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The Blizzard of 1914

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Richard D. L. Fulton

Residents of the Emmitsburg area were probably not shocked at reading the news regarding the great blizzard of March 1-2, 1914, that “Emmitsburg was in the midst of the severest portion of the storm…”

But, in fact, the destruction was ultimately countywide, so much so, that the March 3 The (Frederick) News reported that only the Walkersville, Libertytown, Woodsboro, and Ladiesburg had sustained “very limited damage to speak of.”

The News reported on March 2, “Frederick and the county were visited by one of the worst storms last night and today in the history of this section,” adding, “fierce northwest winds up to 60 miles per hour were prevalent throughout the night and into the following morning, noting that the wind howled with a fierceness which was probably never known before in this part of the county.”

Temperatures were reported to have reached a high of 23 degrees during the day and attained a low of 11 degrees at night, not including wind chill factors.

The blizzard virtually impacted the greater upper Mid-Atlantic. The News stated in their March 3 edition that 15 lives were lost in New York, and five lives were lost in Philadelphia due to the snow and wind, and that the railroads were “badly crippled.”

In Frederick County, authorities began to assess the damage after the storm subsided post-morning on March 2. The News reported on March 3 that the degree of damage estimated to have occurred on the day of the storm “exceeds any estimate that was yesterday given.”

Emmitsburg, the newspaper reported, “was cut off from telephone communications with Frederick” during much of the height of the storm, noting that “houses were unroofed and four or five barns were blown down.”

Additionally, the roof of the Emmitsburg High School was blown off and a gable was “blown in,” the newspaper noted, adding that plastering had been badly cracked and that “it is felt the walls have been rendered unsafe.”

Other area educational institutions damaged were the Cattail Branch Run School, which had a gable driven-in and the roof torn off, and the school house at Brenman’s was nearly a “total loss.”

Two hotels were damaged in Emmitsburg, including the Hotel Spangler and the Hotel Hinddinger, mostly in the form of windows having been blown in. In addition to widespread chimney damage and the loss of portions of slate roofs in town, the roof was also torn off the Emmitsburg Broom Factory, according to The News.

In Thurmont, a portion of the roof of the United Brethren Church was lost, and the end of the high school was blown in, according to the March 3 edition of The Baltimore Sun, which further noted that when the school’s wall was blown in, the bricks “crashed through the floors to the basement, demolishing desks and twisting part of the structure…”

The Baltimore Sun also reported that the Thurmont Town Hall and (a grain?) elevator were damaged, as well as various other structures and out-buildings, and that a barn was also destroyed, killing a number of the livestock.

Countywide, some 100 barns were destroyed in the blizzard, along with the deaths of dozens of livestock. In total, more than 136 structures were damaged, according to the March 4 issue of The News, amounting to an estimated $200,000 in damages. The newspaper reported there were some impacted communities that had not as yet reported their losses.

Amazingly, there were few deaths, some estimates ranging from one to three.

No figures were published in the newspapers regarding the depth of the snowfall, but the average received by the Upper Mid-Atlantic was two feet or more of snow.

Most of the damage appeared to have been caused by the persistent high-wind velocities.

The old Emmitsburg hotel, known as the Spangler Hotel in 1914, weathered out the
blizzard, sustaining damage mainly to the windows.

Looking Back 1889

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The Mountain Seaside

by James Rada, Jr.

It was supposed to be a Maryland seashore on a mountaintop.

In 1889, the Buena Vista Ice Company bought 400 acres of land where Fort Ritchie would eventually be built, and set aside 20 acres for a lake.

“The business had counterparts on the East Coast below the Mason-Dixon Line,” according to the Hagerstown Morning Herald.

Perhaps forgetting that the purpose of the lake was to freeze in the winter, so the ice could be cut into blocks and sold, people were more interested in its summertime uses. They began picturing the area as the next Ocean City.

The Catoctin Clarion reported in August 1901, shortly after Lake Royer opened, “They now have a miniature ‘shore’ up on top of the mountain: by feeding at proper intervals, several barrels of fish salt into the stream that feeds the ‘lake,’ sea water may be imitated; by hiring a small boy to teeter a log in the water, modest breakers may be fashioned; high and low tides may be accomplished by lowering into and hoisting from the lake kegs of nails, twice in every twenty-four hours; the rattles taken from the rattlesnake skins that the mountain belles are wearing for belts, might be scattered about the beach to represent sea shells…”

The writer envisioned Blue Ridge Summit becoming the ultimate summer destination. Of course, Pen-Mar was already a popular summer getaway, and the lake would only cement its reputation.

