When Pocomoke Was Young- A continuing weekly feature.

 

(Chapter flow:)

ITS ORIGIN AND TOWN LIMITS

TOWN LIMITS

GROWTH, CHANGE OF NAME, ETC.

MERCANTILE ASPECT

MANUFACTURING

TRADES ETC.

SHIPPING INTERESTS

EASTERN SHORE STEAMBOAT CO.

SHIP BUILDING ETC.

HOTELS, LIVERY STABLES, ETC.

PHYSICIANS

LAWYERS

POST OFFICE

PRINTING OFFICES

SOCIAL ASPECT, ETC.

MORAL ASPECT

TEMPERANCE CAUSE

SCHOOLS

CHURCHES

Note:  In duplicating this material for publishing on The Pocomoke Public Eye we have made minor adjustments to correct some of the spelling, punctuation, etc. We believe the errors were not in Rev. Murray's original writing but occurred in the process of formatting the material to a digital format for viewing online.

TOWN LIMITS. 

We will now proceed to consider the geographical 
position or town limits of the place. 

There were no incorporate lines encircling it then as we 
have now, so that I shall have to prescribe them for the 
town as it existed as late as 1820. As the Hill or Public 
Square was the center of the town, the reader will start 
with me from this place, and go out Front Street as far as 
the Bridge Causeway, or Colonel Merrill's property, thence 
take a straight course to the corner of Market and Second 
Streets, thence out Second to Willow Street, thence down 
Willow to the junction of Willow and Front Streets, thence 
on Front to the Hill or Public Square. 

These limits may be safely considered as the boundary 
lines of New Town as late as the above date. In order to 
have a more perfect view of the place, at this date, we will 
begin with a description of its County Wharf, Public 
Square, Streets and Houses. The County Wharf lies 
directly between Messrs. Clark, and Smullen & Brother's 
granaries, and is twenty-eight feet long. I have tried to 
find the date when this wharf was built, by having the 
record of Worcester and Somerset counties both searched, 
but have failed; the presumption is, however, that it's 
date reaches back to 1700, which is the date of the build- 
ing of the Tobacco Warehouse. The reader may now 
stand upon this wharf and contemplate the fact, that sixty 
years ago there was naught on either side of it, but bramble, 
tuckahoes and mud flats. It is true there was a shoal or 
canoe landing at the foot of Willow Street, more in the 
direction of Fontain's ice house, where we used to fasten 
our canoes, and also a landing at the old Shipyard: the 
same place that is used as a shipyard by James T. Young. 

The Public Square or Hill, as we used to call it, was 
sixty years ago, a hill of some prominence, but time has 
leveled it. It was then, as now, entirely surrounded by 
houses, though of a different character, while now they 
are all business houses ; then they were all family resi- 
dences, with one or two exceptions, Consequently the hill 
was the center of the town for business and social life. 

Here the men and boys would meet in the evenings and 
have their sports, plays and social pastimes; here, too, the 
merchants would pile their lumber, consisting of planks, 
laths, etc. Here, on this hill, I have witnessed many a 
hard fight, and many funny scenes. 

There were four principal streets, which were called 
roads, namely: Market Street, which was called Virginia 
road; Second Street, which was called Cedar Hall Road; 
Front Street, winding round into Linden Street and 
onward, was called the Snow Hill Road; and lastly, the 
old Ferry Road, which had its convergence in the Snow 
Hill Road, leading to the Hill or Public Square. There 
were two or three other streets, which were of minor 
importance, only one of which might be recognized as a 
public thorough-fare, and that was Willow Street. 

Within the limits of the town, there. were twenty-eight 
dwelling houses and seven or eight business houses com- 
prising stores and mechanical shops. Outside of those 
limits, there were five houses, occupied by families, which 
might be considered suburban residences. 

The old Methodist Episcopal Church that stood on the 
site of the present one, which now is in the heart of the 
town, was then in the suburbs, in full conformity with the 
old custom to put the Church out of town. 

The houses were mostly one story high, they were 
built out of good material, and in workmanlike order, for 
those days. Some were finished inside with beautiful 
Danel (?) work, others again were lathed and plastered, while 
many were never finished at all. 

In order to ascertain the population of the town, we 
may calculate five to a family, the probabilities of which 
the reader can determine, as well as myself, we have then 
'within its limits one hundred and forty-persons; if we 
include the five suburban families, on the same basis, we 
"have twenty-five more, making the aggregate one hundred 
and sixty-five persons living in New Town and its precincts 
as late as 1820. I have thus given a description of New 
Town, of its County Wharf, Public Square, Houses, 
Streets, and Town Limits, up to 1820, and shall close this 
part of the history by saying that the old Tobacco Ware- 
house, which had served its day during Colonial times, 
was, after the independence of the Colonies and the 
establishment of the currency of the Republic in dollars 
-and cents, left to decay, and having stood until about 1819 
was finally torn down. 

