Fill - Free fillable The Building Of Westminster In Maryland (1998) (City of Westminster) PDF form

The City of Westminster

Mayor and Common Council

Mayor Kenneth A. Yowan, Mayor

Edward S. Calwell, Council President

Suzanne P. Albert

Stephen R. Chapin, Sr.

Damian L. Halstad

Gregory Pecoraro

Historic District Commission

Carol M. Wiskeman, Chairperson

Michael Reiner, Vice-chairperson

Dean R. Camlin, AIA

Constance C. Humphrey

Laurie E. Walters

Department of Planning

and Public Works

Thomas B. Beyard, Director

Katrina L. Tucker, AICP, Town Planner

Tracey L. Smith, AICP, Assistant Town Planner

Christopher Weeks

The Building of

Westminster

in Maryland

CD-ROM produced by

for

The City of Westminster

funded in part through a Special Grant Fund sponsored by

Preservation Maryland

and the

Maryland Historical Trust

The Mayor and Common Council of

Westminster, Maryland

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November 1998

End of Hints

View the rest of the front matter, then

click on “Go to PARTS I & II” in the Contents panel.

Part I is the main text; Part II is the Inventory of Historic Structures

The Building of

WESTMINSTER

in Maryland

A socio-architectural account

of Westminster’s first 250 years,

including an illustrated inventory

of over 200 historic structures.

First Edition (Print) 1978

Produced for the City of Westminster by

Fishergate Publishing Company, Inc.

Annapolis, Maryland

Second Edition (CD-ROM) 1998

Produced for the City of Westminster by

Fishergate, Inc., Textrek Division

Annapolis, Maryland

Christopher Weeks

THE COVER:

“Emerald Hill” was built in 1842 by Colonel John K.

Longwell, a key figure in Westminster’s history. The

mansion was purchased by the City in 1939 and con-

verted for use as “City Hall.” The 1885 family portrait

shows members of the John L. Reifsnider, Sr., family

in the garden of “Terrace Hill,” one of Westminster’s

major social and physical landmarks.

The present-day photographs were taken by the

author. The majority of early photographs was ob-

tained from the collection of the Historical Society of

Carroll County; others were provided by Mr. Dennis

F. Blizzard, Mr.

Mrs. J. Frank Getty, Mrs. Theo-

dore Hoster, Miss Doris

Hull, and Mr.

Mrs. J.

Pearre Wantz, Jr. The map on page 6 was provided

by the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore. The

map of Westminster on pages 72-73 was reproduced

from the

Illustrated Atlas of Carroll County,

Mary-

land, published in 1877 by Lake, Griffing

Steven-

son, Philadelphia. The illustrations on pages 2-3

and 48-49 (Court House) were also reproduced from

this atlas.

* * *

The historic sites survey and the research, writing,

and pre-press production for this publication were

paid for jointly by (1) the City of Westminster

through a Community Development Block Grant

from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban

Development authorized by Title I—Housing and

Community Development Act of 1974, Public Law

93-833, and (2) the Maryland Historical Trust using

continuing grant-in-aid assistance for historic site

surveys made available by the Heritage Conservation

and Recreation Service, U.S. Department of the

Interior, under the provisions of the National Historic

Preservation Act of 1966.

FISHERGATE PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.

2521 Riva Road, Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Westminster, Maryland, 1978

First Published December 1978

Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 78-74177

Fishergate, Inc., Textrek Division

2521 Riva Road, Annapolis, Maryland 21401

of Westminster, Maryland, 1998

Second Edition on CD-ROM December 1998

he idea of publishing a Twentieth Anniversary Edition of The Building of West-

minster in Maryland, was first broached by the City of Westminster Historic Dis-

trict Commission in early 1997. Upon contacting Fishergate, Inc., the

producer of the book, it was learned that the original printer had gone out of business.

As a result, the negatives for the pages of the book were no longer available and could

only be reproduced through an expensive, time-consuming process.

This initial setback led to a search for an alternative means of publishing this historical

account of Westminster. Fishergate proposed a CD-ROM version of the publication, which

won favor with The Mayor and Common Council and Historic District Commission due

to its value as a research and educational tool—the CD-ROM would permit searching for

a specific word or topic, linking photographs of buildings to their locations on the map

of Westminster, and including updated information on the use of buildings and preser-

vation efforts in Westminster.

The Mayor and Common Council demonstrated their support for the project by

appropriating a portion of the funding required for the production of the CD-ROM.

Additional funding was secured through a Special Grant Fund sponsored by Preserva-

tion Maryland and the Maryland Historical Trust. This grant funding was based on the

project’s value as an educational and promotional tool for Westminster’s historic

downtown.

Updates to the original text of the book were completed through a careful review of

the original publication by the Historic District Commission. The majority of changes

involved updating the current uses for the City’s historic structures and adjusting the

architectural descriptions to match the current condition of buildings.

The addendum provides additional text which highlights the accomplishments in

preservation since the original publication of the book and the successes and losses in

regard to historic resources in Westminster. Also included are information for proper-

ties that have been inventoried since 1978 and additional photographs of Westmin-

ster’s historic resources. Unless otherwise noted, the additional inventory information

was completed by Kenneth Short, Historic Planner for Carroll County, and the

remainder of the addendum was prepared by Tracey Smith, Assistant Town Planner

for the City of Westminster.

Foreword

(1998 CD-ROM Edition)

Preface

with Acknowledgments

This book is the outcome of a pleasant year-and-a-

half spent studying the architectural history of the city of

Westminster in central Maryland. The process

I can-

not honestly call it work

was made easier and jollier

than it might have been by the warm and helpful wel-

come given by the citizens of Westminster to this eccentric

stranger from Harford County. I thank them all; later I

will mention a few who were particularly helpful.

When the actual research was more or less finished,

the heaps of photographs, the title searches, the survey

forms, the masses of memorabilia, and the hastily

scrawled notes and anecdotes needed culling and orga-

nizing.

am by nature ill-suited to orderliness, being

reluctant to throw anything away. Eventually, however

things fell or were pushed into two piles that, oddly, cor-

respond to the eventual two sections of this book: Part I, a

narrative and Part II, an inventory.

Alberti said that architecture without politics is mean-

ingless. Thus, very meaningfully, Part I analyzes the ar-

chitectural progression of Westminster in the context of

the city’s political, social, and economic history; it con-

siders how changes affected and were reflected in the

city’s architecture. I must stress here that the book is in no

way intended to be a comprehensive “History of West-

minster.

”

I have digressed from architectural fact, con-

jecture, and comment only to augment the analysis with

appropriate perspective, vitality, and color. Granted I

have digressed widely on occasion

the three “Inter-

ludes,” for example, are strictly scene-setters

but by

this approach I have hoped to gain the interest of people

who are not professionally involved in architectural his-

tory. After all, should not the general citizenry be the first

to be offered the opportunity to “view with pride” its ar-

chitectural heritage?

The narrative is based on facts: the city was founded

in 1764; the railroad came through in 1861; Ascension

Church and the present City Hall were built at the same

time. . . .No one can dispute these statements. But it is

safe to say that someone else looking at these same facts

might draw different impressions and conclusions. Thus,

without apology, Part I is merely one person’s interpreta-

tion (mine) of the various events and people (the ambi-

tious

politician, the adventurous land-speculator, and the

conservative banker and farmer) that have made the

physical and social fabric of Westminster what it is today.

Part II is a listing, with description and photograph,

of Westminster’s historically significant buildings. His-

torically significant? I applied a very simple definition: At

least a century old and still standing. I explain this more

fully, and with a modicum of apology, in the Introduc-

tion to Part II.

The manner of funding this project seems to have

been quite complicated. To begin at the end, the cost of

actually printing the book is being covered by receipts

from its sale. Payment for my eighteen months of activity

and our publisher’s endeavors in organizing, editing, de-

signing,

typesetting, etc., came from two primary

sources: (1) The Maryland Historical Trust which in turn

was using continuing grant-in-aid assistance for historic

site surveys made available by the Heritage Conservation

and Recreation Service, U.S. Department of the Interior,

under the provisions of the National Historic Preservation

Act of 1966, and (2) the City of Westminster, which got

money for the project in the form of a Community Devel-

opment Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Hous-

ing and Urban Development. If this sounds like a fertile

field for red tape, it was. Thanks are due, therefore, to

the two gentlemen who succeeded in putting the package

(1978 Print Edition)

together

to Carroll Dell, Director of Planning and

Public Works for the City of Westminster, who conceived

the idea for the survey and the book, and to Mark Ed-

wards,

Historic Sites Coordinator for the Maryland

Historical Trust, who gave wholehearted support and

assistance in implementing the idea. (During the course

of the work, they both exercised inordinate tact and pa-

tience in the face of my vagaries, gently prodding me and

the project along.) Thanks are also due to those in An-

napolis and Westminster who filled out the forms and

signed the checks:

Rita Brunner, Richard Byrd, and

Robert Myers.

The Historical Society of Carroll County provided

productive files for research, and the Society’s staff,

Dorothy Steinhagen and Barbara Martin, made my visits

most agreeable.

My gratitude is also due the Carroll

County Committee of the Maryland Historical Trust,

particularly Christine Armacost, Ellen Joseph, and Kathy

Palaia. I am dearly indebted to Joe Getty, Doris Hull,

Tony James, Brookes Leahy, Susan

Tobin,

and Karen

Willis for providing encouragement, amusement, and

friendship in the Westminster area and to Nancy Miller

and Pamela James for the same services on my visits to the

Maryland Historical Trust offices in Annapolis.

An array of individuals provided the facts, leads,

hints, and gossip that give this book whatever color it has.

Among these are Mr.

Dennis F. Blizzard, Mr. William

Brown, Mr. Amos Davidson, Mrs. Theodore Hoster,

Mary Ann Kelly, Mrs. A.F. Michaux, Miss Ann S. Reif-

snider, Mrs. David Taylor, Mr.

Mrs. Homer L. Twigg,

Mr.

Mrs. J. Pearre Wantz, Jr., Judge

Mrs. Edward

Weant,

Dr. George Thomas, and Mr. Charles 0.

Fisher, Sr. For being pleasant souls in general and for

providing, at crucial times,

ideal environments first for

The Building oj

Westmznster

m Maryland

writing and then for rewriting and re-rewriting, my

thanks are eagerly given to Mr.

Mrs. Brodnax Cam-

eron, Sr., and to Miss Mary Helen Cadwalader. The sev-

eral drafts of the book were read by a multitude of peo-

ple, many of whom I have mentioned previously. I must

acknowledge particularly, however, Mrs. James M.

Shriver, Sr., and Mr.

Mrs. Peter

Benton

for patiently

reading the very rough, early drafts and for offering

much sound advice and helpful criticism

and for

several delicious meals.

I deeply appreciate the surgical organizing and edit-

ing of my material performed by Anthony Drummond of

Fishergate Publishing Company in Annapolis and his

company’s expert handling of the book's design, typeset-

ting, and layout.

A litany of acknowledgements is an essential and stan-

dard part of any research treatise and, as such, it is dif-

ficult to inject into the list of names and well-worn

phrases the sincerity one truly feels. It is even more dif-

ficult, then, to express the depth of certain very special

debts. I can only hope that the following four people,

without whom this project would have been impossible,

realize that these written words of thanks are but a mea-

gre outward sign of my immeasurable inward and spiri-

tual gratitude., affection, and respect: Mrs. Edgar

Barnes, whose interest and knowledge of local history are

matched only by her own special grace and cheerfulness;

Joyce Carpenter of the Westminster Planning and Public

Works Department, who, always uncomplaining, typed

uncounted versions of my inventory reports and manu-

script and kept the project material in impeccable order;

and Mr. and Mrs. J. Frank Getty, who provided me with

an invaluable darkroom and constant friendship in their

home.

C. W.

For

Brodnax and Julia

Cameron

and

Mario and Betty di Valmarana

with my admiration,

affection, and respect.

Blank

Activity Since 1978

ince the original publication of The Building of Westminster in Maryland, many

changes have occurred in regard to Westminster’s historic resources. A major

step in the recognition of the significance of Westminster’s historic structures

was the nomination of the Westminster Historic District to the National Register

in 1980. The inventory form completed by Joseph Getty, Nancy A. Miller, and

Christopher Weeks provided the following summary description of the West-

minster National Register District. The historic part of Westminster continues to

reflect this description today.

Westminster, in the piedmont region of Maryland, is centrally located

in Carroll County, at the convergence of major transportation routes

connecting to Pennsylvania, Washington, and Baltimore, now Maryland

Routes140, 97, 32, 31, and 27. Geographically, the area consists of gen-

tly rolling hills of fertile soil. Westminster is situated on Parr’s Ridge, a

north-south oriented ridge that once served as the boundary between

Baltimore and Frederick Counties. The district has a dominant linear

quality following Main Street, running in a northwest direction and hav-

ing parallel alleys on both sides. Also parallel to Main Street and to the

south of it is Green Street. Arteries perpendicular to Main Street are

irregularly spaced along its length, and at the northwest end of the city,

there is a fork where Pennsylvania Avenue branches off Main Street to

the north. The residential, commercial and industrial district is densely

developed, especially in the older, original section on Main Street. The

development and growth of Westminster progressed along the Main

Street in an east to west movement, a pattern that is relatively discern-

able in its present townscape. The architecture exhibits a wide variety of

vernacular styles ranging from small domestic frame or brick houses at

the east and west ends, Victorian commercial structures in the downtown,

and scattered twentieth century glass and aluminum facades. However,

all of these buildings remain within a four story height, attaining a

smooth proportion to a street that is expansive by its length.

The Westminster Historic District contains 1400 principal structures

of which one percent are intrusions and ten percent are not now con-

tributing but have the potential through the passage of time or restora-

tion of becoming contributing structures. The remaining 89% are

contributing.

Westminster evidences a continuum of residential architecture reflect-

ing—with a pronounced time lag—the national changes in “high style”

architecture. The basic building form is an early 19th century vernacular

farm house combining Pennsylvania and Georgian, or English elements.

Constructed in brick or frame, these buildings have cross gable roofs,

ADDENDUM

symmetrical arrangement of fenestration, and simple detailing. As is

to be expected, changes through time are reflected in detailing

applied to the basic form. The expansion of Westminster—filling in

previously laid out neighborhoods—allowed for these incremental

additions so that walking the streets of Westminster one can read the

evolution and development of the town.

Construction of a distinct commercial architecture occurred only in

the mid-19th century. Owners along Main Street erected larger scale,

imposing buildings which abandoned references to the house form.

The commercial buildings demand attention through their height and

breadth and the detailing on the facades which follows more closely

current national trends: plateglass display windows and Romanesque

arches and detailing for upper floors.

The commercial development—unlike the residential—has

occurred in the same geographic area so that early commercial build-

ings have been historically demolished or substantially altered to

reflect current needs. The greatest pressure for land use exists in the

commercial district: Main Street. The tension and change continues to

be evident today.

The industrial buildings, located along the railroad, are strictly

functional and possess no architectural design qualities with the

notable exception of the power house on Locust Lane. The existing

structures are replacements of earlier shelters on the same site which

usually has been occupied by the same firm. Ecclesiastical buildings

are uniformly Gothic Revival.

A special feature of Westminster is the frequent occurrence of open

spaces which relieve the feeling of density. The incremental

“Additions” to Westminster accomplished in rectangular plots of land

historically left open space in the midst of development. Belle Grove

Square, the extensive lawn at City Hall, and the municipal park

between Willis and Main Streets are notable examples.

The Westminster Historic District is in good condition. The major-

ity of the buildings continue their original use with few exceptions.

The residents have a strong and continuing interest in the preserva-

tion of Westminster. Restoration and rehabilitation have been under-

way for several decades, especially along Main Street. The City of

Westminster, most notably, is encouraging rehabilitation in their com-

mercial district and has undertaken large scale rehabilitation projects

itself chiefly to address housing needs.

Inclusion of the Westminster Historic District in the National Register is pri-

marily an honorary recognition. There are no restrictions on the renovation of

structures by private property owners beyond the requirements of the Building

Code and other City regulations; however, if federal funds are being used to

complete a project, review and approval of the project in regard to its impact on

historic resources is required. Owners of historic properties located within the

Westminster National Register District are eligible for various tax incentives,

described later in this section.

Following the listing of the Westminster Historic District on the National

resources occurred in 1987, when a Westminster Historic District Study

Committee was created to study the issue of preservation in Westminster. In its

June 1991 report, the Westminster Historic District Study Committee determined

that the creation of a zoned historic district would protect existing historic

resources, enhance property values, preserve the aesthetic appeal of downtown,

and provide an identity for Westminster residents. The Committee also drafted an

ordinance for the new historic district, developed architectural guidelines, and

created a map showing the proposed location of the district.

The Mayor and Common Council at that time held a public hearing to obtain

citizen comment in regard to the proposed historic district. After considerable

debate, the Mayor and Council decided to make inclusion in the Local Historic

District a voluntary action on the part of the property owner. The Local Historic

District established a set of design guidelines that must be followed for any exte-

rior renovations or additions that were made to a property located within the dis-

trict. These design guidelines were based on the Secretary of the Interior’s

Standards for Rehabilitation. Currently, due to the voluntary nature of the district,

only two properties are located within the district, and as a result, most of West-

minster’s historic resources are not protected by local law.

The Local Historic District is administered by the Westminster Historic District

Commission, a five member commission of citizens having a background or spe-

cial interest in preservation issues. The Historic District Commission has focused

its efforts on educational programs through the sponsoring of workshops and

house tours.

Some of the educational programs sponsored by the Historic District

Commission have provided information to Westminster residents in regard to

rehabilitation tax incentive programs. State and federal programs are in place,

and there is enabling legislation which would allow the City to establish a local tax

incentive program as well.

The State Income Tax Credit program began on January 1, 1997, and is avail-

able to owner-occupied residential properties and income producing properties

located in a National Register District or a Local Historic District. Under the pro-

gram, the property owner can receive an income tax credit equal to 25% of the

cost of rehabilitation work. Expenditures for rehabilitation work over a 24 month

period must be at least $5,000 for owner-occupied residences. For income pro-

ducing properties, the minimum is the adjusted basis of the structure or $5,000,

whichever is greater. If the amount of the tax credit is greater than the total

income tax owed during the first year in which the credit is claimed, the excess

credit may be applied toward the owner’s income tax liability for up to 10 years.

The application process for the State Income Tax Credit program includes two

steps. First, a structure must be designated as a “certified heritage structure.”

Second, the rehabilitation project(s) must be approved by the Maryland Historical

Trust, which requires conformance with the Trust’s guidelines.

The Federal Income Tax Incentive consists of a 20% tax credit. This credit is

available only to income producing properties which are part of a National

Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. The tax credit can be carried back for

three tax years and carried forward for up to 15 years. Expenditures for rehabili-

tation work over a 24 month period must be at least the adjusted basis of a struc-

ture or $5,000, whichever is greater. In order to expedite the processing of

applications, property owners who are applying for both State and Federal

Income Tax Credits are required to submit only the federal application forms and

the cover sheets of the state application.

In addition to the State and Federal tax credit programs, the Maryland General

Assembly has adopted enabling legislation which allows local governments to

enact property tax incentive programs. This enabling legislation permits local

jurisdictions to adopt a property tax incentive program which can be applied to

residential and commercial properties located within historic districts, provided

that rehabilitation work has been approved by the local Historic District

Commission. A property tax incentive would allow an owner’s property assess-

ment value to be held at pre-restoration levels for up to ten years for City taxa-

tion purposes. Since the assessed value of a property is likely to increase as a result

of rehabilitation work, a property tax incentive program has the potential to save

owners a considerable sum in future property taxes.

The City has supported a number of programs to enhance the appearance of

Westminster’s historic neighborhoods. One of the most visible projects has been

the compatible reconstruction of the State highways which pass through the

National Register District. When East Main Street was reconstructed in 1993-94,

the original plans were changed radically to avoid widening the street and to pro-

tect the traditional character of Main Street. The project also involved the use of

brick pavers in parts of the sidewalks and in the crosswalks, installation of trees

and planting beds, and retention of on-street parking. This project resulted in

preservation of the historic layout and appearance of the street.

The East Main Street reconstruction project was recognized by two federal

agencies during 1997. First, the project was included as a model in the National

Trust publication Smart States, Better Communities. In addition, the project received

an Environmental Excellence Award for Excellence in Historic and Archeological

Preservation from the Federal Highway Administration. Due to the success of the

East Main Street project, the reconstruction of the upper portion of Pennsylvania

Avenue was modeled after it, and a similar project has been planned for West

Main Street. The public improvements made to East Main Street have had the

added impact of encouraging private investment in the adjoining properties.

While much has been accomplished toward preserving Westminster’s historic

character, much remains to be carried out if the City’s historic resources are to be

maintained for the enjoyment of future generations. The 1998 City of Westminster

Comprehensive Plan addresses the topics of neighborhood revitalization and his-

toric resources in detail and recommends a number of activities for achieving the

long term preservation of the Westminster community. Suggested activities

include the continuation of educational programs which address historic preser-

vation topics, identification of the neighborhoods in greatest need of revitaliza-

tion, and the protection of historic resources during development and renovation

projects.

Inventory of Historic Structures

Additions since 1978

The following summaries have been prepared by Kenneth Short,

Historic Planner for Carroll County, unless otherwise noted.

CARR 1428

37-39 CHARLES STREET 1887

Charles Street School private

At their May 1883 meeting, the School Board noted: “A written application for

a ‘colored’ school in the ‘East End’ of Westminster, was received, and action

thereon postponed.” The request was repeated in June of 1887. “David Ireland

and other colored citizens from the east end of Westminster . . . repeated their

requests for an appropriation of two hundred fifty dollars towards a house for

a colored school . . . the request was unanimously granted.” By early December

authorization was given to paint the woodwork of the school. The Charles

Street School continued to function as an education facility for black children

for many years. The 1918 Sanborn Map describes it as a public school with

stoves for heating and no lights. It must have been about this time that the

Board decided to close the building. As yet, the reasons are unknown. It was

offered for sale in May 1920. The building was sold to Isaac Bruce for $500.

According to the 1927 Sanborn Map, he converted the school to a dwelling.

The building has recently been renovated by a private owner.

CARR 1335

138 EAST MAIN STREET circa 1905-1920

private

The house at 138 East Main Street is one of two identical adjacent houses. It is

typical of national building trends of the early twentieth century and was prob-

ably constructed c. 1905-1920. The plan, with a foyer and a columned opening

to the parlor, indicates a close reliance on the many pattern books and period-

icals available at this time. In conjunction with the details, which seem to be all

mass produced outside of the County, or by locals based on ideas from outside

the County, this house demonstrates the complete end of traditional building

styles in Carroll County and the dominance of a national culture. Incomplete

land records make it impossible to determine who was responsible for the con-

struction of this house.

CARR 1427

317 EAST MAIN STREET circa 1854-1856

Rachel Mitten House private

The Rachel Mitten House is located on a lot that was sold at public sale to

William Reese for $111 in October 1852. Just over a year later Reese sold it to

Noah Mitten for $200. The price suggests that there were likely no improve-

ments to the lot. Noah Mitten sold the lot in August 1856 to his mother, Rachel

Mitten, for $400. This probably indicates the construction of the existing log

house, then, between 1854 and 1856 for Rachel Mitten. In order to purchase

the house, Rachel Mitten borrowed $100 from her daughter, Christena Mitten.

Rachel Mitten died in early 1860. Christena Mitten apparently was living here

and continued to do so. The house was advertised for sale in November 1868.

In 1877 it was purchased by Sarah A. Miller of Baltimore City and apparently

became a rental property. She sold it in 1907 to William Eckard, and it

remained in this family until very recently. The main block of the house retains

most of its original features and illustrates well a very average house of the

period just prior to the Civil War, one that was apparently built for a widow and

her unmarried daughters, if not by them.

CARR1335

CARR1427

CARR1428

CARR 472

12-24 LIBERTY STREET

Farmers Supply Company Complex public/private

The Farmers Supply Company Complex consists of a city block on Liberty

Street, one block south of the downtown crossroads of Main and Liberty at the

center of Westminster, Maryland. The four structures on the property reflect

the evolution of the site over a 100 year period. A two-story, gable roofed stone

building, constructed as a foundry ca. 1865, is situated at the northeast corner

of the site. A mid-19th century brick building on a stone foundation, used as a

packing house, sits at the center of the block. The most architecturally signifi-

cant building on the block is the 1947 Farmers Supply Company Building, a

one-story concrete block and glass international style building that occupies

the southeast corner. Based on a prototype developed by noted industrial

designer Raymond Loewy, the Farmers Supply Company Building is a virtually

unaltered example of an important mid-20th century building typology. A mid-

20th century corrugated metal and concrete block warehouse structure wraps

around the north and west sides of the block. Both the stone building and the

brick barn have been altered over the years. The Farmers Supply Company

Building is in good condition, the stone building is in fair condition, the ware-

house is in fair condition, and the brick packing house is in deteriorated con-

dition. This site is planned for redevelopment during 1998-1999.

Prepared by Betty Bird of Betty Bird & Associates.

CARR 1448

70 LIBERTY STREET circa 1878-1879

John Eckenrode House private

John E. Eckenrode was born on “Carrollton” farm near Reese in 1847. He

apprenticed with William Green, a Westminster carriage maker, for three years.

He then took a job as a painter with George W. Stoner. After six months he

became a partner with Stoner and married his daughter, Annie. Shortly after-

ward, Eckenrode moved to Westminster and formed a partnership with Eli Sny-

der. In 1878 Eckenrode bought lot 6 of Yingling’s Addition to Westminster, on

Liberty Street on the corner of George Street. The 1877 map of Westminster

shows the lot vacant, and according to family tradition, Harry Case was respon-

sible for building the front part of the house. This is confirmed by a brief notice

in the local paper in November 1878: “Harry Case, carpenter, is building a

dwelling for John Eckenrode. It will be 20 x 32 feet, and two stories high.” The

Eckenrodes and Cases intermarried, and the property remains today in the

Case family. Family tradition also records that the back building was con-

structed by another, unknown builder, after completion of the front part of the

house but before anyone had moved in. The tax assessments note a new house

worth $850 in 1879, suggesting that construction spanned late 1878 and the

first part of 1879. The house is a fairly simple, traditional building of average

size. Eckenrode was already planning improvements behind his new house, and

in May 1883 announced that he had removed to them. The front porch was

added between 1897 and 1904. The back of the main block of the house, now

covered by the ell, is painted a medium tan with chocolate trim, and this was

probably the original color of the house. The ell was added later, but could not

have been added too many years after construction of the front of the house.

CARR 472

CARR1448

CARR 128

17 NORTH CHURCH STREET circa 1888

Westminster Cemetery Superintendent’s House private

The earliest history of this structure is anecdotal, as no records could be found

to verify its history. About 1790, a log Union Meeting House was constructed

and a graveyard created around it on the site that is now the Westminster

Cemetery. Both the 1862 and 1877 maps show the Union Church with this

school house in close proximity. Whether there was a connection between the

two is not known, though it seems likely since the school was on the cemetery

grounds. In 1937, Bradford Gist Lynch wrote that professor John A. Monroe

taught “a private school known as the “Female Collegiate and Male Academic

Institute.” Nor is it known when the County acquired the school. The 4 June

1888 meeting of the School Commissioners noted: “the Board agreed to quit

claim to the old school property adjoining the cemetery quieting the title to

said property now held by said Cemetery company.” Eight days later the ceme-

tery board minutes record that: “steps would be take to improve the property

by making a dwelling of it, the 1st Room to be 13½ + 17 feet stairway 3½ feet

wide 2nd Room 12 + 17 feet with pantry underneath stairway. Kitchen 12 +

17. Partition to be removed back stairway remain first chimney to remain but

second to be placed between kitchen and dining room.” The work was obvi-

ously carried out, as the building now mirrors this description , and it was

noted in a January 1889 summary of buildings in Westminster that the “West-

minster Cemetery Company has improved and remodeled the old school

house on Church Street. The superintendent occupies it.” The building has

since been sold by the Westminster Cemetery Company, and it is currently

undergoing extensive restoration by a private citizen.

CARR 260

TAHOMA FARM ROAD

Fenby Farm Lime Kiln public

This site has been described, erroneously, as the remains of Leigh Masters iron

furnace. While the furnace was in the general vicinity, the structure in question

is a lime kiln, and is the only survivor of the Fenby Farm (CARR 407). The farm

was sold in 1829 to Joseph Orndorff. Orndorff apparently lived on the

premises and farmed it. According to the Democrat and Carroll County Republi-

canfor 1 January 1844, Joseph Stoudt was selling lime at nine cents per bushel

at his kiln on Joesph Orndorff’s farm. Joseph sold the farm to William H. Orn-

dorff for $10,000. He advertised in the 1877 atlas “Wm. H. Orndorff, Farmer;

also has for sale Lime Stone and Lime.” William Orndorff mortgaged his prop-

erty and eventually got into financial trouble. He was forced to sell the farm in

1888, and its mineral resources were described. “Its quarries yield the finest

limestone to be found in this section of the State. The lime obtained here has

always stood in high favor with builders and is equally useful for the fertiliza-

tion of land.” The farm was puchased by William Fenby, apparently for his son,

William F. Fenby, who continued the lime operation. Fenby sold the farm in

1905 to the B.F. Shriver Company of Westminster. The company not only used

the farm to raise crops for its large-scale canning operation, but apparently

continued to operate the quarry for some time.

This site was the target of an archeological investigation during 1997. A report

of the findings is available for review at City Hall.

CARR128

CARR260

CARR 404

41 WTTR LANE mid 19th century

private

Located on the outskirts of the original town of Westminster, 41 WTTR Lane

contains buildings which exhibit the styles and construction methods that are

typical of 19th century farmhouses and barns in the Pennsylvania Cultural

region. Both the primary dwelling and the barn make use of bank construction,

which allows for an exterior entrance to the basement of the house and direct

access to two levels in the barn.

The primary dwelling is a 2½ story, five bay brick structure with a metal, gabled

roof. Significant features include a single story porch on the main facade, inte-

rior chimneys at the gable ends, two sets of double tiered porches, and rear

enclosed bays. The interior of the dwelling is laid out with an altered center

hall plan, and contains front and rear stairways, paneled and board and batten

doors, and three fireplaces.

The barn has a stone foundation, vertical wooden siding, and a metal roof. The

walls are pierced by large sliding doors and numerous louvered vents. Four-

over-four arched windows flanked by louvered vents are located in the gables.

Other contributing resources on the site include an open shed that is part of

the original barn yard, a secondary dwelling, a smokehouse, an oven, a garage,

and a small shed adjoining the garage.

Prepared by Tracey Smith, Assistant Town Planner for Westminster.

CARR 1316

45 WASHINGTON ROAD 1904-05; 1924

"The Hills" private

“The Hills” is located on a portion of the 9.4 acre parcel purchased by Guy

Wakeman Steele in September 1904. The son of J. Henry and Ella Wakeman

Steele, Guy Steele was born on his father’s farm in Eldersburg in 1871.

J. Henry Steele was a member of the Maryland and American Bar Associations,

and his son seems to have followed in his footsteps, being admitted to the bar

in 1894. A Democrat, Steele was elected States Attorney for Carroll County in

1903 and served one four-year term. It was perhaps his recent political success,

and continuing aspirations, that induced him to build a home that would be a

showplace for entertaining. Even before the deed had been executed the local

papers had noted that he “. . . has the foundation walls up for his new build-

ing, about to be erected on the Westminster and Washington turnpike adjoin-

ing this city. The plans for the dwelling have been drawn by Mr. Paul Reese,

architect, of this city [Westminster]. . . .” Reese studied architecture in the office

of Baltimore architect William M. Ellicott, Jr. before attending the Atelier Mas-

queray in New York City. Professor Masqueray had himself studied at the Ecole

des Beaux Arts, Paris, and in this way Beaux Arts design filtered down to small-

town America.

Charles B. Hunter, contractor and builder of Westminster, had the building

under roof by early November, 1904. By the end of July the dwelling was com-

plete and the Steeles had moved in. In June, 1906, Charles Hunter filed suit

against Guy Steele “...for the payment of $479 due upon contract in the erec-

tion of the fine residence of Mr. Steele, and for other sums for extra work not

embraced in the contract.” The case was moved to Washington County, no

doubt because Steele was the State’s Attorney in Carroll, and was tried in March

1907. The jury found in favor of Hunter, awarding him $376. Local tradition

claims that the house originally had a third story that was destroyed by fire in

1924, and that the house was rebuilt as a two-story dwelling. However, news-

paper accounts of the fire and the charred flooring, joists, and rafters left in

place in the attic clearly indicate that the original roof configuration was

CARR404

CARR1316

retained when the house was reconstructed. The Steele’s moved to the West-

minster Hotel after the fire and Charles B. Hunter began working on the ren-

ovations; the law suit of 18 years earlier seems to have been forgotten by both

parties. President Woodrow Wilson appointed Steele Surveyor of the Port of

Baltimore in 1915 and again in 1919. After his second term in that capacity he

practiced law in Westminster until his death at “The Hills” in October 1931, at

age 59. The house was purchased by Scott S. Bair in 1945. The Bair family

recently sold the house and it is undergoing conversion (1998), with extensive

additions, to an assisted living facility.

CARR 1572

BOND STREETatGREEN STREET 1868–69; 1893; 1923

St. Paul’s Reformed Church private

At the close of the Civil War, members of the German Reformed Church in

Westminster had to travel 1½ miles west of the city in order to worship, at

St. Benjamin’s (Kreiders) Church. To remedy this, a group formed to build a

church and organize a congregation. A building committee was formed in May

1868. That same month a lot was purchased at the corner of Bond and Green

Streets for $800.00. Pastor W.C. Cremer recalled several years later: “On June

the 8th 1868 the building committee met and resolved to visit Baltimore &

[arrive?] some church building and adopt a plan for the new church. In due

time a plan was adopted. Messrs, Shorb & Leister were employed as architects,

Mr. George Leas Master Carpenter and Christian Awalt master mason + brick-

layer, + Hashabiah Haines was chosen to act as Superintendent of the building

in concert mit [sic] + by direction of the building committee.” They eventually

chose a Wren-Gibbs plan with Gothic Revival detailing. The design of the

church was certainly not new to Baltimore, but it was to Carroll County, where

the first true example was built in 1862-63 by Trinity Reformed Church in

Manchester. This was followed by St. John’s Catholic and Grace Lutheran

Churches, both in Westminster. Shorb was a native of Emmitsburg who had

moved to Westminster in the early 1860s and eventually partnered with Leis-

ter in the design and construction of both furniture and buildings. Because

St. Paul’s was a new congregation, the building committee employed an inter-

esting and unusual arrangement for Carroll County in the nineteenth century.

Rather than build a small, traditional, conservative church at little expense,

they chose to build one that was large and elaborate for its time and place.

Since they were not assured of their endeavor, though, they did not build all at

once. Rather, they constructed the entire shell, but finished only the lower story

lecture room first. The lecture hall was dedicated on June 1, 1869, and it was

resolved to complete the church in August 1869. The church was completed

that year at a cost of $16,500.

After completion of the church a parsonage was constructed. This is appar-

ently the brick dwelling at the corner of Bond Street and the alley, and is no

longer owned by the church. In 1893 St. Paul’s moved to construct a new par-

sonage. Harry Case, a well known Westminster house builder, was given the

contract for the price of $2,559. The house is essentially a traditional central

passage, double pile plan, with the rooms on one side pushed forward into a

projecting bay. However, the design and finish, especially of the exterior, is not

at all traditional. Nominally Queen Anne in influence, the house design was

probably taken from one of the numerous pattern books available in the late-

nineteenth century and has certain affinities with designs by R. W. Shoppell,

whose books were popular in Carroll County in the 1880s and 1890s.

The church has undergone numerous changes. In 1893, as they were plan-

ning to build the new parsonage, a tornado brought the steeple down into the

church yard. The minute books report: “When it was wrenched from its brick

base, three of the large cap stones which ornamented the brick work were loos-

ened and fell, crashing through the roof and ceiling of the church into the

CARR1572

organ loft. The roof of the church was much damaged also by part of the roof

of Mr. Bankert’s house being carried upon it. Many of the enameled glass win-

dows were broken by the force of the wind and by pieces of timber and slate

being brushed against them.” The church consistory decided against rebuild-

ing the steeple, noting that “the high steeple, whilst it was an ornament to the

church, was also a menace.” Instead, a committee was appointed to repair the

roof “and to secure a plan for finishing the tower of the church.” This tower

still survives. In 1923 a major interior renovation was completed. Much of the

interior finishes seen today date to this period, and transformed the church

from a typically plain Gothic Revival structure of the mid-nineteenth century

to the more elaborate Gothic Revival typical of the first quarter of the twenti-

eth century. The renovations were designed by the DeLong Furniture Co. of

Philadelphia, architectural decorators and furnishers. The last significant

changes to the church came in 1957. A new, fifteen foot wide section was added

to the end of the church, enabling the chancel to be deepened, and an 8 foot

diameter rose window was placed here. In addition, a connection was made

from the church to the brick house known as the Royer property, and that

building was thoroughly remodeled.

CARR 1573

9 PARK AVENUE 1898–99

private

The house at 9 Park Avenue, on Belle Grove Square in Westminster, is part of

the large scale development that Mayor Oscar D. Gilbert made to this section

of the city beginning in the 1890s. The square was given to the city in 1877 by

George W. Matthews, who had laid out lots around it in what was known as

Matthews Addition. Gilbert bought lots 27, 28, and 29 in the 1890s; lots 27 and

29 already had brick dwellings on them. By mid-1897 Gilbert had added on to

11 Park Avenue and constructed 7 Park Avenue on part of lot 28. The houses

he was building and remodeling, though substantial, well-finished single fam-

ily dwellings, were built as rental properties. In November 1898 the local

papers noted that Gilbert was again building a house on the square. It was com-

pleted in 1899, according to the insurance underwriters rate book for West-

minster, at 9 Park Avenue. It was squeezed in between the existing buildings at

7 and 11 Park Avenue. Like the even larger house at 7 Park Avenue, this build-

ing was a large Queen Anne with refined details including decorative brackets

and frieze on the exterior, and pocket doors and a built-in hall seat at the foot

of the stairway on the interior. The house was probably a pattern-book plan,

and has similarities (especially the sunburst pattern in the bay gable) to R.W.

Shoppell’s designs, which were popular at this time in Carroll County. Begin-

ning in the 1880s, plan books brought national styles to towns in Carroll

County in ever-increasing numbers, until the local vernacular was completely

abandoned by about 1910. Denton Gehr purchased 9 Park Avenue from

Gilbert in 1921, and apparently lived there for several years, eventually selling

it in 1934. Gehr is best known for having embezzled close to $30,000 from the

First National Bank, and funds from the Westminster Cemetery Company, for

which he was sentenced to four years at North Eastern Penitentiary in 1938.

CARR1573

CARR 476

34 WEST GREEN STREET 1868

Henry E. Morelock House private

An earlier survey of the Henry E. Morelock House erroneously dated the build-

ing to c. 1885 because the deed for the lot was executed in 1884, and noted

that it copied the house next door at 30 West Green Street, which was dated to

c. 1870. In reality, both houses date from the same year, 1868, and are more

closely linked than was realized. Henry Edmond Morelock was born on

11 March 1829, apparently the oldest child of Michael Morelock, Jr., and Anna

Mary Morelock. Michael Morelock, Jr. had a farm on Rockland Road (CARR

1410). The 1862 map of Carroll County shows that Henry had a tannery just

south of his father’s farm. In late 1868 he advertised his tannery for sale. In

1867 Henry Morelock formed a partnership with his cousin, Jacob M. More-

lock. The Morelock firm acquired a lot in Westminster in 1868 and went into

the business of leather manufacturing. How this enterprise differed from the

rural tannery is not known, but the partnership did not last long, as by early

1873 Henry Morelock had acquired the whole business. At the same time,

release was made on his old tannery, indicating that it had sold.

While the Morelocks were forming their business partnership in Westminster,

they were also planning to build new dwellings in the newest residential section

of Westminster. George W. Mathews created Belle Grove Square, and the build-

ing lots that surround it, in the 1860s. The first recorded transfer of lots in the

tax records is in May 1868, and among these are Jacob, who purchased lot 2,

and Henry, who bought lot 3. On 17, June 1869 both Henry and Jacob were

assessed for new houses on Green Street, each valued at $3000. Thus Henry’s

house must have been built in 1868, not 1885. The timing of the purchase of

lots and construction of the buildings, along with their identical original

appearance, suggest that the partners hired the same builder to construct two

versions of the same house. This arrangement probably saved them some

money, but it seems to have been a rare strategy in nineteenth-century West-

minster. The side passage plan chosen by the Morelocks is not unusual for

urban dwellings (or rural ones in Carroll County, for that matter) and the

double side porch with projecting pantry is very typical in this region. Three

story dwellings, however, are not common, with most being found in Westmin-

ster. The house retains a high degree of integrity and has unusual graining on

the door panels and mantels that is probably the signature of a particular, as

yet unnamed, craftsman. In 1903 Henry Morelock sold the house to Alice, his

only surviving child, and probably moved to her home near Lineboro, as he

died there on 13 December 1904. Henry Morelock’s house remained in his

family until 1995, but was converted to a boarding house by Alice and

remained that way until restored in 1995.

CARR476

CARR 693

413-415 UNIONTOWN ROAD c. 1842-1862

Jacob Mearing Farm private

In the early nineteenth century, the Jacob Mearing Farm was owned by the

Brown family. In 1838 it was offered for sale. At that time the farm held a two-

story, weather-boarded house. The farm was purchased by Jacob Mearing, who

must have built the existing stone house between the purchase of the farm in

1842 and the mid-1860’s. The back building was constructed at the same time.

The use of stone was always a rarity, about 5% of houses being built of that

material. Mearing died in early 1865. The farm then had to be sold, and the

description of it notes: “The Improvements on this Farm Consist of a comfort-

able and well built Stone Dwelling House, TENANT HOUSE, Bank Barn, and

Spring House.” This is the first documentation of the existence of the stone

house. John Galt bought it in 1873. By this time the farm was 31 acres, too

small to make a comfortable living on, but it is not known what other occupa-

tion Galt may have had. Galt may have been responsible for the frame addition

and extensive alterations, which surely must have been built by 1890. Galt

bought a property in town in 1895 and probably retired there before dying in

1900. His widow, Kate, apparently rented out the farm for years before selling

it to Charles W. King in 1918. King was probably responsible for the addition

of the stucco and the existing wrap-around porch.

CARR 1574

153 EAST GREEN STREET 1907

Forrest Sisters House private

The Forrest Sisters House, at 153 East Green Street in Westminster, sits on part

of lot 13 of John Fisher’s Addition. The 1877 Atlas already shows a house on

this site, though it is not one of the buildings that survives today. The original

house was probably built about 1867 by Ephraim B. Fowler, and was sold to

Charles H. Fowler (his son?) in 1883. Charles was a cigar maker who got into

financial trouble and his property was sold by court order in 1897. The house

and lot were acquired by Dianna Forrest for $1,000. The house stood where

151 East Green Street is, and was either demolished or substantially altered by

1901. Dianna Forrest died by November 1900 and her three single daughters,

Martha Alice, Ella May, and Annie Florence, inherited the property. In 1907

the three sisters built a new brick house on the other half of lot 13, at 153 East

Green Street. The local papers noted in July of that year that “the new brick

house being built by the Misses Forrest on Green street, is progressing nicely.”

At a time when the Colonial Revival was very popular, bungalows were gaining

in popularity, and Queen Anne houses were still being built around the county,

the Forrest Sisters chose to build a mansard-roofed house. Like Queen Anne

houses, this dwelling was a little behind its time, but much of Carroll County

was slow to adopt the popular new national styles. The first mansard-roofed

dwelling built in Westminster was probably William Dallas’ mansion (CARR-

517), in 1869, but few followed this lead, so that a mansard roof probably would

not have seemed that out of date in Westminster in 1907. The Dallas house is

just across the street from the Forrest sisters house, and it may have influenced

them in their choice.

CARR693

CARR1574

Photographic Inventory

In 1980, Joseph Getty, Nancy A. Miller, and Christopher Weeks completed the National Register of Historic Places Inven-

tory and Nomination form for the Westminster National Register District. This inventory mentioned a number of build-

ings as having historic and architectural significance; however, thorough research of some of these properties has never

been completed. These structures have been included below as a photographic inventory, with captions indicating their

significance, as described in the inventory form for the Westminster National Register District.

East Main Street

In the late 1800s, three story buildings became more

prominent, as in this example at 105 East Main Street.

128 East Main Streetis a log

house covered with clapboard.

182 East Main Streetis part of Westminster’s

Local Historic District Zone.

NOTE !

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A former school on Center Street has been converted

to a restaurant, bed and breakfast, and fitness club.

This residence at 39 Webster Street is represen-

tative of the houses built in Westminster during

the first half of the 20th century.

43 North Court Street

166 Willis Street

201 Willis Street

Center, Webster, North Court, and Willis Streets

The two-story porch at 46 Liberty Streetwas constructed

within the ell formed by the wings of the house.

100 Liberty Streetis topped

by a mansard roof.

A stepped brick cornice is

found on107 Liberty Street.

21-25 West Green Street is the location

of the Shelter for Intact Families.

Liberty and West Green Streets

The brickwork at the cornice line of

15 Carroll Street displays Greek crosses.

38-40 Carroll Streetfeatures a hall and parlor plan.

The single-pitched roof is combined

with the mansard style at 21 John Street.

Brick duplexes are found at39-49 John Street.

Carroll and John Streets

The Georgian Revival style is

exhibited at 7 Doyle Avenue.

67 Pennsylvania Avenue

features a corner tower.

A brick, four-square style house

at 145 Pennsylvania Avenue.

7 Ridge Roadis an example

of the bungalow style.

Doyle and Pennsylvania Avenues and Ridge Road

105 Bell Road

The Kauffman Mansion at

336 Buck Cash Drive.

This house on Fenby Farm Road

is now part of the Wakefield

Valley Golf Course complex.

West of Maryland Route 31

PART I

THE PEOPLE AND THE BUILDINGS

The Carroll County countryside as depicted in an 1877 atlas of the county.

Introduction

Westminster’s progress has always been determined by its

own “energetic and upwardly thrusting men.” Character-

istically, the city was founded on the whim of an indi-

vidual who laid out 45 lots in the 1760s as a speculative

venture. There was no natural harbor, no cross roads, no

trade route, no fort, no political pressure, nor any other

time-honored reason that might ordain the “inevitability”

of a town in this place. Not even the apocryphal story that

so often graces the opening pages of a history such as this

comes to light for Westminster.

The major factors that have encouraged the growth

and wealth of the city were created by its own citizens. In

1807 the turnpike to the west from Baltimore was di-

rected through Westminster by the lobbying efforts of her

citizens; a generation later the creation of Carroll County

with Westminster as the new county’s seat was due to the

actions of the city’s merchants and other entrepreneurs;

and in the following generation, the Western Maryland

Railroad was laid through the town due to bonds paid for

by the people of Westminster. Thus a spirit of enterprise

and individual energy not only created the town but con-

tinually reappeared at key moments in its political and

architectural history.

Despite its individualism,the city was very much a

part of the larger picture, “a piece of the continent.” This

applies not only to its earliest days when it was settled by

people who had lived elsewhere and were now bringing

their traditions and values to Westminster, but also in

later years when the city was linked to the rest of the east

coast by a highly efficient rail system. It is important,

therefore, that Westminster’s affairs always be studied in

the context of the surrounding area, particularly Carroll

County.

One of the salient characteristics of Westminster’s

early homes is their striking similarity to the early farm-

houses of the surrounding countryside. One is reminded

of Vienna’s rapport with its nearby farms and forests: it

is, as one visitor exclaimed, “impossible to walk the streets

of Vienna without scenting the Vienna Woods in the air.”

Just what odors wafted into Westminster from the Carroll

County farms need not detain us here; what is important

is to realize the strength of the emotional and psycho-

logical ties between the city and the country. This should

not be unexpected, since the same brand of people settled

both; indeed the same individuals often built identical

homes in the county and in the city at the same time.

Blank

Chapter 1

The German Pioneers,

1730-1770

The first patent (land grant) in the area now known as

Carroll County was

“Belt’s Hills”; it was granted on July

10, 1723. In a 1937 article in the Times of Westminster,

Doctors Arthur and Grace

Tracey

of Hampstead dis-

cussed the early settlement of the area. They noted that,

according to land grant records, “the movement of civi-

lization into Carroll County” came from three directions:

(1) over the west or Delaware Branch of the Patapsco

Falls; (2) from the north into the vicinity of Union

Bridge;

and (3) over the present Baltimore-Carroll

County line, northward along the Conewago Road and to

the Hampstead and Manchester district. The southern

area of the county, around what is now Sykesville, was

settled in general by families of English or Scotch-Irish

descent, who often came from older British-settled parts

of Maryland, such as Saint Mary’s, Prince George’s, and

Anne Arundel Counties. The northwestern part of the

county was settled, generally speaking, by Pennsylva-

nians, either Scotch-Irish from the York area or Pala-

tinate Germans and Swiss. The central part of the county,

where Westminster now stands, was settled a little later by

a mixture of these nationalities. This dichotomy of Ger-

manic and British heritage was a prominent character-

istic in the early days of the city and lasted well into the

20th century.

The Traceys’ records of patents and land grants in

Carroll County and surrounding areas indicate just a

trickle of immigration into the area in the 1730s. Swelled

by a variety of events that occurred more-or-less simul-

taneously, the trickle became a torrent in the

1740s,

‘50s,

and '60s

Perhaps the most important of these events

stemmed from Louis XIV’s penchant for invading and

re-

invading Germany.

The Palatinate is a region that stretches along the

southern reaches of the Rhine River in what is today

southern Germany and northern Switzerland. The area

suffered severely during the Thirty Years’ War

(1618-

1648) and lost much of its population. However, it was

not until Louis XIV re-entered and pillaged the area in

the 1680s that a significant migration took place. The

fact that the Elector of the Palatinate had chosen to

shelter French Protestants, Huguenots, from the persecu-

tion of Catholic France angered the French King and “for

nine years beginning in 1688 the Palatinate was overrun,

pillaged, and burned to the extent that by 1697 the popu-

lation was reduced

. . . from a half million to fifty thou-

sand.“

In the 1914 journal of the Pennsylvania German

Society, Daniel Wunderlich Nead, M.D., comments that,

after Louis XIV invaded and ravaged the Palatinate, “to

the little remnant that was left it seemed as though they

had been forsaken by God as well as by man, and they

were ready to turn in any direction that offered an

escape from the terrible situation in which they found

themselves."

At about this time, agents from America were visiting

Germany, and particularly the Palatinate, to encourage

emigration to the New World. Many emigrants went to

London first and from there to the New World, where

they spread from upstate New York to New Bern, North

Carolina.

“A constant stream of German colonists fol-

lowed at first slowly and then in large numbers, the

greatest number going to

Pennsylvania.“

William Penn had taken title to “Pennsylvania” from

Charles II and however concerned he may have been with

brotherly love, he was also interested in making money.

To make money he needed to fill his vast acres with

pro-

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

Section of a map of the State of

Maryland prepared

by Dennis Griffith in 1794; engraved by J. Thackara

and J. Valiance in 1795. Westminster is shown at the boundary of Frederick and Baltimore Counties.

The German Pioneers, 1730-1770

ducing farms and villages.

The discontented and foot-

loose Germans were the obvious choice to pick as settlers.

To attract them, he circulated pamphlets and brochures,

written in German, in the ruined villages along the Rhine

and sent his own agents to the Rhine Valley and to Lon-

don. One of Penn’s pamphlets was called “The Golden

Book”, certainly an encouraging name, and reminiscent

of the literature put out today by “development” areas in

Arizona and other such havens.

Penn was successful, and the early years of the 18th

century saw a massive influx of Germans into south-

eastern Pennsylvania.

From the time that Moses led the host of Israel out of

Egypt to the promised land, history records no such

emigration of a people as that which took place in the

province of Germany in the early years of the 18th cen-

tury. The causes were varied, though it was the ruth-

less devastation of the valley of the Rhine, commonly

known as the Palatinate, during the 30 years war . .

more than any other cause that started the great

steady stream of German blood, muscle, and brains to

Pennsylvania

This migration into Pennsylvania eventually totalled

scores of thousands, and created a very large, closely knit

German community. As often happens, the newcomers

caused concern among the established residents. Ben-

jamin Franklin, in 1751, commented, “why should the

Palatinate boors be suffered to swarm into our settle-

ments and, by herding together, establish their language

and manners, to the exclusion of ours? Why should Penn-

sylvania, founded by the English, become a colony of

aliens who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us,

instead of our Anglifying them?” Franklin was not alone

in his anti-immigration

or at least, anti-German-

immigration

fears.

Pennsylvania was taking in more

citizens than it could, or would willingly, absorb, so it was

not surprising that re-migration from the Philadelphia

area began. The logical direction was south

into

Maryland.

During Maryland’s first hundred years or so, the col-

ony grew slowly. Whatever growth occurred was concen-

trated in the Tidewater area around the Chesapeake Bay.

In 1689, over 50 years after the colony was founded, the

population was only 25,000; 45 years later, in 1733, it had

grown only to 31,470. The sparsely settled colony was ripe

for “invasion”from the burgeoning area to its north.

Louis L.T. Henninghausen

notes that about this time

(i.e, the 1730s) “the German settlers began to come into

Maryland from Pennsylvania.

when this movement

reached its height the effect was decidedly noticeable and

by 1756 the population [of Maryland] had increased to

130,000 and by far the greater number of them were

Pennsylvania Germans.”

This migration was facilitated

by the ill-defined and unimportant boundary line be-

tween the north central section of Maryland and the

south central area of Pennsylvania. The Mason-Dixon

line, later agreed upon by Lord Baltimore and William

Penn, was a totally arbitrary division of a basically homo-

genous population.

By this sequence, then, some of the

early Germans who had “forsaken the hill country, of

what is now Germany, Switzerland, and the Palatinate in

Europe and migrated to the colony of Pennsylvania land-

ing in the then town of Philadelphia, thence journeyed

westward and southward to what they supposed was the

southern part of the colony of

Pennsylvania,"

but which

was actually Maryland.

The Maryland colonists were pleased to receive these

mobile Germans. As early as March 2, 1732, Charles,

Lord Baltimore, had issued a proclamation beginning:

We, being desirous to increase those numbers of

honest people within our Province of Maryland, and

willing to give them considerable

encouragement

come and reside therein

. in the back lands in the

north or west boundaries of our said province not

already taken up between the rivers Potomac and

Susquehanna

Lord Baltimore’s terms in this invitation were very attrac-

tive: a family would get two hundred acres of land with-

out paying him the usual rental for three years, and then

would pay only four shillings (60¢) per hundred acres per

year. Each single male or female between the ages of fif-

teen and thirty would get a hundred acres under the same

terms. The exact value of this rent in today’s currency is

hard to approximate but it is clear that these were in-

tended to be bargain rates. Interestingly, Baltimore made

no discrimination between the sexes: he offered the same

terms to single men and single women.

Another man to profit from this new source of settlers

was Governor Spottswood of Virginia, who was encourag-

ing Germans to settle near Winchester and in the Shenan-

doah Valley. In 1732, the year of Lord Baltimore’s proc-

lamation, a group of Germans left York, Pennsylvania,

for Virginia, passing through Maryland and thus begin-

ning the constant interplay and intermingling among the

Germans of these three states.

The Virginia settlements were in regular communica-

tions with the Pennsylvania

settlements.

Besides the basic desire to populate their provinces,

these proprietors and governors were also concerned with

settling the inland area as a buffer to protect the seaport

towns in the east from the Indians and French to the west.

It was into this area that the Germans were funnelled. An

“unceasing stream of Germans

flowed through the

provinces of Pennsylvania to the outpost of civilization

and formed a bulwark between the aborigines and the

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

older

settlers."

The Germans seemed to have been un-

troubled by the Indians, however. About 1750, in what is

now Carroll County, only “a remnant of Indians num-

bering about 60 or 70 resided within less than a mile of

Manchester

probably the last aborigines who resided

in the area.”

The supposition is that these were a western

tribe known as the Susquehannocks who lived to the east

for most of the year but who would travel into present day

Carroll County to hunt and spend the summers. Quite

suddenly, however,“without any commotion or apparent

preparation for the event, they all, except two, disap-

peared during the night; the two exceptions were the

chief called Macanappy and his wife, both being very old

and infirm. They survived the departure of their friends

only a few

days."

Nevertheless, the Treaty of Six Na-

tions, pledging peace and signed in Lancaster in 1745 by

the leaders of the Indian tribes and by the colonists, must

have been reassuring to those who had already settled in

central Pennsylvania,

Maryland, and Virginia, and cer-

tainly served to lure more white men to the area.

The always treacherous mid-Atlantic weather further

encouraged migration from the Philadelphia area in the

1740s. The winter of 1740-41 was especially severe in

Pennsylvania and, while it was presumably severe in the

other colonies too, an early sunbelt psychology seems to

have prevailed: surely, the settlers argued, warmer cli-

mates would be found to the south, even if the move was

only a few miles and even if it was actually southwest into

the mountains.

The trails used by Pennsylvanians on their treks into

Maryland and Virginia are well known today. The most

famous was the Monocacy trail; one branch led from the

Susquehanna River through York and Adams Counties

across the Monocacy River through Frederick County and

finally across the Potomac into Virginia. This was the

trail

and indeed it was only a trail

that was used in

the early years. The other branch was a few miles to

south:

the

The Monocacy trail or road was a very important

thorofare in the early days, being a part of the Indian

trail leading from old Joppa on the Gunpowder River,

and led to the Indian settlements on the Monocacy,

and was one of the most important thorofares west-

ward. It entered the [Westminster] District

southward and westward of

Westminister.

As the number of pioneers heading south increased,

the 1740s it became necessary to turn the trail into a road.

The new road was laid out following the trail and was

used continuously during the rest of the 18th century. Not

surprisingly, it was called the Monocacy Road. The road

was macadamized in 1878 and, until the railroads came,

remained the main thoroughfare connecting Maryland

and the south with Pennsylvania and the northeast.

It was not until the Germans moved into Maryland

that the central Piedmont area of the colony began to

prosper. One result of this increase in population and

wealth was the creation of Frederick County out of Prince

George’s County in 1748. The new county contained

modern Frederick County and the western half of Carroll

County, including most of present day Westminster. One

of the first towns in this area was called Monocacy (pre-

sumably as a tribute to the money-producing highway).

Many of the names of Monocacy's early inhabitants (e.g.

Grimes, Zimmerman, Myers) are still prevalent in West-

minster and Carroll County today. Other towns were

quickly laid out: Frederick in 1745, Taneytown in 1754,

and Westminster in 1764.

The early histories of Frederick and Westminster

interestingly similar.

Frederick was laid out by an English gentleman, but

its lots and the rich farms immediately surrounding

were soon taken up by a host of German immigrants

. . the style of houses and barns introduced was that

of Germany rather than that of English origin

these immigrants brought with them their mother

tongue

and a familiar form

of worship and

architecture.

are

In 1771, William Eddis noted that “Frederick town is the

third place of importance in Maryland exceeding Annap-

olis in size and number of inhabitants. What chiefly at-

tended to the advancement of settlements in this remote

district was the arrival of many immigrants of the Pala-

tinate and other Germanic states.“

In 1748 the German church in Frederick was

founded. In its list of early parishioners again are found

names still common in present-day Westminster and Car-

roll County

Gephart, Buckie, Shriver, Schriner, Fau-

ble, Albaugh,

Devilbiss.

During this massive immigration of German settlers,

the southern and western parts of what is today Carroll

County were being settled by the English. Joseph Brookes,

an early 20th century local newspaper editor, gave an

address on Carroll County History in 1923 and com-

mented that “to this day the line of demarcation is

perceptible from one end of the county to the other, the

difference in the habits, likes, and dislikes of the

people of the forementioned sections of the county being

pronounced.”

There appears to have been, however, no great fric-

tion between the German and the British pioneers. The

mid-18th century Church Book for the Reformed Con-

gregation at Pipe Creek (near Westminster), a manu-

script now in the Library of Congress and compiled by

Annie Walker Barnes in 1940, records this harmony.

Although the church was definitely German (known as

“Pfeiffkrick”), its parishioners allowed other sects and

The German Pioneers, 1730-1770

Pipe Creek (“Pfeiffkrick”) Meeting House.

ethnic groups to worship there. The manuscript notes

that “whereas beautiful freedom is often used to cover up

Evil, especially in these wild parts of the world, and what

is more regrettable, much quarrelling and strife and

malice arise in congregations at the instigation of the

Devil” others would be encouraged to attend services. For

example,“the children of the English shall be baptised

without question as to whether they are legitimate, but

the sponsors must have been baptised.

