The Blue Hen Special

 

The Blue Hen Special use to be in every Delmarva Parade it could get into.  

Delmar Centennial

 

above from August 26 1959 Dupont Seaford Plant newsletter "The Threadline"

Russell and Lala Walls

 

MR, AND MRS. WALLS RESIGN Mr. and Mrs. Russell Walls have resigned their positions here and have gone to Delmar, Delaware where they have opened a tea room. Mrs. Walls was matron of Lincoln for several years. Mr. Walls was Manager of the employees Club until he was forced to give up the position because of illness. He was employed in the Adult group at the time of his resignation. We are sending along our best wishes for success in their new work.

3 July 1936  Letchworth Village News New York

 

Russell Robert Walls (1908-19940 was the son of Vincent Harrington Walls and Nellie Hitchens.  Vincent Walls was a well-known Railroadman who started with the railroad in Georgetown and was transferred to Delmar.  Vincent and his family lived about a mile west of Delmar.  He was well known for many things, but in 1929 he shot a chicken theft named George Henry Price (1903-1946).  The shot destroyed Mr. Price’s leg, and it had to be amputated.   Mr. Price was the son of John D. Price and Virginia Price.  George Price had been arrested in1927for stealing chickens from Mrs. Polly A. Culver and Mr. Gardner L. Hastings. He was fined $500 and sent to the Sussex jail.

Even with his leg amputated, he continued to steal chickens, and in 1930 he was again arrested for stealing chickens from Mr. Hughey Pippins of near Delmar. He was given 18 months in Jail.  Mr. Price continued to live in Delmar.  He worked as kitchen help in various restaurants.  In 1946 his home on East street would catch fire, and he would die in the fire. 

above Russell Walls, Nellie Hitchens Walls and her son-in-law Charles King

Back to Russell Walls, Russell graduated from Delmar, Maryland High School in 1927 at the Elcora theater in Delmar. He would find work in New Jersey and, in 1928, would marry Miss Lala Lee  Messick (1905 -1984) of Allen, Maryland.  She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Messick.

above Lala Walls

Russell and Lala worked in large hospitals aimed toward the mentally and physically handicapped.  They would reside on-site at these facilities.  They worked at the Letchworth Village in New York, The Pilgrim State Hospital on Long Island (when it was built was the largest in the world at 10,000 beds,)  and the Philadelphia State Hospital (Byberry).

smith mills church

 

ALL-DAY SERVICES.

A Large Attendance at Smith's Mills Baptist Church Sunday.

Special Correspondence of Every Evening. Laurel. April 21. The annual all-day meeting at the old Baptist Church at Smith's Mill attracted an unusually large attendance Sunday.

Continuous services from 8 a. m. until 4 p. m. with dinner in the grove and sometimes the rite of baptism by immersion in the pond at Smith's Mills, are the features of the day's programme.

The Baptist meeting, as the services are familiarly called, is an event that far outclasses Easter among the ruralists of Western Sussex. New bonnets and new gowns are ordered to be ready for the Baptist meeting, and teams are at a premium for that occasion, often being engaged of the liverymen several weeks in advance of the date. The services are ordinary, and the old church so small that less than one-fourth of those who go find a plane inside its walls, and thus the larger portion pass the time sitting in their carriages or strolling about the old graveyard. Just what there is about that event that attracts such crowds nobody seems to know, except that it is custom, and each reoccurring year find a crowd of 1,500 to 2,500 persons visiting the old Baptist church some time during the day set apart for the all-day services.

The surroundings are anything but picturesque. The building is a dilapidated frame structure about 20 by 40 feet in size, without spire or belfry, and has more the appearance of a country Schoolhouse than a church. A few scrubby trees stand near, and are dignified with the title of the grove. The old burying ground is about an acre in extent., unkempt and overgrown with sedge grass and briars. The roads that converge at the church are sandy and dusty, but yet for the past 60 years the all-day meeting has brought together its annual assemblage, and the interest does not seem to abate.

