Window on Cecil County's Past

Barack Obama and Joseph Biden will travel to the inauguration by train on Saturday, January 17, the Baltimore Sun and News Journal reported this afternoon. After stopping for a celebration in Wilmington, the president and vice-president will step aboard the inaugural train for the trip to Washington. This is particularly exciting news for this memorable run will bring them through Cecil County. Naturally, this isn’t the first time a president passed through here on the railroad. There were many, including presidents Lincoln, Grant, Taft, Wilson, Hoover, Roosevelt and others. A Window on Cecil County’s Pastwill post a piece about presidents riding the rails in Cecil over the next few days and we’ll plan to do a slide show on Saturday, Jan 17 as Cecil County turns out to wish the new team well.

On December 7, 1941, a serene Sunday afternoon two and a half weeks before Christmas in Cecil County, many people returned home from church and settled down to enjoy the remainder of their day. Some fidgeted with radios, slowly turning knobs and dialing up Sammy Kaye’s Sunday Serenade on the NBC Red Network. Others enjoyed a family meal and conversation or read the Sunday newspaper. As sweet, melodic orchestra music filled many homes and clocks ticked unhurriedly toward 2:30 p.m. a news flash interrupted the tranquility.

All conversation abruptly stopped as startled families gathered around the radio to hear an excited broadcaster say: “President Roosevelt said in a statement today that the Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor Hawaii from the air. I’ll repeat that–President Roosevelt says that the Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii from the air. . . .” Later, another newscaster reporting from Honolulu warned: “This is no Joke! This is war!”

While smoke slowly cleared at Pearl Harbor, the nation faced a stark, cold reality. A sneak attack dealt a damaging blow and we were at war. Bracing to do its part, Cecil immediately went on a war footing by manning aircraft observation stations and posting security personnel at critical installations. But this was only the beginning for soon tremendous activity, which drastically altered the county, came to the high granite bluff overlooking Port Deposit.

As the Navy urgently needed facilities to train untold numbers of seaman, government officials searching for a large tract of land descended on property with a scenic view of the Susquehanna River. After negotiating with the Jacob Tome Institute, they purchased the institution’s magnificent holdings high above Port Deposit and acquired additional land from farmers and homeowners adjacent to the school.

While crews fenced the 1,132-acre property, trucks, day and night, unloaded large piles of lumber for barracks. Fifteen thousand construction workers, along with a fleet of tractors, bulldozers, and steam shovels, descended on the formerly peaceful land to clear farm fields and woods, erect buildings, and open a navy base in four months. Around-the-clock construction changed the fabric of the land and caused a hustle and bustle in the quiet little river town of 900 as traffic jammed up with crews rushing back and forth. This onslaught of workers filled every available room in town, and restaurants did “a land office business,” reported the Cecil Whig.

Enlistees started arriving in October 1942 when “45 rather nervous young men from Pittsburgh piled off a Navy bus with overnight bags in their hands,” while a military band serenaded the recruits by playing Anchors Aweigh, reported the Philadelphia Bulletin. Referring to it as the Great Lakes of the East, the newspaper speculated that it would be the “Alma Mater for thousands” of young men during the difficult times ahead.

Calling it a $50-million miracle since nearly four months to the day shovels broke ground for these arrivals, Captain Charles F. Russell told the recruits they would have to endure some discomforts because “some things we want you to have aren’t finished yet,” reported the newspaper. This is “because we are fighting a war which had been thrust upon us. We did not have these facilities ready because we were not seeking war.”

Named in honor of Commodore William Bainbridge, commander of the famous frigate Constitution, “it grew to enormous proportions, with hundreds of barracks, training halls, classrooms, gymnasiums and mess halls quickly raised on the property and at its peak the center nearly 35,000 recruits,” says At the Head of the Bay. The center’s swollen population brought prosperity to the neighboring town and by the war’s end in 1945, nearly 250,000 servicemen had passed through its gates.

Bainbridge was deactivated as a training center in 1947, but when the cold war blazed up in Korea the Navy needed the center again. This ramping up to help push back communists invading South Korea began in 1951; young sailors began preparing the neglected center to receive recruits. Working with contractors, they hustled about, repairing broken windows, scrubbing the barracks, and making general repairs since tens of thousands of recruits would pump life back into the hushed base.

At its peak during this war, the base had a population of 55,000 and was one of the country’s largest naval bases, he recalled. During its existence, it served as the home for several service schools providing technical training for recruits and fleet sailors. Radiomen, hospital corpsmen, dental technicians, electricians, storekeepers, personnel men, and yeomen were among those trades.  But during the 1970s, the base withered. By the time the doors closed on March 31, 1976, barracks, unused for years, were choked with weeks and the water system leaked badly.

