While perusing old issues of newspapers, an intriguing ad caught my eye: “We pay for dead animals! Call Leidy.”
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Easton Happenings
From quirky ads to strange hobbies to thoughts on the importance of beauty, vignettes from Easton:
Crickets & Blackbirds & Beetles, Oh My!
Warning: If you aren’t fond of beaks, barbed legs or beady eyes, you may not want to continue reading. It seems the summer of 1938 was the summer of pests in Frederick city and county. That August, thousands of blackbirds flew over the city night after night. Since the bird was protected by state law, they... Continue Reading →
Central Chemical Company
It may be hard to imagine now, but many fertilizer companies once lined downtown Frederick’s South Carroll Street in the 1800s. Painted on a tan, nondescript building facing the street, one can make out the remnants of a sign identifying the Central Chemical Company. Tyson’s Phosphate Factory/J. Tyson & Son was one these fertilizer companies,... Continue Reading →
Twin Arch Bridge
Past the shopping center, business park and the carnival grounds on Twin Arch Road in Mount Airy sits the road’s namesake. The Twin Arch Bridge was built in 1901 by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The train tracks are situated on top of the bridge. Twin Arch Road runs under one of the arches, while... Continue Reading →
Applicants Needed For ‘A Man-Size Job’
Dr. Theo. Kharas, the general manager of Keystone Mobile Car-Sign Company, knew exactly what he wanted in an assistant general manager. Kharas placed a sizeable ad in The News (Frederick) with a very particular set of attributes for the vacant position at the business, a streetcar sign advertising company with an office in Hagerstown. For... Continue Reading →
1899 Accidents & Injuries
Although the front page news of a newspaper is deemed the most important, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the most interesting. Case in point: the February 3, 1899 issue of The Mail (Hagerstown), in which stories featuring a battle with an eagle, a rib-crushing hug and a frozen tongue were reported: I Triple-Dog-Dare You: For... Continue Reading →
Where’s the Beef?
In 1904, a police officer investigating a report of an improperly disposed of dead horse at a Frederick County home found just that — and more. According to a news account, Policeman Brengle paid a visit to the home of Charles Burdette after a report was made that he buried a dead horse in a... Continue Reading →
Stomach Ailments and Remedies
In the past, just like today, if you had an ailment, someone had a remedy for it. Faced with a “derangement of the liver and bowels”? Never fear, Simmons’ Liver Regulator had you covered. Advertised on the front page of The Easton Star in 1874, the medicine’s ad reassured that the product contained no mercury, only the... Continue Reading →
The Day of the Groundhog
Today’s the day the groundhog rules. Will he peek his head out, see his shadow, and doom us to six more weeks of winter? Or will he emerge shadowless from his lair and grant us an early spring? He and his ancestors have kept us guessing for years. A February 1898 Denton Journal article describes the... Continue Reading →
Bygone Maryland 