“Lake Royer is a lovely sheet of water, covering about 21 acres, and is located near Buena Vista Station, and within easy reach of Pen-Mar, Blue Ridge, Monterey and Blue Mountain,” the Frederick News reported.

Col. John Mifflin Hood, president of the Western Maryland Railway, created Pen-Mar Park in August 1877 as a way to attract people to use the railroad to get out of the heat of the city during the summer. The park offered a view of over 2,000 square miles and two mountain ranges at an altitude of 1,400 feet. It is located on the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania, hence the name.

“From here on a clear day, one could see the town clock in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, at a distance of 24 miles—with binoculars, of course,” Frank and Suanne Woodring wrote in the book, Images of America: Pen-Mar.

Pen-Mar Park featured a dancing pavilion and a dining room that could seat 450 people. An observation tower was added in 1878. Lake Royer’s opening in 1901 allowed the park to offer one more attraction.

Trains heading to Blue Ridge Summit left Baltimore daily at 9:15 a.m. and advertised the new lake. Tickets cost $1, plus an extra 50 cents if you wanted to eat dinner at Pen-Mar.

“The popularity of Lake Royer is shown by the big supply of bathing costumes hanging up to dry every day. Last Sunday, nearly 100 were strung up at one time,” the Baltimore Sun reported in August 1901.

Pleasure boats were allowed on the water, and bathhouses had been erected allowing visitors to go swimming. They could even rent a bath “costume” for 25 cents.

The park quickly became a popular destination for tourists who traveled on the railroad from towns and cities all over the East Coast to the Maryland and Pennsylvania mountains. The peak single-day attendance at the park was 20,000 people.

Demand for natural ice declined over the years as refrigeration technology improved, and the Buena Vista Ice Company discontinued operations at the site in the mid-1920s.

In 1926, the State of Maryland purchased 580 acres to establish Camp Ritchie as a Maryland National Guard training area. Acquisition of additional property increased the camp to 638 acres by 1940.

“Camp Albert C. Ritchie was built and the last ice houses razed. One of them was still two-thirds full of ice,” according to the Hagerstown Morning Herald.

The new camp also ended the public use of Maryland’s mountain seashore.

(above) Historic postcard view of Lake Royer.

(below) Aerial view of Lake Royer.

The Year is… 1920

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by James Rada, Jr.

The Year Catoctin Mountain Burned

During 1920, Catoctin Mountain was plagued by fires that burned thousands of acres across both the eastern and western sides of the mountain.

The first fires started at the end of March. “It is said that the flames started along the Jefferson road and attracted very little attention until about 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon,” the Frederick News reported. “Passengers on the late train stated that the fire extended east and west across the mountain, a distance of nearly two miles.”

One fire started near the land of Harry Hickman near Point of Rocks and burned north. It was reported to be at least a mile wide. Meanwhile, a second fire started near Weverton and also burned north.

Individual farms and Hall Town, a small town where African Americans lived, were threatened by the spreading fires.

“The reflection was seen for miles and vivid along the road leading from Jefferson in Point of Rocks,” the Frederick Post reported.

That evening, people in the area took matters into their own hands. “Early in the evening, the fire became so threatening that a number of tenants on mountain farms went out and fought the flames,” the Frederick Post reported.

They succeeded and got the fire under control. It was estimated that over 100 acres burned. The following month, another fire broke out beyond Catoctin Fire. Fire Warden Martin Freshour noticed a cloud of smoke on May 9. He investigated the source and discovered the fire. The problem was the wind was fanning the flames.

He called for help, and he and 50 assistants established a two-mile-long fire line to check the fire’s advance, as they worked to put it out. They were hampered in their efforts when another smaller fire broke out near Foxville on May 10.

The fire wardens managed to bring the fire under control on May 12, but not before more than 2,500 acres burned.

In June, another fire broke out on the mountain in an area called Rattlesnake Hill.

District Forester C. Cyril Klein summoned 15 assistants to help him fight the fire. He quickly realized that he needed more help. Joseph Thropp, owner of the Catoctin Furnace property brought in a dozen men to help, and Fire Warden Albert Hauver brought in another dozen men.