”

However, there is

always a limit to liberality, and thus excluded from their

baptismal font were the “so called Reformed or Luther-

ans not belonging regularly to this or another Christian

congregation.” Perhaps this goes to prove that it is easier

to tolerate people whose

“flaws” are so unusual as to be

considered quaint, than people whom one too closely re-

sembles and whose flaws can be recognized as being too

close to one’s own. Signatures on the manuscript of the

Pfeiffkrick meeting house include Schreiber (Shriver?),

Bendel, Cassell, Ulrich, Kober (Cover?) and one Sullivan.

The first list of communicants, dated May 8, 1766, in-

cluded one “Herr Jacob Fisher (John Fisher), who didn’t

belong to the congregation, but nevertheless partook of

the holy supper today.”

William Winchester’s plan of the original town of Winchester; the

name was changed to Westminster four years after the town’s founding.

Chapter

An English Founder, 1764

As the period of immigration into central Maryland

reached its climax, with incoming Germans, Scotch-Irish,

and English creating a rapidly burgeoning population, it

probably went all but unnoticed when an Englishman

named William Winchester laid out 45 lots on a plot of

land called “White’s Level” in 1764.

Winchester seems to have been a stellar example of a

colonial pioneer entrepreneur. Substantiated facts of his

life are almost as hard to find as those of many other

American pioneers

Daniel Boone, for example. What

information exists has been compiled mostly by his

genealogy-minded descendants and tends to lean towards

canonization. It is clear, however, that he was born in

Westminster, England, on December 22, 1710. He emi-

grated to America when he was 18, arriving in Annapolis

on March 6, 1729, and establishing himself in the

newly-

founded City of Baltimore as one of its first merchants.

On July 22, 1747, he married an heiress, Lydia Richards,

whose father was a prominent land holder in Baltimore

County. He was then 37. In 1754, Winchester purchased

“White’s Level,

”

comprising

100+

acres in Frederick

County. The patentee, John White, was then busy fight-

ing in the Indian Wars and took 150 pounds as the pur-

chase price. Ten years later, when the British victory in

the French and Indian War insured peace and stability in

this once border area, Winchester used some of this acre-

age to lay out his town named, naturally, Winchester.

The new town was to have one street, King Street,

which would run northwest and southeast, and would be

bounded to the rear by service alleys. Land for a non-

denominational church was reserved just north of town.

At that time there was no thought of it ever being

more than a collection of happy homes. Friendly cows

now and then escaping from their barnyards would

visit the street and graze peacefully along the grassy

sidewalk, and the only sounds to disturb the summer

stillness were the passing of horsedrawn vehicles, the

family carriage, the farm wagon, or the great covered

wagons known as Pittsburgh conestoga wagons, and

the laughter of children playing safely in the village

street.

If the bucolic haven painted by Mary B. Shellman, the

grand doyen of Westminster historians, ever really ex-

isted, it did not last long. The first change was to the

town’s name. In 1768, an act of the Maryland General

Assembly changed the name to “Westminster,” to avoid,

according to local lore, the confusion arising between this

Winchester in Frederick County, Maryland, and the

Winchester in Frederick County, Virginia. The gentle-

men of the Assembly did William Winchester the honor

of choosing the name of his birthplace as the town’s new

name. A later change, doubtless made for patriotic rea-

sons, occurred when Winchester himself changed the

name of Westminster’s single street from “King Street” to

“Main Street

.”

William Winchester took an active part on a local

level in the events that led up to the Revolution. During a

meeting of the citizens of Frederick County held at the

Court House in Frederick City on November 13, 1774,

Winchester was appointed a member of the county’s com-

mittee empowered to carry out the dictates of the Con-

tinental Congress. He also served on a committee ap-

pointed in 1775 to raise money for arms and ammunition

as required by the Congress.

Twenty-six years after founding the city of West-

minster, William Winchester died there at the age of 79

on December 2, 1790.

Blank

Chapter

“Folk” Buildings of the Late

Eighteenth

Century

There is no doubt that before he died William Winches-

ter sold many of his lots to settlers and saw their shelters

rise along his King/Main Street. Unfortunately, none of

these original structures remains today and we can only

theorize about their nature. Before so doing, we must

digress to identify the types of buildings that Westminster

has seen during its history. Speaking very broadly, there

are four categories

folk, vernacular, popular, and

polite,

and these in general follow each other chrono-

logically, the architecture changing to accommodate the

changes in economic and political circumstances.

“Folk” buildings are “traditional;“

they may be

thought of as having been built unthinkingly, as a reflex

action. Henry Glassie, perhaps the leading folk culture

historian in the United States today, comments that “the

folk builder might have built traditionally because he

knew no otherwa

y."

In Westminster folk houses followed

forms that the early settlers brought with them from their

native lands (Germany, England). These forms were used

automatically because they were considered to be the cor-

rect way

indeed they were the only known way

build a house. Certainly, they would have been the forms

of the original shelters built on Westminster’s King/Main

Street.

The “vernacular” has a strong kinship to the “folk”

category inasmuch as the two share the reflexive or

this-is-

the-only-way syndrome. Although some historians would

combine the two, in the Westminster context there is a

distinction

that strongly justifies their separation.

Whereas the “folk” style

looked backwards to places of

origin for guidance, the “vernacular” developed through

the builders’

looking around and combining what was

already there with their own traditional forms. The ver-

nacular style that thus developed toward the end of the

18th century dominated Westminster’s architecture for

almost a century.

The last two categories

popular and polite

the characteristics of variety and change; they both seek

to express the ideas and tastes of the times. The “popular”

form reflects trends over an area much broader than the

local scene and develops as a stereotype for a particular

era. “Polite” buildings, sometimes referred to as “elite” or

“academic,

”

are built by architects or professional de-

signers specifically to satisfy the needs and aesthetic

values of an individual client. Of course, “polite” build-

ings often reflect “popular”

trends but the stress is always

on individuality.

It is difficult to analyze the earliest buildings in Car-

roll County and Westminster

those that can be defined

as folk buildings

because none exists in unaltered form

and not many exist even in altered form. Buildings pro-

vide a most effective medium for displaying wealth, and

so it is natural that Westminster reflected its progress and

increasing riches in alterations to its buildings. It was

William Bainter O’Neal who made the sad but true com-

ment that “poverty is the best preservationist.“

These earliest houses certainly existed as present-day

foundations and court papers evince, but their steady al-

teration, as their owners became more prosperous, is a

constant thread in the fabric of Westminster’s architec-

tural and social history. One is often tempted to blame

only owners of gas stations and banks for destroying early

buildings in the city, but it is clear that the majority of

alterations, especially those to the earliest buildings, were

made by the descendants of the original builders. They

were seeking to increase their comfort just as modern

owners alter and demolish to meet their current needs.

Two distinguished British architectural historians,

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

Olive Cook and Nigel Nicolson, note, respectively,

“.

it would be both uncharitable and pointless to repudiate

changes which are conducive to efficiency and comfort,“

and warn us

“.

. .we must beware of tinging our admira-

tion with sentimentality, for

[the] builders would

not have known the meaning of the

word.“

Nicolson’s

thought applies here, of course, to the fact that West-

minster’s pioneers were men who had left unpleasant cir-

cumstances to create a new life and fortune in a virgin

territory. As such, they must have viewed their buildings

primarily as shelters, and the fact that subsequent gener-

ations spurned their early handiwork would probably not

one whit disturb their eternal rest.

So the practical concerns that dominated the lives of

Westminster’s first builders provide the major reasons for

the apparent lack of concern for design and style in the

architecture of the time. Societies that are busy settling

their social order, their laws, their religions, their

customs, their lands usually have matters other than ar-

chitecture and the fine arts with which to concern them-

selves

This was true in the early days of Westminster,

and it explains in part why the architecture of West-

minster’s early period is classified as “folk

.”

Similar condi-

tions have existed in all early societies. Sir John Summer-

son has commented on this phenomenon in England:

The people who were to plant the Country so richly

with great houses were either unborn or in their cra-

dles. Their fathers, living in the strenuous course of a

social revolution, bent themselves rather to the getting

and keeping of land than to the raising of buildings on

. . . [They] had a more lively concern with animal

husbandry and the law than with any of the arts; the

land-surveyor and the lawyer were more vital to revo-

lution than the highly skilled

artificer

in wood, stone,

or brick.

Thus it was in Westminster during its first few score years.

The people then were more interested in staking a claim,

in making a name and money for themselves and their

families, than in the adornments such a name and money

would later demand. It was up to their descendants to

abandon the process of building strictly for shelter and to

begin building for a message.

Much of the discussion of Westminster’s earliest build-

ings must be based on speculation (observing what was

built elsewhere by the same types of settlers and assuming

that activity in Westminster was no different) and by the-

oretical reconstructions of the buildings after their newer

shells have been removed. When the exact sites of the

buildings have been determined, discovery of a part of a

foundation, or perhaps a hidden interior wall, can make

it possible to guess what these first structures were like

and when they were built

which brings up the ques-

tions of dating. How does one date a building? By refer-

ence to its foundation? By reference to its oldest section?

The question has no universally accepted answer. Some

liken a building to a human: as one dates a human by the

first day it entered the world, so some date a building

back to the first time any part of it existed. This approach

seems unsatisfactory: more often than not very little other

than perhaps a random stone or log in the foundation ex-

ists of that first attempt at shelter. For example, 288 East

Main Street is popularly referred to as “the oldest build-

ing in town” and, in fact, the

title

information does in-

dicate the presence here of a very early structure. The

first owner of the lot, number 27, after William Winches-

ter was David Shriver, who bought it in 1768. Possibly he

ilt a 15' × 25' (log) cabin on the land that today is oc-

cupied by the northeast corner of the existing structure.

The only full basement is under this section and, in the

basement, one can see how much thicker are the walls

that define this base than are the foundation walls of the

other sections. On June 22, 1840, one Jacob Powder mort-

gaged this and other properties to John Fettering for

$1180, according to Carroll County Land Records Book

WW4/513.

This entry is important because it describes

the lot as being improved by a “white weatherboard home

with stabling on the rear in the alley.” Thus it is probable

that a Revolutionary War era log building existed on the

lot and that it later was covered with weatherboarding.

The building’s present appearance indicates that it was

later expanded by brick additions to the side and rear and

that even later it was topped by a mansard roof. The sev-

eral periods represented reflect several owners’ attempts

to create a house satisfactory to their different aesthetic

Number 288 East Main Street . . . additions, additions, and

more additions.

“Folk” Buildings of the Late Eighteenth Century

No scale

Benjamin Rush’s description of a southeast Pennsyl-

vania landscape in the late 18th century would, pre-

sumably, be accurate for other German areas, such as

what is now Carroll County:

CHAMBER

KITCHEN

Prototypical plan of a German cabin in Westminster.

tastes

and physical needs. To attempt to assign a single,

definitive date to such a building is unreasonable. The

least strain on reason would seem to be incurred by dating

according to when the building achieved the basic ap-

pearance it has today. This is the method used in this

book.

Folk culturists have divided the eastern United States

into trans-state regions by reference to similarities in

customs. Glassie, for example, defines “four major cen-

ters of folk culture dispersing on the east coast: southern

and eastern New England, southeastern Pennsylvania,

the area of the Chesapeake Bay, and the coast of southern

North Carolina and Georgia.“

The settlement of West-

minster and Carroll County was divided between pioneers

from Pennsylvania and the Bay area and the same divi-

sion was apparent in the town’s early architecture. Joseph

Brookes notes that there was still a degree of separateness

even into the 20th century and that “until very recently a

very large majority of these people of German descent

had little or no important business or social relations with

their southern or western neighbors, most of their busi-

ness except for legal matters being transacted with the

people of the towns in southern Pennsylvania, especially

with Hanover and

Littlestown."

A German farm may be distinguished from the farms

of the other citizens by the superior size of their barns,

the plain but compact form of their houses . . . and a

general appearance of plenty of neatness in everything

that belongs to

them."

The basic characteristics of these Pennsylvania German

houses, were“log construction,a massive central fire-

place, a three-room floor plan, and an off-center front

door opening into the kitchen with an opposite rear door.

This type of house

. . .

is of peasant origin and is the

direct result of the continental tradition of life.“

The

central chimney seems to be a recurring factor in descrip-

tions of German architecture. G. Edwin Brumbaugh

comments that “early travelers in the colony remarked

the fact [that] a German’s house could be distinguished

from an Englishman’s because the chimney was placed in

the center of the house, rather than the

gable,"

In studying folk buildings, present-day scholars have

attempted to find a certain controlling geometry, possibly

in response to a fondness for geometric proportions dis-

played by scholars and builders of “high style” architec-

ture. They note that the designer or builder would often

follow a formula, and would work in minor variations to

suit the needs and tastes of the owners but still “without

exceeding certain parameters

. . . [as] the owner and

builder on this side of the Atlantic were more frequently

than not the same person."

Therefore individuality may

be expressed within, but the exterior would still be con-

servative. But on the point of geometric needs and possi-

bilities, Arthur J. Lawton suggests that “since the size of

domestic buildings varies widely according to the means

and purposes of the owner, geometric regulations per-

mitted the builder to insert an initial determining dimen-

sion, knowing that all other members of the building

would be scaled according to that initial determining

factor.“

Lawton further discusses the three basic rooms in a

German house and gives their “Pennsylvania-Dutch” and

English translations:

High

German

Kuche

Kammer

Stube

Pennsylvania

Dutch

Kich

Kammer

Schtupp

English

Kitchen

Chamber

(Bedroom)

Parlor

Numbers 270-272 East Main Street. The central chimney at 272 suggests a German origination.

Lawton suggests that the dimensions of the stube or

parlor is the controlling element in determining the size of

the other two rooms.

There are, as noted previously, no unaltered examples

of this German type of cabin left in Westminster, al-

though central chimney houses are occasionally evident,

as at 272 East Main Street and 55 Liberty Street. (The

first is 18th century and may be German; the second is of

later date and the central location of the chimney may be

coincidental.)

Many of the houses in Westminster’s old east end, the

original town laid out by William Winchester, do have

log foundations, and one building still exists there that,

despite its present appearance, was probably one of these

central-fireplace German cabins. 225-227 East Main

Street has undergone extensive remodelling during its

more than 200 years of existence but some traces of an

early German cabin can still be seen in its ground-story

plan. If one removes the later partitions, one in fact ends

up with the basic plan defined above. One can see the

central chimney, the large parlor, and the smaller kitchen

and bedroom. Another factor in favor of 225-227’s being

originally of German plan is the approximate 1770 date

of the building. William Winchester sold the lot (Number

17 of the original town) to one John Chrisman for six

pounds on August 30, 1768.

Six pounds indicates an un-

improved lot as surely as 60 pounds, the price when

Chris-

man sold the place to Christopher Myers on March 20,

1775,

indicates the presence of improvements. It is pos-

sible today to see the unfinished logs that comprised the

crude and massive foundations and floor beams of the

original structure. When the present owners recently

re-

modelled the building’s second floor, they discovered

massive hand-hewn and hand-notched log walls beneath

the plaster and paper. (Such discoveries of hidden old

r--------7

No scale

;

Probable original walls

VH~~..

Later additions

Number 227 East Main

Street

(Chrisman-

Barnitz-Willis Building)

ground floor plan

and facade after recent

renovation.

logs are not unusual;others were made, for example, at

45 North Court Street and 64 Pennsylvania Avenue.)

While these early log cabins have been characterized

as temporary crude shelters erected to fill an immediate

practical need, it is instructive to read a firsthand account

of the work involved in building such structures:

The fatigue party consisted of choppers, whose

business it was to fell the trees and cut them off at the

proper lengths. A man with a team for hauling them

to the place, and arranging them, properly assorted,

“Folk” Buildings of the Late Eighteenth Centuy

Log wall exposed during renovations of 227 East Main Street.

at the sides and ends of the building, a carpenter, if

such he might be called, whose business it was to

search the woods for a proper tree for making clap-

boards for the roof. The tree for this purpose must be

straight grained and from three to four feet long, with

a large frow, and as wide as the timber would allow.

They were used without planning or shaving. Another

division was employed in getting puncheons for the

floor of the cabin; this was done by splitting trees,

about eighteen inches in diameter, and hewing the

faces of them with a broadaxe. They were half the

length of the floor they were intended to make. The

materials for the cabin were mostly prepared on the

first day and sometimes the foundation laid in the

evening. The second day was allotted for the raising.

In the morning of the next day the neighbors col-

lected for the raising. The first thing to be done was

the election of four corner men, whose business it was

to notch and place the logs. The rest of the company

furnished them with the timbers. In the meantime the

boards and puncheons were collected for the floor and

roof, so that by the time the cabin was a few rounds

high the sleepers and floor began to be laid. The door

was made by sawing or cutting the logs in one side so as

to make an opening about three feet wide. This open-

ing was secured by upright pieces of timber about

three inches thick through which holes were bored into

the ends of the logs and made large to admit of a back

and jambs of stone. At the square two end logs pro-

jected a foot or eighteen inches beyond the wall to

receive the butting poles, as they were called, against

which the ends of the first row of clapboards was sup-

ported. The roof was formed by making the end logs

shorter until a single log formed the comb of the roof

. . . .

Remnants of early folk housing of English derivation

are also rare in Westminster. Yet it is certain that, in ad-

dition to the town’s founder, some of the earliest citizens

were of English stock, coming directly from England or

from the older English areas of Maryland to the east and

south. Two houses can be identified, however, as repre-

sentative of the building patterns that were probably

brought here by these early English settlers.

The first, a log building that is now destroyed, was

popularly known as “Aunt Betsy’s,” being occupied in the

late 19th century by an aged black woman of that name.

The identity of the original builder/occupant is uncer-

tain. The house was located at the extreme west end of

the original town,

on East Main Street nearly opposite

present-day Court Street. The site has also been suggested

(by local historian Mary Bostwick Shellman) to have been

near the site of the home of William Winchester.

Winchester did have his house near here, this cabin could

have been either his original temporary shelter, vacated

when he put up something more substantial, and/or his

servants’ quarters.

Judging from an old photograph, the house appears to

have had its roots in the lowland South and to have been

of a folk form called “double pen.

”

“Aunt Betsy’s” ap-

pears to have fitted this form well, being a “one-story,

Aunt Betsy’s — possibly the original temporary shelter of

William Winchester. The log building is no longer standing.

Typical folk house of English derivation probably built around the middle of the eighteenth century. The frame addition on the

right was built a century later. Other views are shown below, the upper being particularly illustrative of the Tidewater influence.

two-room house with two front doors” and a “not un-

usual” variation:

“rather than being on the end or in the

middle of the house, the chimney is placed at the junction

of the main house and the rear ell.” Strictly speaking,

rather than an ell, “Aunt Betsy’s” made use of one of the

“the common appendages of double-pen houses . . .

the

rea

r shed,"

here probably used as a kitchen.

The other British folk house is just south of West-

minster, on Bishop Street Extended, and dramatically il-

lustrates the change in building styles that occurred in

Westminster, and elsewhere, in the mid and late 18th

century. The house consists of two distinct pieces some-

what uneasily fused together. The older section has been

called “perhaps the earliest house in the

county,“

and is

a form of English folk housing that would have been far

more at home in the Tidewater farms around the Bay

than here in the Piedmont. It has also been suggested that

the older section was built by William Winchester, and

the name “White’s Level” has been hesitantly attached to

the place. This association involves speculation, but an

argument can be made: the older section is unquestion-

ably of an early (if inexact) date; Winchester and his

family did own the land until well into the 19th century;

and Winchester, coming from England via Annapolis and

Baltimore, would have been aware of this shape and form

of house and could well have built in this manner. The

building has been analyzed recently by Joseph Getty:

White’s Level has a two-room plan around a central

chimney stack of back-to-back fireplaces (one of two

known examples of this plan that still exist in Mary-

land). The main entrance is centrally located thus

forming a small entrance lobby . . . and the narrow

newel staircase is located on the opposite side of the

chimney stack. The original section of the house is one

and one-half stories with a broad gable roof which

slopes off to the east side to form the porch roof. . . .

The house plan, construction methods, and architec-

tural details . . . of White’s Level are all characteristic

of the 18th century. Documentary evidence suggests a

late 1740’s or 1750’s date of build.

Regardless of who built the house, the older section is

a rarity, and the frame addition built a century later

serves to make the whole an interesting physical symbol of

the dynamic dual culture of Westminster.

Chapter

The “Vernacular” House of the Early

Nineteenth Century

Despite dogged sleuthing by zealous architectural his-

torians and site surveyors, practically no remnants of

Westminster’s earliest folk houses have been found. As

noted, this is due partly to the extensive remodelling work

of later more prosperous owners, and partly to the fact

that the original town boundaries comprised only a very

small portion of today’s city. Also, of course, loss by

natural causes, such as fire, must not be overlooked.

However, the fact that few if any European folk houses

exist in Westminster today is due overwhelmingly to the

citizens’

discovery of a new,and apparently better,

building style just about the time the city began to grow.

The economic and political upswings that mark West-

minster’s history in the 19th century brought in both peo-

ple and money. These later immigrations tended to follow

the earlier pattern (people coming from the north via

Pennsylvania and from the south via Baltimore) but with

them came an architecture based on regional observation

rather than ancestral habit. No longer would the city

have folk English or folk German buildings. In the early

19th century, most building would effect a vernacular

style that has been called at various times “Colonial,”

“Georgian,

”

and “English.”However it seems best to

agree with Glassie and call it merely “Pennsylvanian.

”

Don Yoder, in an article in Pennsylvania Folk

Life,

com-

ments that “the Pennsylvania-Germans were influenced

by the same American stylistic influences in architecture

as their English or other neighbors.“

Thus, while the

earlier Germans, after landing in Philadelphia and mi-

grating westward, carried with them their traditional folk

building techniques, a growing number, as the 18th cen-

tury wore on, stopped looking back to what had existed in

southern Germany and northern Switzerland and began

to look around and think in terms of what was existing

then in the American colonies, more specifically in south-

eastern Pennsylvania.

Glassie comments that “the usual

mid-Atlantic pattern consisted of the blending of similar

European traditions, the general acceptance and localiza-

tion of one of the traditions, or the replacement of them

all with something new; the result is a culture more Penn-

sylvanian than English, German, Scotch-Irish, or Welsh.”

Furthermore, he notes that even the Conestoga Wagon,

“one of Pennsylvania’s proudest products, has anteced-

ents in both Germany and England . . .

“

An early example of this strong Pennsylvania influ-

ence is the 1734 “Glatz House,

”

thought to be the first

stone house in Pennsylvania or Maryland west of the

Sus-

quehanna River. It is located about four and a half miles

northeast of York. The date-stone inscription reads: “17

Ano 34.

Habic.

Johann Schultz, und, Christiana, Seine

frau disses

haus

baut.”

(In 1734 John Schultz and wife,

Christine, built this house.) In 1734, the first wave of Ger-

mans had barely reached Philadelphia much less the

western regions beyond the Susquehanna, but this house

indicates how thoroughly they had already adopted the

symmetrical facade one associates with Georgian archi-

tecture. The house, as revealed in an 1896 photograph,

was five bays across with a two-tier porch and a central

door on each story. Windows were regularly spaced on all

the facades; on the ends, the windows were placed sym-

metrically around interior gable-end

chimneys.

. . .

it was not long before the aggressive Carpenters

Company in Philadelphia, the importation of English

Architectural books, and the subsequent manufactur-

ing of millwork in Philadelphia combined to bring the

Georgian influence to the back woods of

Pennsyl-

No scale

l_Ll-

Ground-floor plans of prototypical Pennsylvania

farmhouses in Westminster

left: 5-bay; right: 3-bay.

vania. This role continued between the German

craftsman and those few English materials until

finally the latter won. Houses, churches, and public

buildings of the Georgian became the vogue in areas

thickly populated of German heritage. York, Leba-

non, Lehigh, Berks and Lancaster Counties appear

more English today than German, but many of the in-

habitants can sell you in Pennsylvania Dutch.

Edward Chapel1 sees the same in a county in Virginia,

an area similar to Westminster in settlement pattern:

The Shenandoah Valley of Virginia was settled in the

18th century by large numbers of Germans and

Scotch-Irish and smaller numbers of English, all

primarily migrating from Pennsylvania. That the set-

tlers of different cultural origins carried their tradi-

tional concepts of building with them to Virginia is

evidenced by the form of eighteenth-century houses

surviving in the Shenandoah Valley. Through most of

the century, the indigenous forms remained visible,

although some were altered in response to new ideas

concerning both domestic life and aesthetics. Yet in

the early 19th century, these diverse building types

would be swept away by a housing revolution that

would result in the rebuilding of the cultural land-

scape of the

region

. . .

The severe nature of this

change will be interpreted as a formal expression of

beleaguered individual self-confidence and a break-

down of the cohesiveness of ethnic groups in the

Shenandoah Valley.

Chapell’s argument, with which other historians generally

agree, is that buildings are a result of the psyches of their

builders.

The fact that the early settlers built homes that

reflected their various pasts and their native lands,

whether Germany or Ulster or Gloucestershire,is an

ex-

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

pression

of confidence in their heritage. The fact that

they themselves, and certainly their children, later chose

to adopt a more widespread, a more American building

form indicates a shift of attitude and allegiance. As the

settlers’ dependence on their folk customs waned so also

did their memories of their backgrounds: gradually they

were becoming Americans. Chapell argues that, in the

Shenandoah Valley, folk architecture was in firm control

for about one generation, during which people built as

their European backgrounds dictated. The folk houses

were then replaced by a form “developed in the Chesa-

peake and Mid-Atlantic regions from the aesthetic and

social concepts of the Georgian double pile house,” and

“the new model was assiduously followed through the

19th century . . .

[it] is this new house rather than the old

folk forms that an observer would identify as the

arche-

typal Valley houses.“

Chapell’s comments apply as well to Carroll County

and Westminster as to the Shenandoah Valley. The

Pennsylvania-Georgian farmhouse so completely domi-

nated Westminster’s building style in the 19th century

that one now thinks of it as being the norm here. It can be

said with total confidence that for one hundred years

hardly a single residence was built in the city or the

county that did not conform to this building type both in

plan and facade treatment. In fact, we will see that even

in the very late 19th century, it was a rare building that

departed from it.The form tenaciously controlled the

city’s architectural aesthetic until well after World War I,

with the result that it is almost impossible to date build-

ings of this period by plan

all are virtually identical,

varying only in scale as a function of the builder’s wealth.

One must look to details such as brackets, window

mould-

ings and doors to separate a house built during Jefferson’s

presidency from one built in Theodore Roosevelt’s time.

The major characteristics of the Pennsylvania farm-

house in Westminster are a three- or five-bay

width

two-and-a-half-story height, a gable roof on the main sec-

tion, an L-shape plan created by the meeting of two wings

(often identical in size), ordered facades, and interior

gable-end chimneys. If the front section of the building is

three bays wide, the standard plan is a side hall, with an

open stair, running the full length of the front section and

a double parlor alongside with rooms in the rear section

in a line off the main section’s room. If the house is five

bays wide, the plan is changed only by the addition of a

matching double parlor on the opposite side of the cen-

tral stair hall (see plan). The plan is very functional in its

clear hierarchy of spaces: formal rooms in front, service

rooms to the rear. The front rooms in the three-bay house

normally consist of dining and living rooms; a kitchen is

to the rear in the L, often with its own fireplace. Five-bay

The “Vernacular” House of the Early Nineteenth Century

houses would usually use the additional width for a main

parlor, although, larger and more elegant houses would

often use this area for social amenities such as a ballroom

(e.g. 230 East Main Street). Uniformally, the second floor

is partitioned off into bedrooms, while the half story attic

serves as an unfinished storage area.

On the exterior, the normal house displays large,

well-

spaced, double-hung sash windows, and relies on regu-

larity and solid/void proportions to create a pleasing ef-

fect. Ornamentation is usually restricted to cornices and

brackets about the roof line and over the door, although

sometimes, especially in the later part of the 19th cen-

tury, window hoods, lintels, and heavy sills were subjected

to decoration. Almost all country houses of this type have

a front porch, but with city houses this often was not pos-

sible because of the builders’ fondness for building right

up to the sidewalk. However, almost without exception,

there is a double-tier porch on the inside of the rear

section.

Several early examples of this house form still can be

found in the city. They are important not only because of

“Farm Content” is a fine example of the Pennsylvania

farmhouse. It was built in 1795 by David Shriver about

two miles south of Westminster. A recent photograph

(above) shows the front facade while an earlier one

(below) illustrates the “standard” rear porch.

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

Number 166 East Main Street. The photograph of the

rear (below) shows how the original porch has been

walled in and another porch attached

their longevity but also because for a century they served

as models for buildings in the area. To a limited extent,

they still so serve today. On the southwest corner of

East

Main and Center Streets, at 166 East Main Street, is as

fine an early example of this classic Pennsylvania house as

exists. It is five bays wide, two stories high, L-shaped, and

porched at the front and side. The principal (north) fa-

cade sits on high, coursed fieldstone foundations and is

sheltered by a one-story porch. The porch, approached

by a single set of wooden steps to the east, rests on piers

with lattice work between them. Details are important

here: pale blue paint, a color as Pennsylvanian as scrap-

ple, covers the underside of the porch’s roof. Clearly

Jacob Utz, who built the house around 1800, was a man

of means, as well as one who took pride in building. Al-

though in general the house form is free from appendages

of elegance, it sports such fine touches as five-course,

gauged, flat arches crowning the ground floor windows

and, on the principal facade, a finely gouged cornice

decorated with dovetail designs. The

original

rear side

porch has been filled in and covered with asbestos shin-

gles; otherwise,

on the exterior, the well maintained

building must look essentially as it did when first erected

a full generation before the establishment of Carroll

County. Houses are living organisms, however, adapting

and changing as needs require, so it is not surprising to

see that the floor plan of this house has been altered to

suit the requirements of the insurance company that now

occupies it.

When dealing with the preservation of old buildings,

ideally one would like to save everything, but if the ex-

terior is saved, leaving the interior to be pushed and

shoved to suit the whims of the successive owners, one can

be content. After all, old buildings, as Summerson com-

ments, are “like divorced wives, they cost money to main-

tain [and] are often dreadfully in the

way."

In the trade-

off that spares them from demolition, features that are

most “dreadfully in the way,

”

such as interior walls, must

be sacrificed to provide an economically feasible use

usually offices for lawyers, doctors, and the like.

Westminster seems curiously fortunate in that it’s im-

portant street intersections are well defined by historical

buildings. When one comes to such crossroads in West-

minster, one is faced on two, three, or all four corners by

buildings that provide a sense of cultural continuum.

This is nowhere more superbly exemplified than at 166

East Main Street: here is a house that was built for and

occupied by one family for one hundred years. George

Eckart sold this and an adjoining lot to “Jacob Oates, sad-

dler-y” for 105 pounds on April 4,

1794.

His daughter’s

executrix sold the lot and house in 1894. (The record of

this transaction reveals that Jacob Oates was also called

“Jacob Utz."

11l

Whether this means that Oates was yield-

ing to pressure from the city’s large German population to

de-Anglecize his name is a matter for sociological specula-

tion.) Katharine Jones Shellman, an indefatigable diarist,

remembers the house in the 1830s:

The house on the corner of Main and Center Streets

was owned by Mr.

Mrs. Utz, two very old people who

kept a small store in the west room. It was quite a

resort for the children, as it was the only place where

licorice was sold, but sometimes they would have to

wait half an hour, as the old gentleman would go

away, after locking the door and forget to leave the key

with his wife.

Across the intersection from the Oates-Utz House is

177 East Main Street, a building that serves as a prototype

for the three-bay structures in the city, just as the Oates-

Number 177 East Main Street

a prototype for the

three-bay structures in Westminster.

Utz House serves for the five-bay ones. This is an example

of the ideal form that the shell of a house “ought” to take

despite an infinite variety of detail variation. Number 177

East Main Street is one of the earliest of the many

two-

story, side-hall, double-parlor houses in the city. Like its

neighbor the Oates-Utz House, it is laid in Flemish bond

on the principal facade, which is broken only to allow for

precise and regular placements of windows and door.

Like its larger neighbor, it has an interesting, but dif-

ferent, treatment of the cornice line: rather than being

built of wood, as is the cornice on the Oates-Utz House,

the cornice here is a four-step corbelled brick row with

two staggered rows of perpendicular brick “dentils.” This

house, too, has lost its rear double-tier side porch and its

domestic function; it now houses law offices. Architec-

turally, the building is a fine, quiet example of the area’s

vernacular three-bay houses. Some are larger and some

smaller, some have finer brickwork and some have

coarser, some are better preserved and some are worse

but this is as perfect a “norm” as can be found. The place

was probably built about 1800 by members of the numer-

ous and prominent Mathias family, and it passed back

and forth within that family until James Cockey took title

on March 30, 1818, for $2000.

Cockey, mentioned in

the diary of Katharine Jones Shellman as a schoolteacher,

was also instrumental in organizing the Westminster Fire

Company. In an age when roots appear to grow more

shallowly, it is pleasant to note that the senior member of

the law firm now occupying the building was born there

when it still served as a residence.

Another early and prototypical three-bay house is

located just to the east of these two structures and is

numbered 211 East Main Street. Probably once a brew-

er’s residence, it, too, has been adapted to a modern use:

a beauty shop. The Flemish bond brick shell, dating from

around 1815, is typical of houses of this early period and,

Number 211 East Main

Street

individuality

through fineness of

detail

like the others, it achieves individuality through fineness

of details. Here we see a well done mouse-tooth cornice, a

narrow fanlight transom (presently hidden from the out-

side by a Moorish-style red awning), and exquisite in-

terior woodwork. The nicely panelled doors with corner

bull's-eye blocks and the intricately carved stair riser

brackets all indicate an excellent level of craftsmanship in

Westminster’s early years. One native of the city reports

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

that until a few years ago the steps were marbleized. Hap-

pily, except for the touch of Islam over the entrance door,

211 East Main Street is relatively unchanged on the exte-

rior. Katharine Shellman’s diary, which purports* to

cover the years 1820-32, notes that this lot held a “brick,

twd-story dwelling built by William Campbell, father of

Jacob Campbell, of Westminster who lived there only a

short time and then sold it to Michael Barnitz, who built

a large brewery back of it and lived there many

years.“

(Presumably Barnitz lived in the house, not the brewery.)

The Land Records reveal that Barnitz did in fact buy the

place on March 26, 1821, for

$1500.

Whether the mar-

bleizing that is rumored to have existed on the stairs was

Campbell’s or Barnitz’s, it is just one of many decorative

features that create a splendid individual statement

within this standard form. One wonders, in passing,

whether there is a connection between this brewer Bar-

nitz, and the Barnitz brewers who arrived in Baltimore in

1748 among the first Germans to settle in that city.

Across the street from the old Campbell-Barnitz

House are 224 and 226 East Main Street. These two

chaste buildings make a superb pairing and show that,

while normally of brick, the three-bay style also can be

successfully rendered in wood. It is suggested that the first

*Katharine Jones Shellman’s actually wrote her “Diary” from memory

in the late years of her life. A section of the “Diary” presents a list of

inhabitants of Westminster supposedly between 1820 and 1832.

However, in describing the general areas of residence, she refers to

the railroad tracks and the Reifsnider mansion, “Terrace Hill,”

which date from 1861 and 1871, respectively.

Number 226 East Main Street.

Number 224 East Main Street

burgess for the City of Westminster, James Shellman

lived at 224; Katharine Shellman’s diary notes that Num-

ber 226, purchased by Anne Willis for $850 in 1819, was

used as “an iron store” by her husband, Jesse.

Number 255 East Main Street, further to the east, at

the intersection of Main and Church Streets, makes it

clear why Westminster can be thought of as a city of ar-

chitectural details. Here the notable exterior adornment

is the Greek cross pattern executed in raised brick below

the building’s modillioned cornice. Popular culture has it

that this was originally a two-story log house, which is

quite possible, since log floor beams can be seen in certain

sections today. In any event, it has long since been cov-

ered by stretcher bond brick. Importantly, the rear sec-

tion still retains its rear side porch, the once-common

characteristic that seems to be the first feature to be re-

moved from an old house. If the Greek cross pattern at

the eaves is the single feature that enlivens the exterior,

there is one feature that must be identified as doing the

same for the interior: a dazzling marble fireplace carved

in motifs associated with Pennsylvania

German fraktur, a

method of design

“traceable to the folk art of south-

western Germany,

Switzerland, and Alsace,

”

exactly

Numbers 253-255 East Main Street

the Ecklar House.

Marble mantelpiece in the Ecklar House showing

fraktur

influence.

where the earliest German settlers came from. Fraktur

may be defined as

“a combination of Medieval callig-

raphy and traditional Pennsylvania motifs, such as the

tulip and pomegranate."

166

The builder of the house was

Ulrich Ecklar. Archival material in the Library of Con-

gress reveals that one Ulrich Ecklar was born on Novem-

ber 26, 1787, was baptised on April 5, 1788, and was the

son of Jacob Ecklar, Jr. Ulrich’s son, John, was born on

June 21,

1818.

How Ecklar acquired the lot is unclear, but he cer-

tainly had purchased it and had built the house before

1823. In that year he had a $2000 mortgage on the prop-

erty released

and that price would certainly indicate the

existence of a building. Further, since one might assume

that Ecklar would have built the building to house his

family, the 1818 birthdate of his son is important. Ecklar

died intestate around 1836 and one following deed, dated

June 12, 1837, mentions “the house and lot formerly oc-

cupied by Ulrich Eckler."

It passed out of the family in

1868

and is now the residence of a former mayor of

Westminster, Mr.

LeRoy L. Conaway.

Eastward up the street is 266 East Main Street, a

three-bay, two-story saltbox house that has always, it

seems, had commercial associations. The entrance

(north) front is laid in fairly precise Flemish bond be-

tween a high, roughly-coursed fieldstone foundation and

a mouse-tooth cornice below a black tin roof. A string

course (a feature seldom seen in Westminster and linking

the house to the gentler building of the Tidewater area)

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

separates the two stories on the main facade. Corbelling

(in brick on the south front and in wood on the west front)

replaces the mouse-tooth cornice on other facades. On

the rear facade, the corbel course is interrupted where, it

is safe to assume, an outside end chimney once rose:

markings on the wall’s brick form the size and shape of a

large protruding fireplace and flue. This fireplace prob-

ably heated the original rear room, which may have been

part of the residence of the proprietor of the early clock

maker’s shop that was on this site, according to the diary

of Katharine Jones Shellman. One Henry Goodlander

bought this and the adjoining lot for thirty-five pounds on

November 15, 1796, and sold it a year later for one hun-

dred thirty pounds,

certainly indicating the existence of

a newly constructed building. The one-year interval also

testifies to these early builders’ efficiency, perhaps en-

hanced by the standardization of form. In 1807, one Basil

Hayden bought the building to house his trade of hat-

making, which he had learned “with Mr. Kuhn and car-

ried on this business for many years. He was a public

spirited citizen and held several positions of honor and

trust including Constable and Judge of the Orphans’

Court."

The lots were sold again “including the house

thereon constructed” on August 8, 1828, for

$1000.

The

building has continued to be used for commercial pur-

poses. Presumably in those early days the shop would

have faced Main Street, comprising the large single room

behind that facade, and the residence would have sur-

rounded it to the rear and above, an arrangement that

could explain the now vanished external rear chimney.

This late 18th century residence indicates how the area’s

standard shape had evolved and how the shape would

prove to be a variation on the idea of interchangeable

parts: one identical building form could serve a number

of uses.

Another house of the early 19th century, before the

creation of Carroll County, is that of Jacob Utz, Jr. at 143

East Main Street. It was built about 1820 just across the

street and west of his father’s house. The three-bay house

was given individuality by an outstanding cornice com-

prised of a band of gouged circles; the cornice is now cov-

ered by aluminum siding. Much further to the west, at

8 Pennsylvania Avenue,

is another three-bay house that

certainly dates before 1838

it was sold in that year for

$1050.

Other buildings of this period include 153 and 155

East Main Street and two houses now owned by the His-

torical Society of Carroll County

the circa 1800 Kim-

mey House and the five-bay Shellman House, circa 1807,

at 206 East Main Street. The last is of particular interest.

Jacob Sherman bought the former Winchester house and

tore it down in 1807 to replace it with the present Flemish

bond, five-bay, two-and-a-half-story structure called the

Shellman House, a synthesis of the very finest characteris-

tics of early Westminster residences. The building was

probably built by Sherman as a wedding gift for his

daughter, Eve, who had married David Shriver, a sur-

veyor and superintendent of the Reistertown Turnpike.

Rear of 266 East Main Street showing

evidence of previous exterior chimney.

Number 143 East Main Street — Jacob Utz, Jr. House.

r.r*se”I

,-~~~~~~

MS.

l_lr1

The

Shellman

House

206 East Main Street.

From the well-defined

panelled

and columned entrance

door with its clear hints of polite Georgian architecture,

to the well spaced and well proportioned double-hung

sash windows crowned by broad, sharply defined jack

arches, to the two-tier rear side porch, the elements of

this house have had a significant impact on Westminster’s

architectural psyche. Clearly, the house was considered to

be the prime example of the way to build: for sixty years

after its construction, no one attempted a substantial

variation. Yes, there were modifications in detail

the Victorian era wore on, brackets and front porches

could not be resisted

but in essence this “elegant man-

sion”

firmly set the pattern and controlled building in

the city for two and a half generations. In a late 19th cen-

tury history of Western Maryland, a delightful story is

told of Westminster and the grounds upon which the

Shellman

House now stands:

Many years ago,

in the northwestern part of

Maryland, there stood a little village bearing the

proud English name of Winchester, now the beautiful

City of Westminster. For a long time peace and plenty

had smiled upon its inhabitants; and they dreamed

not of coming evil. It was in the midst of summer when

Front door of the

Shellman

House.

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

The loom house that at one time stood in the garden of the

Shellman

House. Jacob Shellman’s slaves wove the household linens here. In this

circa 1890 photograph, Paul Reese, a relative of the Shellmans and

perhaps the city’s first architect, appears resplendent in white trousers.

God saw fit to send a mighty drought upon the land.

For many days the scorching rays of the sun looked

down upon the earth,

burning and blighting the

vegetation, and threatening to bring famine upon its

tract. Flowers drooped and died, and water

one of

God’s best and most necessary gifts to man

began to

fail. In vain the people prayed and cried for rain. The

citizens of Winchester became alarmed, many of them

locked their pumps, and refused even a cooling drink

to the thirsty traveler or the famished beast, lest they

should not have enough for themselves. Near the

eastern end of the village [note

really the western

end] dwealt two maiden ladies, aged and respected,

who believed God would not forsake them in the time

of need. Unlike their neighbors they did not refuse

water to any, but unlocking their gate, placed a pla-

card near the well bearing the following words, ‘Free

admittance to all,

water belongs to God.’ In those

ancient days railroads were unknown, and all traveling

was done by stages and wagons. Emigrants were seen

passing daily on their road to the great west, and the

demand for water was constant. The doubting citizens

advised these two Christian ladies to tear down their

notice and close the entrance to prevent the water

being carried away, or they would be left without, but

their answer was always the same ‘The Lord is our

Shepard, we shall not want. We have no right to

refuse, for the water belongs to God.’ Soon all the

wells and springs in the villages began to fail and only

two remained to supply the demands of the famishing

citizens. One of these was the well which had been free

to all. The other belonged to an old gentleman, who,

as soon as he saw how great was the demand for water,

guarded it and refused even a drop. All flocked to

' Gods Well,' as it is now called, and its old-fashioned

Above and below: Two

views

of the

Shellman

House rear garden of which an uplifting

tale is told.

Circa 1900 photograph of original Zuber wallpaper, hand blocked

in France, that adorned a w all of the Shellman House This

original was removed and sold but a copy was installed later.

The “Vernacular” House of the

Early

Nineteenth Century

moss-covered bucket was never idle. And still the sky

was cloudless, and the unrelenting rays of a July sun

scorched and burned the earth. A few more days

passed, and he who had so cruelly refused to give a

drop of cold water through his plenteous store was

obliged to go and beg for himself from the unfailing

fountain of ‘Gods Well.’ The demand on this well

became greater day by day, but still its sparkling

waters refreshed thirsty travelers and the famishing

beast. At length a small dark cloud was seen on the

sky, and how eagerly it was watched! Larger and larger

it grew, till at last the whole sky was overcast. The

thunder pealed, the lightening flashed through the

heavens, and the flood gates were open. The clouds

rolled away and once more the whole face of nature

smiled, and the greatful citizens of Winchester

thanked God for the glorious rain, which had come

just

in time to save them from

perishing.

The two ladies in question were the daughters of

William Winchester, whose descendants probably would

event occuring on their legendary ancestor’s homestead.

Across an alley from the Shellman House is the Kim-

mey House (210 East Main Street) which now serves as

headquarters, library, and auditorium of the Historical

Society. The house was built at least as early as the

Shellman House by Dr. George Colgate, who later had his

office in the two-story section adjoining and to the east of

the three-story, three-bay main section. Less remains of

the original fabric of the Kimmey House than that of the

Shellman House but it is still possible to see how this could

indeed have been the residence and office of one of the

town’s first doctors. The round-arched windows and their

matching shutters,

if original, would be an interesting

early mark of individuality in a town where flat-topped

windows were the norm.

Another interesting innovation in residential design,

which would have ramifications up to the present day, is

what might be called the mid-Pennsylvania rowhouse.

While Westminster is similar to south central Pennsyl-

vania towns in so many ways, it does not possess whole

blocks of rowhouses as do such Pennsylvania towns as

Carlisle. Those who lean toward the psychological ap-

proach to architectural history might argue that this

absence indicates a more individualistic mentality in

Westminster, favoring independent structures and rural-

ness (a trait underscored by the similarities between coun-

try and city dwellings). Those who see a form of economic

determinism in architecture would probably argue that

the city had no need for rowhouses until close to the

turn of the 20th century, because there were always va-

cant lots further down the street. Whatever the reason,

there were only a few early scattered sets of rowhouses in

Westminster.

The Kimmey House, which now serves as the headquarters of the Historical Society of Carroll County.

Numbers

270-272

and

132-132½-134

East Main Street

date from very early in the 19th century and are

among the oldest buildings in the city. More data exist on

the circa 1817 triplex than on the duplex. It was origi-

nally the shop and residence of John Grumbine, a local

builder, but Phillip Jones moved from Baltimore and pur-

chased the lot in 1828 for

$2000.

Jones, a son of one of

the three men who laid out the town of Baltimore in

1730, was one of the “Old Defenders” of that City in the

War of 1812. He is described by his daughter, Katharine

Jones Shellman, as

“a large landowner in Baltimore

County” who “on account of the unsettled times following

the war in 1812-14 removed his family from Baltimore to

Westminster,"

where he became “one of Westminster’s

first merchants.” He established an “iron and

bacon”

store at number 132 and lived in the adjoining house.

The present owner believes that Jones had only intended

to live in one section not two, but “his family grew faster

than he

expected"

and the other had to be added. The

row played an interesting role a couple of generations

later when it was owned by the Rippard family, who pub-

lished there the American Sentinel, a prominent West-

minster Republican newspaper. Besides tying the city in

yet another way to the small towns of Pennsylvania, this

row set a new norm for Westminster in that it showed how

it was possible for a merchant to have his shop and resi-

dence side by side.This mode of working and living

Part

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

would become very popular later in the century and

would apply not only to shopkeepers but, as with Dr. Col-

gate, to professional men as well, creating what must

have been a comfortable egalitarian atmosphere.

Although only a few houses had attached offices, most

had adjacent barns serving a function similar to that of

garages today. For the frame barns, wooden louvers pro-

vided hygienic ventilation;spaced-out stone and brick

served for the masonry barns; but none of these achieved

the often exquisite appeal of the decorative patterns in

brick used to admit air to the brick barns. Several of these

can be found in Westminster and their distinctly Pennsyl-

vanian ancestry provides the city with yet another tie to its

northern neighbor.

But, however Pennsylvanian the

barns may appear, they did not originate in that com-

monwealth; they seem to be international. Olive Cook has

identified several occurrences of this construction tech-

nique in various British counties, for example, mostly in

the west along the English-Welsh border. She identifies

one of the earliest, dating to the 15th century, as a barn

in Shropshire that is largely timber “but the end is a beau-

tiful example of early brickwork, charmingly patterned

with ventilation holes.”Another one, dating to the 17th

century, is in Cheshire, where the “geometrical pattern of

ventilation holes . . .

is characteristic

of the

district” (em-

phasis added). Also in the west, in Wiltshire, is a 15th

century stone barn with vents. Moving eastward, she

Circa 1880 photograph of 132-132½ -134 East Main Street.

The “Vernacular” House of the Early Nineteenth Century

found a very early one at Great Coxwell in Berkshire. This

barn dates to the 13th century and Cook notes that “Wil-

liam Morris much admired the barn

[and] the noble

austerity of the design . . .

relieved only by the charming

irregularity of the

ventilation.“

In America, these patterned brick vents can be seen

ennobling barns not only in southeastern Pennsylvania

and central Maryland but in Ohio and the South as well.

A fine example in Carroll County may be seen about a

mile north of Manchester on Maryland Route 30. The

ones still to be found within the city limits of Westminster

provide yet another instance of the city’s early

depen-

dance on the countryside for its building patterns. Two

notable town barns are those behind 156 West Main

Street and 15 Park Avenue.

Barns with vents formed of patterned brickwork are not unique to Western Maryland

but several fine examples are to be found around Westminster. The example above

is near Manchester; the one below is located behind 156 West Main Street in Westminster.

The Blizzard House

1895 photograph.

esides selling “iron and bacon” one wonders what the

early occupants of Westminster did for a living before its

leading industry was law and government. The present

intersection of East Main Street and Washington (origi-

nally “Georgetown”) Road was the easternmost end of

William Winchester’s original city. Since the earliest

days, this intersection has been the scene of commercial

activity. In the late 18th century, lots one through four of

the original town were the site of the brick house and tan-

yard of Jacob Yingling and his wife, Mary. Tanning may

well have been the town’s first industry and was one cause

for its early prosperity.

At one time no hamlet, village, or town in Maryland

had more, or better, leather than Westminster.

In the early days of Westminster, the tanning industry

was its principal industry.

The original brick house, which has always been owned

by descendants of the builder, was altered in the late 19th

century in the then fashionable Second Empire style, but,

in its original circa 1800 form, it must have resembled the

three-bay houses already discussed. Located at 295 East

Main Street and popularly known as the Blizzard House,

the structure still boasts some of its original interior wood-

work; the paneling in the downstairs ground floor front

room and the mantels indicates that there was a high level

of craftsmanship in Westminster at the time of the house’s

construction. In 1957 the Mayor and Common Council of

Westminster placed a plaque on the southeast corner of

the building to commemorate its importance in the

town’s social and political history:

AT THE REAR OF THIS PROPERTY

THERE IS A GREEN STONE

MARKING THE STARTING POINT

OF THE PATENT FOR WHITE’S LEVEL

OF SEPTEMBER 27, 1738,

AND FOR THE SURVEY OF THE

TOWN OF WESTMINSTER

MADE BY

WILLIAM WINCHESTER

IN 1764,

AND SHOWN ON THE PLAT

RECORDED BY HIM IN

FREDERICK COUNTY IN 1768.

The “green stone”

still stands, as does the stone that

originally marked the boundary between Frederick and

Baltimore Counties. (This lot, and the entire eastern

Interlude 1

Quiet

Rural

Commerce

The Blizzard House at 295 East Main Street; mantel and

woodwork details dating to about 1800 are shown at the

left. The stones pictured below are located on the grounds

of the Blizzard House; on the left is the stone that marked

the boundary between Frederick County (“F.C.“) and

Baltimore County; on the right is a stone used in the

original survey of Westminster’s town boundaries.

Interlude 1

boundary of Westminster, was then on the easternmost

edge of Frederick County).

Across the street at 292 East Main Street was a general

store, operated after the 1840s by William Reese. This

store has an uncertain date of origin but possibly it dates

from the 1780s because a 1791 deed has the lot and im-

provements selling for ninety pounds,

a rather high

price. The diary of Katharine Jones Shellman reports that

in the 1820s Andrew Powder had operated a store on the

site; since the purchaser in 1791 was one Jacob Powder,

one might assume that Andrew was his son. William

Reese bought the place in 1849, paying $800 for the lot

and store. Reese was born in Baltimore, where his father

had kept a grocery store on the corner of Howard and

Clay Streets. A 1913 article on Reese in the American

Sentinel notes that “shortly after moving here he bought

the land and building and later the lot adjoining, on

which he erected what was then considered one of the

finest private residences in the

county.“

Woodwork from

the house was recently donated by Reese’s descendant,

Dennis F. Blizzard, to the Carroll County Historical

Society and is now installed in the auditorium at the Kim-

mey House. Reese flourished in Westminster and was

once president of the school board. When J.E.B. Stuart’s

Division came through town in 1862, they “inquired for

several prominent Union men of the place, and went to

their houses after them.

The account identifies four

such men, one of whom was “William Reese, the enroll-

ment commissioner.

”

The Reese store also remained in the family for several

generations,

while the commercial activities progressed

from selling dry goods in the 1840s to selling automobiles

in the 1920s. Not surprisingly, the physical proximity of

the Reese and Yingling establishments resulted in inter-

marrying between the families.

In the midst of this commercial activity, the need for a

bank must have been severe; an international dispute

helped to satisfy the need. When the British under Gen-

eral Ross threatened Baltimore in 1814, most of that city’s

bankers became nervous and fled to the country for

safety, taking with them whatever gold, silver, and paper

they could carry. Baltimore’s Commercial and Farmer’s

Bank dispatched one John Walsh with a large amount of

specie to Westminster, where he opened up a small office

of “discount and deposit.”

At this time, the population of

Westminster must have been very small: in 1837 it was

only 400. After the war was over and Baltimore still

proved to be intact, most of the bankers returned. Walsh,

however, remained in Westminster and in 1816 incorpo-

rated the Bank of Westminster, now known as the Union

National Bank. The bank, as a body corporate, purchased

lots 12 and 13 of the original town (now 249-251 East

Main Street) on June 12, 1818,

and then erected the orig-

inal section of the present building, the first bank in the

wilderness between Baltimore and Pennsylvania.

The building is superb. The excellence of the archi-

tecture, including a fine pedimented door and

pedi-

mented gables, is an example of an academicism that

would be rare in the city even a hundred years later. To

The Reese House at 292 East Main Street (circa 1920 photograph).

Interlude 1

have appeared when it did is only a little short of miracu-

lous. It is interesting to see how the classically correct

touches were so easily incorporated into the vernacular

style of the area, the five-bay, two-and-a-half-story,

L-shaped farmhouse.

The first section of the banks

building was the western,

two-bay office; the three-bay

extension to the east was built later as a residence for the

cashier. One of the early cashiers was Jacob Reese who

lived in the apartment around 1830, according to the

diary of Katharine Jones Shellman. The old vault, or-

dered early in the 19th century when Isaac Shriver was

president, still functions in its original location.

Westminster was a good site for a bank because the

city was along the route that wheat farmers used between

the lush grain fields of western and central Pennsylvania

and the merchants, warehouses, and port of Baltimore.

In fact, in one of the petitions that the Bank drew up to

justify its establishment, it is pointed out that “West-

minster is at the very outlet of the garden spot of Mary-

land . . . [and]

is backed by a fertile country from

Pennsylvania.

Main door of the then Bank of Westminster, built in

.‘*

II’s,

-’

,II .

~lpp-~

“~~~~~,~~

ha@::

*:,,,

1818 and later known as the Union National Bank.

Below: Detail of a stairway riser decora-

tion in the Reese House. Right: the house

as an automobile showroom in a circa 1925

photograph.

Interlude 1

Numbers 249-251 East Main Street,

built as the Bank of Westminster;

below is a copy of one of the bank’s

early checks.

.._

_.._.

..-1.e..

..I

l.,,

L__”

In those early days, each bank produced its own paper

money and it was to the bank’s advantage to have its notes

travel as far from home as possible. So, to induce thirsty

farmers to cash their checks at the Westminster Bank, the

bank kept a barrel of locally distilled Maryland Rye on

tap in the board room and offered its customers compli-

mentary drinks. Whether the industry’s change to com-

plimentary lollipops, match books, and calendars over

the intervening years may be properly labelled as “prog-

ress” is a subject for legitimate debate.

Westminster in the early 19th century, before it be-

came the County Seat, did have several merchants and

traders within its boundaries but it was by no means the

center of the county’s commerce, as it is today. A list of

“The Merchants of 1837,” published in 1937,

shows that

the entire district around and including Westminster had

only a minimal number of merchants, who carried only

an average amount of inventory. For example, the major

merchants in the city appear to have been Jesse Reifsnider

(on whom more later), Samuel Orndorff, and Joshua

Yingling, who each carried a stock valued at $2500. This

figure would not have been very impressive to the county

merchants, some of whom carried stocks valued up to

$5000. Later, these Westminster mercantile names would

rise to prominence but in the early 19th century their

recognition was strictly local.

Besides the tanyards and the merchants, a variety of

trades seems to have existed in the city in its first half-

century. These included potters, shoe makers, physicians,

cabinet makers, innkeepers, surveyors, dyers, black-

smiths, coopers,tailors, stage drivers, school teachers,

carriage makers,

silversmiths, saddle makers,

confec-

Interlude 1

“Avondale,” site of an early iron foundry called “Leigh Furnace” after its owner Leigh Master.

tioners, hucksters, tinners, butchers, hatters, and clock

makers. On the outskirts of town was the early iron

foundry operated by Leigh Master called “Leigh Fur-

nace,”now “Avondale

.”

Besides operating his iron furnace, Leigh Master is

also credited with importing English daisies to Carroll

County, mistaking their seeds for clover seeds. A more

sinister legend about him is today questioned by scholars

such as Amos Davidson, but it persists:

There is a story of Leigh Master, who in the middle of

the 18th century established the first iron furnaces. He

had a negro servant, Sam, who he disliked intensely.

One night when the furnaces were in full blast, Sam

disappeared and there was much talk as a result. Once

the workmen, walking along the edge of furnace hill

woods, heard a clop of hooves approaching and, lo!

Leigh Master rode by on a big gray horse crying for

mercy on his soul. He appeared again to the accom-

paniment of groans and clacking of chains, and again

a third time. Others saw Leigh Master, always on the

gray horse emitting smoke and flame from its nostrils.

Sometimes he was followed by three little imps carry-

ing lanterns sneaking along as if looking for some-

thing. This story persisted for more than a century and

lately has been given a new lease on life by a tenant in

Leigh Master’s old home, who, in removing some

bricks to get at the seat of a fire, uncovered an old

oven which contained human

skeletons.

The only church in the early town was the Union

Meeting House, “built soon after the Revolutionary War,

where all denominations could

worship."

Doctor Grace

Tracey suggests that“1790 is the date generally given for

the building of the Union Meeting House which replaced

the old log Union Meeting House in town.“

The church

was built of brick, with funds raised by lottery, on a hill

north of Main Street at the end (or the beginning) of

Church Street. Tracey notes that Winchester “certainly

must have planned for it

in his original plat he laid off

and named Church Street as it is located

today."

Old

photographs of the building show it to have been a two-

story, three-bay by five-bay structure of simple lines and

proportions. There were full pediments at the front and

rear and round-arched ground story windows and doors.

A gallery extended around the church on three sides with

a ladder being provided for climbing into the belfry.

The belfry on the church was a unique affair, and a

large steel triangle took the place of a bell in calling

persons to worship . . .

a man sat [in the belfry] and

with a hammer struck the triangle to produce the

sound which was as loud as some of our largest bells.

Interlude 1

There is a photograph of the original chancel and pulpit

in the church showing a curved carved communion rail.

While all denominations were permitted to worship in the

church, there seems to be a unanimity of opinion as to

who was the star of the old Meeting House:

It was in this church,

that the eccentric Lorenzo Dow,

the great revivalist, held services at one time, calling

the people together early in the morning with a

trumpet.

The meeting not having been as successful as he

had wished, he preached a powerful sermon on the

judgement, asking the question: If Gabriel were to

blow his trumpet, announcing that the Day of Judge-

ment is at hand, would YOU be ready? The blast of a

trumpet, coming seemingly from the air. Again he

asked the question: Would you be ready? And again

the trumpet blast, a little nearer. The third time the

question was asked, and again the sound of the trum-

pet. And the alter rails filled with people, pleading for

mercy,

and revival was a success from that night.

Although it was afterwards learned that the sound of a

trumpet came from a trumpeter stationed in one of

the tall elms which once stood sentinel-like on either

side of the church, many of our strongest most faithful

members of the early days of Methodism were the

result of Lorenzo Dow’s great revival.

The old Meeting House fell into decay as various

denominations built their own churches and was sold on

July 20, 1891, for $100.

5It was then torn down and an

urn put up to mark its place. An article written soon after

this event may have been the town’s first published argu-

ment for preservation:

The old Meetin’ House has gone

and even the old

sounding board, the high backed pews, and the altar

rail, around which our ancestors so often knelt in

prayer, cut up into kindling wood, and sold to the

highest bidder.

this may be a modern improve-

ment, I call it Vandalism.

