Tag: cecil county

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Iron Hill was once a thriving village.

iron hill railroad station
The Iron Hill station in a postcard around 1912

In several areas of Cecil County, there are places that were once thriving little hamlets but are now barely wide spots in the road.  They might have a house or two, while in their heyday they hummed with activity.  However, once their reason for prosperity vanished, the passage of time slowly eroded away the community’s traces.  The story of a vibrant past was lost to the ages, as memories faded and a new generation came on.

One of those spots, Iron Hill, is midway between Elkton and Newark, just west of the Mason Dixon Line.  It once had nearly 50 residents, along with a railroad station, post office, and general store, according to the Maryland State Gazetteer of 1902.  Decades earlier in 1887, there were two general merchants (J. M. Cook and John Denver), two telegrapher operators (William Holton & Thomas Smith), and dealers in phosphate and coal (Frank Stroud and Charles Walton).  Miss Hattie Evans served as the village teacher and John Denner (possibly Denver) was the postmaster.

There was such heavy trade in this neighborhood that the P. W. & B. Railroad announced in October 1880 that it was contemplating “the establishment of a new station on the road about midway between Newark and Elkton, which would be close to the State Line,” the Every Evening reported.  Officials didn’t mull it over too long as work soon started on a passenger depot and freight house.

The iron ore mines or pits of the Whitaker Company just over the line in Delaware furnished a great amount of freight as the ore was taken to Principio for reduction.  That, coupled with the amount of farming enterprise in this section of the county, called for increased transportation facilities.

The carrier was ready to meet the demand.  The land for the depot and warehouse was “given by Mr. C. Walton, who lived nearby,” the Cecil Whig reported. Once the attractive station house opened in April 1881, an agent was assigned to the depot, the official and his family living on the second floor.  The first floor contained two waiting rooms and other operational spaces.

In the 20th century, freight and passenger traffic declined.  By 1912, the railroad was arguing a case before the Maryland Public Service Commission as they wanted to reduce service to the attractive country station built-in the glory days of railroading.

Modernization also came along.  During the first half of the 20th-century track realignments were required as the company electrified the line and eliminated curves.  The station was moved a short distance back from the right-of-way, sometime during this era.   Also, the company eliminated service at the rural station.

Today, except for the Amtrak passenger trains rushing past at high speeds, things are quiet at Iron Hill.  The old depot and another structure or two survive, serving as reminders of Cecil’s past and the thriving little hamlet.

But on this mild day in the middle of January, as the sun came out in the afternoon, I was offered a ticket to the past.  Dan Dilks invited me out to look at the distinctive structure as he and a helper care for the old landmark, fixing it up and updating things.  In another century, it was the centerpiece of this tiny village on the Mason Dixon Line.

Thanks, Dan for being the conductor on this visit and for an enjoyable walk through the past.  Dan’s tour caused me to do a little digging through some sources, and this is what I have come up with thus far.

For additional photos of Iron Hill click here.

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Dan Dilks giving me a tour of the old station. He and a helper are currently working on old railroad station.

 

For more on the community see  — Halley’s Comet & Northern Lights Stimulate Interest in Astronomy for a Young Lady From Iron Hill

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On the Railroad to Providence

The Providence Paper Mill, 1890. Source: Hexamer Maps from the Philadelphia Free Library.
The Providence Paper Mill, 1890. Source: Hexamer Maps from the Philadelphia Free Library.

On the railroad to Providence, you didn’t go far and you didn’t go fast.  But the twisting, rambling route brought railcars to the doors of manufacturers along the Little Elk Creek.  The companies, grinding flour, making paper, processing wool, and producing other goods, had clustered along the valley stream, over time.

Before the railroad arrived teamsters hauled bulk materials and supplies to and from the mills, but this was time-consuming and costly on the rough roads.  However, when the last spike was driven on the new Baltimore & Ohio across Cecil County in 1886, the hauling distance was shortened, as freight was carried to depots at Childs and Singerly.

