(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.