Brown's Garage

Last night at Mason Dixon Auction I acquired this advertising Ink Blotter for Brown's Garage. A few years back I had made a post on The Frank Brown Building. This ink blotter has a photo of the building in the first quarter of the 1900's when it was a car dealership for Ford.

The building is on First street about a half block in from State street. It is on the Maryland side of town and this is the second advertisement I have seen that gave the address of Brown's Garage as Delmar, Del. I don't know why.

The building has housed a number of different businesses over the years and like the house beside it has been added on to and covered up with various siding.

I am sure there is a number of people out there asking themselves what is an ink blotter? God that makes me feel old. Go here for that history and description

Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society News

From the Tasley Eastern Shore News

ONANCOCK -- The Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society, which was formed in 1957, has experienced some very interesting turns of events over the years. Now, as it approaches its sixth decade of existence, the society will host several concerts --free and open to the public -- in honor of one of its founding members, Amine Kellam.

Funded entirely by private donors, The Amine Kellam Music Series will be an opportunity to pay tribute to one of our Shore's most generous and honorable citizens and one of the Historical Society's most influential presences.

Though many great accomplishments on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and throughout the state can be attributed to Kellam due to her tireless efforts toward improving the environment, her contributions to the Historical Society during its formative years are significant.

As a founder, a member, a board president and now as an honorary member, her leadership, energy, generosity and persistence have left an indelible mark on this cultural institution. It is no doubt that her devotion to the society served as the catalyst for its growth and success. Kellam loved music and often hosted concerts at Ker Place when the society was just forming. This music series was created in her honor for all the work she has done.

The Amine Kellam Concert Series will kick off on Saturday at Ker Place with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra performing as well as setting up an instrument petting zoo for all members of the community. The next concert is April 1 with famed jazz talent Jae Sinnett of Norfolk playing with his ensemble. More concerts are planned and will be announced as their dates draw near.

1890 Special Census Delmar, Wicomico County

In 1890 a special Civil War Veterans and Widows Schedule was created, and enumerators asked whether a person had been a Union or Confederate soldier, sailor, or marine during the Civil War, or was a widow of such a person. I went thru and listed the below people, in the Wicomico County Part of the Census, who had a Delmar address.

Campbell, Charles H., Private, 9th Delaware infantry
White, James G., Private, 1st Delaware Infantry
West, Jacob, Private
Smith, John W., Colored
Parsons, Wm J., Private, 3rd Maryland Infantry
Melson,, Thomas I. S., Corporal, 9th Delaware Infantry
Downs, Joseph, Private, 1st Delaware Infantry
Bishop, Peter W., Private, Maryland Art. Colored Exempted
Parsons, Nathaniel, Private, 9th Maryland Infantry Colored
Wailes, Sandy W., Private, 19th Maryland
Truitt, Benjamin T., Private, 1st Maryland
Freeny, William, Private, 9th Maryland
Wilkins, James, Private, 2nd Maryland
Furey, John, Corporal, 7th reg. of cav.
Vincent, Peter W., Private, 1st Delaware
Melson, Thos Asbury, Sargent, 1st delaware
Bensing, Wm, Private, 58th Massachett
Farlow, Benjamin W., Private, 1st Del Inf.
Mitchell, George, Private, 19th Reg. C Vol.
Dashiell, George, Private, 9th Maryland

The Delmar 1929 Railroad Caboose

The Delmar 1929 Penna Railroad caboose arrived in June of 1976 in time for the Bicentennial. Like most things getting it here didn't happen by itself. It took the efforts of a number of people to make it happen. George Truitt and Grover Lecates were two. They had been trying for 20 years to get a caboose into Delmar to use as a Railroad Museum. In 1976 with the help of the Delmar Bicentennial Committee they were able to succeed in that dream. The caboose cost in 1976 $1,000 ($3,793 in 2009 dollars) and the money was raised by fundraising events and the sale of cookbooks. I came across one of those cookbooks at a flea market and snatched it up. Anyway, with that effort the caboose arrived in June of 1976 covered in plywood painted the yellow color of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. It also had some damage to it. When the plywood was remove the familiar red of the former Chesapeake and Ohio was still on the caboose. In 1976 the caboose was considered obsolete and parts to replace the damaged sections were hard to find, but the damage was repaired and the caboose was ready for the 1976 Bicentennial.

HAVE YOU PAID YOUR DUES FOR 2011?

Send your check to Delmar Historical and Arts Society
C/O Wilmington Trust Co.
38716 Sussex Highway
Delmar, Delaware 19940

$5.00 Individual Membership
$10.00 Institutional Membership
$2.50 Student and Senior (62 and Over)

Support from our members is the lifeblood of the Society. DHAS thrives because of Individual support from valued friends like you.

