Hello, Frederick 2023 – Celebrating 275 years

Welcome.

In this year’s edition of “Hello, Frederick” we pay tribute to the 275th anniversary of Frederick County with a compendium of 275 facts about the county. Many are details of the area’s long, rich history. Sprinkled in are some random, quirky things we found as we surfed through a variety of sources.

There are references to familiar milestones, landmarks and luminaries. The list is meant to be fun, but not comprehensive.

There are many wonderful resources for learning about Frederick County, particularly at the Maryland Room at the C. Burr Artz Public Library in downtown Frederick. Many of the facts here came from:

• “ … and all our yesterdays: A chronicle of Frederick County, Maryland” by John W. Ashbury

• “Frederick County Trivia: 700+ Fun Facts About the County, Its People & Its History” by Al Weinberg

• “Frederick County” and “Frederick County Revisited” by The Historical Society of Frederick County

• “More Reflections on the History of Frederick County” by Frances A. Randall

Celebrating 275 years of Frederick County

• “275 facts about Frederick County: A textbook history of Frederick County” by Paul P. Gordon and Rita S. Gordon

Many other books provided a few facts, including:

• “Brunswick: 100 Years of Memories” by the Brunswick History Commission

• “The Great Frederick Fair: A History –1747-2004” by Ann Lebherz, Sarah Drenning and Lorraine Nicklas

• “Memories of Frederick: Over on the Other Side” by Joy Onley

• “Frederick: Local and National Crossroads” by Chris Heidenrich

In several instances, facts are based on a mix of sources. County and state planning websites, the Frederick County Office of Economic Development, Frederick County government, the U.S. Census Bureau, and Visit Frederick were great online sources. Some details came from The Frederick News-Post archives.

We hope you enjoy, and learn something new, like I did. – editor

Photos courtesy of the News-Post staff and Heritage Frederick, Maryland.

rating 275 Celeb Frederick County

1

Frederick County was carved out of Prince George’s County by an act of the Assembly on Dec. 10, 1748. 2

The earliest culture known to have been in Frederick County was the Paleo culture. Dating back 10,000 or 12,000 years, these tribes were nomadic, roaming the length of the East Coast. 3

On Oct. 1, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln came to Frederick on his way to the battlefields of Antietam and South Mountain. After his visit to the scenes of war, he returned to Frederick. People gathered along West Patrick Street, in rain and wind, to see a procession that went to the

Ramsey house on Record Street, where a wounded general was being attended. Lincoln paid his respects, then reappeared in the street and briefly addressed the crowd. 4

One of the earliest known houses in Frederick is Schifferstadt, the Brunner homestead located at West Second Street and Rosemont Avenue. The site was not part of the original town, but the town limits expanded over the years to encompass it. The house was built in 1758, an example of Northern European design.

5

At a session of the Maryland state legislature in 1867, the Maryland School for the Deaf on South Market Street was incorporated. In 1868, the first 34 students began classes.

6

In 1929, the federal government leased 92 acres in Frederick for an emergency landing field. In 1931, this airport was made the permanent training field for the encampment of the 104th Aero Squadron of the 29th Division. It was named after Dr. Fredrick L. Detrick, a flight surgeon for the unit.

7

The first bank organized in Frederick County was the Central National Bank in 1808. It was a branch of the Farmers’ Bank of Maryland in Annapolis.

8

Catoctin Furnace was originally established by “Thomas Johnson “Maryland’s first governor” and Launcelot Jacques. In 1773, Jacques withdrew and three other Johnson brothers joined Thomas in the manufacture of pig iron. A succession of owners followed until 1858, when the Kunkel family bought the property.

9

Frederick County can boast of the oldest fire company in continuous existence in Maryland — Independent Hose Company organized in 1818. Junior Fire Company was started in 1838. Its firehouse was originally next to the Farmers and Mechanics Bank on Market Street in Frederick.

The earliest known newspaper in Frederick County was the Maryland Chronicle, which Mathias Bartgis started in 1786. Bartgis brought a printing press to Frederick in 1779 while the Revolutionary War was still being fought.

11

After the U.S. entered World War II in 1941, the Secret Service felt that the president should have a hideaway. President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted it within driving distance, not more than two hours. Catoctin Mountain Park was chosen. Roosevelt named the camp Shangri-La. During the war, the chiefs of staff attended war briefings there with the president. World leaders who visited included Princess Martha of Norway, Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, Charles de Gaulle of France and Winston Churchill of Great Britain. President Dwight D. Eisenhower changed the name to Camp David in 1953. 12

Many famous people of generations past attended the Frederick

Fair. In 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant attended. Newspaper editor and publisher Horace Greeley visited in 1871. Six years later, President Rutherford B. Hayes spent a day at the fair.

13

Gathland was the home of George Alfred Townsend, a noted writer and Civil War correspondent. His pen name was Gath. He built a War Correspondents Memorial Arch, said to be the first monument in the world dedicated to journalists killed in combat.

14

Ladiesburg was founded in 1810. It got its name from the fact that the population consisted of seven ladies and only one gentleman.

15

The first evidence of a fair taking place in Frederick County was a 1747 notice in the Maryland Gazette saying Daniel Dulaney (or Dulany) had obtained a patent, or right, to keep a fair near Frederick Town in October and May for five years.

16

In 1800, Jefferson contained only four houses. It was originally called Trap and later Newtown Trap because so many travelers were waylaid and robbed there.

17

On Jan. 7, 1806, Roger Brooke Taney – known as the chief justice who authored the Dred Scott decision – married Anne Key, the sister of Francis Scott Key, who wrote the national anthem. Taney and Francis Scott Key were friends in Annapolis while Taney was a law student there.

18

In his 28 years as chief justice of the United States, Roger Brooke Taney, a Frederick resident for many years, administered the

oath of office to seven presidents — Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln.

19

Brunswick’s first settlement was in 1728. Abraham Pennington built his log cabin-trading post on a tract named “Coxon Rest,” near where C&O Canal Lock 30 is located.

20

Starting in 1922, the oldest half-mile motorcycle racing event in the United States is the Barbara Fritchie Classic, held each July 4 at the Frederick Fairgrounds.

22

In 1808, Mount St. Mary’s College opened. A fire in 1824 destroyed many of the buildings at the college, but in less than two years, a new large building was built.