Other religions, while not represented by buildings,

were not unknown in early Westminster.

Father Zocchi, a French [sic] priest, who served the

Roman Catholics of the county for 40 years, made his

home in Taneytown and preached in Westminster

only once a month. The Lutherans and German Re-

formed who still adhere to the faith of their fathers, at-

tend to the Dutch Church, Kriders.

Legends and ghost stories abound in rural Carroll

County but are rarer in Westminster. Some suggest the

fondness for the occult is “owing to the influence of the

Pennsylvania-Germans, who to this day are prone to dab-

ble in the supernatural.

Whether or not the Germans

truly dabbled in the supernatural, it is certain that many

German folk customs and superstitions were common in

the area. In fact, such traditions as “Kris Kringling” and

“Bell Snickling”

lingered on into this century.

Folk-

historian Frances Henshaw recently interviewed several

older local women and discussed with them some of the

area’s folk customs.

My father is Pennsylvania Dutch and they used to

go Bell Snickling.

. . . snickling must have meant to

sneak up on you; they would use Bell Snickling at New

Year’s and if they caught you out they would take your

things off, your pants, and your clothes too if they

could get them off you .

. . They were bad

guys

. . . It was grown ups and they, if one group would

catch another group then they would see which one

could take their clothes off of them

My brother

used to do that, but they wouldn’t let us kids go. Over

there by Mt. Airy. My grandmother was right from

Germany and she taught my father some of the

customs and things.

Interesting political events were also not uncommon

these early days, and most seem to have been centered

around the Gist Family:

Amongst these pioneers was Colonel Joshua Gist, who

like his distinguished brother, General Mordicai Gist,

was equally distinguished by his splendid and fearless

The Union Meeting House, probably built in 1790.

Interlude 1

services as a member of the Committee of Safety dur-

ing the Revolutionary War, and throughout

. . . at

the time of the great whiskey

rebellion.

In 1791, Alexander Hamilton had proposed a tax on

distilled liquors to raise money for his young Treasury

Department. This tax angered farmers “who used whis-

key as a medium of exchange"

and, presumably, also

angered those who used whiskey for other purposes. The

rebellion that followed the tax was especially severe in

Pennsylvania, whose limestone waters have historically

produced some of the nation’s finest spirits. The foment

there spread to the South and

. . .

even reached down in the territory known as Car-

roll County. [To protest this excise tax] a mob of men,

known as the ‘Whiskey boys’, marched into Westmin-

ster, and set up what they called a Liberty Pole.

Becoming alarmed and knowing the personal

bravery of Colonel Gist, who at that time commanded

a company of militia, he was sent for, and responded

immediately. Riding into town with a drawn sword in

his hand, he ordered the pole to be cut down, and dis-

mounting, he placed one foot upon it, and stood there

until the pole was cut into pieces, the Whiskey Boys

leaving quietly while it was being

done.

Such was the style of Westminster in the last days

before the creation of Carroll County, an event that

would give the town importance, money, and a certain

amount of sophistication. All three of these can be relied

upon to change the tone of a town’s life and architecture.

Yet, another circumstance was already having a profound

effect on the city: increasingly efficient transportation.

Chancel and pulpit in the Union Meeting House before

its razing in 1891.

The very shape of early Westminster was a function of

through-traffic:

It may well be the longest town for its size in America,

since all of it is spread along one street. The reason for

this is that, at the time when the great Western Road

passed through Westminster, everybody wished to

build on the main

stem.

The fact that Westminster was on a main trade route,

resulted in an abundance of taverns and inns along “the

main stem” for the feeding, refreshing, and lodging of

traders and drivers

an interesting example of early

strip development.A.G. Fuss discusses the Turnpike

Road in Carroll County in the early 19th century in a

1910 supplement to a local paper:

Baltimore was the popular metropolis and as the trade

increased between that City and Pennsylvania it

became necessary to have better facilities for transpor-

tation. In 1805 the Baltimore and Reistertown Turn-

pike was chartered for the capital of $600,000

subscribed for by the Baltimore capitalists and mer-

chants, and in 1807 the road was constructed through

Carroll County. It is 60 miles in length, including the

Hanover Branch. Large conestoga wagons drawn by

six horses transported immense amounts of goods and

produce over this road. This was the principal road to

Pittsburgh and hundreds of wagons often passed a

given point in a single day, and this traffic continued

until the construction of the B&O Road in Cumber-

land in 1845. Three quarters of a century ago (i.e.

circa 1835) the Westminster and Hagerstown Turn-

pike was begun.

Thus, although there was an element of “quaintness”

about the city before it became the County Seat and be-

fore later changes were wrought by the advent of the

Western Maryland Railroad, Westminster in the early

1800s already displayed signs of strong commercial and

political activity.

There was an iron foundary and a

nucleus of craftsmen and merchants in the town; roads

were being cut connecting it with Frederick, Pittsburgh,

and Baltimore; enterprising evangelists were adapting the

tactics of entrepreneurs to winning converts; and banks

were being established. While it is pleasant to conjure im-

ages of a bucolic Westminster where cows walked down

mossy streets, such a characterization is misleading. It

might be more accurate to view the early days as setting

the pattern for the keen sense of enterprise that would

become increasingly evident later in the century and

bring with it change and wealth.

Interlude 1

Blank

Chapter 5

From Country Town to County Seat

By the mid-1830s, dissatisfaction with existing county

boundaries had simmered for decades. Frederick County

included the entire western half of present-day Carroll

County and Baltimore County claimed the rest; West-

minster was on the border between the two. As early as

the

1780s,

inhabitants of this vast region had begun to

realize that carving out a new county should (one can

never be

sure

with government) permit more effective use

of taxes and quicker resolution of local problems. Fur-

thermore, travelling to the county seats, Frederick and

Towson, from the Westminster area meant long and ar-

duous journeys on muddy and rutted dirt roads.

Although there was widespread agreement to disagree

with the existing circumstances, there-was uncertainty as

to what form a new county ought to take. Some wanted

the division to be from Frederick County alone; some

wanted to separate Baltimore County more definitely

from Baltimore City and establish the county seat some-

where in the center of a new jurisdiction; others, espe-

cially the people of Westminster, wanted to take a portion

of each of the existing counties and form a new county

with Westminster as its seat of government.

Petitions were drawn up and supplications were made

to the State Legislature. Eventually, on March 2, 1833,

the General Assembly passed a bill that created a new

county to be named in honor of the recently deceased

Charles Carroll of Carrollton. (Carroll had been the last

surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence and

had owned several thousand acres in the proposed

county.) After the bill’s passage in the Legislature, the

citizens of the areas affected still were required to approve

the change by referendum.

While few events are solely the products of

individ-

uals, it is clear that one man “contributed more than any

single individual in the organization of Carroll County.“

Colonel John K. Longwell was born in Gettysburg on Oc-

tober 19, 1810, a descendant of Irish settlers who had

migrated from Ulster to Pennsylvania

yet another

instance of the Pennsylvania influence on Carroll County.

In 1832, he moved to Taneytown, then larger than West-

minster, and established a newspaper called the Re-

42 Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

corder, which he used to pour out a torrent of prop-

aganda for the establishment of Carroll County. He

published this paper for about a year before moving to

Westminster and establishing the

Carrolltonian,

a journal

“chiefly devoted to the interests of the formation of a new

County with a County Seat of

Westminster.“

The first is-

sue of his weekly paper appeared on June 25, 1833. That

issue and every subsequent issue for the next four years

presented arguments for the new County, complaining of

“a system of burdens and oppressions

. . . which, from

their steady increase,

must eventually become

intoler-

able."

After four years, Longwell’s lobbying efforts paid

off. His own account is interesting:

[There was] a provision requiring a majority of the

voters in each segment of the two counties [to agree] at

the October election 1833 by a

viva

voce vote. Soon

after the passage of the bill your historian was invited

to come to Westminster to establish a newspaper in the

interest of the new County. On June 28, 1833 the

Car-

rolltonian was first issued and it may be said that even

the opponents of the measures acknowledged the zeal

and fidelity with which it was conducted, until in four

years afterwards, the efforts of its friends were finally

crowned with success. As the fall election approached,

a number of public meetings were held. For public dis-

cussion on the merits of the question a general meeting

was held at Westminster.[*]

The election came

off after holding many public meetings, and the result

was that the new county failed to receive a majority in

a Baltimore County segment, and was subsequently

defeated.

The friends of the County did not antic-

ipate a rejection of their favorite project

they

determined that they would not give up, and the final

accomplishment of it is one of the strongest evidences

of what perserverance will achieve. Meetings were

called from time to time, the people were reasoned

with, and a considerable change in public sentiment

was obtained.

So the bill was finally ratified and the county was

created on January 19,

1837. Westminster celebrated.

Longwell

comments that this long-deferred victory was

“hailed with great delight by the citizens of Westminster

and the surrounding country, and celebrated by a proces-

sion, of arches, banners, illuminations, etc., and an ad-

dress delivered in the old Union Church by James

Ray-

mond."

Nancy Warner holds a more revisionist, less

ebullient, view of the great event:

The town of less than 500 residents welcomed new

county citizens and strangers alike, but the bitter cold

and deep snow were inhospitable, changing the pa-

rade as planned by the Committee of arrangements

*A committee was appointed to publish a pamphlet for those who

lived outside the town and unable to attend the meetings. It is in-

teresting to note that this pamphlet was published in both English

and German.

into an assembly in Union Church located in West-

minster Cemetery.

At this time, Westminster was just one of several small

places of about the same size in Carroll County. Taney-

town, during its four score and three years, had devel-

oped into the county’s leading town. It was on the main

Monacacy Road between Frederick and York and had

several small industries, including the famous Eli Bentley

clock plant. However, even Taneytown was rather a

rough-and-ready frontier town. One impression of Car-

roll County appears in an account of an 1854 journey

from Philadelphia to central Maryland:

Two miles beyond Littlestown the adventurers crossed

the limit of their state and entered Maryland. Was it

imagination or the darkness which rapidly increased,

that made the country grow more dreary? The houses

were more scarcely scattered, the corn crops dwindled

to smaller and smaller shocks, the appearance of spirit

and thrift grew less evident. No it was fact not fancy.

As a tired party drew near to Taneytown their rest-

ing place for the night, they hoped for comfortable

refreshment and shelter after days of riding 35 miles.

But they found the poorest entertainment which they

had met. Taneytown is a miserable little village, old

dilapidated and dirty, houses little low and mean.

Botany Bay might be quite as agreeable as Taney-

town. The dismal effect was heightened by a drizzling

rain, which however fortunately for their party seized

in about an hour or two after their starting.

If the “metropolis”

of Taneytown could produce this

reaction, it is fortunate that these travellers had no cause

to visit Westminster: the Chamber of Commerce would

be in disarray to this day. But perhaps Taneytown’s less-

than-four-star rating reflected the travellers’ fatigue and

disgruntlement with the dismal weather. (One wonders

how many pleasant hostelries have been damned by tem-

porarily

dispeptic

reviewers.)

Having achieved his goal of seeing a new county estab-

lished,

Longwell

married and settled down in 1840. He

purchased a tract called

“Resurvey of Bedford” from

Charles W. Carthause (Scotch-Irish replacing German)

and began to build a house there in 1842. He named the

place “Emerald Hill” and it was, according to

Scharf,

“one of the most elegant private residences in the

county.” It sits on a rise overlooking the City of West-

minster between what are now Longwell Avenue and Lo-

cust Street, about 200 yards north of East Main Street.

The five-bay two-and-a-half-story structure is a fine

example of the Pennsylvania farmhouse in Westminster,

built when the style was at its peak. On each floor, there

are marble mantels attributed to the internationally

From County Town to County Seat

The

Longwell

Mansion was called “Emerald Hill” when built by John K.

Longwell

in 1842.

This fine example of the Pennsylvania farmhouse is now the Westminster City Hall.

Below are a photograph of the house as it appeared in 1907 and a photograph of a William

Rinehart mantel in a second-floor room.

famous son of Carroll County, William Rinehart, who

sculpted the main

doors of the U.S. Capitol in

Washington.

Longwell was elected State Senator in 1850 and served

four years. In 1867 he was elected one of the delegates

of the Constitutional Convention and assisted in the

framing of the organic laws of Maryland. In 1871 he

was again chosen State Senator for a term of four

years. He was prevailed upon to accept the nomination

of County Commissioner

the most important office

in the State to farmers, businessmen and tax payers,

and was triumphantly elected and made president of

the board. He was the author of the Charter of the

Western Maryland Railroad and secured its passage by

its legislature, and when this railroad was put under

contract he was one of its Board of Directors, and is

now [1882] a member of the Board. He became a di-

rector of the Westminster Bank (now Union National)

and has been the president for 25 years. Since 1858 he

has been the president of the Baltimore and Reister-

town Turnpike, a road built in 1805 and for many

years the great national thoroughfare from Baltimore

and Pittsburg for traveling freight. At the Centennial

Celebration of July 4, 1876, in Westminster, he pre-

pared and read the history of the County, with which

no person in its limits is more familiar. Colonel

Longwell contributed more than any single individual

in the organization of Carroll County, and since its

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

Present

interior

Cockey’s

Tavern.

erection has been constantly associated with its prog-

ress, and the many

public and fiduciary positions con-

ferred upon him show the esteem which he has held by

the

community.

Longwell was also interested in education. He helped

found the Westminster English and Mathematical

Academy in 1836, the West End Academy in 1858, and

the Westminster Female Institute. He was a member of

the first board of trustees of Western Maryland College

and served many years in that capacity. From 1868-1870

he was a member of the county board of school

commissioners.

The first meetings of the Circuit Court, the Orphans’

Court, and the County Commissioners of the newly cre-

ated county were held in Westminster on the first of

April, 1837. Of course, in the newly created county seat

there were as yet no administrative buildings. The Circuit

Court used Dr. William Willis’s dwelling, a fine brick

five-bay residence that has been expanded and altered

through the years and is now a restaurant known as

“Cockey’s Tavern.”

After making a few preliminary ap-

pointments, the Court adjourned and met subsequently

Number 216 East Maln Street was built about 1790 as the

dwelling

of Dr. WIlllam Willis, who made it available to the Carroll

County Circuit Court for its first meeting in 1837. It was heavily remodelled in the 1890s and it now houses “Cockey’s Tavern.”

From County Town to County Seat

in the Union Meeting House until a permanent Court

House was built. The Orphans’ Court met in what was

known as the Wampler Mansion and continued to meet

there until the Court House was built. Perhaps the fact

that the Judge of the Orphans’ Court was the owner of the

house had some bearing on the arrangements. The

Wampler Mansion,

257 East Main Street, still exists,

although in somewhat altered form. The house must have

been relatively new in 1837 because the diary of Ka-

tharine Jones Shellman relates that, in the early

1830s,

this lot contained “the garden of John Wampler, farmer

and surveyor whose brick dwelling was in the course of

erection on the corner of Main and Church Street.” The

five-bay, hipped-roof building was large and elegant for

the area and was even more refined by a fine mouse-tooth

cornice on the exterior and by delicate paneling and

hardware on interior doors and halls; much of this still

re-

mains. The house stayed in the Wampler family until the

1890s when the Methodist Church took it over. The

church remodeled the roof to provide a third story, built

additions, and used it as a home for the aged.

The Wampler Mansion about 1850.

To accommodate a less exalted group of the town’s

The Wampler Mansion about 1915 after remodelling for use as a home for the aged.

citizens, the second floor of William Reese’s “thriving

grocery store” at 292 East Main Street was converted into

the county jail. However successful the building may have

been as a store, its career as a jail proved to be less

distinguished: it had only one guest

who escaped by

climbing down the rain spout.

Plans already were underway, however, for the erec-

tion of permanent structures for the judicial functions

and the jail

more imposing for the former and more

secure for the latter. In 1837, Isaac Shriver and the heirs

of David Fisher donated several acres of land for the

county complex.

This gift extended the limits of the

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

town, since the acreage was about 100 yards north of

Main Street.

Shriver’s magnanimity had its practical side. The

street that would connect the court house/jail complex

with Main Street would be called Court Street; a square

to be built around the Court House would be called, logi-

cally, “Court Square.”There was a stone store at the in-

tersection of the new Court Street and Main Street and

across Court Street was the edifice of the Main Court Inn

(now destroyed). Architecturally and socially these build-

ings would oversee the comings and goings of the Court

House and, when the original stone store was expanded

by a brick flank running half way down Court Street,

would present a baroque vista and fitting approach to the

local seat of government. Isaac Shriver owned the store

and ran the Inn. He was also president of the Bank of

Westminster (now Union National Bank). No doubt he

recognized the dual

personal and civic

benefits of

his transactions and balanced them nicely.

The cornerstone of the Court House was laid on June

13, 1838, by Andrew Shriver, a relative of Isaac, who de-

Isaac Shriver.

The eighteenth-century Main Court Inn, now torn down.

From County Town to County Seat 47

posited in the cavity of the cornerstone a variety of docu-

ments illustrative of the history of the area: paper cur-

rency, silver coins, and current newspapers. The architect

was the first Mayor of Westminster, James M. Shellman;

the contractor was Conrad Moul; and the masonry was

laid by Ephriam Swope and Thomas Durbin. The origi-

nal part of the building is a five-bay, two-story, gable-

roofed, brick pile firmly in the city’s building tradition.

Of course, it is of much larger scale than usual, having,

for example, 12 over 12 windows instead of 6 over 6, but

its origins are clear. Soon after the building’s completion,

elegant additions were attached. The most striking of

these is the two-story portico: this Ionic Temple facade

(complete with lunette) can be read clearly as an attempt

to lift the building out of the Pennsylvania-farmhouse

school and into the mainstream of current Greek Revival

national fashion. Fortunately the building avoided the

stigma of being “just another Greek Revival county court

house” because of the provincialisms that crept into the

design to give it character. Certainly no Greek (or Roman

for that matter) ever looked upon Ionic capitals quite like

these. Crowning the building is a curious octagonal, flat-

roofed cupola. One must wonder whether its apparent

truncation was in any way associated with the fact that, in

the words of present Circuit Court Judge Edward 0.

Weant,

“the mechanics who built the cupola found it

necessary to sue the County Commissioners in order to be

compensated for their

efforts."

The changes and addi-

tions to the Court House show that Westminster was not

content to remain static; it wanted to be current with na-

tional fashion, at least in the styling of its prominent

buildings.

About 100 yards to the north of the Court House,

masons Swope and Durbin had also built the County Jail

in 1837. Their bill was $4,000. The jail measures the stan-

dard five bays by two bays, and is the standard two-and-

a-half-stories in height. Apparently the County Commis-

sioners sought the largest, most impregnable looking

stones

nay, boulders

available with which to build

their jail

— a mighty fortress,

indeed. The effect is

heightened by the Stonehenge-sized rocks that form the

quoins of the building. However, apart from its lapidary

A view of East Main Street showing (left) the Main Court Inn as it appeared about 1915.

excesses, the jail is nothing but our old friend the Penn-

sylvania farmhouse, this time complete with porch.

How lucky, one realizes, were Westminster’s citizens:

they adopted a vernacular style of architecture that

seemed to be infinitely adaptable. Not only did the basic

pattern survive for a century as the standard form for

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

houses, it served for Court House and stores as well.

Truely, one shape fitted all. It fitted the needs of

Westminster’s citizens so comfortably that it became en-

trenched in their minds to the exclusion of their even

thinking of building in any other manner.

Above: Carroll County Court House, built in 1838. Right: An

engraving of the Court House included in an 1877 atlas of

Carroll County. Below: Detail showing the “Ionic” capitals,

the lunette in the pediment, and the flat-roofed cupola.

The seemingly impregnable County Jail, built for $4,000 in 1837.

;

The Carroll County Court House as it appeared at the beginning of the 20th century.

Blank

Chapter

Maturity at Mid-Century

The designation of Westminster as Carroll County’s seat

of government brought changes to its social and physical

fabric. For example, because most of the original settlers

in the area were German there had been little need for

any form of worship not Germanic in origin. There was,

of course,

the multi-denominational Union Meeting

House to serve the vestiges of other religions, but that was

all. On a hot summer’s day in 1842, however, Reverend

Hillhouse Buel paused briefly in town on his way to

“Avondale

.”

He met with William P. Maulsby and pro-

posed the founding of an Episcopal Church in the city.

Maulsby,

writing fifty years later, said “in reply, he was

told that the idea was wholly impracticable, that there

was not sufficient congregation to carry it on

.“

Buel

went on to “Avondale,”where his proposal was received

with more encouragement.

The Van Bibbers, who then

were the masters of “Avondale,” helped raise money for

the venture in Howard, Anne Arundel, and Prince

George’s Counties,while Buel himself dunned in Balti-

more City. They managed to raise sufficient funds

not

an inconsiderable portion coming from the Van Bibbers

themselves

and hired Robert Carey Long of Baltimore

to draw up the plans and specifications for the new

church. Long carried out his assignment “for $50

. . . [and] whilst h

e several times visited, inspected and

supervised the construction of our little church building,

positively refused to accept one other cent.“

The new

church was consecrated on Ascension Day, 1846, with

Bishop Whittingham presiding. Present were several

young ecclesiastics who later rose to prominence in the

Church: Dr.

atkinson,

later Bishop of North Carolina,

Dr. Kip of Albany, New York, later Bishop of California,

and Dr. Lyman,

later Bishop of North Carolina. Buel

rode the circuit among the other parishes under his

charge and acted as occasional minister in Westminster,

alternating with Bishop Whittingham. The congregation

began to expand:

Gradually were gathered in Mr.

Mrs. J.F. Reese, the

parents of Mr. J. Fisher Reese

now a United

States counsel in Belgium, Miss Sarah Longwell, and

others. . . .

During all this time, and long after the lit-

tle church building had been finished and conse-

rated, the small nucleus of a congregation, and their

visitors and friends, maintained a social structure,

which gave delicious intercourse to them, and served

to attract, gradually, others to their aid. It is believed

that in those socialities, kept up in regular orderliness,

were scintillations of intellectual brilliancy, and

flashes of explicit wit from some of the members,

which it would be found hard to have been exceeded

in any companies whatever or

wherever.

The early handling of the Rector’s salary is indicative

of the spirit of unity that enabled pioneer societies to suc-

ceed. In the beginning, Buel received no salary; rather,

the small congregation thought of itself as a unit, as a

family, and “no one of us was possessed of anything that

was not at the command of our rector’s need. All sedu-

lously watched and supplied his needs. He was a wel-

comed and honored member of every family, when he

would come, and he came and dwelt without stint or

apology.

Afterwards he received a modest salary.

The church that Long designed rates as one of the un-

questioned landmarks in Westminster and did outstand-

ing justice to its prestigious location on Westminster’s

pivotal artery

— Court Street. Built of grey stone in a

modified and restrained Gothic design, it was up-to-date

stylistically (being roughly contemporaneous with such

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

Ascension Episcopal church

shown in an 1887 engraving (top)

and present-day details of the

interior.

nationally-known

early Gothic landmarks as Trinity

Church in New York) as well as being a gem in its own

right. Finely proportioned, of perfect detail within and

without, Ascension Church has been an unqualified success

for over 130 years.

Originally, with its bare white plastered

walls, the building must have been of almost Quaker pu-

rity. Since then, the place has taken on the pleasant

museum quality that so often makes the small parish

church a compendium of community memorabilia, a

town’s collective memory.

Our old parish churches are all local pantheons, con-

secrated museums which are in the highest degree

worth preserving. They are incomparable treasure

houses of history and art. Every square foot illustrates

and annotates. . . .

There is the . . . structure itself

. . . [on which each era] has left its curious imprint;

the varieties of tracery and moulding, the mass dials

and masons’ marks,the effigies and brasses, the

screens . . . the brass altar cross, the tiled chancel, the

manual organ with ‘Hossana’ painted across the pipes.

And lastly the memorials, often so crude but always so

elegant, of the warfare of our own time.

time.5

Wandering through Ascension Church and reading the

memorial inscriptions on plaques, crosses, stained glass

windows, bible racks, and communion sets, one can fol-

low the passings of generations of local families.

Shriver’s plan for a grand avenue from Main Street to

the Court House, his hopes for a fitting environment for

the new county’s government, quickly began to take

Maturity at Mid-Century

The Bennett-Parke House is one of the consummate examples of the

PennsylvanIa

farmhouse in Westminster.

shape

at least on the east side of Court Street. In ad-

dition to the superb representative of religious architec-

ture just described, one of the gems of Westminster’s do-

mestic architecture, the Bennett-Parke House, was built

about this time between the church and Main Street.

On July 7, 1841 Isaac Shriver had sold a quarter acre

parcel bordering the church lot to one Solomon Zepp for

$400; two years later, Zepp sold the same parcel for $1800

to Levi T. Bennett.

This four-and-a-half-fold increase in

price would indicate that something had been built, and

indeed that “something” was one of the consummate ex-

amples of the Pennsylvania farmhouse in Westminster.

By then, the style had been dominant in town for about

two generations and had already been responsible for sev-

eral masterpieces. It had been around long enough for its

possibilities to be understood and mastered but not long

enough for the results to have become trite. Furthermore,

the site for this latest interpretation was only a few hun-

dred feet from the splendid Court House recently com-

pleted for a brand new county. All these factors must

have combined to create the right mental and emotional

conditions for Zepp to desire to excel in the building of his

house

to make it a celebration of local tradition. The

precision of its Flemish bond brick, its fine window treat-

ment (including lintels, sills, and shutters), the precise

balancing of solid and void, the massive chimneys and the

way their proportions relate to the rest of the house, the

fine cornice, and the sophisticated principal door, all

combine to make the building extraordinary. The house

stayed in the Bennett family until 1871, when it was sold

to Joseph M. Parke for $4,600,

an extremely high price

for Westminster in that era and one that is indicative of

the respect in which the building was held. (The price for

an average house in the city would have been about half

that figure.) The Parke family, notable in city, county,

and state legal circles,

retained possession of the house

until 1956,

when it was bought by the neighboring As-

cension Church for use as its Rectory.

The Bennett-Parke house, Ascension Church, the

classic style of the additions to the Court House, and the

scheme for the grand Court Street boulevard that we have

ascribed to Isaac Shriver, all indicate a great surge of

local pride in the early days of the new county and its seat

of government. Emerging states have often been observed

to construct fine edifices and boulevards

often finer

than mere economics would dictate

to help legitimize

their status. Thomas Jefferson encouraged the use of

Roman and Palladian architecture to give the newly cre-

ated United States of America a visual impression of

strength and stability. So, too, in Westminster the mani-

festations of pride in being no longer a country village but

now the most important town in the county began to take

shape both in civic and domestic architecture.

The Westminster Opera House symbolizes the chang-

ing atmosphere. During the early 19th century, its loca-

tion was the site of Jacob Mathias’s tanyard, shop, and

Symbolizing the aspira-

tions of a burgeoning city,

the Opera House was built

at mid-nineteenth century

on the site of Jacob

Mathias’s

tanyard.

residence but in 1854 Mathias sold the lot to the Inter-

national Order of Odd Fellows for $375. This organiza-

tion then built the Opera House. Such a building would

surely not have been appropriate in a small trading town,

but when the town becomes the County Seat . . .

well,

that’s different! Opera houses seem to have been the fa-

vorite choice for providing instant cosmopolitanism in

boom towns from Colorado to the Amazon jungle. In

Westminster, the function and massiveness of the build-

ing must have created an imposing presence in marked

contrast to the generally quiet quality of the rest of the

town. The huge slabs that comprise its facade would have

been about twice the height of any other structure in town

except for the Court House itself. The building’s seeming

grasp for position as it soared upward and outward could

be interpreted as representing the feelings of the towns-

people at the time.

Little appears to have been recorded about the Opera

House, but one rather gruesome story survives. During

the Civil War, when divided loyalties made for tense

situations, a show at the Opera House featured deroga-

tory impersonations of Lincoln, Grant, and other Union

leaders; the next morning the decapitated body of the

“entertainer” was found in a rear stable.

Despite the elevation in civic consciousness, general

domestic architecture in the city retained its basic form.

Houses that probably date from this era include the

five-

bay frame building at 222 East Main Street, 45 East Main

Street (which recently gave way to a new mall and plaza),

and 182 West Main Street, which was part of the city’s

rapid expansion to the west. Other contemporary houses

are 44 Pennsylvania Avenue, executed in Flemish bond

brick, and 141 West Main Street.

While Main Street and the original Westminster were

being built up in the 1840s and

1850s,

there were interest-

ing developments west of town. The ubiquitous “Isaac

Shriver, one of our sturdy pioneers

opened a street

and called it ‘Union Street’ to connect two roads and

named the two sections: ‘Pennsylvania Avenue’ and ‘West

Main Street’, and laid it off in a number of building lots.

For many years this part of town was called ‘Irish Town’

presumably because the first house was built by an Irish-

man.

The late Dr. Grace L.

Tracey,

notes that “after

the death of John Logsden, Sr., the trustee of his estate

sold ‘Fanny’s Meadow’ at a public auction

Phillip

Lance bought the Logsden Tavern and 17 acres of land at

the road junction for $3.00 per acre. In 1834 he conveyed

it all to Isaac

Shriver."

Speculators purchased several of these lots on Union

Street and built the houses that still stand there. One

George A.W. Bowersox, for example, bought the north-

westernmost four lots on the street in 1854 for $140 and

built four double houses thereon. The 1850s deeds asso-

ciated with the resale of these individual properties note

that the lots

“are improved with . . .

double frame

weatherboarded houses recently erected” and make refer-

ence to “the center of the partition wall at the front of the

double houses erected.“

The southeastern part of the

street, containing the central area of Shriver’s triangular-

shaped property apparently was bought by the Roop-

Royer family soon after Shriver’s acquisition, for on Oc-

tober 17, 1849, Jesse Royer conveyed to David Wantz

nearly four acres “on New Street,” the metes and bounds

description for which matches this interior piece of land.

Wantz must have been another speculator for he soon

thereafter began selling the land in individual lots.

Maturity at Mid-Century

Union Street did not for long remain “Irish Town”; it

quickly developed into residences for Westminster’s free-

black community. Several theories for this change have

been suggested. Some feel that the street was built to

house workers of nearby Western Maryland College, but

this can be ruled out because it antedates the college by

twenty years. A reasonable explanation of the street’s pro-

gression is that its houses were originally built to accom-

modate the men who constructed the Western Maryland

Railroad through Carroll County in the 1850s. These

workers were quite likely to have been recent Irish immi-

grants. When the railroad was completed, the Irish

workers would have moved on leaving Union Street to be

occupied by free blacks and later by former slaves. An

1861 map of Westminster shows Bowersox’s four double

houses and one church on Union Street. A map produced

fifteen years later (1877) shows the same houses and at

least a dozen others, and now a “Colored M.E. Church”

and a “Colored School” are also marked.

Writing in 1924, Mary Shellman recalled the black

people she had known in her childhood:

[I] must close with a few words to those dearest mem-

ories to my child life, the faithful old black faces that

never gave me a frown, and whose kindly voices spoke

only of affection and love. The Snowdens, the Bruces

and Hardens, the Paralays, and the Irelands, and the

Behoes,

and the Bells and Cromwells . . . the first ice-

cream ever made in Westminster was made by Mary

Behoe,

a colored woman, who once a week, would

send her husband, Billy

Behoe,

a slave owned by Mr.

Jacob Reese, father of Dr. James W. Reese, to inform

the gentlemen who would take their sweethearts to her

home in Irishtown to partake of a delicacy.

The names of people listed as living on Union Street in

the 1881 City Directory, have similarities to the names

listed by Miss Shellman.

The buildings that front the two sides of Union Street

are in a mixture of vernacular styles but are wonderfully

uniform in history, age, and scale. There seems to be an

approximately equal number of single-unit and double-

unit residential buildings. A popular duplex form is ex-

emplified by 49-51 and 57-59. These consisted originally

of long, two-story, gable-roofed, frame buildings divided

into halfs, each half being two bays wide with a hall and

parlor plan. Interest is added to the principal facades by

hipped-roofed porches and careful spacing of windows

and doors. The end walls of the units were blind and had

an interior end chimney rising at the gable roofs peak.

The rears of each of the two units originally had matching

bays (two on each of the two floors) opposite those on the

principal facade. This treatment is revealed in a circa

1880 photograph of Union Street taken from College Hill.

In the late 19th or early 20th century, additions were

Detail of Martinet’s 1861 map of Carroll County, showing the

railroad line that was completed to Westminster in that year

made to the rears but the principal facades remained ba-

sically unchanged except for the occasional use of alumi-

num or asbestos siding.

Another popular Union Street house form is seen in

45-47, and 35-37. These are also double units but they

are perpendicular to the street

their gable ends face

the street. These buildings are taller than the other

double units and of later date, since they are not appar-

ent on the circa 1880 photograph.

A still later type of double house was of deeper design

with a single-pitch roof sloping away from the street.

Some extant examples are 2-4, 18-18½, and 31-33

Union Street. These double houses reflect a style popular

elsewhere in Westminster and, generally speaking, are

two bays wide, creating a four-bay facade for the whole

building. Roof lines are more emphatically noted here

Union Street looking east from College Hill in the late nineteenth century.

Numbers 45-47 Union Street.

Number 49-51 Union Street.

Maturity at Mid-Century

!.S”

‘,

..~

N’-*

,..“.,l

I”

.rl”.

“~u.rrinn*~

Numbers 57-59 Union Street.

with thick denticulated modillioned cornices. In all the

double units mentioned, color is an extremely important

factor: it defines ownership and makes for a pleasantly

varigated streetscape.

The single-unit houses on Union Street are generally

similar to those found elsewhere in the city: two perpen-

dicular, two-story, gable-roofed sections with the prin-

cipal facade consisting of three regularly-spaced bays per

floor. Examples include 6, 8, 36, 10, and 20 Union Street,

which stress centrality, with their entrance doors being

the center ground-story bay, and 45 Union Street, which

has its door on the side.

The mixture of three ver-

nacular styles that occur on

Union Street are apparent in

this view of the street.

One of the more striking buildings on Union Street,

and indeed in the city, is the Union Street M.E. Church,

built in 1867 and located about halfway up the street on

the east side. The church was originally a simple two-bay

by three-bay, gable-roofed structure; it is unchanged ex-

cept for the 1927 addition of a two-story steeple in the

center of the front facade. The windows appear to have

had clear glass originally but this was changed to colored

glass probably around the turn of this century.

A singular event of this era concerned the Westmin-

ster Cemetery, which surrounded the Old Union Meeting

House on the opposite side of town from Union Street. A

plot of ground originally containing one-and-a-half acres

adjoining the church had been used as a burying ground

from the earliest days Westminster and indeed for a half-

century before the founding of the city or the erection of

the church

one of the stones is dated 1707. The first

record of what was later to become the Westminster Cem-

etery Company, however, was an act passed by the State

Legislature on May 24, 1813, allowing the incorporation

of the “Trustees of the Westminster General Meeting

House in Frederick [now Carroll] County.” The incorpo-

rators named in the act were Isaac Shriver (not surpris-

ingly), David Fisher, James Mchaffie, Joshua Gist, Francis

Hollingsworth, James Cannon, and William Durbin.

Fifty years later, on February 18, 1864, the State Leg-

islature passed another act allowing incorporation of the

“Westminster Cemetery Company.” On June 17 of that

Union Street M.E. Church built in 1867.

The land owned by the Westminster

Cemetery Company, whose incorporation

was authorized by an Act of the State

Legislature in 1813, has been in use as a

cemetery since as early as 1707. To the

left is a late nineteenth century view of

the cemetery.

year, a joint stock company was formed under that name

with George Wampler as president and a Board of Direc-

tors that included William Reese, Joseph M. Parke, John

K. Long-well, and Alfred Troxell. Stock was sold at $10 a

share and the proceeds used to buy twelve-and-a-half

acres of land adjoining the original one-and-a-half acres.

The cemetery company still exists and operates the enter-

prise. Perhaps its longevity is due to strict enforcement of

the rules promulgated around 1895:

The picking of flowers (except by the owner from his

own lot), the breaking of trees, shrubs or plants, and

the defacing of any monument, fence or structure in

the cemetery, is strictly prohibited. Violators of this

are liable to arrest.

Rapid driving, or driving on the grass, will not be

allowed.

Horses in all cases must have an attendant. Trees must

not be used as hitching posts. Dogs will not be per-

mitted within the grounds, unless in carriages, accom-

panied by their owners.

The carrying of firearms is strictly prohibited, except

at military funerals.

No improper or disorderly persons will be permitted to

enter or remain in the cemetery. Those who willfully

and persistently infringe the rules and regulations will

be classed as improper persons and denied entrance.

Writing about Westminster in 1882, Thomas

Scharf

comments that “the prosperity of the city is aptly illus-

trated by the number of its public buildings and its man-

ufacturing establishments.

“

The citizens of Westminster

in the 1840s and ’50s apparently had not been satisfied to

allow their city’s prosperity to depend solely on the fact

that it was the County Seat and a stop on a horse-drawn

bus line. They wanted industry that was more robust than

tanning and tailoring.

Nancy Warner comments that the “citizens of the

towns had enough foresight to realize the need for manu-

facturing within the town to supplement the highway

trade, and they were proud of the quality of their

indus-

tries."

She cites the cigar factories in Manchester and

Maturity at Mid-Century

Taneytown, the hat factories in Uniontown and West-

minster, a nail factory in Union Bridge, and so on. The

American Sentinel, the county’s Republican organ,

en-

couranged manufacturing and trade for half a century,

partly through a series of articles on prominent individual

entrepreneurs. The paper was a nonpariel example of the

Victorian commercial spirit; its boosting of growth and

industry is well illustrated in a November 1859 article:

The productions of our own mechanics and artisans

are in every particular equal to the best articles manu-

factured abroad, and to us the encouragement and

support of them, on part of the citizens of Westmin-

ster, seems a duty that all should take pleasure to en-

join upon themselves. The purchase of goods else-

where that can be manufactured as well at home

and in many instances better

has a tendency to

retard the improvements of the City and injures the

prospects of our working classes. By encouraging our

own manufactures we add impetus to the establish-

ment of our permanent prosperity, we enrich the com-

munity around us, and advance every species of busi-

ness. Westminster is the center of a large and populous

County, and her manufactories into various branches

of labor

could be made tenfold as great as now under

proper management.

These are facts our people

should consider, if they have any desire to contribute

to the prosperity of the community in which they

reside and from whom they

themself

derive their

substance.

One of Westminster’s smaller enterprises of this era

was the sculpture business of the Beaver family at 126

East Main Street. The three generations of Beaver sculp-

tors, “Jackson, the first, Andrew, his son, and John Bea-

ver, his grandson,”must have been typical small-scale

businessmen of the time. In their marble yard, which bor-

dered their house to the west, and their studio, they

sculpted tombstones, marble mantelpieces, and so on.

Andrew Beaver bought the plot of land in 1858 for

$800;

it had been sold to George Weaver for $125 in

1838

and it was probably Weaver who built the small

two-bay house that is still standing. The house is interest-

ing both as an example of the British cabin style and for

the beautiful marble mantels and heavy stone sills that no

doubt were intended to serve as advertisements for the

Beavers’ craft.

Such small enterprise,

however, was not quite what

the industry-minded citizens and the American Sentinel

had in mind. More agreeable to them was the Union Ag-

ricultural Works of Westminster which opened in the

summer of 1852. The plant, which was from time to time

enlarged and improved, consisted of a large two-story

machine shop, blacksmith shop, saw mill, and sheds, all

of which occupied nearly one-and-a-half acres of ground.*

During this time,

the new county seat continued its

role as a transportation center and when one imagines its

seven taverns and “unceasing stream” of wagons and

mule drivers passing along its muddy Main Street one

may suspect that Joseph D. Brookes was being reticent

*This plant possibly was located on Court Street between the Charles

Fisher House and Greenwood Avenue. The site is identified on the

1877 map of the city (see pages 72-73) as the location of the “Taylor

Manufacturing Company.”

The gates of Westminster Cemetery are shown as the meeting point for an early Memorial Day parade.

The Beaver House (left, partly shown) and

Studio, photographed when they were part of

the Joseph C. Mathias Monument Co. A

photo of the founder is shown in the inset.

Above:

A slate and marble

mantel in the front

room on the house's

ground floor.

Below:

The Beaver House as

it appears today.

Left:

A page of the 1881

Westminster Directory.

Maturity at Mid-Century

when he commented that in the “turnpike days it [West-

minster] was a wagon hamlet filled with bar rooms and

all that accompanied them."

On June

7, 1916, Brookes,

interviewed Jesse Sheets, one of the first conductors of the

Western Maryland Railroad and the last surviving driver

of the bus line (horse drawn) that ran through Westmin-

ster. Sheets began driving a “bus” from Uniontown to

Westminster in 1850 when Denton Gehr was manager of

the line. He also drove from Westminster to Gettysburg, a

trip that took four hours. Sheets recalls:

In those days Westminster was quite a wagon village, a

great place for farmers and tradesmen to come in their

large wagons. This was the main highway from Balti-

more to Pittsburg by way of Chambersburg, for

wagons

travelling up the Gettysburg Pike. They

hauled produce, manufactured goods, whiskey, flour,

grain,

and manufactured machinery from Pittsburg

especially farming machinery to this market. Return-

ing, they hauled groceries, cloth, wearing apparel,

charcoal, etc. Many a time I have seen fifteen to

twenty two- to six-horse teams in one string. Most of

them had bells on their horses. The wagons were

called Pittsburg wagons, they were built at Conestoga,

Pennsylvania. They had white canvas covers over the

top, the drivers carried their beds in the wagon. Also

carried a trough across the rear of the wagon to feed

the horses; they would fasten the trough to each side of

the tongue of the wagon and tie three horses on each

side. Staying at a tavern for the night the drivers would

spread their beds on the floor of the bar room or the

dining room and sleep there, the horses staying out-

side. I remember many evenings coming up with the

bus that it was impossible to drive in a tavern yard as it

would be entirely full of teams and horses and for

Right: A nineteenth century tintype

captures the essence o

transportation through Westminster

during that booming era.

quite a distance outside on the pike. I was obliged to

carry water a long distance for my horses for that

reason. There were very few passengers in the winter

time as the roads were very bad and dangerous. The

hills were hard to get up and harder to go down as the

coach would slide on the ice, the rear coming around

towards the horses, just as automobiles do now. The

fare from here to Baltimore was $2.50 one way and

$4.00 a round

trip.

Sheets was 20 years old when he began driving the

horse-drawn buses in 1850. In 1859, he started working

on the railroad from Baltimore to Owings Mills; when the

railroad came to Westminster, he became a conductor

and later a brakeman.

The people of Westminster seem to have been aware

that their early prosperity had been in part based on

transportation. If the town had been able to get a start as

a way.point for Conestoga wagons, certainly, they must

have figured, it could do even better with that new-

fangled invention, the railroad:

The people of Westminster have, in the creation of the

County, manifested an enterprising disposition and

desire to keep abreast of the great practical discoveries

of the century. The question of railroad transportation

engaged the attention of the inhabitants at an early

date, and the extraordinary advantages to accrue to

the County by rail and steam communication were

thoroughly appreciated.

A group of citizens met at the Court House on April 7,

1847, to consider the possibilities of building a railroad

through the county to connect it more efficiently with the

port of Baltimore; a committee of ten was appointed to

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

negotiate with the president and directors of the Balti-

more and Susquehanna Railroad. Three years later, the

president of the railroad, R.M. MacGraw, addressed a

meeting in Westminster on the advantages that might be

reaped if a rail line came to the city. More committees

were formed to make more studies: to determine the best

route, the cost of construction, possible revenues that

could flow into the city, and so on. The line already went

out from Baltimore City as far as Owings Mills in Balti-

more County, and the two possible extension routes were

(1) to go straight north to Pennsylvania away from West-

minster or (2) to branch off westward to Westminster by

way of Reisterstown. Various other routes were proposed

and various other meetings were held. Innumerable reso-

lutions were passed and interminable studies made. In

1851, railroad company engineers surveyed a route to

Westminster.

In September 1852, yet another meeting was held at

the Court House; but this time delegates came from Balti-

more, Carroll, Frederick, and Washington Counties, as

the scheme had now been hatched to extend the line not

only to Westminster but westward to Hagerstown, where

it would link up with lines leading to Pittsburgh. When

the citizens of Westminster learned that the Mayor of Bal-

timore City had, in fact, signed an ordinance endorsing

five hundred thousand dollars worth of

Western

Maryland Railway Bonds,“the event was celebrated by

the firing of cannon,

and at night a large meeting was

held and speeches were made . . .

with music by the

Westminster

Band."

22z

The Western Maryland Railroad

was chartered in January 1852 and work began on it in

July 1857. It was completed to Union Bridge and through

Westminster by 1861 and to Williamsport on the Poto-

mac River in 1873. In its inception it was a Carroll

County enterprise,

the inhabitants of the county sub-

scribing to nearly all the original stock in the company.

The

value of this road to Carroll County can scarcely

be overestimated

property of every description in

the vicinity of the railroad has greatly appreciated in

value, and an unmistakable impetus has been given

to all industries which the County is capable of

sust

sustaining.

The citizens of Westminster were well aware of the benefits that a railroad

serving their city would bring. Their strenuous lobbying efforts -- backed up

by their money -- eventually brough the railroad to Westminster in 1861.

The tracks crossed East Main Street adjacent to the depot as shown in the

photographs that close this chapter on the next page.

estminster’s resolute march towards Victorian bour-

geois capitalism was oh-so-mildly-and-briefly delayed by

the inconvenience now known as the Civil War. During

the war, Westminster, like other towns in border states,

had mixed sympathies.

The county and city historically had been divided by

loyalties to Pennsylvania and to Southern Maryland.

When the county was formed in 1837, there were 1,044

slaves (valued at $220,400) living there; in the West-

minster District there were 97, whose $22,880 worth rep-

resented a slightly higher per-slave value than for the

county at large. The number of slaves in the county had

dwindled to 975 by 1850 and to only 783 by 1860. The re-

sults of the 1860 presidential election indicate the even

political split in the county. The vote was fairly evenly di-

vided between the two Democratic candidates, and the

two Whig/Republican candidates: respectively, Brecken-

Breckenridge Douglas

Bell

Lincoln

(D) (D)

(Whig)

(R)

Westminster 247

85 295

County Wide

1797

333

2295 59

As was the case with other small towns, once the war

began Westminster unexpectedly and involuntarily be-

came the scene of skirmishes. Although there were no

great campaigns in Westminster, the city was occupied

three times by both Union and Confederate Armies. Dur-

ing the Gettysburg campaign of 1863, it was the main

supply base for the Northern army because of the recently

completed rail line

a consequence the rail promoters

had not anticipated.

The first time troops entered the city was in Septem-

ber 1862, when the Confederate Army, moving north be-

fore the battle of Antietam, sent a scouting party of Vir-

ginia Cavalry under Colonel Thomas Rosser into West-

minster in the early evening:

This unusually quiet town was precipitated into a fate

of great commission this evening by the arrival of a

regiment of rebel cavalry

there is only one street

worthy of the name in town. Along this street they

dashed amid the gathering darkness . . . Presently

cheers from the direction of the railroad depot

cheers for Jeff Davis

were heard, just as they were

passing there on their gallop to the other end of town

The secessionists everywhere were in great glee,

cheered from the houses and ran along the street,

while Union people gazed on with mute amazement

. . .

meanwhile the town was lively and gay. The

lamps were lit in the houses, secession ladies appeared

at the doors and windows and the place at once as-

sumed an usually animated appearance. Officers were

invited into dwellings, ladies greeted them in an ar-

dent, almost affectionate manner, and with words and

smiles assured them with sympathy. Music, vocal and

instrumental, came floating through the open win-

dows, while the male members, the resident rebels,

were wild with excitement and overflowing with

exuberance.

Several houses were occupied, including one at 79

West Main Street by Colonel Rosser himself; it is now en-

larged and serves as an apartment building called

“Rosser’s Choice.”One young lady’s reaction to the

Southern soldiers is interesting:

A teacher, a Miss Harriet Ray, from Vermont, em-

ployed in John A. Monroe’s private school was en-

thusiastic over the appearance, the conduct, and the

general air of refinement of the Southern soldiers. She

Interlude 2

Passage

of War

ridge & Douglas and Bell & Lincoln. The vote in Westminster

and in the county at large was as follows:

found them altogether different from her expecta-

tions. Far from being affraid of them, she found them

delightful and sought opportunity to become ac-

quainted . . . she said she must write home at once to

set her people right in regard to the southerners, that

notion entertained in Vermont as to the ‘Cessionists

were entirely erroneous and she would proceed at once

to correct them.

On June 29, 1863, during the Confederacy’s great

push into the North, J.E.B. Stuart arrived in Westminster

with three brigades of veteran Cavalry troop. They were

travelling northward, planning to meet Lee in Pennsyl-

vania with information on Union troop movements.

There was a scuffle in town when the Confederates met

and easily overwhelmed a small unit of Union Cavalry.

However, the skirmish delayed Stuart’s troops with, per-

haps, serious consequences:

If he had been able to reach Lee on the night of June

29, his information might have changed the whole

pattern of Lee’s campaign and the results of the battle

of Gettysburg.

When Stuart’s cavalry moved on, the Union Commander,

General George G. Meade, decided to use Westminster as

a base and it served this purpose well when he and Lee

met unexpectedly at the nearby town of Gettysburg. The

newly constructed Western Maryland Railroad line from

Baltimore appears to have played an important role:

By July 1, vast quantities of supplies and thousands of

mules and wagons arrived in the town. . . . As the

battle proceeded, long lines of prisoners and wounded

soldiers moved back to Westminster, to be transported

to Baltimore or Washington. It is estimated that there

were as many as 5,000 wagons and 30,000 mules in

Westminster during the Gettysburg campaign, with

almost 10,000 men to guard the

supplies.

Although, perhaps, not as traumatic as the aftermath

of other storied events during the nation’s unhappy Civil

War,

Westminster’s taste of devastation is worth

recalling:

The battle of Gettysburg having ended after three days

fighting . . . the troops . . . were withdrawn, leaving

us in a quiet we had not known for weeks, and with im-

pressions of the horrors of war which we have never

known before. All around the town were evidence of

the ordeals through which our section had just passed.

Fences were down and many of them destroyed, wheat

fields trampled under foot and ruined; provender of

almost every kind gone, and the whole section looking

death-like and broken.

In the next year, Confederate soldiers again entered

Westminster when the Southern army was threatening

Baltimore and Washington for the last time. General

Bradley Johnson had the responsibility for cutting rail

telegraph communication north of the Capital. On the

night of July 9, 1864, a Confederate brigade led by Col-

onel Harry

Gilmore

entered Westminster, cut the tele-

graph lines, but did no other damage.

The simmering tensions of that era occasionally

erupted in violence,as witnessed by the treatment suf-

fered by Joseph Shaw, publisher of the Democratic Ad-

vocate. It should give today’s maligned journalist reason

to view his own lot with more equanimity:

During the dark days of the war when sectional feeling

governed the actions of men, when might constituted

right and civil liberty was denied, Joseph Shaw bravely

exercised his rights of free speech. When President

Lincoln was shot on April 14, the excitement spread

over the country and in Westminster, as in many other

parts of Northern and border states, the lives of Demo-

crats were imperiled. The Republicans held a mass

meeting in the court-house and a resolution was

adopted to notify Mr. Shaw that the publication of his

paper would no longer be permitted. Sometime after

midnight of the same night, the office of the

Demo-

crat

was raided and the entire equipment, including

presses, hooks, papers, type, and furniture, was de-

stroyed and burned in the street in front of the office

about a half block east of its present location.

The writer is credibly informed that Mr. Shaw

then went to Baltimore and issued his paper. He re-

turned to Westminster,

contrary to the advice of

friends, and while asleep in his hotel a few nights after

the destruction of his office, a number of men forced

an entrance to his room. He offered resistance and was

shot, beat, stabbed and thrown down the steps from

the effects of which he shortly after died. A bullet hole

in the pillar of a door on Pennsylvania Avenue at ‘The

Forks’ is said to have been made by a stray bullet fired

in this fight. The wrongdoers were tried, but acquitted

in these days when men looked upon death only as one

of the evils of

war.

A more pleasant

story of the war’s presence

Westminster concerns a young Union girl called Mary

Shellman, who, it is told, was kissed by General J.E.B.

Stuart and/or rode about town on his saddle. The various

and oft recounted versions of this tale have established it

as an imperishable element of Westminster’s own Ring

Cycle. Miss Shellman herself, otherwise an inveterate and

thorough chronicler, is silent on the subject. Apparently,

she was not one to kiss and tell.

Interlude 2

Blank

Chapter

The Tradition Breakers, 1865-1875

Do buildings really reflect the minds of their builders?

Can a town’s architecture be said to reflect its psyche?

The answer to both these questions will probably be yes, if

one keeps in mind the definitions of vernacular and polite

architecture. The former represents a way of building

that is tacitly agreed upon by a large number of people.

As such, it surely must say something about the people.

Polite architecture, representing a singular expression of

tastes and desires, must say something about the indi-

vidual builder/designer.

We can say that Westminster before the advent of the

railroad was a unified conservative town looking for, and

finding, inspiration within itself and its environs no fur-

ther away than Pennsylvania. After the railroad arrived,

a few individuals with the courage and sophistication to

look beyond the vernacular Pennsylvania farmhouse

began to take note of what was happening elsewhere in

the county. To build an individualistic house, especially

in an area with a strong local building tradition, would

have taken courage, money and a certain sophistication.

One man who possessed all three was Colonel W.W.

Dallas.

With his heiress wife, Dallas had earlier bought the

Brick Mill property near Taneytown from the Kephart

family, remodeled the house that was there, and called it

“Trevanion.”

This house was among the first in the Car-

roll County area to apply the fashionable ideas included

in nationally circulated builders’ guides and pattern

books. These books, early versions of model home cata-

logues, had engravings of popular styles with brief

laudatory descriptions.

Dallas was active in the county’s social life and a lead-

ing figure in its economy because of his prosperous mills;

he was also influential in the building of the Western

Maryland Railroad to Union Bridge (purchasing $7000

worth of the railroads stock). Politics played at least a

supporting role in his life and he ran for the State Senate

on one occasion

and lost. When the Confederate Army

passed near “Trevanion” in 1862, Dallas joined the West-

minster contingent of Confederate forces, which then

joined the larger army at Sharpsburg.

But he had scarcely crossed the river until he dis-

covered the great mistake he had made. To march

with a heavy saber he was not fitted if there had been

an opening, and to be in idleness eating the bread of a

soldier did not suit his sense of justice

[so]

his

friends . . . spirited him off to Canada until the close

of the war.

Colonel W.W. Dallas’s house “Trevanion” near Taneytown.

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Ma

ryland

Dallas was described as being “suave as a Chesterfield, bined with the soaring, bulbous, grouped chimneys that

brave as a lion and generous as a prince . . . [He] was

punctuate the skyline,

can give the building a very

born of a distinguished family that gave a vice president dramatic silhouette. In fact, drama and movement are

and he himself a graduate of Yale

was the most

dem-

probably the best words to describe this style, which was

ocratic

of democrats in the broad sense that fully recog-

used in commercial structures, office buildings,

govern-

nizes the brotherhood of man.” Due to his having sided ment buildings, as well as residences.

with the Confederacy, he suffered a series of financial re-

prisals that forced him to sell “Trevanion” on October 31,

1865. He and his wife moved to Philadelphia and stayed

there until 1869, when they returned to Carroll County,

going this time to Westminster.

They bought six contiguous lots south of town on

newly laid out East Green Street

and built there what was

then the largest house in the city and, more importantly,

the first house in the city to have a mansard roof. It was,

perhaps, the first

designed house in the city, in the sense

that it was seeking to achieve a certain preconceived ap-

pearance that would set it apart from the rest of the

houses. In attempting this, Dallas was the first to demand

that a residence be built not by instinct or tradition but in

such a way as to suit the individual needs and desires of

the occupant. This was no less than revolutionary in

Westminster although one might say that Dallas had

opened his campaign in the county with his individual

alterations to “Trevanion.” The house he built at 154 East

Green Street marks the third stage in the town’s architec-

tural history that began with the early immigrants’

European-based folk shelters and moved in its second

stage to the vernacular Pennsylvania farmhouse. It is not

surprising that these folk and vernacular buildings, which

exercised the experience of a large group’s collective

psyche, were dominant in the area’s somewhat primitive

society where there was a security in numbers. Now, in

the last part of the 19th century, Westminster entered the

third stage, mature enough to accept the individuality of

“popular” and “polite” house styles.

Few American cities are without houses in the second

empire style, which got

ahold

in domestic architecture

in the middle

’50s.

Most are Americanized by spacious

porches or verandas

The Second-Empire-style Albaugh Building pic-

tured in 1885. The center pavilion and third

story were destroyed by fire in 1887.

At about the time that Dallas was building his resi-

dence on East Green Street, another “revolutionary”

building was being erected in the Second Empire style at

230 East Main Street by Charles Reifsnider. About 1860,

the architectural style known in Europe as

Second Empire

(it was fashionable during the reign of Napoleon III, the

second French Emperor) began to be popular in the

United States. On this side of the Atlantic, it reached its

hey-day during the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant

(1869-

1877) and is, therefore,

also known as the “General

Grant” style. Perhaps the most striking feature of the style

is a high mansard roof, usually with moulding at the vis-

ible edges. Dormer windows frequently appear out of the

multi-colored slate roofs. Windows are emphasized by

heavy mouldings, which are often painted a color that

contrasts with the building’s walls. These, when com-

Both the mansions of Dallas and Reifsnider are firmly

within the Second Empire style and are the first houses in

Westminster to yield to a national style. Earlier, the

builders of the Court House and Ascension Church had

used architectural styling to give importance to their

structures. Now, over a generation later, Westminster be-

gan to think of the home as being worthy of the same care

and respect due civic and religious structures. This, it

seems, is no small sociological point: it might be taken as

the juncture in the city’s history at which the citizens be-

gan to think in terms of building monuments to them-

selves as well as to their Government and their Church.

The Dallas house was the larger of the two, being an

immense five-bay, three-story cube. Both houses, despite

their massiveness and wealth of decorative details, are not

at all “busy.”Quite the opposite. They are unified, at

least on the principal facades, by mouldings, color (main-

tained by the present owners), and the continuous thick

cornices that divide walls from roofs. While Dallas built

his house to be strictly a residence and was perhaps the

more daring of the two pioneers, Reifsnider, an attorney,

built a two-story,

two-bay office section adjoining his

house to the east. Interestingly, both are traditional in

floor plan. Westminster’s architecture had always used as

its ideal a five-bay, central-hall, transplanted Georgian

The Second Empire style in Westminster:The Dallas Mansion at 154 East Green Street

(above)

and the Charles Reifsnider Mansion at

230 East Main Street

(below)

. These were the first houses in the city to break with tradition and yield to a national style. The influence

of these trend setters on commercial architecture is evident in the later Albaugh Building pictured on the previous page.

The Tradition Breakers, 1865-1875

farmhouse. Reifsnider and Dallas kept the plan intact

and, thus, built a room layout identical to houses built in

the city fifty or seventy-five years earlier, such as the Utz

and Shellman houses. Apparently, both Dallas and Reif-

snider felt it desirable to drape a stylish and urbane cloak

around the traditional rural form. Whether they retained

the old plan because of lack of interest, because of

perceived pressurefrom contemporaries, or simply

because it worked well is uncertain.

Whatever their reason, it clearly did not constrain

Reifsnider’s brother, John Lawrence Reifsnider, Sr., who

was about to build his very personal mansion “Terrace

Hill” at the other end of town. This was to be a veritable

monument to 19th century American small town capital-

ism and individualism.

The history of this Reifsnider and his “Terrace Hill” is

firmly rooted in the history of Westminster. Their rela-

tionship is reminiscent of the symbiosis that had existed a

generation earlier between the town and Longwell: the

first pairing had a political basis, the second, an eco-

nomic basis.

The coming of the railroad continued to direct West-

minster’s growth to the west of the original city. A map

made in 1861, the year that the railroad came to town,

shows a few stores, an academy, a clothing shop, and a

small lumber yard. A new map issued in 1877 shows a

booming Westminster with a large lumber yard, ware-

houses, and factories. Clearly all aspects of the building

trade, such as hardware stores and lumberyards, would

be important in the next two generations because of the

tremendous growth anticipated.

The first lumberyard in the city was located at the

corner of Main and Liberty Streets and was operated by

Joshua Smith, Henry Dell, and Jesse Reifsnider, the father

of Charles and John. This last partner had interests that

spread far beyond his lumber and coal business. In fact,

his whole family is a microcosm of the commercial and

social history of Westminster: one ancestor, Sebastian

Reifsnider, was born in the Palatinate in 1696, emigrated

to Philadelphia, and died in Montgomery County, Penn-

sylvania, in 1755. This Reifsnider would have been in the

first wave of German refugees to enter the new world. His

descendants continued to move westward with the other

Germans, finally arriving in Taneytown, where another

Reifsnider, also named Sebastian, was living around

1800. His son, Jesse, moved to Westminster in the mid

1820s. Jesse’s son, John L.,

was born October 19,

1836.