PLEASE RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP

The Nine Foot Road

In reading about local history one of the confusing things you come across is the name of streets and roads. Over time they change, and if you are not aware of what the same road was called in 2008, or 1950, or 1875 it can greatly add to your confusion and mislead you. Now we tend to think of roads as always being there and we may have an ideal that at one time they were just dirt but in American history roads and road systems are relatively new. With the wide spread use of the automobile/truck, roads in America developed between 1915 to 1930. There was another burst of road building in the 1950’s with the interstate highways but the main road building was in the early 1900’s.

The basic road width of that time was the nine-foot road. Thru out the United States there are roads still named the Nine-Foot Road and this tends to show the age in which they were originally built. In Delaware there are roads still named the Nine-Foot Road at Shaft Ox corners, Greenwood and somewhere around Newark. Altho we tend to be more familiar with the Nine-Foot road that runs between Shaft Ox Corner and Dagsboro, locally the Whitesville road was, until recently, called the Nine-Foot Road.

Like most of America, Delaware in the early 1900’s, recognized the need for roads, and road systems. Prior to this to travel a long distance by road you went to the next town and found the road leading to the next town after that, repeating this until you reached your destination. There were no road maps as we know them today. It also recognized that with the spread of the motor truck, locations that were not on a rail line could now have an important economy benefit to the state.

Between 1915 to 1925, Delaware built farm to market roads thru out the state. Not only did Delaware see the need for stronger roads due to the motor truck they realized that on a paved road a farmer could haul a load of five to six thousand pounds with a pair of mules as opposed to a two thousand pound load on a dirt road. An improved road also increased the value of the farms on the road, thusly increasing property taxes. Altho referred to as nine-foot roads they were for the most part a road with two nine foot wide lanes. One lane was paved and the other lane was dirt. The dirt lane was intended for use in dry weather. Some times we will see the old concrete section of a nine foot road off on the side of a “New” road after the “New” Road had been straighten or it’s course changed.



In 1957 a group of local residents went to the Delaware Highway Commission to complain about the Nine-Foot Road from Bacon to Gumboro. They wanted it widen and both lanes paved. It had, for the most, part, survived the last thirty years in it’s original one lane paved and one lane dirt condition.

As America started to build road systems the nine-foot road was the basic building block. When the Dixie Highway was built in 1918 it was a nine-foot brick paved road going from Chicago to Miami. Likewise for the Lincoln Highway which was the first highway to cross America. Today it seems strange but at the time most of the larger highways were paved with brick, although I can think of none in our area.

So how did the nine-foot width come about? It is a question I have found no clear cut answer to. From logic I would have to say the nine-foot width developed the same way railroad gauges developed. It was a common measurement for transportation roads. The Romans in their laws of the Twelve Tables specify that a road shall be 2.45 m (8 ft) wide where straight and 4.90 m (16 ft) where curved. In England, Henry the first decreed road wide enough for two carts or six armed knights side by side (two lane road). In a 1555 act cartways (single lane road) were required to be 8 foot wide. In America in the early 1800’s the National Road was constructed from Maryland to Illinois. It was eight foot wide. I can only guess that like food serving in America as time progressed road widths were supersized and became nine-foot in width instead of eight-foot. So that said please do not ask me about Sixty-Foot Road in Wicomico county.

Holloway Town

Holloway Town is a development built by Elijah (Lige) N. Holloway about 1925. It is located north of the Delmar Elementary school on the Maryland side of town. The original plat called for twenty lots on Spruce Street between what is now Pennsylvania Avenue (use to be Railroad Avenue) and Second Street.

The original plat is recorded in book JCK 140/261 at the Wicomico County Courthouse. The lot sizes were basic 50 ft by 150 ft. The homes that were built were of the 800 to 1000 sq ft size. I understand he initially built all the homes and used them as rental property before selling them around 1931.

Elijah Neimiah Holloway was born March 10, 1883. He was a very successful produce buyer and produce broker. He was the son of E. E. and Mary Covington Holloway. He was married first, in 1914 to Della Brown. She died in 1941. He married a second time to Pauline Elizabeth Elzey in 1943. They had a daughter Phyllis E. Holloway. He died at 75 on June 19, 1963 at Spring Hill Sanitarium and was buried at Parson's cemetery. Brothers and sisters were; Charles Edward Holloway, George Thomas (Tom) Holloway, Marion Holloway, Helen Ryall, Lena Walker, Lillie Mae Pruitt. His brother Charles had a plant nursery in town.