23

Frederick County’s fire and rescue museum at 300B S. Seton Ave. in Emmitsburg features several hand-drawn apparatus, including “Old Lady,” the circa 1848 hand tub pumper originally owned by the Mechanical Fire Co. No. 1 of Baltimore and sold to the United Fire Company in Frederick in 1860.

24

21

Brunswick’s first two servicemen killed in foreign service were Alvey D. Keenan (Sept. 29, 1918) and Harold W.W. Steadman (Oct. 14, 1918). Brunswick’s American Legion Post 96 was named to honor them.

An Agricultural Society for Frederick County organized around 1820 or 1821. Its first cattle show and fair was held May 23 and 24, 1822, two miles east of Frederick City at George Creager’s tavern near the Monocacy Bridge. It was the second fair held in Maryland.

25

The Gov. Thomas Johnson High School track hosted the 1972 women’s Olympic track and field trials.

Frederick County’s estimated population as of July 1, 2022, was 287,079.

27

The 2020 U.S. census shows that 74.6% of housing units in Frederick County were occupied by the owner and 25.4% are renter-occupied units.

28

The Frederick County Lima Bean Association was formed by James H. Gambrill Jr., who lived near Yellow Springs.

29

Frederick County’s land area as of 2020 was about 661 square miles. It’s the largest county in Maryland by land mass.

30

As of 2021, 92.9% of Frederick County residents at least 25 years old were high school graduates and 42.3% had at least a bachelor’s degree.

31

The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office in 1999 received the Triple Crown Award from the National Sheriffs’ Association. The Triple Crown is simultaneous accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of the American Correctional Association, the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement, and the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.

32

In a 2021 Maryland Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 26% of Frederick County students sexually identified as not heterosexual. That’s up from 10% in 2013, the first year of the report.

33

The iron dog at the historic home of Dr. John Tyler on 108 W. Church St. is named Guess.

34

Frederick County has preserved more than 73,000 acres of farmland. In a 2022 report, Jan Gardner, the county executive at the time, said the county expects to reach its goal of 100,000 acres by 2030 – 10 years sooner than planned.

35

In the 2021 general election in Frederick, 10,546 ballots were received out of 48,390 registered voters, for turnout of 22%.

36

The town of Myersville was incorporated by an act of the Maryland Legislature in March 1904. Myersville had a population of 150. It came just a few years after the incorporation of the Myersville and Catoctin Railway Company in 1898, which brought the railway to Myersville.

37

Woodsboro’s 18-hole disc golf course is 6,560 feet. An alternate course is 3,777 feet.

38

The median household income in Frederick County as of 2021 was $106,129. In the city of Frederick, it was $82,563.

39

Patsy Cline frequently performed at the Moose Club in Brunswick and at the Braddock Drive-In Theater in the 1950s.

40

41

On July 10, Frederick County State’s Attorney Charlie Smith took over as president of the National District Attorneys Association.

42

More than 2,000 volunteers are part of the fire and rescue service in Frederick County.

43

The first sheriff in Frederick County was John Thomas, who served from 1748 to 1750. There have been 80 sheriffs since then.

44

In 1810, Henry Burkett (or Burkitt, as it was later spelled) bought part of the “Merryland Tract” that has been granted to the family of Gov. Thomas S. Lee before the Revolutionary War. In 1829, he commissioned a survey and platted what was to become the town that bears his name, Burkittsville.

45

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The first of the famed “Clustered Spires” in Frederick was the Evangelical Reformed Church on West Church Street, built in 1763. The steeple was not completed until 1807.

46

The population of Frederick County was expected to increase from 263,900 in 2020 to 284,300 in 2025, then 320,200 in 2035 and 346,600 in 2045.

47

Thurmont native Russell Randolph Waesche became the U.S. Coast Guard’s first admiral in 1945.

48

Integration in Frederick schools started in September 1958, when 15 students from Lincoln High, a school for Black students, entered the all-white Frederick High School.

49

John Philip Sousa presented concerts at the City Opera House in Frederick on Oct. 19, 1897, and in September 1908.

E. Austin Baughman of Frederick was the founder of the Maryland State Police.

The Tivoli Theater was Frederick’s first air-conditioned building because of a fortuitous meeting with a movie executive. A Walkersville horseman named William L. Brann invited Dr. Edward Thomas to attend a prestigious horse race, the Hollywood Gold Cup, in California. There, Thomas met Jack Warner of Warner Brothers, which owned the Tivoli. Warner planned to bet $50,000 on the favorite, but Thomas told Warner to bet on Brann’s horse, Challedon, who won. As a reward, Warner granted Thomas’ request for air conditioning at the Tivoli.

51

Libertytown is named after The Sons of Liberty, a pre-Revolutionary War organization.

52

Ronald Young ran for Maryland’s lieutenant governor in 1978 on a ticket with gubernatorial candidate Walter S. Orlinsky, the president of the Baltimore City Council. They finished fourth in the Democratic primary with 4.4%, behind Harry Hughes, Blair Lee III and Ted Venetoulis.

53

Three covered bridges — Roddy Road, Loy’s Station, and Utica Mills — are within 12 miles of each other in northern Frederick County.

54

The dog commemorated by a statue outside the Federated Charities building on South Market Street in Frederick is named Charity.

55

In 2016, Frederick adopted its third sister city — Aquiraz in Brazil. The previous two were Schifferstadt and Morzheim, both in Germany.

56

When the Frederick Keys played their first game on April 9, 1989, they faced Durham in a doubleheader. In the first game, Dennis Burlingame of the Durham Bulls pitched a seven-inning perfect game.

57

Jim Phelan, who coached collegiate men’s basketball for 49 seasons at Mount St. Mary’s, won 830 games. He became the fourth men’s coach to reach 800 wins.

58

Frederick first fielded a minor league baseball team in 1907 or 1908, when the semi-professional Sunset League formed. The league lasted until 1911.

59

Peter Rono, a sophomore at Mount St. Mary’s University, won the 1,500-meter run representing Kenya at the 1988 Olympics.

60

Jerry Narron, the first manager of the Frederick Keys in 1989, became the New York Yankees’ starting catcher in 1979 the day after Thurman Munson died in a plane crash. He remained in the dugout during the pregame ceremonies in that first game, leaving the catcher’s position empty at first, out of respect for Munson.

At

61

The first woman to be elected to the Frederick County Board of County Commissioners was Mary G. Williams in 1978.

65

66

The first African American elected to the Frederick Board of Aldermen in modern times was Claude R. DeLauter Jr. in 1973.

