Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Showing posts with label Westminster File Westminster Shoe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Westminster File Westminster Shoe. Show all posts

Sunday, July 12, 2009

When city got 'sole' in the 1920s, it was cause for a celebration

When city got 'sole' in the 1920s, it was cause for a celebration

(The long – unedited version of the column) Published June 14, 2009 by Carroll Eagle

A Carroll County cause for celebration in the perilous 1920s

A May 29, 1925 Westminster newspaper described in great detail a huge parade and a daylong celebration to mark the occasion of the opening of the Newark Shoe Factory plant on East Green Street, “an enterprise that is running in full blast and employees over 200 men, women and boys…”

Attracting jobs and economic development in 1925 was considered critical to the future of Westminster and Carroll County. Commuting out of the county for meaningful employment was not a viable option.

Carol Lee observed in her book on the history of agriculture in Carroll County, “Legacy of the Land:” “During World War 1, Carroll County had only 69 miles of paved roads, by 1935 it had 240 miles…”

After the First World War ended, agriculture commodity prices plummeted in the county and Lee reports that “Throughout the 1920s, agriculture got into an increasingly perilous condition.”

The economic decline of the business of agriculture had a far-reaching impact on all businesses in the county. Younger citizens simply moved-out of the county to find work. Not only was the local economy in bad shape, but now the exodus of the younger generation caused social and cultural turmoil to add insult to injury.

It was with this context that one may understand that the opening of a shoe factory in Westminster was greeted with celebration. The now out-of-print Democratic Advocate newspaper described that the “crowd resembled a gathering for a circus that came to witness the parade and visit the Shoe factory…

“The celebration closed with a meeting in the Firemen's hall at 8 p.m., when addresses were made by Congressman Millard E. Tydings, Mayor Howard E. Koontz, Senator Daniel J. Hesson, Guy W. Steele and Dwight M. Burroughs, president of the Better Business Bureau of Baltimore and publicity manager of the United Railways of Baltimore...”

Jamie Wehler recently wrote to me that as a result of her research into the opening of the shoe factory, she was proud to see that the Westminster (Municipal) Band took part in the parade.

The newspaper article also noted that other participants in the parade included: “R. O. T. C. Western Maryland College, Mayor Koontz, Common Council, Officials of Chamber Of Commerce, School Children, Boy Scouts, Union Bridge Fire Company, Taneytown Fire Company, Westminster Fire Company…”

Meanwhile at the other end of Westminster, last week’s Carroll Eagle history trivia question was: “What was the name of the shoe factory at the far end of Pennsylvania Avenue near Vetville? Or, who can tell me the name of the car dealership and garage at 56 Pennsylvania Avenue?”

To my surprise many folks knew the answers. Among the readers that responded was this week’s winner of the Carroll Eagle mug, Gertrude Robertson, who wrote that she once worked in the office at the Kessler Shoe Factory.

Wayne Wrightson wrote from WTTR that “My fiancée’s father Bill Kuhn, a Westminster native of 84+ years seems to remember the shoe factory by Vetville was Kessler's Shoes… This man has an amazing memory for any age.

After a break from the Westminster world of the 1920s, we will go over the many other reader responses about the shoe factories and Wilson’s Garage, the “Willys-Overland” dealership on Pennsylvania Avenue – in a future column.

We will resume the history trivia quiz next Sunday. Meanwhile, please remember that today is Flag Day. It is always heartwarming to see so many flags proudly displayed throughout the county.

------
For other recent columns in Explore Carroll by Kevin Dayhoff:

Bringing Corbit's Charge, and Douglass, back to Westminster
Published July 5, 2009 by Carroll Eagle http://tinyurl.com/mxbkjp
http://explorecarroll.com/community/3099/bringing-corbits-charge-douglass-back-westminster/

DAYHOFF: Margaret Mitchell wrote what she knew; the rest is gone with the wind
Published July 2, 2009 by Westminster Eagle
... And that is all I know for right now. Hope you and your family have a great Fourth of July weekend. Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. …visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net....

Westminster was all abuzz for the great fly roundup of 1914
Published June 28, 2009 by Carroll Eagle
... reminds me that it was Groucho Marx who once said, "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana." When he is not swatting flies, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at … or visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net....

DAYHOFF: Hoffa Field and the Sheathing of the Sword
Published June 23, 2009 by Carroll Eagle, Westminster Eagle
... . Lightner and the June 1922 American Sentinel newspaper article have left us with an extensive and fascinating account of the “The Sheathing of the Sword.” … visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net....