In 1850, at the age of 14, John entered his father’s

business to work as a bookkeeper. “By close attention,

[he] rapidly acquired a knowledge of the business,” and

four years later the firm was called “Reifsnider and Son."

John L. Reifsnider continued the wholesale and retail

On the next page is a circa.

1885 photograph of "down-

town" Westminster, the center

of commerce in Carroll County.

On the two pages after that,

there is a detailed map from

the "Illustrated Atlas of Carroll

County, Maryland," published

in 1877 by Lake, Griffing &

Stevenson, Philadelphia. It is

spit into two pages to accom-

modate the detail shown.

Use the magnifier tool to

expand the map. Drag the

marquee on the page

thumbnail view to move

around rapidly; drag the

corner of the marquee to

change magnification. Using

the thumbnail in this manner

on large images is more

efficient than scrolling.

“Downtown”Westminster, the center of commerce in Carroll County, about 1885.

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

business founded by his father and was pre-eminently a

man concerned with the growth of the city, and, not un-

naturally, the way that growth would benefit him. He was

in the wholesale tobacco trade when tobacco was a lead-

ing industry in the city. He was president of the city’s

largest bank, president of the Westminster Gas Light

Company from its beginning in March 1876 until his

death in 1905, and a trustee of Western Maryland Col-

lege. Reifsnider married Marianna Shriver, daughter of

Augustus Shriver of “Avondale.” Reifsnider’s father-in-

law was “one of the best known men in Maryland; [his]

farm spread over many acres of fertile soil and his home

was one of the showplaces of the

county.“

Reifsnider, the

city’s most “eminently successful merchant”

was enjoying

life at the pinnacle of social and economic success and it is

only reasonable to presume that he felt it meet and

proper, if not his bounden duty, to have a residence that

would reflect his success.

On November 6, 1865, he had purchased a four-and-

three-quarters-acre hilltop site at the extreme west end of

town.

There, on April 12, 1873, the Democratic Advo-

cate announced, “John L. Reifsnider, Esq., is about to

erect a handsome brick dwelling.” From its siting to its

size, the Reifsnider great brick chateau is easily the most

imposing house in the city. The house consists today of

two two-and-a-half-story cubes whose solidness is broken

by several steeply pitched dormer gables, which were

originally decorated with almost unbelievably carved

bargeboards. Similar carving was used to decorate the

one-story porch that ran across the house’s principal

facade. This facade must have been even more impressive

when a forty-foot obelisk, marking the center, rose might-

ily out of the roof. The obelisk and most of the “ginger-

bread’ are all gone now. Dozens of windows pierced the

walls, all topped by Tudor arches. Originally, there was a

third and smaller cube that was used for storing vege-

tables, potatoes, and ice.

Old photographs reveal other losses to the building

besides the woodwork, the gables, the obelisk, and the

storage wing: there seems to have been a half-dozen

corbel-capped chimneys punctuating the skyline all over

the house. All but two in the main cube are gone and

these are much simpler than their ancestors. Photographs

and drawings of “Terrace Hill,” (named for the series of

terraces that eased the transition from the mansion to the

simpler houses of the city) reveal an attempt on Reif-

snider’s part to create a villa

suburbana on the edge of

Westminster. It was not to have been a town house, where

he might have felt confined, but, at the same time, it was

not to be a farmhouse. For Westminster, this was a

revolutionary idea,which Reifsnider implemented by

constructing an elaborate compound of green houses,

fine stables, and a five-story brick windmill, from the top

of which, according to a granddaughter, one could see

most of the county. The lot was handsomely landscaped

and accented by a variety of cast iron lawn ornaments.

“Terrace Hill” presently stands as one of the few un-

disputed landmarks in the City of Westminster. It is a

landmark in the city’s social, economic, psychological,

and architectural history;

it is a physical landmark

because of its size, appearance, and hilltop site.

The Tradition Breakers, 1865-1875

The original facade of “Terrace Hill” is

shown below in an engraving by Don Swann.

Its current appearance is shown on the right.

The mansion is now known as Carroll Hall, a

part of Western Maryland College.

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

Another of the early houses built in the Second Em-

pire style

besides those of Dallas and Charles Reif-

snider

was the Roberts-Wood-Adams House on Court

Street. This building undoubtedly did almost as much as

the others to legitimize the bold new style and the revolu-

tionary mansard roof. There is evidence to suggest that a

building occupied the site of the Roberts House as early as

1830 but the present structure dates from a generation or

so later. Charles Roberts bought part of this large lot in

1875 for $500.

Roberts was born in Uniontown in 1842, was admitted

to the bar in 1864, and was chosen as one of the Demo-

cratic presidential electors from Maryland in 1868. In

1874 he was elected to the United States Congress, repre-

senting Carroll, Baltimore, Harford, and Cecil Counties.

He served two terms in the Congress where he was a mem-

ber of the Commerce Committee and where he “secured

liberal appropriations for the improvement of Baltimore

Harbor . . .

[and] bent his best energies to effect a revi-

sion of the Tariff Law, under which Baltimore had suf-

fered the loss of their [sic] sugar and coffe e

trade."

Roberts was the President of the Westminster Water

Works and a Director of the Union National Bank, of the

Westminster Gas Light Company, and of the Mutual Fire

Insurance Company.

With exceptional abilities as a lawyer, Mr. Roberts

ment and remarkable business energy and tact, qual-

ities, which together with his attractive personal char-

acteristics, have secured him an enviable popularity

combines the qualities of a sound and practical judge-

Counterclockwise from top left: The original south facade of "Terrace Hill" shown in a circa 1890 photograph; present appearance of the

south facade; present appearance of the east facade.

The Tradition Breakers, 1865-l 875

throughout the state as well as in his own immediate

community, where he is best known and most thor-

oughly appreciated. In fact, he is one of the most

enterprising, progressive, and influential gentlemen in

the state, not only as a public man of the best and most

honorable type, but also as a sound and well read

lawyer,

and highly successful and prosperous

businessman.

No doubt it was Roberts who either built the entire

present structure, or expanded the older building into the

present form. Whichever he did, the result was superb

and his house was, and to some degree still is, considered

to be a local showpiece. He was perhaps even more rev-

olutionary than Charles Reifsnider and Dallas in that he

abandoned entirely the axial form that most of the city’s

early buildings followed, placing his entrance door to one

Above, the John L. Reifsnider, Sr., family

poses for a portrait on the grounds of "Terrace Hill"

about 1885. Mr. Reifsnider is to the left. Mrs.

Reifsnider stands behind the wagon, Eltinge sits on

the wagon, Louise is on the far right, and Upton

Morgan holds the horses. The two smaller children are

not named in the list on the back of the old print.

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

The Roberts House on Court Street, built in 1875,

was considered a local showpiece in its day. In

some respects it was more revolutionary than the

Charles Reifsnider and Dallas mansions. The later

addition, constructed to house a ballroom, is

detailed to the right.

side; his mansard roof, too, outdoes the earlier two with

its corner pavilion. The interior details of the house are

equally interesting and include elaborately wrought radi-

ators, swirling cast brass hardware, a warming oven built

into the dining room radiator, and stunning interior

woodwork and stripped floorboards. The twenty-two

rooms in the house are irregularly laid out marking, with

“Terrace Hill,” a departure from the older floor plans;

many rooms still have their original late Victorian fire-

places. A two-story section with a steeply pitched gable

roof was later built on to the north side of the building to

house the ballroom.

In discussing the influence of specific buildings on

later designers and architects, it is important to remem-

ber that people do not copy styles just because they like

them. Presumably there is often another psychological

process involved, something akin to the effect produced

by celebrities’ endorsing products. In small towns such as

Westminster, only men of high position seemed able to

make the initial break from the strong local style, but

once a tradition-breaker was built and approved by a

leader in the town, others felt free to follow. It is no sur-

prise that citizens felt a desire to follow the lead of a man

like Dallas, who had for a generation been supreme

among Carroll County’s social leaders; or men like the

Reifsniders, the area’s leading merchant family; or a man

like Roberts, who commanded the highest respect in the

legal and political world. And follow they did.

Chapter 8

Commercial Buildings

The most striking influence of the break with the vernac-

ular style was on commercial buildings. Although some

merchants would continue to build in the traditional

manner (such as at 15-17, 51-53, and 7 East Main Street

several began to unbridle their imagination, encouraged

by the freedom of expression they had observed

in the Reifsnider, Dallas, and Roberts mansions. One

possible explanation of their ready acceptance of the new,

freer form for their commercial buildings is that they saw

in an elaborate facade a form of advertising or attention-

getting. There is no doubt that sauntering down Main

Street in 1880 and espying the facade of 47-49 East Main

Street, then called “The White Palace,” one would cer-

tainly have been intrigued. White it certainly is and,

although somewhat less than palatial, it certainly has a

noble amount of brick detailing on its upper two floors

and along its roof line. Since earliest times, the city had

been notable for its brick work, and the “White Palace”

could serve as a museum of all patterns that had gone

before: here are Greek cross forms, Roman cross forms,

Romanesque arches, dentils, corbelling, string courses,

and brick pilasters.

Westminster’s builders often seem like characters

from the Canterbury Tales; first appear the Farmer, then

the Doctor, the Lawyer . . .Now enter the Merchant. As

the 19th century progressed

a word beloved of those

Victorians

the city began to develop a style, if not of its

own, then at least of broader horizons, abandoning its

earlier architectural ties to the countryside. The mer-

chant class was rising. The significance of this trend in

Westminster was not, of course, that it was unique to the

city, but, rather, that it so well mirrored national devel-

opments: Main Street was everywhere.

Although it is possible to encounter the psychology of

that era through the works of writers and painters, it is

“The White Palace” at 47-49 East Main Street.

Part I

The Building of Westminster in

Maryland

just as rewarding to study its buildings. Particularly in-

teresting are commentaries that appeared in the local

newspapers, such as a 1912 article that dominated the

front page of an edition of Westminster’s

American Sen-

tinel. After beginning the article with the doggerel, “Tare

and tret

gross and net

bocks and hogs head

dry and

wet

ready made of every grade

wholesale and retail

will you trade?“,

the writer begins to sound his

trumpets of praise, commenting that “in the early history

of the world [any citizen who] engaged in trade was

looked down upon.”

We are then told that:

. . . the advent of the Civil War was productive of

many changes in this country, none of which assumed

the importance of the commercial interests. The na-

tion was prostrated and the question of how to build it

up on a solid foundation and at the time develop its

vast resources, became a burning one. The best brains

of the country forsook the professions and entered the

manufacturing world

As a result,“instead of being looked down upon by the

men of the cloth, by men of the law, by those of medicine,

and in Europe,

by those of high-sounding names and

empty titles,”

merchants became respectable. In fact

merchants became indispensable: “the world realized

that the merchant is needed and nowhere

is that fact bet-

ter recognized than right here in Westminster.” The arti-

The Babylon Building was hailed as a symbol of the

merchants’ faith in the Nation’s economy. Its appearance

in 1978 is pictured above; a photograph taken soon

after its construction in 1896 is shown below.

Commercial Buildings, 1875-1900

cle then goes on to discuss how merchants saved western

civilization and how their florid buildings were monu-

ments to the eternal progress of mankind and singles out

“a large department store such as the Babylon and Lippy

Company” and the enterprise going on “in the handsome

building on West Main Street.”

F. Thomas Babylon,

“the president of the Babylon

and Lippy Company, and sole owner of the Babylon

Building . . .

a self-made man . . . and a son of the late

Josiah Babylon . . . "”

built the building in 1896. A photo-

graph, which must have been taken almost immediately

thereafter, shows the building’s vaulting arches soaring

above its older neighbors, clearly symbolizing how The

Merchant placed “this nation

in the front rank of

those of the world.” The small, traditional buildings that

cower in the shadow of the Babylon Building are rem-

nants of an era “before the Civil War [when] the proprie-

tors of large estates and lawyers made up most of the

legislative bodies and dictated the policies of this

country . . .

”

This great symbolic emporium was built on the west

side of Railroad Avenue in 1896, and helped define the

later appearance of downtown Westminster. The build-

ing firmly symbolizes the wealth that the railroads had

brought the town and also, just as importantly, how great

was the faith its builder had in the town’s future. The

Babylon Building is a soaring three stories tall but it

almost reads as two: a commercial ground floor and an

upper story dominated by two large round arches that

form a semi-arcade across the main facade. That this

motif was not an unusual one for commercial structures

in the McKinley-Roosevelt era, only furthers the point

that Westminster was striving not to be a provincial city.

A contemporary merchant prince who also took ob-

vious delight in making his emporium as grand as pos-

sible, was Charles V. Wantz; his pile, known as the

Wantz Building faces the north side of East Main Street

about 180 feet east of the street’s intersection with Rail-

road Avenue. The building gives the appearance of being

composed of four approximately equal three-story sec-

tions divided by Tuscan red brick pilasters. These pilas-

ters are topped by a curved white wooden band that

follows the contour of the carved, red, terra cotta tiled

roof. The curved bands and pilasters have shell motifs at

their bases and are joyously topped by bulb finials. The

huge facade has virtually no surface free from decoration:

in the band between the second and third stories each sec-

tion has an identical naturalistic design of pressed or

molded brick (or perhaps iron or terra cotta), which is

surrounded by a band of perforated bricks rather resem-

bling a cribbage board; the pilasters have similar aerated

designs. The Wantz Building is among the finest and cer-

A view of Main Street across the railroad tracks from the Wantz Building to the Babylon Building about 1895.

In 1882, Charles Wantz moved his

cigar factory and sales room to his

new building on East Main Street.

The building originally had only two

sections on the front facade (see

advertisement to the

right

), but two

more were added later, as may be

observed in the circa 1900 photo-

graph

below

. Its appearance in 1978

is shown in the

top

photograph.

Commercial Buildings, 1875-1900

tainly among the first structures in the city to display the

air of swaggering mercantilism that followed the building

of the railroad and the resultant prosperity.

Charles Valentine Wantz, the builder of this almost

symbolic fantasy, was a scion of an important local fam-

ily. He doubtless inherited money and parlayed his patri-

mony into quite a fortune if his buildings reflected his

economic status. Wantz made his money as a wholesale

and retail tobacconist. As part of its series on “The Mer-

chants of Westminster

,"”

the American Sentinel, had a

lengthy article on Wantz in its December 8, 1912, edition.

The series praised men like Babylon and Wantz in terms,

if not Biblical, then certainly Heroic. In the article on

Wantz the

Sentinel’s writer states:

There was a time when very few cigars were used in

Westminster and when nearly every man you met

chewed tobacco. Now a large number of cigars are

used and the chewers of tobacco are becoming fewer

. . .

large number of good cigars are consumed

yearly by the men of Westminster and the city has be-

come known for the character of the cigars manufac-

tured here. Cigar making on the large scale began in

the city in the year 1869 and Mr. Charles V. Wantz of

this City, was the pioneer in the business.

The article goes on to discuss his pedigree and his early

starts in business, and the numerous changes of location

he was forced to make. Apparently his stores with their

pool tables were sometimes thought of, good naturedly,

as dens of corruption and as loitering places for the

city’s

youth. The article notes,

“just imagine twelve to fifteen

young men all smoking pipes in that room at the same

time and doing their utmost to make all the smoke possi-

ble. Is it any wonder that Mr. Cassell (the clerk), who was

afflicted with asthma, was forced to flee and leave the

store to the tender mercies of the boys?” The article also

says that Wantz gave away one imported breech-loading

shotgun to each purchaser of 1,000 cigars; over the years

he gave away 5,000 of these shotguns:

5,000,000

cigars!

In 1882, Wantz abandoned his rented quarters and

moved his factory and sales room “to the present hand-

some one he built that year. Here he fitted up one of the

finest retail stores in the state. The walls are papered with

sample cigar labels, no two being alike, and when com-

pleted it presented the most unique appearance of any

Aided by advertisements

(above)

, Charles Wantz is said

to have sold 5,000,000 cigars

over the years he was a mer-

chant. He was a man of many

civic interests, among which

was the founding of the Tele-

phone Company in Westmin-

ster. The phone company’s

first offices, pictured on the

left, were on the second floor

of the Wantz Building.

cigar store in the United States. One of the trade journals

published a full page description of

it."

Wantz, the man, must have been as individualistic as

his building. A bag, now in the Museum of the Historical

Society of Carroll County, used by Wantz in his store as a

tobacco pouch, has him depicted with the body of a

camel and with a face complete with Napoleon III beard

and mustache. Wantz was also a man of civic interests,

being influential in the founding of the library and

telephone company;

the phone company’s first head-

quarters were, in fact, on the second floor of his building.

He was also interested in various fraternal orders. His

grandson,who still lives in Westminster, notes that

Wantz built the third story of the building for the sole

purpose of allowing his fellow Masons to use it as a lodge.

In 1889 Wantz doubled the size of the building by erect-

ing a similar one flush with the original structure. The

newer store is identical in volume and differs only in

details such as number of windows per floor.

In the context of seeming larger-than-life individuals

like Wantz and Babylon, men who had faith in them-

selves and their city, a late Victorian realtor/developer

named George

Albaugh cannot be overlooked. With

others, he justified the faith that Wantz and Babylon had

shown in the city’s potential for prosperity and added his

own dimension of progress. His Charles Carroll Hotel,

Part I

/ The Building of Westminster in Maryland

also known as the Westminster Hotel, is located a block

and a half east of the Wantz Building and is certainly one

of the three or four most striking buildings on the West-

minster skyline.

Built of leonine colored stretcher bond

brick and topped by an orange Mediterranean-tiled roof,

the building dazzles by hue as much as it impresses by

size. The principal facade stretches eight-bays long, is

three-and-a-half-stories tall, and is complete with a large

square tower, which is in turn topped by an orange-tiled

pyramidal roof. Central in the ground floor, filling two

bays, is the entrance:

a pair of double doors within a

rusticated, round-arched, projecting setting. The interior

of the arch is supported by squatty bestial Corinthian col-

umns with intricately carved Sullivanesque capitals com-

plete with scowling lions that glare out onto Main Street.

The keystone carving has

“1898” interwoven with the

hotel’s monogram. The entire ensemble is topped by a

shallow balcony. The arch, balcony, and columns are all

of a buff limestone.

The spirit that prevailed in the city at the time of the

hotel’s dedication is illustrated in an article that appeared

in the

Democratic Advocate of November 17, 1898. (Sig-

nificantly, belief in continued economic progress seems to

have been shared by the Democratic party as well as the

Republican party, to which the

American Sentinel stri-

dently owed allegiance.) The

Advocate praised the hotel’s

Below is a drawing of the Charles Carroll Hotel that

appeared in the Democrat Advocate at the time of the

building's completion in 1898. On the right is a detail of

the bestial capitals at the Main Street entrance. See

also the following page.

Commercial Buildings, 1875-1900

capability to be both “chaste and ornate,” and comments

that “it will be unsurpassed in general merit by any build-

ing of the kind elsewhere.”

This was in an era that had

recently seen the completion of the Waldorf-Astoria in

New York, the Ritz in Paris, and Claridge’s in

London!

The structure has no stylistic precedent in the city,

making it a “prodigy building,” even as its builder was

one of the city’s Victorian swash-bucklers. The building

has been revered throughout its life; one recalls the lines

Iolanthe

“all questions of party are merged in a frenzy

of love and devotion.”

Possibly this veneration and affec-

tion stemmed from the people’s realization that its builder

intended it to be a symbol of the city’s great future.

Hotels, inns, and taverns had been an integral part of

Westminster’s economy since the days of the Conestoga

wagons. Here, however, was a new hotel, the likes of

which, in size or style, had never been seen in Central

Maryland. Its builder, who had made a fortune in local

real estate, doubtless felt that the boom the town had en-

joyed during the railroad age would continue into the

20th century and beyond, and that there would be need

for such a huge hotel, just as Babylon and Wantz must

have felt that there would be need for their buildings. Un-

fortunately they were incorrect, or at least premature.

Transportation and business patterns slowed down and

the hotel had to change hands and purpose several times.

But even today the building is a symbol of faith in the

community: the Union National Bank recently hired Bal-

timore architect James Grieves to renovate it and adapt it

for offices. The project has been as great a success aes-

thetically as one hopes the venture will be economically.

Faith and pride in the city were also demonstrated in

a smaller but no less clear way by Westminster’s first

native professional architect, Paul Reese, a distant rela-

tive of the Reese family, who bought, in the 1840s, the

store that served as the city’s first jail. Now, just over sixty

years later, Reese was trying to use what he had learned in

architectural school for the visual betterment of his native

town. Photographs showing Reese garbed in a smock in

his studio provide an interesting study of a small-town,

Belle Epoque architect and his life; the studio is complete

with a Toulouse-Lautrec poster advertising Absinthe.

The building he designed was a fine, small, Beaux-Arts

pile to serve as the office of the Bank of Westminster, for

which his grandfather, Jacob Reese, had been the first

cashier. Two brick pilasters of an almost Mannerist Giant

Order flank each end of the bank building and support a

heavy but well-proportioned modillion cornice. Within

all this is a giant thermal window used to light the ground

floor. An old photograph of the building shows that be-

tween the keystone of the thermal window and the cornice

there was originally a plaque inscribed with the date

George Albaugh demonstrated

his faith in his city by building

the splendid Charles Carroll

Hotel (also known as the

Westminster Hotel) in 1898.

The building is shown here as

it appears after James Grieve's

renovation and conversion to

offices in the 1970s.

Part I

/ The Building of Westminster in Maryland

Paul Reese, shown (top) in his architect’s studio about 1900,

designed a fine Beaux-Arts building for the Bank of

Westminster. Its original appearance and its appearance

today are shown above and at top right, respectively.

1900.”

The photograph also shows decorated jambs on

all the windows. This building is clearly Reese’s attempt

to tame the wild enthusiasms of his contemporaries (such

as Wantz and Babylon) and to channel their energies into

more internationally fashionable and learned patterns.

Reese authored a lengthy account of his boyhood in

Westminster, writing in glowing terms of his strong,

healthy, love for the city and its inhabitants.

His mem-

ories may have been tinged with nostalgia, since the ac-

count was authored several decades after he had aban-

doned architecture (perhaps the struggle to tame was too

great) and left the city to become an Episcopal Minister in

Oklahoma and Texas.

In any event, Reese certainly displayed what has been

called a “blessed sense of civic

excess.“

Although the

phrase was originally used to describe the spirit that drove

the architects of New York’s Penn Station, certainly it

may be applied here,

too. The desire that encouraged

McKim, Meade, and White to ennoble New York by a

monumental train station was echoed by young men in

the provinces in their similar desire to ennoble their own

towns, however small. It might be easy to dismiss West-

minster’s bit of Beaux-Arts as a minor variation on New

York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art; it is harder to dis-

miss the pride of the architect in his native city. Such

pride was shared by the

American Sentinel, as it affec-

tionately described the building’s interior and its opening

in 1901:

Commercial Buildings, 1875-1900

The Director’s room is at the rear, near the vault, sep-

arated from the counting room by a glass screen and

doors. It is finished in heavy oak, and has a ceiling 11

high and derives light from the rear window. The fix-

tures of the bank are of the Louis XV style, hand

carved, and very handsome. The ceiling, 16' high, is

steel of an ornamental pattern, and a delightful cream

color. The color of the walls are in

harmony.

This article also notes with relish that, “from beginning to

end it is a product of local talent,” listing Reese as archi-

tect, Samuel J. Sloan as mason, J. Webster Ebaugh as

carpenter, Gilbert and Gehr as iron mongers, Joshua

Stevenson as plasterer, and Samuel Yingling as painter.

The 1896 belfried Westminster Fire Hall is another in-

dicator of how the city’s railroad-inspired growth was af-

fecting its hopes for the future. As originally designed by

Baltimore architect Jackson Gott, the Fire Hall was a

three-story building fronting the south side of East Main

Street for a distance of forty feet and running back per-

pendicular from the street a depth of seventy feet (later

additions have spread the three-story area into a near

cube.) Sheathed in buff brick with trimmings of white

brick and Baltimore County marble the building is

topped by a tower that gives the structure a total height of

ninty-two feet and clear title to being the dominant ver-

tical feature of the Westminster skyline. The octagonal

curved roof of the tower is decorated by a Seth-Thomas

Clock that was donated by Mrs Margaret Cassell Baile in

another gesture of local pride. (In 1897 the clock cost

$1040.) Marble medallions decorate the building and

contain important dates in the fire company’s history: the

founding date, the date of the original building, and the

dates of various additions.

The Westminster Fire Company

known as the

Westminster Fire Engine and Hose Company — was first

organized in 1823, when Westminster was still a border

town on the Frederick/Baltimore County line. Its first

Above: The clock tower of the Westminster Fire

Hall. Below: The Westminster Fire Company

assembled about 1900.

Part I

/ The Building of Westminster in Maryland

A section of the Fire Company takes part in a

parade down Pennsylvania Avenue about 1900.

headquarters, resembling a small barn, were on Church

Street, the center of the early town. As the 19th century

progressed, the company’s location continuously moved

west following the city’s growth. The buildings grew

grander and grander,symbolizing the city’s expanding

population and wealth. Locations were changed in 1824

and 1879 before the company settled at its former Main St.

location in 1896. The company is now located on John Street.

The city’s expansion at this time affected the sym-

biosis between city and country. The city dweller had

been dependant upon the farmer for a large part of his

livelihood: lawyers and doctors served the farmers’ profes-

sional needs and shopkeepers served their other needs.

The heavy manufacturing industries that came with the

railroad in the late 19th century had little to do with

Westminster or with Carroll County; they could just as

easily have sprung up in the mill towns of New England or

in the industrial cities of the Midwest. They were indus-

tries

in Westminster, not of Westminster; they were in-

dustries that did not grow out of local needs nor were they

intended to meet local needs.

This was not true of all late Victorian industies,

however. Some were still tied to the soil and were bound

up in the vagaries that control agricultural success and

failure. Benjamin Franklin Shriver, whose family name

pops up like mint in the history of Westminster and Car-

roll County, founded the county’s first canning factory in

1869. He began his operations in the old cooperage shop

at the family compound in Union Mills, a few miles north

of Westminster. According to an informal history of the

company prepared in 1950 by James M. Shriver,

Sr.,

the

business grew and “induced the founder to locate another

plant in Westminster.” During the same year, “he

adopted the

Blue Ridge A No. 1 Grade labels [and]

began the development of the modern cob-crusher by uti-

lizing a threshing machine cylinder.” A brother, Mark 0.

Shriver, then “developed and patented the first closed

retort which was used here in this pioneering stage.” This

pioneer plant was located on the southern edge of town

on George Street adjacent to the Western Maryland Rail-

road tracks. But, this industry was as dependant on the

prosperity of the surrounding farms (many of which the

company owned) as the early merchants had been and,

consequently, the Westminster “venture was doomed to

failure as a result of a severe water shortage.”

Later, during the

1870,

the company grew again; it

founded other plants and various members of the family

joined in. A partnership was formed between B.F. and

Herbert Shriver, with the latter taking charge of the of-

fice while the former applied most of his time to the farm-

ing and canning operations. Early canned products of the

company were“canned pies, peaches, gooseberries,

whor-

tle berries, peas, quinces, pears, corn, tomatoes, apple-

sauce, and four different types of cherries.” By 1881 pros-

perity led to another expansion and a second move to

Westminster. This time the B. F. Shriver factory was located

on a plot of land at the corner of East Green and Liberty

Streets, also near the train tracks.

The large stone building they used and most of the

surrounding barns are still extant and are fascinating ex-

amples of early commercial-industrial buildings, espe-

cially in the way in which they bring the country into the

city. Despite certain modern encroachments on the

ground floor, the company’s stone building on Liberty

Street must be among the most eye-catching buildings in

Workers at the B.F. Shriver Company plant about 1900.

the city, with its massive stone walls, quoins, and elegant

but powerful southern brick chimney. It is of particular

interest to observe that the Shriver Company’s factory was

in the vernacular farmhouse style, complete with regu-

larly spaced and wooden-linteled windows. It is merely a

larger scale version of the old jail or, for that matter,

merely a stone version of the brick Utz House. This strong

streak of conservatism seems especially fitting for an in-

dustry and a family so closely tied to the Carroll County

soil. However, the company was traditional in its build-

ings only: it was an award-winning pioneer in its pro-

duction methods.

“Operations continued on the Liberty Street site until

early in the 20th century, when they moved to larger

quarters just northeast of town.” Happily, the agricul-

tural association of the Liberty Street factory was con-

tinued after the Shriver Company moved to its new plant:

the land and buildings were used by Koontz Dairy and

then by the Farmer’s Supply Company.

SHRIVER’S

Westminster, Md.

Right: The

B.F.

Shriver

Company plant on Liberty

Street about 1885

Below: The Shriver plant

as it appeared in 1978.

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

As the nineteenth century came floridly to a close, one

more nationally popular style of architecture found its

way to Westminster

the Queen Anne Style. This form

became popular in the United States after the British

Government used it for buildings at the Centennial Ex-

hibition of 1876. The American building and architec-

tural journals quickly encouraged the style with phrases

such as:

But the chief thing that would strike the observant eye

in this style is its wonderful adaptability to this coun-

try, not to the towns indeed, but to the land at

large . . .

it is hoped that the next millionaire that

puts up a cottage

. . . will adopt this style, and he will

have a house ample enough to entertain a prince, yet

exceedingly cool in summer and yet abundantly warm

in the winter, plain enough, and yet capable of the

highest ornamental development.

The style is well represented in Westminster by the

Albion Hotel, at the corner of East Main Street and Railroad

Avenue. This hotel, built toward the end of the nine-

teenth century, displays the necessary variety of wall ma-

terials: here brick, there shingles; here slate, there wood

and colored glass. Moreover, the differences in color be-

tween the gray painted brick, the brown painted wood-

work, the rosey chimneys, and the black slate, all aid in

the achievement of the desired picturesque effect. The

authenticity of style is heightened by the powerful three

story conical-roofed tower that nicely makes the turn

from Railroad Avenue to Main Street and by the sculp-

tural, ornamental chimneys that thrust their way out of

the roof. It is no surprise that the hotel figures prom-

inently in several photographs of Westminster taken in

the past one hundred years. Located directly across the

street from the train station, the building was in a posi-

tion to take full advantage of rail, wagon, carriage, horse,

and pedestrian traffic. The building seems little changed

since it was built. There may be different signs on its out-

side, now advertising pizza rather than beer, and it may

be a little dilapidated, but a good deal of the flavor still

The Queen Anne style is well

represented in Westminster by the

Albion Hotel, shown here in the

foreground of a circa 1890

streetscape with the Wantz Building

recognizable in the middle distance.

The building's appearance today is

shown on the next page.

Commercial Buildings, 1875-l900

remains in Westminster’s finest essay in the Queen Anne

style.

Westminster’s late Victorian commercial buildings

obviously reflected the success that the merchants and en-

trepreneurs enjoyed and their willingness to embrace new

ideas in the quest for continuing success. They applied

their aspirations not only to their own age but projected it

to the ages to come. In a sense, then, they only partially

succeeded. When the Babylon Building was built it

dwarfed its neighbors.

Today, this building and the

Wantz Building are both bordered by structures that

nearly match them in height and follow their example in

design. This is especially noticeable just west of the

Babylon Building,

where the neighboring structure

copies the older building in cornice placement and its use

of the bay-window-in-arch motif. Wantz and Babylon

would have been pleased that the town did catch up with

them, but they might be depressed to observe that no one

has continued the progression. No one has bettered them.

The Albion Hotel building as it appeared in 1978.

Blank

Chapter 9

Domestic Buildings, 1875-1900

We discussed in Chapter 7 the transitional houses built by

Westminster’s most prominent mid- 19th century individ-

uals, who were divided into two groups: (1) the tradition

breakers, who wanted to create a completely personal

statement (John L. Reifsnider and, to a lesser degree, his

brother and Dallas and Roberts) and (2) those who fol-

lowed them but were not prepared to break entirely from

the city’s building traditions and consequently expanded

and expanded and expanded the basic form. The mem-

bers of this second, more populous, group indicated their

affluence through size and decoration, hoping to show

the city that while they were still a part of it (because they

kept the basic house form intact) they were also a part of

the greater world in their use of nationally fashionable

trim.

These two possibilities presented to the citizens a cen-

tury ago have controlled Westminster’s domestic architec-

ture to the present day. For the one hundred years follow-

ing the developments of the 1860s and

‘7Os,

the residents

of Westminster could either continue to build decorated

farmhouses or choose any of the popular styles of build-

ings that were sweeping the nation.

The enthusiasm with which Westminster’s merchants

accepted the new freedoms in architectural styling for

their places of business in the late nineteenth century was

demonstrated in the previous chapter. But what were the

houses of these merchant adventurers like? What forms

did they adopt or create? What decorations did they use

for embellishment? If, as we have argued, their imagina-

tions in designing their places of business were hampered

only by their funds, certainly we might assume that their

homes were built in a similar state of mind. Actually their

houses were conservative. The breakthroughs made by

the Reifsniders, Dallas, and Roberts in domestic architec-

ture and applied by the merchants to their commercial

structures were disdained by them for their residences.

They veered from the standard Pennsylvania farmhouse

only in detail and in scale.

Perhaps the most dramatic example of this paradox is

the 1875 Wantz House at 101 East Main Street. Built by

Charles Valentine Wantz, who created the gambolling

Wantz Building at about the same time just one-and-a-

half blocks away, the house is merely a much-enlarged

version of a house that would have been built one hun-

dred years earlier. It has the same room arrangement as,

say, the Barnitz House at 211 East Main Street, only ex-

panded several-fold in scale due to a several-fold expan-

sion in wealth. The same is true of the exterior: the prin-

cipal facade displays the three regularly spaced bays per

floor (however, there are three floors in the Wantz House)

and the placement of windows and doors is unchanged. It

is only the exterior decoration that dates the Wantz

House to the last quarter of the 19th century. Whereas

the Barnitz House displays decoration of the Early

Republic era

a fanlight and mouse-tooth cornice —

the Wantz House reflects the Gilded Age. The fanlight

has been retained in shape, but rather than the setting (or

rising) sun, we have a semi-circle of leaded stained glass

in an allegorical design. The second floor exterior is

embellished by a narrow,cast iron balcony, which is

reached from the interior by three tall French doors. It is

chiefly by their woodwork, though, that the houses of this

era are separated from the past and create their own

statements. The woodwork at the Wantz House generally

consists of ponderous pelleted scroll brackets by the door

and very lively, bright, white-painted cornices, entab-

lature, and brackets.

Though the Wantz House may lack subtlety, taken on

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

The Charles Wantz House at 101 East Main Street.

its own terms it is still a success. It is as spatially impressive

as it was meant to be; walking eastward on Main Street,

one views the place for hundreds of feet before reaching

it. As one looks up at the immense pile, the whiteness of

the woodwork, the expert carving, and the stained glass

give it power. For all its size, the house is rescued from

grossness by its innate staid quality and innovative fea-

tures. There is a splendid moulded-brick corbel course

and, in the rear section, a recessed Greek Cross cornice

trim that is an interesting variation of the trim on three-

generations-older Ecklar House (255 East Main Street).

Above all else,

the Wantz House is a philosoph-

ical landmark

it represents the ultimate expan-

sion, the end of the road, for the three-bay vernacular

form in Westminster.

Similarly, the 1868 Rinehart-Wantz House located at

179 West Main Street is the ultimate expression of the five-

bay house (sharing this honor, perhaps, with Cunningham-

Hahn House at 97 West Green Street and Fisher-Smith-

Fletcher House at 254 East Main Street, which see later).

All the things that were true of 101 East Main Street for

the three-bay house are true of 179 West Main Street* for

the five-bay house: its vast cubic shape marks the ultimate

expansion of an earlier form. But, despite its reliance on a

century-old window placement and floor plan, it seems to

be a definite part of its own era. We find the fashionable

Victorian gothic peak in the vast roof, quatrefoil windows

used for trim, and an intricately carved entrance porch.

The care with which the house was built is demonstrated

in these details and in the size and the richness of the en-

trance double doors with their moulded panels and glit-

tering gilt used on the side lights and transom.

The house itself is almost

but not quite — too large

for the form and it certainly stands as a pronouncement

*The multi-generational family ties between 101 East Main Street

and 179 West Main Street illustrate the pleasant social continuity in

the city: the two grandfathers of the present owner of 179 West

Main Street were the builders of the two houses.

The Rinehart-Wantz House, built in 1868.

The Rinehart-Wantz House, built in 1868,

is the ultimate expression of the five-bay house.

Above: its original appearance; right: the principal

entrance door.

that the five-bay, two-sectioned farmhouse dare not at-

tempt to get any larger. As such, we see in it the Pennsyl-

vania farmhouse in its ultimate form

the final phase,

the end of an era. The Bennett-Parke House on Court

Street (see page 53) represents the middle phase: its full,

middle-aged maturity is the logical, perfect ripening of

the youthful enthusiasm of the initial phase exemplified

by the Utz and Shellman houses at 166 and 206 East Main

Street, respectively (see pages 22 and 26).

We may not leave 179 West Main Street without men-

tioning its agrarian environment. The small estate that

surrounded it comprised two full city lots, and held or-

chards, vegetable gardens, a large bank barn, chicken

houses, and servants’ quarters. These rural amenities can

be explained in part by the fact that the builder, William

G. Rinehart, was the owner of extensive acreage in the

county. Today, the grounds are more urban in character:

nearly all the buildings, including ice houses, outhouses,

and carriage shops, have been removed; the barn has

yielded to a five-car garage; and the once great produce

garden now consists of a couple of bartlett pear trees and

a small grape arbor.

The importance that the citizens placed on early

training in commerce is interestingly illustrated by a story

told by the present owner of the Rinehart-Wantz House.

He remembers that in his youth, when money was tight

and livestock in the city was plentiful, there was a super-

abundance of flies. Besides horses, necessary to most

families, there were also many sheep and hogs and “prac-

tically everyone kept chickens.” To help ease the situa-

tion, a civic association offered a bounty of 15¢ per quart

of dead flies. Children were sent out to catch these winged

pests and the budding capitalists would usually secure

several score quarts of live flies per week. These would be

killed by being baked in the kitchen stove at 179 West

Main Street. Besides demonstrating the citizens’ propa-

gation of the work ethic, the story illustrates the pleasant

lack of pretense, easy elegance, and the egalitarian

nature of fin de siecle Westminster.

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

Built within three years of 179 West Main Street is the

Cunningham-Hahn House at 97 West Green Street. Al-

though of smaller scale than the Rinehart-Wantz House,

97 West Green Street makes several of the same points,

and provides another fine example of what liberties could

be taken with the Pennsylvania farmhouse. Although the

basic house is intact, especially in plan, it is given a Vic-

torian personality and independence by means of fashion-

able details. Foremost among these are the Gothic peaks

that interrupt the roof line on all four sides of the main

section. These peaks are replete with centrally placed

rosettes and, on the end facades, are enlivened by twin

chimneys. The three-sided, one-story porch that wraps

about most of the main section is another example of how

late 19th century builders adopted national trends, this

time the very American front porch, to decorate their

homes.

Pursuing the theme of the importance of decoration

and the expanding size of the basic farmhouse, we come

to the Fisher-Smith-Fletcher House at 254 East Main Street.

A popular architectural philosophy espoused in the past

80 years has been that

form follows function. But long

before our modernists were expounding so alliteratively,

Westminster’s builders of the 1860s and ’70s were il-

lustrating how

desire dictates decoration. In form, the

Fletcher House is, like its near-twin the Rinehart-Wantz

House, merely an expanded farmhouse and thus its func-

tion ‘was to serve most expeditiously as a residence. How-

ever, the desire of its builder, John Smith, a prominent

man in the legal affairs of Westminster, was to present a

solid, permanent, physical display of his wealth. Evi-

dently he did not feel that he had the complete freedom

that John L. Reifsnider had had* to abandon the local

form and to build totally as he pleased. So Smith chan-

neled his energies and his desire for display into trim. His

wealth manifested itself in decoration in the form of ex-

uberant, almost Baroque, carved exterior woodwork.

Perhaps the easiest way to see how the average citizen

of Westminster responded initially to the new freedom in

house design is to see what happened to the simple three-

bay frame house during the late 19th century. We might

begin with early simple examples 224 and 226 East Main

Street, the latter the slightly larger of scale. These are

typical of the dwellings in the city before the coming of

the railroad and before the Reifsniders, Dallas, and

*Reifsnider’s independence may have been in part due to the fact

that ill health forced him to retire to “Terrace Hill” soon after it was

built, thereby cutting many of his worldly ties and letting the city go

its own way, as he went his. Smith and Wantz on the other hand

were much involved with the town’s affairs and may have felt more

pressures to conform.

Roberts had made their statements. After these events,

the house begins a process referred to in automobile

parlance as “customizing.”

Citizens began to realize that

there were accessories they could put on their simple

“stripped down”house; the architectural vocabulary of

the late 19th century offered them a variety of options

that they could use to ornament their simple chassis.

So, perhaps they wanted a porch and a Gothic peak

dormer window. Fine, these were available and

voila!

144 East Main Street. Perhaps the owner decided instead to

enrich the cornice line by means of brackets, to enrich the

door surround, and to add an octagonal tower. Fine,

these too, were allowed

and we get 142 East Main Street

Perhaps the owner wanted a really and truly souped-up

model: a detailed spindled porch, an enriched door, a

personalized cornice,

a gothic peak dormer window, an

octagonal tower,the whole gamut of options

this

might give us something like 228 East Main Street or maybe

26 Bond Street.

The same thing happened with five bay houses but in

a less noticeable manner. Perhaps the best example of a

“customized” five-bay house is 35 West Main Street, pop-

ularly known as the Cover House. Here, the owner took a

brick shell, nearly identical in volume and plan to the

eighty-year-older Utz House, and added a Chinese

Chippendale-influenced porch (complete with exotic cast

iron toppings), a two-story bay window, and a

curiously-

roofed oriel window with stained glass. It is important to

remember when viewing buildings such as the Cover

House and comparing them with the Utz House that the

changes in the fabric ought not to be called “good” or

The Cunningham-Hahn House at 97 West Green Street.

Architectural “customizing” of the late 19th century.

Top, left to right:

224, 226, and 144 East Main Street.

Center, left to right:

142 and 228 East Main Street, and

26 Bond Street.

Bottom:

35 West Main Street, known as the Cover House.

97 Part I / The Building of Westminster in Maryland

Domestic Buildings, 1875-1900

“bad”; they do not necessarily help or hurt the pile.

Whether one prefers 35 West Main Street to 166 East

Main Street is strictly a question of personal taste, of

reason versus emotion, and arguments along these lines

will get us nowhere toward understanding and appre-

ciating each building on its own terms and merits. Taking

the Cover House in its own right, it is an amusing success;

its iron trim over the front porch is superb in its delicacy

and creation of “motion”;

the rest of the porch, all the

stained glass, the heavy cornice, and, most especially, the

oriels and bays that thrust out from it on all sides, are all

unqualified successes.

Two other houses that give the impression of happily

carrying out the city’s new architectural freedom are the

Shipley House at 172 East Main Street (ironically, exactly

across Center Street from the old and seminal Utz House)

and the Gilbert House in the heart of the business center

of Westminster at 54-56 East Main Street. This building is

now in the process of being restored by the city to its circa

1875 state after having experienced several expansions

and changes of use in this century. Both houses have

much in common physically, especially if one visualizes

the Shipley House without its marvelous porch. They are

!,_‘_..

_’

.<I

..__w-

both two-and-a-half-story, square houses with smooth icy

walls on the first and second floors and, as an interesting

contrast, spiky,

visually-exciting, option-enriched roof

lines composed of different sized gables, turrets, and

chimneys. The buildings do not fall into any recognizable

national style and must be thought of, as “merely” ex-

citing products of the late 19th century. They must be

‘.

considered in the same light as the Cover House, that is to

say, as natural, almost botanical, outgrowths of earlier

vernacular building styles. Now, however, the style is not

confined to the mid-Atlantic area but is spread all over

the United States

truly a “popular” style.

A contemporary of these two houses is the Charles Bil-

lingslea House at 109 East Main Street, located halfway

between, and a few feet from, the Charles Wantz House

and the Charles Carroll Hotel. This house, built around

1880, is one of the most “open” in the city, as it throws its

bulging sides and verandas out to catch the light to the

south and to the east. Extremely irregular in shape and

very large, it is still light and airy and manages to exude a

Clarence Day sense of stable, yet light-hearted, prosper-

ity. The building’s architect did not know very many

tricks, yet what he knew were enough to set Number 109

apart from its contemporaries, even as the rise upon

which the house sits serves to set it apart physically. The

lightness is aided chiefly by the delicate trim of the

bargeboards, by the bays’ cornices, and by the railings on

the east and south porches.

The Billingslea House is pre-eminently a piece of

sculpture. Kenneth Clark in his youthful book,

The

The Fisher-Smith-Fletcher House at 254 East

Main Street (top) and a detail of its exuberantly

carved woodwork (bottom)

Domestic Buildings, 1875-1900 99

The Shipley House at 172 East Main Street.

100 Part I / The Building of Westminster in Maryland

Top left:

The Gilbert House about 1885, showing

Madeline, the daughter of Oscar and Ida Gilbert, and

her class from Western Maryland College.

Above

and middle right:

Madeline and other members of the

family about 1900.

The Billingslea House

at 109 East Main Street.

Mayor Oscar Gilbert

Domestic Buildings, 1875-1900

101

Gothic Revival, touches on the difference between look-

ing at buildings as three-dimensional objects and as two

dimensional objects

as pieces of sculpture as opposed

to paintings. The point is particularly pertinent to the

Gothic Revival (the topic, after all, of his book) but it can

be applied to all buildings. Simply put, Lord Clark feels

that Victorian builders relied too heavily on facadism,

putting all their efforts into just one of the building’s

planes, ignoring the totality:

For the use of Gothic in civil architecture there was

one objection of very great importance. Between me-

dieval architecture and modern architecture lies the

appearance of the street. Medieval architecture was in

and around; modern architecture, street architecture,

is flat. One could walk all around the medieval cathe-

dral . . .

but the street front has to depend entirely on

a facade.

This “objection” is obviously present in some, but not

all, Main Street buildings. Even on those buildings we

identified as being simple houses with bulges there are, as

Clark realized, reasons for this “facadism.” It is true that

if one took away the peak of 144 East Main Street, one

would have 226 East Main Street and, as Lord Clark

would complain, everything was maintained but the main

facade. But perhaps it is excusable. After all, most build-

ings of this era had to be squeezed into narrow lots and

were hemmed in by neighboring structures that con-

trolled, to some extent, what could be done. The sides

were often as not but a few feet away from the neighbors’

walls and the backs were generally used only for service.

Thus were the fronts, after all, were what passers-by saw

and relied upon to make the owners’ statements.

Soon after the traditions-breaking decade of

‘65-‘75,

George W. Matthews started to lay out and develop a

large tract of land he owned just south of Westminster’s

business district. He laid off 30 lots and reserved in the

center a large plot of ground to be used as a park. All the

lots fronted the park and were quickly bought and built

on. On March 5, 1877, Matthews appeared before the

Mayor and Council of Westminster and “voluntarily ten-

dered them a lot of ground near the Reformed Church to

be used as a public square and to be under the control

and management of the corporation of Westminster.“

The council discussed several issues, such as whether or

not a fence should be erected, before the deed was finally

presented from Matthews and wife to the Council on May

7, 1877. “The Council was much impressed by the man-

ner in which the deed was presented, which was received

by the president of the Council in the name of the people

and a motion of thanks was moved and seconded and car-

ried unanimously thanking Squire Matthews and wife for

thei

r noble gift."

What is interesting about Belle Grove

Square, as it was called, besides its being an example of

civic-minded generosity, is the manner in which some

builders used the woodsy square and many street intersec-

tions to avoid the two-dimensional problems that vexed

Belle Grove Square was donated to the city by George W. Matthews in 1877.

102

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

Clark. While some builders stuck to houses with a single

important facade,

others realized the sculptural pos-

sibilities and used them to good advantage. The houses at

17 Park Avenue, and 26 Bond Street are clearly intended

to be viewed from more than one aspect.

The coming of the railroad accelerated Westminster’s

process of annexation and expansion, a process as old as

the city itself. One reason the houses on Belle Grove

Square were such a success was their closeness to the

railroad: not one of the lots was further than 300 yards

from the depot. But, besides Matthews’s activity at Belle

Grove Square, larger scale subdivision was underway all

around to the north and south of the then town boun-

daries. John C. Frizzell had purchased the old Winchester

property and in the 1870s had laid out the city’s largest

addition, going from the alley behind Main Street to

present-day Charles Street.Similar actions were being

taken by Edward Lynch, whose subdivided land abutting

the railroad tracks was quickly snapped up and built

upon as Liberty Street and East Green Street.

Even John Longwell, who by the 1880s must have

been regarded in Westminster as something like Moses,

began to subdivide part of his farm as a response to these

development pressures. His estate ran from the railroad

tracks eastward to the Court House and Longwell, and

later his daughter and heir, Sallie, began to plat out the

land around the Court House into lots, creating the

present-day Court Square and Willis Street. These lots

were sold to prominent late-Victorian men about the city,

who erected on their tree-shaded acre sites commodious,

fine, somewhat rambling houses. These houses evoked the

class and the era that built them: relatively affluent, and

seeking to live in a comfortable restrained way. “Re-

strained,”however is not to say that the builders totally

followed Westminster’s vernacular building traditions.

On the contrary, Willis Street is interesting today for the

manner in which it displays several national styles, and

combines popular, polite and vernacular architecture.

Among the national styles found there are:

The Bungalow Style, as at 121 Willis Street. “The typ-

ical bungalow is a one story house with gently pitched

broad gables. The lower gable usually covers an opened

or screened porch and a larger gable covers the main

portion of the house

. . . wood shingles are the favorite

exterior

finish . . . windows are either sash or

casement . . .

“

The Shingle Style,as at 131 Willis Street. “The

shingle style house, two or three stories tall, is typified by

the uniform covering of wood shingles from roof to foun-

dation walls . . . the eaves of the roof are close to the wall

so as not to distract from the homogeneous and mono-

chromatic single

covering.“

The Georgian Revival Style, as at 145 Willis Street

and 174 Willis Street. Number 145, the Shriver-Wisner

Three national styles are displayed on Willis Street:

top to bottom, Bungalow, Shingle, and Georgian Revival.

Domestic Buildings, 1875-1900

The

Diffenbaugh-Weant

House at 171 Willis Street is a prime example of Calvert Vaux’s “Design No. 3.”

House,

is attributed (locally) to Stanford White and is ex-

the former Yingling tanyard from his uncle, Elias Ying-

ecuted in frame. The Weis House, 174 Willis Street, (and

ling, for $500

and soon afterwards built a brick,

the carriage house behind) is executed in Flemish bond

L-shaped house there; he is listed as living there at 289

brick on all four sides. These neocolonial buildings “are East Main Street in the 1881

City Directory. The house is

strictly regular in plan, with a minimum of minor projec-

of interest not only because it is brick but because it

tions, and

have strictly symmetrical

facades

employs an octagonal bay window and retains the

two-

chimneys are placed so as to contribute to the overall sym-

tier side porch to help define itself and link it with the

metry. The central part of this facade may project slightly past. On another level of distinction, this house is pro-

and be crowned with a pediment with or without support- claimed by legend to be the site of the first making of ice-

ing pilasters. Doorways have fanlights. . . .

“

cream in the city.*

Also on Willis Street is one of the major examples of

the most popular late-19th century building form in

Westminster. The example here is the Diffenbaugh-

Weant

House at 171 Willis Street; it may be considered

the crowning product of a building pattern that began

about 15 years before. What was the specific and exact

first example of this L-shaped style in the city is unclear.

However, two possibilities are the Shriver-Stottlemeyer

House at 146 West Main Street and the Reese-Wagner

House at 289 East Main Street. Pleasantly, as is so often

the case with building styles in Westminster, this design

seems to be equally at home in brick or frame. The house

now numbered 146 West Main Street was probably built

by Francis Shriver in the mid 1860s or early 1870s. (His

heir, Edwin Shriver, is nationally known as the originator

of the first county-wide RFD system.) In 1878, at the op-

posite end of town, Orlando Reese purchased a section of

Whichever house was the first to represent the

L-shaped style in Westminster, primary credit for na-

tionally popularizing it must go to Calvert Vaux. Mr.

Vaux, called “one of the most seminal influences in 19th

century architecture,”

was an English designer of build-

*The traditional recognition of the Reese House as the scene of first

ice-cream making in Westminster seems to conflict with Mary B.

Shellman’s story of Mary

Behoe’s

first ice-cream making at her house

on the opposite side of town (see page

55).

Resolution of the seem-

ing contradiction probably is associated with the fact that Mary

Behoe and her husband, Billy, were servants (and sometime slaves)

in the Reese household. It seems reasonable to suppose that when

Mrs. Behoe acquired the ice-cream maker’s art, she exercised it con-

currently at both her sites of labor — at the Reese House for her

employer’s delectation and at her home on Union Street for her own

customers’ benefit. Apparently, the same high spirit of enterprise

that characterized civic leaders like Reifsnider and Wantz was pres-

ent in individuals of the black community also.

104

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

ings and landscapes who emigrated to the United States.

In 1857, he published a book called

Villas and Cottages,

which was intended to educate the American public by

encouraging all levels of society to increase their stan-

dards and hopes: he wanted America to become a land of

educated and intelligent patrons, architects, and

workmen all helping to raise the level of the building art.

The book was supposed to do this by means of a long in-

troductory essay on design theory, and by offering several

plans for Americans to consider. But these designs “are

not brought before the public as model designs, to lessen

the necessity for the exercise of individual taste, but, as

far as possible, to increase its activity. Such books are

needed as stepping

stones.“

The book was a best seller.

His Design Number Three, called a “Suburban Cot-

tage,” must have provided the inspiration for Shriver and

Reese on Main Street, for Diffenbaugh on Willis Street,

and for dozens of others throughout Westminster. During

the late 19th century, this Design Number Three (with

variations) became one of the most popular forms in the

city. It is interesting to note that the two possible local in-

novators, Reese and Shriver, were members in good

standing of the Westminster Establishment. In discussing

Design Number Three, Vaux comments:

PRlNClPAL FLOOR.

This design for a suburban cottage on a small scale

was prepared for a situation on a street lot, in which

the house would have been generally seen among trees,

and in connection with the other houses adjoining.

Calvert

Vaux’s “Design No. 3.”

Rear of

Diffenbaugh-Weant

House .

The proportions were,

therefore, made somewhat

higher than would have been thought desirable if the

site had been larger and more open. This point of rela-

tive proportion is worth much consideration in subur-

ban houses, for it may easily happen that a particular

design shall have a decidedly dwarfish appearance if

built in one situation, a high, stilted effect in another,

and be quite satisfactory in a third

the result on the

eye being dependent as much on the objects immedi-

ately surrounding the houses as on the house itself.

The chimneys are placed in the outside walls, and

are intended to improve the appearance of the design,

although perfectly simple in execution. The chimney

is a most expressive feature and deserves to be brought

prominently into notice in domestic architecture. As a

general rule, it is desirable in this climate to build the

chimneys in the body of the house, and not in the out-

side walls. But exceptions often occur in large houses,

and sometimes in small ones, where the gain in so do-

ing is greater than the loss, and in such cases the op-

portunity to give a definite character to the chimney-

stacks should be taken advantage of. This design has

not been executed. It was estimated by Newburgh me-

chanics at over $4000, in 1852. It was proposed to be

built of brick, finished off on the inside, and painted a

soft cream color externally, the verandas and trim-

mings being finished a rich brown.

The two-and-a-half-story, L-shaped house built by

Domestic Buildings, 1875-1900

105

James A. Diffenbaugh, which he called “The Maples”

and is now numbered 171 Willis Street, might be viewed

as the logical end of this building pattern. Products that

define ends of cycles usually do so because they achieve

perfection or because they carry the element to its utmost

extreme. This may be the case here, because the house in

both size and in detail cannot be outdone. Diffenbaugh

took the basic Design Number Three and, as Vaux would

have wished, added certain features; heavy bulbous brick

chimneys (which, interestingly, match in details those on

the Charles Carroll Hotel), a rhythmic brick frieze in the

entablature, interesting stained glass in the dormer win-

dows, and a shingled and glassed-in rear section that fills

the area Vaux intended as a rear porch.

Diffenbaugh was born at Fern Rock, near Westmin-

ster, in 1854; he received undergraduate and masters

degrees from Western Maryland College in 1874 and 1877

and was admitted to the bar in 1878. Although it seems

he would have preferred to be known as a public school

teacher and educator, it is clear that politics and ap-

pointed office accounted for most of his time, effort, and

income. He was the Clerk of the Committee of Accounts

in the U.S. House of Representatives during the

44th,

45th,

and 46th Congresses until he retired in 1881 to be

appointed Deputy Clerk of the Circuit Court of Carroll

County. He quit this post in 1884 when he was elected

County

School Examiner, was re-elected to that post five

times,

and, in 1888, was appointed one of the five

members of the Board of Education and president of the

State Teacher’s Association. An 1896 publication by the

Baltimore American Publishing

Company,

which pur-

ports to be a guide to the State and its leading citizens,

comments on Diffenbaugh:

Being a fine scholar, fluent writer and speaker, a man

of great executive ability, and of gentle and refined

manners and cultivated taste, it need not be said that

he filled various offices to which he has been called

with credit to his alma mater, and with great advan-

tage in his State. His elegant bachelor home, with its

fine library, wealth of creature comforts, and famous

hospitality at ‘The Maples’ in Westminster is well

known to his host of friends in his own and other

states.

After obtaining the plum post of Port Supervisor of

Baltimore, he moved to that city, selling “The Maples” on

February 23, 1898 for the extremely high price of

$7500,

a clear indication of the esteem in which the

building was viewed by Diffenbaugh’s contemporaries.

A possible offshoot of Vaux’s Design Number Three

began to appear at this time. In form and size it resembles

a Number Three with the long wing removed. That is to

say, ‘it is a two-story, two-bay house with the gable end

placed facing the street. One early example of this type is

168 West Main Street, possibly built by Martin Leahy, “a

true son of Kilkeany” and the first supervisor of the B.F.

Shriver plant in

town.

Another example of Design Number Three and, like

the Diffenbaugh House, one which marks the local ulti-

mate execution of style, is the former Episcopal Rectory

on Court Street. The Rectory’s basic plan is L-shaped

with one gable end of the L facing the street, which of

course, is not at all unusual. What distinguishes this pile

is its fine gothic detail

spindles, spikes, and finials

and the use of a three-story, mansard-roofed tower rising

The design of 168 West Main Street is a variation of

Vaux’s Design No. 3

The former Episcopal Rectory on Court Street is

distinguished by its fine Gothic detail.

106

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

out of the intersection of the two sections on the building’s

Court Street facade. This may possibly have some rela-

tionship to the national“Italian Villa” style. popular in

the 19th century. If it does, then it is interesting to see

how the normal flat-roofed Italianate tower has been

modified here to fit the city’s fondness for the mansard

roof. Whereas buildings elswhere in the country had been

employing towers for a generation or more before the

Rectory was built in 1879, this is probably only the second

instance of a domestic tower in Westminster

the other

is at “Terrace Hill.” As such, it is still another indication

that the city was beginning to accept outside trends and

was, for better or for worse, losing some

its

provin-

cialism. It is probably worthy of mention that it took an

institution as strong as the Episcopal Church to introduce

this modernism into the Westminster streetscape; other

churches in town were more conservative in their

rectories.

Carved trim, as found at the Smith and Billingslea

Houses and at the Ascension Rectory, was an important

form of building decoration in the 19th century. It was

equally prevalent on rowhouses of the era. The earliest

rowhouses were nothing more than single family resi-

dences joined together, and the later ones were no dif-

ferent in that respect. If one separated the rows at 50-52

and 62-64-66-68 West Main Street one would end up

with individual houses similar to 32 Bond Street and

121 East Green Street. Or, conversely, these rows are nothing

but fusings of individual houses: the row 62-68 West

Main Street is merely a tripling of 121 East Green Street.

The unity and length of 62-68 is explained by the fact

that it was built all-of-a-piece upon land which had

burned in the “Great Westminster Fire” of 1883. The

basic form of these buildings (each of the individual

units) is two stories tall and three bays wide below a flat

roof. One of the most exciting features of the rows are the

plaques that decorate their tops. A wide range of gouged,

carved patterns may be found all over the city on these

and similar plaques. (Actually, the plaques are not

unique to Westminster; they appear on buildings of this

era all over the Mid-Atlantic region.) It might be possible

to argue that the carvings are a last outpouring of Ger-

man design. With their flowers and other patterns, they

often resemble traditional “Pennsylvania German” pat-

terns used a century earlier to illustrate books and, in

Westminster, to decorate the mantel of the Ecklar-

Conaway House at 255 East Main Street.