67

62

Frederick artist James Pearl was well known for creating hundreds of commemorative covers and stamps for the U.S. Postal Service.

63

Frederick County’s first shopping center was the Frederick Shopping Center on West Seventh Street, built in 1957.

64

The frontman of a popular 1960s rock band called Damion and the Classics was Michael Stup, who went on to become director of the Weinberg Center for the Arts.

The original Frederick County seal depicted an unclothed farmer holding a spike-toothed harrow and a singleshovel plow. In 1957, a former Roads Board engineer was asked to create a new decal for vehicles and office doors. He used a worn-out stamp of the original seal and worked with the National Decalcomania Corporation in Philadelphia to design a modern version, which was approved May 15, 1957. It was updated in 1986 and 2014.

The Frederick County community at the highest elevation above sea level is Sabillasville, at 1,108 feet. Point of Rocks is the community at the lowest level, at 260 feet above sea level.

68

Of the 2,198 miles of the Appalachian Trail, about 41 miles are in Maryland, mostly in Frederick County.

69

The last motion picture shown at the Tivoli Theater before it became the Weinberg Center for the Arts was “Ode to Billy Joe,” shown on Oct. 8, 1976.

70

During a visit to J.C. Penney at the Frederick Towne Mall in 1992, President George H. W. Bush purchased socks.

71 Hood College admitted Al Weinberg as its first full-time degree-seeking male student in January 1971.

72

The name “Golden Mile” is attributed to Mick Mastrino, a former Maryland state trooper, who coined the term in the 1970s, when the first wave of commercial building started.

73

The Everedy Company of Frederick manufactured rifle grenades during World War II. Before that, it manufactured devices that secured a cap on a bottle.

74

Former Frederick Mayor Paul Gordon’s nickname in high school was Pinky.

75

The Philadelphia Athletics of the American League held their spring training at McCurdy Field in Frederick in 1943 and 1944 because of limitations on travel during World War II.

76

Mount Olivet Cemetery’s “Confederate Row” has the graves of 311 soldiers, side by side. The cemetery also has a mass grave with 408 unknown Confederate soldiers who died in the Battle of Monocacy in 1864.

77

The Brunswick area has had many names, including “Eel Pot,” named after a tool that Indians used to catch fish in the Potomac River. Other names used in the area were “Coxson Rest,” “Tankerville,” “German Crossing,” and “Berlin.” The original land grant from the Crown, King George II of England, was for 3,100 acres. It was conveyed in 1753 to John Hawkins of Prince George’s County, who named it “Hawkins’ Merry Peep-O-Day,” for the happy sunrise above the surrounding hills.

78

Many telephone numbers in the city of Frederick start with 66 because, before the advent of seven-digit numbers, the primary exchange was MO, for Monument, which is 66 on the dial.

79

Four members of the Byron family have represented the Sixth District in Congress — William D.; his widow, Katharine E.; their son, Goodloe E.; and his widow, Beverly B.

80

Camp Greentop in Catoctin Mountain Park was used by “Wild Bill” Donovan and the Office of Strategic Services during World War II to train U.S. saboteurs.

81

As of 2021, Frederick County had 6,348 businesses and total employment of 88,798.

82

The word “Catoctin” comes from an Algonquin Indian tribe, the Kittoctons, and has been translated as both “speckled mountain” and “place of many deer.”

83

Frederick County Council members are paid $35,000 a year, without benefits. The Frederick County executive is paid $137,000, plus benefits.

84

Lord Nickens was a member when a Frederick chapter of the NAACP formed in 1936. He was the president of the chapter from 1972 to 1994.

85

The Catoctin Furnace Historical Society has documented at least 271 people who were enslaved at the furnace from 1774 to the 1840s.

86

In 1936, the C. Burr Artz Public Library was established in a one-story red-brick building at Council and Record streets, the former site of the Frederick Academy. In 1982, the library moved to its present location at 100 E. Patrick St. and underwent extensive renovation in 2002.

87

The Confederate Army occupied the Union’s General Hospital #1 in Frederick just before the Battle of Antietam in September 1862. When the Confederates departed a week later, they left behind 471 sick and wounded soldiers who could not move with the Army.

88

More than 15 miles of the C&O Canal National Historical Park stretches through Frederick County from the Monocacy Aqueduct to the Washington County line at South Mountain.

89

The Frederick Art Club in 2021 dedicated an 860-pound bronze statue on Carroll Creek to Claire McCardell, a Frederick native who was noteworthy in the fashion industry.

90 Frederick County’s 2022-23 property tax rate is $1.06 per $100 of assessed value. The only counties with a higher rate were Charles ($1.14) and Baltimore County ($1.10). Baltimore City’s rate is $2.25. The lowest rate is 68 cents in Talbot County.

91

Frederick County is the largest agricultural county in the state for farms and acres. There are more than 1,300 farms and about 188,00 acres dedicated to farming.

92

Distillery Lane Ciderworks in Jefferson was the first licensed cidery in Maryland.

93

Debbie Thompson Brown was one of the youngest members of the U.S. Olympics team in 1964 in Tokyo. She was 17 and a student at Frederick High School. She was eliminated in the first round of the 200-meter dash, falling four-tenths of a second short of qualifying for the semifinals.

94

Frederick County has more than 2,700 horses, ranking third in Maryland.

95

Frederick County, which formed in 1748, is the 14th oldest in Maryland. St. Mary’s County, which formed in 1637, was first.

96

Olde Mother Brewing in Frederick won the 2022 Best in Show award at the Baltimore Craft Beer Festival for its Callisto Oatmeal Stout.

97

More than 1/3 of the U.S. population is within a day’s drive of Frederick County — stretching to Detroit, which is about 480 miles away.

98

Frederick County lists five park playgrounds that are considered barrier free, accessible to all abilities: Pinecliff, Ballenger Creek, Urbana District, Old National Pike and Utica District.

99

Flying Dog Brewery created a local 1st Amendment Society after winning a 2016 court case in which a court found that the state of Michigan infringed on free speech rights by banning the sale of Flying Dog’s Belgian-style India pale ale called “Raging Bitch.”

78,171, was the second largest city in Maryland behind Baltimore (population 585,708). Gaithersburg was third, at 69,657, and Rockville was fourth, at 67,117. Frederick’s 2022 estimated population is 82,175.

103

Tourism-related revenue in Frederick County was estimated at $461 million in 2021, from 1.8 million visitors who traveled at least 50 miles to get there.