That continued until 1893 when the Lancaster, Cecil, Southern, a 4 ½ mile spur from Childs to Providence, opened for traffic.   Investors started considering the idea for a line in this region In 1890 when a group of Lancaster, PA businessmen reorganized a distressed carrier, creating the Lancaster, Oxford, and Southern, which was to build a branch south into Maryland.

Two years later, a charter was granted for the Lancaster, Cecil & Southern, a company authorized to build a road from Elkton to the Pennsylvania State Line to meet the other carrier. They selected a right-of-way that followed the tortuous course of the creek.  It involved extensive excavating, grading and bridging, and by July there was an “air of hustle” along the stream for 300 men worked grading, ballasting and laying rails.  Finally, by February 1893, trains rolled to the end of the line in Providence.

The spur from the Childs Station brought railroad transportation directly to a cluster of manufacturers on the creek.  This line was never designed to be adapted to rapid travel because of the grades and curves, but such demands would never be placed on it wrote the Cecil Whig.  Starting at Childs, it touched Marley Paper Mill where there was a twelve car siding.  From there it passed by Harlan’s Book Board Mill and then it ran up the west side of the creek to Carter’s Cecil Paper Mills, where it crossed the Little Elk Creek twice and followed the west bank of the stream to Levis & Brothers Flour Mill.  It finally reached Providence Paper Mill.

A Baltimore and Ohio locomotive made a daily run from Wilmington to handle the freight work on the short spur, which involved hauling twenty carloads of freight a day over the line in February 1893.  With traffic moving, the promoters noted that it wouldn’t be too long before they opened up the north part of the county from Providence to Oxford, PA., a distance of about 8 miles.  But this is as far as the L. C & S got.

As the 20th century advanced, freight traffic slowly dwindled.   The old mill at Providence, which had been in continuous operation for more than 60 years closed on September 25, 1948, leaving some 200 employees without work.  The closure was a blow to residents as there were few industries of any importance to which the workers could turn, the Cecil Democrat reported.  Obviously, the shuttering of the large industry on the spur caused freight to sharply decline.  In 1954, the mill which has been inactive for years was being renovated in preparation for resuming operation, when a fire raced through the manufacturing structure.

With the destruction of the plant, the potential for any large shipment of freight stopped on the upper end of the branch.  Some time afterward the railroad abandoned the portion of the spur from Providence to the paper mill at the edge of Childs.   In May 1972, the company gave notice that it was abandoning the Childs branch completely, from Childs Station to a distance of approximately 1.14 miles in Cecil County.

Although a small spur of 4 ½ miles to Providence, the old railroad to Providence had been an important one, moving goods, raw and finished, through the scenic Little Elk Creek Valley, while providing important shipping access for mills along the industrial waterway.  But by 1973, all was quiet along the Lancaster, Cecil, and Southern.

For additional photos click here

For a detail research report, click here.

Providence Paper Mill in a postcard from about 1912 shows the end of the Childs Spur. source: personal collection
Providence Paper Mill in a postcard from about 1912 shows the end of the Childs Spur. source: personal collection

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Christmas Eve Stories from the Cecil County Police Blotter

As families gathered to celebrate Christmas in the 1970s, Cecil County Police Officers continued their never-ending job, patrolling the roads and answering calls while others shared gifts, good company, and delicious meals.  Although the demands placed on law enforcement can be high on holidays with the officers juggling calls, a glance at the police blotter reveals that sometimes there is a lighter side.

Santa Speeding Across Cecil County

In the early 1970s, one patrol sergeant, Steve Landbeck, orchestrated a little holiday tradition for several years.  As people settled in with their families on Christmas Eve, things generally quieted down for first responders. But an urgent flash would break the silence of the night on the police radio. A Maryland State Trooper out of the North East Barrack was in a high-speed chase.