GROWTH, CHANGE OF NAME, ETC, 

Of the enlargement and general improvement of the 
town, from 1820 to the present time, (1882.) 

For the first two decades there was no advancement of 
any extent in this direction. 

From 1840 to i860, enterprise seemed to lay its hand 
upon New Town and claim it for its subject. New build- 
ings were erected, of modern taste, comprising store 
houses, dwelling houses, churches and an academy; some 
of them reaching out into the suburbs. For all the- 
country from the corner of Market and Second Streets, all 
around, was unoccupied save a few dwellings which were- 
scattering. 

Where the Protestant Episcopal and Methodist Pro- 
testant Churches now stand, together with all other - 
houses on the eastern side of Market Street, was a farm, 
and the old homestead was where Captain Isaac N. Veasey 
now lives. All the country on the south-west side of 
Market Street, save a few unimportant small dwellings,, 
was cultivated lots and woods. All the land from Littleton 
Duer's corner, the south-eastern side of Second Street, 
running to Cedar street, embracing the high school and 
beyond, was a field in which I have worked many a day, 
when a little boy. "hoeing corn." 

"In 1865, an act of incorporation was secured, and in it' 
full power and authority was given the Town Commis- 
sioners to widen and straighten old streets, and to lay out 
and construct new ones, and to perform such other acts 
as, in their judgment, might be required to secure the 
health, happiness and prosperity of the town." 

"At the first election held under this charter, the people 
chose C. C. Lloyd, W. S. C. Polk, Charles Marshall, 
Joseph Riley and W. J. Long, for Town Commissioners, 
all good and active men, who soon showed, by their acts, 
that they were intent on improvements." 

" They appointed a commission composed of Edward. 
S. Young, Dr. John L. Hearn, and William S. Dickinson, 
to make a survey of the town, and to straighten and widen 
the old streets and lay out several new ones. They per- 
formed their duty promptly and well, and soon the town 
began to assume something like proportion and regularity. 
No one, unacquainted with New Town at that period, 
can imagine the vast changes and improvements made by 
these acts." 

The above quotations I have taken from Dr. John T. B. 
McMaster's Centennial Address, delivered before the 
people of Pocomoke City, on the 4th of July, 1876. 
The reader will learn that the above commission 
extended the limits of New Town about three-fourths of a 
mile, in every direction, from the Public Square, save from 
its north-western course, as in that direction it is bounded 
by the Pocomoke river, upon whose southern side the 
town lies. 

From 1865 down to the present day, progress, unprece- 
dented by the past, has marked its course, so that now we 
have in New Town, or Pocomoke City, well laid out- 
streets, some of which are macadamized and contribute, 
in no little degree, to the enjoyment of an evening drive. 

There are within the limits of the corporation about two- 
hundred and twenty-five houses, comprising dwellings, 
store houses, mechanical shops, steam mills, churches, the- 
Clark house and high-school building, both of which are 
ornaments to the place. Indeed, the high-school building 
is of such a character as to call forth, in terms of praise,, 
the declaration from the Superintendent of Public Schools 
of Maryland, in an address, delivered before the citizens 
of New Town, that "it was the finest school building on 
the Eastern Shore of Maryland." 

The dwelling houses are of modern style, and are, with 
few exceptions, fine buildings, indeed, some of them are 
of a palatial character, while the churches, seven in num- 
ber, are all good buildings, and amply accommodate, with 
seats, the church going people of Pocomoke City. 

Before closing our history of New Town, in its buildings 
and general improvements, from its earliest history to the 
present, we are compelled to record the fact, that its old 
name is no more, it has passed away, together with its 
former inhabitants, and they all lie in the grave together. 

The reader will be informed that the citizens of the 
place, by an almost unanimous request, petitioned the 
Legislature of Maryland for a new name, setting forth in 
that petition their desire that it should be called Pocomoke 
City, and by an action of the General Assembly of Mary- 
land, held in 1878, it was so named. 

The credit of this change is due chiefly to the Rev. T. 
O. Ayres, who was the prime mover in the whole affair. 

Now we take rank with other names of modern date 
and with modern advancement, with a population of 
1500 inhabitants. 

CONTINUES NEXT SATURDAY HERE AT THE POCOMOKE PUBLIC EYE.