in on Cecil County, the teenager stood outside the movie theater and A & P near the corner of North Street and Railroad Avenue hawking newspapers.
By the time the last light of Nov. 22 gave to way to the night his newspapers were all gone. There was one late paper that carried the racing results and it came by train. That paper, too, which was the last one circulated each day had news of the assassination in the regular edition. It too sold out.
In the schools, the children were generally informed about the tragedy shortly before dismissal. Of course, the children were all talking about the news, trying to comprehend the meaning of it all.
The county’s weatherman, H. Wirt Bouchelle, recorded Friday’s meteorological conditions, confirming the observations of the police. The temperature climbed to an unseasonably high of 63 degrees F. while sinking back to 40 overnight. There was no precipitation that gloomy day in Cecil County.
Throughout the county, it was particularly quiet as that unusually dark night got underway, perhaps not unlike the evening of 9/11, as people rushed home to learn more details of the tragedy in Dallas from broadcasters and peer out at the stillness of the night, the sky and roads void of activity. Activities throughout the county quickly ground to a near halt as bewilderment and disbelief paralyzed Cecil and the nation.
Practically everyone recalled that only eight days earlier that President Kennedy had visited the county to open the northeastern expressway. In 1964 I-95 was officially renamed the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway.
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(NOTE: Be sure to click on the links to hear some interesting audio from Wilmington Radio Station, WDEL’s broadcasts in Nov. 1963. The audio is courtesy of www.oldwilmington.net, a fascinating site containing photographs, ephemera, sounds, and much more about Wilmington Delaware. We’ve mentioned them before and thank them for permission to use a partial segment of their audio. Check out the website for it contains more audio and lots of other things we find fascinating.)
Now that the 1960s are history and not just nostalgia the Historical Society of Cecil County is opening an exhibit this fall that celebrates and studies the many happenings of that era locally.
While the curators dig through some 40,000 local photographs, work with artifacts and mount the exhibit we have selected a few images to share with you in this short video clip. Look for an announcement about the opening shortly.
Also on the Cecil History Channel on YouTube look for more of these types of social media products as we start enlarging the number of platforms we use to actively engage our audience. This one is done on Animoto, a web 2.0 service for creating video slideshows and we are discussing plans to do much more with streaming video. Stay tuned.