The problem with the fire was that it was driving hundreds, if not thousands, of animals away from the fire.

“The snakes became so numerous that District Forester C. Cyril Klein had difficulty in keeping the firefighters on the job,” the Catoctin Clarion reported.

The snakes became so distracting that three firefighters had to be diverted from fighting the fire to killing the rattlesnakes that came too close to the other firefighters.

By the time the men got the fire under control, more than 300 acres had been burned.

It was a dangerous year on Catoctin Mountain, and luckily, although timber and crops burned, no lives were lost.

Catoctin High School Opens, Victorious After Years of Controversy

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James Rada, Jr.

The Year was 1969

Students at both Thurmont High and Emmitsburg High left school at the end of the day on Friday, February 7, 1969. However, when they boarded their school buses or walked to school the following Monday, February 10, they wound up at Catoctin High School. Students from the two rival high schools now found themselves classmates in a brand new school.

“If problems do arise between the two groups of students, it will probably not be a shock to Catoctin High, for this school, even before it was built, had one of the stormiest histories of Frederick’s educational growth,” the Frederick News reported.

 

The Need for a New School

A consolidation of the two schools had been talked about since the late 1950s. Both Thurmont High and Emmitsburg High were old schools. They needed updating. Thurmont High School, which had been built in 1919, was overcrowded. During a Frederick County Commissioners meeting about combining the schools, “A young woman told the commissioner that she knows a new school is needed for she has had physical education in the halls, classes in the warehouse, and has been a witness to ‘many other problems’ in the school system,” according to the Hagerstown Morning Herald. On the other hand, Emmitsburg High School, built in 1922, was much underutilized, which was limiting some of the educational opportunities available to students.

The Frederick County Board of Education decided to build a new school…but just one. By giving up their small schools in town, each community was told that their students would attend a modern high school located between the two towns.

The problem was where to locate that school?

This is where Catoctin High first became a contentious topic. Local committees couldn’t reach an agreement on where to locate the new school.

“Since the two committees appointed some time back to select a site for a consolidated school have not come up with a solution as to where the new school would be located, it is becoming apparent that the School Board just might take the ‘bull’ by the horns and pick a site itself,” reported the Emmitsburg Chronicle in July 1963.

One possible site was found midway between Thurmont and Emmitsburg, but the property owner wanted $1,000 an acre. Meanwhile, a suitable and larger site just north of Thurmont could be had for $750 an acre. It was also possible for the school to hook into Thurmont’s water and sewer system for additional savings.

The latter site, called the Staub property, was attractive to some members of the Frederick County Board of Education because bussing expenses would be minimized, considering the bulk of the students attending the new school were in Thurmont. Since the school was closer to Thurmont, it meant that while some students would travel further to school, more would have a shorter ride.

Faced with having a site forced upon them, the local committee met and unanimously recommended the purchase of forty acres on Payne’s Hill for the school. It was a site nearly halfway between the two communities.

“This site had previously been approved by both the County Commissioners and the School Board, and its selection, one of the most scenic in the northern section of the county, and one easily accessible off U. .S Route 15, is felt by the committees to be the most feasible and agreeable to the citizens and taxpayers of this area,” the Emmitsburg Chronicle reported.

However, negotiations on the cost of the property faltered.

Then, on November 27, 1963, Emmitsburg residents awoke to discover that the board of education had reversed direction and authorized the purchase of the Staub site for $30,000.

“However, the Board of Commissioners apparently threw caution to the winds and when the Board of Education, either by default or deliberate intention, offered no alternate site, the Commissioners went ahead and okayed the sight and appropriated the money,” reported the Emmitsburg Chronicle.

 

Lawsuit and Funding Problems

The new school was named Catoctin High in February 1965. However, this wasn’t the first choice. It might have been named James A. Sensenbaugh High School, after the former Frederick County school superintendent who was the Maryland school superintendent at the time. The Frederick News reported that Sensenbaugh had rejected the honor because he didn’t like naming buildings after living people, even if it was him.

