New Castle County Ambulance

AN AMBULANCE FOR NEW CASTLE COUNTY IN 1916 — If someone needed an ambulance outside the City before 1916, word had to be telephoned to the Phoenix Fire Company in Wilmington. But constant calls to the New Castle County Hospital and requests for service throughout rural New Castle County, caused the Phoenix Fire Company to report that they couldn’t take care of both the needs of Wilmington and the county.

Thus, the Trustees of the Poor purchased an eight-cylinder Cadillac ambulance. The Harris Engine Company provided the chassis and the Hoover Works of York, PA made the vehicle body. The New Castle County Hospital Ambulance went in service around December 5, 1916. Delaware City’s Hobron Collins served as the chauffeur for the unit stationed at Farnhurst..

The New Castle County Almshouse at Farnhurst, completed in 1884, had changed the name of the institution to the New Castle County Hospital in 1889.

The New Castle County Ambulance

Daughters of the American Revolution Presents Newark With an Ambulance

NEWARK — DAR PRESENTS AMBULANCE TO COLLEGE — Newark’s first ambulance, a gift from the Daughters of the American Revolution to the Delaware College, went in service on October 4, 1917.

Manufactured by the White Ambulance Company, it was the same type used by the government and the Red Cross. Students from the College served as attendants day and night and they received training from Dr. Steel, and Miss Beck, who was in charge of the College infirmary. Should the government happen to need the truck for war duty, the College agreed to hand it over.

The first week, the college ambulance corps answered two calls. The first was when Miss Emille Pennington, a teacher at the Newark Public School, was taken to the Delaware Hospital to undergo an operation. A few days later the corps transported Mrs. Elkton Adams to the Homeopathic Hospital in Wilmington. The chauffeur on that run was K. R. Bowen, while H. C. Cleaver served as the attendant.

DAR gifts ambulance to Newark

Harford County Lynching Memorial Committee Launches Blog

The Harford County Lynching Memorial Committee had prepared to hold a remembrance and soil collection event at the end of March , but the the pandemic disrupted outreach plans. And with community engagement put on hold for an undetermined period, the committee decided to launch a blog as a way to keep people informed about its research, plans and activities.

The committee was established in March 2019. The purpose of this group is to memorialize the victims of this difficult era in the County.

Here’s the link to the new weblog. https://harcomlmp.blogspot.com/

Wilmington Needed Ambulances When the Spanish Influenza Struck

As the City of Wilmington marshaled its resources for the deadly struggle to alleviate suffering during the pandemic of 1918, branches of local government rendered unwavering service combating the so-called Spanish Influenza.  One of the most challenged governmental operations, the ambulances, toiled under great strain. The division’s never-ending, tough work made even tougher by unprecedented “heart-breaking calls” left the crews reeling.

The City of Wilmington started contracting with the Phoenix Fire Company in 1877 to operate the emergency transport system.  Forty-one years later as the calendar turned to a tragic year, 1918, the Phoenix Ambulances struggled with a heavy workload, the City’s booming industries pushing everything to the limit to meet war demand.  Then once autumn arrived the virus crept into the City as doctors started reporting cases of a mysterious infection.  Some of these were so severe that they needed hospitalization.¹

Toward the end of September, a handful of emergency calls turned into an unimaginable influx.  Around the hospital at Ninth Street and Delaware Avenue, the ambulance gong clanged continuously night and day, the units hardly able to carry all the sick.  Consequently, people started pressing their automobiles into service, their mission being indicated by Red Cross flags, as they brought “men wrapped up in blankets to the hospital.”

The calls surpassed what the City could handle so a plea to help the overburdened system went out on October 5, asking for assistance to increase medical transportation capacity.

The article continues on Mike’s History blog

Wilmington Nurses Paid a Heavy Price Fighting the Pandemic of 1918

When the Spanish Influenza hit Delaware in 1918, the surge devastated Wilmington and overwhelmed city hospitals. With sickness everywhere that October, doctors and ambulances could not keep up.  Gongs rang continuously on the streets day and night as the emergency vehicles rushed the most critical cases to Homeopathic, Delaware, and Physicians’ and Surgeons’ hospitals.  This never-ending stream of sufferers quickly overloaded the City’s healthcare system.

