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History
of Eldersburg
Eldersburg
is a bustling place. All one needs to do is turn onto Md. 26 towards
Baltimore, and look at the restaurants and buildings that dot the
highway. There are cafes, Blockbuster stores, malls, and traffic
lights that pop up all over the place. Many cars speed down the
highway. Today, the pace of life is quicker. People go to work,
juggle athletic events for kids, eat a hurried dinner, attend social
meetings for various organizations, and help with homework in the
evenings. It is interesting to think that at one time, Eldersburg
was not the hub of activity it is today. Liberty Road used to be
a stagecoach line, and Native American artifacts were found at Hodges
Road.
According to History of Western Maryland, Volume II by J. Thomas
Scharf, the town of Eldersburg, three and a half miles from Sykesville
and thirty-two from Baltimore, was named in honor of John Elder,
who laid it out before 1800, and who was an early settler, owning
large tracts of land in the vicinity. It has a lodge of I.O. Good
Templars, and Grange No. 139 of Patrons of Husbandry, which N.D.
Norris is Master, and George M. Prugh, secretary. Among the businessmen
of the town were T. A. Barnes, postmaster and merchant; Dr. H. C.
Shipley, physician; L. H. W. Selby, undertaker; J. & L. H. Selby,
millers; and J. Collins, shoemaker.
Churches were an important part of Eldersburg’s history. According
to History of Western Maryland, Volume II by J. Thomas Scharf, Holy
Trinity Parish, Protestant Episcopal Church, originated on March
8, 1771, when John Welch entered into a bond in the penal sum of
two hundred pounds, English sterling, to convey to Abel Brown, Robert
Twis, Edward Dorsey, and John Elder two acres of land, provided
the said persons would build a “Chappell of Ease” for
the benefit of “Delaware Hundred,” the name of their
election district. The church was built (a stone structure), and
became a part of St. Thomas’ Parish, Baltimore County. In
the lapse of time the congregation thinned out, Episcopal services
were no longer held, and the Baptists for some years occupied the
edifice. After a time a time the Baptists were unable to maintain
their congregation, and the building was not used fore religious
services, but became the abode of cattle and horses.
Md. 32 today is a winding road that is often filled with many cars.
According to Kari Greenawalt, curator of the Gatehouse of Sykesville,
some interesting facts about Md. 32 were Salerno’s restaurant
used to have a tavern next to Exxon. Liberty Road used to be a stagecoach
line that was built to Frederick. Eldersburg cropped up from it.
Native American artifacts were found at Hodges Road. In the 1700s-1800s,
Md. 32 was a quiet, sleepy intersection.
The Sykesville Historic Commission Archives said the Liberty Reservoir
was formed in 1953. The north branch of the Patapsco River feeds
the reservoir. The watershed covers 164 square miles, in Baltimore
and Carroll counties. Oakland Woolen Mills (Melville Woolen Co).
was the largest industry in Carroll County during the 1800s. Containing
128 acres in 1953, mill buildings, the town hall and 60 dwellings
were demolished and under water. Before it was flooded, Liberty
Reservoir was farm land, mines and Oakland Mills.
The Sykesville Historic Commission Archives also said that fifty
to sixty years ago, Eldersburg was farmland. It had homes, a store
and a school along Liberty Road. A three-story home on Liberty and
Bartholow Roads, served as a home, general store and a post office.
Slacks school was built in 1901. It burned in 1976. The school was
located at Liberty and Oklahoma Roads.
According to the Sykesville Historic Commission Archives, the first
public school in this area was Sykesville on Springfield Avenue.
The public school was so poor. Citizens organized the Springfield
Institute, held in the Springfield Presbyterian Church.
The oldest neighborhood in Eldersburg was Freedom P.O. just west
of Eldersburg. Welches Tavern was built in 1714 near Eldersburg,
bought by Dr. Steele and made into a large residence. It burned
in 1974.
According to the Sykesville Historic Commission Archives Herbert
De Vries owned the land where Carrolltown Maill is. He sold it to
Dr. Phillips and Dr. Phillips sold it to the Corporation for 1/4
million. Eldersburg used to be all farmland. It had a store, masconic
hall, slacks school. It had small game including rabbits, squirrel,
ground hogs, deer and chipmunks. Frank Brown owned the largest piece
of land. He was the only man from Carroll County to become governor
of Maryland.
John Elder, at age 24, was the contractor for Wesley Chapel in 1822.
In 1823, N.D. Norris was a farmer. In 1837 Y.T. P. Frizzell was
a farmer. Also, in that year, H. C. Shipley was a physician. In
1827 Robert Lee was a farmer and in 1844 Eli Frizzell was a blacksmith.
The oldest building in the area was Welch’s Taven.
The Maryland Office of Tourism website states that Carroll County
was named for Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Wheat was the crop
that brought the German settlers to the county, while farming and
natural beauty still draw people there today.
According to the Maryland Office of Tourism web site, Carroll County
was formed in 1836 from the western part of Baltimore County and
the eastern part of Frederick. It includes what were in the 1800s,
the North Hundred, Pipe Creek Hundred, Delaware Upper and Lower
Hundred of Baltimore County and the Pipe Creek, Westminster, Unity,
Burnt House, Piney Creek Hundred, Delaware Upper and Lower Hundred
of Baltimore County and the Pipe Creek, Westminster, Unity, Burnt
house, Piney Creek, and Taneytown Hundreds of Frederick County.
A hundred was a land unit which was carried over from England to
Maryland as a subdivision of a county or shire and its terminology
was derived from the fact that in each area there lived approximately
one hundred men who could be called for military duty. Because Carroll
County was one of the later counties to be established, much of
its history is the history of northern Maryland and southern Pennsylvania.
Carroll County is comprised of 14 electoral districts. Distric No.
1: Taneytown erected in 1837; District No. 2, Uniontown erected
in 1837; District No. 3 Myers erected in 1837; District No. 4: Woolery,
erected in 1837; District No. 5: Freedom erected in 1837; District
No. 6, Manchester erected in 1837; District No. 7: Westminster errectd
in 1837; District No. 8: Hampstead erected in 1837; District No.
9: Franklin erected in 1837; District No. 10: Middleburg erected
in 1852; District No. 11: New Windsor erected in 1856; District
No. 12: Union Bridge erected in 1872; District No. 13, Mount Airy
erected in 1888; District No. 14: Berrett erected in 1910.
According to Eighteen Century Origins, Harney citizens petitioned
for a post office in 1856. A decision for the new name was given
to James Elder, the postmaster of Eldersburg. Having just read an
account of conflict between the Mormons and the United States government
in Utah, Elder suggested the name Harney in honor of the general
in charge of the U.S. troops involved in the conflict.
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