TIME MACHINE ... On The Road- The Early Years!

May, 1902

(Ledger Enterprise- Pocomoke City)

(Article referencing road improvements in some areas of the Eastern Shore)

"As yet Worcester County has not taken any steps in this direction, and the time has come when we must do something or our neighbors will have much better roads than we. What better plan could be adopted by our county authorities than the building of a road from Pocomoke City to Snow Hill on scientific principles."

　

June, 1914

(The Daily News- Frederick, Md.)

Controversy Over Road

The State Roads Commission, with Governor Goldsborough present, heard rival delegations from Somerset and Worcester counties on the route of the highway southward from Westover, about six miles south of Princess Anne, Somerset County, to which point the highway has already been improved. The Worcester delegates want the road diverted from Westover to Pocomoke City and thence to the Virginia line, to connect at that point with a road which Virginia will build through Accomac and Northampton counties. The Somerset people argued for the extension of the road southward from Westover to Crisfield.

The Commission did not announce a decision on the controversy. The opinion prevailed, however, that the advocates of the Pocomoke City route will win.

Footnote: Future TIME MACHINE postings will include "On The Road" updates from the 1920's through the 1950's.

　

1900

When was the first automobile driven on Pocomoke City streets? Perhaps it was sometime during the first decade of the 1900's for it is said that Salisbury may have had up to a dozen cars on its streets by 1910. The first car to be driven in Salisbury was around 1900 and the driver and owner was Billy Edison, son of famed inventor Thomas Alva Edison. The young Edison had lived in Salisbury for a while and married a young lady from Salisbury. But he encountered the problem of tires on his Stanley Steamer being cut while negotiating Salisbury's sandy oyster shell based streets of that era. Years later when Edison returned to the area in an expensive Pierce Arrow he found that attempting to drive the vehicle on country roads was too hazardous an endeavor. He decided not to attempt a return trip from the country back to Salisbury; he sold the vehicle.　

　

July, 1958

Advertised nationally as America's best automotive investment, the Studebaker line could be seen at J. Scott Porter Motors, on the west side of Willow Street at Front Street in Pocomoke City. A new Studebaker Scotsman sedan was priced a $1,795.

　

ACROSS THE USA

May, 1959

(The Associated Press)

Amid Promises And Mystery

GM Joins Ford And Chrysler In 'Smaller' Car Parade

WILMINGTON, DEL. (AP) - General Motors announced yesterday it will have a "smaller and lighter car" called the Corvair in its 1960 model line. A similar auto will be built by GM's affiliate in Canada.

Frederic G. Donner, chairman of the GM board and its chief executive officer, told more than 2,600 stockholders at the firm's annual meeting here that the new car- to be introduced this fall- will contain features "new to the American automotive industry."

Retaining an air of mystery around the Corvair, Donner declined to disclose any details. It has been reported, however, that the smaller, more compact Chevrolet will have a rear aluminum engine.

The GM announcement followed by a day disclosures by the Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Corp. that they planned to build smaller American cars to meet competition of European imports and American Motors' Rambler and Studebaker's Lark.

　

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. Your name won't be used unless you ask that it be. Send to tkforppe@yahoo.com and watch for it on a future TIME MACHINE posting!