Once the sickest arrived at the hospital, the medical providers on the frontline of caring for the stricken, the nurses, faced grim danger grappling with the invisible virus.  The war had already thinned their ranks, but now on the homefront, they battled an added enemy. Nevertheless, the exhausted professionals struggled around-the-clock in chaotic, unpredictable conditions, under extreme pressure once the surge walloped Wilmington.  All they could offer was palliative care and the little relief that the pharmaceuticals and therapies of the age might provide while realizing they too could become infected, no matter how careful they were.

A Plea to Help the Nurses

The first plea for help came from Dr. Robert E. Ellegood, president of the Wilmington Board of Health.  In this deteriorating situation, the City urgently needed nurses to care for the mounting caseload, he reported as the first two deadly weeks of October got painfully underway.  Anyone who could help in any conceivable way – trained or not — would be “a godsend by giving some exhausted nurse a chance to take a little rest.”

The article continues on Mike’s History Blog

Delaware Women Serve on Juries After Registering to Vote

Although women gained the right to vote in 1920, they had to push for equal rights when it came to jury duty. The new voting privilege did not automatically allow them to sit on juries or hold office in many places.  Here is the way the New York Times explained the matter: “Merely because she may help decide who shall be elected sheriff, court clerk, mayor or president it does not follow that she may also decide who is guilty of murder, arson, or wife-beating.” ¹.

The ladies were too delicate and too much needed in the home to be subjected to the unseemly business of the court, many argued.  After listening to shocking testimony, they would then have to discuss it with strange men behind closed doors, opponents noted.  Anti-suffragists asserted similar arguments during the long struggle for the franchise, raising the specter of women serving on juries as one of the many reasons for opposing votes for women.

A Wilmington newspaper sketched out the entitlements that came with the vote:  “Not only may women of Delaware be summoned for jury duty and be eligible for office holding in the event of ratification of the suffrage amendment is sustained, but they may be admitted to practice law at the bar of the state, the Evening Journal reported

Article Continues on Mike’s History Blog

Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Special Airs on Maryland Public Television.

For Chesapeake Bay Week, Maryland Public Television (MPT) will air its special report on the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal on April 22 at 9pm.

Here is the MPT preview about “The little-known but fascinating story of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, a critically-important 14-mile long trade route used extensively by international shipping. It’s called “Baltimore’s back door” because it’s a money-saving shortcut between the port of Baltimore and points north via the Atlantic Ocean.”

Archeological Society of Maryland Hosts Series of Lectures on Local Archeology

Archeological Society of the Northern Chesapeake Monthly Meeting October 2018
Date: SATURDAY, October 13, 2018
Time: Registration 8:30 – 9. Program 9 – 3pm. $10 registration includes lunch.
Location: St. John’s Episcopal Church, 114 N. Union Ave. Havre de Grace, MD.
(street parking on Union and Pennington Avenues)
Program: ASM Annual Meeting
Abstract/Preview: This will be the fourth time that ASNC has hosted the ASM Annual Meeting in Havre de Grace. The previous events were in 1995, 2001 and 2009 at the Decoy and Maritime Museums.

The program schedule for the current event begins with the President of ASM, Don Housley, conducting an overview of ASM activities, election of officers and the presentation of awards. Following an introduction by Dan Coates and a coffee break, ASNC members will be presenting a series of short digital reviews of Chapter projects, that are supported by table displays for further study. The morning program includes: The 1800 Susquehanna Canal, Newly Discovered Octoraro Petroglyphs, Metal Detecting Survey at the Burns Property, and Coulsontown’s Welsh Slate Miners.

Bill McIntyre will present the keynote “Frederick Stiner Memorial Lecture” covering the “1813 British Invasion of Havre de Grace”. Bill will be followed by an hour lunch break that includes an on-site sandwich bar, a tour of the 1809 Church, book sales and an opportunity to study the table displays.