'Year without summer' killed crops ... and created a monster
Published June 21, 2009 by Carroll Eagle, Westminster Eagle
... village folk that it's not a bad idea to keep a torch handy on these cool summer nights. When he is not playing with laboratory-harnessed lightning, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at … or visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net. ...

Historic Blue Ridge College bell dedicated In Union Bridge
Published June 20, 2009 by Westminster Eagle
UNION BRIDGE — Several hundred folks braved threatening weather June 20 to witness the unveiling and dedication of the historic 1900 Blue Ridge College bell in Lehigh Square, the original site of the college which had thrived in Union Bridge from 1898 to ... ...

When city got 'sole' in the 1920s, it was cause for a celebration
Published June 14, 2009 by Carroll Eagle
... be the guest speaker. There will be a retirement ceremony for worn flags. Guests may bring old flags for retirement. When he is not waving the flag, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at… or visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net....

Remember when you could walk to work in Westminster?
Published June 7, 2009 by Carroll Eagle
... . When he's not on a "walk-about" in Westminster, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached …

Company H: from the Frizellburg greenhouses to the sands of Omaha Beach
Published June 3, 2009 by Westminster Eagle
… (have) come a long way from the old parade field in Frizellburg.” Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster.

Dayhoff: New councilmember tackles alleged hit and run driver
Published June 1, 2009 by Westminster Eagle, Carroll Eagle
... Westminster city police arrived and took control of the situation The accident is under investigation. All in a day’s work. Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster.

20090705 sdosm Recent columns in Explore Carroll by Kevin Dayhoff
20090614 sdosm KED SCE A CC cause for celebration 1920s
*****

Friday, March 09, 2007

20070309 My 2nd Grade Class picture

My 2nd Grade Class picture

March 9th, 2007

A few months back my wife and I had dinner with my 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Griffin. I borrowed our 2nd grade class picture from her and I need to return it so I just got around to scanning it in this evening.

This picture was taken in March 1961 at East End Elementary School, in Westminster, Carroll County Maryland. At the time, East End was located at the corner of Green Street and Center Street in Westminster in the old Westminster High School which had been built in 1898. East End School closed quite a number of years ago.

The picture above depicts the school as it looked in 1908.

The old 1898 high school, in which East End was located, had moved in 1936 to the building on Longwell Avenue in Westminster. That building ceased to be high school in 1971. I was in the last graduating class.

When I attended East End, I lived about two blocks away at the corner of Washington Road and Green Street and walked to school every day – the source of many great memories to this day.

Schools located in the community are a wonderful thing and it makes me sad that so often they are now located on huge tracks of land in the middle of a cornfield outside of town.

In 1961 my family lived in an apartment in back of Samios Food Market.

The picture above is from the 1930s when it was then Ensor’s. Samios Food Market and the apartment where we lived was made into a Joni Mitchell song many years ago; “they tore down paradise and made it into a parking lot…

Across the street was the old Newark Shoe Factory which opened in late May 1925. When I lived on Green Street, it was the Westminster Shoe Factory and many folks in the neighborhood walked there to work.

Community markets, schools, and community employment were some of the main reasons for the quality of life that was Westminster when I was growing up in town.

Nowadays, schools located right in town are a thing of the past and community markets and employment are near impossible with this thing we call progress, err, Euclidean Zoning which most often will not allow the overlay of residences, markets and stores and work places. The again, perhaps it is not progress at all.

The corner of Green Street and Washington Road was essentially the site of Corbit’s Charge, a Civil War engagement on June 29th, 1863 in the days just before the Battle of Gettysburg – which is one of the reasons for my continual fascination with that aspect of Westminster history – and history in general.

Someday – I’ll have an extra minute to sit down and keyboard all the names in the March 1961 photograph…

Meanwhile, enjoy the photos of a Westminster long ago, when we really had a wonderful quality of life and sense of community.

Oh – we still have a great quality of life in Westminster; it’s just different these days.

####

Dayhoff personal, History Westminster 1920s, Westminster File Ensor's Grocery, Westminster File Samios Grocery, Westminster File Green St E, Westminster Planning Zoning, Carroll Co Schools History, Carroll Co Schools Westminster H S, Carroll Co Schools East End ES, History Westminster, History Westminster old photos, Westminster File Newark Shoe Factory, Westminster File Westminster Shoe Factory, Urban planning Euclidean Zoning, Music Mitchell Joni, Dayhoff photo gallery