104

Shadrach Bond, the first governor of Illinois, was born in Frederick in 1773.

100

More than 4,700 firefighters are honored through a National Fallen Firefighters Memorial near Emmitsburg. It was built in 1981 on the campus of the National Fire Academy.

101 Frederick County’s job growth rate from 2020 to 2025 was expected to be 23%, compared to the state rate of 13%.

102

As of the 2020 U.S. Census, Frederick, with a population of

107

During the Civil War, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Point of Rocks was used by Union troops. The building and its furnishings were used as barricades and for firewood. The building also was used as a hospital and for cooking. After the war, the Vestry sued the U.S. government for compensation and was awarded $1,000 for damages.

105

Drone filming is allowed in Frederick County, but there is a 5-mile restricted zone around Frederick Municipal Airport.

108

The Point of Rocks train station built in 1875 is featured on a U.S. Forever stamp released in March.

109

106

Frederick hosts what is said to be the only race in the United States for high-wheel bicycles, which have a large front wheel and a small rear wheel. It’s a 0.4-mile criterium race.

Theophilus Augustus Thompson, one of the first notable African American chess players, was born into slavery in Frederick on April 21, 1855. Freed after the Civil War, he worked as a house servant in Carroll County from 1868 to 1870. His most famous legacy was his 1873 book, “Chess Problems: Either to Play and Mate, or Compel Self-mate in Four Moves.”

1858 YMCA of Frederick County founded Frederick was the 7th YMCA location in North America.

1885 camping begins as a cornerstone of YMCA programming. [Check out our Camp West Mar in the Catoctin Mountains]

1891 Basketball was started by YMCA staff [Branches have indoor gymnasium for adult/ youth play as well as youth basketball programs and camps.]

1909 YMCA has a campaign to “teach every man and boy to swim” starting group swim lessons. [Branches feature indoor pools for family swim, lap swim, swim lessons and more.]

110

The hottest temperature recorded in Maryland was 109 degrees, most recently in Frederick and Cumberland on July 10, 1936.

111

FCPS’ total enrollment for 202223 was 46,899, including 20,789 in grades K-5; 10,326 in grades 6-8; 14,643 in grades 9-12; and 1,141 in charter schools.

112

The earliest indication of Jews living in Frederick is the court record of a suit filed by Henry Lazarus and Company in 1742.

113

In 1919, Beth Israel Congregation, the first synagogue in Frederick County, was built in Brunswick. It was open until the late 1950s.

114

Frederick County Public Schools has 69 schools, including 38 elementary, 13 middle, 10 high, 4 public charter, 1 alternative, 1 special education, 1 virtual and the Career and Technology Center.

115

The Blair Witch Project,” a 1999 fictional story of three student filmmakers who disappear in the woods near Burkittsville, grossed nearly $250 million worldwide.

116

There were 7,013 employees in FCPS for 2022-23, including 2,854 teachers and 1,378 working in special education. There are 352 employees in the central office.

117

Because Blacks were not allowed at Frederick City Hospital, and Black doctors could not practice there, Dr. Ulysses Bourne Sr. and Dr. Charles S. Brooks opened the 15-bed Union Hospital in 1919 at 173 W. All Saints St. in Frederick, the current home of the Mountain City Elks Lodge.

118

The YMCA of Frederick County has a sports hall of fame named after Alvin G. Quinn, who was the executive director from 1919 to 1960.

119

Cunningham Falls is considered to have the highest waterfall in Maryland — a drop of 78 feet.

120

Frederick County established the first locally designated rural historic district in Maryland. The Frederick County Council authorized the Peach & Plenty Rural Historic District in April 2023 meeting. The district, roughly bounded by Detrick Road, Old Annapolis Road, Green Valley Road, and Old National Pike, was designated to the Frederick County Register of Historic Places.

121

There were 17 shops in the city of Frederick with licensed barbers as of August.

122

As of 2022, more than 950 Frederick County drivers were participating in the Maryland Ignition Interlock Program. Drivers previously found to have driven while impaired must have their breath alcohol level measured through a device before the ignition of their motor vehicle will start.

123

About 18,000 students go through the Earth and Space Science Lab within Frederick County Public Schools each year. Through a partnership with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the ESSL became one of the first education organizations to receive models of American satellites from NASA.

124

Joe Bussard of Frederick had more than 15,000 records of various types of music when he died in 2022.

125

Brunswick High School graduate Leon Enfield worked to have jousting recognized as the state sport in 1962. He was a charter member of the Jousting Hall of Fame.

126

Ruth Cassell Galt Eyler of Thurmont spent more than a half-century breeding, training and racing trotting horses. She became the first Maryland woman to win a parimutuel harness race, breaking the male domination of the sport.

127

According to a 2022 Toward Zero Deaths Transportation Safety Plan, out of 109 road deaths in Frederick County in the prior few years, 44 were attributed to distracted driving, 30 were attributed to impaired driving and 15 were attributed to speeding.

128

C. Clifton Virts, who was blind for most of his life because of an exploding dynamite cap, served in the Maryland legislature for 32 years, then was a Frederick County court examiner until he died in 1985. He and his service dog, Omar, were a common sight around Frederick.

129

The state sanatorium, established in 1906 near Sabillasville, was the first tuberculosis hospital in Maryland.

130

About 14.6% of Frederick County residents speak a language other than English at home, according to a U.S. Census Bureau Quick Facts report for 2020.

131

The 1895 Frederick City and County Directory has 12 entries under “Secret Organizations,” including a Widow and Orphans Lodge and the Order of United American Mechanics.

132

In 1938, Alice Palmer, a 17year-old graduate of Lincoln School, the only black high school in Frederick County before integration, went to work for Eleanor Roosevelt at Hyde Park, N.Y. Palmer ran the household for about 15 years.

133

COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in Frederick County in 2020. There were 188 COVID-19 deaths. The top two causes were cardiovascular disease, with 594 deaths, and malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumors), with 429 deaths. Fourth was accidents, with 144 deaths.

134

Frederick County has had more than 59,000 COVID-19 cases and at least 630 deaths.

135

Construction on the current airport began March 26, 1946, under the administration of Mayor Lloyd C. Culler. The first airplane — a Stinson, piloted by A.B. Sutherland — landed there on April 17, 1946, while the facility was still under construction.

136

On Jan. 9 and 11, 2022, Frederick County’s sevenday moving average case rate of COVID-19 per 100,000 people peaked at 248.4.