The afternoon program will be a continuation of ASNC project briefs covering: Crown Stone Farm, The Pottery at St. Mary Anne’s, An Overview of ASNC Fieldwork, Harford County’s Jasper Quarry, Colonial Pipe Stem Dating, Restoration of the Harford Glen Ice House and A Listing of Local Museums.

Following the scheduled program, attendees will be encouraged to visit the War of 1812 diorama at the Havre de Grace Visitor Center just a block away.

 

Archeological Society of Maryland Hosts Lecture on Local Archeology

An Early Pottery at Saint Mary Anne’s in North East

March Lecture Sponsored by the Archeological Society the Northern  Chesapeake
Date: Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Time: Light refreshments at 6:30 pm, program at 7:00 pm, followed by a short
Chapter meeting.
Location: Historical Society of Cecil County, 135 E. Main St., Elkton, MD.

Program: “An Early Pottery at Saint Mary Anne’s – A Cemetery Discovery of No Grave Concern”. Jim Kotersky and Dan Coates.

Abstract/Preview: Clay-rich Cecil County, MD, attracted a number of potters and fire brick makers during the 19th century. One site in North East located between the church structure at St. Mary Anne’s and the North East River was home to kilns burning both pots and bricks. The predominate potter, J. B. Magee, hailed from Canada, but left his finger prints in clay along a trail from Vermont to Virginia. With a focus on his decade-long tenure in North East, discussion will include clay sources, pottery types and “pott-house” operations. Not only will some examples of his decorated stoneware be on display, but artifacts from a recent site unearthing will provide a better understanding of his wares and kiln stacking techniques.

For additional information on Dr. Koterski’s books click here. 

March Lecture Sponsored by the Archeological Society the Northern  Chesapeake
Date: Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Time: Light refreshments at 6:30 pm, program at 7:00 pm, followed by a short
Chapter meeting.
Location: Historical Society of Cecil County, 135 E. Main St., Elkton, MD.

Program: “An Early Pottery at Saint Mary Anne’s – A Cemetery Discovery of No Grave Concern”. Jim Kotersky and Dan Coates.

Abstract/Preview: Clay-rich Cecil County, MD, attracted a number of potters and fire brick makers during the 19th century. One site in North East located between the church structure at St. Mary Anne’s and the North East River was home to kilns burning both pots and bricks. The predominate potter, J. B. Magee, hailed from Canada, but left his finger prints in clay along a trail from Vermont to Virginia. With a focus on his decade-long tenure in North East, discussion will include clay sources, pottery types and “pott-house” operations. Not only will some examples of his decorated stoneware be on display, but artifacts from a recent site unearthing will provide a better understanding of his wares and kiln stacking techniques.

For additional information on Dr. Koterski’s books click here. 

 

Sudlersville Fire Engine Returns Home

From the Volunteer Trumpet

the newsletter of the Maryland State Firemen’s Association

Sudlersville Fire Engine No. 1, a 1927 American LaFrance, has occupied practically every corner of the Chesapeake Bay region over the course of 90 years.  But now this well-traveled firefighting machine has returned home, Christmas arrived early for members of the Sudlersville Volunteer Fire Company.  The sturdy unit made its return on October 14, 2017, as MSFA 2^nd VP Mike Faust, Chief Joseph Apple and Asst Chiefs Robert Nicholson and Chris Stant rolled their original engine “Francie” back into station 6.

Sudlersville’s Engine No. 1 in front of the fire station on March 18, 1939. The Driver is Edgar Maule.

Here’s the story of how the engine that has been away from home for 55-years returned to the community it protected for generations.  When the Sudlersville Volunteer Fire Company was organized in 1927, the members purchased their first engine, the 1927 American LaFrance.    Once the Elmire NY factory finished building it, the company shipped it by railroad to Sudlersville.  It was an exciting day at the town depot when the local freight train pulled in with the machine.  This tireless unit outlasted many newer vehicles, but finally the time came to relieve it of duty so it was put up for sale in 1962.

Lyle Smith, a member of the Old Dominion Historical Fire Society (ODHFS), discovered the rusty, timeworn vehicle in Rising Sun in 1985.  He bought the aging truck, hauling it to his home in Hampton VA, where he began restoration work.  After Mr. Smith passed away in 1991, Michael French, purchased it from Mrs. Smith.  While making the arrangements, she showed Mike “the factory delivery photo,’ which initiated the reconnection with the Sudlersville company.