As the drama unfolded, the pursuit continuing up Route 40, a description was put out for other units rushing into position to back up the North East car.  It went something like this. It was a shiny red vehicle moving fast. Moments later came the driver’s description: a heavy-set man with a white beard in a red suit. Soon, something would follow about hearing sleigh bells and ho-ho, ho. The radio broadcast played out over several minutes as additional details eked out.

In time, Sargeant Landbeck advised to 10-22 (disregard).  The fleeing vehicle was only the jolly old fella and his sleigh coming into Cecil for his annual visit on a busy night with lots to do. The reindeer were there, and the sleigh was loaded with gifts for boys and girls around the county, the state trooper reported reassuringly.

That became a Christmas Eve tradition for many years as Steve orchestrated his little radio play, and once the broadcast kicked off, parents had their children listen to the scanner.  After the 10-22 went out on the airwaves, children across the county knew Santa was on his way.  He was in the county, and they had better hurry off to bed so they could wake up early on Christmas morning for gifts from Santa.

St. Nick Makes Quick Escape in Dark Parking Lot

In the county seat, another case unfolded on a Christmas Eve watch decades ago.  Elkton Police Officer Marshall Purner prowled the streets on the holiday shift when dispatch radioed early on that quiet evening that someone had broken into a vehicle at Cecil Lanes.  The bowling alley was having a party for children, and while all the merriment distracted everyone, a perpetrator forced entry into a car, taking holiday gifts.

Marshall Purner, Elkton Police Department
Marshall Purner retired from the Elkton Police Department in June 1989. Photo Credit: Wilmington News Journal, July 27, 1989

Upon arrival at the scene, Officer Purner started the investigation.  A witness observed a suspicious person — a man in a Santa Claus outfit dashing through the dark parking lot.  He was carrying stuff in some sort of hurry when he jumped into a vehicle and sped from the scene.   Those details were dutifully recorded, and with that information pointing to a primary suspect, Marshall was on the trail as he put out a “be on the lookout” broadcast for the getaway car and this red-suited suspect.

With all Cecil County patrol cars on the road Christmas Eve now keeping an eye out for the fleeing vehicle occupied by old St. Nick, they soon executed a stop, pulling it and the driver over.  It was a fellow officer, Patrolman Joseph Zurolo, playing Santa for a group of kids at the Bowling Alley.  Having finished bringing joy to a group of Cecil County youngsters, the merriment and gift-giving taken care of, Santa dashed off to make his holiday rounds.  So, he made a hasty departure from the party, rushing through the parking lot.

Of course, he had nothing to do with the incident, but it made for a unique discussion back at the police station and several laughs on a Christmas Eve long ago, the calls documented for all time in the old Cecil County Police Blotter.

Elkton Police Officers Joe Zurolo & Jim Long

Elkton Police Officer Joe Zurolo (in uniform) greets old Saint Nick. Officer Jim Long is dressed as Santa in the mid 1970s.  Source:  Cecil Whig photo from the Jim Cheeseman collection at the Historical Society of Cecil County

Also See

Marshall Purner Went From Big City Policing to Keeping the Peace in Cecil County

From Weather to Crimes, Police Blotter Gives Glimpse of Bygone Elkton

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The Age of the Automobile Arrives in Cecil: 1st License Issued to Port Deposit Resident

auto rising sun
The automobile age has arrived in Rising Sun in this postcard issued around the time of World War I. Source: personal collection

In a time when horses, carriages, and bicycles provided transportation, the sight of an auto could cause a commotion, but little did anyone know how unsettling that first view could be for “Poor Excuse.”

It was Friday, April 13, 1900, a day for bad luck, when the Adams Express delivery horse trotted up to the corner of Main and North streets.  A quick glance up the street caused the normally mild-mannered animal to take his owner, B. M. Wells, on a mad dash through the center of Elkton.  The spectacle of a strange machine breezing along had proved too much for the animal.

The driver of the contraption, the first “horseless carriage” seen in the county seat, was making his way between New York and Washington, D.C.   Curious people rushed to the curb to catch a glimpse of the member of the “locomobile Club of America” rolling along.

