The other day someone asked about the history of a plain concrete block building located on county property in back of the old county jail on North Street in Elkton. As structures in an old town like this go, it is a nondescript building that doesn’t grab any special attention. But I promised to look into the records…
County Building Basks in Glow of Evening Sun on a Friday Night in August
As the sun edged lower in the horizon on this Friday evening in August and shadows started lengthening, the slowly disappearing rays created some attractive hues and a pleasing glow on the county administration building. The deep blue sky in the direction of Delaware and a few white puffy clouds added a calmness to the…
Twenty Year Old Elkton Radio Station’s News Special Examined the Crash of Flight 214
This evening I digitized a cassette tape containing a recording of a twenty-year old news special that aired on Elkton Radio Station WSER in 1993. Thirty years earlier, on December 8, 1963, 81-people perished when Pan American World Airlines Flight 214 exploded over the town, so the station examined the tragedy. In the long unheard recording, Chuck…
Freedom Riders Arrive on Route 40 in Northeastern MD as CORE Works to Integrate Route 40
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 that declared that separate facilities for interstate travel were unconstitutional. But this era of protest also involved visits to northeastern…
Chesaeake City Announces Plans to Double Size of Fire Station in 1966
In August 1966, the firefighting equipment of the Chesapeake City Fire Company was lined up in front of Station 2. The Company had plans to double the size of its headquarters station so the annual appeal for donations was particularly important that year.
Freedom Seeker & USCT from Cecilton’s Final Resting Place in Woodstown
Yesterday afternoon I stopped by a quiet, small-town cemetery in Woodstown, NJ, to visit the grave of a freedom seeker and a member of the United States Colored Troops from Cecilton, MD. His story first circulated when Today’s Sunbeam published a piece about Susan Richardson-Sanabria, his great-granddaughter, honoring the Civil War sergeant with a proper…
For The Elkton Drive-In Theatre’s 3rd Anniversary, Dusk to Dawn Shows in 1961
Moviegoers at the Elkton Drive-in were in for a grand night of dusk to dawn shows on July 3, 1961, all for an admission price of 3 cents per person. The evening screenings consisted of No Man is an Island, Jack the Ripper, X-15, and the Posse from Hell. The special night, just before the nation…
Additional Plans Announced for Remembrance Program on 50th Anniversary of Elkton Plane Crash
Many in Cecil sighed with relief when 1963, an eventful year full of ups and downs, came to an end. As people reflected on that November nearly fifty years ago, they recalled the opening of the modern expressway, President John F. Kennedy’s visit, and the unbelievable news flashes eight days later. An assassin’s bullet had…
Video on President Kennedy Dedicating I-95 on Nov. 14, 1963
As the Historical Society of Cecil County prepares an exhibit remembering the 1960s in Cecil County, here is an interesting video about President John F. Kennedy dedicating the Northeastern express or I-95. It was November 14, 1963. A few years ago, the Delaware Department of Transportation located a tape of radio station WDEL’s broadcast of that memorable…
The Drive-in Theatre Comes to Elkton
At a time when few had televisions, Elkton was looking forward to decades of grand entertainment after a drive-in theatre opened at White Hall Road and Route 40 on Friday evening, May 12, 1950. Bringing this new outdoor show to Cecil County, Nathan Rosen had carefully located the new enterprise by finding a suitable tract, one large enough…