137

A 2021-22 Maryland State Department of Education report on kindergarten readiness showed that 50% of kindergartners in Frederick County were “demonstrating” readiness, 32% were “approaching” readiness and 18% were “emerging.” The statewide figures were 40%, 33% and 27%, respectively.

138

With more than 90,000 aircraft operations annually, Frederick Municipal Airport is the second busiest airport in Maryland.

139

The Brunswick High School band, established in 1917 by Charles T. Stull, was one of Frederick County’s earliest high school bands.

140

The top five types of emergency calls reported in Frederick County are trouble breathing, injured person, chest pain, vehicle accident, and sick person.

141

An estimated 25,000 people witnessed the wedding of Ella Graser and Jacob Kanode at the Frederick Fair on Oct. 16, 1890. A contest had promised a honeymoon of sorts to a couple who would be married at the fair.

142

Frederick native Bernard “Lefty” Kreh, a legendary figure in fly fishing, fished with U.S. presidents, Cuban leader Fidel Castro and baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams.

143

The Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office prosecutes 150 to 200 driving while impaired cases a year, with a guilty verdict. About 500 additional cases are settled with probation before judgment.

144

In May 1913, Edward Mitchell Johnson, a trustee of Asbury United Methodist Church on All Saints Street, was the main plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against “the grandfather clause,” which denied African Americans the right to vote unless their grandfather voted prior to 1869. This case helped lay the groundwork to help African Americans secure full rights as citizens granted under the 14th Amendment following the Civil War. He helped found the first Black-owned newspaper in Western Maryland, which he printed from a press in his kitchen.

145

The median gross rent in Frederick County from 2017 to 2021 was $1,503.

146

More than 15,000 comments were submitted to Frederick County leading up to its 2019 Livable Frederick Master Plan that looks ahead to 2040 and beyond.

147

The Northern Maryland Model Yacht Club holds races on Lake Whittier in Frederick.

148

In the 1996 movie “Executive Decision,” actor Kurt Russell, a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, named the airport outside Washington, D.C., where he lands “Frederick Field” in honor of AOPA’s national headquarters.

$179* Weekends: $199*

Trail ride packages include a farm sanctuary tour

149

Artist William Cochran created the Community Bridge public art mural along Carroll Creek Linear Park, as well as The Dreaming, a five-story installation along West Patrick Street, and the Angels in the Architecture mural series on Market Street.

150

Former President Harry S Truman and his wife, Bess, stopped at Carroll Kehne’s Gulf service station at Patrick and Jefferson streets in Frederick on July 21, 1953, to fill up his car. Truman was motoring from his home in Missouri to Washington, D.C.

151

Jacob Byerly opened a photo studio in 1842, becoming Frederick’s first professional photographer.

152

Frederick County Public Libraries does not charge fines for overdue items.

153

The Francis Scott Key Hotel opened in 1923 at the corner of West Patrick and Court streets in Frederick on a site that had served as a tavern and hotel as far back as the late 1700s. The hotel closed in the 1970s.

154

The class of 1922 was the last one to graduate from Girls’ High School (former Female High School) on East Church Street. The Frederick Boys’ High School on Elm Street then became coeducational.

155

Frederick County’s first Kids

Election was held on June 10 as part of the county’s 275th anniversary jubilee celebration. The results in the three categories were: favorite Disney character –Olaf, winner; Elsa, runner-up; favorite superhero – SpiderMan, winner; Wonder Woman, runner-up; favorite ice cream flavor – chocolate, winner; cookies and cream, runner-up.

156

The Casino building at the Braddock Heights Amusement Park had the oldest continuously operated roller rink in the United States until it was burned by arson in 1998.

157

On June 21, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation authorizing the site of the Battle of Monocacy to be developed as a park and to preserve its historical features.

158

Winfield Scott Schley of the U.S. Navy, who was raised in Frederick, was the commander of a U.S. fleet that blockaded a Spanish fleet at Santiago Harbor, Cuba, in 1898, helping to win the Spanish-American War.

159

Spinners Pinball Arcade on North East Street in Frederick is considered a Certified Autism Center by the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards.

160

In 2018, the land on the southern portion of Carroll Creek was designated as a Federal Opportunity Zone, offering significant tax incentives to potential investors to many of the remaining development sites along the park.

161

In The Streets, an annual event in September, began in 1983 as a celebration of the completion of Market Street beautification and the placement of utility wires underground.

162

The Blue Ridge League, a local professional baseball league, existed from 1915 to 1918 and from 1920 to 1930. It had teams in Maryland (Frederick, Hagerstown, Cumberland, Piedmont), West Virginia (Martinsburg) and Pennsylvania (Hanover, Chambersburg, Waynesboro, Gettysburg).

163

The types of trees found at Sugarloaf Mountain include red and white oaks, black gum, tulip poplar, black birch and eastern hemlock.

164

The first rabbi in Frederick was Sussman Goebricher, who served the Frederick Hebrew Congregation, which was founded around 1840.

165

Stronghold Inc., a nonprofit corporation organized in 1946 by the late Gordon Strong, owns and operates the Sugarloaf Mountain property for the public’s “enjoyment and education in an appreciation of natural beauty.”

166

J.C. Penney was one of the earliest national chain stores to open in Frederick. It arrived in 1924 and was in the McCardell Building, next to City Hall. It remained downtown until it moved to Frederick Towne Mall in 1972.

167

The former Ox Fibre Brush Company factory on East Church Street was the site of one of Frederick’s most prolific manufacturing businesses, specializing in the production of various types of brushes. Operations ceased in 1967.

168

For the “Fire in Ice” First Saturday in downtown Frederick in February 2022, the Downtown Frederick Partnership commissioned 108 ice sculpture designs.

172

The Historic District Guide for downtown Frederick merchants says outdoor signs cannot extend more than 30 inches from the building and must provide 8-foot clearance from the ground. Awnings cannot extend more than 5 feet into the right of way.

173

175

More than 1,000 people applied in 2022 to be on a Frederick County Public Schools committee that reviewed 35 challenged books from school libraries.

176

169

The Community Foundation of Frederick County awarded $1.8 million in postsecondary scholarships to 411 students for the 2023-2024 academic year. More than 185 different charitable funds at the Community Foundation provided scholarships to support local students.

170

The Downtown Frederick Partnership offers up to $10,000 for property owners to upgrade a downtown building façade.

