Window on Cecil County's Past

Public safety officials used ten-codes as a precise, concise way to communicate information on the county’s public safety radio network in the past.  When someone wanted to say okay, it was 10-4.  That universal shorthand worked fine, but an automobile accident was a different story.  Fire & EMS dispatchers intoned 10-10 on the radio when…

By Katy Ciamaricone kciamaricone@cecilwhig.com Cecil Daily In its heyday, the United States Naval Training Center at Bainbridge was a 1,200-acre, full-fledged military base where nearly 40,000 recruits at a time went through boot camp and other training to prepare for war. After Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United States’ involvement in World War…

This week the Cecil Guardian reported that the Maryland Military Department has placed the “armory in Elkton” on a surplus property list.  This historic structure, one of only four structures on the National Register in the county seat, was built of light gray granite in 1915 as part of the state’s expansion of the National…

When the state started talking about building an expressway, part of the interstate highway, across northeastern Maryland in the early 1960s, the proposal alarmed a group of local history enthusiasts It wasn’t that they were against moving ahead, as these progressive-minded citizens knew the region urgently needed I-95, the proposed fast route without one traffic…

Cecil County is rich in transportation history and full of stories of people who came to this land seeking freedom, fortune, and a place to grow roots and raise families. Years ago, slaves traveled the Underground Railroad to the Susquehanna River, only to find the crossing a major obstacle in their effort to seek freedom….

News From the Historical Society of Cecil County In the late 1980s, the Judge McCauley diaries were donated to the Society. The 46 volumes, covering day-to-day activities in Cecil from 1851 to 1897, span an important period in the county’s history. On those pages, you will find Judge McCauley’s notes about the passage of life,…

By Lisa Broadtlbroadt@cecilwhig.com Bainbridge elementary fourth and fifth graders watched from the gym floor Monday as the White House burned, Andrew Jackson marched into battle and Francis Scott Key composed The Star-Spangled Banner – all in the span of a single class period. The historical scenes – each pertaining to a major event in the…

For longer than anyone alive remembers, Valentine’s Day in Elkton has been particularly hectic down on Main Street as couples arrive here for quick marriages.  Still, while cupid’s holiday is an unusually busy one, there was once a hum and bustle to the matrimonial business in the old town, day in and day out, when the…

With the construction of new engine bays at Singerly Fire Company’s main station on Newark Avenue nearing completion, the new addition illuminates the night as winter precipitation starts falling on Elkton.  Click here to see our August 2011 post when construction on the public safety building was getting underway.

Scott Sheads, a National Park Service Ranger at Fort McHenry and an authority on the Chesapeake in the War of 1812, has created a blog to share stories of Maryland during the War.  His posts are informative and we think our readers will find them of interest.  We’ve clipped part of one on Frenctown here…