Thursday, March 26, 2015

TIME MACHINE ... This Sunday's Preview

1931.. Large fire at pier warehouse in Crisfield;  1900.. Worcester County negotiating for use of Ocean City railroad bridge for highway purposes;  1861.. Lower Eastern Shore being used to aid secessionists (original newspaper clip); 1884.. An Eastern Shore miser.- " No more curious or interesting character perhaps ever lived on the Eastern Shore..."; 

1960's.. Remember when the places where you bought gasoline were also the places that provided service for your vehicle? 
View a 1960's television commercial for a well known gasoline brand; it includes their classic jingle. 

It's this Sunday right here at The Pocomoke Public Eye!  

Do you have a local memory to share with PPE readers.. such as a big snow storm, a favorite school teacher, a local happening, something of interest your parents or grandparents told you about?  It can be just a line or two, or more if you wish. Send to tkforppe@yahoo.com and watch for it on a future TIME MACHINE posting!

Sunday, March 22, 2015

TIME MACHINE ... 1920, 1999, 1958, 1900, 1887, 1911.

"Friendliest Town On The Eastern Shore."  Our tradition runs deep.  Excerpt from a letter to the editor from a visitor to Newtown, (former name of Pocomoke City) published in the Baltimore Sun, April 28,1847.

This place (Newtown) is a pretty snug little village, containing about 500 clever and hospitable inhabitants; it has good wide streets, quite clear of that "eye sore," known mostly over the Peninsula by the name of "deep sand"; the houses, though built of frame, are generally built substantially and with some discretion and taste; there are two neat, new, and quite handsome frame churches in it; as for the merchants of the place, suffice it to state that they are very clever and hospitable.  F. Mezick, Esq., the landlord with whom I stopped, and his very obliging and jolly assistant, are richly deserving of a passing notice, for the good treatment and the extension of the many civilities to "the stranger."


(Reader-friendly viewing of news archives/historical archives material)



March, 1920
The Washington Post

CRISFIELD PRAYS FOR TAX RELIEF

Believes Bills Would Kill Seafood Industries- Public Services Are Need

Crisfield, Md., March 21.-  Public prayer services were held in all the churches of Crisfield today, the ministers praying for the deliverance of their people from the hardships which they claim would be placed upon them by bills now in the legislature, which provide for increased taxes and licenses on the different branches of the crab and oyster business.

For more than a week Crisfield has been alarmed by the prospect of what the majority of people say would be confiscatory  taxes on its one great industry- seafood.  Meetings of the protest have been held nightly.

The taxing measures are those which are backed in the legislature by the conservation commission and provide increased legislation fee on oysters, increased crabbers' license, increased oyster tongers' license and the placement of a shipment tax on hard and soft-shelled crabs. 

February, 1999
The Capital (Annapolis, Md.)

Tanker spills hundreds of gallons of gas

Salisbury- A pickup truck rammed into a gasoline tanker truck just outside Salisbury, spilling at least 1,500 gallons of gasoline onto the roadway and threatening the nearby Wicomico River, a state police spokesman said.

Police closed U.S. 50 yesterday just after the 6:30 p.m. accident, while crews tried to contain the gasoline, said Sgt. Fabian White of Maryland State Police Salisbury Barrack.

The roadway was reopened about 5:30 a.m. today.

The Wicomico River passes just a few hundred yards from the accident site west of Salisbury Sgt. White said. The spilled gasoline escaped down a storm drain before firefighters dumped sand over the drains with a back hoe.

The tanker driver was attempting to pull into a filling station at the time of the accident, but couldn't get the truck positioned correctly, Sgt. White said.

The driver of the pickup was hospitalized at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury. The tanker truck driver wasn't injured.

February, 1958
(The Salisbury Times)

Marva Theater Sold In Pocomoke City

POCOMOKE CITY-  Pocomoke City's Marva Theater has been sold to three Berlin residents, John T. Hudson, Alma T. Truitt and Calvin P. (Jack) Pruitt. 

The theater which had been under the ownership of Mrs. Della Bartlett and Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Garrison, also of Berlin, will continue to be operated by Dawson Clarke and Orville Mason.

Also included in the purchase was a store operated by George Reid, and a barber shop operated by Mervin Ward. 


February, 1900.. Hotel Pocomoke.



(From the pages of The Peninsula Enterprise)


December, 1887 (Time Machine archive)
(The Herald And Torch Light- Hagerstown, Md)

Snow Hill, Worcester County, was lighted for the first time on Wednesday night of last week with electric lights.  The work of wiring stores, etc., proceeded rapidly and the business portion of the town has been supplied with electric lights.   

1911..



Footnotes:

Postum was discontinued in 2007 but was back on grocery shelves in late 2012.

(Wikipedia)
Postum is a powdered roasted-grain beverage once popular as a coffee substitute. The caffeine-free beverage was created by Postum Cereal Company founder C. W. Post in 1895 and marketed as a healthful alternative to coffee. The Postum Cereal Company eventually became General Foods, which was bought by Kraft Foods. Post was a student of John Harvey Kellogg, who believed that caffeine was unhealthy.


Do you have a local memory to share with PPE readers.. such as a big snow storm, a favorite school teacher, a local happening, something of interest your parents or grandparents told you about?  It can be just a line or two, or more if you wish.  Send to tkforppe@yahoo.com and watch for it on a future TIME MACHINE posting!  



PPE remembers JMMB.