Shortly after that, Mr. French called the Sudlersville firehouse located in Queen Anne’s County, seeking historical information on the unit.  He spoke with a member Kurt Wise who was “momentarily taken aback that the vehicle was still in existence and undergoing restoration in Hampton,” he recalled.  Mr. Wise expressed a great interest, saying the members would want it back at the Sudlersville Station if there was ever an opportunity.

Restoration continued over the years until the work was practically done.  At that point, Mr. French concluded that “Even a beautiful fire engine, in a garage makes for very dull company after restoration. It’s the sharing with people through parades, car shows, church events, and even terrorizing the neighborhood that brings the fire engine to life.”

In September 2017, Mr. French was contacted by a Past President of Sudlersville and the current 2nd VP of the MSFA Michael Faust about the truck.  He had been looking for the truck hoping to reconnect with the current owner to discuss having the truck available for special events and the company’s 100th Anniversary in 1927.

The first stop was to speak with Mr. Wise but he had lost the owners contact information due to a computer issue.  The only lead VP Faust had was from two younger members, William Davis and Justin Skinner.  They were looking for the vehicle and had located a picture of the truck from a 2006 car show in Hampton, VA but they did not know how to go about locating the owner.  VP Faust used this information and some new facts he found to track down Mr. French through a contact he had with the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA).  The AACA held the event in 2006 and luckily had a way to contact Mr. French.

Francie participated in the 2002 Fort Monroe Care Show.

When the two men spoke, Mr. French explained that “Francie” was currently in his garage being semi-retired.  VP Faust then told him that he could not officially speak for the fire company but he and several members would love to have our first engine back and if he ever decided to sell it please put Sudlersville at the top of the list.  Mr. French simply asked if we would take as good of care of her as he did to which VP Faust replied “probably better.”  VP Faust explained that he was a fourth generation firefighter in Sudlersville and that his Great Grandfather was the town’s first Chief and it was very important to him personally that the truck find its way home.

Pictured left to right- Chief Joseph Apple, Asst Chief (and head mechanic) Chris Stant, (our hero) Michael French, Past President Michael Faust, and Asst Chief Robert Nicholson III

Mr. French, after reading in fire engine magazines “heart-warming stories of how beloved fire engines made dramatic reunions years later with stations that they proudly served as the veteran firemen remember caring for these vehicles,” decided the time had arrived to now have this rich opportunity and donated the engine back to Sudlersville.  “The realization hit like a ton of bricks that Lyle Smith and I were entrusted as temporary caretakers of a very special piece of antique motor fire apparatus that must be shared with others,” Mr. French remarked.

Thus, after 90 years, Sudlersville # 1, known as Francie, was reunited at station 6.  VP Faust noted that nearly 70 people were on hand for the grand reunion including several members that were members when it was in service.   Plans now are for a little more “spiffing up for the station’s 100th anniversary in 2027,” VP Faust notes.  It is also expected to lead the Maryland State Firemen’s Association Convention Parade in 2019 when Mike Faust becomes the first member of the Sudlersville Fire Company to serve as the president of the MSFA.

“I’ll be eternally grateful for a 25 year “love affair and caretaker calling” with this 1927 American LaFrance Fire Engine from Elmira, New York, # 7445, that I affectionately named “Francie.”  I’ve heard the quote that one antique fire engine is too much but three are not enough.  Francie was “just right”  and will always be a forever friend.  I have thoroughly enjoyed the “deep dive” into the exciting realm of antique fire engines and especially the wonderful friendships with the people who also love, care for, and appreciate them,” Mr. French concluded.

Editor’s Note — This article is from the Dec. Issue of the Volunteer Trumpet, the official newsletter of the Maryland State Firemen’s Association.  Information for this piece was provided by Mike French and Mike Faust.

Pictured left to right are three life members that were active when Francie was in service and they are still active today- Henry Engrem, Dickie Walls, and Theodore Kimble