From quirky ads to strange hobbies to thoughts on the importance of beauty, vignettes from Easton:
Easton Happenings
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 →
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 →
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 →
Damascus Electric Company
Many of the drivers along a well-traveled roadway in Damascus (Montgomery County) don’t realize the significance behind the rusted Damascus Electric Company sign situated atop a building at the intersection of Md. 27 and Md. 108. According to an article in The Gazette, the Damascus Light and Power Company was opened in 1924 by J. Leslie Woodfield;... Continue Reading →
Murder or Unfortunate Accident?
What was supposed to be a lighthearted farce on the stage turned into a real-life tragedy in the Eastern Shore town of Marydel in January 1909. The play “Chaps” was being presented on New Year’s night to benefit the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Charles Pippin’s character was to drink sherry. He did — and it... Continue Reading →
‘A Young Girl’s Unpleasant Experience in Baltimore’
In December 1887, a 17-year-old girl attempting to visit her sister in Baltimore had an experience that she surely remembered for the rest of her life. Gertie Cleary, a 17-year-old farmer’s daughter from Smithsburg (Washington County), had spent Christmas visiting her uncle in Mount Airy (Carroll County). From there, she traveled by train to Baltimore... Continue Reading →
The Boxwood at the Dielman Inn
In New Windsor, a small town tucked away in the western part of Carroll County, a large building takes up a good chunk of one of its quiet blocks. Outside, a white sign with “The Boxwood” in black lettering hangs in contrast to the building’s pale greenish-gray exterior, though the antiques shop that was once... Continue Reading →
‘The Big Animal of Hell Point Marsh’
In January 1900, a years-long reign of terror by a menacing creature finally came to an end, thanks to a man named, fittingly, Slaughter. Farmers and dogs alike who lived near the mouth of the Tuckahoe Creek on the Eastern Shore were terrorized by “a large and fierce wild hog, with gleaming and dangerous-looking tusks three... Continue Reading →
Bygone Maryland 