The plaques and brackets, which also were popular at

this time, have a possible relationship to classical archi-

tecture. The classical entablature consists of three main

parts: a cornice on top, then a frieze, then an architrave

at the base. The proportions of each of the three sections

Examples of the carved plaques and brackets that

decorate the facades of row houses all over the city.

Domestic Buildings, 1875-1900

depend on the order: some stress one section, some are

more decorated, and so on. Also, one section may be

omitted. In the newly-settled United States, it was often

difficult to find workmen who could carry out the fine

proportions and detailing necessary to make the entabla-

ture classically “correct.” Jefferson, among others, often

complained of the difficulty in getting classically trained

craftsmen. Buildings, therefore, tended to have classical

details of a hit-or-miss correctness. (We have mentioned

previously the “incorrect” but pleasing results achieved on

the capitals columns of the Carroll County Court House.)

As a result of this imprecision, entablatures began to lose

various details and often whole sections. Comparing the

amazingly perfect details found at the old Union National

Bank at 249 East Main Street with any other later “clas-

sical” details in the city makes this diminution obvious.

One might argue, further, that the brackets found on cer-

tain buildings in the post Civil War period are a natural

result of this process. If one feels free to stretch the point,

it is possible to look at the brackets at, say, 197-199-201

East Main Street as a variety of a two part entablature:

the cornice is clearly present and why else would the

builder include the wooden string courses at the brackets’

bases? The string courses must have been intended to

close off the space between the brackets, creating, in ef-

fect, a frieze. The “frieze” on these brick rowhouses is

plain. But, again using imagination, the plaques at 62-68

West Main Street might be interpreted as a way to create

a decorative frieze. In classical architecture, such a divi-

sion between plain and decorated is possible; why not in

vernacular? This argument is strengthened by the ar-

rangement at 121 East Green Street, where a decorated

string course is employed in a manner reminiscent of

classical “gutt

ae" — little “dentils” that decorate and

separate various parts of the classical entablature. The

concept may be tenuous,

but the desire to “finish” a

building, to ease the transition from wall to roof,

prompted the idea of the entablature 3,000 years ago;

why assume that this desire was not as strong in the 19th

century?

. . . every house . . . was decorated.”

erhaps the best word to describe Westminster in the

period from about 1865 to 1910 is “enthusiastic.” Here,

again, Westminster is not unique

the entire nation was

revelling in itself and its accomplishments. Nationally,

the excitement was caused by rapid industrial expansion,

by the joining of the east and west coasts by rail, and by

the end of the Civil War. The causes in Westminster were

similar, if in smaller scale. The city was beginning to at-

tract heavy industry, there was a marked shift upwards in

population and economics,

and it, too, had weathered

the Civil War, playing a not insignificant role.

The citizens and their fathers had created a town in

the middle of nowhere by using nothing but their own will

and work. In the same way, they had made it the seat of

government of a new county and contrived for a railroad

to be built connecting it with the great port of Baltimore.

Was there no limit to what they could do? Only a genera-

tion earlier, theirs had been a city of only a few hundred

inhabitants, many of whom lived in log houses: the tax

lists show that in 1837 64 percent of all homes in the

county and 35 percent of those in Westminster were of log

construction. The citizens of the

‘70s,

‘80s,

and ’90s must

have glowed with pride in the realization that they them-

selves had caused these changes. If it is true that buildings

“express the meanings, values, and needs inherent in a

public form of life,“

then certainly we ought to expect

the structures of this era to exhibit an element of swagger.

Yet there might be another reason for what seems to

be their sudden interest in architecture, especially domes-

tic architecture. Perhaps the leaders of the ’70s felt that

all adventures had been taken, all battles fought and

won; they had their county and they had their railroad;

all that was left for them was to make money and spend it

on their buildings.

This exuberant patriotic spirit found occasional other

releases as well. Perhaps foremost among these were the

parades and displays.

Such of these that still occur in

small towns today pale before the celebrations of a cen-

tury ago in the number of people involved, costumes, and

bunting. Fittingly, the most splendid of these whole-city

tableaux was held to celebrate Carroll County’s

“Semi-

Centennial” on April 11, 1887. Joseph M. Parke, writing

in the

Democratic Advocate, called the event “the great-

est celebration in the history of Western Maryland.” His

very full account of the day’s doings captured the buoy-

ancy of the event:

Westminster, as the capital of the County, did herself

credit in her preparations. As early as Friday workmen

Interlude 3

"The

Greatest

Celebration"

President Theodore Roosevelt speaking in front of the

Sentinel

office in 1912.

Interlude 3

spanned the street with arches and the same day the

work of decorating was begun. The spirit to decorate

and trim up rapidly spread, and by Saturday night the

little City was gay with flags, banners, bunting, and

evergreens, and the National emblem was suspended

across the streets in every direction

. . . . On Monday

morning many more houses were trimmed . . . nearly

every house on the line of the parade was decorated.

. . . Along with the crowds that came to the celebra-

tion, came numerous bands and drum corps, and their

music filled the air and added to the general enthusi-

asm of the multitudes that thronged the streets. The

sidewalks were a mass of humanity, and the streets for

hours were filled with horses, wheelmen, musicians,

handsome floats, etc . . .

Among the grandest floats were those of the mer-

chants. Parke enjoyed these “Trade’s Displays,” calling

them “a credit to the business interest of the City and

County, and showed an energy that indicated to the visi-

tors that our tradesmen are enterprising people.” Some of

his descriptions of the city’s business floats are indeed

intriguing:

J.T. Orndorffs double store was represented on two

wagons. On one was an immense shoe, about 8 feet

long and 4 feet high, and its immense proportions at-

tracted much attention.

George E. Matthews’ wagon glittered like a Roman

chariot in the bright sunlight, for upon it was dis-

played many patterns of gilt wallpapers. He is an en-

terprising young man, and evinces an energy and an

application to business that must bring success.

H.B. Albaugh’s wagon was trimmed with flags and

evergreens,

and bore announcement of his candy

factory.

William Reese and Sons of East Main Street, had one

of the most attractive displays in the whole line. Their

wagon was laden with samples of almost everything

kept in their store, and it is one of the old-fashioned

kind . . .

On the wagon, which was gaily decorated,

were four persons in fancy costumes representing ‘Lit-

tle Tycoon’, ‘Japanese Tommy’, ‘Highland Chief,

‘Uncle Sam of 1876’, and a ‘Man Fish.’

Herr Brothers, carriage manufacturers, West Main

Street, headed their display with a minstrel troupe.

There was no cork necessary to give the troupe the

right shade, for they were purebred, Africa’s sons, and

they handled the bones and banjo, and sung with true

African lungs and zeal . . .

This ebullient era was neatly and succinctly summed

up in an address by Dr. J.W. Herring, at the

Semi-

Centennial Rally; some of the Doctor’s remarks are perti-

nent and valuable today:

Prominent, as we think, among the sources of the

prosperity which followed [the settling of the county],

and perhaps underlying them all, was the conservative

disposition of the people. . . .

Labor is not only hon-

orable, but it is the legitimate and necessary law of our

being.

. . . They [the early settlers] exhibited in large

degree the virtue of self-reliance, without which no

success can come, either to an individual or to a na-

tion. . . . The prosperity which has marked our coun-

try’s history and which we enjoy today is in great part

due to the fact that our fathers depended upon them-

selves. They did not believe in the doctrine of ‘dele-

gated powers’ as it represents one’s own business. And

in this there is the suggestion of a valuable lesson.

. . .

To produce, and not alone to consume, is the

teaching which political economy would impress.

Interlude 3

Parades were occasions for

the release of the exuberant

patriotic spirit characteristic

of turn-of-the-century West-

minster. Perhaps the most

splendid of these was the

one that celebrated Carroll

County’s semi-centennial on

April 11, 1887.

Interlude 3

Blank

Chapter 10

Into the 20th Century

Westminster’s architecture continued along its well worn

paths into the 20th century. The choices available to its

citizens as a result of the decade of revolution around

1870 are still in effect today: staying with the vernacular

style but customizing it to meet individual needs or aban-

doning it in favor of a nationally popular style or an idio-

syncratic style.

There are several popular styles represented in the

city’s 20th century architecture, but one that is particu-

larly pervasive in trim detailing is “Sullivanesque.*

”

Sullivanesque buildings are simple, clear-cut forms

terminating in a flat roof and boldly projecting cor-

nice . . . Relief ornament, of terra cotta or plaster,

may appear almost anywhere on the building, but

most often on cornices, spandrels, and doorways. The

ornament combines naturalistic and stylized foliage

with a variety of linear interlaces and other repeating

motifs . . .

We have already observed that the great Charles Car-

roll Hotel built in 1898 on East Main Street used this type

of carving to emphasize its main doorway. An early 20th

century example is the

“‘new” headquarters building of

the B.F. Shriver Company, located just north of the city

limits. (The company moved here after vacating the stone

factory on Liberty Street.) This white brick symmetrical

building initially seems very restrained, even staid. How-

ever, closer examination reveals that it is actually one of

the wittier structures in the city. On the principal facade,

its dependence on symmetry is clear and in keeping with

the city’s tradition. However, the entrance is unlike

any-

*The term “Sullivanesque” refers to the great late 19th century ar-

chitect Louis Sullivan, whose landmark skyscrapers in the 1890s

popularized this use of intricate detailed carvings and vegetable

forms. In larger buildings, such as Sullivan’s skyscrapers, there is a

good deal more to the style than mere surface decoration, however.

The “new” headquarters

of the

B.F.

Shriver Com-

pany built early in the

20th century. On the

left is a detail of the

“Egyptian” columns at

the entrance.

114

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

thing else in the area. The peculiarly shaped red sand-

stone columns appear almost Egyptian in shape but the

leafy capitals placed above a basket-weave design are

pure Sullivanesque. The free and exotic nature of the col-

umns is quickly juxtaposed with the extremely correct

and classical two part entablature that tops them, form-

ing a portal for the double door. In contrast, there can be

no doubt that the four brick ventilators are meant to

recall those wonderful brick ventilators on barns built a

century earlier and which still enrich the Carroll County

landscape. The ventilators on this very architectural

buildings are present reminders that no matter how “po-

lite,” how high styled buildings in the area may become,

most of them still have strong and proud ties to the land.

Of uncertain style but of certain significance is the old

City Garage on East Main Street. As originally built in the

1920s,

the Garage was clearly a monument to the early,

glory years of the automobile. The building’s three broad

bays are set off by brick pilasters festooned at their tops

The elaborately decorated City Garage sym-

bolized the Nation’s enchantment by the

automobile in the early 20th century. It is

shown below as it was in 1925 and to the

right

as it appears today.

with Romanesque arched corbel courses. Dancing on the

skyline, above the flat roof and perched on the brick pi-

lasters, were large well-proportioned urns. Most of the

urns are gone now and the once bright, colored brick is

covered by dirty and peeling white paint; and the bays,

once used as showrooms for automobiles, are now fronted

by metal doors. The garage’s exuberance clearly de-

pended on the Wantz and Babylon buildings for inspira-

tion and it is significant that the builders chose such a

flamboyant style for their garage/service station. “Style”

had been used to glorify the early purveyors of dry goods,

tobacco, etc.;

here it was used to indicate a soaring

optimism about the then-dawning Automobile Age. The

spirit parallels that of the railroad companies in their con-

Into the 20th Century

struction of grand stations about the same time. There

must have been a national desire to celebrate transporta-

tion, communication, and great commercial interests.

Thus, while the City Garage may not be larger than strict

utilitarianism would require, it is certainly more elabo-

rate with its pilasters,urns, and Romanesque arches.

This grandness could only have been intended to create a

temple-like setting for the automobile. The structure’s

present decaying condition seems just as open to symbolic

interpretation. The “benzine buggy” has lost its enchant-

ing appeal; it is, to say the least, no longer an object of

wonder and love and faith. Present day garages, and for

that matter train stations, are more functional and less

romantic in design as befits the cynicism with which we

view the machines they now serve. The City Garage gives

proof in brick and mortar to a pronouncement that E.B.

White made nearly 40 years ago:

“ . . .

the motor car is,

more than any other object, the expression of the nation’s

character and the nation’s dream. In the free, billowing

fender, in the blinding chromium grilles and the fluid

control, in the ever widening front seat, we see the flower-

ing of the America that we know . . .

I think there will be

some day an awakening of a rude sort

.“

115

A style that, for want of a better phrase, might be

called Military Eclectic came to Westminster with the

patriotic fervor that accompanied the United States’s en-

try into the First World War. The Westminster Armory

on Longwell Avenue was built in 1917 to house the Na-

tional Guard and shelter sundry other military activities

of the time. J. Ben Brown of Cambridge (Maryland) was

hired as architect and he continued the “tract castle” pat-

tern that was then developing. At that time Maryland

had “three other armories already constructed of similar

design."

The Westminster Armory is built of grey Port

Deposit rubble granite, creating an impression of strength

and roughness; the interior walls were originally finished

in sanded plaster to continue on a lesser scale the rough-

ness motif.

Art Deco, Moderne , or whatever name one wishes to

ascribe to the style made popular by the Paris exhibition

of 1925, is unmistakable. It has been called “first of all a

style of ornament,"

which may be too belittling. It is pri-

marily a style associated with the speed, movement, and

hurly-burly of modern life represented by the angular zig

zags, chevrons, and blocks found not only on the build-

ings but in the sculpture and paintings of the period.

Westminster Armory was built in 1917 in the “tract castle” style that was popular for such edifices at the time in Maryland.

116

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

Ventures into Art Deco were made In Westminster

at the Carroll Theater on West Main Street (above) and

the old high school building on

Longwell

Avenue (below).

Westminster’s two most concerted ventures into Art Deco

are undoubtedly the old High School on Longwell

Avenue and the Carroll Theater on West Main Street.

Both buildings are similar in their regular and bold

mass-

ings; each has a central section flanked by two slightly

receding side sections.

Here, in Westminster, the em-

phasis does indeed seem to be on ornament, as it is clearly

only ornament that distinguishes these two buildings from

the Shriver Building on Railroad Avenue, which shares

the same three-part arrangement on its principal facade.

The High School, built in 1936, carries carved limestone

decorations that contrast with the deep rose brick of the

building. The decoration scheme on the circa 1938

theater is carried out mostly in black glazed tiles, which

Brick

and glass factory built about 1945.

contrast with the mustard colored brick of the main

facade.

Somewhat related to the Moderne Style is the “Inter-

national Style” popularized in the 1920s and ’30s by Euro-

pean architects such as Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, and

Le Corbusier. The characteristics of the style are flat

roofs, smooth uniform wall surfaces, and bands of win-

dows often forming a clerestory;

“ . . .

horizontality

most marked in the ribbon window

and rectilinearity

predominate.“

Le Corbusier, whose book Towards a New Architecture

came out in 1923, considered this manner of building to

be a true response to modern advances and developments

in economics and technology. The book, which has been

called “the single most influential architectural manifesto

of modern times

. . . an indispensible document of the

twentieth century,”

states his case in no uncertain terms:

A new epoch has begun. There exists a new spirit.

In-

dustry, overwhelming us like a flood which rolls on to-

wards its destined end, has furnished us with new tools

adapted to this epoch, animated by the new spirit. Ec-

onomic law inevitably governs our acts and our

thoughts. . . .

Architecture has for its first duty, in

this period of renewal, that of bringing about a revolu-

tion

of value. . . . We must create the

mass-

production spirit. . . .

If we eliminate from our hearts

and minds all dead concepts in regard to the house,

and look at the question from a critical and objective

point of view,

we shall arrive at the House Ma-

chine . . .

beautiful in the same way that the working

tools and instruments which accompany our existence

are beautiful. . . .

Absence of verbosity, good ar-

rangement, a single idea, daring and unity in con-

struction, the use of elementary shapes, a sane

morality. . . .

The concrete piers of uniform section,

the flat vaults of the ceilings, the standardized

window-units, the solids, and the voids make up the

architectural elements of the construction.

Into the 20th Century

In Westminster, this spirit was captured admirably in a

circa 1945 brick and glass factory located at 22 Locust

Street between City Hall (the Longwell Mansion) and

East Main Street. The building now is used for making

artificial rocks.

Since the Second World War, Westminster’s architec-

ture has continued its traditional reflection of broad

trends

but on a different scale. The city’s style is now

one with the entire Country, not with a small and ethni-

cally unified area. After random flirtations with nation-

ally popular styles in the 1860s and ’70s and the more

serious affairs during the ’90s and the early 20th century,

the city had been almost totally divorced from the south-

east Pennsylvania influence by the middle of this century.

The dwellings that line the streets in the new subdivisions,

fleshing out the city’s skeleton of Main Street, Pennsyl-

vania Avenue, and Liberty Street, could have happened

anywhere in the nation. It is a truism that the rancher

and the split-level are the American vernacular houses of

the 20th century. They vary only in scale and ambition.

117

Ridge Road is to Colonial Avenue as Willis Street was to

Webster Street

the grand version versus the modest

version of the same product. Significantly, whole neigh-

borhoods, not just individual houses, now are being con-

ceived and built as either grand or not-so-grand. The

result of this economic characterization of whole new sec-

tions of the city, while less rigid in Westminster than

elsewhere, is a reversal of the egalitarian spirit that

characterized the city’s earlier relaxed jumbling of man-

sion, store, hovel, and office.

Along with these new homes and subdivisions, West-

minster’s commercial expansion has also tended to be

centered not in the historic town but in ever-expanding

rings about it. Transportation played a crucial role in

determining the city’s most recent growth patterns, as it

has since Winchester laid out the first lots over 210 years

ago. The Western Maryland Railroad declined in impor-

tance after the Second World War, as did railroads all

over the country. Coinciding with this decline was the rise

in importance of automobiles and trucks, especially after

This block of East Main Street, shown in a circa 1885 photograph, represented the egalitarian spirit that resulted

in offices, stores, and residences of rich and poor being built together in a neighborly jumble. The building in the

foreground, Number 43-45, has been torn down recently.

118

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

the completion of the Route 140 bypass north of the city.

It has been along this four-lane highway that recent com-

mercial growth has clustered; since the opening of the

Westminster Shopping Center there in the

1950s,

several

others have followed suit. Similarly, as the population ex-

panded beyond the old city limits, a new high school was

built south of town, near the large “Fairfield” subdivision

and the newer houses along Washington Road. The

school was dedicated in 1971.

Recently, the city’s government reacted to the expan-

sion pressure by annexing a large tract of largely undevel-

oped land to the west, beyond the College and the former

Reifsnider compound.

This action nearly doubled the

city’s size.

Near this new western boundary, in the middle of a

forest, is the home that Mr.

Mrs. Robert Scott built in

1954. Designed by the masterful contemporary architect

Henry Hebbeln, the house at first seems daring for West-

minster but in its simple beauty it synthesizes many of the

city’s historic characteristics. Its boldness is fully in the

tradition of those innovative men who determined the

city’s destiny,

adhering through the generations to a

motto that might well read, “Don’t fuss and worry, do it.”

The Pennsylvania German presence in Westminster’s ar-

chitectural history was continued in the Scott house by

workmen from Hanover, notably, O.H. Hostetter and

C.W. Test.

The Scotts themselves have close ties to Westminster’s

aesthetic, social, and economic well-being. They have

long been active in the local arts council, for example,

and in attempts to create good housing for low-income

families. Mr. Scott’s firm served as electrical contractor

The present Westminster High

School was built to the south

of the city in 1971.

The “open and natural”

house built by Mr. and

Mrs. Robert Scott.

Into the 20th Century

119

for the Grieves renovation of the Union National Bank on

East Main Street.

The Scotts desired an “open and natural” house to

take full advantage of the rich woodsy site. The result is a

building that functions with flowing space, not boxy

rooms. The space moves almost imperceptibly from inte-

rior to exterior, structured gently by glass, wood, and

subtle design elements such as floorboards that appear to

run continuously from the interior out to the rear deck

and walkway. Massive stone chimneys begin on the exte-

rior at ground level, rise through the main living story,

and reappear like stone outcroppings above the roofline.

This treatment symbolizes the structure’s respect for

nature and its dependance on nature, a relationship that

has been fundamental to the history of agrarian Carroll

County. Certainly, history has largely exonerated West-

minster and other Carroll County towns from Sinclair

Lewis’s indictment of American small towns

that they

exist primarily to“suck the lifeblood from the farmer.”

Generally, the area’s citizens have retained a respectful

attitude toward their rich countryside. A recent example

is their support of zoning that creates an agricultural

district encompassing three-quarters of the county.

The Scotts’ house goes well beyond providing an at-

tractive appearance and an effective living space. It dem-

onstrates how historical architectural philosophy rather

than mere shell-like forms of the past can be embodied in

new structures. When one compares this house, with its

historical richness and integrity, to the Williamsburg-

revival structures that are illogically popping up in Car-

roll County nowadays, one understands the thrust of Mal-

raux’s comment:

During periods when all previous works are disdained,

genius languishes; no man can build on a void, and a

civilization that breaks with the style at its disposal

soon finds itself empty-handed.

Interpreting preservation as meaning merely the saving of

old buildings from destruction can lead to the retention

of functionally useless forms and even, far worse, to their

continued construction. Preservation should create a dia-

logue between the past and the present, whereby still

valid elements of the past are respected, retained, and

reinterpreted in contemporary terms.

This argument recently has become especially perti-

nent to Westminster. Although the city’s post war ring

development providentially left the historic town area

architecturally intact,

it was economically stagnating.

Certainly Westminster, by long tradition a city of shop-

keepers and other busy capitalists, would not tolerate this

for very long. In 1976, after years of unmasterful Master

Plans, the Mayor and Common Council of Westminster

hired a Columbia-based firm, Land Design/Research, to

study the city and make definite proposals for downtown

revitalization

to stop the city from settling, with a sigh,

into an honorable oblivion. Since then, the consultant

and the city have concentrated on the “town center,” a

stretch of Main Street between Longwell Avenue and

Bond Street containing a dense concentration of 19th

century Victorian commercial structures, such as the

Wantz and Babylon buildings, the former office of the

Smith and Reifsnider Lumber Company, the “White

Palace” and other piles that reflect the optimistic

dynamism of a century ago.

Both the council and the consultant agree that it

would be futile for the aged buildings and restricted park-

ing of the downtown area to try to compete directly with

the new shopping centers. Instead, they decided to offer

an alternative. If the shopping centers stress behemoth,

neon-lit,

airplane hangars replete with standardized

goods, then the downtown should make the most of its

variety of small buildings, each offering an individuality

of its own. According to the plan, the downtown shops

would sell specialty goods and cater to the needs of the

people who live and work within walking distance, while

offering sufficient quality and novelty to convince subur-

banites that the drive into town is worthwhile.

With help from a federal grant, Westminster has al-

ready constructed Locust Lane in a former alley leading

from Main Street to the municipal parking lot. The com-

pleted shops are rented and seem to be thriving: there is

an Italian deli, a natural foods store, a delicatessen, a

plant store, and so on. In a program of cooperation, the

city is paying for such items as brick paving, trees,

benches, and a fountain, while the property owner, Her-

man Rosenberg, is paying for remodelling the once

dilap-

Locust Lane, a pleasant area of small shops in the

revitalized downtown area, is a cooperative venture

by the city government and private enterprise

120

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

idated buildings. The owner will receive the profits from

the venture. Willingness to invest private money in the

city is the surest sign that Westminster’s merchants are

backing the revitalization ideas.

Owners now seem to be convinced that the exteriors of

their buildings are almost as important as the goods sold

within and approve the city’s adoption of a set of stan-

dards for restoration. These are intended to bring out the

best in the old piles and are probably the most far-

reaching in the state.

As a result of this forceful approach, Westminster’s

downtown revitalization, which had shaky and uncertain

beginnings, has now developed a vitality of its own: the

Westminster Town Center Corporation, a private mer-

chants group, is encouraging its members to pay for brick

sidewalks: buildings that were abandoned or “underutil-

ized’ are now cleaned up and rented: there is new con-

struction downtown (note especially the new library

building on East Main Street and an addition to the Car-

roll County Bank on West Main Street); and apartments

are at a premium. Although the initial study only focused

on a two-block area, the entire two-mile length of Main

Street is now booming. James Billingslea has restored and

relandscaped his building at 187 East Main Street after it

was gutted by fire, for example.

After years of discussion and studies, downtown

Westminster does seem to have saved itself and shown

that it is still a “living” element, thriving on growth and

change. The future of Westminster now depends on how

these two volatile characteristics are handled and on how

well the past, present,and future are made to work

together.

Below: Part of Westminster’s present “revitalization” area as it appeared in 1890.

On the following page (top) is shown a section of East Main Street that has main-

tained its visual and economic integrity throughout its 200 years of adaptive use.

Architect James Grieves designed the recent addition

and renovation for the Union National Bank on East

Main Street

Merchants are recognizing the value of revitalization.

Recently, for example, James Billingslea restored his

building at 187 East Main Street after it was gutted by fire.

Into the 20th Century 121

Blank

Appendix

Churches of Westminster

Westminster’s churches prospered from the advent of the

railroad almost as much as the merchants. One house of

worship to benefit enormously from the expansion was St.

John’s Roman Catholic Church. There had been a Catho-

lic Church in the city since the 18th century; in 1789,

John Logsdon had donated four acres of land for a ceme-

tery and a Catholic church in Westminster. A building

was erected but the citizens still depended upon a

Taneytown-based priest who would travel to Westminster

once a month. This man, Nicholas Zocchi, was born in

Rome and later ordained in Milan in 1797. “In 1805 he

built the second Catholic church in Westminster

neat little brick church in the cemetery. Father Zocchi

visited Westminster until his death in 1845 at Taney-

town."

Later priests continued to live in Taneytown and

circuit ride until 1869.

The third church on the East Main Street site was a

towering Gothic Revival edifice with a steeple that

dominated the city. Construction of this church began on

April 18, 1865, under the leadership of Father John

Gloyd; the architect was Evan

Faxton

of Baltimore. An

anniversary pamphlet notes:

. . .

the church is of the true Gothic style, plain and

solid but with a magnificent tower and spire, sur-

mounted by a lofty cross, on whose summit the first

rays of the morning loved to play, and the last beams

of the evening sun light to linger to the end of

time."

The end of time came sooner than expected; a lightning

bolt hit the spire and destroyed it in 1952; the rest of the

church was declared structurally unsound in 1968 and

was torn down in early 1977.

Possibly, the idea to build the new church germinated

when the rail line came through Westminster and the

parish discovered that it had its own 24K golden egg. At

that time, a 30-acre farm just west of the church property

ran along the rail line for some distance. It had formerly

belonged to Francis and Regina Grandadam but at the

widowed Regina’s death it passed to one of her slaves.

“

. . .

unto my negro Elizabeth during her life all my real

estate. After her death I request my executors to rent my

real estate and the rents arising from the aforesaid prop-

erty to be paid to the Roman Priest who tends the Roman

chapel near Westminster,”

read Regina’s Last Will and

Testament. However, the church gained possession of the

land from Elizabeth before her death, and subdivided the

property.

The authorized version of the church’s dealings was

written by Mary Shellman in 1924 as a part of her essay

called, “The Early Pioneers,” she wrote:

The tract next extending to Liberty Street was ‘Bed-

ford or ‘Winter’s Addition’, then came the

Grand-

adam Property which subsequently became the prop-

erty of the Roman Catholic Church, it is now part of

the prosperous business section of the town between

the railroad and Carroll Street and consisted of 30

acres of land which were leased by the Church, and

the rents go annually, one fourth to the church, and

the balance to the priest in charge. The property was

originally willed to Betsy Frantz, a negro woman be-

longing to Mrs. Grandadam. It was a fine farm with a

red frame house in good condition, just beyond the

‘Goose Pond Lane’, now the bed of the Western Mary-

land Railroad. On the opposite side of the street were

the barn and orchard all in good condition. By provi-

sion of the will, the property, if neglected and not

taken care of, was to go to the Roman Catholic

Church. Betsy, not being a business woman, rented to

what were known as ‘poor white trash, who neglected

everything, used the fences for firewood, and did not

pay any rent, so the poor old woman was glad to take

in washing for a living, lost the property, which re-

124

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

verted to the Church, and she received a small pension

from the Orphan’s Court of Frederick

County.

Although the reference to a neglect clause is obscure

a copy of a Will by Regina Grandadam in the files of

the Carroll County Historical Society does not appear to

have such a clause

the church did indeed receive the 30

acres, and the profits from the subdivisions must have

helped build the grand gothic structure. John Orndorff, a

leading merchant in Westminster, also helped consider-

ably by donating 500,000 bricks which he had baked on

his farm nearby. The older church was used as a school

house until 1872 when it was torn down and the bricks

reused to build a new school. This last school was torn

down at the same time that the church was razed in 1977.

The parishioners had moved to temporary quarters in

1969 after the church was declared unsound. In 1972 a

new octagonal church of split greystone was dedicated at

the church’s property on Route 140 at Monroe Street.

At about the same time that the Parish of St. John’s

was building its church near the railroad tracks, other de-

nominations were also putting up houses of worship.

These late 19th century churches led one observer to note

that “no City in America has more beautiful Churches”

than Westminster. Also, like the Catholic Church, several

of these denominations had had a long history in the

Westminster area. Lutherans were among the first settlers

in Carroll County, having come with the German pio-

neers. Their buildings were among the earliest erected in

this part of the state, beginning with their church in Man-

chester, built in 1760. A year later they built Krider’s

Church, about a mile from Westminster, which was used

for several decades. The first separate Westminster con-

gregation, known as Grace Lutheran Church, was

founded in 1842 and used the Union Meeting House. This

independent congregation was discontinued in 1853 for

several years until a permanent church was built for

$5000 on Carroll Street. The cornerstone was laid in 1866

and the entire structure was dedicated February 23, 1868.

Fifteen years later the church was destroyed by fire but

the congregation immediately began raising funds for a

new church, which was completed a year later. This is the

present Grace Lutheran Church, one of the eclectic beauties

of the city, containing a wealth of decorative brickwork

and ranking as one of the city’s best ecclesiastical essays.

St John's church, rectory, and school in an 1887 engraving.

The first Grace Lutheran Church was dedicated in 1868 but

was destroyed by fire fifteen years later

(see picture below)

The present edifice

(left and above)

was completed in 1884.

126

The Methodist congregations

of Westminster have a

similar history.

Carroll County

was the birthplace of

American Methodism when Robert Strawbridge, a dis-

ciple of John Wesley himself, came to America in 1760

and settled near Westminster. Under Strawbridge’s lead-

ership several churches were built in the area years before

the organized founding of American Methodism. In the

City of Westminster, Methodist services were held in pri-

vate homes as early as 1767. Later, like the Lutherans,

the Methodists used the Union Meeting House, staying in

the old non-denominational building until 1839 when

their first church was built, a modest brick structure on

East Main Street. Fifty years later, on the same site the

congregation built the Centenary Church, which has con-

tinued to be used to the present day, although it has been

enlarged and altered. The Methodist Church had differ-

ent branches in early years: The Methodist Protestant

Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, each

branch with its own building. The two branches united in

1939, and the former Methodist Protestant Church then

became the Davis Memorial Library.

Later, the building

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

Another early church in the city and the county was

the Church of the Brethren. This denomination, whose

adherents were known as the Dunkards, originated in

Germany and travelled to the United States with the Ger-

man settlers, first arriving in Pennsylvania and then

spreading, with the Palatines, westward and southward

into central Maryland. Several of the meeting houses they

built, still survive, their chaste beauty being among the

chief architectural joys of Carroll County. The first

Westminster church, however, was much later, dating

from the 1870s. Their present church on Belle Grove

Square was built in 1932.

St. Paul’s United Church of Christ was founded in

1869 with a congregation of twenty-five people. The pres-

ent edifice was already completed when the congregation

was chartered as St. Paul’s Reformed Church of the

Maryland Classics of the Reformed Church in the United

States. Originally, it was far more “Gothic” than it is now.

Perhaps the greatest loss was the soaring steeple that was

destroyed by a tornado in 1893.

The Ascension Episcopal Church, completed in 1846

Centenary Methodist Epicopal Church shown in its original design

in an 1887 engraving.

It has been enlarged and altered since.

Early engraving of the Methodist Protestant

Church. See also the next page.

was divided into spaces for several business concerns, when

the Westminster Branch of the Carroll County Public Library

was opened at 50 East Main Street.

Churches of Westminster

127

on Court Street, was discussed in its historical and archi-

tectural context in Chapter Seven because of its essential

relationship to the development of the Court House area.

In 1876, the Church added another gem to its complex

a chapel at 30 North Court Street to be used by black

Episcopalians for Evensong:

It was used for the parish school and later for evening

services for the colored congregation which attended

the Ascension Church in its early days. Many original

members of the parish had their family servants bap-

tized and confirmed here, and several were buried in

the church yard. However, as this older generation

passed on, the colored membership gradually dwin-

dled until the time of the semi-centennial in 1894, the

Evening services had been moved back to the main

church where they were attended by both black and

white congregations.

The chapel became a rectory about 1920, then a private

school, and then was converted into a private residence in

1961. Even as the church itself is a superb example of the

Gothic Revival, so is this 30-year-later chapel. Physically,

the chapel is less determinedly religious in nature than

the church, resembling, in fact, an early medieval West

of England rectangular house. Like the church, the

chapel makes a marked contrast to most of Westminster’s

The Ascension

Episcopal

Church added a lovely

architecture, secular or temporal, in its academicism. Ex-

Gothic Revival chapel to its complex on North Court

cept for the absence now of some of the most obvious signs

Street in 1876. It became a rectory in 1920, then a

school, and finally, in 1961, a private residence, in

of the building’s religious nature

the belfry and the

which use it is pictured here.

raised-brick cross

the building today looks almost ex-

actly as it did when built over 100 years ago.

Three eras in the life of the Methodist Protestant

Church are shown here. On the previous page

there was an early engraving of the church;

on the immediate left is a later photograph showing

it without its steeple. The church was modified for use as

a library, as shown above, and is now occupied by businesses.

Appendix B

Schools of Westminster

The early history of education in Westminster is sketchy,

doubtless because formal education in established facil-

ities was also sketchy in the early days. This issue was ad-

dressed by local historian Bradford Gist Lynch in a series

of articles in the Democratic Advocate in April 1937.

Lynch’s comments on the pioneers’ priorities echo those

of Summerson (see page 14):

The early settlers of Carroll County with an ardent

love of home and an intense longing to do their duty to

their families, their community and their state, felt the

urge to organize places of learning for their children

and yet a period of 60 years lapsed before the first

schools and academies were organized. During this pe-

riod the people were engaged in clearing the forest,

building homes, and securing food, and so it was not

until the first part of the 19th century that private

schools were organized.

It is generally acknowledged that the earliest school in

Westminster was the brick building on Church Street

near the Westminster Cemetery. Churches and schools

traditionally seem to go together, or at least they do in

Westminster, and so it is not surprising that the multi-

denominational Union Meeting House would have had

some form of educational building nearby. Lynch credits

Professor John A. Munroe with teaching “a private school

in the brick building located at the gates of the West-

minster Cemetery, and conducting the school at a early

date.” Professor Munroe’s school was called the “Female

Collegiate and Male Academic Institute;” one of the In-

stitute’s circulars notes that it is

. . .

a school for Males and Females - a ‘College’ in

its course of study for Females. To this course it admits

young men, or modifies it to suit their expected life

work. It claims thoroughness and special attention to

elements in every branch of study; consequently it will

not admit to its higher classes of Mathematics, Sci-

ences,

&c.,

those who are deficient in the elements of

common English, unless both courses can be pursued

at the same time, with advantage to the pupil. It asks

attention to its ‘Course of Study’ herein given: this is

the path in which its classes walk, and from which they

cannot deviate except for a special purpose. In giving

direction to studies which depart from this course,

those will be selected which bear directly upon the ob-

ject in view

as the Ministry, Teaching, Merchandiz-

ing, &c.

All who complete the regular course will receive a

Certificate of Graduation

and those who pass an

honorable final examination on the entire course of

study, will receive, in addition, a valuable Medal.

The cost for a full year as a boarding student, in 1863,

was $220.

Prof. Munroe’s Female Collegiate and Male Academic Institute.

Schools of Westminster

According to Lynch, another private school was oper-

ated in the early 1860s by Miss Julia Dulany in a house

opposite the present Post Office building. Also, in the

1860s,

Professor James Ruppert conducted “a select

private school . . .

in the old Odd Fellow’s Building. This

was a boys’ school of 20 pupils. This school was equipped

with a gymnasium and a chemistry laboratory.“

There

were several other private academies of uncertain location

identified by Lynch.

St. John’s Catholic Church organized its own paro-

chial school in 1866 with Miss Dulany and one Charles

Eckenrod

as teachers. The school was housed in the

building on East Main Street that had been the church

before being replaced by an imposing Gothic edifice in

1865. In 1872, this school house was torn down and a new

and larger one built, partly with the bricks from the old

school. At this juncture, Frank A. McGirr joined the fac-

ulty as its leader and began to accept some high-school

and college-preparatory level students. Mr. McGirr was a

graduate of Loyola College in Baltimore and had taught

at Calvert College in New Winsor for thirteen years be-

fore it closed because of financial difficulties. In 1898 and

again in 1916, the elementary school was enlarged; in

1925 a formal high school department was added. A new

two-story, brick school building, designed by Ferdinand

P. Kelly, A.I.A., was constructed in 1958 on the church’s

129

property at Route 140 and Monroe Street. This initially

housed the high school, but the elementary school was

moved there from the East Main Street site when the high

school was discontinued in 1969.

Probably the first,

and certainly the earliest docu-

mented, public school building was built on West Main

Street. On August 16, 1853, Jacob Mering sold a 32-foot-wide

piece of land, which would now be 180 West Main Street,

to the “Trustees of School District Number 6, known as

the Upper Westminster District.“

The trustees were

Francis Shriver, Joseph Shaffer, and Joshua Yingling,

who paid $55 each for the slice of land “for the express

purpose of erecting a primary school thereon for the use

and benefit of the inhabitants of the above-described

school district ."

They accomplished their purpose by

building the school that is indicated on the Martinet’s

1861 map of the city. The later history of this building is

interesting. In 1888 the school commissioners, now “of

Carroll County,”sold the lot and building to William G.

Rinehart, who at that time lived across the street in his

own large house at 179 West Main Street. Rinehart paid

$325 for “the West End School”

and then tore down the

old building, saving its bricks to recycle into a house for

his daughter who had married James Pearre Wantz, Sr.,

the son of Charles V. Wantz.

In 1864, Maryland enacted a law calling for a uniform

Students attend

their lesson in an early private school in Westminster. (Identification and date uncertain.)

g?”

.~,

130

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

system of public schools in the state and Carroll County

soon obeyed by establishing the Carroll County School

Commissioners in 1865. Members of this first school com-

mission were J.H. Christ as President, William A. Wamp-

ler as secretary treasurer, and Joshua Yingling, Andrew J.

Wilhelm, Andrew K. Shriver, and Zachariah Ebaugh.

The commissioners rented private school buildings as well

as using the old school building on West Main Street.

Teachers in the first public schools received a base salary

of $50 per year but there was an “incentive clause” at-

tached: they could receive extra money for all pupils they

taught beyond fifteen per class. In 1870, another school

was completed. It was built behind the former school

house on West Main Street on a triangular piece of land

known as Shriver’s Addition. This school, known as the

West End School, was originally a one-story structure but

it had a second story built on early in the 20th century.

Interestingly, when its second story was added, the ar-

chitect saw fit to recreate the arched corbel course at the

eaves. Other additions were made in 1950 and 1951 but

the building’s use as a school ended in 1976, when its

pupils were absorbed into new elementary schools in and

adjacent to Westminster.It is now a center for senior

citizens activities.

The West End School was built in 1870. Pictured here (start-

ing from the bottom)

are the students assembled before the

building for a portrait in 1890; a similar occasion in 1910;

and the school in its present configuration with a second story

added. Note the re-creation of the previous arched corbel

course at the new eaves line.

Schools of Westminster

131

Panoramic view of Western Maryland College in the late 19th century.

About 1885 a brick school was erected on the site of

the building on East Green Street that in recent times has

been known as the East End Elementary School. This

original structure, known as Central Hall, was one story

high and housed five classrooms: one for each of the first,

second, third, and fourth grades, and a large central

room for the fifth and sixth grades. The partitions be-

tween the rooms were of heavy wood and could be raised

to make the entire building into one large auditorium.

In 1899, a new school was built on the Central Hall

site. This housed a high school and all the elementary

grades of the East End until 1918, when the Board of Ed-

ucation bought the Dallas mansion (154 East Green Street)

for use as an elementary school. When a high school was

built on Longwell Avenue in 1936, the elementary grades

were returned to the building at the old Central Hall site,

which has since been converted into a restaurant, inn, and fit-

ness club. The Dallas mansion was converted to apartments.

The 1936 Westminster High School on Longwell Ave-

nue, north of the present City Hall, continued in use as a

junior and/or senior high school until 1971 when the

latest Westminster High School and the Carroll County

Vocational-Technical Center on Route 32 were occupied.

After extensive renovations, the Long-well Avenue build-

ing became the East Middle School in the early 1970s.

A new Westminster Elementary School was con-

structed on North Center Street in 1950 to the northeast

of the existing East Middle School. This building con-

tinued in use as an elementary school until 1971 when

it was converted to the Carroll County Center for Exceptional

Children. It is now offices for Carroll County government.

The Westminster Junior High School, now the West

Middle School, was constructed in 1958. This building

also housed some elementary school pupils until the

William Winchester Elementary School was constructed

adjacent to it, between Carroll Street and Monroe Street,

in 1962. In 1976, two new elementary schools were built,

taking advantage of the State of Maryland’s decision to

fund all on-site costs of public school buildings. These

were the Robert Moton Elementary School off Route 32

and a new Westminster Elementary School off Uniontown

Road. Friendship Valley Elementary School opened in 1992

According to Board of Education records, there were

three schools for black children as early as 1892

Union

Street, Charles Street and Western Chapel. In 1922 a

high school department was added to the Union Street

school. In 1948, the Robert Moten High School was built

at Charles Street and South Center Street to provide cen-

trally located high school education for the black chil-

dren of Carroll County. Complete integration of all the

city and county schools for black and white children oc-

curred in 1955.

In the same year that Maryland’s Public School system

was established, Western Maryland College was organized

under the auspices of the Maryland Annual Conference

of the Methodist Protestant Church; it was chartered by

an act of the Maryland Legislature in the same year. Con-

sideration was first given to a site in Baltimore City but

this was later changed to the present breezy hilltop in

Westminster. The original eight-acre campus was ac-

quired with private

monies by the college’s State-

appointed Board of Directors in 1864. The site, although

privately owned, had been used for many years by the cit-

izens of Westminster as a meeting and picnicing area.

Commonly referred to as the “Old Commons,” it was the

scene of annual Fourth of July celebrations, political rallys

and, during the Civil War, a bivouac for the Army of the

Potomac.

The first building to be constructed at the College, for

classrooms and dormitories, was known as the Main

Building. Combining brick and stone, it was initially con-

structed in 1866, added to in 1871, 1887, and 1890, and

demolished in 1956. About fourteen other buildings were

constructed on the eight-acre site between 1866 and 1900.

With the exception of the following, all have been razed

and other buildings erected on their sites:

Alumni Hall has served the college and community in

several ways throughout its history. Designed by Jackson

C. Gott (who had designed the Fire House), it was com-

pleted in 1899 to serve as a hall for Commencement exer-

cises, banquets, and other social functions, such as the

meetings of the Literary Societies. Alumni Hall has been

important not only to the college but to the surrounding

community as well; it served as the major auditorium for

off Gist Road, and Cranberry Station Elementary School is

scheduled to open in 1999 off Center Street.

Westminster from 1899 until 1971 when the Westminster

High School, with its 1600 seat auditorium, was built.

Levine

Hall

is the oldest classroom building still stand-

ing, dating back to 1891. It was the gift of Dr. and Mrs.

Charles Billingslea in memory of their son, Levine, and

was built to house the primary Department of the college.

It was used later as a Preparatory School, containing

sleeping rooms for the male students, recitation rooms, a

library, and principal’s office. In 1899, Levine Hall was

enlarged to provide classroom space and a third floor was

added in 1901.

“Little Baker” Chapel, so called to distinguish it from

the later and larger Baker Memorial Chapel, was dedi-

cated to the college in 1895 as a gift from a trustee of the

college, Mr. William G. Baker. Mr. Baker donated the

Chapel as a thanks offering to God for the restoration of

the health of his son. Originally the Chapel was used for

Sunday School and Sunday evening services but in 1932

the Sunday service was moved to Alumni Hall because the

Chapel could no longer contain the number of people at-

tending. Since then, the Chapel, with a seating capacity

of 250, has served as an intimate setting for weddings,

christenings, and funerals. When first built, Little Baker

did not include the stained glass windows it now displays;

they were added in 1920 by Mr. Baker and his brother,

Daniel. The windows were created by H.T. Gernhardt

and Company of Baltimore and are generally copies of

Old Masters such as Raphael’s “Madonna and Child;”

some smaller abstract designs are included. Later addi-

tions to the Chapel include an altar painting done by

Fannie Thompson in 1903.

The President’s House was built in 1889 as a gift from

the Baker brothers of Buckeystown. Its presence on cam-

pus has permitted a closer contact between the presidents

and the student/faculty bodies throughout the years. The

President’s House also serves as a center for social func-

tions involving students, faculty, trustees, and members

of the surrounding community.

Clockwise

from left: Little Baker Chapel, Alumni Hall,

and Harrison Hall of Western Maryland College.

Ward Memorial Arch was built in 1898 in honor of

Dr. James T. Ward, the first president of Western Mary-

land College. It was a gift from his niece, Ulie Norment

Hurley. The arch originally stood at the entrance to Col-

lege Drive between the President’s House and McDaniel

Hall but because cars had difficulty navigating its narrow

opening it was moved to the far southern point of the

campus at West Main and Union Streets in

1937.

The Victorian Gothic Carroll Hall, built in 1873 and

originally called “Terrace Hill,” was the former home of

the John L. Reifsnider,

Sr. family (see page

74). Pur-

chased by Western Maryland College in 1922, it was

transformed into the “Gray Gables Inn,” a popular place

for students and their visitors. It was later used as the

Administration Building and the Education Deparment

and now houses the Undergraduate Admissions Office.

Another Reifsnider house, “Westover,” also belongs

to the college, but it, too, has been renamed and is now

known as

Harrison

Hall. Given as a wedding

present,

John L. Reifsnider, Sr.,to his son, John, Jr., and bride,

the house is located at 239 West Main Street just down the

hill from the father’s house. It is an interesting example

of the blending of two nationally popular sty

les — the

Shingle Style and the Queen Anne Style.

James M.

Shellman

May 6, 1839

May 6, 1840

William Shipley

May 6, 1840

May 6, 1841

George Trumbo

May 6, 1841

May 6, 1844

Appendix

Mayors of Westminster

The following is a list of the distinguished citizens

who have served Westminster as its Mayor. The dates

following each name indicate the period of office.

David Keefer

May 6, 1844

May 4, 1850

Elisha D. Payne

May 14, 1850

May 19, 1851

Abner Neal

May 19, 1851

May 13, 1852

Jacob Grove

May 13, 1852

May 10, 1853

Francis

Shriver

May 10, 1853

May 6, 1858

R.R. Booth

May 6, 1858

May 10, 1859

John M. Yingling

May 10, 1859

May 12, 1860

Dr. Samuel L. Swarmstedt

May 12, 1860

May 20, 1861

Michael Baughman

May 20, 1861

May 12, 1864

Jacob Grove

May 12, 1864 — June 1, 1865

Joshua Yingling

June 1, 1865

May 28, 1866

Hashabiah Haines

May 28, 1866

May 22, 1867

A.R. Durbin

May22,

1867

David Fowble

May

18,

1868

Jacob Knipple

May

13,

1869

May

18,

1868

May

13,

1869

May

15,

1871

Daniel H. Leister

May

15, 1871

May 22, 1872

Henry H. Harbaugh

May

22, 1872

May 19, 1873

E.K. Germand

May

19, 1873

May 18, 1874

David Fowble

May

18, 1874

May 15, 1876

P.H. Irwin

May

15, 1876—June 4, 1883

William B. Thomas

June4, 1883

May 18, 1885

Andrew B.

Stephan

May

18, 1885

May 17, 1886

Milton Schaeffer

May

17, 1886

May 20, 1889

Frank K. Herr

May

20, 1889

May 16, 1892

Joseph D. Brooks

May

16, 1892

May 20, 1895

Milton Schaeffer

May

20, 1895

May 18, 1896

Joseph W. Smith

May

18, 1896

May 17, 1897

Nelson Gilbert

May 17, 1897

May 16, 1898

Fred D. Miller

May 16, 1898

May 21, 1900

Oscar D. Gilbert

May 21, 1900

May 18, 1908

John D. Saylor

May 18, 1908

May 16, 1910

Ernest

J .

Sponseller

May 16, 1910

May 20, 1912

David E. Walsh

May 20, 1912

May 15, 1916

Howard E. Koontz

1916-1926

George E. Matthews

May 17, 1926

March 15, 1938

Walter H. Davis

March 15, 1938

May 16, 1938

Frank A. Myers

May 16, 1938

May 18, 1942

Joseph L. Mathias

May 18, 1942

December 3, 1963

Scott S. Bair

December 3, 1963

May 18, 1964

Joseph H. Hahn, Jr.

May 18, 1964

May 21, 1973

LeRoy L.

Conaway

May 21, 1973 — May 15, 1989

W. Benjamin Brown

Kenneth A. Yowan

May 15, 1989 -- November 28, 1994

November 28, 1994 -- Present

References

CHAPTER 1

1. The first land grant in the Westminster area, “White’s Level,”

was granted in 1733 to John White. Others in the area include

“Fannie’s Meadow” (1741) to James Wells and “Bonds Meadow”

(1753) to John Ridgley.

2. Nancy Warner notes this phenomenon: “Settlement of Carroll

County was rather slow until the mid 18th century when a great

influx of Germans, Scotch-Irish, and others into the northern

parts of the County greatly increased the acreage and land

grants.” (Carroll County Maryland, Westminster: Carroll County

Bicentennial Committee, 1976, pp. 22-23.) Hereafter cited as

Warner.

3. Elmer Lewis Smith, et al.,

The Pennsylvania Germans of the

Shenandoah Valley,

p. 10. Allentown: The Pennsylvania German

Folklore Society, vol. 26, 1962.

4. Daniel Wunderlich Nead, M.D., The Pennsylvania Germans in

the Settlement of Maryland, p. 29. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub-

lishing Co., Inc., 1975 (reprint of 1914 edition). Hereafter cited

as Nead.

5. Nead, p. 31.

6. Nead, p. 27.

7. Edward A. Chappell,

Cultural Change in the Shenandoah Val-

ley, Master’s Thesis, University of Virginia, 1977. Hereafter cited

as Chappell. Chappell quotes George Washington, on a survey

trip in 1748, as follows:

Our work was attended by a great Company of

People Men Women and Children that attended us

through ye Woods as we went showing their Anticks

tricks I really think they seemed to be as Ignorant a

Set of People as the Indians they would never speak

English but when spoken to they speak all Dutch.

In 1817, Thomas Jefferson also voiced his concern for the Ger-

man settlers, as quoted by Chapell:

It’s better to discourage the settlement of

foreigners in large masses, wherein, as in our German

settlements, they preserve for a long time their own

languages, habits, and principles of government.

8.Louis L.T. Henninghausen,

Report of the Society for the

History

of Germans in Maryland, vol. VI, p. 14; quoted in Nead, p. 40.

9. Although the majority of Germans entered Maryland via Penn-

sylvania, one study suggests that between 1752 and 1755 slightly

over 1,000 Germans entered via Annapolis (Nead, p. 60). Bal-

timore City, laid out in 1730, did not attract Germans until 1748

when “Leonard and Samuel Bamitz, who came from York,

erected a brewery in that City” (Nead, p. 60). Interestingly, in

reference to the constant movement among German settlements,

a Barnitz family would later appear, again as brewers, in

Westminster. See also, Louis P. Henninghausen,

The Redemp-

tionist and the German Society of Maryland. Baltimore: 1888,

esp. pp. 19-23.

10. Joseph D. Brookes, “Early Settlement of Carroll County,

Maryland;” address at the Carroll County Society of Baltimore,

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

10.

11.

12.

January 19, 1923; Maryland Historical Society. Hereafter cited as

Brookes.

Archives of Maryland, vol. XXVII; p. 25.

David H. Smith,

The First Settlements of Germans in Maryland,

p. 5. Frederick, Md.: privately printed, 1976 (reprint of 1896 edi-

tion). Hereafter cited as David Smith.

David Smith,

62.

John K. Longwell,

Historical

Sketch of Carroll County,

Maryland,

pp. 4, 5, and 6; manuscript Maryland Historical

Society.

Nead, p. 44.

Drs. Arthur and Grace

Tracey,

Notes on the Early

History

Land Now in the Westminster District,

p. 1; unpublished manu-

script; Carroll County Historical Society.

Dr. Lewis H. Steiner,

The Creation of Frederick: an 1876

Centennial address; manuscript Maryland Historical Society.

Nead, p. 98.

David Smith, pp. 8, 9.

CHAPTER 2

Mary Bostwick Shellman,

The Early Pioneers, pp.

8-9.

Baltimore: The Carroll County Society of Baltimore, 1924.

Hereafter cited as Mary Bostwick Shellman.

CHAPTER

For a detailed discussion of what is meant by “folk,”

“vernacular,” “popular,” and “polite,” see an essay by Anthony

Oliver James in

The Buildings of Biloxi, pp. 21-33. Biloxi: The

City of Biloxi, 1976. See also Henry Glassie,

Patterns in the

Material Folk Culture of the

Eastern

United States, pp. 1-17.

Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1968. Hereafter

cited as Glassie.

Glassie, p. 6.

Glassie, p. 7.

Conversation with author.

Olive Cook and Edwin Smith,

English Cottages and Farmhouses,

p. 10. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1955. Hereafter cited as

Cook.

Nigel Nicolson,

Great Houses of Britain, p. 28. London: The

Hamlyn Publishing Group, Ltd., 1968.

Sir John Summerson,

Architecture in Britain 1530-1830, p. 23.

Hammondsworth: Penguin Books, Ltd., 1970.

Glassie, pp. 35-36.

Brookes.

Benjamin Rush: quoted by Jose Wilson, et al.,

American Cook-

ing: The

Eastern

Heartland, p. 117. New York: Time-Life

Books, 1971.

Rober C.

Bucher,

quoted in Henry Glassie, “A Central Chimney

Continental Log House,”

Pennsylvania Folk Life, Winter

1968-69, vol. XVIII, no. 2, p. 33.

G. Edwin Brumbaugh,

Colonial Architecture of the Pennsylvania

References

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

Germans, p. 29. Lancaster: The Pennsylvania German Society,

vol.

XLI,

1933.

J.P. Marshall Jenkins, “Ground Rules of Welsh Houses,” quoted

in Arthur J. Lawton, “The Ground Rules of Folk Architecture,”

Pennsylvania

Folklife,

vol. XXIII, no.

Autumn 1973, p. 16.

Lawton, p. 15. See also Henry Glassie,

Folk Housing in Middle

Virginia. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1975.

Land Records of Frederick County, Book L, p. 481.

Frederick Land Records

BDL/276.

Dr. Doddridge, “Notes on the Settlements and Indian Wars in

the Western Parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania,”

Journal of the

Pennsylvania-German Society, p. 69; Maryland Historical

Society.

Various traditions place Winchester’s house at various sites and

deal it various fates. One tradition has it built near the town, has

it called “White’s Level” and, dramatically, has it destroyed by

fire in 1800. Another, better documented, version is offered by

Mary Shellman who wrote that the original Winchester House

had existed on land “where Judge Bonds office now stands,” i.e.

almost adjoining the Shellman House, on Main Street at the delta

of Court Street. (Manuscript in the Library of Carroll County

Historical Society.) After Winchester’s death in 1790, his heirs

continued to live in this house until about 1805, at which time

they built a new house on the hill to the rear, just outside the

town limits. They called this house “Winchester Place,” by which

name it is still occasionally identified.

Glassie, pp.

102-106.

Joseph M. Getty, The Farmhouse in Carroll County, p. 7; un-

published manuscript dated 1977; Historical Society of Carroll

County. Hereafter cited as Getty.

Getty, pp. 7-8.

CHAPTER 4

“The Pennsylvania-Germans,

a Preliminary Reading List,”

Pennsylvania

Folklife,

Winter 1971, vol. XXI, no. 2, p. 14.

Glassie, p. 47.

David Smith, p. 29.

Henry Kauffman,

Pennsylvania Dutch: American Folk Art, p.

17. New York: American Studio Books, 1946.

Chappell, p. 21.

See for example, several books by Christian Norberg-Schulz, viz.,

Existence, Space, and Architecture; Intentions in Architecture;

and Meaning in Western

Architecture.

The preface to the last

book includes:“Since remote times architecture has helped man

in making his existence meaningful. With the aid of architecture

he has gained a foothold in space and time. Architecture is there-

fore concerned with something more than practical needs and

economy. It is concerned with existential meanings. Existential

meanings are derived from natural, human and spiritual phe-

nomena, and are experienced as order and character. Archi-

tecture translates these meanings into spatial forms.”

Chappell, p. 77.

Often country houses of this form are four bays wide with

two

doors

on the ground story, giving rise to the questionable pun

“Pennsylvania Tudor.”

Sir John Summerson,

Heavenly Mansions, p. 221. New York:

The Norton Library. Hereafter cited as Summerson.

Frederick County Land Records WR 12/380.

Carroll County Land Records 78/447.

Katharine Jones Shellman,

Diary; Carroll County Historical

Society. Hereafter cited as Katharine Jones Shellman.

Frederick County Land Records JS 6/655.

Katharine Jones Shellman.

Frederick County Land Records JS 13/252.

Glassie, p. 43.

Annie Walker Brown,

camp.,

Church Book for the Reformed

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

13.5

Congregation at

Pfeiff

Krick in

Maryland,

pp. 13 and 42; manu-

script in the Library of Congress.

Frederick County Land Records JS 18/54.

Carroll County Land Records WW

l/158.

Carroll County Land Records 35/354.

Frederick County Land Records WR 15/572.

J. Thomas Scharf,

History

Western

Maryland, vol. II, p. 956.

Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts,

1882. Hereafter cited as Scharf.

Frederick County Land Records JS 30/54.

Carroll County Land Records WW 2/319.

Scharf, p. 929.

Frederick

County

Land Records JS 8/168.

Katharine Jones Shellman.

Scharf, p. 930.

Conversation with the author.

Cook, notes on plates 92, 93, 112, 113, 201, and 206. See also

Glassie, p. 47.

INTERLUDE 1: Quiet Rural Commerce

Excerpt from the

American

Sentinel of uncertain date in the files

of the Carroll County Historical Society.

Frederick County Land Records

JS/359.

Uncertain date: Carroll County Historical Society.

Frederick Shriver Klein,“Just South of Gettysburg” in

Two Hun-

dred

Years

Ago, pp. 46-47. Westminster: Bicentennial Commit-

tee, October 1964. Hereafter cited as Klein.

Frederick County Land Records.

Commemorative booklet published by the Union National Bank

in 1966. Hereafter cited as Bank booklet.

Bank booklet, p. 11.

Copy in the files of the Carroll County Historical Society.

John B. Edwards,

Westminster in the Gay Nineties, p. 83; un-

published manuscript, Carroll County Historical Society. Here-

after cited as Edwards.

Katharine Jones Shellman.

Dr. Grace Tracey, “The Five Villages that Became a Town”: in

Two Hundred Years Ago, p. 12. Westminster: Bicentennial

Committee, October 1964. Hereafter cited as Tracey.

Tracey, p. 13.

Westminster Cemetery Company booklet, uncertain date, Carroll

County Historical Society. Hereafter cited as Cemetery booklet.

Mary Bostwick Shellman, p. 14.

Cemetery booklet.

Mary Bostwick Shellman, p. 15.

Katharine Jones Shellman.

Edwards,

11.

Edwards, p. 9.

A.G. Fuss,

“1837-1910

Carroll County,” the Democratic Ad-

vocate,

1910. Hereafter cited as Fuss.

Mary Bostwick Shellman, p. 7.

Warner, p. 34.

Mary Bostwick Shellman, pp. 7-8.

CHAPTER 5

Scharf, p. 953.

Undated clipping from the

Carrolltonian; Carroll County

Historical Society.

John K. Longwell,

Historical Sketch, pp. 4-5. Hereafter cited as

Longwell.

Longwell, p. 6.

Warner, pp. 1415.

Don Yoder, ed.,“From Paoli to Frederick: An Anonymous

Travel Account,

”

Pennsylvania Folk Life, Spring 1968, vol.

XVII, no. 3.

Scharf, p. 954.