Mr. & Mrs. Harry Decker pulled up to the Howard House in their automobile in August of that year.  After spending Saturday night there, they got an early start the next morning as the New Yorkers continued on, heading to the Texas oil fields.

These new-fangled machines sometimes were temperamental.  A big red “Panhard (Paris) driven by a 20-horse power gasoline engine” passed through in 1902, but ran out of oil on the outskirts of Elkton.  The tank was refilled at the store of John E. Gonce, the Elkton Appeal reported.

Automobiles were here to stay, and it wasn’t too many more years before passing cars no longer caused a stir.  By August 1905, Harvey Rowland and Lewis Abrahams rode from Port Deposit to Atlantic City in their vehicle in five hours and twenty minutes.  Charles R. Ford owned the first one in Elkton, a fine Pope Runabout in November 1905.  As Ford was learning the “tricks of his new stead”, the Cecil County News wrote, “Good luck to you, Charlie, and may you never slip a cog or run out of gasoline.”  Mr. Carter of Singerly had a fine runabout in August 1906.

Local automobilists became common.  D. J. Ayerst, Dr. H. A. Mitchell and Frank B. Evans turned out in their vehicles for the Elkton Halloween parade in 1911.  A striking feature was “Ayersts’ Cadillac Motor Car, elegantly and strikingly decorated,” according to the Cecil Whig.  Edward W. Taylor bought a new Ford touring car to add to his livery fleet in 1913.

With the auto here to stay, the State of Maryland enacted a registration and licensing law, the first one in Cecil going to Lewis Abrahams of Port Deposit.  “My great uncle Lewis Abrahams who lived till his 84th year in 1964 at Port Deposit . . . was very proud of holding the first license issued for an automobile in the county”, the Rev John J. Abrahams noted several years ago.   “He and my grandfather began the first car dealership in Port.”  Lewis owned a 4-horse-power Locomobile and was issued license no. 502.  In Fair Hill, Edward H. Strahorn owned a n auto, a Thomas B. Jeffery 7 ½ horsepower vehicle, issued license 537.  John E. Good in Perryville had a Peerless Motor Car, holding registration 656

metz automobile
The Metz Automobile sold by E. Balderston & Sons , Colora. source: Cecil Whig, May 22, 1915.

Duyckinch, Sterret & Co. of Rising Sun established the first auto dealership in Cecil County in 1909, handling Hupmobiles, Invincible Schachts, and Oakland Machines.  They had a fine section of Regal Automobile and “everyone was invited to call at the garage to inspect these beauties and see their efficiency demonstrated,” the Midland Journal reported the next year.

Warren Boulden Sr., built a 3-car auto garage in Elkton, opening his business in May 1911.  Carrying a full line of automobile supplies, the Whig added that “Mr. Boulden has given this business a study and is a competent mechanician.”

“Poor Excuse” wasn’t the only one appalled by these contraptions.  In Elkton, Council’s hackles had been raised by speeding automobilists frightening horses and endangering pedestrians so the commissioners adopted an eight MPH speed limit.  Rising Sun decided that 10 MPH was a safe and posted signs reading “automobiles blow your horn at dangerous crossing and curves” in 1911.

Within days of the new law going on the books, the vigilant town officer, Bailiff George Potts, issued Elkton’s first speeding ticket, arresting a Baltimorean.  In Chesapeake City in 1915, the authorities were determined to break up reckless driving, and Bailiff Samuel Biggs arrested five automobilists for failing to sound horns at cross streets.  One of those arrested was Philip L. Garrett, Wilmington attorney for the Delaware Automobile Club.

About this time, the Cecil Whig observed that the reason Port Deposit had far more vehicles than Elkton was simple economics.  Everyone knew that you didn’t make much money practicing law, as wealth came from enterprises such as manufacturing and transportation.

