When Cecil County appointed a female peace officer in 1961, she became the first woman to perform police duties here. This commission prompted attention from the regional press, and after the county clerk swore in Odette “Skip” Scrivanich, a Baltimore reporter in search of a story, came looking for the “lady constable.” The newspaperman asked…
Rusty Brandon — Watching the Night & Waiting for the Dawn at Union Hospital
Rusty Brandon managed the overnight shift at Union Hospital for forty-five years. Her all-night routine started in 1953 when she assumed responsibility for supervising healthcare services for the Elkton Hospital on the late shift. Arriving a little before the 11 pm staff clocked in, Rusty received a report from the evening supervisor. Then she made…
Oblate Farthers of St. Francis de Sales Purchased Farm.
In November 1906, the Oblate Fathers of St. Francis de Sales announced that the religious order had purchased the Edward Taylor Farm at Childs for $9,000. Formerly the Dunott farm, it comprised about 210 acres.1 Plans for the seminary called for the construction of substantial buildings devoted to religious instruction, the Midland Journal reported. The…
Mason Dixon Line Creates Peculiar Prohibition Case
More than a century and a half after Mason and Dixon drew the boundary line separating Pennsylvania and Maryland, the question about the location of the border got entangled in a federal prohibition case. The wrangling started after Deputy Sheriff Joseph Short and Federal Dry Agent John M. Spicer raided a moonshine plant near Goat…
Remembering Bob Phillips, Charlestown Community Leader
CHARLESTOWN – NOV. 25, 2022 – Friday, as a rainy, gray morning gave way to the warming sunshine of a late autumn day, they laid Robert (Bob) Earl Phillips to rest at St. John’s United Methodist Church Cemetery, where family, friends, town leaders, and the fire company gathered to bid farewell. Born on March 6,…
Train Wreck Gives Halloween a Frightening Start
ELKTON, Oct. 31, 1965 — On a morning when most people eagerly looked forward to the playfulness and pranks of Halloween, the day got off to a frightening jolt. In the pre-dawn darkness, as a Pennsylvania Railroad Train rumbled through Elkton, 41 of the 118 freight cars derailed at the edge of Hollingsworth Manor. Some…
Vietnam Draft Creates a Buzz in Elkton
As the Vietnam War escalated in 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson more than doubled the number of inductions as the Army needed more young men. To enable local selective service boards to meet this new quota, President Johnson signed an order on Aug. 26, 1965, that modified selective service requirements at midnight.1 One of the…
Elkton weddings talk explores Marriage Business Here
Elkton was the place for quickie weddings for much of the twentieth century as eloping couples rushed here for hasty ceremonies. The town’s marrying parsons worked overtime to accommodate the trade, performing over 16,000 marriages one year in the 1930s. While officiating day and night, some turned their homes into 24-hour chapels. This highly profitable…
135 E. Main Street Serves as Hub for Arts & Culture
As part of our occasional series on historic structures in Cecil County, we visited one on Main Street in Elkton, the former Cecil County Public Library Building, which has watched over Main Street for centuries. The town’s Main Street has a strong cluster of 18th and 19th-century structures and 135 E. Main Street is one…
George Reynolds Reflects on Passage of 100 Years
As George Reynolds prepares to turn 100 years old in September 2022, he discussed growing up in Cecil County on a farm, his life, and the passage of the twentieth century in this interview/ Before World War II he worked on the Broadland Farm for Hoagland Gates. The interview took place on March 31, 2022….