The “enormous amphitheater, where Bob Hope and Milton Berle entertained troops was full of saplings,” reported the Record of Havre de Grace. The U.S. Naval Training Center, Bainbridge served the nation for 34 years as a recruit training center. “When the colors were lowered for the last time . . . signifying the closing of the famous base where thousands of Navy recruits were trained,” there were tears in the eyes of onlookers, the Cecil Whig reported.

One tradition for kicking off the Christmas Season in Cecil County is the annual lighting of the “Holly Tree by the tracks.” This year, the 61st lighting is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 6th. The Baltimore & Ohio held its first public ceremony in 1948 when thousands of people gathered to ring in the season as lights from thousands of bulbs on the evergreen softly illuminated the Jackson, MD hillside.

For many years the company dispatched a special train from Mount Royal Station for the occasion. After 1971, the tree was dark for a time until a group of volunteers started making sure the tree festively blazed for the holiday season.

The magic of the 1954 lighting ceremony was captured on a 33 1/3 long playing record. It included carols by the B & O Glee Club and the B & O Women’s Music Choir. That old vinyl, a long unheard broadcast, has sat silently on a shelf, but recently I digitized the portion of the audio in order to enjoy the snap, crackle and pop of a vinyl recording from a long time ago. Musical selections directed by Dr. James Allan Dash, a narration by the master of ceremonies Walter Linthicum, gasps of delight and loud applause, and much were captured on the record. So you may enjoy a portion of that festive occasion that took place over a half-century ago, I will post a part of that audio here on the web site over the next few days.

Click here to hear a partial audio of the 1954 ceremony from a long playing album.

For more on the Holly Tree, also see

The Traveler’s B & O Christmas Tree, a Holiday Tradition

I enjoy finding pieces of ephemera from the past.  These little things, items such as tickets, timetables, programs, were valued for a brief period and were usually tossed out shortly after the usefulness of the paper relic expired.

The other day, I ran across this interesting little piece of ephemera, a timetable for Hill’s Jitney Service in Chesapeake City.  Effective on April 30, 1950, the company provided bus transportation from Cecilton to Fair Hill.  They made stops at Hacks Point, Chesapeake City, Bull Frog, Ekton, Cherry Hill, Fair Hill, and other places.  The morning run north started out at 8:22 a.m. from Chesapeake City and got you to Elkton by 8:42 a.m.  Cecilton had one northbound and one southbound run each day.  A ride from Elkton to Cecilton cost 65-cents.   I’d never seen one of these so I thought you might enjoying see scans of the timetable.

By-the-way, here’s the definition of ephemera from www.dictionary.com  “ephemera, items designed to be useful or important for only a short time, esp. pamphlets, notices, tickets, etc.:

I noticed thatThomas Mogle, Jr. of Princess Anne passed away on Oct. 23, 2008, while reading the Salisbury Daily Times the other day.  Tom Mogle served as the sheriff of Cecil County from 1966 to 1970.  A graduate of Chestertown High School Class of 1943, he served in the U.S. Army during World War II.  After the war he entered the Maryland State Police and in 1966 he was elected to the county’s top law enforcement post after defeating Edgar Startt.  Four years later, he was defeated by Sam DuPont.

Police work in Cecil County was far different forty years ago.  At the time he assumed command of the agency, it was terribly under resourced.  It had four deputies and no county owned cars to run the jail 24-hours a day, transport prisoners, serve judicial papers, protect courts, and answer police calls.  As an experienced law enforcement professional, he had completed advanced training with the state police so he knew what was required to improve efficiency for the county agency.

Brought Agency into the Automobile Age

One of his objectives was to get county supplied patrol cars for his men.  A lengthy battle took place between the county commissioners and the sheriff, with some of the commissioners arguing that if those men were given cars they’d just go out and ride all over the county.  Mogle argued that “cars that are marked and carry proper police equipment are a definite deterrent to crime.”  When the issue deadlocked with the county board, he got the state legislature to pass a law requiring the purchase of police vehicles.  Finally the Cecil County Sheriffs Office entered the automobile age as four marked patrol cars went in service on July 1, 1970.  That must have been an exciting day for the five man force.