171

The Crash and Catharsis Rage Factory on West Patrick Street in Frederick rents its space to people who want to break things – “to release your anger and tension in a controlled, judgment free environment.”

The Brewer’s Alley building on North Market Street, which once housed City Hall, has hosted a memorial service for President William McKinley in 1901, the Frederick debut of D.W. Griffith’s film “The Birth of a Nation,” and the Manhattan Opera Company’s production of “Madame Butterfly” in 1926.

174

The Downtown Frederick Partnership launched a downtown ambassador program in November 2021. As of June 2022, ambassadors had: cleaned 354 items of infrastructure, removed 590 stickers or handbills, and made 264 business contacts.

Artist Yemi Fagbohun is creating a 550-foot-long, 14-foothigh mural outside Harry Grove Stadium that will honor 250 sports figures in Frederick County’s history.

177

At the end of 2020, there were 470 people living with diagnosed HIV in Frederick County, including 14 who were diagnosed that year.

178

St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church on East Second Street in Frederick, with its 50foot high ceilings and ornate interior, was the first major Catholic church consecrated in the eastern United States. It celebrates its 260th anniversary in 2023.

179

In 2021, Goodwill Industries of Monocacy Valley, based in Frederick, placed 265 people into jobs and diverted 4.5 million pounds of material from being discarded.

180

High school students can earn Student Service Learning hours by working as an election judge.

181

Frederick County has been home to many winners of the National Marbles Tournament, including Jessica Thompson of Middletown, this year’s girls’ champion. Todd Kmiecik of Middletown won the boys’ title last year. The local program, which plays in Middletown, is the Frederick County Knucklers.

182

A 2021 report by the Student Homelessness Initiative Partnership indicated that there were at least 846 youths experiencing homelessness within Frederick County Public Schools.

183 Babe Ruth played for a Baltimore industrial school team in a game at Mount St. Mary’s College in 1911. He returned for an exhibition game on May 7, 1921.

184

A man and a boy who went on a three-week shooting spree in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia in 2002 were caught when they slept in their car at a rest stop near Myersville.

185

Scott Lehmann and Shayna Unger of Frederick, graduates of the Maryland School for the Deaf, in May were the first two deaf American residents to climb the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest. They aim to be the first known deaf individuals to climb the highest mountain on each continent with their project, “Seeing Beyond: Seven Summits.”

186

On a Maryland Geological Society list of caves in the state, one is in Frederick County –Monocacy River Cave, 20 feet above the east bank of the Monocacy River, east of Hansonville, just above the power line. The entrance is 4 feet wide and 2 feet high, at the base of a small cliff.

187

The National Register of Historic Places includes 14 districts and 101 properties in Frederick, according to the Maryland Historical Trust, including the Bullfrog Road Bridge over the Monocacy River, Fat Oxen on Urbana Pike and Tipahato, a house in Sabillasville.

188

Frederick High School graduate Scott Ambush plays bass for the jazz fusion band Spyro Gyra, which was nominated for a Grammy Award 13 times.

189

For the tax year starting July 1, 2022, Frederick County had a taxable assessment base of $37.8 billion. That ranked seventh out of the state’s 23 counties and Baltimore city.

190

Frederick resident Marc DeOcampo won a contest to design a new Frederick County flag. His design has yellow, red, black and white quadrants, connected by lines of the same colors. It replaced a previous design that featured a likeness of Francis Scott Key, chosen in a similar contest in 1976.

191

Out of 198,111 registered voters in Frederick County as of June, 77,266 are enrolled as Democrats, 67,654 are enrolled as Republicans and 50,335 are unaffiliated.

192

After extreme flooding in Frederick in the 1970s, a $60 million project led by thenMayor Ron Young created the Carroll Creek flood control system and linear park. The project was modeled after

flood mitigation infrastructure in San Antonio.

193

More than 400 people attended a luncheon at the Francis Scott Key Hotel in Frederick on Jan. 1, 1936, to celebrate the start of radio station WFMD-AM.

194

In the first round of the 2023 NFL draft, the Minnesota Vikings picked Tuscarora High School graduate Jordan Addison and the New Orleans Saints selected Bryan Bresee of Urbana, who played at Damascus High School. It was the first time a Frederick County player was picked in the first round since Chuck Foreman went to the Vikings in 1973.

195

Between 2005 and 2015, Frederick County saw a decline in vehicle miles traveled per capita for the first time in almost 30 years.

In the area of the present day Monocacy National Battlefield, Union troops discovered three cigars wrapped in a copy of special orders issued by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The legend of the Ghost Hound — for which Frederick’s new Atlantic League baseball team is named — is “that in various parts of Frederick County, a phantom blue canine with fierce glowing eyes has haunted residents with its appearance — and just as quickly (disappeared) under the dimmed

Bimbo Bakeries USA on English Muffin Way is part of Grupo Bimbo, a worldwide baking company that operates in 34 countries. A common theory for the origin of the name “Bimbo” is that it was a combination of “bingo” and “Bambi.” The founders later realized that in colloquial Italian, children (“bambini”) were also called “bimbo,” a Hungarian word for “cocoon” or “bud.” The company further notes that in China, a phoneme that sounds like “bimbo” means “bread.” 199

The winning word in the 2023 Frederick County spelling bee was “caprifig,” a wild fig found in southern Europe and Asia. The winner of the bee was Cheyenne Hensley, a student in the county’s Blended Virtual Middle School.

200

Deputy Sheriff Clyde L. Hauver was fatally wounded in a raid on the Blue Blazes Still at Catoctin Mountain Park on July 31, 1929. Thirteen huge vats, which could each hold 2,000 gallons, were found, yielding more than 25,000 gallons of mash. It was one of the largest and best equipped whiskey stills ever found in Frederick County. Two moonshiners were convicted in connection with the murder.

201

Frederick County ended its “blue law” – prohibiting most retail businesses from operating on Sundays – in 1987.

202

Urbana High School graduate Jessie Graff, a star on NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior,” has 81 stunt credits listed on IMDb. com, including movies such as “Wonder Woman,” “Live Free or Die Hard,” and “The Dark Knight” and TV series such as “Supergirl,” “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D,” and “Hawaii Five-O.”

203

The U.S. Army Garrison at Fort Detrick supports five cabinetlevel agencies: the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services.

204

The Literacy Council of Frederick County has helped more than 9,250 adults since the program started in 1963.