Three days after the school was named, six Emmitsburg residents filed suit against the county commissioners and the county board of education. The complainants included Emmitsburg Commissioner J. Norman Flax, Jr.; Chamber of Commerce Leader Bernard Boyle; and Chronicle publisher C. Arthur Elder. They wanted a site for the school closer to Emmitsburg and were charging that an incorrect decision had been made on purpose, ignoring things that would have made the midway location just as attractive as the Staub site. The state board of education heard the case in May but still favored the Staub site, despite Emmitsburg’s arguments.

The planning for the new school began, and in February 1966, the plans were released. Catoctin High would educate up to 1,000 students in 122,000 square feet. It would have an auditorium that seated 1,060 people, 41 teaching stations, a large gymnasium, an auxiliary gym, and cafeteria. Catoctin High was also to be the first high school in the county to have a heated indoor pool.

The Hagerstown Morning Herald proclaimed, “The 1,000 student capacity high school will be designed with futuristic educational facilities, enabling students to receive lessons and research material at home via microwave to television unit.”

The expected cost for all of this was projected to be $2.4 million.

The county board of education approved the preliminary plans in March 1965, with a few—mostly cosmetic—changes. For instance, the slanted roof changed to a flat roof, redwood trim on the exterior was eliminated, and oversized brick instead of split rock was used on the exterior. The Morning Herald reported that the Town of Thurmont had to raise its sewer rates to accommodate the increased needs of the school.

The costs of the school soon started rising. The lowest bid that came in was still $1 million more than the projected $2.4 million. Officials began discussing how to bring the costs down. Wall-to-wall carpeting and the pool topped the list of things that could be eliminated, if need be. Another suggestion was to make the auditorium smaller.

By 1967, the county commissioners still wouldn’t approve the budget. More cuts were asked for.

The Emmitsburg Town Council unanimously objected to the inclusion of a pool in the school. However, even if the pool were to be cut, it wouldn’t save the entire $118,000 cost.

“The controversial swimming pool was accepted by the board after they were informed that the pool would serve double duty as a reserve water supply for the school’s sprinkler system as a swimming pool,” the Frederick News reported.

Without a pool serving that purpose, a pond would need to be built to hold a water supply, and that would cost $50,000 to $75,000. A compromise was reached to move the pool outside.

Things seemed to be getting to the point that not much more could be cut from the plans without making the school’s student capacity smaller. North County residents blamed Thomas Johnson High School for using up construction funds.

“We are being punished in Thurmont for the money spent in Frederick. We are being taken advantage of,” stated Thurmont Mayor Ray Weddle.

Even as the board of education was trying to strip down plans for the school, costs continued to rise. Board of Education President Mary Condon Hodgson presented a $2.7 million plan that was “stripped of all frills” to the commissioners in February, only to have it rejected a second time.

The commissioners even suggested that perhaps a new site should be chosen and the whole process started over. Forty acres southeast of Thurmont were offered for free, but the Board of Education turned down the site, stating the two high schools needed to be consolidated and the new site would take more time to develop, thus opening old wounds between Emmitsburg and Thurmont that had started to heal.

“Mayor Guy A. Baker, Jr. of Emmitsburg said the citizens of that town would erupt in “open rebellion” if consideration is given to changing the site for the school,” the Frederick News reported.

A $2.6 million plan was finally agreed upon, and construction began in July 1967. “Ground-breaking ceremonies were held on July 28, 1967, and the first shovelful of earth was turned over by Ross V. Smith, a local citizen who is a member of the Frederick County Board of Education,” according to the first Catoctin High School yearbook.

Although much was stripped out of the approved Catoctin High School, it was noted that it would have the first mathematics lab in the county.

“A portion of the mathematics laboratory will be devoted to individual study areas where the student may pursue on his own an interest that may have in a specific branch of mathematics,” the News reported.

Some of the resources in the lab for student use included computers, film strips, and records.

The school was also in a scenic location. “The school is being built to take advantage of the view—mounds of the Catoctin range on two sides, the sprawling valley on another side, and a forested area on the fourth side. Even the trees of the orchard that once covered the school property have been left within a few yards of the school door,” the News reported.

When students returned to Frederick County schools in the fall of 1968, students were still attending Emmitsburg High and Thurmont High. The organizations and sports teams were starting to combine as Catoctin High, although Catoctin High was not yet operating.

When students began attending the new school on February 10, 1969, Catoctin High’s history was already starting to form. The Frederick News noted that Catoctin High’s history “is a malleable piece of clay that can be molded in to a fine and finished product of beauty and grace.”