Above from The News Journal (Delaware) 21 Apr 1903

Delmar Employees at Letchworth Village 1934

 

New Employees

Among the new employees who reported for duty during the month of August were Miss Grace Frantz, of Monongahela City, Pa.; Mrs. Theresa Heeney, of Brooklyn, N. Y.; Mrs. Lillie M. Nelson, of Delmar. Del.; Miss Frances Fish, of Belle Vernon, Pa.; Miss Doris M. Carter, of Monongahela City, Pa.; Miss Blanche C. Robinson, of Delmar, Del.; Mr. Lacey Figgs, of Delmar, Del.; Miss Lucy Van Tassell, of Beacon, N. Y.; Mrs. Adeline McCleary, of Donora, Pa.; Mr. John Thomas Wolfe, of Brooklyn,, N. Y.; Miss Alice Weiss, of Donora, Pa.; Miss Catherine Thompson, of Webster, Pa.; Miss Ruth Sloan, of California, Pa., and Miss Annie K. Grant, of Pittsburgh, Pa.

Above Village Views Newspaper - employee Social Club of Letchworth Village-  4 Sept 1934

Letchworth Village was a residential institution located in Rockland County New York.  It was built for the physically and mentally disabled of all ages.   Built in 1911 it was closed down by 1996 due to inadequate funding and improper care of the residents.  Geraldo Rivera did an expose of it in 1972.  With a 130 buildings it is popular with ghost hunters.  It had a number of Delmar people working at it at various times.

1929 The Onley Virginia Train Wreck

 

On the First of December in 1929, a New York, Philadelphia, and Norfolk  Train was traveling north for a one day excursion from Norfolk to New York City.  It was a ten cars train with 448 passengers plus the train crew; Edward C. Northam Engineer,  A. W. Hutchinson fireman, C. F. Cordry Conductor, Marion Calloway, a 43-year-old brakeman from Delmar, Maryland was filling in for Earl Chapman also of Delmar.  

The train, traveling at about 45 miles per hour, reached Onley, Virginia, about midnight, where it ran across a broken track, causing the third and fourth passenger car to derail and the following six cars to ram into them.  The engine and the first two passengers’ cars passed over the rail safely.  In the accident, Nine people died, and 24 were injured.  Marion Calloway, with Railroad police sergeant J. A. Marshall, passed through the second passenger car when it derailed, rolled over, and threw Calloway out the window as the train rolled over him.  All the Doctors in the area were called to the wreck to help people.  The all steel passenger cars helped prevent more injuries than what occurred. Notice in the ad above for the excursion train  "all steel equipment" is mentioned as a selling point. 

Many Navy people were on the train, and they helped pull people out and administered first aid.  Navy Commendations were given to Karl Fletcher Chenoweth, Charles Ludlow, Charles Joseph Coie. Albert David Memark, Lester Leroy Schertill, and Charles Kemper Black.  

For several days after the accident, thousands of people came to Onley as curiosity seekers.  Rail traffic was reestablished on the parallel track within two days.  Cape Charles and Delmar sent their wreck trains (special railcars with cranes and equipment designed to work on wrecked trains) to the accident.

Funeral services for Calloway were held on the 3rd.   His Wife was Susie Alifare Hastings Calloway. Their children were;  Marion Jr (1917-2007),  Martha Virginia (1918-2001), and William C. “Billy” (1920-2010). 

Marion Harland Calloway was buried in St Stephen cemetery.  

Beach - Cleary Wedding 1909

 Delmar, Md., Dec. 11. A pretty wedding took place at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. Beach yesterday, when their youngest daughter, Polly Irene, became the bride of Mr. John Milton Cleary, son of Mr. James E. Cleary. The bride was attended by Miss Eva Wilson, daughter of Rev. J. E. Wilson, of Laurel, as maid of honor. Mr. Bennie . L. Culver was best man. Rev. S. N. Pilchard officiated.

From The Baltimore Sun 12 Dec 1909