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Item Count: 4558

What Remains of the Strawbridge Home for Boys

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

A huge fire in early March 2020 destroyed the Carroll Building, the last major structure associated with the Strawbridge Home for Boys which stood on the outskirts of Eldersburg from 1924 until 1959.

Serving Historical Society Supports Good Citizenship

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Jason Illari

In his 2020 revised essay Why Study History, author and historian Peter N. Stearns outlines eight essential reasons to study history.

Origins of Memorial Day and Grand Army of the Republic

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

As Memorial Day approaches, it is worth taking a deeper look at this important holiday, both as it is observed across the country and here in Carroll County.

In 1868, Westminster Woman’s Poem “Boys in Blue” Praised Union Soldiers

Publication Year: 2023

Westminster’s Memorial Day traditions and Mary B. Shellman (1849-1938) go hand in hand. This column usually includes some aspect of her long life and involvement in patriotic events such as our Memorial Day Parade she began in 1868.

Wheeling in the Years with Early Bicycles

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

By the end of the 19th century, bicycle riding and bicycle racing were wildly popular outdoor activities in the United States.

Where Corbit’s Charge Comes Vividly to Life

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

As thousands of men in the Union and Confederate armies marched north toward their inevitable confrontation at Gettysburg in July 1863, small clashes between elements of both armies occurred along the way.

A Big, Brassy History

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Catherine Baty

Community bands were once commonplace throughout Carroll County. Until radio entered the mainstream during the 1920s, town bands were the most common form of local musical entertainment in the United States.

An Old County Map Offers Clues to a Little-known Black History

Publication Year: 2023

Woolerys is one of the nine original election districts created when Carroll was founded in 1837 and occupies the east-central part of the County—now separated from Baltimore County by Liberty Reservoir.

Back to the Days When Hay Was For Horses, Not Tractors

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Helen Shriver Riley

When I was a child growing up in Union Mills, Maryland, I had a great love of horses. It started I think before I could walk.

In Praise of Scharf’s History of Western Maryland

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

Those who enjoy history cannot help but stand in awe of the work of J. Thomas Scharf in publishing his monumental, two-volume History of Western Maryland in 1882. The second volume covers Carroll County.

From Livery Stables to the Rise of the Automobile

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

Long before automobile brand names like Kia, Hyundai, and Subaru were on our lips, there were ones no longer mentioned – Nash, Durant, Marmon, and Hupmobile.

Happy to Make House Calls, Day or Night

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

In June 1938, Harry Peyton Gorsuch, editor of The [Carroll County] Times, paid tribute to the vanishing breed of country doctors who paid house calls day or night, delivered babies, made their own pills, and often were pillars of their communities. Gorsuch pointed to Francis J.

John Lewis and the Civil Rights Movement in Carroll County

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Lynn Wheeler

Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), was, of course, a highly renowned leader in the civil rights movement in the US. We are very fortunate to have our own John Lewis as a leader in the civil rights movement in Carroll County.

Potters Field is a small cemetery with a big history

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Austin Hewitt

There are many small cemeteries in Carroll County. Some were family cemeteries that in the past were on family farms. Now they are located in housing developments.

From the ashes of a railroad yard fire, Union Bridge only grew

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

Shouts of "Fire!" must have echoed throughout the village of Union Bridge on the night of December 3, 1868, as flames began spreading from the oil house in the Western Maryland Railroad yard to other nearby buildings owned by the company.

The selfless labor of accounting for all the county’s war dead

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Austin Hewitt

Veterans Day was first observed in Alabama in 1947, the vision of Raymond Weeks, a WW II veteran. After the war ended in 1945, he proposed that Armistice Day, which honored those killed in WW I, be expanded to honor veterans of all wars.

County’s early craftsmen can stand with some of the best

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

Don’t count out Carroll County’s early craftsmen when it comes to producing fine quality work ─ clocks, guns, stoves, furniture, even gravestones. Examples can be found in local museums scattered from Taneytown in the northwest to Sykesville in the southeast.

A look back at Thanksgiving prices 50 years ago

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

It’s three days after Thanksgiving 2023. More than likely both your refrigerator and your stomach have forgotten how full they were a very short time ago.

Winter is just around the corner

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

Winter is just around the corner, so it seems the right time to recount the winter activities of bygone days.

Union Bridge farm family was part of Heifer Project

Publication Year: 2023

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

In this season of giving, Carroll Countians can point with pride to the extraordinary contribution made by a Union Bridge farm family to the Heifer Project, a World War II humanitarian relief effort.