The auto age was on in Cecil.  Click here for additional photos

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The State of Maryland drivers license and vehicle registration for Lewis Abrahams of Port Deposit. source: Maryland State Archives.

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On Borrowed Time: Solving a Cecil County Genealogical Mystery

pocket watch engineer george askew
The pocket watch engineer George Askew carried on the fatal run between Baltimore and Philadelphia. (Source: Lance McPherson)

ELKTON—On a cold, grey February day a few years ago, Lance McPherson, a special agent for the federal government, called to ask for help solving a family history mystery associated with an old, inoperable pocket watch in his custody. On this trip, he sought to uncover information about the curious timepiece, its hands frozen in time at 8:35.

However, the odd relic had nothing to do with his job. It was a family heirloom belonging to his great-grandfather, George Benjamin Askew, an engineer on the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad. The watch was a central part of a genealogical mystery that he was trying to solve. Family lore carried down through generations had it that Askew died in a railroad accident in Elkton.

This 105-year-old story was what caused the investigator with the Office of Personnel Management to become the family history detective, seeking out the circumstances and facts surrounding his relative’s death and the curious object that had been handed down from relative to relative.

McPherson noted that he tended to be the family historian over the years and wound up with many family documents. Once he decided to begin the search for the bits and pieces, he began by examining an autobiography written by his grandmother. Only 12 years old at the time of the accident, she wrote, “Oh’ what sadness hovered over our once happy home.” She also notes that the engineer’s body was recovered the day before his birthday, nine months and nine days after he fell into the icy water of Big Elk Creek.

Having the basics from this document, McPherson searched online genealogical databases, which gave him census registers and other digital evidence. That examination produced the framework, but he wanted to color in the details, which would take some old-fashioned investigative work.

With the date and location of the accident in hand and still seeking to piece together the chain of events, we turned to some other sources for help. Aging old newspapers contained clues, as the weeklies headlined the story about the railroader’s “odd death.” These publications are often a treasure trove of information for anyone doing genealogical research. As doors continued opening, we located the coroner’s inquest report. He used that detailed insight to do some fieldwork, observing and surveying the natural environment along the creek where bridge abutments from the railroad remain in the area where the body was recovered.

Here is the story of these additional documents and the family history told. Before the sun came up on the Chesapeake Bay on Saturday, Jan. 3, 1903, 38-year-old engineer Askew eased extra freight No. 161 out of the Baltimore rail yard for a routine early morning run to Philadelphia, one that he made many times during his 18 years on the rails. Up for a promotion to an engineer on prestigious passenger runs in a few days, he surely thought this would be a piece of cake as he looked forward to returning home to his wife and five children. The new position would mean shorter runs and more money.

Rumbling northward over the Susquehanna, nothing marred the run. However, as he approached Elkton at about 8:43 a.m., the train whistle screeching for the station and crossings, a valve acted up. As the locomotive rushed toward the Big Elk Creek, he reached out beyond the cab to assess the problem. Suddenly, his head struck one of the girders of the narrow bridge, violently throwing him from the train.

Seeing him whirling out of the cab, the train’s fireman brought the train to a hurried stop. The crew rushed back to the bridge, but all they found was his blood-stained cap and a raging torrent of a creek. Unable to find Askew, they backed to Elkton to get aid. Help rushed to the spot, and before too long, a large crew of railroaders and townspeople were dredging the stream. A heavy overnight storm flooded the area, so the water was raging, and searchers were unable to find the body. Finally, the railroad company offered a $50 reward for the body’s recovery.

railroad engineer george askew
Railroad Engineer George Askew. (Source: Lance McPherson)

While the family grieved, winter slipped by, giving way to summer, but still, the beloved father’s body remained unfound. In October, a waterman gathering driftwood noticed a corpse in the brush a mile below the tracks. He immediately thought the body was that of the long-missing railroader. His identity, though obvious by the crushing injury to his head, was clearly established by finding Askew’s watch, keys, and lodge book in his clothing, the Cecil Whig reported.