Mogle was a fiery lawman, often having run ins with county officials and others.  Sometimes he’d threaten to lock them up when they argued with him or blocked a budget request.  One time he got into a protracted fight with the local fire company ambulance service, when they refused to transport an inmate with an communicable disease.  In those days, the sheriff lived in the old jail on North Street and he hated the fire siren atop the North Street firehouse, directly across from his apartment.  One time he’d returned home after working some really late hours.  About the time he fell asleep the fire siren wailed out.  The lone deputy working as a turnkey that night recalled that the sheriff grabbed an AK 47 and ran outside announcing he was going to blast that siren.  His deputy talked him out of it, or it would have been a most colorful incident.

Mogle brought a new emphasis on trying to professional the agency and he worked to do what he could in a time when support and money was hard to come by in Cecil County law enforcement.

In August, a Window on Cecil County’s Past did a piece on the 1948 Main Street fire.  Today we’re posting a piece that examines the other Main Street fires in the 20th century.

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The history of Elkton’s Main Street has been one of disastrous fires. In fact, one such conflagration in September 1891, has­tened the formation of the Singerly Fire Com­pany. During that blaze, Wilmington firefight­ers loaded steam engines onto a P.W. &B train and rushed to help Elkton.Advances in fire safety codes, fire depart­ment equipment, and fire suppression meth­ods have reduced the threat of fires in heavily built-up areas. Nonetheless, in this century some big ones have occurred on the old thoroughfare’s business district.

The Payne Store Fire, December 14, 1901 – One stormy, rain soaked Saturday night, a fire raged on the south side of W. Main St., across from the present-day courthouse. The wind was blowing a “perfect gale” as the fire bell at Council Hall pealed out its call for help. Having started in Payne’s millinery store, the fire destroyed or badly damaged Heatzig’s General Store, the Levis business block, the drug store of J. Frank Frazer, and the office and exchange of the Eastern Shore Telephone Com­pany. Before fleeing the exchange, the night operator made one last-minute call, a connection with the home office in Dover, Del. inform­ing them the exchange was doomed. The late train from Dover that night carried a new switchboard; it arrived in Elkton early Sunday morning. At the fire’s height, Mayor George McQuilken tele­graphed for aid from Wilm­ington, Del. but the request was cancelled before help left that city. The loss was estimat­ed at $25,000.

The East Main Street Blaze, June 21, 1923 – One hot day, nine fire companies, including Engine 5 of Wilmington, Del., fought a blaze that destroyed or badly damaged five build­ings on the south side of W. Main St., between North and Bow streets. The fire, centered in the area occupied by the Anthony William’s barber shop and Jewelry Store and the American Stores, spread to other businesses including the A&P Store and, Elkton Candy Land. Companies took stations on Johnson’s Wharf along the Big Elk Creek to re­lay water to Main Street.  A Steam Fire Engine, Chesa­peake City’s, having been towed to Elkton by motor­ truck, had the longest line of hose. The loss was about $50,000.

The Howard House Blaze, April 12, 1926 – Elkton’s “old­est and largest hotel,” the Ho­ward House and the adjoining clothing store of Jacob Sigman were badly damaged by a fire that originated in the hotel in the overnight hours. “At the time there were between 40 and 50 persons in the building; some of them experienced con­siderable difficulty in escap­ing,” said the Cecil Democrat. Eight volunteer fire companies assisted Elkton. An emerging fire department technology, the automo­bile, made a difference in con­trolling the blaze, the Cecil Democrat asserted. “Prompt response from distant towns . . . would have been impossible without the modern, automo­bile fire engine. Monday’s fire . . . very forcefully demon­strated the necessity of “modern fire-fighting equipment for rural communities.” Damage was estimated at $60,000.

The World War II Blaze, No­vember 15, 1942 – On a Mon­day evening during World War II, a fire, burning out of control for more than six hours, destroyed or badly damaged five buildings on the creek side of E. Main St., be­tween North Street and the courthouse. Damage was esti­mated at $100,000. Besides area volunteers, Singerly was assisted by a squad from Bainbridge Naval Training Center and the munitions plant.

Reubenstone Building Blaze, December 6, 1953 – Fifty-two years earlier a fire occurred in the same area of E. Main St., opposite the present day courthouse, an area then known as the Payne Block. This early morning blaze swept through midtown, gut­ting a restaurant, four stores and several apartments, in­cluding Frazer’s Drug Store and William B. Merrey and Sons Wholesalers.

The Christmas Eve Fire – De­cember 24, 1964 – A Christmas Eve fire on E. Main St., across from the courthouse, required five companies to control a blaze that heavily damaged two buildings. Starting in the “Auctioneer’s Outlet Store/’ it did heavy damage to the law office of the Kenneth A. Wilcox and smoke damage to other offices. Companies checked the fire on Christmas morning.