Maryland Bar Journal, July 1971, vol. 3, no. 4, p. 1.

136

Part I

The Building of Westminster in Maryland

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

10.

11.

CHAPTER 6

William P. Maulsby, “Jubilee Celebration Commemorating the

Semi-Centennial of Ascension Parish,” the

Democratic Advocate,

July 21, 1894. Hereafter cited as Maulsby.

Maulsby, p. 6.

Maulsby, p. 7.

Summerson, pp. 224225.

Carroll County Land Records 2/145.

Carroll County Land Records 39/206.

Carroll County Land Records 261/563.

Mary Bostwick Shellman, p. 9.

Tracey,

p. 16.

See, for example, Carroll County Deed 17/323, dated October

31, 1854, from Bowersox to Frances Weaver for the house that is

now numbered 57-59 Union Street.

Mary Bostwick Shellman, p. 20.

Cemetery booklet.

Scharf, p. 951.

Warner, p. 52.

Miscellaneous clipping; Carroll County Historical Society.

Carroll County Land Records 2411.

Carroll County Land Records WW 2/48.

Brookes, p. 3.

Brookes, p. 4.

Scharf, p. 953.

INTERLUDE 2: A Passage

of War

Klein, pp. 46-47.

William Sheppard Crouse,

Confederate Troops Enter Westmin-

ster: An Eyewitness Tells All of Southern Actions,

p. 2; un-

published manuscript; Maryland Historical Society.

Klein, p. 52.

Klein, p. 58.

Dr. Joshua Hering, Reflections, quoted in Klein, p. 60.

Fuss.

CHAPTER

J.H. Taylor, History of Trevanion 1896 manuscript: Carroll

County Historical Society.

Carroll County Land Records 39/395 and 39/416.

Marcus

Whiffen,

American Architecture Since 1780: A Guide to

the Styles,

p. 108. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1969.

Hereafter cited as

Whiffen.

Geneological data in Carroll County Historical Society.

Obituary of Reifsnider in the

Democratic Advocate, date

unknown: Carroll County Historical Society.

Article on Smith and Reifsnider Lumber Company in the

American Sentinel, date unknown; Carroll County Historical

Society. Hereafter cited as Smith and Reifsnider article.

Smith and Reifsnider article.

Carroll County Land Records 32/360.

Carroll County Land Records 45/387.

Scharf, p. 817.

Scharf, pp. 818-819.

CHAPTER 8

The

American Sentinel, December 8, 1912; Carroll County

Historical Society.

The

Democratic Advocate, November 17, 1898; Carroll County

Historical Society.

Labelled

A Boy’s Eye View; Carroll County Historical Society.

Vincent Scully,

American Architecture and Urbanism, p. 183.

New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969.

Miscellaneous clippings in Carroll County Historical Society.

James M. Shriver, Sr.,

The B.F. Shriver Company, Inc., un-

published manuscript written in 1950; Carroll County Historical

Society. Hereafter cited as Shriver.

Quoted in

Whiffen,

p. 118.

CHAPTER 9

10.

11.

Kenneth Clark, The Gothic Revival, p. 198. Baltimore: Penguin

Books, 1964 (reprint of 1928 edition).

Minutes of Westminster City Council.

John J.G. Blumenson,

Identifying American Architecture, p. 71.

Nashville: American Association for State and Local History,

1977. Hereafter cited as Blumenson.

Blumenson, p. 172.

Whiffen,

pp. 159-160.

Carroll County Land Records.

Calvert Vaux,

Villages and Cottages, p. X. New York: Dover

Publications, 1970 (reprint of 1864 edition). Hereafter cited as

Vaux.

Vaux, pp. 135-137.

Carroll County Land Records 50/505.

Shriver, p. 3.

INTERLUDE 3: “The Greatest

Celebration”

Norberg-Schulz, Meaning, p. 434. (See Note 6, Chapter 4)

The

Democratic Advocate; Maryland Historical Society.

CHAPTER 10

Whiffen,

p. 199.

E.B. White,

One Man’s Meat, pp. 164167. New York: Harper

and Row, 1978.

The Westminster Times, July 15, 1917, miscellaneous clippings;

Maryland Historical Society.

Whiffen,

p. 235.

Whiffen,

p. 143.

Le Corbusier,

Towards a New Architecture, (translated by

Frederick Etchells), pp. 12-13, 1466147, and 227. New York:

Praeger Publishers, 1974 (reprint of 1927 edition).

Andre Malraux,

The Voices of Silence, p. 281. Garden City,

New York: Doubleday and Company, 1953 (trans. Stuart

Gilbert).

APPENDIX A

St. John’s Church 100th Anniversary Booklet, p. 32. West-

minster, 1954. Carroll County Historical Society. Hereafter cited

as St. John’s booklet.

St. John’s booklet, p. 35.

Mary Bostwick Shellman, pp. 21-22.

Ascension Church, p. 23.

Bradford Gist Lynch, miscellaneous clippings written in 1937 for

the

Democratic Advocate; Carroll County Historical Society.

Hereafter cited as Lynch.

Lynch.

APPENDIX B

Lynch.

Circular for The Institute; Carroll County Historical Society.

Lynch.

Carroll County Land Records 15/386.

Carroll County Land Records 15/387.

Carroll County Land Records 60/205.

J. Richard Rivoire, “National Register Nomination for Western

Maryland College,” May 9, 1975; Maryland Historical Trust.

Conversation with Miss A.S. Reifsnider, daughter of John L.

Reifsnider, Jr.

Blank

PART II

INVENTORY OF HISTORIC STRUCTURES

Blank

Introduction

with Inventory Listing

As its name suggests,

this Part may be likened to the

result of a merchant’s periodic stock taking. A merchant’s

inventory lists the stock on his shelves; this inventory lists

the buildings on Westminster’s streets. Both types of

inventory, taken at regular intervals, identify changes

in circumstances.

The merchant and the historian/

preservationist will see some changes for the good (the

former will be happy to recognize signs of improvement in

sales, the latter will rejoice to see that his “stock” has been

improved by repairs) and some for the bad (merchants

are as displeased to note evidence of theft as preserva-

tionists are to see usable buildings torn down).

In the interests of manageability and responsibility to

budget limitations, this inventory was not planned as an

all-inclusive, structure-by-structure accounting of West-

minster’s past and present architecture. Rather, it repre-

sents one person’s selection of structures that would give

the historic flavor of the city in 1978. While idiosyncratic,

the selection is not totally arbitrary. It was made on the

basis of a century-old map of Westminster that shows lot

lines and outlines of then-standing buildings (see pages

72-73). The guidelines for the scope of the inventory,

then, were as follows:

include all the buildings shown on

the 1877 map that are still standing and recognizable to-

day.

Such was the intention. It is reasonable to suppose

that some buildings have been omitted that should not

have been and some post-1877 buildings have been in-

cluded. Some such deviations were intentional to tidy

loose ends or provide perspective. For the inadvertant dis-

crepancies, the author begs forgiveness and understand-

ing for his freely-acknowledged imperfections.

Each entry is described by a picture and words. These

summarize the information gathered on the structure

during the historic sites survey conducted from Septem-

ber 1976 to January 1978, under the supervision of the

Maryland Historical Trust. The complete reports (adher-

ing to the format required by the Trust), photos, and

memorabilia are on file in the Library of the Maryland

Historical Trust in Annapolis and copies are available at

Westminster City Hall. This material is available for the

public’s perusal during regular business hours at both

locations.

The Inventory has been divided into ten sections, each

having historical significance inasmuch as it represents

some distinct event, such as the founding of the original

town or an annexation.

The sections are defined as follows:

The original townas laid out by William

Winchester in 1764 plus the first annexation in

1788.

The 49 lots of “New London,” created by Captain

John White out of his “White’s Level” property in

1765. A year earlier he had sold another part of

this property to William Winchester, who created

out of it the original 45 lots of Westminster. Mary

Shellman comments that, “The twin towns appear

to have been of common interest to the two men

rather than in competition.”

The village of “Bedford,” laid out in 1812. This

property ran along Main Street from Longwell

Avenue to near John Street; it now comprises most

of the business section of the present city of

Westminster.

Part of the 30-acre Grandadam Farm, which,

upon the death of the widowed Ragenia Grand-

adam in 1812, passed to her slave, Betsy, for life.

142

The Roman Catholic Church acquired the land

and subdivided it in the 1860s.

The land around “The Forks,” where Penn-

sylvania Avenue and West Main Street converge.

One of the many Charles Carrolls was the first

white man to own this property; he called it

“Fanny’s Meadow.

”

It later passed to John

Logsdon who, in the late 18th century, cultivated

two farms and ran a tavern there. In 1830, sec-

tions A, B, C, and E were incorporated into one

town.

Originally a part of the Carroll-Logsdon land;

subdivided by Isaac Shriver. Shriver reserved a

few lots close to “The Forks” for himself, his fam-

ily, and his friends.

A loosely defined area having Belle Grove Square

as its nucleus. The Square was donated to the city

as a park in 1876 by George W. Matthews, who

also sold the surrounding lots.

An L-shaped area straddling the railroad that

came through town in 186 1. This event made the

property suddenly very valuable, benefitting the

Lynch family, who owned the land and had it an-

nexed to the town in the 1870s.

In general, the land around “Winchester Place,”

the large house on a hill built by William Win-

chester’s children. The mansion and the sur-

rounding acreage were purchased by John C.

Friz-

zell, a prominent mid-Victorian businessman,

who had a variety of plans for the place. Letters

between him and various chemists, for example,

Listing of

Street Address

MHT

Map

Popular Name

No.

15 Bond Street

German Reformed Church Parsonage

CARR-485 G-l

16 Bond Street

Warner-Engleman House

26 Bond Street

Gehr

House

32 Bond Street

Bankard House

36 Bond Street

25 Carroll Street

Grace Lutheran Church

34 Court Place

Charles Roberts (Roberts-Wood-Adams) House

Court

Place

Ascension Episcopal Rectory

CARR-484

G-2

CARR-547

G-3

CARR-481

G-4

CARR-482 G-5

CARR-573

D-7

CARR-466 J-5

CARR-465 J-6

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

Inven-

tory

Page

184

discuss whether the water from the springs around

the house were of sufficient mineral content to

qualify the place as a spa. Frizzell ran into finan-

cial difficulties and his estate was sold off for the

benefit of his many creditors in the 1870s and ’80s.

Land owned by Isaac Shriver, including the tract

donated by him for the Court House in 1837, and

part of the John K. Longwell estate, “Emerald

Hill.” This farm began to be developed during the

1890s; after the death of Longwell’s daughter,

Willis Street, Longwell Avenue, and Locust Street

were laid out. The present-day City Hall was

Longwell’s house.

Part of an area annexed in 1977.

The heading for each inventory item includes a state-

ment of whether the structure is “Private” or “Public.”

Users of this Inventory are requested to respect to the ut-

most the privacy and property rights of the owners of

buildings designated “Private.”

Below is a listing of all the structures in the inventory,

arranged by street numbers within street name; the

streets are listed alphabetically. Each structure is iden-

tified secondarily by its popular name and by its assigned

Maryland Historical Trust number. (The “CARR” iden-

tifies the structure as being in Carroll County and the

subsequent numerals designate its relative time of being

surveyed

CARR 451, for example, was assigned to the

451st structure to be surveyed in Carroll County.) The

two final columns of the listing designate the structure’s

location on the map on pages 146 and 147, and the page

number on which the structure’s description appears in

the Inventory.

Structures

184

185

170

196

Street Address

Popular Name

45 Court Place

Kelly-McIntire

House

Court

Place

Wampler House

Court Square

Carroll County Court House

10 East Green Street

14 East Green Street

16 East Green Street

Harry Case House

18 East Green Street

Carr-Marks House

22 East Green Street

26 East Green Street

Caes (Case) House

Inven-

MHT

Map tory

No.

Page

CARR-460 J-7

196

CARR-468 J-8

197

CARR-558 J-9

197

CARR-522

H-8

189

CARR-527 H-9

190

CARR-529

H-10 190

CARR-520

H-11 190

CARR-528

H-12 190

CARR-531

H-13 190

(Continued)

Click here to return to the blue

mention in Chapter 9.

Introduction with Invent0 y Listing

143

Street Address

Popular Name

MHT

No.

Inven-

Map tory

No.

Page

Street Address

Popular Name

MHT

No.

CARR-402

Map

No.

B-8

Inven-

tory

page

B-9

CARR-386

158

30 East Green Street

111 East Green Street

115 East Green Street

House of David

Fowble

121 East Green Street

Martha Worley House

137 East Green Street

154 East Green Street

Col. W.W. Dallas House

178 East Green Street

Nusbaum-Buckingham House

182 East Green Street

Hayden-Taylor House

186 East Green Street

Bond-Ames-Pullen

House

190 East Green Street

George Frank Beaver House

194

196 East Green Street

Milton Reifsnider - W.L.

Seabrook

House

East Green Street

Winchester House

l-3

East Main Street

Albion Hotel

7 East Main Street

John Christmas Residence

Restaurant

15 East Main Street

21-27 East Main Street

Wantz Building

37 East Main Street

Joseph B. Boyle Store

39-41 East Main Street

Old Post Office Building

47-49 East Main Street

The White Palace

54-56 East Main Street

Gilbert

House/Shriner

Building

55 East Main Street

Schmitt’s

Rexall

59 East Main Street

Hugh Doyle Building

East Main Street

Westminster Fire Engine and

Hose Company Building

82-82½

East Main Street

Frank Myers House

96-98 East Main Street

Goodwin House

100 East Main Street

Bennett House

101 East Main Street

Charles

Wantz

House

109 East Main Street

Dr. Charles Billingslea House

112 East Main Street

Nathan

Gorsuch

House

116-118-120 East Main Street

City Garage

CARR-526

CARR-525

CARR-532

CARR-523

CARR-517

CARR-521

CARR-524

CARR-563

CARR-554

CARR-518

CARR-542

CARR-419

CARR-420

CARR-423

CARR-414

CARR-413

CARR-562

CARR-415

CARR-410

CARR-417

CARR-411

CARR-421

H-14 191

I-l

191

I-2

191

117 East Main Street

Charles Carroll Building/Westminster Hotel

123 East Main Street

Ann Elizabeth Babylon House

126 East Main Street

John Beaver’s Shop

House

127 East Main Street

Crout House

129 East Main Street

Methodist Protestant Church/Davis Library

130 East Main Street

Shriver-Matthews-Smith House

132-132½-134

East Main Street

Phillip

Jones House and Store

133 East Main Street

Maulsby

House

140 East Main Street

Opera House

142 East Main Street

Mary Mathias House

143 East Main Street

Jacob Utz, Jr. House

147 East Main Street

Grammar House

152 East Main Street

The Methodist Parsonage

153 East Main Street

William Frazier House/Shop

154-156 East Main Street

MathiasRhoten

House

155 East Main Street

166 East Main Street

Jacob Utz House

167 East Main Street

Democratic Advocate Building

172 East Main Street

Dr. Charles Shipley House

176-178

East Main Street

Shipley-Blizzard-Shriner House

177 East Main Street

John C.

Cockey

House

181 East Main Street

Carroll Hall

183 East Main Street

187 East Main Street

Frank T.

House

189 East Main Street

Billingslea House

188-190 East Main Street

Baumgartner House

195 East Main Street

Farmers

Merchants Bank of Carroll County

196-198 East Main Street

Addlesperger House

197-199 East Main Street

201 East Main Street

Isaac Shriver’s Store

159

CARR-376

B-10 159

l-3 192

CARR-378

B-11 159

1-4

192

I-5 192

CARR-565 B-12 159

I-6 193

I-7 193

CARR-379

B-13 160

CARR-381

B-14 160

I-8

193

CARR-380

B-15

B-16

160

I-9

193

160CARR-382

I-10 194

CARR-383

B-17

B-18

161

I-11

194

CARR-384

C-l 166

CARR-387

B-19

161

C-2 166

CARR-385 B-20

161

C-3 166

C-4 166

CARR-386A B-21

162

CARR-561

B-22 162

C-5

167

CARR-387A

B-23 162

CARR-372A

B-24 162

C-6

167

C-7

167

CARR-544

B-25 163

C-

167

CARR-370

B-26 163

c-9

168

CARR-555

B-27 163

C-10 168

CARR-384A B-28

163

C-11 168

CARR-374

B-29 164

CARR-574

CARR-363

B-30

B-31

164

CARR-568

CARR-566

CARR-567

CARR-400

CARR-399

CARR-401

CARR-375

B-l

157

B-2

157

CARR-364

B-32 164

B-3

157

CARR-562

CARR-373

B-33

B-34

164

B-4 157

165

B-5 158

CARR-367A

B-35 165

B-6

158

B-7 158

CARR-365

CARR-366

B-36

165

B-37

165

(Continued)

Click here to return to blue

mention in Chapter 9.

Part

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

Inven-

Street Address MHT

Map tory

Popular Name No.

No.

Page

144

Street Address

Popular Name

MHT

No.

Inven-

Map tory

No.

Page

202 East Main Street

James A.C. Bond House

202½

East Main Street

James A.C. Bond Law Office

206 East Main Street

Shellman House

210 East Main Street

Kimmey House

211 East Main Street

Campbell-Barnitz House

216 East Main Street

Willis-Boyle

House;

“Cockey’s

Tavern”

218-218½

East Main Street

222 East Main Street

224 East Main Street

Roop House

226 East Main Street

Willis House

227 East Main Street

Chrisman-Barnitz-Willis

Building

228 East Main Street

Zimmerman House

229 East Main Street

Bernstein House

230 East Main Street

Charles Reifsnider House

233 East Main Street

Turfle House

236 East Main Street

Nicholas Shaffer House

249-251 East Main Street

Bank of Westminster

254 East Main Street

Fisher-Smith-Fletcher House

255 East Main Street

Ecklar-Conaway House

256 East Main Street

Manning House

257 East Main Street

John Wampler Mansion

266 East Main Street

Goodlander-Lemmon Building

270 East Main Street

276 East Main Street

Zepp House

283, 285, 287 East Main Street

288 East Main Street

Christian Yingling House

289 East Main Street

Reese-Wagner House

290 East Main Street

Wm. Reese’s House

292 East Main Street

William Reese’s Store

295 East Main Street

Yingling-Reese-Blizzard House

296 East Main Street

Yingling

House

CARR-368 A-l

149

A-2

A-3

A-4

149

A-5

150

CARR- 134b

A-6 150

A-7 150

A-8

150

A-9

151

A-10

151

CARR- 134B A-11

151

A-12

151

A-13

151

A-14

152

A-15

152

A-16 152

A-17 152

A-18

153

A-19

153

A-20

153

A-21

153

A-22 154

A-23

154

A-24 154

A-25 154

A-26

155

A-27

155

A-28 155

A-29 155

A-30 155

A-31

156

297 East Main Street

Trumbo-Chrest

House

John Street

Swinderman House

Liberty Street

B. F.

Shriver

Co. factory

36 Liberty Street

James Blizzard-Ephriam Lindsay House

47-47½ Liberty Street

49 Liberty Street

John T. Lynch House

55 Liberty Street

Abram Price House

55½

Liberty Street

Fuss House

57-57½

Liberty Street

66 Liberty Street

William Coon House

75 Liberty Street

Reckill

(Rickell) House-Biche House

22 Locust Street

Rock and Waterscapes Systems, Inc.

Longwell Avenue

The Armory

Longwell Avenue

“Emerald Hill”

City

Hall

30 Manchester Avenue

Groff-Zile-Dell House

12 North Church Street

George Miller House

North Church Street at the Cemetery

Old School House

22 North Court Street

Gernand-Clemson House

23 North

Court

Street

Bennett-Parke House

North Court Street

Ascension Episcopal Church

30 North Court Street

Ascension Episcopal Church Chapel

51 North Court Street

Fisher House

North Court Street

Old Jail

13 Park Avenue

17 Park Avenue

Stoner House

19 Park Avenue

Emma

Snyder House

21 Park Avenue

8 Pennsylvania Avenue

10 Pennsylvania Avenue

Clock Shop

18-20

Pennsylvania Avenue

Classen

House

30-32-34

Pennsylvania Avenue

Mary Bixler Residence; John Bixler Store and

Residence

CARR-569

A-32 156

CARR-367

CARR-556

CARR-472

D-6

170

G-7

185

CARR-136

CARR-507

CARR-59

G-8

185

CARR-132C

CARR-510

CARR-511

H-l

188

H-2

188

CARR-512 H-3

188

CARR-134A

CARR-361

CARR-133

CARR-515

H-4

188

CARR-514

CARR-513

H-5 189

H-6

189

H-7

189

CARR-360

CARR-511

CARR-359

CARR-572

J-20 200

CARR-132A

CARR-570 J-18 200

CARR-340

CARR-358

CARR-545

J-19 200

CARR- J-22 201

CARR-559

CARR-508 A-33 156

CARR-130

CARR-553

A-34 156

CARR-509

J-l

194

CARR-355

CARR-341

CARR-471

J-2

195

CARR-571

J-3

195

CARR-357

CARR-127

CARR-464

J-4

195

J-10 197

CARR-469

CARR-126

CARR-124,

CARR-125

CARR-356

CARR-557

J-11 198

CARR-480

CARR-486

G-13 187

G-14 187

CARR-343

CARR-123

CARR-483

G-15 187

CARR-339

CARR-551

CARR-487

CARR-488

G-16 187

E-19 175

E-20 175

CARR-122A

CARR-122B

CARR-489 E-21 176

CARR-121

CARR-490

E-22 176

CARR-344

44 Pennsylvania Avenue

Hannah Reese House

CARR-491

E-23 176

(Continued)

Click here to return to blue

mention in Chapter 4.

Click here to return to blue

mention in Chapter 7.

Click here to return to blue

mention in Chapter 9.

Click here to

return to blue

mention in

Chapter 9.

272 East Main Street

Click here to return to blue

mention of both in Chapter 4.

Click here to return to

blue mention of both in

Chapter 9.

Click here to

return to red

mention in

Chapter 9.

Click here to return to blue

mention in Chapter 9.

Click here to return to blue

mention in Chapter 7.

Introduction with Invent0 y Listing

145

Street Address

Popular Name

MHT

No.

Inven-

Map tory

No.

Page

Street Address

Popular Name

MHT

No.

Inven-

Map tory

No.

Page

53 Pennsylvania Avenue

O.H.P. Mathias - F. Thomas Babylon House

55 Pennsylvania Avenue

Jacob Schaeffer House

58 Pennsylvania Avenue

Swinderman-Steele House

60 Pennsylvania Avenue

Everly-Steele-Day House

61 Pennsylvania Avenue

Evangelical Lutheran Church Parsonage

64 Pennsylvania Avenue

Francis Henshaw House

66 Pennsylvania Avenue

Bankert House

88 Pennsylvania Avenue

Peter B.

Mikesell

House

Union Street

Reuben Woodyard House

20 Union Street

Union Street

Union Street M.E. Church

49-51 Union Street

Koontz-McKever House

57-59 Union Street

Noah Zimmerman House

Uniontown Road

Rinehart Tenant House

19 West Green Street

24-26 West Green Street

30 West Green Street

34 West Green Street

Henry Morelock House

97 West Green Street

Cunningham - Hahn House

West Green Street and Park Avenue

George W. Matthews House

12 West Main Street

Babylon Building

26 West Main Street

Smith and Reifsnider Lumber Co.

28-30-32

West Main Street

35 West Main Street

Cover House

38 West Main Street

George W. Morningstar

58 West Main Street

Herr House

58½-60

West Main Street

Residence of the Misses Herr

59 West Main Street

Montour House

62-68 West Main Street

Andrew J. Malehorn Store

Residence

78-80

West Main Street

79 West Main Street

Orndorff-Smith-Bare

House

83 West Main Street

Horatio Price House

CARR-492 F-14 181

91 West Main Street

Carroll Theater

107 West Main Street

113-115 West Main Street

William H.H. Zepp Shop and Residence

117 West Main Street

The Yellow Aster

119-119½-121

West Main Street

127 West Main Street

140 West Main Street

Morelock-Kephart House

141 West Main Street

Haines House

146 West Main Street

Shriver-Stottlemeyer

147 West Main Street

Schweigart-Schreeve House

148-150 West Main Street

152 West Main Street

Grouse-Harlow House

156 West Main Street

Bulter-Finch House

158 West Main Street

Nelson Gilbert House

161 West Main Street

163-163½-165 West Main Street

167 West Main Street

172 West Main Street

Tabatsko House

176 West Main Street

Harley-Brown House

179 West Main Street

Rhinehart-Wantz House

West Main Street

Terrace Hill

West Main Street

Westover

180 West Main Street

The Old Schoolhouse

182 West Main Street

Koppe House

184 West Main Street

Mother Roger’s

West Main Street

West End School

West Main Street

Western Maryland College

101 Willis Street

ZeppMyers

House

131 Willis Street

Shriver-Babylon House

156-162 Willis Street

171 Willis Street

A. Diffenbaugh-Weant House

Willis and Court Streets

Holy

Cross - Allender

House

Willis Street District

CARR 441 E-4

171

E-5

171

E-6 172

CARR-493 F-15 181

CARR-442

CARR-444

CARR-494 E-24 176

CARR-434

E-7 172

CARR-495 E-25 177

CARR-445

CARR-447

CARR-454

E-8

172

E-9 172

F-l

178

CARR-496 F-16 182

CARR-497 E-26 177

CARR-448

E-10 173

CARR-498 E-27 177

CARR-445

F-2

178

CARR-499 E-28 177

CARR-446

E-11 173

CARR-505

F-17 182

CARR-504

CARR-503

F-18 182

F-19 183

CARR-456

CARR-458

F-3

178

F-4 179

CARR-457

F-5 179

CARR-506 F-20 183

CARR-535

F-6 179

CARR-502 F-21 183

CARR-449

CARR-450

CARR-453

CARR-459

E-12 173

E-13 173

E-14 174

F-7 179

CARR. K-l

201

CARR-473

CARR-474

CARR-475

CARR-476

G-9

186

G-10 186

G-11 186

G-12 186

CARR-460 F-8

179

CARR-452

E-15 174

CARR-543 E-18 175

CARR-451

E-16 174

CARR-477

G-6

185

CARR-552

E-17 175

CARR-422

C-12 168

CARR-461

F-9 180

CARR-424

C-13 168

CARR-462

F-10 180

CARR-426

CARR-427

C-14 169

D-l 169

CARR-463

F-11 180

CARR-425 C-15 169

CARR-560

F-12 180

CARR-429 D-2 169

CARR-550

F-13 181

CARR-430 D-3

170

CARR-546

J-14 198

CARR-432 D-4 170

CARR-537 J-15 199

J-16 199

J-17 199

CARR-431

D-5

170

CARR-538

CARR-539

CARR-440

CARR-433

E-l

171

E-2

171

CARR-470 J-13 198

CARR-434

E-3

171

CARR-540 J-12 198

Westminster High School/East Middle School CARR-541

J-21 200

(End)

Click here to return to

the blue mention in

Chapter 9.

                                          Page 1                                           
      The City of Westminster in Carroll County, Maryland   
     Historical Structures Inventory in the year 1978
C
4
E
H
3

                                          Page 2                                           
      The City of Westminster in Carroll County, Maryland   
     Historical Structures Inventory in the year 1978
1
2

Descriptions of the Structures

SECTION A

CARR 368, Map No. Al

CARR 367, Map No. A2

CARR 136, Map No. A3

CARR 59, Map No. A4

CARR 368

202 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1910

James A.C. Bond House

private

The large L-shaped house built as the residence for James A.C. Bond, a prominent

local lawyer, is a fine example of a style popular in Westminster. Facing north onto

Main Street, the house has two distinct two-and-a-half story, perpendicular sections,

each with a gabled roof, with a one-story, shed-roofed porch across the front between

the wooden bay window of the eastern gabled section and the western end of the

house. The house has many echoes in the city, such as in the house at 189 East Main

Street (Wagner House), but probably none ever matched the “Early Bull Moose” at-

mosphere of Bond’s house, as evidenced in photographs taken soon after the house’s

completion. The 1881 City Directory lists Bond as living at 202 East Main Street, but

this probably refers to an earlier house.

CARR 367

202½ EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1876

James A.C. Bond Law Office

private

James A.C. Bonds law office probably antedates his residence at 202 East Main

Street by a quarter of a century. Although the two structures do have certain linking

features, they are eons apart in spirit. The law office has a style that might be called

“timid carpenters’ gothic”

it is covered with white clapboard above a low founda-

tion and has simply-enframed windows and doors below mildly-sawed barge-boards.

It is in this trim that the office is connected decoratively with the house; the trim

under the office’s gables is identical in design to that under the house’s north gable

but it is smaller in scale.

CARR 136

206 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1807

Shellman

House

private

Built in 1807 by Jacob Sherman for his daughter, Eve and her husband, David

Shriver, the five-ba y Shellman House has played a key role in the architectural and

social history of Westminster. It recalls lines by Sir John Summerson:

It is curious how, in almost every town or large village, there are one, or perhaps two,

houses which stand out as the unquestionable candidates for preservation. Inquiry into

the history of such houses usually leads us to some peak of local prosperity represented in

an individual success-story or a notable mayoralty, and the employment of the best

available talent in a mature local school of craftsmanship. Here has been a confluence of

circumstances, crystallizing in a structure where the quality of an epoch is gathered, so

that it stands clear above the average of its own day. The house cannot be said to be of

great significance as a work of art, but it is a little eminence in the art of its time. It

belongs very much to its locality: and for that very reason it is a building which the

visitor carries away in his memory. Houses of this sort, with their traditional prestige,

often serve to stimulate initiative and to bring to birth the kind of organization which

will use them wisely and well.

The building is now owned and operated by the Historical Society of Carroll

County as a museum.

CARR 59

210 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1800

Kimmey House

public

The Kimmey House, as it is popularly known, has been put to a variety of uses since

its first section was built about 1800. It was first a home, then a home-cum-doctor’s

office. Since 1966, it has been the Headquarters of the Carroll County Historical

Society. The house was originally a standard (for Westminster) three-bay dwelling,

but was expanded (c. 1811) to a five-bay width, another popular form. Although cer-

tain traditions were respected, the house was avant-garde in its use of arched win-

dows and a third story.

150

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

CARR 132C

211

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1815

Campbell-Barnitz House

private

The early date of the Campbell-Barnitz House is significant in that it indicates a

respectable level of craftsmanship in the town a full score years before the establish-

ment of Carroll County. A diary for the years 1820-32 notes that this lot held a

“

brick, two-story dwelling built by William Campbell, father of Jacob Campbell

of Manchester, who lived there a short time, then sold it to Michael Barnitz, who

built a large brewery in back of it

.”

Thus, number 211 is one of the earliest

substantiated homes of the basic vernacular style, consisting of 3 bays and two-and-a-

half stories, with a side hall and double parlor. To this style, Campbell added

touches of his own: handsome stair decoration, mouse-tooth cornice, and (rare for

Westminster) a fanlight over the door. Whether the marbelizing that is rumored to

have existed on the stairs was Campbell’s or Barnitz’s it combined with the other

decorative features to produce a splendid individual statement within a standard

form.

CARR 134B

216

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1790; 1900

Willis-Boyle House; “Cockey’s Tavern”

private

By whatever name it has held, to whatever use it has been put, “Cockey’s Tavern” has

played a significant role in Westminster’s social, political, and architectural life for

nearly two centuries since the lot (number 43 of the original town) was sold by

William Winchester on October 22, 1788 for 20 pounds.

A handsome brick house was built on the site at an early date; this building was so

highly regarded that when the county was formed in 1837, the Circuit Court con-

vened here until a permanent Court House could be built. One of the Court’s first

acts was the appointing of the house’s owner,

Dr. William Willis, as Clerk of the

Court.

Still later, the house passed to the prominent Boyle family, who enlarged and

gave their mansion its present grand appearance. It was then bought by the Hoffman

family, who operated it as a popular Inn for many years.

CARR 134A

218-218½

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1830; 1885

private

The common stretcher bond principal facade of 2 18-2

18½

East Main Street is punc-

tuated by five bays on its ground and second stories and by six eyebrow windows be-

tween the string course atop the second story windows and the plain eaves of the roof.

These small windows, with their intricately cast iron screens, create a pleasing pat-

tern in themselves as well as an interesting tension with the regularly spaced five

windows per floor below. This building and the adjacent

Cockey’s

Tavern once

formed a single ten-bay house.

CARR 361

222

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1845

private

This white clapboard building

is, in spirit, one of scores of buildings that could be

classed as “typical”

five bays wide, central door, two stories; it is a perfect example

of the classic Westminster house. As such, it demonstrates well the seeming inability

or unwillingness of the town’s residents to accept the fact that they were town

residents. When the house was built, Westminster was a mile long and a county seat,

but the builder clearly felt more at ease with a rural structure.

The house, along with Lots 41, 42, and 43 of the original town, belonged to John

Fisher, a wealthy banker-farmer-entrepreneur of the

1840s,

who used it as rental

property. This use has been continued to the present.

CARR 132C, Map No. A5

CARR 134b, Map No. A6

CARR 134A, Map No. A7

CARR 361, Map No. A8

Section A

151

CARR 133, Map No. A9

CARR 133

CARR

134B

Map No. A11

224 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1830

Roop House

private

Possibly dating, in part, back to the Revolution, the Roop House had assumed its

present day character by the mid-19th century: a gable-roofed, two-and-a-half story,

three-bay by two-bay box with a rear ell and two-story porch to the southeast. The

entrance door has eight panels and a narrow transom beneath a modestly bracketed

cornice. The other five, regularly-placed bays on the principal facade are

2/2

double-hung sash windows with wooden sills, simple enframements, and flanking

black louvered shutters. Number 224 and larger scaled Number 226 illustrate how

the typical Pennsylvania small-town brick house can also be rendered successfully in

frame.

CARR 360

226 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1810

Willis House

private

In this house one can easily see the first steps of the city’s architectural growth. John

Clusser bought the lot in 1775 and the remains of the small log cabin that he built are

still evident in the present cellar. A later generation, dissatisfied with the existence

afforded by such a structure, built (circa 1810) the present two-story, three-bay clap-

board dwelling. In size, it is a logical first step beyond a 15'

x 30' log cabin; in ex-

ecution, it is a quantum leap, with its crisp denticulated cornice, fine door enframe-

ment, and masterfully handled scale and solid-void proportioning.

CARR 134B

227 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1770; 1875

Chrisman-Barnitz-Willis Building

private

While sections of this three-bay,

three-story house are among the oldest in

Westminster, the building has been adapted to various uses during its 206 years.

Early references mention it as a two-story log dwelling occupied by a blacksmith; it

later became a summer house and was probably increased to its present three stories

around 1875.

CARR 359

228 EAST MAIN STREET

1906

Zimmerman House

private

The Zimmerman House is a refreshing architectural rarity in Westminster. Its soul is

clear

a normal small wood frame house of three-bays and two-and-a-half stories,

with a side hall. However, its builder adapted this basic form to fit the aesthetic

needs (i.e., fashions) of the day. Zimmerman found the basic Westminster house an

easy form to update by using white imbricated shingles, stringing courses of turned

spindles under the front porch’s eaves, and enlivening the skyline with a comer tower

and different-sized gables.

CARR 132A

229 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1870

Bernstein House

private

The intersection of Westminster’s Ralph and East Main Streets has remained un-

changed for about one hundred years. The Bernstein House, sitting on the northeast

corner of this intersection, possesses a calm, simple facade. The two-story, five-bay,

L-shaped house rests on a low fieldstone foundation, recently covered with cement.

The south front, facing Main Street, is laid in stretcher bond under a denticulated

cornice with broad architrave. The roof is covered with sheet-metal. In 1869, John

Bernstein bought the lot for $450. The 1887 City Directory lists Bernstein as having

his “house and shop” at 229 East Main. Perhaps the present Main Street double win-

dows were originally a door to this “shop”.

Jenkins-Roth Alpha Associates, a former owner, hired Jewel Downing to design

a northern extension, which left the Main Street section intact and did not violate the

scale of the older house.

CARR 360, Map No. A10

CARR 359, Map No. A12

CARR 132A, Map No. A13

152

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

CARR 340

230

EAST MAIN STREET circa 1870

Charles Reifsnider House

private

Conservative Westminster has very few pure and whole examples of the transient

styles that briefly dominated other areas. However, the city does have 230 East Main,

the Charles Reifsnider House, an enjoyable and locally seminal essay in the Second

Empire Style. Rare in Westminster, notable almost anywhere, the sculptural quality

of the place is highlighted by very “French” chimneys, roofline trim, windows, doors,

etc. Built for a local attorney (later judge), the house has lost little of its air since

being turned into apartments (c. 1930). Interestingly, for all its being up-to-date at

the time of its construction, the builder vigorously retained a traditional L-shaped

five-bay central hall plan.

CARR 358

233

EAST MAIN STREET circa 1870

Turfle House

private

The Thomas Turfle House is an interesting example of how it is possible to retain an

old form, the two- or three-story, three-bay house, but to “personalize” it in detail.

The carpenters who chiseled,

sawed, and gouged Turfle’s cornices, beading,

brackets, and applique served him well in setting apart his dwelling from the scores

of similar ones in the City. The house is also important as an integral element in the

cityscape, providing in its rosey-brick three stories a vertical counterpoint to a block

otherwise composed of two-story structures.

CARR 559

236

EAST MAIN STREET circa 1835

Nicholas Shaffer House

private

Many of the buildings in Westminster’s East End were originally built of logs that

were later covered as succeeding generations sought “refinement”. This is one such

structure, possibly an early blacksmith’s shop. An 1854 deed says that the house on

this lot was “occupied by Nicholas Shaffer”,who had bought the lot (and house?) in

1849. The window treatment is unusual for the city (nine over six panes instead of six

over six).

The process of

re-covering

the building has been continued by the present owner,

who has covered the clapboards (which cover the logs) with aluminum siding.

CARR 130

249-251

EAST MAIN STREET circa 1819

Bank of Westminster

private

The building now occupying lot 12 of the original town of Westminster has, accord-

ing to local authorities, stood there “always”. Regardless of how one defines

“always”,

the idea is important as it reveals the regard in which the low fieldstone-

foundation pile is held. Laid in Flemish bond brick, five-bays wide and two-and-a-

half stories tall, the Bank of Westminster building has, despite modern additions,

preserved the dignity of an early 19th century commercial building in its Main Street

facade. This dignity is created in large part by the finesse of its architecture

the

superbly pedimented door surround, the pedimented north gable, the crisp Flemish

bond, the corniced east and west gable ends are all examples of an academicism rare

in the city and unexcelled here in execution.

The building and the bank were unexpected dividends of the War of 1812.

When the British under General Ross threatened Baltimore in 1814, most of that

city’s bankers fled to the countryside with whatever moneys they could carry.

Baltimore’s Commercial and Farmer’s Bank sent John Walsh, with a large amount of

specie, to Westminster, where he opened a small office of Discount and Deposit.

After the war was over, most bankers returned to a still-intact Baltimore but Walsh

stayed in Westminster and incorporated the Bank of Westminster in 1816. The Bank

purchased lots 12 and 13 of the original town on June 12, 1818, and there erected the

original sections of the present building as the first bank between Baltimore,

CARR 340, Map No. A14

CARR 358,Map No. A15

CARR 559, Map No. A16

CARR 130, Map No. A17

Section A

153

CARR 355, Map No. A18

Frederick, and Pennsylvania. The building now houses the Carroll County Mutual

‘i

Insurance Company

CARR 355

254

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1870

Fisher-Smith-Fletcher

House

private

Three-and-a-half stories tall and five bays wide, this house is one of the most power-

ful forces on the Westminster streetscape. In 1778, David Fisher built a 15'

x 25' log

cabin where the ground floor northwest room of the present home is today. Some of

the log rafters are still in place. Fisher’s son, John, became cashier of the

newly-

created Bank of Westminster, located across the street. Doubtless, such a man found

a small log house unsuitable, and, when he inherited the property, he built a

25'

X 60' I-house, incorporating the earlier structure’s foundations. In 1850, Fisher’s

heirs sold the place to Judge John Smith, who built the present 16 room cube; a six

room service wing was added after 1877.

The house serves as an indication of what a provincial, conservative man of

“,

..-

...

__l_.

’

wealth would build in the later 19th century. Smith seems to have been bound to the

traditional central hall, double parlor(s) plan. However, the need to express his

CARR 341, Map No. A19

wealth was (as ever) great and required an architectural outlet. He achieved this in

the exuberant, almost Baroque, decoration: in 17 marble fireplaces, and, especially,

in what seems today impossibly carved exterior woodwork

swirling brackets, pen-

dants, and cornices

—

appearing everywhere possible.

CARR 341

255

EAST MAIN STREET

early 19th century

Ecklar-Conaway House

private

Popular belief is that this was originally a two-story log house, and the old log floor

beams now apparent in the cellar lend credence to this. In any event, its two-and-a-

._.... ....

half story, three-bay facade was covered with stretcher bond brick probably when the

~...e#

two-bay western office was added, circa 1840.

Although there was a large influx of Germans (from Pennsylvania and other parts

CARR 357, Map No. A20

of Maryland) in the mid-eighteenth century, there are surprisingly few traces of Ger-

man folk culture in the city’s architecture of the period. This house, built by Ulrich

Ecklar, a dyer and one of the migratory Germans, is one of the examples. The brick

cross pattern under the eaves and the front ground floor room’s marble mantle,

richly carved in “Pennsylvania Dutch” patterns, serve to remind many of the area’s

citizens of their Teutonic origins.

CARR 357

256 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1870

Manning

House

private

The Civil War era Manning House is a near-perfect example of a slightly urbanized

“Pennsylvania Farmhouse”,

a style, in Waterman’s phrase, “like the people, four-

square and bluff.” Certain features, in particular the entrance door decoration, serve

to remove this building from its rural background and make it a house worthy of

being built by a leading family in a century-old town. When built, it would have

been at the height of provincial fashion, down to the color of its walls (beige) and its

exterior trim (deep brown).

CARR 127

257

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1830; 1895

John Wampler Mansion

private

The John Wampler Mansion is significant in the architectural and social history of

Westminster. The 1832 diary of Katherine Jone s Shellman reveals that the property

then contained the “Garden of John Wampler, farmer and surveyor, whose brick

dwelling was in the course of erection on the corner of Main and Church Streets.” An

1880 photograph of the house shows a large five-bay by two-bay pile reflecting both

CARR 127, Map No. A21

154

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

the influences of Central Pennsylvania and the South’s narrower, taiier i-house. The

large, slate, hipped roofs and the mouse-toothed cornice are unusual for this area.

The county’s original Orphans’ Court used the house in 1837 as its first headquarters

before the present Courthouse was built. In 1895 the Methodist Church bought the

Wampler house for use as an old-age home. Long extensions were added to the east

and north.

CARR 126

266

EAST MAIN STREET

Goodlander-Lemmon Building

early 19th century

private

Commercial and residential design differed little in Westminster’s early history. By

the time of Jefferson’s first term as president, the area’s standard form had evolved

and this proved sufficient for a variety of uses for several score years. Number 266

East Main Street illustrates the principle.

Its facade is unremarkable

three

regularly-space bays on two stories, light-painted Flemish bond brick, gauged flat

arches over windows and doors. However, while its sister buildings were probably

residential, Number 266 has always been used for commerce. The house was an early

clockmaker’s shop and residence and at other times has served other commercial en-

deavors from insurance to hatmaking.

CARR 124, 125

270-272

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1825

private

V. Sackville-West once characterized English Queen Anne and Georgian country

houses as “eminently decent”

buildings. Perhaps the style of 270-272 East Main

Street is as close as we have come in America to purely “decent” buildings, if decent

can be defined as a building that is honest and cleanly proportioned. These buildings

are two stories tall, two or three bays wide, of Flemish bond brick, and have, as a

frill, a fine mouse-tooth cornice. Although we can date these particular buildings at

circa 1825, the date is not particularly important, as similar examples can be found

somewhat earlier and much later.

CARR 356

276 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1860

Zepp House

private

Built by William Zepp, this house has retained its rural innocence despite being sur-

rounded by a laundromat, a gas station, and a used car lot. The house is a sophis-

ticated version of the house usually produced by Westminster’s rural psyche. While it

retains the standard five-bay, central-hall, two-story, L-shape design, it displays in

details a high level of achievement. The brick is a pleasant uniform rosey color laid in

a precise Flemish bond, the windows’ flat arches are, at 4 courses, larger than usual,

and other eaves decorations

the mouse-toothing, the modillions, and the precisely

drilled

dentils

all combine to create a thoughtful, almost academic, specimen of a

favorite vernacular type.

CARR 343

283,

285, 287 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1850

private

This set of white-washed two-bay brick rowhouses was originally part of “Abraham

Wampler’s Tavern Lot”, where the County’s first tax commissioners met in 1837.

The row houses were built in the mid-19th century as two separate structures. They

have long since been united by brick infills and by a system of rear porches.

he solidity of these century-old structures and the care and effort with which

they were designed and built could be held up as models for the builders of today's

low-cost housing. Stylistically, there is an agreeable proportion of solid to void and a

pleasant rhythm of doors and windows on the Main Street facade. The three-course

gauged flat arches over windows and doors, and the door-entablature-pilaster com-

binations are simply but finely executed.

CARR 126, Map No. A22

CARR 124,125,Map No. A23

CARR 356, Map No. A24

CARR 343, Map No. A25

Section A

155

CARR 123,

Map No. A26

CARR 339,

Map No. A27

CARR 122A, Map No. A28

CARR

122B,

Map No. A29

CARR 121, Map No. A30

CARR 123

288 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1770; circa 1890

Christian Yingling House

private

Although it is a little difficult to locate the evidence under the additions and altera-

tions of the past two hundred years, the Christian Yingling House, a half-wood, half-

brick pile, is reputed to be the oldest residence in Westminster. This may be correct

because it is still possible to see log rafters and uncoursed-fieldstone foundations in

the brick-floored basement of the eastern half of the building. A fine one-and-a-half

story, gable-roofed, two-bay

by one-bay brick outbuilding still stands in the rear of

the property. This building,

thought to have been a slave cabin, has recently been

restored.

CARR 339

289 EAST MAIN STREET

Reese-Wagner House

circa 1880

private

A typical late Victorian L-shaped house, the Reese-Wagner House was built by Or-

lando Reese on lots 2 and 3 of the original town, an area once part of his uncle’s large

tanyard. The house still has its splendid arched marble mantles, ennobled with fan-

ciful coats of arms. Many other once-august houses in the city are near-copies of this

building (e.g. 202 East Main Street) but no other places can claim, as this one can, to

be the site of the first ice cream in town.

CARR 122A

290 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1845

William Reese’s House

private

The four-bay three-story building at 290 East Main Street towers above its immediate

neighbors. The building was originally built as the residence for shopkeeper William

Reese, but has since been enlarged and has served a variety of uses from automobile

showroom to antique store. The fine wooden mantel and cupboard from this house

now installed in the auditorium of the Carroll County Historical Society, indicate the

prosperity and sophistication of the Reese family. (See below, CARR 122B.)

CARR 122B

292 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1785

William Reese’s Store

private

This two-story, four-bay by two-bay, gable-roofed pile has played an important role

in the history of Westminster since the late 18th century. The lot, probably built on

in the

1780’s,

was purchased in 1791 for the exceptionally high price of ninety

pounds. In 1837, the second floor of Number 292, “a thriving grocery”, was con-

verted into the county’s first jail. A 1913 newspaper article in The

American Sentinal

notes, “the jail never had but one prisoner, a colored man, and he escaped by climb-

ing down a rainspout.” In 1830, Andrew Powder operated the store on this site. Wil-

liam Reese, whose father had kept a grocery store on the corner of Howard and Clay

Streets in Baltimore, moved to Westminster, bought the building in 1849, and set up

shop.

The American Sentinal comments that

“shortly after moving here he

. . erected what was then considered one of the finest private residences in the

county.” Reese flourished in Westminster. County historian Frederic Shriver Kline

notes that Confederate troops passing through town in 1862 sought out Reese, who

was known to be a prominent Union supporter. The store remained in the Reese

family until 1951.

CARR 121

295 EAST MAIN STREET

1790;circa 1885

Yingling-Reese-Blizzard House

private

The Yingling-Reese-Blizzard House has been important to the City for two centuries.

Built on lot number 1 of the original town, the place was the home and tanyard of

Jacob Yingling. (Tanning was the city’s first important industry.) Later, the place

156

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

passed on to the Reese family (prominent merchants) who remodelled it in the then

fashionable Second Empire style,

although retaining the original side-hall and

double-parlor floor plan. Decorative features abound; the hall has hammered metal

panels and the house’s mantels (original and 19th century) are justifiably renowned.

CARR 344

296

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1840

Yingling House

private

The Catharine Yingling House is one of the finest, and least changed, examples of a

form that dominated Westminster’s first 150 years and that still asserts itself today.

Three stories tall, five-bays wide, with a two-story gabled roofed ell, the building was

at once typical of, yet superior to, an entire type. It is taller, more pleasingly propor-

tioned, and trimmed with greater fineness than nearly any of its contemporaneous

structures. The building is now divided into apartments.

CARR 569

297

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1830

Trumbo-Chrest House

private

After Westminster was established in 1764, it tended to grow with a singleness of pur-

pose, westward from the original town. This house is one of the very few pre-1850

houses built east of the town, in what was originally Baltimore County. The intersec-

tion formed here by the meeting of Westminster’s Main Street, the road to Man-

chester, and the road to Washington (originally Georgetown) was once thriving.

Yingling’s tanyard filled one corner and directly across Manchester Avenue was this

solid three-bay, two-section Flemish bond brick house built by the Trumbo family.

The diary of Katharine Jones Shellman notes that “George Trumbo and Sons” lived

here and worked as potters in the years 18221832; in 1852, George Trumbo sold the

lot “with the brick dwelling house” to Jacob Powder. Since 1896 it has been owned by

the Chrest family.

The shingled, Gothic peak dormer that tops the main facade is an addition;

otherwise the house is unchanged and is interesting not only in its own right but also

in that, minus the dormer, it probably resembles the original appearance of its west-

ern neighbor, the Yingling-Reese-Blizzard House. The two brick piles must have

made an imposing pairing as they guarded Manchester Avenue. The new traffic

lights, courtesy of the State Highway Department, add nothing to the charm of the

house.

CARR 508

NORTH CHURCH STREET

circa 1876

George Miller House

private

Built by George Miller, whose family then owned several lots and houses between the

city limits and the cemetery, 12 North Church Street incorporates both the strength

of the local vernacular architecture and the variations that were allowed in the form

in the late 19th century. The traditional aspects of the building include its common-

bond brick walls, its side-hall double-parlor plan, and its massing

it has a pair of

two-story, two-bay by three-bay gable roofed perpendicular sections. The later free-

dom to add personal variations is demonstrated by the segmental arched windows on

the principal facade and a similarly formed transom over the main entrance door.

The eaves treatment, a finely molded two part entablature on the principal facade

and the five- step corbelling that runs along the two side facades, is also noteworthy.

CARR 553

NORTH CHURCH STREET AT THE CEMETERY

circa 1840

Old School

House

private

Located at the end (or beginning) of Church Street, at the gates of the Westminster

Cemetery, this plain brick building housed the first school. Local historian Bradford

Gist Lynch credits a Professor John A. Munroe with conducting “a private school in

the brick building located at the gates of the Westminster Cemetery, and conducting

the school at an early date.” Munroe’s co-educational school was called the “Female

CARR 344.Map No. A31

CARR 569, Map No. A32

CARR 508, Map No. A33

CARR 553, Map No. A34

Section B

157

CARR 568, Map No. Bl Collegiate and Male Academic Institute”

and flourished until just after the Civil

..,

:...,

~.j.

5”.

‘)I,~

War. Its barracks-like appearance marks an early deviation from the vernacular

farmhouse style. Of interest today, with our present concern about “functional illit-

eracy”,one of Munroe’s early brochures notes that the school “will not admit to its

higher classes of Mathematics, Sciences, etc.

those who are deficient in the

ele-

ment of common English

”

CARR 566, Map No. B2 SECTION B

CARR 567, Map No.

CARR 400, Map No. B4

CARR 568

82-82½ EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1885 (in present form)

Mrs. Frank Myers House

private

Probably built by the Kaes/Kase family, and later altered to its present form, this

building is a subtle local variation of the Second Empire style that was nationally

popular in the late 19th century. Essential to this style, and to this house, is a high

Mansard roof with the accompanying moulding, shaped slate roof tiles, and rich a

cornice. The windows of this five-bay house are articulated by segmental arches and

are flanked by green louvered shutters. The tower works well to turn the corner from

Main Street to the neighboring alley.

CARR 566

96-98 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1860

Goodwin House

private

Dating from just before the Civil War, the Goodwin House is a fine mid-century ver-

sion of the Pennsylvania Farmhouse. By the time this place was built, the style had

fully matured, and various modifications were clearly now permissible. The moulded

door panels and, especially, the turned-column porch all bring touches of the mid-

Victorian era and of the countryside into the growing town.

The house stayed in the Goodwin family for several generations.

CARR 567

100 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1870

Bennett House

private

Probably built by the Bennett family, who were responsible for the masterpiece num-

bered 23 Court Street, this three-story Flemish bond brick pile is an elegant

townhouse version of the vernacular farmhouse style. The end facades are blind, but

are both graced by fashionable Romanesque brick corbel tables at the eaves. Simi-

larly avant garde are the elongated windows, and the elegant second-story balcony.

These details make the house itself fine, but are even more significant in the way they

work with the contemporaneous, larger, Wantz House across the street at 101 East

Main Street.

CARR 400

101 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1875

Charles Wantz House

private

This is one of the largest houses in the city, a point that the original builders, a family

of prosperous merchants, certainly would have felt worthy of mention. But, for all its

size, the house continued the local norm of having two perpendicular-gabled

sections with a three-bay facade facing Main Street. Certain features help the

house escape grossness: the semicircular, leaded, stained glass transom; over the

158

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

panelled entrance door itself; the finely-carved, pelleted door surround; and, per-

haps especially, the architrave row of brick recessed, Greek crosses that ease the tran-

sition from wall to roof at the east and west. This Greek-cross pattern is an interesting

two-generations-later variation on the cornice of the Ecklar House (255 East Main

Street).

CARR 399

109

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1880

Dr. Charles Billingslea House

private

The house Dr. Charles Billingslea built for himself is one of the most “open” in the

city, as it throws its verandaed, bulging sides out to the light to the south and the

east. Extremely irregular in shape, very large, yet still light and airy, it manages to

create a feeling of light-hearted prosperity. That the building’s architect achieved

this effect is a high testament to his skill, as he seems to have used but few techniques

to set Number 109 clearly beyond its contemporaries. Most obviously, the lightness is

aided by the trim of delicate barge-boards, by the cornices, and by the east and south

porches’ railings. Also, the rise upon which the house sits serves to physically elevate

the house. But the “aesthetic elevation” is, perhaps, most importantly a result of in-

trinsic unity. For example, a series of diagonal lines can be seen stretching across the

south facade. These lines, drawn from barge-board to porch and from gable to

porch, serve to unify the south facade and cannot be accidental. There is also unity

not only within but among facades

the east and south facades are linked by the

oppositely placed gables and, ironically, gables work in a reverse way for the west and

north facades, where they are placed edge to edge to help turn the northwest corner.

CARR 401

112

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1864

Nathan Gorsuch House

private

Built by Nathan Gorsuch, 112 East Main Street stands out in the city, although it has

certain features which keep it in the mainstream of the city’s domestic buildings. The

standard features

two sections, three bays

are nicely balanced with certain in-

novations: the glowing yellow color, the wrap-around classic porch, and the flat

roofed rear section (rather than a gabled rear section). A more frivolous connection

exists between this building and another in the city: the doorbell, enframed by

French curves, is an exact copy of that found on the Fletcher House, 254 East Main

Street.

CARR 375

116-118-120

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1920

CITY GARAGE

private

The old City Garage, a monument to the early and glorious years of the automobile,

is located on the south side of East Main Street. In addition to being archi-

tecturally significant, the garage makes a sociological comment on the machine age

and the changing status of the automobile.

CARR 402

117

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1898

Charles Carroll Building/Westminster Hotel

private

The Charles Carroll Building, certainly one of the two or three most prominent

buildings in the Westminster skyline, faces the north side of East Main Street on the

northeast corner of that street’s intersection with Westminster Avenue. The principal

(south) facade stretches eight-bays long and is three-and-a-half stories tall. At the

center of the ground floor, filling two bays, is a heavy, rusticated arched entrance

complete with bestial Corinthian columns. The building was built as an hotel in 1898

by George W. Albaugh, the city’s leading late-Victorian realtor/developer. Local

papers heralded its arrival, calling it both “chaste and ornate” and noting that “it

will be unsurpassed in general merit by any building of the kind elsewhere.” Such

praise is doubtless based on the building’s individuality, its size, and its wealth of dec-

orative details

the entrance capitals, and a fine array of cornices, chimneys and

CARR 399,

Map No. B5

CARR 401, Map No. B6

CARR 402, Map No. B8

CARR 375, Map No. B7

Section B

159

CARR 386, Map No.

CARR 376, Map No.

B10

CARR 378, Map No.

B11

CARR 565, Map No.

B12

lintel/arch arrangements. It is also interesting as an indication of the builder’s op-

timism. He had made a fortune in local real estate and doubtless felt that the city’s

boom, caused in part by the railroad, would continue into the 20th century and that

the city would have need for such a huge hotel. The Union National Bank evidently

shared his optimism, as it hired Baltimore architect James Grieves to remodel the

old hotel into modern offices.

CARR 386

123

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1870

Ann Elizabeth Babylon House

private

Westminster’s “Brownstone Era” was short-lived; of the two buildings it produced,

123 East Main Street is probably the more advanced essay in the style. It fronts the

north side of Main Street across from the beginning of Westminster Avenue. The

three-bay, three-story building has some of the city’s only rustication; other rarities

include segmental arched windows and broad sandstone steps. The thick stone sills

are also striking. The building has undergone several alterations since it was built.

Nevertheless, the original intended air of impregnability implied by the rustication

has been retained.

CARR 376

126

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1845

John Beaver’s Shop and

House

private

This small two-bay, gable-roofed building with its adjacent studio was owned by

three generations of the Beaver family of sculptors between 1858 and 1910. The ex-

terior of the house is of interest for its diminutive size and for the rich granite sills and

steps that doubtless were meant to advertize the owners’ occupation. This abundance

of fine stone and talent also would help to explain why this five-room “British Cabin”

brick house has such elaborate ground floor marble mantels

mantels which bear

strong resemblence to the ones in the Blizzard House (Number 295 East Main Street),

which was being remodelled during John Beaver’s era. John Beaver was in the employ

of Joseph L. Mathias, founder of a tombstone company that still flourishes in

Westminster.

CARR 378

127

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1877

Crout House

private

Built by Sara M. Crout, 127 East Main Street breaks no new ground in Westminster’s

architectural history. Indeed its significance is not as an innovator but as a retainer

of tradition. It is easy to glance up and down Main Street to see every step taken to

arrive at 127’s main facade

which first employed the three-bay side-door scheme,

which introduced double doors, which introduced corniced door surrounds. It is just

as easy to trace the development of the style after 127, but, as it is, this building

forms a nice breathing spot in the styles’ and in the city’s development

certain

heavy, mid-century features had already crept in but early delicacies remain (such as

the simple two modillion entablature). The style had lost its early pleasant small scale

but had not yet acquired coarseness. The house has recently been converted into at-

torneys’ offices, a use not quite commercial, yet not residential: it is a most fitting

use, since the entire block provides the transition in the cityscape between the older

largely residential sections of town to the east, and the Victorian commercial area to

the west.

CARR 565

129

EAST

MAIN STREET

Methodist Protestant Church/Davis Library

circa 1870

public

Originally designed with a soaring Gothic spire, this church was built to house one of

the city’s two (white) Methodist sects. Carroll County became the home of American

Methodism when Robert Strawbridge, a disciple of John Wesley, settled here in the

1760’s. After this mid-19th century church was no longer needed, it was purchased

by the county through a Trust established by Walter H. Davis, to be used as a

160

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Ma yland.

library. The present marble front was added for this purpose. The library outgrew

the old church and

constructed a new building on the site of the old St. John's

Catholic Church downtown. This shifting and interplay between Houses of God and

Houses of Learning is not unique to Westminster.

CARR 379

130 EAST MAIN STREET

mid-1850’s, circa 1900 addition

Shreeve-Matthews-Smith House

private

The Shreeve House reflects at least two different 19th century eras, and consequently

may be defined as a “transition” structure. The core of the house was probably built

in the then standard two-story,

three-bay, two-perpendicular-sections form. A

generation or so later, around the turn of the century, its owner, it seems, felt the

need to bring the house up to date, and sought to achieve this stylishness by incor-

porating broad shingled gables within the house’s north and west roofs.