Through his family history detective’s work, McPherson notes that he had “an interesting revelation.” The news account in the local newspaper indicated that the accident occurred “around the time the railroad watch stopped at 8:35. The revelation came when “I realized that I had that watch in my possession. No one ever noted that it was his watch or that it had spent nine months and nine days underwater with him,” McPherson said.

In wrapping up this case, however, he noted that “the watch and identity are now back together after 105 years.”

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Steamer Carmania Served Elkton in 1916

In the early years of the 20th century, steam boating days on the Chesapeake Bay started slipping slowly away.  But in the summer of 1916, Elkton obtained renewed service, as the Philadelphia and Baltimore Steamboat Company (Ericsson Line) launched a new line with connections to Baltimore.

Leading up to the return of a regular schedule on July 1, several arrangements were taken care of. The company bought an attractive steamer, the Carmania, in Mobile, Alabama, to ply the route and leased Jeffers’ Wharf at the foot of Bridge Street.  Last-minute preparations involved cutting a basin near the mill wharf, allowing the boat to turn for the trip back down the winding Big Elk Creek.

Throughout that hot summer before World War I, the Carmania called at Elkton’s tiny port on the Creek.  It departed each morning for Betterton, Chesapeake Haven, and Town Point and returned in the afternoon.  Passengers desiring to go to Baltimore could connect with the Philadelphia boat at Betterton.

There were special evening excursions too.   On a sweltering Wednesday evening in July, she ran a special moonlight cruise, taking people down the river to relieve the intense heat that made the evening uncomfortable.  The Elkton Cornet Band furnished music on the expedition to Town Point.

The boat completed the season for 1916.   It is unclear if some service returned in 1917, but in 1918, a government report noted that line had been abandoned.

Click here to see additional photos — Steam boating Days on the Big Elk Creek

Steamer Carmania Big Elk Creek Elkton
The Steamer Carmania. An unmailed postcard from 1916. (source: personal collection

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Insurance Survey Maps From Philadelphia Free LIbrary Show Details on Many of Cecil County’s 19th Century Mills

While digging up some historical records on a property in Cecil County, I discovered a large body of helpful online maps published by the Philadelphia Free Library. This urban institution has substantial online collections, including a large holding of maps.

The resources that helped with my investigation was the Hexamer General Survey collection. Between 1866 and 1895, Ernest Hexamer sketched out detailed plates on nearly 3,000 industrial and commercial properties in the Greater Philadelphia area, including Delaware and Cecil County. These meticulous illustrations included breweries, textile mills, printers, car works, dye and chemical plants, planning mills, and much more.  The renderings were created for fire insurance underwriters and are similar to the Sanborn Maps, which are available for many Delmarva communities.

Hexamer was a German immigrant, according to the blog, Hexamer Redux. “He began his career creating insurance maps in New York City.  In 1856, he moved to Philadelphia and established the fire insurance map business in the city.”

For researchers there are a number of fascinating local industrial plates, depicting the larger mills and industrial facilities. A highly detailed plate shows the landscape of the McCullough Iron Works in North East, and includes descriptive information about fire protection. Other companies include the Providence Mills owned by William H. Flitcraft & Company and William Singerly; The Shannon or Stone Chase Mill; the Octoraro Mill; West Amwell Mills and more. Several of the larger manufacturers have products that were updated periodically.

In addition to floor plans similar to architectural drawings lots of additional details are provided. There are notes about the construction, fire protection, occupancy, and other elements of interest to an insurance carrier.  Many include perspective sketches of the actual building, which is great.

This will be a valuable resource for many Cecil County researchers. In the age before electrification the county’s creeks provided the source of energy and there were many mills situated on the banks of the streams.

Thank you Philadelphia Free Library for making this excellent resource available digitally.

