Herman Duffy

1927 ad

Herman Duffy (1887-1957) ran a drycleaning store in the old Stone Hotel.  He was married to Hattie Louvenia Parsons Duffy (1888-1987).  They had one son; Joseph William Duffy (1919-2009) who would move to Georgia and be a drycleaner presser.  They were one of the few Black families in Delmar who owned a business.  Herman Duffy was born in Wango, Maryland and started out as a waiter in the Stone Hotel. Hattie Duffy, besides working at the Twin Lantern restaurant and Penn Hotel, also ran the Duffy Restaurant in Delmar.  About 1945 Herman Duffy left the drycleaning trade and in his finally years was a school bus operator.  He and his son were on the board of trustees for the colored school in Delmar.

Mrs John Leonard 1933

1933 ad

John Henry Leonard worked for the railroad, his wife, Mattie, did sewing.

above back to front ; John Leonard, Mattie Maddox Leonard, Olevia Campbell Maddox (Mattie's mother)

She would later move into selling foundation and supports

1950 ad above

Pre 1960 memories frozen laundry on the line

Pre 1960 memories frozen laundry on the line

Paul Roswell of Delmar Shot While Driving Train 1960

Help The Delmar Caboose

Should you be interested in donating, our address is;

Delmar Historical and Arts Society, PO Box 551, Delmar, DE 19940

Jack Dempsey In Delmar

From the Bi-State Weekly Friday July 19, 1940

JACK DEMPSEY TO BE AT COLISEUM

Jack Dempsey, former heavyweight champion of the world, will appear as the headliner of the seven all-star amateur boxing bouts which have been scheduled by Johnny Bainbridge, promoter, at the Coliseum, one mile south of Delmar, tonight, (Friday). Dempsey will referee all seven bouts which will bring together in a return bout Buck Jones of Baltimore and Howard Hitchens of Salisbury.

Hitchens in the last bout held at the Coliseum won on a technical knockout over Jones in the last three seconds of the fifth and final round when the referee stopped the bout. Both are expected to weigh in at 170.

The six supporting bouts will bring together amateurs from Wilmington and Baltimore. In the semi-final a five round bout Leroy Mason of Baltimore will fight Mike Dimattel of Wilmington. Both will weigh 180 pounds.

The five supporting bouts will be three rounds affairs. Lou Brown of Baltimore, who has won the last three fights at the local area on knockout will fight Frank Martinzes of Wilmington; Charles Chummy of Baltimore will fight Paul Colzone of Wilmington; Frank Howath of Baltimore versus Gal Gileasleve of Wilmington; Jim Forrest of Baltimore versus Jim Willis of Wilmington and the opening bout will bring together Rossario Jeppi of Baltimore and Calvin White of Wilmington.

This is the second time that Dempsey has appeared on the Delmarva Peninsula since he lost the heavyweight crown to Tunney in 1927. several years ago he refereed at Pocomoke, Bainbridge is expecting a crowd of several thousand to witness the fights.

Sunday Dinner At Murray Brothers

Murray Brothers Restaurant existed from about 1948 to 1956 in one form or another.  It originally was run by Lee and Earl Murray and was located on Salisbury Boulevard (Rt13) and Market Street in Salisbury.   It was open 24 hours a day which had advantages and disadvantages.  Being on Rt13 it caught the all day – all night traffic going by - on the other hands you got the drunks coming in after the beer joints closed.   They may have advertised plenty of parking but their parking lot could only hold about six cars.  Up until 1963 parking was allowed on each side of Salisbury Boulevard and the businesses on RT13 didn’t have to have a parking lot or at least not a very large parking lot.  In 1953 Ralph Earl Murray bought his brother Lee out and ran the business by himself.  The named was changed to Murray Restaurant and later to Boulevard Restaurant. 

In 1956 it went out of business. Today the lot it was on is a parking lot

Murray Brothers is the odd shaped building with the "L" shape sign off the front of it and to the left of the gas station.  You will notice the cars parked on the RT13 bypass