[Historical
Society Note. Recent research by the Emmitsburg Historical Society does not support this account of the beginning
of Emmitsburg. For more information on the founding of Emmitsburg please go to:
Setting the Record Straight: The Real History of Emmitsburg's
Founding.]
Crossroads
Mary
Anne Erickson
(Originally published in the Frederick Magazine August 1992)
Silver Fancy seems a
rather poetic and perhaps pretentious name for a tiny
frontier settlement. When its population increased to
seven families, people called the place Poplar Fields
and then Carrollsburg. Samuel Emmit acquired over 2,000
acres in the area originally chartered to the Carroll
family and began to sell lots. To honor this fellow
citizen and local landowner, townsfolk agreed on the
name Emmitsburg.
Founded in 1786 mainly
by English-and German-speaking immigrants, Emmitsburg
was incorporated in 1825. Roads lead south to Frederick,
north to Gettysburg, and west to Hagerstown. ‘Though
the old town pump has gone, and the fountain was taken
away because it obstructed traffic, the town maintains
an air of the quiet sweetness of the old days,
emphasized by the existence of a long stretch of
old-fashioned two-Story houses along Main Street.
The
older portion of the town is west of these, however,
once the real center of the old German houses, all of
which were swept away in a fire of many years ago.’
These words by Bentztown Bard Folger McKinsey in a 1938
Baltimore Sun are pertinent today: earlier this year the
quaint community with its federal architecture gained a
listing on the National Register of Historic Places in
recognition of its notable past.
While many people think
of world famous canonized "daughter" Elizabeth
Ann Seton, born 1773, when they think of Emmitsburg,
there was also a famous "son" named John
Armstrong, born 1772. His reputation as possibly America’s
finest antique gunsmith is known throughout the country.
According to Wade
Chrismer, in the town’s history compiled by Emile and
Mary Nakhleh in 1976, residents of Emmitsburg had strong
pro-South feelings during the Civil War. Townspeople
warmly received Confederate troops in 1862: the South
was at that rime under the impression that Maryland was
going to join its cause. This book tells that in 1906, a
priest who had been a prefect during the war wrote,
"In and around the College a very bitter feeling
towards the North Dr. McCaffrey in his remarks was
exceedingly bitter."
It evidently puzzled
the writer as to how Dr. McCaffrey, then president of
Mount St. Mary’s College managed to get away with what
he did without being arrested. It is noted that
"though he claimed that it was in the interests of
neutrality, Father McCaffrey refused to let the American
flag to be displayed on the campus when Lincoln was
shot. Federal orders were issued for every house to
display some sign of mourning. An official visited the
college, but there was no sign visible, until Dr.
McCaffrey produced a small piece of crepe on a door
which had been opened back so that it would not be
visible until disclosed.
At least 232 Sisters of
Charity, however, from Emmitsburg served during the
Civil War in many military hospitals Richmond, New York,
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Frederick included and even
on a number of battlefields, heroically trying to save
the wounded of either side. Two were natives of
Emmitsburg: Sister Mary Catherine Chrismer and Sister
Mary Rosina Quinn.
A few readers may
remember when the 'Dinky' ran the nearly eight miles
between Emmitsburg and Rocky Ridge. One of the
smallest
railroads in the country, organized in 1868 and
dissolved in 1940, it was financed largely by the
Sisters of Charity at St. Joseph College, so students
and visitors could avoid a time consuming round trip of
16 miles by horse. It was said that ‘many new students
got his or her first taste of Emmitsburg college life
during a wild ride on ‘the Dinky’ in
September."
According to The News,
September 21, 1944, not everybody got the word when the
rail line closed: "Mrs. James Tucker of Boston,
Mass., en route here to place her daughter in St. Joseph’s
College, bought railway tickets in New York for
Emmitsburg via the Emmitsburg Railroad. The mother and
daughter arrived at Emmitsburg Junction at night to
learn that the rails had been taken up some years ago,
leaving them and their luggage stranded at the junction.
Guy Baker, who operates the mail and express truck
between the junction and Emmitsburg, gave them and the
luggage a lift to the college."
Have your own memories of
the Emmitsburg?
If so, send them to us at history@emmitsburg.net
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