CARR 381

132-132½-134 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1817

Phillip

Jones House and Store

private

Built as a “triplex”, the row can also be read as a single nine-bay unit, laid in Flemish

bond. Closer examination reveals differences among the three units that can prob-

ably be explained by the original use of each. Number 134 has slightly more

elaborate treatment, especially with regard to the door surround and the cornice,

and so we ought not be surprised to learn that this was originally designed as a

residence for the Phillip Jones family. Number 132 is simply treated to the point of

plainness, as was befitting its original use as the Jones’ iron and bacon store. Between

these is

132½,

its decoration similar to 134’s but of smaller scale; it was built by Jones

to house his “rapidly expanding family”.

The buildings have served a variety of uses

during their 160 years. During the 1870s and ’80s it housed the owner and offices of a

prominent local newspaper, The American Sentinel.

CARR 380

133 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1870

Maulsby

House

private

Built into a small hill, this is one of the city’s largest houses but it never seems un-

gainly or stodgy. Nor does it seem at all a cliche despite its reliance on the city’s stan-

dard building form; perhaps it escapes tedium by paying attention to details. Par-

ticularly significant in this respect are the details of the entrance (south) facade: the

presumably intended differences in each floor’s window treatment (especially the top

floor’s almost eyebrow-size windows) and in the well-handled classic door and entab-

lature with its frieze of triglyphs and bull’s eyes, serve to differentiate this three-story,

three-bay, two-sectioned house from the scores of those it otherwise resembles.

CARR 382

140 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1854

Opera House

private

Alternately used as an Opera House, an Odd Fellows Hall, and a sewing factory, 140

East Main Street has proven to be a very adaptable building. The Bastille-like north

(entrance) front of the building is defined by “3”

it is three stories tall, and built

in three sections (with a western addition in a U shape).

CARR 379, Map No.

B13

__....

CARR 381, Map No. B14

CARR 380 Map No. B15

CARR 382, Map No. B16

Section

161

CARR 383, Map No. B17

CARR 384, Map No. B18

CARR 387, Map No.

B19

CARR 385, Map No. B20

During the early nineteenth century the lot was the site of Jacob Mathias’s tan

yard, shop, and residence. The International Order of Odd Fellows bought the lot

from Mathias for $375 in the 1850s. They retained the property until 1926 when it

was sold to L. Needles Brookes Realty Company. Since then it has had a succession

and variety of ownerships, its present owner being a printing company.

CARR 383

142

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1870

Mary Mathias House

private

The north facade of this house can be read as a three-bay, two-and-a-half story,

gable-roofed, clapboard house, with the western most bay a hexagonal tower. As

such, as an abstraction, the house acts as a first step away from the civil three-bay

Westminster house to one of greater freedom. Stripped of its tower, possibly added

circa 1875, the building is merely a less crisp version of, say, 226 East Main Street.

Number 226’s cornice dentils have given way (voguishly) to modillions and brackets,

and its simple door has become

aswirl

with applique. But, for all these trappings, it

retains a simple soul

its builder felt the need to experiment, but did not see the

need to abandon the basic form. Nor did she find it desirable to be as free with the

old form as would later occur at 228 East Main Street, which could be interpreted as

representing the next logical step beyond 142.

CARR 384

143

EAST MAIN STREET

early 19th century

Jacob

Utz, Jr. House

private

The Jacob Utz, Jr. residence is an example of how superlative detailing can turn an

otherwise standard building into a landmark. At first impression, the Utz house is

merely another brick, three-bay, two sectioned, small house. Although the shed-roof

porch, which embraces the building on two sides, provides some identity, a touch of

individuality, the building might still be overlooked if it were not for the south

facade’s entablature. Certainly, other brick three-bay houses in the city have fine

wooden cornice work, some with dovetail designs, some with a mild fretwork, but

143’s is outstanding, with its detailed cornice dentils and band of gouged circles

strung across the architrave.

CARR 387

147

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1870

Grammar

House

private

The south facade of the Grammar House is two stories high, three-bays wide, and laid

in stretcher bond brick. The roof eases into the brick wall by means of an interesting

cornice that is made of molded brick but which has attempts at modillion and dentil.

Although the Grammar House has a substantial list of “nots”

it is not particularly

large, it is not associated with great events, it is not particularly architecturally in-

novative, it does not contain any sections built before the Civil War

it does have

certain details that make it notable. Hipped roofs are rare in the city (gables being

the norm with an occasional late Victorian mansard), but the builders of 147 chose

to cover this house with one. Apparently they could not go all the way with such a

shocking form, so they compromised by retaining a gable end to the north.

CARR 385

152

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1890

The Methodist Parsonage

private

The two-story, deep red brick building at 152 East Main Street was built during the

1890s for Westminster’s Centenary Methodist-Episcopal Church. The parsonage is a

fine example of continuity of style

of how a traditional design can be retained but

modernized to fit current aesthetic needs. Note especially, here, the elongated win-

dows with their large panes.

162

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Ma yland.

CARR 386A

153 EAST MAIN STREET circa 1820

William Frazier House/Shop private

Number 153 East Main Street has its two-bay entrance facade fronting the north side

of East Main Street, halfway between Lincoln Road and Center Street. Probably

built by one William Frazier, a silversmith, the narrow house is almost identical to

the Beaver House, located across the street at 126 East Main Street. Frazier clearly

had a trained eye. Despite its small size, the house is very cleverly designed and im-

peccably executed. Rather than trying to compete with its large neighbor, 151,

Frazier’s house continues 151’s lines, almost acting as a better-built extension. Their

windows are perfectly aligned, their cornices run together, their roofs have the same

pitch. Yet the buildings are separate; Frazier saw no need to echo his neighbor’s one-

bay entrance porch, relying instead on his building’s solid-void relationship and

overall proportions for effect. His plan worked, for as small as 153 may be, one’s eye

always seeks out the five-course common bond facade of this perfect gem.

CARR 561

154-156

EAST MAIN STREET circa 1845

Mathias-Rhoten

House private

This curious double house consists of twin attached gable-roofed units, both of which

run parallel to Main Street. From the front, one almost reads the structure as a single

house. The place fills lots 9 and 10 of the old town of New London and has passed

through several of the city’s more prominent families: Jacob Mathias, an early tan-

ner, bought the lots in 1811; his heirs passed them (in an 1855 deed) to David

Shriver; they were then owned by Dr. Joshua Herring (who is listed as living at 156 in

the 1887 City Directory) and then by Francis Orendorff.

CARR 387A

155 EAST MAIN STREET circa 1820

private

This three-bay, two-story house is another variation on the two-perpendicular-boxes

theme that generally governs Westminster’s cityscape. Most of the houses that follow

this pattern have two gable-roofed sections but at 155 East Main Street, the rear sec-

tion has a shed roof shaded by a two-tier porch to the north. Further, as the house is

separated from its eastern neighbor by a grassy slope 30

’

wide, the resulting nearly

blind east wall gives the appearance of a barrier, protecting the very valuable western

section of this entire block from the incursions of the properties to the east. Five of

the six buildings in this “valuable western section”,

including this building, antedate

the creation of Carroll County and form an attractive unit in which each component

is clearly defined.

CARR 372A

166 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1800

Jacob Utz House

private

Westminster seems fortunate in that its important intersections are well “protected’

by important historical buildings. Built for, and occupied by, one family for 100

years, the classic and crucial Jacob Utz House provides a definite cultural continuum

at the intersection formed by East Main and Center Streets. One Jacob Oates, sad-

dler, bought this lot in 1794 and presumably soon thereafter built this five-bay,

brick, gable-roofed house. His family kept the house until 1894. Jacob Oates was also

called Jacob Utz; whether the man was yielding to pressure from the city’s large Ger-

man population to de-Anglicize his name is cause for interesting sociological specula-

tion. His house summed up an architectural era, in form and in its handsome details,

such as the fine-gouged dovetail cornice and the work around the doorway.

CARR

386A,

Map No. B21

CARR 561, Map No. B22

CARR

387A,

Map No.

B23

CARR

372A,

Map No. B24

Section B 163

CARR 544, Map No. B25

CARR 370, Map No. B26

CARR 555, Map No. B27

CARR

384A,

Map No. B28

CARR 544

167 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1877

Democratic Advocate Building

private

Number 167 East Main Street, the former offices of the Democratic Advocate, has

played a significant role in the architecture and the political-literary life of the com-

munity. As is true with many of the buildings in Westminster, this one exemplifies

the adaptive qualities of the Pennsylvania farmhouse building that so dominated the

city’s architecture in its first century. We have seen the building form used for

residences, a jail, banks, hotels, and shops; now we see it used as a newspaper office.

However it is important to note that certain freedoms are now being taken with the

form; octagonal bay windows are now accepted. It is also interesting to note that an

old photograph of this building reveals at least one example of an unpainted brick

building in Victorian Westminster. Apparently the contention that all Victorians en-

joyed painted brick is unfounded.

A 1910 account of the newspaper’s history notes that:

Carroll Hall, a half block east of the present office, is the site of the first home of

this paper. The Advocate Building at the corner of Main and Center Streets was

finished and occupied in October, 1877. The building is of substantial con-

struction with appointments and equipment superior to those enjoyed by most

newspapers and printing offices. One of the best linotype composing machines is a

part of the complete equipment.

CARR 370

172 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1900

Dr. Daniel Shipley House

private

The house that Dr. Daniel Shipley built around 1900 would not be out of place in,

say, Cape May; it is, if not out of place, at least unusual in Westminster. Straddling

the border between the Shingle and Queen Anne styles, the house could be viewed in

two ways, either as an aberration or as an extension of a standard Carroll County

house. It might be reasonable to analyze the house as a decorated five-bay, central-

hall building, but it seems more satisfying to accept it as Dr. Shipley’s self indul-

gence; a visual, aesthetic, and intellectual intermission in Main Street’s seemingly

perpetual pageant. It is, after all, located on a small but definite slope and set back

’

from the sidewalk

thus it is separated from its more conformist neighbors.

CARR 555

176-178 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1855

Shipley-Blizzard-Shriner House

private

The latter-day Federal double house at 176-178 East Main Street, with its fine and

unusual (for Westminster) elements of Greek Revival trim, was probably built by

Mary Shipley, wife of Otho. She purchased the lot in 1852 for $300; on Martinet’s

1861 map of the city a double house is shown on the site, Otho Shipley sold the place

to George Blizzard and Daniel Shriner (his son-in-law?) in 1865 for the very high

price of $3800. It stayed in those families until the 1930’s.

The classic trim about the two doors sets the place apart from its local contem-

poraries, as does the building’s elongations.

CARR 384A

177 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1800

John C.

Cockey

House

private

The variety of Westminster’s basic three-bay structure does, at times, seem infinite.

Number 177 East Main Street is one of a score of two-story, side-hall, double-parlor

houses executed in brick, laid here in a crisp Flemish bond. The house is, in fact, as

perfect a “norm” as can be found

some are of larger scale, some smaller; some

have finer brick work, some coarser; some are better preserved, some worse. Prob-

ably built by members of the Mathias family, it passed into James Cockey's hands in

164

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Ma yland.

1818. Cockey was one of the first school teachers in Westminster, and was instrumen-

tal in organizing the Westminster Volunteer Fire Company.

CARR 374

181 EAST MAIN STREET

1850, 1889 alterations

Carroll Hall

private

The building grandly designated “Carroll Hall” upon its cornerstone is a four-bay,

three-story structure built to the traditions of one generation and modified to suit the

taste of the next

and of the next. In 1850, the first Carroll Hall was dedicated by

the Sons of Temperance; this building was an eight-bay structure that probably in-

corporated most of the present building within its two stories. Notable in that build-

ing, and retained after the 1889 remodelling, were the anthemion-decorated,

second-story window lintels and the pent roof. The remodelling consisted mainly of

the addition of a slate mansard roof broken by two massive and elaborate dormer

windows, similar to those at 295 East Main Street. The building has had mercantile

use throughout its history, a fine example of continuity of use.

CARR 574

183 EAST MAIN STREET

1850, 1889 alterations

private

Number 183 East Main Street was originally a part of Carroll Hall, its neighbor at

181. The white structure was remodelled in the late 19th century. The choice of dec-

oration used by this section’s remodeller is interesting, in that it is almost an exact

small-scale replica of that of the Wantz building further down the street.

CARR 363

187 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1860

Frank T. Shaw House

private

CARR 364

189 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1860

Billingslea House

private

Although built independently,the two buildings at 187-189 East Main Street today

present a fairly unified appearance, at least on their south facades, which are united

by window placement, cornice treatment, and, perhaps, most effectively, by a bow

front connector. The two main buildings were built just before the Civil War and re-

mained twin L-shaped masses open to the northeast for another half-century. It is in

this form that the buildings appear in an 1877 plat of the city. For many years, 187

was the residence of Dr. Frank T. Shaw and 189 was the residence and office of Dr.

James H. Billingslea

a comfortable unity of use. Around 1910, one Charles Dinst

built the bow connector to house a restaurant and thus created the physical unity the

buildings have today despite their different ownerships.

CARR 562

188-190

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1830; 1855

Baumgartner House

private

Owned and occupied by the Baumgartner family for over 130 years, this house is

unique in the city for a variety of reasons. The arrangement and use of the levels is

very continental: the ground floor was originally used as an attorney’s office while the

upper floors were the family’s living quarters. This is visually accentuated by the fine

lyre-design cast iron railing that ornaments the steps and entrance balcony leading to

the

piano

nobile.

According to one of the present owners, a direct descendant of John

Baumgartner (the county’s first Register of Wills), these basement quarters proved

too damp, and an eastern two-story addition was built to house the law offices shortly

before the Civil War. The building’s single-pitch roofs are also an unusual early

departure from the city’s normal gable roof.

CARR 374. Map No. B29

CARR 574.Map No.

B30

CARR 363, Map No.

B31

CARR 364, Map No. B32

CARR 562, Map No.

B33

Section B

165

CARR 373, Map No.

B.34

CARR

367A,

Map No. B35

CARR 365, Map No. B36

CARR 366. Map No. B37

CARR 373

195 EAST MAIN STREET

1896

Farmers and Mechanics Bank of Carroll County

private

Although this building may appear to be eccentric, the architecture illustrates the

struggle that took place in the late 19th century to pry the city away from its tradi-

tional, well-behaved building pattern. The building is an example of local architect

Paul Reese’s attempt to incorporate some fashionable Beaux-Art forms into

Westminster’s streetscape. He displayed what Vincent Scully has called a “blessed

sense of civic excess”

he felt a pride in his native town and tried to modernize it

architecturally. (Perhaps the struggle was too great for Reese because he eventually

gave up architecture to become an Episcopal Minister.) A local paper,

The

American

Sentinal,

supporting Reese’s architectural efforts, noted exuberantly, that

“from beginning to end, it is the product of local talent.”

CARR 367A

196-198

EAST MAIN STREET early 19th century

Addlesperger House private

The two-and-a-half-story Flemish bond residences that comprise 196-198 East Main

Street, together form one of the areas few T-house, and one of the city’s few du-

plexes. Viewed from the north, each section is a mirror of its three-bay counterpart.

Each has five regular-spaced six/six double-hung sash windows (three on the second

floor, two on the first) and entrances that border each other. Entrance doors are

prominently defined by full three-part entablatures with a denticulated fillet be-

tween the smooth frieze and architrave. The houses certainly date from the very early

part of Westminster's history.

CARR 365

197-199 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1855

private

This building sets the solid/void rhythm that its neighbor to the east, 201, continues

so well. It was built originally as two shops, each with a separate entrance and large

plate glass display windows, with flats above.

CARR 366

201 EAST MAIN STREET circa 1800; 1854

Isaac Shriver’s Store

private

Continuing the cornice line and second floor window placement of 197-199 East

Main Street, 201 is one of the most crucial buildings on the Westminster streetscape.

It defines the western corner of a key intersection

the meeting of Court Street with

Main Street, the approach to the Court House with the city’s prime commercial

artery. At this important point, it is good to have 201, a building whose uses have

encompassed both law and trade, and whose 198-foot west facade stretches down

Court Street to the Court House forming an almost baroque axis. This axis must have

had even greater strength when the old Main Court Hotel-Inn stretched its deep col-

onnaded veranda down Court Street. This concept is indirectly supported by the

Land Records, which show that the first substantiated structure on the site was Isaac

Shriver’s stone store: Shriver also ran the Main Court Hotel. When the county was

formed, Shriver gave the land for the proposed Court House and Jail and helped lay

out Court Street and the Court Square. The relationship of these roads, plazas, and

buildings to his store and hotel is clear and probably intentional.

The present brick buildings that form 201, replacing Shriver’s stone store, prob-

ably date from 1854.

166

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

SECTION C

CARR 419, Map No. Cl

CARR 419

l-3

EAST MAIN STREET

late 19th century

Albion Hotel

private

The Albion Hotel, perhaps the city’s finest essay in the Queen Anne style, is impor-

tant for its uniqueness but also as a critical actor in the streetscape. The building’s

shell presents a superbly solid mass rescued from overweight and stolidity by five

strongly ascendant chimneys. In a planning sense, it would be difficult to imagine a

more suitable building for the site, one that could better define this important multi-

vehicular intersection. The building was once approached diagonally by train and

has always offered an elegant direct approach for carriages

horse and horseless.

The old hotel arrests the eye calling for admiration before it invites one to turn the

corner marked by its two-story tower.

CARR 420

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1870

John Christmas Residence and Restaurant

private

The building that housed John Christmas’s restaurant and house around the turn of

this century is an interesting variation on the usual local theme. Most buildings built

in the city contain an odd number of bays

three or five

but 7 East Main Street

contains four. Of course, there are other buildings from this era, with an even

number of bays, but these were usually built as “duplexes”: a six-bay building, such

as 53 West Main Street, would have been built specifically to house two tenants.

When ownership or use was individual, almost invariably the number of bays would

be odd. It might be possible to argue seriously that this odd-even distinction has a

sensible symbolism: a building of three- or five-bays creates a single central axis sym-

bolizing singleness of use or ownership, while the two or more axes of an even-bayed

building symbolizes multiple use or ownership. Be that as it may, the three-story,

four-bay brick structure now has a single ground floor occupant

the 7 East Antique

Store

CARR 423

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1880

private

The main architectural function of 15-17 East Main Street is to maintain the near-

continuity of facades that rise perpendicularly with the sidewalk in almost unbroken

line between Railroad Avenue and Longwell Avenue. They also provide a pleasant,

and perhaps necessary, rest between the sforzando notes struck by the Wantz Build-

ing and the Albion Hotel. Their ordinariness creates the pause; each is totally the

product of a mid-Atlantic vernacular that so thoroughly controlled the city’s

building style for a century and a half. Everything about each building has an ances-

tor and a descendant probably located within 100’ of the site.

CARR 414

21-27 EAST MAIN STREET

1882; 1890

Wantz Building

private

One of Westminster’s most idiosyncratic buildings, the Wantz Building rises three

stories in four sections in the heart of the business area. Scion of an important local

family, Charles Valentine Wantz doubtless inherited money which he parlayed into a

considerable fortune, as the building he constructed reflects. Wantz made his money

as a wholesale and retail tobacconist, pioneering the business and, according to a

1912 newspaper, making Westminster renowned for its cigars throughout the State.

In 1882, Wantz abandoned his rented quarters and moved his factory to the eastern

half of the present building. As Wantz prospered, he doubled the size of the build-

CARR 420, Map No. C2

CARR

423,

Map No. C3

CARR 414, Map No. C4

Section C

167

CARR 413, Map No. C5

CARR 562,

Map No. C6

CARR 415, Map No.

CARR 410,

Map No. C8

ing, adding the two western sections in 1890. According to Wantz’s granddaughter,

Mrs. David Taylor, Wantz originally planned only a two-story building but added

the third story as a meeting room for the masons, of which organization he was a

loyal member.

CARR 413

37 EAST MAIN STREET circa 1870

Joseph B. Boyle Store

private

Joseph Boyle’s store, built on a low fieldstone foundation, is a modest, Victorian,

commercial structure, two stories tall and three-bays wide. The ground floor displays

mid-20th century alterations but the second story still has its original Flemish bond

brickwork. the roofs brackets save the building from the commonplace. The re-

demption is achieved by circular forms, six large curved brackets supporting a

two-

part entablature. Half ellipses enclosing large wooden balls run between the

brackets. This is bordered at each end by massive curved brackets, each of which is

decorated by three “linenfold” ridges.

CARR 562

39-41 EAST MAIN STREET

Old Post Office Building

circa 1885

private

This three-story, flat-roofed building once housed the city’s Post Office. It was built

by Joseph B. Boyle when he was Post Master during Grover Cleveland’s two adminis-

trations. A 1910 booklet on Carroll County comments that Boyle was “a son of the

late Col. John Brooke Boyle, who took a most active and prominent part in the

organization of Carroll County

Mr. Boyle

[Joseph]

is the owner of the fine post

office building, and has taken a part in every co-operative movement for West-

minster’s advancement.”

This spirit continued, as a former owner of the building,

Herman Rosenberg, took an active part in the creation of Locust Lane, which

borders this building, a contemporary cooperative movement for Westminster’s

advancement.

CARR 415

47-49 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1880

The White Palace

private

Although John Bowers’s store, the “White Palace”,

is basically of a size and form that

is quite normal to the area, above the first floor the building explodes into a riot of

the city’s most fanciful brickwork. The building provides a clear example of how a

late-Victorian architect adapted the local norms of mass and decoration to fit the

needs of his time. By including the top half story, making the building a common-

place two-and-a-half stories, the designer was true to local standards. By taking out

all the windows and switching the usual gable roof to a flat roof, however, he was

able to fill this space with a riot of brickwork true to current taste. Each of the many

patterns in the brickwork is a reproduction of a design found elsewhere in the city,

making the place a museum of Westminster decorative brickwork. Integrating so

many varied designs is unprecedented and doubtless satisfied both the architect and

the owner.

CARR 410

54-56 EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1875 with additions

Gilbert

House/Shriner

Building

private

The western half of this building was used for many years as a residence for the

prominent Gilbert family. There is structural evidence in the basement suggesting

that the house was erected atop an older structure. The building has had a variety of

owners since and was once owned by the Taylor Motor Company, which may have

built the large garage section to the rear and possibly the eastern half of the building.

The structure is currently undergoing restoration. The plans include renovating

the rear section to work as a garage for the neighboring new library building, remov-

ing the circa 1920 eastern half to make way for a garden, and adapting the older

Gilbert House for offices.

168

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

CARR 417

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1870

Schmitt’s

Rexall

private

55 East Main was built to house the family of Ira C. Crouse, who ran a store nearby.

It is basically a three-bay, two-story, bright red brick building with commercial

activities on the ground floor and an apartment above. Although originally built as

a private residence, the building has long been successfully adapted to commercial

purposes.

CARR 411

EAST MAIN STREET

circa 1865

Hugh Doyle Building

private

Number 59 East Main Street, three-bays wide and three stories tall between its foun-

dation and its shed roof, is a fine example of the modest building that a small-scale

mid-Victorian entrepreneur might build. It would house his shop on the ground

floor and his family above. Filling both a commercial and domestic role it would ex-

hibit, not surprisingly, elements of design associated with each use. The ground floor

here, for example, is entirely commercial in design, as it was and is in use. It was

common practice in the city, as it was elsewhere, to enframe the first floor of a small

commercial building with pilasters and cornices as Doyle did here, keeping the upper

stories simpler.

CARR 421

EAST MAIN STREET

1896 with additions

Westminster Fire Engine and Hose. Company Building

private

As originally designed by Jackson Gott, the Fire Hall was a three story structure fron-

ting on the south side of East Main Street for a distance of 40

’ and running back

perpendicular to the street for a depth of 70

’

Built of buff brick laid in common

stretcher bond with trimmings of white brick and Baltimore County marble, the

building is topped by a tower which gives the structure a total height of 92

’

easily

the most dominant feature of the Westminster skyline. The tower is topped by a large

domed roof that covers a tall Seth Thomas Clock, donated (at a cost of $1040) by

Mrs. Margaret Cassell Baile. The bulk of the building was built in 1896; in 1927,

another three story bay was added, giving the building a more cubic appearance.

CARR 422

12 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1896

Babylon Building

private

F. Thomas Babylon’s building on West Main Street is three stories tall but almost

reads as two: a commercial ground floor and an upper area dominated by two large

round arches that form a semi-arcade across the south facade. A photograph taken

soon after the building was erected shows its bulging arches soaring above older more

traditional neighbors, clearly symbolizing how merchants such as Babylon placed,

“this nation

. . .

in the front rank of those of the world,” as a local newspaper

boasted in 1912. Today the Babylon Building is flanked by structures that nearly

match its height and that clearly followed its design example, making it an almost

seminal work.

CARR 424

26 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1870

Smith and Reifsnider Lumber Company

private

This two-story, three-bay building is a rarity in Westminster’s current business

district in that its frame and clapboarding have not yet been covered. However, re-

cent alterations have placed an arched front across the ground floor of the original

building extending to the east over what was the original lane to the lumberyard. Old

photographs show that this area of Main Street was not devoid of wood frame build-

ings a century ago, but there are virtually none left today. It is fitting that this sur-

vivor’s original function was to supply lumber to the City. A floor/carpet/tile com-

pany now occupies the structure.

CARR 417,Map No. C9

CARR 411, Map No. C10

CARR 421, Map No. C11

CARR 422, Map No. C12

CARR 424, Map No. C13

Section D

169

CARR 426,

Map No. C14

CARR 426

28-30-32 WEST MAIN STREET

late 19th century

private

The buildings 28-30-32 West Main Street stretch along the north side of the

thoroughfare in row house fashion.The center building, probably dating from 1875,

is the oldest of the three with the others having been added in 1880 and 1900. The

conscious striving for facade repetition makes the row rare in the city. Each building

takes a similar two-story,

three-bay, brick shape and all have florally-decorated

plaques adorning their cornices.

CARR 425

CARR 425, Map No. C15

38 WEST MAIN STREET

George W. Morningstar House

circa 1880

private

Built around 1880 as a store-cum-residence, this building has maintained its original

=I”

-f

functions to this day. In its three full stories of height, three bays of width, and

-;:

w,-

L-shape, the building fits firmly into the mainstream of the area’s architecture. The

principal facade has two sections: a commercial ground floor and two residential

stories above. The whole is covered by a gently-sloping gabled roof that meets the

wall at a wooden cornice with brick dentils below.

SECTION D

CARR 427, Map No. D1

CARR 429, Map No. D2

CARR 427

35 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1875

Cover House

private

Number 35 West Main Street is interesting as an example of a builder’s using the

traditional five-bay, L-shaped house and altering it to fit his personal aesthetics.

Taking the building on its own terms, clearly it is a success. The iron trim on the

front porch is perfect in its delicacy and creation of motion; the stained glass that

gives color to most of the windows is superb; especially noteworthy is the thrust given

to the house by the oriels and bay windows that extend on all sides. An eastern,

two-

story oriel seems particularly successful. Covered with deep brown imbricated

shingles, it draws the eyes until they are arrested by the luminous, airy quality of the

stained glass on the first floor. Then they are drawn upward to follow the taper of the

steeple roof as it grows slenderer and slenderer.

CARR 429

58 WEST MAIN STREET

after 1884

Herr House

private

The Herr House, built soon after an 1883 fire destroyed the building that then stood

on the site, is a mid-Victorian adaptation of a standard Westminster five-bay,

two-

section house, with Germanic decoration. The Herr brothers (Frank and Samuel)

were noted local carriage builders and this house reflects their success. Their Teu-

tonic past is revealed in the intricate carved plaques that decorate the area just below

the eaves on the principal facade.

170

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

CARR 430

58½-60

WEST MAIN STREET circa 1868

Residence of the Misses Herr

private

The brick house built as the dwelling for “The Misses Herr,” relatives of Frank K.

Herr who ran the coach yard next door, is flush with its western neighbor, and is

five-

bays long on Main Street, two-stories high, and, in shape, nearly square below its

northward-sloping, shed roof. Despite this rather box-like appearance, the house is

given enlivenment by a corner triangular oriel window, and, perhaps more espec-

ially, by a row of plaques placed between the roofs brackets. These plaques have

rather elaborate carving done in designs reminiscent of those associated with the

Pennsylvania Germans.

CARR 432

59 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1884

Montour House

private

The three-story, five-bay, two-sectioned Montour House is one of the last survivors of

the buildings that once made Westminster a city of hotels and inns. Several of the

oldest have gone to make way for gas stations and used car lots, and those that re-

main have all been more or less relieved of their hostelry roles. Perhaps the Montour

House, now a Chinese Restaurant, comes closest to maintaining any sense of con-

tinuum, as it still has dining facilities on the ground floor and apartments above.

CARR 431

62-68 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1884

Andrew J.

Malehorn

Store and Residence private

This two-building unit consists of two nearly identical structures; each is two stories

tall, shed roofed, L-shaped, and with five-bays. The two structures are of interest

when viewed as part of the row beginning with 58 West Main Street; the row presents

a fine unified group in the city more given to individual statements. On April 13,

1883, the entire north side of this block was leveled by a fire. The block was quickly

rebuilt, and this, coupled with the fact that the central section was owned by the

same family, doubtless explains its unity. The row is valuable in the view it gives of a

small, rural, Anglo-German, mid-Atlantic settlement a century ago, a value that has

been increased by the alterations that have taken place at the ends of the block

the

former Penney’s store to the east, and the gas station to the west. The result is a block

that now contains representatives of commercial architecture spanning 100 years.

CARR 556

13 JOHN STREET

circa 1875

Swinderman House

private

The land about this building was the north part of the Grandadam Farm and was

sublet from the Redemptionists to John J. Baumgartner in 1869. Two years later

Baumgartner leased one lot, number 14, to Joseph Swinderman (or “Schwinder-

man”) who then built the brick structure we see there today. Swinderman’s three-

bay, two-section house adheres strongly to the Pennsylvania school; perhaps this is

not surprising as his name indicates an ancestry with deep ties to the Palatine Ger-

mans who settled and flavored the central sections of Pennslyvania and Maryland.

CARR 573

25 CARROLL STREET circa 1885

Grace Lutheran Church

private

Lutherans were among the first settlers in the Westminster area, arriving with the

early German pioneers. Their early services were held in the old Union Meeting

House. The first church at the 25 Carroll Street site was built in 1866 but was a casu-

ality of the Great Fire of Westminster in 1883. The present building was soon built

after the fire on the same site, and is almost unchanged from the engraving of it

published in the 1887 City

Directory. The writer of that directory may well have had

this building in mind when he said that “no city in America has more beautiful

churches than Westminster.”

CARR

430,

Map No.

CARR 432, Map No. D4

CARR 431, Map No. D5

CARR 556, Map No. D6

CARR 573,Map No. D7

Section E

171

CARR 440, Map No. El

CARR 433, Map No. E2

CARR 434, Map No.

CARR 441, Map No. E4

CARR 442,

Map No. E5

SECTION E

CARR 440

78-80 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1875

private

In plan, this small house is basically a Greek cross (with its western member missing)

composed of two, small, pediment-roofed, clapboard buildings. This strict geometry

is broken at the southeast corner by a hexagonal, two-story, conical roof tower, and

by a glassed-in entrance porch. Nevertheless, the Greek cross plan makes the build-

ing unique in the city, in that it presents gable ends to the street. The building also

nicely serves, with its intersecting members, to represent the fact that the lot it sits on

is made up of an intersection of two of Westminster’s thoroughfares, Carroll and

West Main Streets.

CARR 433

79 WEST MAIN STREET

before 1860; 1867 addition

Orndorff-Smith-Bare House

private

Built by Joshua Orndorff, 79 West Main Street, now known as Rosser’s Choice Apart-

ments, was originally an L-shaped building composed of two perpendicular gable-

roofed sections, two stories tall with dimensions five bays by two. The building is a

superb example of the type of house a small-town, mid-19th century businessman

would build for himself. He would want something substantial, to impress his success

on those around him, but he would also want something staid, so as not to offend his

neighbors and potential customers. Rosser’s Choice is large enough to impress but

conservative enough not to alienate.

After having been requisitioned as headquarters for Col. Thomas Rosser (5th Va.

Cavalry) in 1863, it was purchased by John Smith of Wakefield who added the pres-

ent third story.

CARR 434

83 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1860

Horatio Price

House

private

The Price House is a fine example of the Victorian-Germanic influences that played

upon the standard crisp three-bay unit. Although Price built a basic two-story, three-

bay box, he filled the western bay with a two-story bow window and topped off the

building with a series of carved plaques. The curve of the bow makes a nice tension in

an otherwise angular block of buildings and the plaques relate nicely to the row of

buildings

58½-68½

West Main Street) across the street.

CARR 441

91 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1925

Carroll Theater

private

The Carroll Theater’s yellow and black glazed tile stepped facade marks the remains

of Westminster’s fling at Art Deco. Now, much less ornate than it was originally

having lost its heavy marquee and recessed its ticket booth into the lobby

the

building still brings to mind Saturday afternoon at the movies.

CARR 442

107 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1830-1835

private

Located on the south side of “The Forks” in Westminster, 107 West Main Street is

basically a small L-shaped house that has grown and grown and grown over the

years. The north (entrance) facade rests on a low fieldstone foundation and stretches

four bays wide along the south side of West Main Street. Openings in this stretcher

bond facade appear randomly: second-story windows were at one time two-over-two

paned but archless above narrow white wooden sills. Three of these windows remain

172

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

so today, but one has been converted into a set of french doors between black lou-

vered shutters

the doors lead to a narrow iron-railed balcony. This house, is one

of the oldest in Westminster’s West End, was probably the house (or store) of one

Francis Henry Henry and was built in the tradition of other small house/shops in the

city, notably John Beaver’s.

CARR 444

113-115 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1850

William H. H

. Zepp Shop and Residence

private

This two-story, five-bay by two-bay, frame building is sheathed in barn-red clap-

boarding set off by white shutters and a big white porch. The whole exemplifies how

a local tradition can be adapted over the generations to fit the different needs and

desires of each. The three-bay western section is a fine representative of the type of

home that a person of less than extreme wealth was expected to build: gable-roofed

along the street (with its gable off the street), three regularly-spaced bays, two stories,

and an end chimney. Similarly, the habit of having a shop or office adjoining one’s

residence was a popular custom in Westminster. Zepp was merely following tradition

when he added the two-bay eastern shop section and extended it to the rear creating

an L. Later 19th century fashion no doubt demanded the addition of the front

porch, just as more recent fashion encouraged owners to add the present shutters and

facade material to their wine store.

CARR 443

117 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1890

The Yellow Aster

private

This pile, probably built by William H.H. Zepp, looks northward onto West Main

Street where Pennsylvania Avenue forks off to the northwest. The five-course

common bond brick wall rests between a low fieldstone foundation and a slate

mansard roof. The two floors in the brick section of the three-bay principal

facade are regularly spaced and display little change since the house was built. The

house, when contrasted to the more high-styled Blizzard House, 295 East Main

Street, is a fine example of how a less-than plutocratic family would go about

building in a fashionable style. Rather than paying for the skilled carpenters neces-

sary to create the excellent curves that mark the woodwork of the Blizzard House,

window trim here is simple and angular. Further, while the Blizzard House strives for

a certain urbanity, here, the rural nature of the community is clearly stated in a

broad front porch, and its gable, a necessary adjunct to any late 19th century rural

house in the area. But this is not to demean number 117, a building of fine pro-

portions and noble ambitions.

CARR 445

119-1

19½-121

WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1900

private

The three bow-front buildings that comprise the row

119-119½-121

West Main

Street are identical except in color and other superficial decoration. Built around the

turn of the century by the Yingling family, the row, with its contrasts of straight and

curved lines, is one of the most significant architectural statements in Westminster.

Luckily it occurs at one of the most important transportation intersections in

Westminster, where Pennsylvania Avenue angularly forks off West Main Street.

CARR 447

127 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1890

private

This house is a two-and-a-half story, two-section, 30 ‘-wide building resting on a low

fieldstone foundation. The eastern half of the principal facade is composed of a

three-sided, two-story bay window with a broad pedimented dormer in the attic. The

house is an interesting example of Westminster’s building pattern: it shows “the end

of the trail” in the 150-year-old development of the local dominant form of domestic

CARR 444, Map No. E6

CARR 443,Map No. E7

CARR 445, Map No.

CARR 447,

Map No. E9

architecture --- how that form suvived late 19th century eclecticism and slipped gently

into the 20th century.

Section

173

CARR 448, Map No. E10

CARR 446, Map No. E11

CARR 449, Map No. E12

CARR 450, Map No. E13

CARR 448

141 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1830-1835

Haines House

private

This building is a two sectioned, three-story, three-bay house.

The Flemish bond painted brick north facade is enlivened by a

well-enframed

six-panel Georgian door and by

6/6

shuttered windows. Three

3/3

eye-brow

windows with white wooden sills and louvered shutters finish the facade and

help place the building firmly in the south central Pennsylvania vernacular tradition.

Number 141 is a local seminal structure in that it helped to define the building pat-

tern for Westminster’s West End until around the time of the first World War.

CARR 446

147 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1875

Schweigart-Schreeve House

private

Most of the remaining frame buildings in Westminster seem to be concentrated in

the city’s West End; 147 is one of these. It is located on the West side of Maryland

Avenue at that alley’s intersection with the south side of West Main Street. The

two-

story, shed-roofed, three-bay, by four-bay pile, rests on a high fieldstone foun-

dation, and is covered with wooden shingles. The house is today as evocative of a

small domestic building of its era as the Smith and Reifsnider Lumberyard (26 West

Main Street) is of a small commercial building of that time.

CARR 449

161 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1865

private

This four-bay by two-bay, two-section, clapboard house was built by Samuel Hughes

at about the time of the Civil War. The spacing of the windows on the north

(principal) facade gives the impression that the house was built in halves but there is

nothing else about the place to encourage such a belief. All windows are simply en-

framed,

6/6

paned, and flanked by black louvered shutters.

The appearance of 161 West Main Street recalls ideas expressed elsewhere about

the relationship between singular axes and singular ownership. When Samuel

Hughes built this place he apparently wanted something larger than a three-bay

house but could not afford a five-bay edifice. So, not surprisingly, he settled on four-

bays. Nevertheless, the symmetrical facade on Main Street was still the accepted

norm in Westminster in the 1860s and Hughes apparently had no desire to deviate.

Naturally he would run into problems creating a symmetrical facade with an even

number of bays, but he found a happy solution to the problem by grouping the two

eastern bays close to each other and the two western bays close to each other, creating

a broad space in the exact center of the building between the two groups. This space

is the exact width of the space between the edge of the facade and the edge of the first

shutter, forming three strong vertical lines and, thus, a central axis.

CARR 450

163-163½-165

WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1910

private

The row 163-163½-165 West Main Street amply fills the southeast corner of the in-

tersection formed by West Main Street and Rush Alley. Each of the three units that

comprise the row is identical, consisting of an eastern entrance door, a two-story,

squared bay window, and a gable-dormered mansard roof. The units rest on high

uncoursed fieldstone foundations that are hidden, in part, by three wooden steps

leading to each door.

174

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

CARR 453

167

WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1850, 1880

private

Number 167 West Main Street is a two-sectioned building consisting of a three-story,

three-bay by two-bay, shed-roof northern piece and a two-story, three-bay by

two-

bay southern piece; together these buildings form not an L, but a rectangle. It is

probable that the brick southern section

is a generation older than the northern sec-

tion as it now appears. With its finely carved diminutive woodwork, its slender win-

dows, and regularity of bay placement on all facades, 167’s dignified femininity and

trim, well-mannered appearance makes a fine contrast with the rhythmically

vigorous north facade of its eastern neighbor, the row

163-163½-165

West Main

Street.

CARR 452

179 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1868

Rhinehart-Wantz House

private

The Rinehart-Wantz House, as close to a five-bay cube as exists in the city, looks

north onto West Main Street about halfway between Uniontown Road and Rush

Alley. The great red-brick-with-white-trim pile rests on a low coursed fieldstone

foundation. This superlative house was built in 1868 by William G. Rinehart, a great

Galsworthy-like man of property. Rinehart,

with help from his son-in-law and

grandson, who made later additions, created one of the finest buildings in this part

of the state

on the exterior, by means of thick rolling bracket cornices, and other

trim details, and the chromatic interplay between the white of the trim and the deep

Tuscan red of the brick; on the interior, by the broad rippling molding that sur-

rounds the doors; and inspirit, by the easy elegance that emanates from the

building. All this is true despire many alterations in Rinehart’s original home: the

exquisite wooden fence that separated the building from the street has been

removed as has the Corinthian-columned entrance porch (the latter being replaced

by a large verandah). Also missing today are the original bank barn, which has been

replaced by a five-car garage, the outhouses and other necessaries that would

accompany a building of this size in the late-Victorian era,and the requisite gardens.

Still, by any standard, the Rinehart-Wantz House is a landmark in West-

minster, presenting an unrivaled atmosphere of late-Victorian affluence aided no

doubt by a sense of continuity that ownership and occupancy by the same

family over a number of years provided.

CARR 451

WEST MAIN STREET

1873

Terrace Hill

public

The great brick house built by John L. Reifsnider, Sr. is probably the largest, and

certainly the most impressive house in the city; that it is still able to impress by size

and location (it is on a small hill overlooking the city) is a testament to its architect

and builder, especially when one realizes how much plainer the house is today than it

was originally. Basically the house consists of two two-and-a-half story cubes, punc-

tuated by several steeply pitched gables, and a chateau-like roof in the style of W.M.

Hunt. The house remained in the family’s possession until taken over by Western

Maryland College in the 1920’s. Photographs and drawings of “Terrace Hill” made

before its academic career, reveal an attempt to create a

villa

suburbana on the west

of Westminster. Reifsnider constructed on his 4½-acre lot an elaborate collection of

greenhouses, a five-story windmill, and, of course, fine stables. The lot was hand-

somely landscaped and enhanced by a variety of lawn ornaments: cast iron animals

and an iron and stone three-tiered fountain.

“Terrace Hill” is of immense consequence in Westminster as it was the first house

conceived as an individual expression, not as a part of a vernacular style.

CARR 452, Map No. E15

CARR 451, Map No. E16

CARR 453, Map No. E14

Section E

175

CARR 552, Map No. E17

CARR 552

WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1890

Westover

private

“Westover” was built in the late 19th century by John L. Reifsnider, Sr., as a wed-

ding present for his son, John, Jr. The large yet compact frame dwelling (originally

white, now olive green) is an interesting blending of two nationally popular styles: the

Shingle Style and the Queen Anne Style. In this idiosyncratic manner, it continued

the Reifsnider tendency for architectural individuality and experimentation. The

house’s grounds are contiguous to those of the Senior Reifsnider’s mansion, “Ter-

race Hill”,

and the two properties, with their houses, kennels, stables, windmills,

gardens, and greenhouses once constituted a superb five-acre family compound.

Both properties are now owned by Western Maryland College.

CARR 543, Map No. E18

CARR 543

CARR 488, Map No. E20

97 WEST GREEN STREET

circa 1865

Cunningham-Hahn House

private

The Cunningham-Hahn House is significant among the buildings of Westminster for

a variety of reasons. Architecturally it is an example of the liberties taken in the late

19th century with the basic Pennsylvania farmhouse, a type of house that dominated

building in the city for a century. Here the basic house is intact, but fashionable Vic-

torian detail gives it personality and independence.

Specifically, the house relates extremely well and interestingly to the Rinehart-

Wantz House at 179 West Main Street, a few hundred yards to the north. The two

houses have much the same trend and treatment. Indeed, the one on West Green

Street might be viewed as a prelude to the larger West Main Street house, built three

years later. They have the same roof line and window treatment, each has a three-

sided porch. The major difference is that the earlier house is two stories high, while

the later one has three stories.

CARR 487

8 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE

before 1830

private

Number 8 Pennsylvania Avenue is one of the most venerable buildings in the city. It

rests relatively unchanged on its site on the north side of The Forks, where Pennsyl-

vania Avenue branches off West Main Street.

The compact barn-red-painted brick structure consists of two approximately

equal sections. Each measures about three-bays by two-bays; each is two-and-a-half

stories tall, has a rolled tin roof, and is perpendicular to the other. The principal

facade has an entrance door as the easternmost ground story bay. The door, about

’

above the ground, rests below a small rectangular transom. It is approached by a

simply railed and balustered porch resting on thick brick piers. The porch is ap-

proached from the west by a set of simple wooden steps and is sheltered by a hipped

roof. The other two ground story bays are somewhat elongated 6/l double-hung sash

windows with three-course gauged flat arches, white wooden sills, and dark louvered

shutters. Above, the Flemish bond wall is pierced by three regularly spaced, regular

sized

6/6

windows similarly enframed. The west wall is flush with neighboring 10

Pennsylvania Avenue but has a large, exterior chimney rising at its peak. The east

wall is blind except for a small

four-light

attic window towards the front and within

.-2:

.-_i

;;

---_

--_

the gable.

-c_-..

CARR 488

10 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE

Clock Shop

circa 1850

Wedged in between 8 and 12 Pennsylvania Avenue is the diminutive clapboard

facade of 10 Pennsylvania Avenue, an early, and one of the least changed, commer-

cial structures in the city.

CARR 487, Map No. E19

176

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

The building looks onto the east side of Pennsylvania Avenue at “The Forks."

Everything about the building seems original and authentic, including the brick

steps leading to the principal entrance and the very interesting hardware. The en-

trance is set back a couple of feet from the facade and consists of double doors. The

panes of the glass in the doors, the transom, and the display window are all about the

same size, probably the largest glass available in the city at the time. The doors lead

to a large shoproom running nearly the length of the building with a larger store-

room behind.

CARR 489

18-20

PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE

circa 1870

Classen House

private

The red brick bulk of 18-20 Pennsylvania Avenue fronts the north side of that street

about 100

’ north of “The Forks." The house rests on a high coursed fieldstone foun-

dation with its two-story section stretching along Pennsylvania Avenue a distance of

five regularly spaced bays. The entire house consists of three distinct, yet unified, sec-

tions, two of which are in the original house, viz.,

a two-and-a-half story five-bay by

two-bay front section and a full length shed roofed one-bay deep rear section.

Extending beyond this (both these two sections are in brick) is a full length two story

shed roof weatherboard section.

CARR 490

30-32-34 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE

circa 1840

Mary Bixler Residence; Jacob Bixler Store and Residence

private

The row 30-32-34 Pennsylvania Avenue consists of three distinct and separate struc-

tures related only by time of construction and color. From unit to unit the extent of

alterations, the number of bays, construction detail, and the painting of the windows

vary, but the party walls and uniform yellow color of the row seem to provide it with

a unified front to an otherwise rather open section of Pennsylvania Avenue.

CARR 491

44 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE

circa 1845; 1875

Hannah Reese House

private

Number 44 Pennsylvania Avenue seems to have consisted originally of identical gable

roofed perpendicular units. However, towards the end of the 19th century, the front

section, laid in Flemish bond brick, seems to have had a common bond third story

added to it. This new story has three regularly spaced small double-hung sash win-

dows (2/2 panes) simply enframed between narrow wooden lintel and sills and

louvered shutters. The lower two stories were also altered by the addition of a

wood two-story bay window on the east. The bay window has since been altered and

covered in aluminum siding with tripartite picture windows. The small modillioned

cornice seems to be original.

CARR 494

58 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE

before 1840; 1885

Swinderman-Steele House

private

Number 58 Pennsylvania Avenue is one of the smaller houses on the Avenue and one

of the oldest in this part of town. The original house was probably a modest squat

two-story, two-sectioned building typical of the area, almost certainly datingfrom

before 1840. Two generations later, the house experienced severe alterations on the

principal facade, as did its neighbor, Number 60. The similarity of the alterations

and the family relationship of the two owners suggests that it was the Steele family

that did both. Besides this chronological unity, the two additions work well together

architecturally: a full tower rises in rounded splendor in interesting contrast to the

rather squatty angular two story bay. Also of interest is the side gallery, which the

Steele family did not see fit to change.

CARR 489, Map No.

E21

CARR 490,Map No. E22

CARR 491, Map

No. E23

CARR 494, Map No. E24

Section E

177

CARR 495,Map No. E25

CARR 497, Map No. E26

CARR 498, Map No. E27

CARR 499, Map No. E28

CARR 495

60 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE circa 1850; 1885

Everly-Steele-Day House

private

Number 60 Pennsylvania Avenue, beneath its steep walls, betrays two distinct periods

of building.

The original house, probably built around the middle of the 19th century, was a

typical house of the region with its two, two-story gable-roofed sections of requisite

dimensions. A large part of this house still remains, although much of the present

flavor is given by the half-century-later additions, notably the tower, and attic gable,

and doubling of the rear L. Thus, today, the principal facade is predominantly turn-

of-the-century work. It is dominated by a three story rounded conical-roof tower

covered with cusped shingles. Three double-hung sash windows, paned one-over-

one, are found on each floor of the tower below the wooden shingle roof. On line

with this roof is the contemporaneous attic gable, which is sheathed in the same

material and has a central 1/1 window. Elements of this facade that date from before

the 20th century include the rolled tin of the roof, the clapboarding, and the

remaining two bays: a 1/1 second story window to the northwest directly between

the gable and the entrance door and the door itself.

CARR 497

64 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE

circa 1820-1830

Frances Henshaw House private

Number 64 Pennsylvania Avenue is, in its clapboard even-bay width, an exception to

an exception. Like its neighbor, 66 Pennsylvania Avenue, the structure represents

the union of two small houses. However, unlike its neighbor, the two united houses

vary from the local norm in being only two bays wide. The house, originally a log

dwelling, has been a “living” structure since its mid- or early 19th-century begin-

nings. As such, it has features of various eras, including the original log walls (now ex-

posed in the second floor front room). Nevertheless, despite these alterations, or perhaps

because of them, the house is of interest as an oddity, because of its fine elegant

details, an as a collection of building techniques spanning 100 years.

CARR 498

66 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE

circa 1850

Bankert House

private

This house probably originally consisted of two mirror-image three-bay houses; the

only door remaining now on the principal facade, however, is in the south half. The

other openings on the principal facade consist of simply enframed double-hung sash

windows with two-over-two panes surrounded by wooded sills and louvered

shutters.

Number 66 Pennsylvania Avenue, like its neighbor, Number 64, is a fine

example of how mid- 19th century builders conceived and constructed row houses in

the city. In other instances, groups of three or more three-story structures look beyond

the area for inspiration in design, but here it is clear that the units were designed

along traditional lines, only sharing a common wall. If the houses could be

separated, each would be identical to houses that had been built up to 100 years

earlier, such as the one at 226 East Main Street.

CARR 499

88 PENNSLYVANIA AVENUE

circa 1865

Peter B.

Mikesell

House

private

The small three-bay, two-story, two-sectioned house numbered 88 Pennsylvania

Avenue is laid generally in common bond brick, although an occasional header

course appears.

The five windows on the principal facade are regularly spaced with

6/6

panes,

wooden sills, and louvered shutters. The door is simply enframed within broad

178

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

pilasters and a bracketed modillioned cornice. Above the second story windows

(echoing a motif found on the earlier Ecklar-Conaway house, 255 East Main

Street) is a cornice that consists of a row of recessed brick Greek crosses. The end

facades are blind. The northwestern facade of the rear section has four regularly

spaced

6/6

windows; the southeastern section has a two-tier porch.

SECTION F

CARR 454

140 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1870

Morelock-Kephart House

private

The large three-sectioned house of the Morelock family is one of the finest of the

vernacular form still standing in Westminster’s West End. With its L-shape, two sec-

tions, and rear side porch, the house could have been built anywhere in this area or

in central Pennsylvania. However, it was built in Westminster on several acres of

land reserved by Isaac Shriver for the Shriver family and their friends. (See below,

CARR 455.)

CARR 455

146 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1860

Shriver-Stottlemeyer

private

At the beginning of the 19th century, Isaac Shriver, a prominent local merchant,

owned the large triangular parcel of land bordered today by Pennsylvania Avenue,

Main Street, and Union Street. Just before the Civil War, he laid out this area into

lots, reserving 1¾ acres near “The Forks” for himself and his friends. On the south-

west corner of this reserved area he built the house now numbered 146 West Main

Street. The house is one of the earliest versions of the Vaux Design Number Three: it

is L-shaped with the gabled end of the L forming part of the main facade. A

shed-

roofed porch runs east of this gable, forming an approximate rectangle. The entire

house is sheathed in clapboard, and louvered shutters flank all the windows.

An interesting strawberry leaf molding decorates all eaves of the house. Sev-

eral original out buildings are still standing. Edwin Shriver, who bought the house in

1896, attained national importance as the originator of the Rural Free Delivery Sys-

tem in the United States mail service.

CARR 456

148-150 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1865; 1885

private

Few of Westminster’s houses remain unaltered from their original form; practically

all have at least some parts that date from a period different from that of the main

bulk. This characteristic is nowhere more obvious than at 148-150 West Main Street,

a building that combines two different structures and two different styles and makes

no attempt to hide the disparities. The eastern piece, 148, is the older; it is a two-bay

by four-bay section that undoubtedly was intended to work with 146, located just to

the east across Maryland Avenue. The gable end, which faces West Main Street is

almost identical with the gable of 146 even to the eaves treatment of strawberry

leaves and pendants. The only difference is that 148 is laid in five-course common

bond rather than being covered with clapboard as is its neighbor. The other section,

150 West Main Street, was built about 20 years later. It is essentially a three-bay

wide, three-bay deep brick box, whose angularity is relieved on the south facade by a

two-story bow front bulge that comprises the eastern third of the facade. All windows

here and in 148 are

l/l

double-hung sash. Thus in decoration as well as in form,

numbers 148-150 have links with several buildings in Westminster’s West End. The

buildings have recently been successfully adapted into physicians’ offices.

CARR 454,Map No. F1

CARR 455, Map No. F2

CARR 456, Map No. F3

Section F

179

CARR 458, Map No. F4

CARR 457, Map No. F5

CARR 535, Map No. F6

CARR 459, Map No. F7

CARR 460, Map No.

CARR 458

152 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1870

Crouse-Harlow House

private

This is one of the many houses of Westminster’s West End built by, or at least asso-

ciated with, the Crouse family. The house is an interesting combination of regularity

and freedom: its principal facade is a full three stories tall and three-bays wide; its

basic shape is a standard L as it is here. Sometime in the late-Victorian era, a large

bay-windowed section was stuck in the open space of the L, as it is here. Perhaps

more interesting is the bowed railing of the porch that enwraps the southeast corner

of the house. The railing resembles a rib cage and plays marvelous light-shade,

solid-

void rhythms against the white aluminum siding of the house as one walks by.

CARR 457

156 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1840

Butler-Finch House

private

This home of one of Westminster’s early doctors, Francis Butler, is basically a

two-

story, five-bay, flat-roofed square with a limb stretching out to the northeast to con-

nect the house with the originally separate kitchen. Its board and batten exterior is

unusual in the city, as is its octagonal cupola. Although almost certainly antedating

the Civil War, the well-maintained south facade is as dateless as exists in the area: its

sharp lines could place it in any decade in the last or present century.

CARR 535

158 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1875

Nelson Gilbert House

private

Number 158 West Main Street is a fine example of a house reduced to basics. It con-

sists of two perpendicular sections, each three-bays wide (or long) with a gable roof.

The place rests on a high fieldstone foundation, hidden on the main section by a

raised, latticed porch. This porch has a hipped roof supported by eight square

posts with an equally simple railing to the east and north.

CARR 459

172 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1870

Tabatsko House

private

The clapboard bulk of this quite ordinary house consists of two three-bay by

two-bay perpendicular sections resting on high fieldstone foundations below tin

roofs. Window placement is regular, as would be the entire building were it not for

the raised, hipped roof porch that surrounds the building on the southeast. The

porch is supported by turned columns that have slender balustrades, and rows and

rows of delicate spindels.

CARR 460

176 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1880

Hailey-Brown House

private

This recently restored red brick house and the Rinehart-Wantz House across the

street (179 West Main Street) may be the quintessential late-Victorian domestic

buildings in the city. This house consists of two gable-roofed perpendicular sections,

each measuring three-bays by two-bays and each being two stories (plus an attic) tall.

The success of this facade, and of the house in general, is perhaps, more dependent

on trim than on essential forms. The principal facade is crowned by a very thick,

molded, white, wooden cornice, which has pairs of modillion-size brackets placed

alternately with the windows and rows of dentils strung between these brackets. Win-

dows on this facade are decorated with white louvered shutters, white wooden sills,

and tall, slightly-flared, bracketed cornices. The four-panel Victorian door on the

ground floor opens onto a broad brick porch, whose hipped roof and thick, plain,

white cornice are supported by equally thick, brick posts. Brick is also used in the

porch’s foundation and in creating a solid railing. The porch swings around to shade

the building’s east wall, which is blind but for two four-light attic windows located in

the gable.

180 Part II

The Building of Westminster in Ma yland.

CARR 461

180 WEST MAIN STREET circa 1853; 1888

The Old Schoolhouse

private

Number 180 West Main Street has been the site of two distinct buildings built with

the same bricks

a true case of recycling. In 1853, the School Commissioners of the

city bought this lot with a clause in the deed stating that they were to erect a school

for the benefit of the citizens of the West End of the City. They did so. However, in

1888, William Rinehart bought the building and lot, tore down most of the old

schoolhouse, and built the present structure as a residence for his daughter, Caro-

line, and her husband, James Pearre Wantz, Sr. The resulting building was fashion-

able for that time, consisting of two perpendicular sections creating a small T, the

gable end of one section being exposed to the street. However, the trim of the build-

ing, delicate porch molding, fine woodwork on the two-story bay window, and the

almost unheard of attic lancet window, separate this house from its contemporaries.

CARR 462

182 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1840

Hoppe House

private

Built in 1840, the weatherboard house of John Hoppe is one of the oldest buildings

in Westminster’s West End. The L-shaped building has a peculiar fenestration

pattern: four, double-hung sash,

6/6

windows on the ground floor surrounding

a central door, and three

6/6

windows on the second floor. One of Westminster’s

most salient architectural features is its fondness for symmetry; nearly every building

in the city contains either three or five bays. The Hoppe House, perhaps because of

indecision or perhaps to be witty, has both three and five bays.

CARR 463

184 WEST MAIN STREET

circa 1890

Mother Roger’s

private

Although the original building on this site was a small, three-bay, L-shaped pile, 184

West Main Street now consists of a large, three-story, five-bay box. The ground floor

has always been used for commercial purposes and the second and third stories have

been used as apartments. The multi-use, multi-family nature of the building is sig-

nificant in view of its date, circa 1890, as it represents symbolically and actually, the

completion of Main Street. The city had been for most of its history essentially a one-

street town, with single-family dwellings alternating with professional buildings and

commercial structures up and down its length. By the end of the 19th century, how-

ever, the one street had become almost completely built up and space was at a

premium. After this time, the town would grow, not by expanding along Main Street

(expansion to the west had been halted as the street now ran up against land owned

by Western Maryland College and by the Reifsnider family); further expansion

would have to take place by annexing land to the north and the south. Early in this

century the building housed “Mother Roger’s” store, an emporium dear to that

era’s college students.

CARR 560

West End School

public

Built in the late 19th century to replace the old elementary school at 180 West Main

Street

(q.v.),

the West End School is located in the center of the large triangular-

shaped wedge of land formed by West Main Street, Union Street, and Pennsylvania

Avenue. This siting was very advantageous,

as it removed the school from any

thoroughfare and allowed it to be surrounded by playing fields and open space.

The original school was a one-story, five-bay by three-bay structure beneath a

gable roof. Later, its size was doubled by the addition of a second story. It is inter-

esting to observe that the original Romanesque arched brick corbelling on the gable

ends (see photo on page 130) was recreated by the brick masons who built the second

story. The several decorative motifs of the original school represent the architectural

warehouse of designs that late-Victorian architecture chose from freely for all man-

CARR 461, Map No. F9

CARR 462, Map No.

F10

CARR 463,Map No. F11

CARR 560, Map No. F12

Section F

181

CARR 550, Map No.

F13

CARR 492, Map No. F14

ner of buildings. The corbel table, for example, was similarly employed by churches

(e.g., the Methodist Protestant Church on East Main) by houses (e.g., 96 East Main

Street) and even by garages (e.g.,

116-118-120 East Main Street). The building now

serves as a center for senior citizen activities.

CARR 550

WEST MAIN STREET

various dates

Western Maryland College

private

Western Maryland College was established under the auspices of the Maryland An-

nual Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church and chartered by an act of the

Maryland Legislature in 1864. Consideration was first given to a site in the Baltimore

City area but this was later changed to the present site in Westminster. The original

eight acre campus was acquired by the college’s state appointed Board of Directors in

1864. The site, although privately owned, was one that for many years was used by

the citizens of Westminster as a meeting and picnicing area. Commonly referred to

at the time as the “Old Commons,”

it was the scene of annual fourth of July celebra-

tions, political rallys, and, during the Civil War, was utilized by the Army of the

Potomac to bivouac troops and for the placement of guns to protect the daily arrival

of artillery on the nearby Western Maryland Railroad.