205

Now in its 11th season, the Frederick Speaker Series has included Bob Woodward, Cal Ripken Jr., Gen. Colin Powell, Jane Fonda, Laverne Cox, Bryan Stevenson, Ronan Farrow, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Temple Grandin and Marlee Matlin.

206

United Way of Frederick County has a free 12-session budget coaching program to help people create and follow a budget while developing a three-to five-year financial goal.

207

Rocky Ridge’s Mount Tabor Park has a wooden slide that’s 40 feet high. It was built in the spring of 1950 by volunteers from Mount Tabor Lutheran and United Church of Christ and Lutheran Church and the local community.

208

A sculpture at the entrance of the C. Burr Artz Public Library in downtown Frederick –showing a teenage boy reading a book to a boy and a girl sitting on a bench –is called “Classics.”

The open book shows the first stanza of Francis Scott Key’s “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

209

The W.F. Moran Bladesmith and Artisan Academy in Middletown honors Bill Moran, a world renowned bladesmith who is in the Knifemakers Hall of Fame.

213

Frederick County’s unemployment rate in June 2023 was 1.5%, down from 2.0% in May.

214

210

About 8,800 employees work at the Fort Detrick campus, including with the Army, the National Cancer Institute and other tenants, as of July 2023. The next largest employers based in the city of Frederick were Frederick County Public Schools, with about 7,000 employees, and Frederick Health Hospital, with about 3,300 employees.

211

The Frederick Innovative Technology Center Inc., a business incubator, served 163 companies from 2004 to 2019. The companies had created over 800 jobs and $34.4 million in annual revenue.

212

The Frederick region was home to more than 80 bioscience companies as of 2021. There were more than 3,000 life science jobs in the county, more than half of which were within the city.

Sailing Through the Winter Solstice, an annual display of boats in Carroll Creek, raised more than $130,000 for local charities in the 2022-23 season. The event started in 2016, when Peter Kremers and Kyle Thomas created the first boat, the USS Hamster.

215

Based on official Sept. 30, 2022, enrollment data, the FCPS student demographics are: 50.4% white, 20.6% Hispanic/Latino; 14.4% Black or African American; 7.4% Asian; 6.9% two or more races; and less than 1% American Indian/Alaskan Native and Pacific Islander/ Native Hawaiian.

216

Frederick County Animal Control received 1,828 stray or wild animals in Fiscal Year 2023. Of that total, 28% were cats, 25% kittens, 20% dogs, 17% wildlife, 5% puppies and 5% other domestic animals.

217

The new Frederick Municipal Park was renamed on Aug. 12, 1927, in honor of Joseph Dill Baker.

218

The lake in Baker Park was named and dedicated to honor Mayor Lloyd C. Culler, mayor for 15 years, on Jan. 7, 1940.

219

Francis Scott Key died of pneumonia and pleurisy on Jan. 11, 1843. His remains were moved from Old Saint Paul’s Church cemetery in Baltimore to Frederick’s Mount Olivet Cemetery in 1866.

220

A meeting of 15 residents of Rosemont at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Emory Smith on March 16, 1953, led to the incorporation of the village. The group met to discuss how to prevent Southern States Cooperative from building a mill in the community.

221

Richard A. Hahn bought Snake Farm near Thurmont on March 15, 1966, and renamed it Jungle-land Serpentarium the following year. It became Catoctin Mountain Zoological Park on Jan. 1, 1970.

222

“Dr. John Tyler, credited with performing one of the first cataract operations in America, opened ... his practice in Frederick on Jan. 17, 1786.

223

A new Frederick High School was dedicated on May 31, 1940. It was built by Calvin Owens of Bethesda for $369,500.

Sponsored by:

225

Emmitsburg was incorporated by an act of the Maryland General Assembly on Jan. 13, 1825.

226

Thomas Johnson, a congressman, patriot, confidante of George Washington and Frederick resident, was elected governor of Maryland on Feb. 13, 1777. He received 40 of the 52 votes in the two-house Maryland Assembly.

227

Frederick Brick Works Inc. was founded on April 2, 1891. D.C. Winebrenner was the first president of the board of directors. C.C. Carty bought the first 50 shares of stock.

228

The name “Thurmont” was adopted to replace “Mechanicstown” on Jan. 14, 1894.

224

The Tivoli Theater (now known as the Weinberg Center for the Arts) opened on Dec. 23, 1926.

A Wurlitzer pipe organ accompanied the first film shown, the silent film “The Strong Man.”

229

William Henry Harrison visited Frederick on Feb. 5, 1841, on his way to Washington for his inauguration. He stayed at Dorsey’s City Hotel.

230

Helen Keller visited Frederick and spoke to overflow crowds at The Maryland School for the Deaf and the Evangelical Lutheran Church on Jan. 18, 1931.

231

Jacob Koogle, a Frederick native, was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions on April 1, 1865, at Five Forks, Virginia. The citation read “captured battle flag.”

232

President-elect Andrew Jackson spent the night at Talbott’s Tavern on Feb. 9, 1829, on the way to his inauguration in Washington.

233

A lavish memorial funeral for George Washington, who had died in December 1799, was held in Frederick on Feb. 22, 1800. Thomas Johnson delivered the eulogy.

234

President George Bush and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl held a joint news conference at Camp Greentop near Thurmont on Feb. 25, 1990, after two days of talks on a unified Germany.

235

Francis Scott Key Mall opened on July 17, 1978.

236

Elizabeth Ann Seton opened the first parochial school in the United States at The White House in Emmitsburg on Feb. 22, 1810.

237

The telephone made its first appearance in Frederick on March 23, 1878, at the Western Union Telegraph Office where Charles F. Kreh was the manager.

238

Federated Charities Corporation of Frederick Inc. was incorporated in 1911. It was formed to provide assistance to Frederick Countians, no matter the need.

239

Frederick County District Court Judge Mary Ann Stepler, the first woman appointed to the local bench, was named administrative judge of the 11th District Court that included Frederick and Washington counties on Jan. 29, 1982. She was the first woman to hold this position.

240

J.C. Penney’s downtown store burned in a spectacular fire in the 100 block of North Market Street in Frederick on Jan. 31, 1955.

241

New York Congressman Daniel Sickles went on trial on April 4, 1859, for the murder of Philip Barton Key, a son of Francis Scott Key. Sickles was the first defen-

dant in American jurisprudence to use the temporary insanity defense and was acquitted on April 26. Daniel Key, another son of Francis Scott Key, was killed in a duel in Prince George’s County in 1836 at age 20.