Now fifty years later, that clay has been formed into a school of which Northern Frederick County can be proud.

The first graduating class from Catoctin High School is shown entering the auditorium. The photo appeared in the first Catoctin High School yearbook in 1969.

1915 – The Wreck of the Blue Mountain Express, Part 2

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2by James Rada, Jr.

Note: This is the second of three articles about the wreck of the Blue Mountain Express between Thurmont and Sabillasville in 1915.

high-bridges-wreck-003-firOn June 25, 1915, the Blue Mountain Express, bound for Hagerstown, crashed head-on with a mail train traveling east from Hagerstown, crumpling the two engines and sending a baggage car off the bridge, where the crash occurred, and into the ravine below.

Thomas B. South of Hagerstown was in the passenger car next to the baggage car that crashed into the ravine. He felt a “grating sensation before the crash came.” The impact threw him forward against the seat in front of him.

“Mr. South said he could feel the car in which he was riding turn almost completely around and that it then tilted, as if it was going into the ravine,” reported the Herald Mail. “Women screamed and children cried when the awful impact came, and great difficulty was experienced in getting them out of the cars.”

Harry Smith of Hagerstown was seated in a passenger car of the Blue Mountain Express and “he felt the car topple and pieces of glass flew in every direction and many persons were badly cut,” according to the Hagerstown Herald Mail.

The two trains hit head-on. The baggage car on the Blue Mountain Express fell into the ravine, carrying with it two passengers: Mrs. W. C. Chipchase and her son, Walter.

“Mrs. Chipchase was going to be admitted to a sanitarium, was reclining in a baggage car, son and nurse with her…nurse left to stroll through the train, which probably saved her,” the Adams County News reported.

Mrs. Chipchase died in the fall, but Walter was found unconscious and groaning when rescuers reached him.

The Frederick News reported that Walter was taken to a cottage at Blue Ridge Summit, where his sister, Ethel, had been waiting for her brother and mother to arrive. He died around midnight.

The engines of the two trains had locked together on impact, “appearing as almost one engine to the horrified rescuers who quickly gathered on the scene. Had the engines ricocheted off of one another, there undoubtedly would have been more causalities,” according to a historical study of Catoctin National Park.

Eyler said, “Coals were falling from one of the boilers and for a time threatened to set fire to the wooden structure of the bridge. The whistle on one of the engines had stuck in an open position and kept blowing until all of the steam was gone.”

Within minutes of the crash, about one hundred people had gathered to help the survivors and find the dead amid the debris.

As the passengers and crew were located and pulled from the wreckage, two bodies were seen that could not be reached easily. Fireman Hayes’ body could be seen hanging from the train’s cab, but no one could reach it because the cab was hanging out over the ravine.

“It was impossible to move the body for fear that the slightest motion would hurl it to the bottom of the ravine nearly 100 feet below,” the Frederick News reported.

Dr. Morris Birely of Thurmont was the first doctor on the scene. He went to work treating the wounded as best he could. He worked into the night, using gas lanterns for light.

The Western Maryland Railroad sent two special trains to help in transporting the dead and wounded from the area. One train came from the east and the other the west.

All of the wreckage, except the connected locomotives, had been cleared from the bridge by morning.

“People were still wondering the next day how the two engines had stayed on the rails. But it was easy to see how the wreck had occurred. The bridge is ‘blind’ from both directions. From the east, a train passes out of a deep, curving cut right onto the bridge. From the west, an engineer had a little more visibility but was also on a curve and was traveling down-hill, making a quick stop impossible,” Eyler wrote.

In the end, six died in the crash of the Blue Mountain Express. They were: Coleman Cook, engineer; Luther Hull, fireman; J. R. Hayes, fireman; Mrs. W. C. Chipchase, Baltimore; Walter Chipchase, Baltimore. Twelve others suffered serious injuries. An investigation revealed that a mix-up in the all-important right-of-way orders issued from Hagerstown had caused the crash.

Bloom, “Pale and worn, the unmistakable signs of the worry he has experienced since hearing the result of his mistake,” according to the Adams County News, accepted responsibility for the accident.

Oddly, there were three Western Maryland Railroad officials on the Blue Mountain Express on their way to a meeting about the prevention of wrecks.