The first building to be constructed, combining classrooms and dormitories, was

known as the Main Building. Combining brick and stone, it was initially constructed

in 1866, added to in 1871, 1887, and 1890, and demolished in 1956. About fourteen

other buildings were constructed on the eight acre site between 1866 and 1900, but

most have been razed and other buildings erected on their sites. (Shown here, the

early 20th century Fine Arts Building.)

CARR 492

53 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE

circa 1880

O.H.P. Mathias-F. Thomas Babylon House

private

Built in the last quarter of the 19th century, 53 Pennsylvania Avenue is one of the

most splendidly evocative houses from that era in the city. Very little of the original

L-shaped house seems to have been altered. The house consists of two perpendicular

sections, the principal one measuring five-bays by two-bays below a mansard roof,

the L measuring about the same below a gabled roof. Superbly precise is the only way

to describe 53 Pennsylvania Avenue. In detail, in overall feeling, in continuity of ap-

pearance, and in achieving what it set out to, the house has few equals of its type in

the city. Everything is beautifully maintained; the quoins (a rare feature in town) are

crisp, the decorative iron work on the porch is sharp, the rounded dormer windows

are pure and white, and the various plaques are well painted. Parenthetically, the

house establishes an interesting dialogue with a house on the opposite edge of town,

295 East Main Street: both buildings are of similar dimensions and detail, differing

in window treatment and in a few other ways but both possessing the same essential

flavor.

CARR 493, Map No. F15

CARR 493

55 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE

circa 1895

Jacob Schaeffer

House

private

Number 55 Pennsylvania Avenue,

the Schaeffer House, is an interestingly rare,

albeit mild, exercise in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The tower of header-

coursed brick, the double segmental arched windows, the reliance on an almost

plastic form, the pronounced roof (with its small eyebrow windows), all indicate that

the Schaeffers were looking outside the area for inspiration when they built the

house. There are some vaguely similar houses around Belle Grove Square, and a few

similarly towered houses further up the Avenue (e.g. 67 and 69 Pennsylvania

Avenue) but this house probably marks the city’s most ambitious excursion into that

involved style.

182

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

CARR 496

61 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE

circa 1850; 1885

Evangelical Luthern Church Parsonage

private

This house, while displaying some later additions, is basically the standard residence

of an affluent tradesman of the 1850s. It is built in brick along the general lines of

the popular Green Revival style. The Greek Revival canon of quietly dignified, sim-

ple overall design is evident. The practice of using lightly-decorated or even blank

pilasters and a simplified cornice is illustrated by the front doorframe. A door with a

large glass pane was fitted in the

192Os,

but has recently been replaced with a solid

paneled door that resembles the original type. The date of the transom lights is

uncertain; the steps are modern concrete. The most obvious addition to the original

structure is the bay window turret, which was added to conform to current fashion

about 1885.

In 1854, the owner was approached by representatives of the Luthern Church

who had been assigned to secure a parsonage for the minister who would head the

“Westminster Charge.” This was the circuit formed by the five Lutheran churches in

the area. A subscription was taken up from the congregations of the member

churches and 61 Pennsylvania Avenue was purchased for $1,000.

The house served as the parsonage for fifteen years, during which time it was oc-

cupied by the households of four successive ministers. In 1870 it was sold to Father

George Schaeffer,

“a former devoted member of Grace Church.” His son, Charles

Schaeffer, remodeled it, presumably including the bay window and turret in his efforts.

CARR 505

10 UNION STREET

circa 1860

Reuben

Woodyard

House

private

When Union Street was being laid out about 1845-1865, most of the residences seem

to have been double units, built in frame and covered in weatherboarding or clap-

board. Number 12 Union Street, however, was built of logs as a single family unit. As

such, the two story house is of interest for its size: a circa 1870 photograph reveals one

or two other log houses on Union Street but they are one or one-and-a-half stories

tall.

The house is of further interest in that it must certainly be one of the last log

structures built in the area

a product of an all but abandoned building technique.

CARR 504

20 UNION STREET

circa 1860

private

Number 20 Union Street fronts the east side of that street about 200 feet north of the

street’s intersection with Main Street. The two-story three-bay by two-bay gable-

roofed building is one of the least altered structures in the city. A circa 1870

photograph of Union Street shows number 20, the second house to the south of the

Union Street M.E. Church, to have originally been nearly the exact form that the

building is today. The principal facade was and still is curiously askew and off

center. The door, the central ground story bay, now is a many paned glass door

below a narrow filled-in transom. Windows have louvered shutters and wooden

sills, are simply enframed, and have

6/6

panes. What is unusual is that the

southern two bays on each floor are regularly aligned, but the northern bay is placed

a few feet further away in the weatherboard facade. A simple cornice tops the

facade, below the rolled tin roof. The north facade has two small four-light

attic windows near the center of the gable, and a single

6/6

window on the ground

floor towards Union Street. This window matches in form the windows on the Union

Street facade. A flat-capped brick chimney flue rises in the interior of the south

facade, at the gable’s peak.

CARR 504, Map No. F18

CARR 496, Map No. F16

CARR 505, Map No. F17

Section F

183

CARR 503, Map No. F19

CARR 506,

Map No. F20

CARR 503

UNION STREET

circa 1860; 1885

Union Street M.E. Church

public

The five-course, common-bond brick bulk of the Union Street M.E. Church rests on

coursed fieldstone foundations, which become exposed to the rear of the building as

the site slopes away to the east. A circa 1870 photograph of Union Street reveals that

the building was originally a two-bay by three-bay, gable-roofed structure. This form

is unchanged except for the later addition of a two-story steeple in the center of the

facade. Originally it appears, the church had double-hung sash windows with clear

two-over-two panes. These were changed to colored glass around the turn of the cen-

tury. Perhaps the finest, certainly the most idiosyncratic feature of the building is the

eaves’ treatment: the sides of the building are topped by a broad entablature of

rather free form. Four-step corbelling easing the move from wall to roof is enlivened

by a row of brick dentils (composed of header bricks) at its center and by larger drip

“dentils.” On the front of the building, this large drip molding continues with a sec-

ond twin layer built on its outside about a foot higher, creating interesting three

dimensional and light-shadow effects.

All this extremely intricate brickwork is

original and unchanged, except where covered by the 15’

x 15’ x 2-story steeple

tower. The church’s northern roof is pierced by a corbel-capped chimney, which rises

about 5’ within the brick wall about halfway down its length to the north.

CARR 506

49-51 UNION STREET

circa 1850

Koontz-McKever

House

private

Each half of the double house at 49-51 Union Street is identical in basics, consisting

of a two-bay by two-bay, two-story, gable-roofed dwelling, the ground floor of which

is shaded by a hipped roof that extends over a simply posted and balustered porch.

The units, along with 57-59 Union Street,are good examples of the buildings

erected in the early 1850s on Union Street possibly to house the city’s black popula-

tion. An early photograph, probably dating from the very early

1870s,

shows the rear

of 49-51 in its original clapboarding and shows that very little has been changed

since the house was first erected.

CARR 502

57-59 UNION STREET

circa 1850

CARR

502, Map No. F21 Noah Zimmerman House

private

The frame double house at 57-59 Union Street sits on a low fieldstone foundation

and consists of two sections. There is a gable-roofed, two-story, four-bay by two-bay

section close to the street and a two-story, full-length, shed-roofed addition to the

rear. Nos. 57-59 Union Street are fine, relatively unchanged examples of the houses

built to house Westminster’s black population. (With “unchanged" applied as

criterion of value, the clapboard shell of Number 57 is of greater interest than

Number 59, since the latter has recently been covered with aluminum siding.) The

small, two-bay by two-bay, two-story, front sections are much as they must have been

built originally: an old photograph, taken from College Hill looking towards Union

Street and Westminster beyond shows at least two other such units on the street. All

these units are similar in their length, dimension, and clapboarding.

184

SECTION G

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

CARR 485, Map No. Gl

CARR 485

15 BOND STREET

circa 1870

German Reformed Church Parsonage

private

Despite its many alterations, 15 Bond Street is a significant building on the

Westminster streetscape. It is significant both for its place in the local building pat-

terns and for it sociological connections. The original house was a three-bay,

two-

story pile with a two-sectioned roof. This makes the house neither exceptional nor

dull. However, what makes the house outstanding is the fact that it served for a gen-

eration as the parsonage for the German Reformed Church in Westminster. Cer-

tainly things Germanic were of prime importance in the city, indeed in the whole

area, and anything as vital to the community as a parsonage takes on a significance

that the otherwise ordinary compilation of bricks and wood would not have.

CARR 484

16 BOND STREET

circa 1875

Warner-Engleman House

private

The two sectioned house at 18 Bond Street rests on high roughly coursed fieldstone

foundations and on a site that slopes northward down to Main Street. It has two per-

pendicular, gabled-roofed sections that form an L open to the southwest. The cen-

tral ground story bay in the five-bay principal facade of stretcher bond brick consists

of a fine late-Victorian eliptical paneled door in an elaborate enframement. The

door is recessed and the panels within the recess are enriched; the door is surrounded

by glass on three sides, i.e. by side lights and a transom. This is all surrounded by

smooth white painted pilasters topped by a two-story denticulated entablature. The

entablature is supported by very finely carved brackets enlivened by rosettes and ap-

plique at their bases.

CARR 547

26 BOND STREET

circa 1880

Gehr House

private

The impression one gets of 26 Bond Street interestingly depends on whether one sees

it from Bond Street through the leaves of Belle Grove Square or from West Green

Street. In either case, there is an impression of movement, of the basic local style

punched and pushed and stretched in all directions until the structure becomes a

very sculptural piece. The broad gables, the wealth of decoration, and the tower all

add enormously to the pile.

CARR 481

32 BOND STREET

late 19th century

Bankard House

private

The quite simple brick house built for Elizabeth Bankard is significant architec-

turally for both what it is and for what it is not. It is a very clean three-bay, two-story

pile displaying fine brick work with great attention to detail: the fine German

plaques, the string course, the fine pelleted brackets at the cornice, and the segmen-

tal arched windows in the principal facade (echoed in the door’s transom) all reflect a

high level of style and taste. However, when the principal face of this house is com-

pared to those of similar two-dimensional structures

such as 58-68 West Main

Street

it would seem that it could easily have been one of a series of similar houses

in a row. That it is not is interesting. We find this essentially one-facade,

two-

dimensional object in the mist of a block that consists of definitely three-

dimensional, sculptured houses. But Belle Grove Square is graced by a collection of

most of the popular styles in the city, so it is fitting that distinctive 32 Bond Street is

included.

CARR 547, Map No.

CARR 481, Map No. G4

CARR 484, Map No. G2

Section G

185

CARR 482, Map No. G5

CARR 477, Map No. G6

CARR 472, Map No. G7

CARR 507, Map No. G8

CARR 482

36 BOND STREET

circa 1885

private

Number 36 Bond Street is significant both in a strictly architectural sense and in its

relationship to Belle Grove Square and the buildings that surround that piece of

greenery (early community-planning). The house itself is an amalgamation of several

distinct periods and today is reminiscent of a turn of this century beachhouse, such as

one might find in Cape May. This feeling is enhanced by the heavy cloth awnings

that shelter the windows on the north and east, the house’s more exposed sides. From

the strictly architectural standpoint, the house is interesting as a superb example of

plasticity: the builder of the now principal facade took great liberties, creating voids

where there ought to be solids and solids where there ought to be voids. This is espe-

cially evident on the ground floor to the north where a recessed porch breaks the con-

tinuity of the facade wall, supplying a void beneath the large tower and gable that

rise above it to create a busy, but not hectic, roof line. The interest of this apparent

instability is heightened by the realization that the dimensions of the tower coincide

closely with those of the void beneath. There is a whimsical inclination to suppose

that a piece of the main floor has been hewn out and placed upon the roof.

CARR 477

WEST GREEN STREET AND PARK AVENUE

circa 1876

George W. Matthews House

Private

Double houses are not uncommon in Westminster, but this particular one transcends

the ordinary. It is composed of two equally important perpendicular sections, one

fronting Park Avenue and Belle Grove Square and the other fronting West Green

Street. The dichotomy serves this important intersection site very well: each building

reflects in its design the street that it looks on to. The one facing Green Street is older

and more conservative, as are the other buildings on that street, while the one facing

the park is gayer in spirit as befits a house that looks onto trees and fountains and

playing children.

The section of the building that faces Green Street is probably the older of the

two; it appears on the 1876 plat of the city, and George W. Matthews is listed as liv-

ing there in the 1881 City Directory.

CARR 472

LIBERTY STREET

circa 1881-1904

F. Shriver Company

Private

The several lots and buildings used by the B.F. Shriver Canning Company, canners

of fruits and vegetables, between 1881 and 1901 or 1904 are located on the west side

of Liberty Street about 100

’ south of the street’s intersection with Main Street. The

most obvious building on the site, popularly known as the “Old Stone House,” is a

seven-bay by two-bay, coarsed fieldstone pile nearly flush with the street. Its eastern

(principal) facade is unaltered on the second floor. There are two original doors to

the extreme north and south; these are half-glass, late-Victorian doors with massive

sills. The present main entrance door, is centrally located. Large plate-glass picture

windows enframed in brick flank the door and fill up most of the rest of the

ground floor.

CARR 507

36 LIBERTY STREET

before 1875

James Blizzard-Ephriam Lindsay House

private

Number 36 Liberty Street is among the best examples of the “Pennsylvania Farm

House” to be found in the city. It has appropriate form and volume, deep as well as

broad. Several other houses in the city certainly have the definite agrarian styling but

they do not have the requisite depth. Of special interest is the porch, which was built

in 1875 to resemble (apparently) the original porch on the Rinehart-Wantz House at

179 West Main Street, built some years earlier. In view of the fact that the earlier

porch has been replaced, a certain uniqueness may be ascribed to the porch here.

186

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Ma yland.

CARR 473

19 WEST GREEN STREET

circa 1875

private

Number 19 West Green Street is

one of the many buildings in the city that, while not

outstanding individually, may be outstanding as one member of a group. The win-

dow and door treatment and placement, the siting on the street and the decoration

(especially the carved trim) link it to scores of other structures in the city and to hun-

dreds of other structures in the area. It is, in fact, just its ubiquity that makes this

form important and allows it to create the architectural atmosphere for the area.

What might make the building unique is its mild Latin flavor, created by the

grape arbor that shelters the small flagstone terrace and by the pleasantly muddled

and crowded rear garden.

CARR 474

24-26 WEST GREEN STREET

circa 1875

private

This is one of the few original double houses on generally uncrowded West Green

Street, an area that developed in a far less intensive manner than Main Street. Each

half of the structure is a mirror image of the other. Each half is three-bays wide on

the south (principal) facade. The entrance doors are placed side by side in the center

of this facade. They are typical late-Victorian six-panel doors with enriched panels

(now sheltered by glass and aluminum storm doors) topped by a rectangular transom

and flanked by white wooden smooth pilasters. A large cornice tops the door and is

supported by seahorse-shaped pelleted brackets. The rest of the principal section of

each house consists of five double-hung sash, 2 over 2 windows (two on the ground

floor, three above).

CARR 475

WEST GREEN STREET

circa 1870

private

This house was built in two sections, a not infrequent occurrence in Westminster.

The main section is three stories tall, three-bays wide, and blind on its western side.

The principal facade has the entrance door as the eastern ground story bay. It is ap-

proached by two flights of wooden steps, which are simply railed. The door itself is

mid-Victorian with two long vertical panels and a row of six lights in the upper third.

The door is surrounded by side lights, by a rectangular transom, and is slightly

recessed. The whole is surrounded by plain white boards capped by a full cornice

supported by pelleted scroll brackets. The other bays on this facade are identical

double-hung sash windows with four-over-four panes. Windows have wooden

sills, three-course gauged flat arches, and louvered shutters. Fine corbelling

eases the transition between wall and roof on this and all other facades of the prin-

cipal section.

CARR 476

34 WEST GREEN STREET

circa 1885

Henry Morelock House

private

In scale, in proportion, and in feeling, the principal section of 34 West Green Street

is identical to its close neighbor, 30 West Green Street. This section is three-bays

wide, three-stories tall, and gable-roofed. Similarities continue down to such details

as the eaves’ brick corbelling, to the

4/4

paning of the windows, and to the door

decoration. One superficial difference is that, while Number 30 is painted,

Number 34 still displays it original unpainted brick. One interesting variation

that makes this building rare in the city, is that it has a

2½

-foot-tall watertable. The

top of the watertable, which rises above the coursed fieldstone foundation, slopes

into the main wall of the house via two rows of header bricks.

CARR 473, Map No.

CARR 474, Map No.

G10

CARR 475,

Map No. G11

CARR 476,

Map No. G12

Section G

187

CARR 480, Map No.

G13

CARR 486, Map No. G14

CARR 483, Map No. G15

CARR 551, Map No.

G16

CARR 480

13 PARK AVENUE

circa 1865, 1885

private

Number 13 Park Avenue is a two sectioned house that still has a rectangular floor

plan reflecting two distinct periods of construction.

Each of the house’s two sections has about the same dimensions: the original sec-

tion is a five-course, common-bond brick pile two stories tall, two-bays deep, and

two-bays wide. (Only the northern and southern facades are exposed because

asbestos-shingled additions extend to the east and west.) These bays are irregularly

placed, double-hung sash windows with two-over-two panes; the windows are simply

enframed but have three-course, gauged, flat arches. Modern touches on the south

facade include small square casement windows.

CARR 486

17 PARK AVENUE

circa 1865; 1890

Stoner House

private

Number 17 Park Avenue is a fine example of how outside stylistic pressures influ-

enced those of modest means around the turn of the century. If the house had been

built a generation earlier, it would have been one of many with a smooth principal

facade. However, built as it was, when it was, the house writhes with the northern

two bays projecting about a foot to form a two-story bay window, surmonted by a

pedimented gable. The treatment of the gable with its imbricated shingles and small

bracketed stained glass window in the attic is also very lively.

CARR 483

19 PARK AVENUE

Emma J. Snyder House

late 19th century

private

The central section of this house with its regular bay placement and two-part plan

shows that the core was a typical product of the late nineteenth century. Later

owners of the building altered the design to make their own imprint. From the

asbestos shingles, to the picture window, to the Georgian Revival broken-pedimented

door surround, they followed the aesthetic demands of their eras. While one can eas-

ily criticize these later additions, it is important to remember that the people who put

in the picture windows were controlled by the same motivations as those who placed

the chimneys symmetrically: the urge to be fashionable.

CARR 551

21 PARK AVENUE

circa 1875

private

Although there is evidence to suggest that at least part of this house is one of the

original homes to front Belle Grove Square, its present appearance, a very pleasing

one, is a larger more Gothic Victorian building. The original building, like the pres-

ent one, fronts the south side of Park Avenue just beyond the southeast corner of

Belle Grove Square.

The present building is a five-bay pile. The principal facade has the five-bays

regularly placed on the second floor, all consisting of

2/2

simply enframed windows

within a white clapboard exterior. All windows except for the central window have

louvered shutters. The same pattern is repeated on the ground floor to the east

of the central glass and wood late Victorian door. The door has a simple rectangular

transom above. However, the two northern windows now sit in the

infill of the porch

that once stretched across the whole facade. The half of the porch that remains is

very elegant in its detail, which consists mostly of extremely finely sawed brackets fill-

ing the area between posts and porch roof. There is more finely carved decoration at

the roofs eaves, stretching across the roof line on the principal facade and to the

north and south. This consists of a band of strung-together French curves that runs

up into the very fashionable central Gothic peak. Within this Gothic peak is a stylish

quatrefoil attic window. The roof is covered in galvanized rolled tin and is broken to

the south by a flat capped brick chimney flush with the wall.

188

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

CARR 510. Map No.

SECTION H

CARR 510

47-47½

LIBERTY STREET

circa 1870

private

The building at

47-47½

Liberty Street is of interest in the way the front section

works with its neighbor, 49 Liberty Street. Although it could be argued that the rear

clapboard section is older, possibly dating from the early

1870s

the semi French

front section creates, with Number 49, a splendid ten-bay, three-story front on the

east side of Liberty Street. The two buildings have a very urban feeling in their

height and sense of density. It is possible that when they were built there was an an-

ticipation that this section of town would be densely developed because of the

closeness of the railroad tracks and the downtown business area.

CARR 511

49 LIBERTY STREET

circa 1870

John T. Lynch House

private

The main facade has five-bays on each of its three floors. The central ground story

bay is the entrance door, which is a many paned glass door surrounded by side lights

and a six-light transom. Plain pilasters flank the door and support, by means of scroll

brackets, a simple wooden cornice. The cornice between the second and third stories

is perhaps the house’s most interesting feature. There is a row of brick dentils and

hanging from them is a row of inverted brick Latin crosses. The use of ornamental

brickwork to enliven eaves of houses was a long-established custom in Westminster

and this house is second to none in its application. The crosses resemble those at 79

West Main Street (the Orendorff-Bare House) and probably date from the same era.

CARR 512

55 LIBERTY STREET

circa 1870

Abram Price House

private

“Lynch’s Addition,”which dates from the

187Os,

appears to have been laid out

(generally speaking) as a working class area in Westminster. The buildings, again

generally speaking, tend to be simpler than those found on Main Street. Thus it is

not surprising that the street is lined by of buildings that are not auante garde in style

but, rather, reflect the established traditions of the city. One such conservative struc-

ture is the house at 55 Liberty Street, probably built by the Price family shortly

before 1888. (See below, CARR 515.)

CARR 515

55½

LIBERTY STREET

circa 1890

Fuss House

private

Number

55½

Liberty Street is a simple two-bay house, consisting of traditional mid-

Atlantic vernacular features embellished by safely fashionable Second Empire

decoration. The narrow elongated nature of the house makes it particularly suc-

cessful in that, on the front, it passes very easily successful as a hotel de maison. The

title history of the lot goes back well into the 1860s but it is not of interest or relevance

until September 4, 1888, when Abram Price sold this narrow strip of land to John

Fuss for $100 (Carroll County Deed Book 58, Page 296). Price had already built the

adjoining house, 55 Liberty Street, for himself: a description of the lot sold to Fuss

refers to “Abram Price’s new brick house.”

We can assume that Fuss built this house

soon after purchasing the lot. He sold the house and lot 35 years later on March 31,

1923, to David Roull.

CARR 511, Map No. H2

CARR 512, Map No.

CARR 515, Map No. H4

Section H

189

CARR 514

57-57½

LIBERTY STREET

circa 1880

private

Individually, each half of Number

57-57½

Liberty Street would resemble the small

“Beaver House” on East Main Street and would be an even-bay rarity. The “Council

House” nature of the unit is lessened somewhat by the attention given to the simple

cornice that runs across the facade of both units. It consists of a white painted brick

row punctuated by brick dentils. One Samuel Schenthal acquired the land at the cor-

ner of Liberty and George Streets in the mid 1860s. On March 30, 1869 he sold the

land, called lots 4 and 5 of “Lynch’s Addition,”

to Ephriam Yingling for $150. Ying-

ling sold the lots to John E. Hornberger for $250 a year later; Hornberger sold them

to John H. Fuss. The building does not show on the 1876 plat of the city, but it is

listed in the 1881 City

Directory, which lists one John Getcher as living there. The

houses stayed in the Fuss family until 1926.

CARR 513,

Map No. H6

CARR 513

66 LIBERTY STREET

William Coon House

circa 1880

Built by William Coon, 66 Liberty Street is another example of the popular Vaux

Design Number Three. The house is stylistically connected with, to cite but two ex-

amples, the Francis Shriver House on West Main Street and the Orlando Reese

House on East Main Street. As is the case with most of the seemingly similar struc-

tures in the city, however, this house has certain idiosyncratic features, such as the

hipped-roof, two-story bay window and the very fine

art nouveau trim on the front

porch.

CARR 511

75 LIBERTY STREET

circa 1888

Reckell (Rickell) House-Biehl House

private

Number 75 Liberty Street is of interest because it departs gently and politely from

the standard vernacular form. Other houses built about the same time were making

departures also, but more raucously. Although the house does have the standard

three-bay width, nothing else about it is standard. It is taller and thinner, and makes

definite use of pedimented capped dormer windows to provide interest in the roof.

Furthermore, the attention devoted to the segmental arches over the principal

facade’s windows and doors and the employment of terra cotta and granite to enrich

it create the elegance that is somewhat foreign to the normal restrained appearance

CARR 522, Map No. H8

of Westminster’s dwellings.

CARR 522

10 EAST GREEN STREET

circa 1871

private

Number 10 East Green Street is a particularly fine example of the Pennsylvania ver-

nacular style. It displays all the characteristics of the style and executes them to near

perfection, even such details as the fine, but simple, ornamental brickwork at the

eaves. The presence of two doors on the principal facade is somewhat unusual for

Westminster, although it binds the house even more firmly to the larger vernacular

building style in which such even-bay, double-door structures are, if not the norm, at

least a powerful subclass (inspiring for identification the questionable pun, “Penn-

sylvania two-door”).

CARR 514, Map No. H5

CARR 511, Map No. H7

190

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

CARR 527

14 EAST GREEN STREET

circa 1875

private

The three-bay, two-story, rectangular-plan building at 14 East Green Street fronts

the south side of that street across from the Catholic Cemetery. The building, which

has recently received careful repair work, is a gem, replete with woodwork perhaps as

fine as any in the city. The entrance door, the eastern ground story bay, rests in an

elaborate surround. The door itself is a fairly plain many paned glass door, sur-

rounded by side lights and a wide, three-light rectangular transom. This is sur-

rounded by plain pilasters and topped by a heavy deep wooden cornice. The other

five bays on the principal facade are finely proportioned

6/6

double-hung sash win-

dows. All windows have wooden sills and, presumably when current work is com-

pleted, will be flanked (again) by louvered shutters; the marks of previous shutters

are still apparent on the stretcher bond brick wall.

CARR 529

16 EAST GREEN STREET

circa 1875

Harry Case House

private

Number 16 East Green Street has a sloping site and thus the height of the basement

and the exposure of the stone foundations varies with the contour of the lot. The

principal facade of the structure is flush with the sidewalk. It is five-bays wide and

two-and-a-half stories tall below a gable roof. Once covered in somewhat

deteriorated clapboarding the building has been restored recently. The large areas of

glass on the facade provide a very open feeling.

CARR 520

18 EAST GREEN STREET

circa 1875

Carr-Marks House

private

Number 18 East Green Street is an interesting building in itself, but becomes more

interesting when compared to its immediate neighbor to the west, Number 16. The

latter reflects the innovations allowed in the architecture of Westminster in the late-

mid 19th century, but Number 18 is more firmly planted in the “Pennsylvania

School,” Also of interest is the lack of frivolity found at Number 18: instead of the

swirling bargeboards and central gable, there is a dark, heavy, simply molded cor-

nice at the eaves. However, the glass-wood proportion is the same here as at Number

16, as are the interesting chimneys. Edward Lynch sold this lot, consisting of parts of

lot 9 and 10 of his addition, to James D. Carr for $128 on August 13, 1874 (Carroll

County Deed Book 44, Page 209). Carr must have soon built the house, as it is in-

dicated on the 1876 plat of the city, but apparently he used it for income, because

the 1881 City Directory lists one John Marks as living there.

CARR 528

22 EAST GREEN STREET

circa 1870

private

The small, square, two-story, three-bay brick building at 22 East Green Street is a

late version of the “British Cabin;” it sits on a low coursed fieldstone foundation. The

original section is four-square and straightforward. Windows and door are regularly

spaced on the principal facade. The British Cabin was an important dwelling style

when Westminster was first settled in the late 18th century (see 270-272 East Main

Street) and it is interesting to note that a century after the basic form was introduced

it was still being used.

CARR 531

26 EAST GREEN STREET

circa 1870

Caes (Case) House

private

This house, probably built by Paul Caes around 1870, is an interesting larger version

of its neighbor, 14 East Green Street. The same attention to detail found at Number

CARR 527, Map No. H9

CARR 529, Map No.

H10

CARR 520, Map No.

H11

CARR 528, Map No. H12

Section

191

CARR 531, Map No. H13

14 is present

in fact several of the same motifs reappear. Here they are in more

elaborate form though, as befits a larger house, five regularly placed bays wide

rather than Number 14’s three. The principal entrance door is a modern glass and

aluminum storm door within a slight recess. The door is surrounded by smooth white

pilasters and topped by an extremely interesting entablature

a very thick cornice

and a smooth broad architrave with a frieze consisting of a row of curiously carved

flat rosettes. Wildly scrolled brackets support the entablature and rise from the

center of the flanking pilasters.

CARR 526

30 EAST GREEN STREET

circa 1875

private

This is one of the many houses built by the Case (Kaes, Kase) family in “Lynch’s

Ad-

CARR 526, Map No. H14

dition.” The building is rather more conventional in form and detail than the others.

It has of two sections, a five-bay by two-bay gabled roofed front section and a full

length addition at the rear. The principal facade consists of five bays regularly

spaced on two floors.

SECTION I

CARR 525, Map No. I1

CARR 530, Map No. I2

CARR 525

111 EAST GREEN STREET

circa 1870

private

The original house at 111 East Green Street, as indicated on the 1876 plat of the city,

was a small two-sectioned house firmly planted within the local vernacular tradition.

The main section consisted of a small two-story, three-bay by two-bay gable roofed

piece. Later additions include a very large extension to the rear that fully encloses the

original.

CARR 530

115 EAST GREEN STREET

circa 1880

House of David Fowble

private

This circa 1880 house consists of two, two-story, gabled-roof perpendicular sections,

creating a T shape. The principal facade fronts Green Street but is set back a few feet

from the street, a rare occurrence. There is a strong axis created by a central ground

story entrance door and a Victorian peak in the roof directly above. The ground

story is shaded by a narrow shed roofed porch, supported by slender unfluted Doric

columns. The entrance door is a curious piece of Georgian revival. The door itself, a

many paned glass door, is set below a four-light fanlight with fluted Doric pilasters

on either side.

The other facades of the building continue the juxtaposing of classic and roman-

tic elements. The trim, for example, continues about all the eaves of the building,

yet, in contrast, are the posts on the two-tier side porch of the western facade. Two-

tier side-porches are common in the city but are usually less classical than the heavy

Doric columned one here.

Tall dripping evergreens surround the house adding to the romantic character of

the place, but, typically, in contrast to this is a very classic arbor in the rear garden

where grapes grow on fluted columns.

192

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Ma yland.

CARR 532

121 EAST GREEN STREET

circa 1890

Martha Worley House

private

Number 121 East Green Street, probably built by one Martha Worley, is an in-

teresting building in its own right as well as being a fine (possibly the finest)

decorated example of a popular late 19th century style. It, like its close relative 32

Bond Street, gives the impression of being a

rowhouse

without a row. There is a

group of buildings, 62-68 West Main Street, that resembles these isolated structures,

but here it is isolation that makes interest. Number 121 East Green Street is also

notable for the exceptionally fine wood decoration on its principal facade: the lacy

brackets that give the appearance of supporting the ground front porch, the atten-

tion given to the plaques that decorate the pseudo-frieze in the entablature, and the

string course that creates the space for the frieze between the entablature’s brackets.

These motifs are found elsewhere, but rarely show such care or intricacy.

CARR 523

137 EAST GREEN STREET

circa 1875

private

Green Street was laid out about a full century after Main Street, so it is not surprising

that, while its building forms are similar to those on Main Street, occasionally there

are great differences, or at least great variations on earlier themes. Number 137 East

Green Street, although basically attentive to local traditions, departs from the norm

in its siting as it is set back off the street. Otherwise the two-sectioned, three-bay by

two-bay, two-story building is standard except for the interesting curved trim of the

porch and the stained glass dormer windows on the principal facade.

CARR 517

154 EAST GREEN STREET

circa 1870

Colonel W.W.

Dallas House private

The Dallas House is notable its size and for its unity of form. It is impossible to

understand Westminster’s architectural history without understanding the Dallas

House: which, along with the Charles Reifsnider House on East Main Street,

definitely decided to abandon old traditions and follow styles of the wide world.

Although the Reifsnider House could be called a more interesting example of Second

Empire style, the Dallas House is certainly not dull. Such details as the four triple

chimneys rising from the flat roof, serve to create the house a landmark beyond the

attention its vast size would give it. The chimneys are an extremely unusual feature in

Westminster; even houses that were definitely conceived and thought of architec-

turally seem to be somewhat timid in their chimney treatment. Here the four triple

pots create a very picturesque skyline.

While the house is still interesting a century after it was built and after its use has

changed from single family residence to scholastic to apartments, its builder is no less

worth of comment. William W. Dallas, with his heiress wife, bought the brick mill

property near Taneytown from the Kephart family and, in 1855, built the house now

known by the name he gave it, “Trevanion.”

An 1896 newspaper piece on Dallas

gives an impassioned account of the financial setbacks suffered because of his having

sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War. The gist of it is that he sold Treva-

nion on “October 31, 1865 to James Shultz, for $36,000 and with his wife, Louise,

moved to Philadelphia where they remained three years, and with them went social

life at Trevanion. About 1869 they returned to Westminster where they built a fine

house and lived there until the first of May, 1873, then Mr. Dallas died

. . . Mrs.

Dallas lived there for some years

. . . until she sold the Westminster property and

went to Baltimore where she now lives in retirement of an honest and honored

widowhood, keeping green the memory of her cherished Will.”

CARR 532, Map No. I3

CARR 523, Map No. 14

CARR 517, Map No. I5

Section

193

CARR 521, Map No. I6

CARR 521

CARR 524,

Map No. I7

178 EAST GREEN STREET

circa 1870

Nusbaum-Buckingham House

private

It is often remarked that the early builders of homes in Westminster were basically an

agriculturally minded people, thinking of themselves more as country folk than city

dwellers. This must certainly have been true here at 178 East Green Street, one of the

earliest homes built on land subdivided by John C. Frizzell in the middle of the 19th

century. In fact, it and neighboring 180 East Green Street, are the only houses shown

on the subdivision plat except for Frizzell’s house,

“The Winchester Place.” Number

178, probably built for rental income, is a fine example of local building style in the

middle of the 19th century; it has the requisite dimensions, a pleasant

simply-

decorated front porch, and a two-tier side porch.

CARR 524

182 EAST GREEN STREET

circa 1860

Hayden-Taylor House

private

The Hayden-Taylor House is a pleasant representative of the common vernacular

type found also, for example, at 146 West Main Street. This style broke the firm pat-

tern of placing a gable roof parallel with the street and instead placed the roof line

perpendicular to the street. The reasons for this are somewhat unclear; one would

expect that a narrow lot might dictate such a move, but the lot at Number 178 is

identical to size of its neighbor at Number 182, yet the neighbor’s roof is parallel to

the street. Whatever the reason, this occasional realignment of the roof as at Number

182 adds variety to the streetscape. The house is also typical of a type in its trim, as

the leaf shaped eaves decoration had been a very popular pattern in the middle and

late 19th century. The present owners, Civil War buffs, suggest that General J.E.B.

Stuart had tea in the house. This event would have occurred in 1862 or ‘63 when

Confederate troops passed through town. If he did, and there are no documents to

disapprove it, then the house would have a certain military romance about it. The

early title history of the place is confusing; the brick section of the house is clearly in-

dicated on the 1876 plat of the city but the first mention of it in the Land Records is

on January 14, 1880, when John C. Frizzell and others sold it to Edward Lynch.

CARR 563

186 EAST GREEN STREET

circa 1885

Bond-Ames-Pullen House

private

This eminently decent house was probably built as rental property by James A.C.

Bond (local lawyer, later judge) around 1885. Bond purchased the lot from John C.

Frizzell’s creditors in 1881 and by 1887 one “Margaret C. Ames” was listed as living at

this address. The frame house keeps the basic vernacular form firmly intact but adds

fashionable late-19th century touches, such as a deep front porch with turned “ship’s

wheel” decorations at the top of the porch’s columns.

CARR 554

190 EAST GREEN STREET

circa 1885

George Frank Beaver House

private

George F. (also called “G. Frank’) Beaver bought lot 5 of “Frizzell’s Addition” in

1881 for $197.50. Soon thereafter, he must have built the present house, because he

is listed as living there in the 1887 city directory. Unfortunately for him, he defaulted

on a Deed of Trust a year later and his creditors sold the place in 1888 for $2050 (a

respectable price) to John L. Reifsnider, who, with others, held it in trust as rental

property for various descendants of David Shriver.

The house is a more compact contemporary of 21 Park Avenue. It is a placid ex-

ample of how late 19th century builders attached various popular features (here a

Gothic peak dormer window and a deep front porch complete with spindle band) to

the basic three-bay two-sectioned Pennsylvania farmhouse that had dominated the

area’s building for a century. In addition, this house works as part of a unit with its

three neighbors to the east, (186, 182, and 178 East Green Street). These structures

CARR 563, Map No. I8

CARR 554, Map No. I9

194

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Ma yland.

present a remarkably unified and unspoiled grouping of the type of frame house that

appealed to the conservative souls of successful middle-class men of the 1880s and

’90s.

CARR 518

194 and 196 EAST GREEN STREET

Milton Reifsnider-W.L.

Seabrook

House

circa 1880

The significance of the two houses at 194 and 196 East Green Street is two-fold. First,

they are fine examples of the L-shaped house that was very popular in the area dur-

ing the late 19th century. The porches on each house display fine typical woodwork:

there are denticulated cornices on both, lazy brackets are on Number 194, and

bowed wood trim running from pillar to pillar is to be found on Number 196’s porch.

In trim, in plan, and in volume the houses are fimly within this popular building pat-

tern. The houses, however, are of further interest for the way they are sited and the

way they form images of each other. Whether or not this was intended (it almost

seems that it would have to have been), the effect today is quite interesting.

Neither house is shown on the 1876 plat of the city but both are listed in the 1881

City Directory.

CARR 542

EAST GREEN STREET circa 1800; 1889

Winchester House

private

Much rumor and speculation surround the “Old Winchester Mansion.” Reports vary

widely and wildly but it seems reasonably certain that it was built by the heirs of

William Winchester, founder of Westminster, around 1800 on a ten acre hilltop

estate a few hundred yards south of the west end of his original town. This house was

a two-and-a-half story, five-bay, gable-roofed Georgian building, but this has long

been obscured by many alterations. There are several reasons to believe that such was

the original appearance: the Winchesters were a sophisticated family and privy to the

Georgian-Federal style that would have then been unknown in Westminster, but

popular in older regions of the country; further, examination of the east facade

reveals window placement that would likely have appeared on a Georgian-Federal

mansion suitable to the family of the town founder. According to a 1910

Democratic

Advocate

story about Carroll County, in 1889 the “roomy brick structure” that was

“for many years the finest residence in this part of the state” was remodeled, en-

larged, and turned into a summer resort run by the Misses Wroth. There were cot-

tages for children, a dance hall, croquet grounds, tennis courts, and a fine orchard

to supply fresh fruits. It is rumored that Wallis Warfield Simpson was once a guest. It

has since been remodeled again and now serves as an apartment building.

SECTION J

CARR 509

22 NORTH COURT STREET

circa 1870

Gernand-Clemson House

private

Although the Gernand-Clemson House is now covered in aluminum siding and

altered by the presence of later additions, doors, and windows, enough of the orig-

inal fabric is present to make it easy to visualize the house’s original appearance. It

had a fine frame five-bay by two-bay main section with a small L off of the northwest

corner. The main facade is still given interest by the delicate pendanted brackets that

support the denticulated cornice. The house has had legal associations continuing to

the present day. When a residence, the owner’s law office was entered, according to

his daughter, from Winter’s Alley on the South side. A former owner has noted that

the northwest boundary stone of the original town of Westminster was located in the

rear garden of the building. The garden, and the marker, have since been paved

over.

CARR 518,Map No. I10

CARR 542, Map No. I11

CARR 509, Map No. J1

Section

195

CARR 471, Map No. J2

CARR 571, Map No. J3

CARR 471

NORTH COURT STREET

circa 1840

Bennett-Parke House

private

The five-bay by two-bay Flemish bond brick building now used by the Ascension

Church as a rectory, is a stellar example of the local style of building. The principal

(west) facade’s central ground story entrance has a fine Georgian eight-panel door

that seems to be original down to its hardware. The door, resting above three brick

steps and a granite sill, is flanked by fine turned pilasters and six side lights and is

topped by a seven-light transom. The door surround consists of smooth squared

pilasters and a full three-part cornice, the architrave of which emboldened by re-

cessed enriched panels. All windows on this facade are regularly placed: windows

have

6/6

panes, white wooden sills and lintels, and black louvered shutters, creating

an impressive appearance.

This former residence of Judge F. Neal Parke is significant in a variety of ways:

both as a building in its own right and for those who lived in it. Its architectural

significance in Westminster is great. It has been stressed several times that the city

was, in its early years, firmly planted in a Pennsylvania building tradition, that its

buildings were merely cogs in this great system. However, there is an occasional

building in the city that, while a part of this whole, is, by virture of detail, propor-

tion, and material, notable as an individual artistic expression. The Bennett-Parke

House is one of these. The precision of its Flemish bond brick, the fine window treat-

ment (including lintels, sills, and shutters), the fine massive chimneys, the

still-

standing original outbuildings, the fine cornice, and the very sophisticated principal

entrance door,

all make the building superb. Furthermore, this crisp

semi-

vernacular pile is a striking counterpoint to the Gothic form of the church’s other

buildings.

CARR 571

NORTH COURT STREET circa 1844

Ascension Episcopal Church private

The religion of the earliest settlers in the Westminster area tended to be either Ger-

manic in origin, such as Lutheran and Brethren, or Roman Catholic and Methodist.

But in 1842 the Reverend Hillhouse Buel began to organize, with the help of the

VanBibbers

of “Avondale,”

the area’s first Protestant Episcopal congregation.

Robert Carey Long of Baltimore designed the grey stone restrained Gothic Church,

one of the landmarks in Westminster; the building was consecrated on Ascension

Day 1846.

At the rear of the church is a small exquisite cemetery containing, among other

early graves, that of Leigh Master, who ran an early iron furnace near the city, and

who also introduced the English Daisy to this country. The cemetery shown in the

photograph is the larger, and more distant, Westminster Cemetery.

CARR 464, Map No.

CARR 464

30 NORTH COURT STREET circa 1870

Ascension Episcopal Church Chapel

private

In 1961 the Ascension Episcopal Church Chapel was converted from a place of wor-

ship into a private residence. The deeply-pitched roof has gable ends to the east and

west. The building is laid in five-course, common-bond brick whose pleasant muted

rose colors work well with the pale tones of the shingle roof and the pale olive green of

the wooden trim (window enframement, etc.). Originally, a small four-sided belfry

rose on stilts above the north (principal) facade at the gable’s peak.

A former owner and her late brother divided the space to meet the needs of

20th century domestic living, but did not alter the basic feeling of the original struc-

ture. The romantic, small-scale gardens they built aid in maintaining the place’s pic-

turesque nature.

196

Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

CARR 466

34 COURT PLACE

circa 1830; 1875

Charles Roberts House

private

The Roberts- Woods-Adams House is significant in Westminster as a superb building

and as a key element in Court Square. Although there is evidence to suggest that a

building occupied this site as early as 1830, the present structure dates from a

generation later. Charles Roberts bought a part of this large lot from Lydia Kelly on

August 2, 1875 for $500. Roberts was a prominent lawyer and later judge of the Cir-

cuit Court. He was also active in several local organizations, such as the Union Na-

tional Bank and the Forest and Stream Club, as well as having been active in the

Telephone Company’s early history here.

It was no doubt Roberts who either built the entire present structure or who ex-

panded the older building into the present form. Whichever he did, the result was

superb; his house was, and to some degree still is, considered a local “showpiece.” To

achieve his effect, he abandoned the axial quality of most of the city’s early dwell-

ings, placing his entrance door to one side. He also abandoned the city’s fondness for

the gable roof and installed a mansard, following fashions of the Great World rather

than the dictates of the local vernacular tradition. In doing so, Roberts was among

the first to attempt to introduce cosmopolitan elements into the city’s building

pattern.

Interior details are exemplary, including elaborately wrought radiators, swirling

cast brass hardware, and a warming oven built into the dining room radiator. There

is equally fine interior woodwork, at least on the first two stories. The 23 rooms in the

house are extremely irregularly laid out, and many still have the fine mid-Victorian

fireplaces.

CARR 465

35 COURT PLACE circa 1876

Ascension Episcopal Rectory private

The Old Ascension Episcopal Rectory sits at the point where Court Street fans out to

become Court Square. The house is basically L-shaped, a popular style here in the

late 19th century, with such fashionable deviations as a three-story, mansard roofed

tower at the corner of the L. The east front of the building, facing Court Street,

shows

a three-bay extension to the north with the gable end of the L facing the street.

Originally a porch was strung across the front, but the porch is now filled in and used

for offices. The door is in the center of the facade (a concession to the demands for

symmetry); it is a double door of many panels below a fine stained glass transom.

Smooth pilasters flank the door, and scrolled pelleted brackets flank the transom.

CARR 460

45 COURT PLACE

circa 1865

Kelly-McIntire

House

private

Much simpler in plan and scale than its neighbor the Roberts-Adams House, 45

North Court Place is one of many houses in Westminster that has undergone serious

alteration of its fabric. This is now, basically, a three-bay house with a definite cen-

tral axis. The axis is formed on the ground floor by the entrance door, on the second

floor by a three-sided oriel window, and at the attic by a large pedimented gable.

The entrance door is a modern six-panel door surrounded by side lights and turned

columns. Although the present building is probably much altered from its

original

condition, its facades form an important part of the pleasantly unified Court

Square. The original log house was probably built between 1855 and 1865 by Lydia

Kelly, who owned all the land between the cemetery, the Court House, and the

Ascension Church, having purchased the tract from John K. Longwell on March 7,

1855 for $80 (Carroll County Deed Book 18, Page 151). The wording of a deed for an

off-conveyance dated 1865 suggests that 45 North Court Place could have been the

house of this “Lydia Kelly.”

CARR 466, Map No. J5

CARR 465, Map No. J6

CARR 460, Map No. J7

Section

197

CARR

468,

Map No. J8

CARR 468

49 COURT PLACE

Wampler House

circa 1865

private

The circa 1865 Wampler House presents many features that suggest how well this

building must have originally reflected the best features of Westminster’s archi-

tecture. Resting on a low coursed fieldstone foundation, the west facade looks out

to Court Square. The house’s usual three-bay, L-shape is created by two perpendicular

sections, each of which has a gable roof. The west (principal) facade has its entrance

door as the southern ground-story bay. The enriched door rests above three wooden

steps and is surrounded by a three-light transom and side lights. Smooth pilasters

flank the door and support a full denticulated entablature which is supported by

scroll brackets with delicately carved applique at their bases. The other five bays

of this facade are

6/6

windows placed three on the second floor and two on the ground

floor in a regular manner.

All windows have louvered shutters and wooden sills; those on the ground floor

have small, two-part, bracketed entablatures over them. The roof meets the wall by

means of a simple two-part entablature;this is supported by four scroll brackets

placed alternately with the windows. The tin roof is pierced to the north by a corbel-

capped chimney flush with the wall a few feet west of the roofs ridge.

CARR 558, Map No. J9

CARR 558

COURT SQUARE

circa 1838

Carroll County Court House

public

Carroll County was created in 1837 out of parts of Baltimore and Frederick Counties.

A year later, on June 13, 1838, Andrew Shriver laid the cornerstone for a new Court

House for the new County on land donated by Isaac Shriver and the heirs of David

Fisher. The building is an entirely local product: the architect, for example, was the

first Mayor of Westminster. Basically, the original building is firmly within the local

building tradition: it is a five-bay wide two story gable-roofed pile. Yet, as befits such

an important structure, it is more ambitious, being of larger scale, and employing

what must have been intended to be sophisticated details, such as a curiously

elongated Palladian window on the north facade.

Soon afterwards, the desire for sophistication and ennoblement was manifested

further by the addition of an Ionic-temple-like two story portico and an octagonal

cupola. Provincial aberrations crept into these later adornments to give the building

an endearing quality and help keep it from being just another Greek Revival county

court house.

CARR 469

51 NORTH COURT STREET

circa 1880

Fisher House

private

The circa 1880 Fisher House is, without doubt, an integral and basic part of Court

House Square. The principal facade, on its low fieldstone foundation, is covered, as

is the entire building, with white aluminum siding. This facade stretches four-bays

long along Court Place at the easterly end of Willis Street. The entrance door is the

second (from the south) bay. It is a modern, neo-Georgian, six-panel door

and rests below a narrow three-light transom. Plain unfluted pilasters flank the

door and support a pediment that is flush with the wall. The three other ground floor

bays are one-over-one, double-hung sash windows with white wooden sills and small

simple enframements. In the center of the facade, breaking the rolled-tin roof,

is a small, simple, Gothic-peaked, dormer window consisting of two small four-light

windows within an imbricated shingled field.

The early history of the lot now filled by the Fisher House and the old, soon-to-

be-altered County Office Building is mystery-shrouded. Nevertheless, there seems

clear evidence that in 1876 the lot was the scene of machine shops, blacksmith shops,

and the like owned by the Taylor Manufacturing Company, which gave the name

“Foundry Avenue” to the alley at the rear of the property, now called Ralph Street

Extended.

CARR 469, Map No. J10

CARR 557

NORTH COURT STREET

circa 1837

Old Jail

private

About 100 yards north of the Court House, Ephriam Swope and Thomas Durbin

built the Jail in 1837 for the newly created county at a cost of $4000. The Jail is

clearly within the vernacular style and is the standard dimensions: two-and-a-half

stories tall, and measuring five-bays by two-bays. A jail ought to be, or at least look,

invincible; Swope and Durbin achieved this by using the largest stones they could

find, especially the Stonehenge-size boulders that form the building’s quoins.

The jail now houses the Carroll County Detention Center.

CARR 540

WILLIS STREET DISTRICT

circa 1890s

public/private

Willis Street was originally part of the John K. Longwell Estate, “Emerald Hill.”

Beginning in the late 19th century, Longwell, and later his daughter, Sallie, began

selling lots around the Court House. From the beginning these lots were sold to late-

Victorian men of the city who erected on their tree shaded acre sites, commodious,

fine, somewhat rambling homes. These homes are evocative of a class that was

moderately affluent and sought comfort in a restrained way. Their restraint and con-

servatism fits in well with the city’s traditionalism. Dating from the 1890s were the

Holy Cross-Allender House (now destroyed), built as a summer house in the mid

1890s,

and the

Diffenbaugh-Weant

House. Both these houses, as well as the roughly

contemporaneous Myers House, 101 Willis Street, and the twin unit built by J.W.

Hering at 156-162 Willis Street, show a desire for dignified comfort. The desire has

lasted throughout the street’s 90-year history.

Willis Street can be viewed as an extension of Court House Square. This was the

area for 19th century local dignitaries to build in; it was characterized by the

traditionally-built homes of doctors, lawyers, and judges.

CARR 470

WILLIS AND COURT STREETS

Holy Cross-Allender House

circa 1890

public

The two-and-a-half story frame pile know as the “Allender” or “Holy Cross” House

sat on a 2/3 acre lot that slopes steeply to the southwest on Willis Street. The lot had

fine plantings of English boxwood and some of the area’s most venerable Ginko trees.

The house was built as a summer retreat by Miss Lucretia Van Bibber about 1890.

Miss Van Bibber offered her house to the Order of the Holy Cross as a memorial to

her niece in 1892. The Order took up residence and offered its first Mass on August 4

of that year to commemorate the Feast of St. Dominic. Priests from as far away as

Tennessee and England spent time at the house as the Order grew. Eventually, the

Order grew too large for the Westminster House and moved to its present location in

West Park, New York, but one of its historians wrote, “We never think of the old

Westminster days without a sense of gratitude to the good God who, among those

dear people, gave us so much of blessing, and showed us the way out of many prob-

lems. May He have them all, both living and departed, in His holy keeping.” After

the Order moved, the church sold the house as a private residence. Later it was used

as apartments until it was demolished in 1977. The site now accommodates a parking

lot and a park.

CARR 546

101 WILLIS STREET

circa 1910

Zepp-Myers House

private

The Zepp-Myers House is interesting architecturally in its gable-end-to-the street in-

novation. A fine Doric-posted porch shades the principal facade and terminates in

rLe

Duuazng

esrmznsrer

lvla

yiana.

CARR 557, Map No. J11

CARR 540, Map No.

J12

CARR 470, Map No. J13

Section

199

CARR 546, Map No.

J14

CARR 537, Map No. J15

CARR 538, Map No. J16

CARR 539, Map No. J17

octagonal pavilions at each end. Only one pavilion has a roof, which is on a line with

the gable roof of the main section of the house forming an

isosceles

triangle. A

similar interesting porch is to be found on the house at 112 East Green Street.

CARR 537

131 WILLIS STREET

late 19th century

Shriver-Babylon House

private

If “Terrace Hill,” built in 1873, was one era’s idea of a wealthy merchant’s suburban

villa, so the Shriver-Babylon House, built about 40 years later, was another’s. Loosely

associated with the Shingle Style school (the east facade is particularly fine in this

respect), the commodious green shingle pile sits easily on its hilltop lot of over one

acre. The house and lot are shaded by fine old oak trees. A pleasant informal rela-

tionship exists among house, terraces, plantings, and outbuildings: the terraces lead

naturally from the rambling house, via a wide porch, to the rambling well-planted

gardens.

CARR 538

156-162

WILLIS STREET

circa 1900

private

The double house at 156-162 Willis Street, is a rarity in Westminster. Built around

1900, probably for rental income, by Joshua W. Hering, the house is a nice, if late,

example of the Second Empire style. That does not make it special. It is also a very

large example of a double house, but that, too, does not make it unique. It is these

two features combined

use of high style, indeed of elegance, in the treatment of

the double house

that gives this structure its distinction.

The building is basically a cube, six-bays in depth and width and of approxi-

mately equal height to the top of its slate mansard roof. The entrance doors are on

opposite sides of the north facade and each is sheltered by a nearly identical small

wooden porch; the porches are simply balusterd and posted. The double entrance

doors have small rectangular transoms above. Between the doors are four (two for

each unit) double-hung sash windows with black louvered shutters. Windows are

simply enframed as are the six windows that stretch above. The black of the shutters,

with the dark grey of the slate roof, contrasts nicely with the white clapboard of the

building. Above are four regularly spaced key hole dormer windows in the mansard

roof. The windows have interesting carved side trim and round hoods that resemble

those found in the mansard roof of the Blizzard House at 295 East Main Street.

CARR 539

171 WILLIS STREET

circa 1885

A. Diffenbaugh-Weant House

private

The Diffenbaugh-Weant House is a large two-and-a-half story L-shaped house front-

ing Willis Street at the northeast corner of its intersection with Center Street. The

house, built largely of brick but with a full length frame two-story section to the rear,

was built by John Diffenbaugh, probably in the late 1880s. At first glance, the house

appears to be just another of the L-shaped houses that were popular in the city in the

late 19th century (such as the Orlando Reese House on East Main Street and the

Francis Shriver home on West Main Street). Closer examination reveals that the

house has details that make it unique in the area.

The house is interesting for the manner in which it takes a popular late 19th cen-

tury building form and adds unusual features to create a very individual statement.

These features, such as the heavy bulbous brick chimneys, the rhythmic brick frieze,

the shingled and glass rear sections,the fine use of stained glass were doubtless

thought to be features of elegance.

A barn-carriage house of exceptionally fine lines is found to the north towards the

rear of the property. The barn continues several of the themes begun on the main

200 Part II

The Building of Westminster in Maryland.

house: stretcher bond walls pierced by segmental arched, double-hung sash windows

enlivened by the same interesting brick frieze, slate roof, and cusped shingle dormer

ends. The well landscaped grounds continue the theme of elegant Victorian in-

dividuality begun on the house, a theme which is echoed even in the lawn furniture.

An especially noteworthy item is an intricately cast iron bench designed in

naturalistic forms of intertwined, writhing grape vines, leaves, and fruit.

CARR 570

LONGWELL

AVENUE circa 1917

The Armory

public

In 1917, at a time when the Military was still, apparently, thought of in romantic

terms, the spirit of Sir Walter Scott must have guided the Maryland National Guard

to put up this mock-castle, the fourth such structure in the state. The Westminster

Armory was designed by J. Ben Brown of Cambridge (Maryland) and built of Port

Deposit rubble granite.

CARR 545

LONGWELL

AVENUE

1842

“Emerald Hill”

City Hall

public

Any building used as the main city offices would be worthy of note for that reason

alone. However, Westminster City Hall is, for a variety of reasons, one of the two or

three most important buildings in the city and has been since it was built in 1842. As

a fine example of an early 19th century Pennsylvania farmhouse, it would be notable

for no other reason but its architecture. Its fine Rinehart mantels and wealth of other

details all indicate the striving of an educated mind to create a thing of beauty. In

this instance, the creator was one of the key figures in the history of Westminster and

Carroll County, John K. Longwell. According to J. Thomas

Scharf,

in his 1882

History

of Western Maryland,

“no man has been more closely identified with the

financial, political, and material history of Carroll County than Col. John K.

Longwell.” Longwell moved to Westminster in 1833 and established a newspaper

that had as its prime editorial function the creation of Carroll County, with

Westminster as its Seat. Among his later elected or appointed offices were: member

of the 1867 State Constitutional Convention, County Commissioner, author of the

charter of the Western Maryland Railroad, director of Union National Bank, and

president of the Baltimore and Reisterstown Turnpike.

The city purchased the estate, “Emerald Hill,” in 1939, and adapted the

residence into Westminster’s first City Hall.

CARR 572

22 LOCUST STREET circa 1945

Rock and Waterscapes Systems, Inc.

private

Built as a factory in the

1940s,

this is Westminster’s only example of the “Interna-

tional Style” of architecture. This style began in Europe in the 1920s and ’30s as

aresponse to modern advances in technology and developments in economics. In the

words of LeCorbusier, an innovator of this manner of building: “A new epoch has

begun

Industry, overwhelming us like a flood which rolls towards its destained

end, has furnished us with new tools adopted to this epoch

Absence of verbosity,

good arrangement, a single idea, daring and unity in construction, the use of

elementary shapes, a sane morality

the concrete piers of uniform section, the

flat vault of the ceilings, the standardized window-units, the solids, and the voids,

make up the architectural elements of the construction.”

CARR 541

Westminster High School/East Middle School

1936

public

By the mid

1930s,

it seems that era traditional Westminster had caught the Art-Deco

fever that was heating the rest of the nation. With the encouragement of the Federal

CARR 570, Map No. J18

CARR 545, Map No.

J19

CARR 572, Map No. J20

Section K 201

CARR 541, Map No. J21

Government through the WPA Program, a new high school was built in 1936,

replacing a 38-year-old structure which, according to a 1936 newspaper article,

“although improved and enlarged on several occasions has never been of adequate

size or arrangement to care for the needs of the growing school population.” The

same newspaper article, somewhat moist of eye, notes “so much for the old high

school, for already the students have said their farewells. They will not be so soon

forgotten though, for many a romance has culminated within its halls and

classrooms

. . . ”

One assumes that romances continued to “culminate” amidst the

Art-Deco of the new school.

CARR 574

30 Manchester Avenue

Groff-Zile-Dell House

circa 1895

private

CARR 574, Map No. J22

It seems reasonable to suppose that when Westminster was founded its greatest ac-

tivity was near this site at the east end of the town. Here Main Street met the roads to

Georgetown and York, which doubtless carried the bulk of whatever trade there was.

However, the city did not grow here. Instead it expanded to the west, as trade to

Baltimore surpassed the trade to the Potomac.Thus the land abutting the York

Road to the north of this once-busy intersection remained undeveloped, no doubt

distressing its speculative-minded owners.

By the 1880s and

’90s

those early owners’ hopes for the area were realized to some

extent as the land was annexed into the town, subdivided, and, finally, built on. The

houses that were built here along the York Road and Webster Street in Yingling’s

and Everhart’s Additions were generally modest. Perhaps these unassuming houses,

exemplified by the one built by the Groff family at what is now 30 Manchester Ave.

reflect the lessened expectations held for the area. Certainly the change in the once-

great trade route’s name from York Road to Manchester Road implies a certain

diminished importance: the road no longer was thought of as leading to a bustling

Pennsylvania city but, rather, to a snoozing Carroll County village.

SECTION K

CARR 575, Map No. K1

Uniontown Road

Early 19th century

Rinehart Tenant House

Rosenthal House

private

When Westminster expanded its western boundary in 1977, it took in large tracts of

what was once open farm land. Along with these fields came farmhouses, including

this interesting stone structure on Uniontown Road. The western half of the thick-

walled house certainly dates from well before 1860. Although it was probably a ten-

ant house on the large farm of William G. Rinehart, local sources suggest that at one

time it may have been used as a school.

After leaving the Rinehart-Wantz family, the farm and this house passed to the

B.F. Shriver Company in 1910. Since 1947 the house, separated from the farm, has

been a private residence.

CARR 575

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