242

Maryland Gov. Frank

Brown on April 4, 1892, signed the charter establishing the town of Walkersville as an incorporated community.

243

The first Frederick Keys game was played at McCurdy Field on April 11, 1989. A year later, the team played its first game at Harry Grove Stadium.

244

George Washington met with Gen. Edward Braddock and Benjamin Franklin at a West All Saints Street tavern on April 23, 1755, to plan the British attack on Fort Duquesne. The building was demolished in 1913 to make way for a milk plant.

245

The Maryland General Assembly declined to secede from the Union in a special session held on April 27, 1861, at Kemp Hall on Market Street at Church (southeast corner) in Frederick called by Gov. Thomas H. Hicks.

246

The Women’s College of Frederick was founded on May 12, 1893, by the Potomac Synod of the Reformed Church. Joseph Henry Apple Jr. of Pittsburgh, a 28-year-old professor, was selected as the first president and remained in that position for 41 years. The school changed its name to Hood College to honor philanthropist Margaret Scholl Hood in 1913.

247

Shortly after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was created in 1912, the first group it chartered was in Frederick.

248

Middletown native Charlie “King Kong” Keller won World Series championships with the New York Yankees in 1939, 1941 and 1943.

249

Actions by Private George Hooker, a Frederick native, on Jan. 22, 1873, at Tonto Creek, Arizona, earned him a Congressional Medal of Honor for gallantry in action during the Indian Campaigns. He was killed in the engagement.

250

Eric Olson, 16, and his brother Nils Olson, 12, arrived in San Francisco on Aug. 15, 1961, after bicycling 3,300 miles from their Frederick home. Eric Olson, who got the idea for the trip from an article in Boys’ Life, later said that their motivation for the trip was largely the death of their father, Frank Olson, who was a scientist at Fort Detrick’s Special Operations Division and expressed moral concerns about the biological warfare program in which he was involved. Eric Olson said the government told the family that Frank Olson either fell or jumped from the 10th floor of a New York City hotel room. A 1975 article in The Washington Post revealed that a civilian employee of the Army was unknowingly given LSD, then later jumped from a hotel window and died. Frank Olson’s former boss at Fort Detrick confirmed that he was the unnamed man in the story.

251

An Air Force EC-135-N radar plane, from Ohio’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, exploded over Walkersville on May 6, 1981, and crashed into the farmland just north of town. All 21 people aboard were killed.

252

The Howmet Corporation on July 16, 1968, announced plans to build a $190 million plant near Buckeystown to produce aluminum ingots. In 1997, the facility was known as Eastalco.

253

In 1803 in Frederick, Meriwether Lewis did some of the planning for his famous two-year expedition with William Clark.

254

In December 1775, a jail was built in Fredericktown, the seat of the new county. It was a two-story log building, with each story divided into three rooms. A small house for the keeper and guard was built next door. It was located on East Second Street, just past the corner of Market Street.

255

The Frederick News, published by The Great Southern Publishing and Manufacturing Company, purchased The Frederick Post on Feb. 1, 1916.

256

The dedication of a bust of Roger Brooke Taney in Courthouse Square on Sept. 26, 1931, was broadcast nationally over the radio. Charles Evans Hughes, the chief justice of the United States, was the main speaker.

257

Frederick Towne Mall opened on Aug. 17, 1972, with special ceremonies conducted with Richard Nixon lookalike Richard M. Dixon as master of ceremonies.

258

George B. Delaplaine Jr. on July 9, 1987, gave the Mountain City Mill property on South Carroll Street to the city of Frederick for use as an arts center in exchange for 15 acres of vacant land on Gambrill Mountain, west of Frederick.

259

U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy, a Democratic presidential candidate, made a whirlwind tour of Frederick on May 13, 1960. He met officials at the Frederick County Courthouse, ate lunch at the Francis Scott Key Hotel, and visited the American Optical plant near Frederick Municipal Airport.

260

Eva Catherine Schley was born on March 13, 1749. She was said to be the first child born in Frederick Town, the original name of the city.

261

Private First Class Annon C. Shriner of Thurmont on June 6, 1944, became the first Frederick County man killed on D-Day. He was the only Frederick County soldier killed at Omaha Beach.

262

Pope John Paul II in 1991 conferred the title of Basilica on the Chapel of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg.

263

Ann J. Crawford, 67, on May 29, 1854, became the first person buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Frederick. She died the previous day.

264

New Market was laid out in 1793 by Nicholas Hall.

265

William A. Stulz, who killed city policeman John Adams, became the last person executed at the Frederick County Jail on Nov. 10, 1922.

266

The Camp David Accords, an agreement between Egypt and Israel, was signed on Sept. 17, 1978.

267

On Sept. 29, 1951, Frederick’s mayor and Board of Aldermen liquidated – at last – the city’s debt to five local banks that provided the $200,000 in ransom payments that prevented Confederate General Jubal Early from burning the city on July 9, 1864.

268

The Frederick Board of County Commissioners and the board of education leased Winchester Hall on Aug. 1, 1930, for one year for $1,500. The property had been used as a school for nearly a century. The county later purchased the property.

269

The Frederick News-Post began full operations from its new plant at 200 E. Patrick St. on Sept. 30, 1968, having moved from its previous location at 26 N. Court St.

271

Federal Judge Earl Larson ruled on Oct. 19, 1973, in a patent suit over royalties for the use of computer patents that John V. Atanasoff, who lived the last 39 years of his life near New Market, was the inventor of the computer.

272

John Hanson of Frederick on Nov. 5, 1781, was elected by Congress as first “President of the United States in Congress Assembled.”

273

Montgomery and Washington counties were separated from Frederick County on Sept. 6, 1776.

274

270

Less than a month after the British Stamp Act of 1765 took effect (requiring that all official and legal documents be written on stamped paper sold by British agents), the 12 judges of the Frederick County Court refused publicly on Nov. 23 to comply with its provisions, which became known as Repudiation Day. It was the first official defiance of the Stamp Act in America.

Enoch Louis Lowe of Frederick was elected governor of Maryland on Oct. 2, 1850, then took office in January. At 30, he was the youngest man to ever hold the office. He also is believed to be the last Maryland governor to have lived in Frederick County.

275

The Maryland Room at the C. Burr Artz Public Library in downtown Frederick has a collection of more than 11,000 volumes on Frederick County and Maryland, with strengths in history and genealogy of Western Maryland, Maryland’s natural history, and Maryland community cookbooks.