The Childs Paper Mill, 1880, from the Hexamere Map Collection. Source: Philadelphia Free Library
The Childs Paper Mill, 1880, from the Hexamere Map Collection. Source: Philadelphia Free Library

 

Providence Paper Mill, 1890, Hexamer Map. Source: Philadelphia Free Library
Providence Paper Mill, 1890, Hexamer Map. Source: Philadelphia Free Library

North East Mill, 1876. Source: Philadelphia Free LIbrary
North East Mill, 1876. Source: Philadelphia Free LIbrary

 

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Cecil County Atlas of 1877 & Other Maps Available from Sheridan Library

The Sheridan Library of Johns Hopkins University has a large collection of Cecil County digital maps.  Family and local history researchers will find these online collections to be helpful.  In the collection there is the entire atlas of 1877, as well as digital aerial maps (1938 and 1952), topographic maps, and many other cartographic products.

Visit the search page by clicking here and searching for your county of interest.  .

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Station Agent at Childs Recalls 50 Years on the B & O Railroad

F C. Breitenbach B & O Station Agent at Childs. Source: Cecil Democrat, Oct. 7, 1954
F C. Breitenbach B & O Station Agent at Childs. Source: Cecil Democrat, Oct. 7, 1954

For many Cecil County villages and towns the railroad station was the center of the community years ago, and the company official overseeing the comings and goings of townspeople, passengers, telegraph messages, freight and mail was an important member of the community. Each place with a station had one, a station agent, in charge of keeping everything on track at his depot.

To keep the operation running smoothly, the agents were assigned many responsibilities at smaller places. Obligations included preparing for the arrival of trains, selling tickets, handling freight, mail and baggage, announcing arrivals, and taking care of the property.

Frederick ‘C, Breitenbach, Sr.,  of Cherry Hill was the Baltimore and Ohio’s agent-operator at Childs in 1954. He had just completed 50 years with the company, having come to the Singerly Tower in 1904. In subsequent years he was assigned to Childs as an operator-clerk and as an agent-operator at Leslie. His final stint brought him back to Childs in 1935.

“The romance of the railroad has been lost since steam has gone,” the agent told the Cecil Democrat in 1954. He loved “the smell of that old coal,” and “the engineers in those steam engines were hardy men. The trains today are more like street cars.”

Until 1949 local passenger trains stopped at Childs, but as he marked a half-century of service the station only handled freight, most of it going to and from the Elk Paper company plant. When he started at Childs, it was the most important stop in Cecil County and three people worked at the station, he recalled.

But in 1954 he was the only remaining employee. The rural Cecil County depot was slowly reaching the end of the line, although years ago the building alongside the B & O tracks was the center of the village.  This old-time railroader had worked across the changing years and changing times as he and the station neared retirement.

He was born in Baltimore in 1885 and died in Union Hospital on May 16, 1958.  He was an employee of the B & O for 53 years, last serving as “station master at Childs.”

A postcard of the Childs Railroad Station, Circa 1914. Source: Personal Collection
A postcard of the Childs Railroad Station, Circa 1912. The card was unused so there is no postal cancellation. Source: Personal Collection

 

 

 

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Confederate General From Cecil County Featured in Jeff Shaara’s Latest Novel

“The Smoke at Dawn,” Jeff Shaara’s latest historical novel about the Civil War, has been released and it has a Cecil County angle.  This third volume, part of a four part series, focuses on the critical Battle of Chattanooga.

Kyle Dixon has been listening to the audio version of the book.,  He informs me that William Whann Mackall, a Confederate General from Cecil County, appears on the pages of this just released volume.  Mackall, a graduate of West Point, grew up near Childs.  When the war broke out he resigned his U.S. Army commission and joined the confederacy.

A state historical marker near the boyhood home on Blue Ball Road provides additional information on Mackall.  And here is a link to an article Milt Diggins did on the general.

The boyhood home of William Whann Mackall is just south of Childs on Blue Ball Road.
The boyhood home of William Whann Mackall is just south of Childs on Blue Ball Road.